Category: Uncategorized

In Which Hinderaker… Vastly Overestimates What Was Actually In Evidence On Tuesday… Y A W N.

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

But that sort of manic / depressive cycling has forever been… the bi-polar guy that is John Hinderaker [and Steve Hayward].

He’s in manic mode, tonight — preposterously believing that the fact that Kamala Harris was forced into running a 103 day campaign… means that the world has fundamentally fallen in love with “Whatever the Hell” Trump now claims he is.

John forgets how — from 2017-2021 — the world learned… that Tangerine actually does NONE of the things he promises, during his campaigns. And he was nearly the least popular ex-preznit the day he left office, in the last 175 years — because of that. As one paper put it, in January of 2021: “Last Trump Job Approval 34%; Average Is Record-Low 41%” [Nine years later, he still only has a “concept of a plan“, for improving health care. Damn. What a… putz.]

By 2026 (if not before) — his popularity will be in the very low 30% range, because he is a pure charlatan. [BTW, where are those promised IRS Forms 1040, from him — now over a decade, later?! And how exactly did Mexico pay to build even one mile of his stupid wall?]

Let’s just quickly run down some of what he’s (preposterously) promised to accomplish, by March of 2025, to that end:

(i) Gas at under $2/gallon

(i) 50% decrease in car insurance rates

(iii) Sub 3% interest rates

(iv) Substantially cheaper rents, nationwide

(v) End all taxes on tips

(vi) End all taxes on Social Security

(vii) End all taxes on overtime wages

(viii) End Ukraine War by end of January ’25 [Question: does he plan to just “gift” Ukraine — to Vlad?!]

(ix) End Gaza / Israel War by end of February ’25

(x) Substantially decrease federal income taxes for all families earning under $200,000 a year (about 85% of all Americans) by March ’25

(xi) Cut federal budget — with Elon — by $2 trillion — before Summer 2025…

(xii) And… one he never said aloud, at a rally — but one he’s (certainly) promised Elon Musk and Sheldon Adelman’s widow: cut taxes in half for all billionaires in the USA.

Of course, except for (xii), he will do none of these things. He won’t even “build a wall” this time. He may deport more brown people — by 2027 or so… but his approvals will (again!) plummet — when everyone sees that only billionaires got their tax breaks.

So yeh, Johnnie, you and chubby Stevie go ahead — and slobber all over those charts you’re making.

They are tomorrow’s bird-cage liners.

Out.

UPDATE: Rudy G. Continues To Flirt With Getting… Jailed In Manhattan.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Just so the Powerline boys can keep track of “all the best people“ Tangerine now proposes to have advise him, in his coming [mal-]Administration, we offer this morning’s minute order, from USDC Judge Liman in Manhattan, after Rudy’s ongoing foot-dragging, on his prior orders to turn over property (he no longer owns) — to pay two Georgia election workers some of the $148 million he owes them for defaming them:

…ORDER: This order memorializes the oral orders made at the hearing held on November 7, 2024, based on the dates provided by the parties:

(1) Defendant has until Monday, November 11, 2024 to amend his responses to the Information Subpoena to give full and complete answers under oath, and, inter alia, shall give a full and complete answer under oath to Question 13 of the Information Subpoena served to him on August 5, 2024, see Dkt. No. 70 3, 21.

(2) Plaintiff-Receivers have until Monday, November 11, 2024 to instruct Defendant, pursuant to Paragraph 4(f) of the Court’s turnover and receivership order of October 22, 2024 (the “Turnover Order”), see Dkt. No. 62, of the location to which all outstanding property listed on pp. 1718 of the Turnover Order shall be delivered by Defendant and/or his agents to the Receiver and the means by which it shall be delivered to the Receiver (including, but not limited to, the terms of appropriate insurance coverage).

(3) Defendant has until Friday, November 15, 2024 to comply with the Plaintiff-Receivers’ instructions and to deliver to the Plaintiff-Receivers all items of property identified in the Turnover Order, according to the Plaintiff-Receivers’ instructions.

(4) Defendant has until Thursday, November 14, 2024 to submit a motion to modify the Turnover Order to require the Plaintiff-Receivers to treat Defendant’s New York co-op property as his homestead pursuant to C.P.L.R. 5206. The Plaintiffs have until Monday, November 18, 2024 to respond, and Defendant then has until Thursday, November 21, 2024 to reply.

Any request for modification of this Order shall be filed only after the parties have met and conferred and no later than one business day before the operative deadline sought to be modified. The parties are warned that continued violation of the Turnover Order may result in contempt sanctions….

Signed by Judge Lewis J. Liman on 11/8/2024….

Hilarious. He’s… flat out of runway.

Final Parker-Venus-Whiz-By, Two Days Ago!

