Category: Uncategorized

Y A W N. So… The Unregistered Lobbyist Will Now Seek Tangerine 2.0 Favors, To Be Approved To Buy OpenAI?!

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Do I have that right?

Yep. I do. He will need Hart Scott Antitrust clearance to buy the OpenAI platform, for [updated, due to NASDAQ price increase] ~$98 ~$95 billion — on size of person and size of transaction basis, since he also owns a controlling stake in X-itter the social media platform previously called Twitter. [For its part, OpenAI says it will not sell to Elon — but “time, and tide, luv… time, and tide….”]

And — gee, huge surprise! Tangerine 2.0 intends to relax the DoJ Antitrust enforcement guidelines, anyway.

The idea that 99% of all Americans have no idea how many ways Elon is corrupting our commerce — and manifold facets of our public life — is jaw slacking.

The guy is now touting a meme-coin called “Harry Bolz” — read it phonetically.

He likely has bought a stake in the meme, and will dump once the rubes pile into it.

This is SEC’s province, as he is a ’34 Act registered control person, via Tesla.

And this is market manipulation — all whilst lobbying, from outside the government, all manner of MAGA hanger-on, in Congress and at 1600 Penn… without the required registrations and disclosures of conflicts, under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

That statute carries a two year felony stint — for wilful violations, btw.

Onward. We may stop covering his ordinary business moves — and only mention… his corrupt deals. But I repeat myself.

Out.

Breaking: USDC Judge Vargas In Manhattan Grants A Slightly Modified TRO — Plaintiffs Win, Again! 0-16 For Tangerine 2.0.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

As we expected, the able USDC Judge Vargas in Manhattan has sided with the plaintiffs and Judge Engelmeyer, and extended the TRO at Treasury, after an adversary hearing on the merits — and full briefings. . . only slightly modified (as per an agreement entered just yesterday evening). It keeps politicos out of private Treasury payor/payee data snooping.

That means the unregistered lobbyist Elon Musk — and all his minions. Here’s that fine opinion of law (and a bit), entered just moments ago on the Manhattan USDC public docket:

…[T]o the extent that Defendants seek to eliminate the TRO’s restriction on access by “political appointees” more broadly, Defs. Mem. at 5-6, the Court denies the motion.

There was a sound factual basis for this central dimension of the TRO. The Complaint alleges that the challenged Agency Action includes granting “expanded access to BFS payment systems to political appointees and ‘special government employees’” affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency. Compl., ¶ 5; see also id. ¶¶ 134, 135, 157, 158, 166, 174. And the harms alleged in the Complaint that Judge Engelmayer determined were sufficient to warrant the grant of the ex parte TRO are plainly linked to the alleged grant of access to the BFS payment systems to such political appointees and special government employees….

Woot! Put that in your pipe — and smoke it, dotard. 0-16 now.

नमस्ते

USDC Judge Nichols’ DC Hearing On The Purported USAID Cuts And Staff Terminations, Tomorrow… No “Listen-In” Access — Only Live Appearances In The Courtroom…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

These are matters of unprecedented public concern; these are “the people’s” courts. This is the 21st Century, and do recall that for over eight months, essentially all federal hearings were made accessible by Zoom, YouTube and/or audio dial-up — just a few years ago (during COVID-19).

The DC court clerk definitely could just “turn on the [extra] mics“, and live broadcast (audio only) to YouTube. That would be the right thing to do, Judge Nichols.

The nation is enduring a tidal wave/tsunami of largely lawless orders, from a guy who hasn’t ever read the Constitution — and cannot remotely understand the checks and balances embedded in the US Code. And, now daily — he is violating clear USDC orders.

That much (at 0-15, now!) is beyond dispute. And I do wonder if Judge Nichols being a Tangerine 1.0 appointee is playing into this — he knows he’s duty bound to exend the TRO here — but likely doesn’t want the MAGAs listening in, and diming him out to Trump. . . in real time. Here’s his overnight (limiting access) order:

…NOTICE: Members of the Public and Media are permitted to attend the Preliminary Injunction hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 12, 2025 in person. There will not be a public telephone line connected; however, the courthouse media access room will be available….

You dolt!

OF COURSE the public “may” attend hearings in your courtroom; this is not (even remotely) a Homeland Security case. It could scarcely be more important. It is on the front page of every US newspaper (except those run by Murdoch).

These are core First Amendment moments, man.

And, it seems your own insecurities are showing, Judge Nichols — just as they were, when you were tasked with overseeing the indictments of various J6 hooligans. Onward.

नमस्ते

The TRO In Boston (Against Tangerine 2.0’s NIH Slashes): Now Nationwide — Next Hearing February 21, 2025.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The purported 15% cap that Tangerine is trying to force down the throats of grantees… would amount to hundreds of millions in lost research dollars at universities across the nation. And would threaten our leads in the life-sciences. [It is also contrary to the commands made by Congress several decades ago, at 42 U.S.C. § 241(a)(3).] Damn (all so Musk might be able to put boots on Mars?!). Here’s the latest memo of law from the universities.

