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In Which We See Bat-Guano Crazy Stories, As We Sit In The Sun, Under Azure Skies: Louisiana Edition

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Let’s start at the top: all governmental policies must be both public and in writing, once adopted, so that we the people may evaluate whether we wish for these governmental agents to remain in charge — should we disagree with their “policies”. But the State of Louisiana just told state health workers that a “secret policy” now exists, post the 2024 elections — one which prevents state health authorities from promoting or even announcing the availability of COVID, flu and other vaccines for the public — in the State. So this “policy” is plainly unlawful — as a matter of process. And it is shockingly unwise, as a substantive matter.

Indeed, there can be no reasonable doubt that this “policy” is going to get kids… killed in Louisiana — and lots of senior citizens, too. What is happening to my country?! Secret, anti-science health gags? A loon as the possible Sec’y. of HHS?! WTAH?! Here’s NPR on it, this morning:

…According to the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear losing their jobs or other forms of retaliation, the policy would be implemented quietly and would not be put in writing.

Staffers were also told that it applies to every aspect of the health department’s work: Employees could not send out press releases, give interviews, hold vaccine events, give presentations or create social media posts encouraging the public to get the vaccines. They also could not put up signs at the department’s clinics that COVID, flu or mpox vaccines were available on site.

The new policy in Louisiana was implemented as some politicians have promoted false information about vaccines and as President-elect Donald Trump seeks to have anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And some public health experts are concerned that if other states follow Louisiana, the U.S. could face rising levels of disease and further erosion of trust in the nation’s public health infrastructure. . . .

Staff at Louisiana’s health department fear the new policy undermines their efforts to protect the public, and violates the fundamental mission of public health: to prevent illness and disease by following the science.

“I mean, do they want to dismantle public health?” one employee at the health department said.

“We’re really talking about deaths,” said another. “Even a reduction in flu and COVID vaccines can lead to increased deaths.”

In a statement, the Louisiana Department of Health told NPR it has been “reevaluating both the state’s public health priorities as well as our messaging around vaccine promotion, especially for COVID-19 and influenza….”

Every health department staff member, former staff member, public health official and vaccine expert contacted by NPR repeated the scientific consensus that vaccines are safe, effective, and essential for preventing illness, hospitalizations, and deaths….

In the Nov. 14 meeting, a staff member asked whether the ban on promoting vaccines applied to children’s immunizations, but the answer was noncommittal, according to an employee with knowledge of the meeting’s details.

“My understanding was it’s not clear to what extent we might be able to promote childhood vaccinations,” the staff member said.

But it’s the kind of policy the nation could see if Kennedy is confirmed as secretary for Health and Human Services, Hodge added….

Meanwhile an autistic-spectrum guy with a four-hundred billion dollar war chest (as an agent of chaos) is pushing to shut down our federal government (by midnight, tonight), without even bothering to register as a lobbyist. This too will get more children… killed. Damnation.

नमस्ते

[U] Hinderaker: Delusional Fantasies, Anew…

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John shows a map (a projected “future” map) that then extrapolates what Hinderaker hopes are added seats in FL, TX and maybe AZ.

He hopes these are “red seats”.

But almost nothing suggests that outcome.

In fact, his “analysis” will only hold if immigration trends are wildly reversed — and I mean new citizens, here.

It is more than likely that blue seat declines in CA and NY will become blue seats added in John’s favored states.

Hilarious, son.

Updated: in a tangent — to John’s other wishful thinking (Musk shutdown: wildly unpopular!) — already dozens of House GOP Representatives are dealing Tangerine budget defeats. Musk is soon to be… persona non grata, in Trumpland 2.0.

Out.

It Is Now Likely That Hizzoner Will Be Sent Directly To Jail On January 3, 2025 — At A Little After Noon, Eastern. Damn — How The Once Mighty… Fall.

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No surprise to our regular readers, but overnight, the able USDC Judge Liman moved up Rudy’s jailing probabilities.

Hizzoner has done essentially nothing meaningful, to comply in good faith with orders stretching back to October of 2024. He has willfully evaded clear commands, hidden assets and refused to produce title documents to that Lauren Bacall Mercedes (that once was his), and his NYC Co-Op — in the latter case, refusing to help remove his ex-wife’s name from the title documents, though his divorce decree lists him as the sole owner (they were divorced decades ago). Moreover, his bankruptcy filing listed it as solely his asset.

Here’s the latest, overnight — but this is a hearing for remand, now — in essensce:

. . .ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY DEFENDANT RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI SHOULD NOT BE HELD IN CONTEMPT FOR FAILING TO COMPLY WITH THE TURNOVER ORDERS granting [170] Motion for Order to Show Cause.

