We respond…
Almost to the minute — just as I said.
A few moments ago, the verdict was read.
…A jury has found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal counts against him. The former FTX CEO faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison….
I’d bet the sentence, to come in about six months (just set as March 28, 2024)… will be close to 15 years.
Onward.
That’s… justice.
Well, by late afternoon, the jury will have SBF’s felonies case in their hands, for a verdict / decision. Right now, USDC Judge Kaplan is reading the jury instructions to them. Ubers are going to be on tap (paid for by the courts) — and free pizza dinners will be called in.
This jury will deliberate until at least 8:15 pm EDT tonight — and perhaps substantially later — if they decide on their own to do so, and so inform Judge Kaplan.
In any event, AUSA Sassoon’s pithy quote in rebuttal, set forth in the headline above… will ring in their ears throughout the night.
It would not surprise me to see a verdict around 9 pm NYC time; 8 pm here in the City of Big Shoulders.
Of course, that verdict will be guilty on at least two felony counts.
Then we will await a sentencing date — but over a decade will be highly likely, as the final outcome (he will be treated at least as severely as Elizabeth Holmes).
Onward, grinning. His parents? Perhaps… next?
Fast Company has a pretty well-thought out article online, overnight — one that quotes Chris Smalls, the President of the Amazon Labor Union. And the struggle here — is real.
With the ALU still trying to force Amazon into collective bargaining, based on the various election wins — as the NLRA clearly provides… and Mr. Bezos using every lawyers’ trick in the book of federal tactical lawfare to foot drag, and delay that bargaining order… it could well be that non-human workforce will cut by as much as 20% the union’s likely membership roles, even before a bargaining order results in a formal seated negotiation for a collective bargaining agreement.
With machine learning / AI already helping accelerate the ramp up the learning curve, for one armed mechanical devices, now rapidly executing sorting operations in at least one warehouse (albeit as a demonstration project), this is not simply a “gee-whiz” piece. Do go read it all, but here’s a bit:
…Chris Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union, says it seems inevitable that Amazon may eventually use the new technology to cut jobs, even if it won’t happen overnight. “It’s expected—I know they were always pushing toward that direction,” he says. “Even though they made this announcement, I believe they’re still a ways away from [full automation]. It would be pretty difficult to massively swap out the workforce that they have.”
Smalls believes that Amazon’s push for automation is a major reason why unionizing warehouse workers is so crucial, especially amid high rates of injury and turnover. “If they can create a [system] where the machinery is helping reduce injuries, I support it,” he says. “Replacing jobs? Not so much. I just hope to see that these jobs are unionized and they have some say in how the AI and technology is being incorporated….”
We shall see — onward. Ever… onward. That’s the first installment on Amazon labor matters for November — we expect to have two more this month, for those of you keeping score at home. . . in Music City. Have a blast as you prepare for the next ride around the Sun… smile.
नमस्ते
This afternoon, the ACLU filed to have the Supremes ultimately harmonize the nation’s Circuit Courts of Appeal, by siding with the Eighth Cir., which held last year that laws like Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-33-101… are unconstitutional on their face.
Now we await the Supremes’ grant of cert., here — and a bit:
…L.W., Ryan Roe, and John Doe are three transgender adolescents who have lived in Tennessee all their lives. After years of suffering severe distress from gender dysphoria—and after careful deliberation with their doctors and the informed consent of their parents — L.W., Ryan, and John each found tremendous relief from doctor-prescribed, gender affirming medication. They now face severe physical and emotional harm because Tennessee has prohibited them from accessing the medical treatment they need. And their parents — Samantha and Brian Williams, Rebecca Roe, and Jane and James Doe — are each living a parent’s worst nightmare at the prospect of watching their children lose the prescribed healthcare that has enabled them to thrive.
Transgender adolescents like Petitioners have been receiving such care for decades. But in the past three years, Tennessee and 20 other states have banned these treatments altogether, forcing families to upend their lives and move out of state to ensure that their children get the medical treatment they need. District courts across the country have enjoined these bans preliminarily or permanently. The Eighth Circuit has affirmed one of those injunctions in Arkansas….
Now you know. Onward — to a grant, and harmonization — from the nation’s highest court.
नमस्ते
Yesterday, I suggested that we all should wait to see the federal agencies’ filings, in the latest nonsense State of Texas complaint against the way these agencies handle immigration processing, and enforcement — under our currently elected administration (as opposed to Tangerine’s prior — and largely lawless — versions).
In order to teach John, Paul and the rest of the Powerliners & Ringsiders some actual law, here is what the reality is (as opposed to their largely rabid, ill-informed and bitter belchings): once any person wades across, onto US soil, they are vested with certain rights, regardless of how or where they arrived. And in order to give them their hearings, and provide for their well-being, even on a temporary basis, as federal law (8 CFR § 208.30) and our treaties require, our federal agents cannot risk being cut to ribbons, trying to extract them from these razor wire barriers. As we noted yesterday, once here on US soil — they are here lawfully, pending a hearing. And the agencies must respect that law.