[Backgrounder here.] The good news — like all the other Tangerine Black Sharpie scribbles… is that he will lose. This is beyond his remit, at 1600 Penn. He needs. . . an entirely new Act of Congress for this. [One he’s very unlikely to be able to push through.] Here’s STAT on it all:

…A federal judge in Boston ordered a nationwide temporary pause on plans by the National Institutes of Health to substantially slash research overhead payments to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients.

Judge Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued the temporary restraining order late Monday night in response to a lawsuit filed that afternoon by associations representing the nation’s medical, pharmacy, and public health schools, as well as Boston and New York-area hospitals. The suit names the NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, and the acting heads of both agencies as defendants.

The [Tangerine 2.0] NIH order, which was announced Friday and was effective as of Monday morning, imposed a 15% cap on NIH support for indirect costs — administrative and facilities expenses linked to research. Institutions generally receive 30% to 70% on top of direct research costs, and there remains deep concern the plan would hamper institutions and stall biomedical research….

Now you know. Onward, resolutely — I think Trump is now about 0-15, on his lawless executive “orders”, in the courts. Grin.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker: Idiocy, On Gaza Cease-Fire / Hostages.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Bad situations… beget more… bad situations.

Bibi is in over his head. And John knows it.

But not nearly as completely as Tangerine 2,0 is.

Tangerine probably just signed the death warrants for the remaining hostages, by trying to pretend that he, Trump himself… isn’t the coward we all know he is.

Hinderaker is encouraging Trump’s bellicose nonsense, so he too will be to blame for the next hostage who turns up dead.

These guys are competent at… essentially nothing.

The terrorists are very much blame-worthy, but Trump and Hinderaker and yes Bibi are making a bad situation… worse.

Onward.

“Night Court”: Treasury Payment Data / “No Access By MAGA Politicos” TRO Modified, Tonight — But Hearing Will Go Forward, And Tangerine Will… Lose.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

As instructed by the able USDC Judge Vargas in Manhattan, the two sides met (by conference calls) throughout the day, today — and now have agreed to a slight modification of the already in force TRO — largely to preserve the state of affairs that existed before Tangerine’s lawless actions.

In essence, that’s what the Engelmeyer TRO was originally intended to do — in the first place, late last Friday night. Here is the agreed change; and now we await the full briefing and a hearing:

…Notwithstanding the above, nothing in this order prevents (i) contractors on the approved outside contractor list maintained by the Department of Treasury’s Chief Information Officer who were engaged prior to January 20, 2025 to perform routine or emergency maintenance on BFS systems from accessing such systems to perform routine or emergency maintenance, or (ii) the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from continuing to access BFS payment systems as it did prior to January 20, 2025, pursuant to the letter of designation with the Treasury in effect prior to January 20, 2025. . . .

Once again, these tech-bro minions of Musk (and Musk and Trump — themselves) are learning that federal statutes govern almost every aspect of running a cabinet-level agency — largely to prevent the kind of political retribution Trump is vainly attempting.

And they are learning that workers in the federal government possess a much more powerful nearly “for cause only” right to avoid being let go. Musk’s land of “at will” (private enterprise/tech land) simply doesn’t exist inside these agencies. To do any of what these jokers seek to do. . . they will need new laws, from Congress. That is by… design. Out — time to hear the sheets chant my name, sweet and low — but chanting — just the same. Grin.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Again Pretends NOT To Understand How Tariffs (Actually Don’t) Work… Sheesh.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

For the second time in two weeks, Hinderaker intentionally, and falsely, conflates “customs duties paid” with… actual tariff economic effects in the US GDP.

[Here was his BS version from last week, which we answered with the graphic at right, and some logic — here. He knows his “argument” is in fact just a silly lie, to dupe the… ignorant / MAGAts. But I repeat myself.]

Now he’s trying to say that Tangerine 2.0’s 25% (at least announced) tariffs, on aluminum and steel… won’t dent the US economy. That is patently… false (if he actually sticks to his word). And worse, it won’t bring steel or aluminum production “back home” in any event.

The remaining US ore-bodies are just… too low grade. Uneconomic, even when China has to add one-quarter to the price of its like goods. It won’t be enough.

The only saving grace is that Tangerine never does what he belches all over the world about: his supposed tariffs will vaporize in the night — likely without him ever even acknowledging that he… blinked.

Xi will win out here, again, against the dotard’s fecklessness.

And only US based steel and aluminum producers will be the worse off, for it all.

Charming, John. Do tell me again: how exactly is that “America, First”?

Trans-Lunar Orbit Burn For Blue Ghost — A Complete Success: Now Being Captured By Lunar Gravity… Into A Tightening-Elliptical Orbit, There.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

This will be a private soft lunar landing, in early March, if all goes 5 by 5. [That’s an “Earthrise” of sorts, at right — off her back deck… headed toward the Moon!]