ORDERED that the Motion is GRANTED; and it is THEREFORE ORDERED, pursuant to this Court’s inherent contempt authority, that Defendant shall appear before this court on the 3rd day of January, 2025, at 10 a.m. at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 500 Pearl Street, Courtroom 15C, New York, NY 10007, to show cause, if any there be, why this Court should
not find him in civil contempt for failing to comply with the Turnover Orders, and impose such relief as it deems appropriate. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that any opposition to this Order to Show Cause shall be filed by December 24, 2024, and any reply shall be filed by December 30, 2024. SO ORDERED.. (Signed by Judge Lewis J. Liman on 12/18/2024) (ks) (Main Document 175 replaced on 12/18/2024) (ks). Modified on 12/18/2024. . .

He has a similar hearing in DC about 10 days after this one — but he may need bail money to get to the DC hearing. Maybe a Zoom session to DC, from the lockup — in Manhattan?! Hilarious!

नमस्ते

If You Push People — Good People — Too Hard, And For Decades, On End… Eventually, A Business Owner Reaps The Whirlwind. Today Is That Day, At Mr. Bezos’ Joint.

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Yes, we are heading into the busiest shipping week of the year. Yes, other nutty oligarchs are designing plans to shut — and gut — federal government “safety net” programs. So. . . from my perspective, this nationwide strike comes at exactly the right moment.

Amazon delivery drivers should be allowed simple stress free lunch breaks. Their scheduling runs should build it in. They should be allowed bathroom breaks — and not have to eat while driving, and dangerously, and disgustingly… pee into bottles, same — on a 12 to 14 hour shift (often for which the company doesn’t even offer overtime pay). These are not living wages at below $12 an hour, in many locations.

I suppose the only surprise here… is that Mr. Bezos and his flunky “yes men” took this long to realize… that at some point, the bending ends — and the breaking. . . comes, rather all at once. Nationwide, seven distribution centers have walked out, and joined picket lines, this morning. Here’s the New York Times on it:

…Workers who deliver packages from seven Amazon facilities across the country went on strike Thursday morning, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union that represents them.

The Teamsters said thousands of workers had struck, but it was unclear how many people were participating in the action. Amazon said it expected the seven delivery hubs to operate normally.

The drivers are employees of companies that Amazon uses to deliver packages to customers. Amazon has said it has no obligation to bargain with the drivers, because they are not its employees. But the union and the workers said that Amazon ultimately controls their working conditions and was therefore obligated to bargain with them….

Several NRLB Hearing Panels have agreed with the union, that these delivery drivers are controlled by Mother Amazon, via contracts — and as such, must be bargained with, directly. But that matter is on appeal at the moment.

In any event, the idea that these sputtering, ignorant-of-history MAGA bros are going to actually run things… is already falling apart. It is… hilarious.

Exhibit A? Watch as Mr. Musk flames out, in early January — when his lobby disclosure act forms are due in DC — else, the Federal Marshals will show up and walk him out of the Capitol (for failure to register as a lobbyist).

Hilarious.

नमस्ते

Time To Apply The Lobby Laws. Without Fear Or Favor. To Musk/D.O.G.E.

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I was going to wait until Tangerine 2.0 took office, to fully lay out this case, but already Mr. Musk’s headlines (urging shut down) grace every major newspaper – as he urges the government shut down from a position entirely OUTSIDE any government agency.

A shutdown engineered by Musk, to be voted on by House and Senate GOP /MAGA dolts — and endorsed by Tangerine himself.

The federal and state lobby laws, in effect since Richard Nixon was drummed out of office — are crystal clear here: Mr. Musk’s intent is to influence the policies of our government through the legislature.

Musk must register as a lobbyist, right now (he’s already in violation of applicable law, based on MSM reports) — and disclose all of his financial dealings and interests in the objects of his lobbying. He is not part of anyone’s administration.

Moreover, he has said he won’t be even after Tangerine holds his inaugural. He will remain outside of all government.

So his requirement to lobby register will be continuous and ongoing through 2028.

Failure to register as a lobbyist is a federal offense, punishable by time in prison, and very large fines — the $200,000 maximum fine is nothing to Musk, but up to five years in prison will get his attention, since his is a willful violation.

We, the people must demand that our government operate the way it is intended to operate, not as some cigar smoke-filled country club — where robber barons meet in secret and destroy both rights and immunities that we the people through our ancestors, bled and died (over generations) to win.

Expect a public interest lawsuit to be filed through my offices, possibly even before I return from Arizona.

It is preposterous that these jamokes think that the law applicable to all of us…does not apply to them.

Out.

नमस्ते

Scott Johnson Is Right. Candace Owen Is Antisemite of the Year 2024. Hinderaker Is… Smitten By Her. Hah.

