Category: Uncategorized

Well. For Only The Fourth Time — In 16 Years — I’ve Beaten Mr. Obama.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

And if UCLA can win out in the women’s brackets — it will be the first time I’ve ever beaten him in both the men’s and women’s.

No matter how the final four in the men’s breaks, now — I will win by over 10 points, and three games over his picks. All four of my final four picks are still dancing — but both of us have Duke to win it all, so he can’t catch me.

And on the women’s side, UCLA is playing very well — and is likely to take it all — so I may well win out there as well. But he can still beat me, if South Carolina were to win it all.

Now we wait — and watch. Onward, smiling. Be excellent to one another. [Today, Tangerine is talking nonsense about a delusional third term. It is all strictly for the chaos value. No sane person will allow that — not without a Constitutional amendment. Read: no way, meet no how.]

नमस्ते

In Which Hinderaker Makes Sh!t Up, Of Whole Cloth (Again).

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Hinderaker this afternoon tells us (on zero evidence) that the US State Department will carry on the aid work of the USAID operatives, as and after Tangerine and Musk decimate it.

This new lie is being seeded because Trump is now realizing both that these programs were and are popular in the United States, and that they serve a very real function — of improving goodwill, as well as limiting the spread of international pandemics, many never to reach our shores…

So suddenly programs that he was destroying will be reincarnated (magically) under the US State Department.

These people are as shameless as they are… stupid. John says he “presumes” this will happen. [Only if we Democrats make it so, in 2026.]

Nice try, Johnnie.

Out.

Irony Alert! In New Jersey, Tangerine / Noem Lawyers Seek A Two Day Extension On Filing Papers… Because They Had To Travel From DC To NJ — By Car(!?)

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

I. Cannot. Even.

You may think this trivial, but on Friday afternoon, the Kristi Noem lawyers sought a two day delay in deadlines — whilst their client holds the petitioner, Mr. Khalil, in a privately-owned, privately-funded (but government contract beneficiary) prison — in deeply rural LOUISIANA. They whined on and on, about the difficulty of having to drive up from the DC Beltway, to Newark — and said that they lost over a half day of… work time. R-iiiiii-ght. [Ever heard of the… choo choo?! “You can keep working, while the miles, and two hours… melt away.” Ugh.]

Now do recall though, that these same people had Mr. Khalil yanked out of Manhattan, and into Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the dead of night — and then flown to Louisiana without telling his lawyers. AND… these same lawyers seek to move all the proceedings to… Baton Rogue.

They are willing to “give” Mr. Khalil’s counsel an extra day or two to reply to their latest BS, since they want to delay showing their own cards. But seriously — here’s a crazy idea: why (if these logistics are vexing) wouldn’t Noem have him moved to DC — make it all “local”?

Almost comically, the as filed two-page letter is riddled with typos and sentence fragments — claiming that “some OIL members experienced a widespread IT issue that left some team members.” That’s where this particular nonsense non-sentence ends. “Left” some members… what? How? Where? When?

As it is, she wants Mr. Khalil’s NYC based counsel to rent hotel rooms for a few weeks in Louisiana, along with her lawyers doing the damn same?!? So much for government efficiency. Yes, a fairly small matter in the grand scheme of Tangerine’s lawlessness — and Noem’s — but there is zero chance that a green card holding Columbia U. grad student is a danger to this nation. Zero. This is simply abuse of process.

नमस्ते

[U: Video Now, At 38 Min. In…] Rocketry Is… Hard: Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum Explodes 38 Seconds After Launch In Norway…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Well… the challenges are manifold. We all know that.

They will try again. Here’s CBS on it all:

…A test rocket aimed at building the ability to launch satellites from Europe exploded about 40 seconds after takeoff from a Norwegian spaceport on Sunday.

The unmanned Spectrum rocket, an orbital rocket developed by German start-up Isar Aerospace, started smoking from its sides and then crashed back to Earth with a powerful explosion after launching from Norway’s Andoya Spaceport in the Arctic.

Daniel Metzler, Isar’s chief executive and co-founder, said in a news release “We had a clean liftoff, 30 seconds of flight and even got to validate our Flight Termination System. . . .”

Spectrum’s blast-off was the first of an orbital launch vehicle from the European continent, excluding Russia, and Europe’s first financed almost exclusively by the private sector….

Now you know. Kinda’ like… “Death of a Unicorn” yesterday. Hah — see below — updated, at 38 minutes in:

नमस्ते

This New Guy At Powerline May Not Be Very Bright…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Look — Hayward was/is a chucklehead. No doubt.

But tonight… the new guy wrote a very silly piece. Monumentally silly.

He faulted people for peacefully protesting at Tesla outlets nationwide. They do so because Musk has effectively bought all speaking rights out of Tangerine 2.0’s mouth.

This guy thinks it all profoundly unfair… but then he argues that new preznits “used to” get 100 days grace.

Huh.

I guess he missed January 6, 2021. That was still two weeks prior to Mr. Biden’s first day.

And it was a violent insurrection — dozens of police injured, and deaths.

Before our guy was able to take the oath.

So yeah — that’s… irony for ‘ya, indeed.

He’s gonna’ eclipse Hayward’s formidable zenith, on the “idiocracy” dimension, it seems.

Out.

So, Kids With Measles In West Texas Are Presenting With Vitamin A Toxicity — In Their Livers…?!

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is… simply hard to fathom: in 2025, kids in dusty West Texas, already sick with measles (a vaccine-preventable affliction) are showing up at hospitals with… liver damage — due to Vitamin A toxicity (overdosing on Vitamin A) — all due to HHS Sec’y. RFK, Jr.’s wildly irresponsible and dangerous exhortations. Vitamin A will not cure or prevent measles. But too much of it will damage these kids’ livers — for life. Surreal.