So, true to form, the federal position papers were accepted for filing earlier today, in the federal district court, for the Western District of Texas. No surprise — embittered old Abbott is going to lose — again. The opposition is muscular, sensible and… correct. Here’s the whole 34 page PDF filing — and the money quotes:
…Counts 1 and 2 in Texas’s complaint seek to do indirectly — through an injunction from this Court — what it cannot do directly: use state tort law to regulate how federal officials conduct their law-enforcement function. But States cannot “control” federal agents’ “performance of their duties.” Johnson v. Maryland, 254 U.S. 51, 57 (1920); see Leslie Miller, Inc. v. Arkansas, 352 U.S. 187, 190 (1956); Geo Grp., Inc. v. Newsom, 50 F.4th 745, 755 (9th Cir. 2022). And no “specific congressional action” authorizes this “regulation by a subordinate sovereign.” Hancock v. Train, 426 U.S. 167, 179 (1976); see El-Shifa Pharm. Indus. Co., 607 F.3d at 854 (Kavanaugh, J., concurring) (noting that “the APA does not borrow state law or permit state law to be used as a basis for seeking injunctive or declaratory relief against the United States”). To hold otherwise would allow States to flip the Supremacy Clause on its head; States could regulate federal officials and then run to federal court for an injunction based on state law….
Border Patrol agents have cut or moved the wire where the wire prevents them from performing their statutory duties to inspect, apprehend, and process noncitizens who have unlawfully entered the United States or from rendering aid to distressed individuals. Id. ¶ 16. Contrary to Texas’s allegation, Compl. ¶ 8, Border Patrol does not have a policy or procedure requiring agents to cut this wire, let alone for the purpose of destroying Texas’s property or of encouraging unlawful entry into the United States. BeMiller Decl. ¶¶ 17-18. Rather, agents have been advised to use their independent judgment, subject to supervisory review in appropriate circumstances, in determining whether cutting the wire is required to fulfill their responsibilities….
[The] provisions [of] 8 U.S.C. §§ 1221–1231 “charge the Federal Government with the implementation and enforcement of the immigration laws governing the inspection, apprehension, examination, and removal of [noncitizens].” Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez, 142 S. Ct. 2057, 2064 (2022). As the Supreme Court has explained, § 1252(f)(1)’s reference to “the ‘operation’ of the relevant statutes is best understood to refer to the Government’s efforts to enforce or implement them.” Id. That is, “the ‘operation of the provisions’ is a reference… to the way that [it is] being carried out.” Id. Accordingly, with limited exceptions inapplicable here, § 1252(f)(1) “prohibits lower courts from entering injunctions that order federal officials to take or to refrain from taking actions to enforce, implement, or otherwise carry out the specified statutory provisions….”
Here, Texas seeks to restrain Border Patrol agents from exercising their statutory functions under 8 U.S.C. § 1225 to inspect “applicants for admission,” id. § 1225(a)(1),(3) — namely, as relevant here, those noncitizens who have already crossed the international boundary in the middle of the Rio Grande into the United States — and to inspect, process, apprehend or detain them pending removal proceedings or expedited removal, id. § 1225; see also id. § 1226….
Yep. Once again, Gov. Abbott imagines he is a king — not a mere local minister. And he will get his John Brown hind-parts handed to him — with that back porch… painted bright red, in the process — in the next few weeks (AGAIN!), by federal judges.
Flawless — but what a stupid waste of Texans’ state taxpayer funds.
नमस्ते
This morning, Paul Mirengoff, while agreeing that Barr’s comments are warranted, simply ignores that felony indicted defendants have smaller free speech rights, than ordinary citizens. And being a candidate for office DOESN’T matter a whit here, Paul. See, 18 USC § 1512, et seq. [You probably should have taken that First Amendment course during law school.]
There is simply no right to have your followers (even if not your intention) try to kill federal witnesses… or judges, moron. Ask the now jailed in Texas chick named Abigail Jo Shry.
So… Paul, do sit down and shut up. Stop feeding the MAGA morons BS that they will use to say they are “justified” in trying to kill federal judges, court staff, AUSAs and witnesses… in felony matters.
You are ugly. And you have beclowned yourself. Endless citations to precedent available here — from the Supremes, on down.
Of course, this all hints at what might lie beneath — under the ices, in a deep and perhaps even warm (in spots) ocean system. And there… organics might become long chain proteins. And from there… but, well… we are getting out over our skis, now.
Suffice it to say that — as we hope, with Europa and Enceledes as well — these subsurface oceans could ultimately be where we first see… evidence of non-terrestrial biological processes underway.
In any event, here’s the latest, from NASA’s JPL team:
…On June 7, 2021, Juno flew over Ganymede at a minimum altitude of 650 miles (1,046 kilometers). Shortly after the time of closest approach, the JIRAM instrument acquired infrared images and infrared spectra (essentially the chemical fingerprints of materials, based on how they reflect light) of the moon’s surface. Built by the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, JIRAM was designed to capture the infrared light (invisible to the naked eye) that emerges from deep inside Jupiter, probing the weather layer down to 30 to 45 miles (50 to 70 kilometers) below the gas giant’s cloud tops. But the instrument has also been used to offer insights into the terrain of moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto (known collectively as the Galilean moons for their discoverer, Galileo).