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

The graphic at right depicts a prior dip around Venus, but the principle is the same here on the last dip around Venus (completed this past Wednesday): Parker used a massive gravity assist — to pick up speed and then sprint inward toward this close approach to the Sun. In fact, it will be the closest Parker ever approaches our home star — and the closest any human made object will have ever traveled past the Sun.

Parker needs the extra speed, so that it is able to escape from the gargantuan tug of the sun’s gravity. Here’s a bit from NASA on it all:

…On Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will complete its final Venus gravity assist maneuver, passing within 233 miles (376 km) of Venus’ surface. The flyby will adjust Parker’s trajectory into its final orbital configuration, bringing the spacecraft to within an unprecedented 3.86 million miles of the solar surface on Dec. 24, 2024. It will be the closest any human made object has been to the Sun.

Parker’s Venus flybys have become boons for new Venus science thanks to a chance discovery from its Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe, or WISPR. The instrument peers out from Parker and away from the Sun to see fine details in the solar wind….

And with that, a tumultuous week closes — onward, grinning… go Buffs — tomorrow at 3 pm local!

नमस्ते

There Are Now Over 50,000 People With Mpox Clade 1b, In Central Africa… Tough News — Over 2,500 New Cases In Last Week…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is indeed tough news, even if some of these 2,500 “new” cases are more the result of clearing backlogs — finally having enough PCR test kits on the ground, to verify the afflicted’s status — by testing blood samples (some perhaps drawn weeks ago).

The 34 new deaths are also primarily among very young children. This all was a largely avoidable tragedy. Please ignore every word out of Kennedy Jr.’s mouth — about vaccines. Had the WHO continued to fund vaccines for small-pox in children for the past 20 or so years, it is a near certainty that this outbreak would have been — at most — forty or so cases… continent wide. We’ve written on this before: older adults (who were vaccinated in the 1980s and earlier for smallpox) are largely immune to this Mpox outbreak.

But not so, the children who were never vaccinated (as WHO felt smallpox had been eradicated from the Earth, and stopped spending for a vaccine it thought no one needed, any longer). But it turns out that it would have provided some immunity to these Mpox outbreaks. [Dammit. Again — please tell RFK Jr. to sit down and shut up.] In any event, here’s the latest, from the Univeristy of Minnesota’s CIDRAP researchers:

…Last week African countries reported 2,532 new mpox cases, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Burundi, pushing the total since the first of the year to 50,840 cases, officials from Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said today.

The officials also reported 32 more deaths from the virus. At the briefing, Jean Kaseya, MD, MPH, Africa CDC’s director-general, said cases continue to rise in Uganda and the outbreak has spread to one more district of Central African Republic (CAR), Paoua, which is on the border with Chad….

We shall hold a good thought — that people will stand with the clearly demonstrated bio-science, in favor of vaccines — as safe and effective. Another pandemic is only as far away as the next largely unvaccinated population / generation in a country. Out.

नमस्ते

Maybe Mike Davis Isn’t Being Paid — And This Is His Bail Out Move…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Hinderaker tonight finally noticed that this Tangerine lawyer… is proving true that the Cheetolini meant his threats of retribution.

This may win him… a censure, from Judge Merchan on the 12th.

But it may also be his intended exit ticket, since it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Tangerine isn’t paying him (consider that Trump owes Rudy Giuliani ~$2.2 million in legal fees he’s never paid, per Rudy’s Chapter 11 filings).

We shall see… but this is… madness.

Sheer madness.

And John, never able to accept the logical consequences of his own demented advocacy… tries to label Davis as a “false flag” operator.

No John, he’s been GOP / MAGA from its first days.

But Hinderaker’s silly attempts at self-delusion are quite… precious.

Out.

In Tangerine’s “Only The Best People” Annals: More Rudy G. Shenanigans Edition! [Caught Red-Handed.]

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We can only laugh — as we watch former Mayor Rudy D. descend into lawlessness — the same sort of lawlessness he used to regularly prosecute in Manhattan, as the then US Attorney, what now seems. . . an entire life-time ago.

This guy was, and now once again is… one of Tangerine’s closest confidants and advisors. What will he advocate about, once inside 1600 Penn.?! Yikes. This — from plaintiffs’ lawyers, is a letter detailing preposterously bad faith evasion of lawful USDC Manhattan court orders (by Rudy):

…Plaintiffs asked whether Defendant would stipulate that 1) at the time of the purported gift, the value of the rings, individually and collectively, exceeded any applicable annual gift-and-estate tax exclusion amount applicable the purported gift in tax year 2018, and 2) that no gift tax return was ever filed relating to the rings. Defendant declined to so stipulate, and Plaintiffs’ counsel understands that Defendant intends to oppose this motion.

