Category: Uncategorized

In Which Hinderaker Thinks “Anti-Black”… Is “Merit-Based”. Sheesh.

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Yikes — tonight, he describes a NYC race discrimination settlement… and inaccurately claims it is “anti-“ merit-based hiring and promotion.

However, the truth is that the proof established — in a three decades long suit — that NYC was… anti-merit-based — but in the guise of being biased against meritorious Black candidates, via discriminatory testing requirements.

So we again see Hinderaker lying openly about facts in court cases, twisting them to serve his odious obsession with peoples’ race.

Damn. Out.

Contrary To What Paul Says/Thinks, Whatever The Civil Law Does NOT Expressly PROHIBIT — It Permits, In The US. This Is Not Germany.

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I do get that the whyte separatists want the Supremes’ Harvard and UNC cases to have held things… as a matter of positive law — that they did not.

In fact, the majority plainly held the opposite, in several sections.

But Paul’s buddies (the shill-plaintiffs from one of the cases) sent “warning letters” to lots of universities… that directly lie about the law as it now stands.

Competent counsel (real lawyers, for institutions of higher learning) will ignore these firebrand zealots for whyte separatism.

These jokers must believe that the German-style presumptions apply, here in the US — under German law, if it is not expressly permitted, it is prohibited. In our system of ordered liberty, unless the civil law directly prohibits a thing, we as free people are… yep — free to do as we please.

Get used to it, ole’ Paulie. Or… decamp to Germany.

Grinning… out.

[U] Confidential To Ms. Stauffer: Yes — Ricin Is A Different Chemical (Danger / Threat) Than Powder Cocaine…

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Geez.

The stoopid — it burns! [No one attempts… assassination, with under a gram of coke!]

Betsy would tell us that NOT finding “fingerprints” on under a gram of powder that turned out to be cocaine… is proof of a coverup.

Damn.

She argues that it is equivalent to being careless with ricin.

I think that is self-mockingly obvious, as a poor bit of “reasoning”.

So I’ll stop here. Heh!

Updated — later in the afternoon, she bleats about some poll run by frothy hard right interests, that purports to say some Democrats “think” Mr. Biden “may have done” some bad things — as a Veep (pre 2016).

Y A W N.

OTOH, we don’t use polling of any kind — to decide whether felony indictments are warranted. If she / they have the goods, how come Mr. Durham was unable, after millions of dollars and multiple years — wholly unable to get even a low level indictment across the finish line?

How come?

Because… every word Betsy and her chuckleheads utter… is a lie. That’s why.

And federal courts are adept — at sussing truth out, from lies.

[BTW, we should mention — as context — (i.e., not “polling”!) Trump himself, personally, now has 70-some felony counts pending, across two separate felony INDICTMENTS.]

Out, and end of update.

A Follow Up, On That Tenn. “Law”, Attacking Vanderbilt University’s Health Care System… What Could Be The “Legitimate, Rational Purpose” — For Demanding These Hormonal/SURGICAL Records?

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I need to return to the latest nonsense in Tennessee, on gender dysphoria — over a quiet cup of sunny Saturday mid-summer’s morning coffee, and a banana, and a bowl of Rainier cherries.

The idea that this “law” — even temporarily is in effect in the Volunteer State, is stupefying. It was largely only in former Axis Power countries (WW II-era) that states/governments were granted the unilateral right to review medical records — for the purpose of prosecution — without patient consent. And yet, two Tangerine appointees on the Sixth Cir. think that is a judgment appropriate exclusively to statehouse buffoons and blowhards, without medical training of any kind.

That is… frankly, breath-taking. So, we quote primarily from the dissent here — a Clinton appointee (full opinion PDF) and highlight her dissenting thoughts:

…Gender identity and gender dysphoria pose vexing line-drawing dilemmas for legislatures. Plenty of challenges spring to mind. Surgical changes versus hormone treatment. Drugs versus counseling. One drug versus another. One age cutoff for minors versus another. Still more complex, what about sports, access to bathrooms, definitions of disability? And will we constitutionalize the FDA approval rules in the process? Even when accompanied by judicial tiers of scrutiny, the U.S. Constitution does not offer a principled way to judge each of these lines — and still others to boot…. [That’s from the majority opinion — and they impliedly decide that legislatures, rather than doctors, should draw the lines. Damn.]

[And so, the very cogent dissent, of Judge White:] Under Tennessee’s law, someone identified male at birth could take puberty blockers consistent with a treatment plan that contemplates development consistent with a male identity, but someone identified female at birth could not. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-33-103(a)(1)….