The JIRAM data of Ganymede obtained during the flyby achieved an unprecedented spatial resolution for infrared spectroscopy – better than 0.62 miles (1 kilometer) per pixel. With it, Juno scientists were able to detect and analyze the unique spectral features of non-water-ice materials, including hydrated sodium chloride, ammonium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, and possibly aliphatic aldehydes.
“The presence of ammoniated salts suggests that Ganymede may have accumulated materials cold enough to condense ammonia during its formation,” said Federico Tosi, a Juno co-investigator from Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome and lead author of the paper. “The carbonate salts could be remnants of carbon dioxide-rich ices….”
Now you now, with the lawns coated here in lustrous white snow… rapidly being melted under the bright azure skies. Smile.
नमस्ते
Sure — it’s a lil’ stale by now. But when the would-be Theranos logo on the ball park is tossed into the abyss… of never-was — and FTX appears, along with MoviePass, Quibi as other misfit toys — I couldn’t stifle my laughter.
The bit about her up and marrying Burns was classic, as well.
See it if you’d like — and I suspect we are reaching the end of the 15 minutes for her… and SBF, in truth. He’ll see the same outcome in about a week or so.
Here’s a bit of a nice review of the episode in SFGate though — do go read it all:
…While the focus on Holmes might seem a bit dated considering her trial ended last year and the tech industry is currently dealing with a surge in layoffs, there are a few strikingly timely scenes.
When “Lifeboat” [the faux-Theranos logo] is removed from a sports stadium, a logo for the bankrupt crypto company “FTX” is shown underneath, then iconography for similarly failed startups “Moviepass” and “Quibi.”
Elon Musk gets a harsher treatment than in his early “Simpsons” appearances: Burns buys Twitter for Persephone [a/k/a Holmes] as a gift, and at a bargain price after the billionaire’s “self-driving Mars rocket crashed into the International Space Station….”
Hilarious. Yes — SBF has fallen right onto his own sword (testifying disastrously, under able cross-examination, yesterday and today), and yes, the wound is… fatal.
Onward — enjoying a snowy, spooky Halloween ’23 now — kids a go go, at the door!
Hinderaker is right, though, about this much: the protesters at the hearings today are mostly very-poorly informed, and do not speak for me.
But I understand their right to be arrested for speaking. You don’t. Okay.
That is a right we all possess — if we are willing to go to jail for disrupting an official proceeding. [Ahem. Speaking / even shouting in a hearing, with a sign… is not… the same as beating a cop until he is unconscious — with a metal flagpole.]
And yes, John — they are likely to be released without bond — and the charges ultimately will amount to a traffic ticket, inside DC.
But let us not forget: you praised the insurrectionists. You’ve written repeatedly that Nancy Pelosi is to blame for 01.06.21 — that she was the reason felony murders occured.
That is. . . utterly. . . insane.
You’ve hinted that these miscreants were wrongly prosecuted — even as Ashli Babbitt lay dead, due to Tangerine’s lawless exhortations.
You cannot see. . . your own bottomless hypocrisy.
And yes, you are… one lost soul.
Out.
This is nothing more than a strike suit, by Texas — Gov. Abbott knows he’s already lost this one. It is all over, but the shouting.
There is no doubt that border matters are purely federal in jurisdiction. No role for. . . Texas. So, DHS has been removing dangerous razor wire Gov. Abbott overland as well. Abbott sued — and there will be a hearing next week. Abbott will lose, just as he did, on the Rio Grande. Here’s a bit of the latest, from ABC local:
…”You find actually, a lot of the actual wall structures in Texas are well within U.S. territory. Even for the portion from the international boundary line, up to that wall, anyone standing in that area has equal rights under the law to seek asylum as someone standing north of whatever boundary line,” said Elissa Steglich, a clinical professor and co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law….
[A federal border official said] “We do not comment on pending litigation. Generally speaking, Border Patrol agents have a responsibility under federal law to take those who have crossed onto U.S. soil without authorization into custody for processing, as well as to act when there are conditions that put our workforce or migrants at risk….”
[Another federal border official said in September that] “…I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what Border Patrol agents can and can’t do. We see a lot of a lot of folks say just push people back, just don’t let them cross or send them back immediately. The U.S. Border Patrol is a law enforcement agency, we enforce the laws that are on the books, we don’t have the right, nor should we, to deny somebody due process once they are on American soil… you don’t want a law enforcement agency that goes rogue and doesn’t adhere to those principles….”
Indeed. Do stay tuned… snowing steadily here, for the trick or treaters this evening. Grin.
Updated — at 5 pm EDT: I finally found the filings; the only thing that has happened is a one week stay order (to preserve the status quo), without having heard from any agency of the federal government.
A November 7, 2023 (one week out) hearing will address whether the stay ends, and whether the feds may return to removing the razor wire barrier, on federal border pathways. So, most of the MSM out of Texas is largely mis-reporting the status of the matter. The “order” of yesterday was ex parte — and no adversay filings yet exist. It will all change next week.
नमस्ते
Powerline Lies... 