All is right on track at the moment, after Saturday’s “white knuckle” engine burn. [Backgrounder here.] Now it mostly coasts, in a series of tightening loops, around the moon — for the next 16 or so days. Here’s the latest:

…Firefly completed its Trans Lunar Injection burn on Saturday, February 8… [The] spacecraft carrying NASA science and tech to the Moon has now departed Earth’s orbit — and begun its four-day transit to the Moon’s orbit. Blue Ghost will then spend approximately 16 days in lunar orbit before beginning its descent operations.

Since launching more than three weeks ago, Blue Ghost has performed dozens of health tests generating 13 gigabytes of data. All 10 NASA payloads onboard are currently healthy and ready for surface operations on the Moon….

We needed some lightening here. Onward!

नमस्ते

Trump’s Busy Day In The Federal Courts — And It’s Not Gonna Be Over For The Day — Until 11 PM EST. Trump Is Now VIOLATING Federal Court Orders.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

It is just. . . utterly silly — how precious little Musk and Tangerine understand about public entity employees — and employment law, in America.

So they will keep on… losing. See here, and here — as just two court ordered examples from this day — today, alone.

And I’d say… this pull-quote sums up nicely, where we are — from a labor law professor not involved in these cases — deftly outlining how incompetent Team Tangerine 2.0 is:

…”In the tech universe, ‘move fast and break things’ is a fine motto in part because they’re not playing with the public’s money, and it’s expected that most initiatives are going to fail,” Loyola Marymount law professor Justin Leavitt told ABC News. “Congress knows that, so in 1946 they basically said, ‘When agencies do stuff… they have to be careful about it. They’ve got to consider all aspects of the problem….”

[And from the 19 state AGs’ filing — just made, at 5 PM EST today:]

…Moreover, as five former Treasury secretaries have confirmed in an editorial published in the New York Times today, “[t]he nation’s payment system has historically been operated by a very small group of nonpartisan career civil servants,” including the Fiscal Assistant Secretary, whose duties have now been delegated to Mr. Krause (see Krause Aff. ¶ 1) but “for the prior eight decades had been reserved exclusively for civil servants to ensure impartiality and public confidence in the handling and payment of federal funds.” Rubin, et al., Five Former Treasury Secretaries: Our Democracy Is Under Siege, New York Times (Feb. 10, 2025)…. The former Treasury Secretaries explain with compelling force why political appointees would have no need to access the BFS records or systems…. [The signees are Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers, Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew, and Janet Yellin, all former Treasury Secretaries.]

Onward to the federal “night court filings” in Manhattan, next. Hilarious. And sad.

We should never have to live like this — daily, correcting fifth grader-level mistakes, by the supposed POTUS. [But we all know — and his own lawyers… well-know… these are not likely to be “mistakes“, at all. They are the feature: Chaos — not the mistakes / “bug“, to be resolved. Not at all.] Do not let it wear you down. Do not give in. Do not resign. Ugh.

नमस्ते

Look. We All Know Elon Musk Has A Burning Financial Interest In Sending The First Humans To A Soft Mars Landing…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

But even so, this sort of stupid… trolling (when he wants to be thought of as a serious statesman or ambassador for Tangerine 2.0!) is. . . off-putting.

Lately on his X-itter, and on Joe Rogan’s “show” — he’s been pushing the mantra that we need to get a crewed mission to Barsoom / Mars, “IMMEDIATELY(!)” — to “investigate the remains” of a fort, or settlement on Mars. Damn. His evidence? He and Rogan doctored a Mars Global Surveyor orbital image (from around 2006). They claim it depicts the corner of some ancient stone building, outpost or structure.

Here’s a bit of the more or less breathless coverage of this non-story, in glossy media:

…Social media has been buzzing with talk about a strange formation on Mars that looks like a giant square in the dusty terrain. The snapshot came from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), a mission that captured thousands of images from 1997 until its final transmission in 2006.

…Elon Musk and popular podcaster Joe Rogan have [shared] a cropped version online. . . [and they] are asking if a neat, geometric form could appear by chance or if something else is going on.

Dr. Sarah Johnson, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), points to geological processes as the likely cause of these intriguing shapes.

She says that Martian landscapes often reveal features that appear artificial at first glance, but they usually have natural explanations tied to erosion or volcanic activity….

That’s correct, Dr. Johnson — and Elon seeks to raise and spend perhaps a half trillion dollars from the federal coffers to go chase a crewed mission to Mars. [As we’ve long pointed out, almost everything we’d ever need — in the way of science, on Mars will be done better, cheaper, faster. . . and most of all, SAFER — by robotic rovers and helicopters.]

That’s the sort of “conflict of interest” — as a disclosure, along with perhaps 70 or so others, which should be front and center, in every governmental communique Tangerine 2.0 issues — about Elon, SpaceX, Tesla or X-itter. [All for Elon… to secure a place in space exploration history — for his vanity.]

Yikes. What an oddly non-scientific time we are enduring, here at the opening of 47’s last stint at 1600 Penn. Out.

नमस्ते