“Like racial classifications, sex-based discrimination is presumptively invalid.” Vitolo v. Guzman, 999 F.3d 353, 364 (6th Cir. 2021). “Government policies that discriminate based on sex cannot stand unless the government provides an ‘exceedingly persuasive justification,’” id. (quoting United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515, 531 (1996)), which requires showing that the “classification serves ‘important governmental objectives,’ and… is ‘substantially and directly related’ to the government’s objectives,” id. (quoting Miss. Univ. for Women v. Hogan, 458 U.S. 718, 724 (1982)). Applying this standard, I fail to see how the state can justify denying access to hormone therapies for treatment of minor Plaintiffs’ gender dysphoria while permitting access to others, especially in light of the district court’s robust factual findings on the benefits of these treatments for transgender youth….

The filching of Vanderbilt’s patient records under color of this “law”, without the patients’ consent — is a shockingly brown-shirters’ move. The only plausible explanation for the State to have these records is to prosecute patients and their doctors for imaginary “violations” of law — ones made up, of wholly unconstitutional cloth, by faux-X-tians, on the hard right. Damn. You may trust that we will cover the oral argument on this nonsense. Out.

नमस्ते

Mirengoff Remarks — On Coulter’s… Truly… Tabloid-Level Remarks.

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I. Don’t. Care.

Not. A. Bit.

Not about what MAGAts think, not about what Ann Coulter thinks… and not even what Mr. Mirengoff thinks — about some tabloid level fodder ginned up in the far right oppo research bowels… somewhere. [It is clear the mom is getting monthly support payments for the daughter. Being invited to Thanksgiving at the White House… is entirely another matter.]

So put it behind your paywall, Paul — if 100 people read it, you’ll be lucky.

The truth is — none of it matters, in the least.

He’s a troubled adult son — with a troubled past. A private citizen, holding no office at all.

And I will say it: she seems… opportunistic (or at least gullible enough to be manipulated by the MAGA-nation).

There is little else to remark upon. Of course, all children should know and interact with, their fathers. But that does not require the grandparents to step in — if the father cannot — or will not be a constant consistent loving presence.

So, whatever comes of it from here — that’s a private — not public — matter.

End of discussion.

As We Said — Loony USDC Judge Terrence A. Doughty In Monroe, LA… Brought To Heel, Tonight Late.

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Just as we said would occur: Trump appointed Judge in Louisiana told to “take a seat” — by the Fifth Circuit, tonight, since he wouldn’t stay his off-the-chart, out of bounds ruling of June.

Flawless.

What a tool that Doughty guy is.

…COURT ORDER. IT IS ORDERED that this appeal is EXPEDITED to the next available Oral Argument Calendar.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a temporary administrative stay is GRANTED until further orders of the court.

CASE CALENDARED for oral argument on Thursday, 08/10/2023 in New Orleans in the En Banc Courtroom — AM session. The courtroom deputy assigned to your case is Pamela F. Trice. See the letter attached for full contact information….

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Appellants’ opposed motion for stay pending appeal is deferred to the oral argument merits panel which receives this case….

Now you know. Sleep well, knowing that the system of ordered liberty — though messy and chaotic — still works pretty well, overall.

नमस्ते

And, In Average Monthly Temp. Terms — Three Separate Agencies Confirm: June 2023 Was Without Doubt, The Hottest In Recorded Human History.

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We had already mentioned that for five straight days beginning on July 3, and lasting until the 8th, the hottest individual days on record were… erh, recorded. Heh.

There is still a very lethal heat dome over the Southwest, and much of the South. It may not abate meaningfully, until mid next week — and that will make 18 or more days in a row of temps above 107, in places like Phoenix. Here’s that monthly data, as just this afternoon compiled by NASA:

. . .GISTEMP, NASA’s global temperature analysis, is drawn from data collected by weather stations and Antarctic research stations, as well as instruments mounted on ships and ocean buoys. NASA scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York analyze these measurements to account for uncertainties in the data and to maintain consistent methods for calculating global average surface temperature differences for every year. These ground-based measurements of surface temperature are consistent with satellite data collected since 2002 by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA’s Aqua satellite and with other estimates. NASA uses the period from 1951-1980 as a baseline to understand how global temperatures change over time.

Independent analyses by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information likewise found June 2023 to be the warmest June in their records. . . .

But sure, the frothy far right (with petrochemical industry lobbying dollars) claims none of this is. . . real, trend changing weather — just “normal” seasonal variations. Damn. Out.

नमस्ते

So… This Morning, The Biden/Harris “Second Act” — On The Laudable Student Loans Forgiveness Programs… Gets Underway. Excellent!