Holy cow. Thank you Dr. Marks for speaking up. All real bioscience professionals must speak out against this lethal lunacy. Here’s all of that, via NBCNews.com — just deplorable:

…Dr. Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine regulator, has resigned, an official at the Department of Health and Human Services said Friday….

In a resignation letter to acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner, Dr. Marks wrote that undermining confidence in vaccines is “irresponsible, detrimental to public health, and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety, and security….

It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies….”

Disgusting.

Still, onward resolutely, to “Death of A Unicorn” (with my girl, Jenna Ortega) — this afternoon, and NCAA tonight — I’m one game up on Mr. Obama in the men’s and we are tied in the women’s at the moment — but it will certainly be different, now — by Monday night.

नमस्ते

Well… 83-4, As Of Now. [Against Trump.] But Not Nearly What Hinderaker Claims.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This case is limited to firing certain persons not specifically protected by a statute.

So it really isn’t the sweeping win Hinderaker pretends it is. It is merely an interim stay. Nothing more.

And we’ve yet to hear from the “new middle” majority at the Supremes, John.

That would be all Justices except Alito and Thomas, of course.

So stay tuned.

Onward.

End Of March Check In: On Amazon — And The Manifold Abuses — Of Its Laborers… An Ongoing Series.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Not at all surprising, given what we already knew about the way Amazon monitors every motion; every moment and every footstep of its employees and drivers, both on and off- premises. . . 24/7/365. But it is still… deplorable.

This latest study, out of my own home-town university… makes plain why Bezos does it: because it is highly effective at breaking worker solidarity. And thus, effective at defeating union organizing campaigns. Here’s the latest, out of data from the Alabama union drives:

…A new paper on Amazon’s anti-union efforts at its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse is the first academic study to examine the ways Amazon has leveraged algorithms to crush pro-union movements inside one of its sprawling warehouses. The study, published by researcher Teke Wiggin of Northwestern University, was compiled using dozens of worker interviews and FOIA requests to the National Labor Relations Board.

Ultimately, the 2021 union vote in Bessemer ended with workers voting against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) by a count of 1,798 to 738 out of 5,867 workers eligible to vote, proving that the sprawling surveillance and discipline system is highly effective.

Since the 2021 election, Amazon has been ordered to hold two more elections at the plant. However, the company has proved exceptionally deft at thrashing worker organizing with both old-school and cutting-edge technologies. The modern tactics detailed by Wiggin include leveraging algorithmic discipline on worker devices, algorithmic slack-cutting or “electronic whipping,” in which algorithms rapidly alter quotas and rules, mobile device spamming, and social media monitoring….

Now you know. Onward — but it cannot break my positive ju-ju mood, as I’m out for a ride to/by the lake, and fresh hot fish tacos from a sublime local truck / vendor! Smile.

Be excellent to one another and root for Michigan tonight to pull an upset, so I might best Mr. Obama… we are essentially tied at the moment in the men’s, but he is up two games on me, in the women’s brackets. Much more once Sweet 16 weekend is in the books! Yup.

नमस्ते

Fascinating. The Powerline Boys Make Zero Mention Of What LEGITIMATE Claim The US Might Make — To Greenland.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

But that is of course classically on-brand, for Tangerine: make a preposterously outlandish claim, and try to ultimately settle for half of the fraudulently asserted claim.

It won’t work this time though — as the Danish King is an ally since long before WWII, and has the backing of the EU and NATO… and… the US has no legitimate rationale to have anything more than the small base it now occupies on the island.

The whole thing is a completely stupid exercise in d!ck wagging, by Trump and Vance.

And Bill Glahn — the newest “boy”, at Powerline — flat out admits it, in his concluding paragraph. [Just as Russia has no legitimate claim to the ocean floor under the North Pole. Damn son — we don’t want to emulate Vlad. Not at all.]

Charming.

Now The Weekly Status Reports Begin — To Stop Musk/Trump Foot-Draggin’ — On USAID Payment Streams, During The Litigation…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

As previously ordered here, the reports on restarted payments are now appearing in the DC courtroom of the able USDC Judge Amir Ali.

Here’s the latest — but I expect this will be “not enough” for Judge Ali. We shall see:

…As of yesterday, the total number of such payments by Defendants to Plaintiffs processed since March 18, 2025 was 161, and the total number of such payments by Defendants to non-Plaintiffs processed since March 18, 2025 was 5,690. In sum, [Trumpian] Defendants have therefore processed 5,851 payments between March 18 and March 26, which amounts to approximately 975 payments per business day….

Defendants’ intention has been to prioritize payments to Plaintiffs. The remaining payments to Plaintiffs have presented particular challenges [Editor’s note: this is likely BS] precluding faster processing: More time has been necessary to process the remaining payments to Plaintiffs than Defendants estimated in the March 19, 2025 status report because agency personnel are working with funding recipients to address transaction-specific details (such as duplicate invoice submissions, billing errors, and the need to confirm that goods or services were delivered or rendered).

Accordingly, Defendants’ proposed timeline for processing the remaining payments is as follows: Defendants expect to process the remaining payments to Plaintiffs by April 10, 2025, and the remaining payments by the last week of April 2025….

The last two paragraphs above are at best… gilding the lily. Hopefully Judge Amir will order that the remaining overdue amounts are cleared before April 15, and all ongoing payment streams are back to normal before April 20. We shall see.

नमस्ते