The World Series rings at issue were initially listed on Mr. Giuliani’s bankruptcy schedules as property of the bankruptcy estate in his chapter 11 case, indicating that Mr. Giuliani understood the rings to have been his property as of the December 21, 2023 chapter 11 petition. See ECF No. 10-2 at 4. When proceedings commenced in this Court, Plaintiffs included the World Series rings among the property subject to their motion for turnover and receivership. See ECF No. 9.

On October 8, 2024, while that motion was pending, Intervenor [the son who was purportedly gifted the rings] moved to intervene to assert an interest in the rings, claiming that Defendant had gifted the rings to Intervenor on May 25, 2018. (ECF No. 52). Plaintiffs promptly served discovery requests (including a set of document requests that covered documents and communications relating to tax planning) on Intervenor on October 16, 2024, and Intervenor responded on October 27, producing a limited set of documents and nothing relating to any tax planning by himself or by Defendant….

[And in a separate Wilkie Farr (plaintiffs’) letter, same date:]

…Mr. Giuliani asks that Plaintiffs send him legal documents to transfer title to the [1980 SL500, a baby blue ragtop Mercedes] automobile, which is registered in Florida. Had Mr. Giuliani or his counsel so much as Googled this issue, they would have learned that in Florida paper titles are transferred by the owner signing the front of the title certificate, while electronic titles must be reassigned in person at a motor vehicle service center.

It so happens that Mr. Giuliani has filed a copy of his vehicle registration at ECF No. 42-5 in No. 24-cv-6563; entering the title number shown on that registration document into the Florida HSMV website shows that the title in question is, indeed, a “paper title.”

Apparently, neither Mr. Giuliani nor his counsel have bothered to investigate how to comply with the Court’s order in this regard….

In light of recent events, it is impossible to fathom how those representations [by Mr. Giuliani — about his former properties] were true. As set forth in the correspondence already filed at ECF No. 81-1, Plaintiffs have made direct requests to Mr. Giuliani to identify the location of all receivership property, including and particularly the property that Mr. Giuliani moved out of his New York Apartment. [That property included an autographed New York Yankees No. 5 jersey — one worn in World Series game play, by Joe DiMaggio, as a follow-on member of the historic “Murderers’ Row” clubs, long gone to the mists of eternity — but somehow… appropriate that it has gone… missing, while in Rudy’s control]….

“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio — Joltin’ Joe has left, and gone away….”

Yep — that was a time — Joe’s time — when there really were heroes in public life, in NYC. So, as I say, and as ever — Tangerine hangs with “only the best” people. [Here, solely for a complete record, is Rudy’s lawyers’ version.] It is going to be a lo-o-o-o-ong four years. Onward… grinning.

नमस्ते

Overnight, A Fourth Clade 1b Mpox Case, In The UK… But Still Limited — To One Contact Grouping.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The primary good news here it that the four viral hosts/patients were all from a single household, so the risk is exceedingly small — to the general British public. And all four are receiving therapeutic drugs, while all known contacts of the four have now been vaccinated.

Even so, with one case here in the USA, we all need to be vigilant. Here’s the latest from the US AP wires:

…British health officials say they have identified four cases of the new, more infectious version of mpox that first emerged in Congo, marking the first time the variant has caused a cluster of illness outside of Africa. Scientists said the risk to the public remains low.

Authorities announced the first case of the new form of mpox in the U.K. last week, saying the case was being treated at a London hospital after recently traveling to countries in Africa with ongoing outbreaks.

This week, the U.K. Health Security Agency said it had now identified three further cases who lived in the same household as the first patient. They too are now being treated at a hospital in London….

Onward — the days will get brighter from here — and my pro bono “resistance law” practice has already “rolled up its sleeves” (as Kamala asked, last evening!) and reported for duty. Grinning — lil’ ladies here this evening!

[Side note: Clearly the Powerline boys fear Kamala — as a 2028 White House candidate force of nature, and at the 2026 mid-terms. The boys know JD “eyeliner” Vance plays way too… small. And the gOP has no bench. So, three days later, they simply can’t stop writing misogynistic things about her, and all powerful women of color, more generally. Hilarious.]

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Would Have Us Believe That Long-Standing DoJ [Non-Partisan] Policies Are Proof Of Trump’s… Divine Rights. YAWN.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

So, there is a long standing policy that the entering President cannot be criminally prosecuted while in office, not by the US DoJ or the Special Counsel.

John pretends this is proof of Tangerine’s near divinity, after last night. Poppycock.

It is simply our system of ordered liberty in action.

There is nothing more than an umpire calling balls and strikes to see here, John. [But since the bulk of Tangerine’s most faithful flock lack even the functional equivalent of a high school civics education… Hinderaker thinks he can spin this whopper, to great effect. Nope. Try again, son.]