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As I’ve mentioned here repeatedly, there is ample authority in the 1965 NEA (part of LBJ’s “Great Society” legislation) to allow all the same outcomes, as those at least temporarily sent back to the lower courts by the Supremes last month (see that story here). In addition, although I paid my student loans in full many many years ago, I fully support this notion. Mine came at a time when one could readily land a job that would more than cover the debt payments, plus a very comfortable upper middle class lifestyle, for a young family. That set of circumstances no longer obtains, for most borrowers.

There is nothing noble about locking young people into continual “re-affirmance / forbearance” cycles, often by shady means — and effectively collecting 25 to 30 per cent of their take home, each month to pay for-profit student loan resellers. This is just a payday lender — in a nicer suit. It is crippling the US new homebuyer market, as most cannot afford even a starter home, after paying the juice lenders on student debt. If you make less than $125,000 a year, you ought to be considered for complete forgiveness. That is what “one another’s keepers” means to me, anyway. Here is today’s beginning on it:

…The Department of Education (Department) today will begin notifying more than 804,000 borrowers that they have a total of $39 billion in Federal student loans that will be automatically discharged in the coming weeks. In total, the Biden-Harris Administration has approved more than $116.6 billion in student loan forgiveness for more than 3.4 million borrowers.

The forthcoming discharges are a result of fixes implemented by the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure all borrowers have an accurate count of the number of monthly payments that qualify toward forgiveness under income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. These fixes are part of the Department’s commitment to address historical failures in the administration of the Federal student loan program in which qualifying payments made under IDR plans that should have moved borrowers closer to forgiveness were not accounted for. Borrowers are eligible for forgiveness if they have accumulated the equivalent of either 20 or 25 years of qualifying months….

“Student loans were never meant to be a life sentence, but it’s certainly felt that way for borrowers locked out of debt relief they’re eligible for,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Today, the Department of Education will begin to remedy years of administrative failures that effectively denied the promise of loan forgiveness to certain borrowers enrolled in IDR plans. These actions once again demonstrate the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to delivering meaningful debt relief and ensuring federal student loan programs are administered fairly and effectively….”

And I am proud of all of us, collectively — for not allowing small-minded, clap-trap GOP MAGA forces (actually astro-turfed by the for profit student lending lobby), to rule the roost. Onward, grinning. Be excellent to one another, this weekend!

नमस्ते

Paul And Bill: America “Deserves” To Be Feared — And To Rule… Everything. WTH?!

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These guys. Geez-la-wheez. They are…. just so predictably… idiotic.

At least the Ringsiders admit that Trump is unfit for office, today. So, there’s that silver lining.

But the main thrust of both Bill’s — and Paul’s — latest bleatings is that the Boomers’ doubts about ‘Murica’s supposed infallibility… is what is ruining us all. Thus Bill writes:

…But part was our carelessness with our success and our doubts, inflamed by the civil rights struggle and Vietnam, about whether we deserved it….

Damn. So many things wrong with that take: the civil rights movement was not a weakness, nor was it born of “self-doubt”. It was born of a fuller agreement, that the words of the founding documents ought to, finally, well-over 220 years later, apply to ALL of us — both de facto and de jure.

This — plus the embedded whyte divine entitlement mentality… is why the current GOP gets so much of what it really means to be American… backwards. And encapsulated in one sentence — to boot.

I guess I ought to thank Bill, for summing up, very tersely… why he, and his party politics… are pure losing propositions.

Thanks, buddy.

How Little Hinderaker… Knows, Vol. 1964.

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Tonight John would tell us that a purely partisan threat by letter, made by 13 GOP state AGs, against 100 businesses… will matter.

It won’t.

Unlike proving something (anything!) on an ACT score or GPA… hiring and promotion decisions are never made on numbers alone (except perhaps in commission based sales slots). But never in C-Suite level hiring and promotion. That is far more nuanced, as John well-knows (but won’t admit).

Most of all, businesses seek (rightly) to mirror the markets they serve. And the Chief Justice’s majority opinion in Harvard expressly authorized looking at essays about background, to make admission decisions — so too, in hiring and promotion, idiots.

In that sense, the Harvard/UNC case, and even moreso, these impotent Tennessee and Kansas AGs’ threats… are almost completely dead letters.

Sit down, you clowns. [Or… do file a few ill-starred suits, and just watch as various multinationals move out of these red threat states, to more benign and progressive ones! Once again, MAGA GOP is out of step with modern business thinking.]

Hilarious. This is Bill Lee/Ron DeSantis nonsense, in overdrive.

Out.