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

Scott would rather see Tucker Carlson (also a supporter of Holocaust Denial mythology)… win this year.

Well — I suppose the argument runs that his influence exceeds that of Ms. Owens.

That’s a fair point; but maybe it should’ve been a tie between those two odious characters.

Anyhoo… this should set up some entertaining editorial meetings at Powerline, because Hinderaker has been a huge supporter of Candace Owens — often hosting, and/or sharing the stage with her — at fundraisers and “think tank” events.

Hilarious!

Out.

Congo’s “Tiny Coffins”: Measles Returned, Lethal To Thousands Of Congolese Children — In 2024: NYT…

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We’ve mentioned it several times before, but as we hop a plane, we’ve noticed the NYT story of this morning: Measles is a very virulent killer (primarily of children) in remote regions of Congo — due to the difficulty of getting vaccines on the ground. [And due to stopping them, for a spell.]

The prior generations, from about 1965 on, were vaccinated. There was so-called herd immunity. But once the threat was assumed eliminated, WHO and its partners deployed the scarce money to other, newer threats — and stopped vaccinating for measles, in remote areas. An entire generation, from about 1995 on, was thus born without much immunity, herd or vaccination induced, at all. Now that is coming back to bite us, globally. Here’s the latest — but there could not be a clearer exemplar of why vaccines are solid — life saving — bioscience, than this:

…Werra Maulu Botey could not bear to close his daughter’s coffin. Waiting to bury her, he slid the rough wooden lid back, again and again, to adjust her small head and smooth the cloth that cradled it away from her cheeks.

Olive died of measles, at the age of 5, the evening before. She was the first child to die that weekend in an emergency measles treatment center in the town of Bikoro, in the northwest Democratic Republic of Congo. The second was her cousin, a 1-year-old girl.

Measles is sweeping through the children of Bikoro, as it does every couple of years, creeping, then flaring, across this vast country.

It is on the rise in other parts of the world, too — including in some communities in the United States — though the measles vaccine has been in use since 1963 and is believed to have saved more lives than any other childhood immunization….

We are better than this: than “tiny coffins” — anywhere and everywhere. And that putz Kennedy well knows it. He is about the last person on Earth who should lead any health office… anywhere. Damnation. Out.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker… Deflects, Again.

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

He’s back to complaining about “leftists” who’ve praised Luigi Mangione.

He back to it, because the newest published reports on the 15 year old female / alleged mass shooter in a private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin… indicate the shooter flashed whyte supremacy hand signals on the day of the murders on her social media account, and she was a tee shirt likely copying the whyte supremacist shooters at Columbine in 1999.

So John needs some new demons.

That’s all.

This Will Be… Entertaining. Rudy’s Son Is Supposedly Going To Say (Under Oath!) That He Got “A Bunch Of More Than $50,000 Gifts” From Dad — Ones He’s Never Reported On His IRS 1040s.

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We can only marvel at how many people are being dragged into the undertow of Tangerine 1.0.

How many (thousands?) more, will be dragged under, by the 2.0 version? We shall… see. This is in the Manhattan case, before USDC Judge Liman — just filed:

…The deposition of Mr. Andrew Giuliani is scheduled for December 19, 2024.

The deposition of Mr. Rudolph Giuliani is scheduled for December 27, 2024. The deposition of Mr. Sean Kalin is scheduled for December 31, 2024.

Plaintiffs will provide any deposition designations they intend to use at trial following the completion of these depositions….

H I L A R I O U S.

The claim is that the DiMaggio jersey, and some watches, and some of the World Series rings are long ago gifts (2008-era or earlier), from Hizzoner — to the son. Yikes.

नमस्ते

[U] Some Of My Former Law Partners File As Amici, In Tik-Tok Supremes Case…

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Updated: Overnight, the Supremes agreed to hear the challenge before January 19, 2024. Stay tuned — end update.

I do think Tik-Tok should be allowed to continue in the US. And — despite what Trump 1.0 tried, there is absolutely zero chance that an executive order, serving alone — can Constitutionally support such a banning. That is what Trump failed at doing.

Congress under Mr. Biden then passed a law. It still faced strict scrutiny. And my guess is that the Supremes will strike it down. But we shall see.

Here’s the amici take on it, just filed overnight. One of the lawyers on brief clerked for Scalia. And here’s the application for a Supremes’ injunction, proper.

So, I suspect Chief Justice Roberts will pay especially close attention to what these lawyers wrote.

[For the record, as of this past summer, Trump 2.0 claims he’s now in favor of allowing Tik-Tok to stay in the US. Why would I believe that, if he thinks he can extract personal payments, for modifying his preposterous 1.0 position?]

Onward, grinning — outta’ here in about 20 hours — to the desert.