We should note, though, that the state-level cases — three of which have gone to trial, and one of which now is scheduled for a 34-felonies sentencing on November 26, 2024 — by NY State Judge Merchan… face no such policy constraint.

In sum, the states are free to execute their own criminal proceedings — and all civil ones.

Hilarious, there Johnnie-boy — you’re a liar, even when your boy has won a victory lap.

Damnation.

Back To The Power Alley: Guggenheim Securities Slightly Trims Merck’s One Year NYSE Price Target — But Still Forecasts… ~30% Upsides, From This Morning.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Let us try to find some smallish sense of normalcy, in this most chaotic of moments. I do trust that Kamala will offer a gracious unifying speech this evening, despite the way her opponent has belittled and demeaned her — as a woman.

To that end, we would note that the “Gugg” is pretty astute — and while the slight dip in growth rates for the China sales of Gardasil are not insubstantial, pembrolizumab sales increases are very likely to fill any dip that the HPV vaccines might post, by year end 2025. So yes, with Merck at just over $100 a share this afternoon — and thus a “Buy” rating, with a 30% upside is still pretty outstanding, for a 12 month return. Here’s that story, from this “morning after’s” [hangover]:

…Guggenheim lowered the firm’s price target on Merck to $130 from $137 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. While noting shares are down about 2.6% since the company reported Q3 earnings last week, with much of the focus remaining on Gardasil sales in the quarter that were well below expectations, the firm adds that it was “encouraged” by Keytruda’s continued strength and Winrevair’s uptake in its first full quarter on the market….

I will bet a real Buffalo Nickel that Tangerine welshes on his promise to Elon Musk — to “let” him “cut ~$2 trillion” from the federal budgets. Elon will be happy to keep the electric vehicle subsidies and his federal SpaceX contracts with NASA. Heck he may even offer to buy out the dying Truth Social train wreck brand (by folding it into the X-itter properties he holds, giving Tangerine a “soft landing” for his 67% interest in that hater-aid site). Damnation.

Now you know. Take your time. Breathe deeply, and focus on all the good things… that still are… true.

नमस्ते

We Need… Some Levity. And The Former Mayor Of The Big Apple Will… Oblige.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

I think a grin is in order. Let us all laugh at the disgrace Rudy Giuliani has become: disbarred; indicted; broke and fleeing the foreclosure orders of various receivers, on the $148 million judgment (for libeling and defaming a pair of mother/daughter Georgia election workers, from last time around — 2020-21!).

We offer this letter/exhibit below in full, in which it turns out Rudy took all the furnishings out of his NY Co-op — despite an explicit federal court order that all that property belonged now to the plaintiffs… and then was reached by phone, by the judge — in the Mercedes, headed to vote in Florida, yesterday… and yep — that same Mercedes must be turned over in Manhattan federal court tomorrow (along with the Mercedes keys).

Rudy had tried to tell the judge he would miss court, because he had “a radio show” to do with Tangerine, tomorrow. The judge simply (and forcefully) told Rudy he could come to Manhattan tomorrow morning, or the US Marshals would come arrest him in Florida at his radio gig, for failure to appear on a standing order of civil disgorgement (now in default). Hilarious. Now it looks fairly likely that the two fine women in Georgia will get title to both the NY Co-op, and the Florida (Miami) condo (as well as the Mercedes!):

…Notably, despite Mr. Giuliani’s apparent assumptions to the contrary, Mr. Giuliani’s “alternative” New York homestead claim and his Florida homestead claim are not two sides of the same coin: one is not automatically triggered if the other fails. Instead, to establish the factual predicates for a homestead claim as to each apartment, Mr. Giuliani must address different facts and a different relevant time period, and it is possible that both efforts will fail. In the parallel declaratory judgment action, either the undisputed facts or the trial record will demonstrate that Mr. Giuliani did not establish a homestead at the Palm Beach Condo prior to the undisputed date of Plaintiffs’ lien on August 8, 2024. Meanwhile, in this proceeding, to the extent Mr. Giuliani’s waiver will be forgiven and he will be given another chance to carry his burden to demonstrate an entitlement to the New York exemption, the revelation that Mr. Giuliani recently vacated the New York Apartment sometime in late September or early suggests that he may be disqualified from claiming the New York homestead exemption under CPLR § 5206(c).

Stated differently, while an individual cannot simultaneously maintain two homesteads, in this situation, it is possible and even likely that Mr. Giuliani both did not have a homestead claim at the Palm Beach Condo before August 8, 2024, and did not have a homestead claim at the New York Apartment when he sought to claim it here — and that consequently, both of Mr. Giuliani’s homestead claims will fail….

Now you know. These are “only the best people” — according to Tangerine. And, to be clear, the $148 million is ALSO a civil state law determination — so Tangerine cannot let/get Rudy off the hook, even if he wanted to. Onward, grinning — a sardonic grin.