Category: Uncategorized

No Artemis I Launch (Uncrewed) Anytime Soon… And, No — It Is Not Just Ian…

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Weather, down on the cape (with Ian likely to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane, next week) is a pressing concern. Yes weather, is certainly the most pressing immediate factor.

But the tanking test operation (last Wednesday) showed some more / repeated evidence of early leaking. It seems no matter the pattern of pre-cooling, low pressure, to slowly building normal pressure… or the reverse of that… we cannot get the tanks to fill, without some deeply concerning leaks of highly-volatile fuel-feed appearing.

Here is the latest — but this rocket is going back into the hangar.

And that is unfortunate, for all concerned — even if we personally aren’t sure we need to progress toward a return to crewed lunar landings.

Out, smiling — ever, smiling.

नमस्ते

I Think We Last Covered A Border Outbreak In Uganda In Nov. 2018 — Four Years Later, Another One; Ebola Continues…

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Here was that post, though we’ve seen several outbreaks in DRC, Sierra Leone and Tanzania since.

It is always difficult news when a new flare up occurs. Even so, I suppose the smallish better news is that with “contacts of contacts” / ring vaccinations… and the wide availability of sufficient stock of the Merck / NewLinks vaccine… this outbreak, like all the others post-2019… have been (and likely will be) relatively short-lived and well contained.

But make no mistake: it still kills over 80 per cent of the patients who contract it. So — especially in the case of health workers, extreme vigilance is required. Here’s the overnight AllAfrica.com bit, from Mubende District, Uganda:

…In a statement on Friday evening, the ministry said in a period of 24 hours four new Ebola cases were confirmed in Mubende to bring the cumulative number of cases to 11.

“Three new deaths were recorded, bringing the total number of cumulative deaths to 11. Of these, eight deaths were from community whereas three are facility based,” the ministry said.

However, the 11 deaths include the first eight people who died after presenting signs and symptoms similar to Ebola and were buried before samples were taken to be tested for the virus.

This happened a few weeks ago before the ministry declared the virus in Mubende district.

“There are 25 cases on admission, out of which six are confirmed while 19 are suspected. The Ministry of Health rapid response teams remain on ground to conduct contact tracing and follow up for all contacts to the confirmed cases. Cumulatively, a total of 58 contacts have been listed….”

Now you know. And we know that the case may easily be made that, in the main… vaccines are perhaps the most astonishingly successful innovation (in public health)… in the history of… human history. Without them, it is not far-fetched to imagine that humans might have been all but eradicated from the face of the Earth by now, between Marburgs, Ebola, Avian flues, COVID or even a resurgent mutated version of the 1918-style flu. Especially since globe-hopping airline travel (and easily spreading from host to host) has become ubiquitous in 21st Century life. [And that’s before we consider the miracle that the polio vaccine represents.]

G’night to all of good will. Smile.

नमस्ते

Investors Are… Pulling ~$140 Million, And Exiting Truth Social Commits… Perfect!

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And in REAL scandal sheet news… the SEC is investigating (on both a civil-, and a DoJ criminal- front).

The company has missed every deadline for a shareholder vote — and the investors had been expecting improved terms, in their favor — to stay committed to the deal. Both due to generalize market turmoil — and Trump’s clearly worsening federal criminal (allegedly… potential espionage) profile.

Those better terms were never offered, with Trump saying “take it — or leave it” as he almost always does in business negotiations. But there’s a… sea change. And he’s being… left, in the outbound tides.

Here’s the latest — it may well be that his inability to generate business cash (as opposed to restricted funds / political donations) may more swiftly be his undoing, that ant indictment. We shall (as ever) wait, and see:

…The company had earlier claimed commitments of over $1 billion. That number seems… to be disappearing, day by day….

The company has struggled to close the Truth Social merger and previously blamed the SEC for delaying the deal amid criminal and civil investigations.

The SEC started examining the deal in June over the possibility that Trump Media and Digital World had held discussions before the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) went public last year without informing the watchdog.

As a result, the directors of Digital World received subpoenas in June from a grand jury in the Southern District of New York….

“Blank-check” company Digital World Acquisition said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday that some backers were pulling a total of $139 million they had planned to put into the deal….

Couldn’t happen to a nicer… guy.

Felonies!? No Problem. But… “Ask For Directions”? A National Calamity(!), At Powerline.

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This would be funny — if the irony here wasn’t so… sad.

Scott Johnson himself, oft’ prone to senior moments, complains about Mr. Biden’s occasional senior moments.

Scott complains about it, almost every day. But he was utterly silent — when Trump (repeatedly, over the course of four long years) suggested “windmill cancer” was a thing. Or that “injecting bleach” might be a good COVID therapy. And on and on. Not a peep.

But let Mr. Biden ask where he is supposed to stand for a photo op, on a hot mic, and Scott is off to the races.

I think (in view of Scott’s more than occasionally addled, typo-littered… publishings) I will leave it at… “the pot ought not call the kettle black.”

Nah — I take that back — a man asking for directions should not be news, but when the former Commander in Chief refuses to return plainly stolen national defense secrets, for over 14 months… and has engaged in a decades long, complex, weltered-patterned bank and NY state tax- frauds… I think that ought to be news — at any scandal sheet, like Powerline.

But nope — those guys… cannot even peep about a soon-to-be Tangerine felon.

Sheesh. Out.

The First White House Summit On US Hunger — In Over A Half-Century… September 28, 2022

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The last one, during the waning days of the Nixon administration, supplemented the Kennedy-Johnson 1964 food stamp programs… and added funding to Johnson’s school nutritional assistance — for families of limited means.

This is both a timely and overdue conference, to be sure, as one in eight children struggle with sporadic food scarcity still, in the United States. And without steady, proper nutrition, a complete education may well be beyond the reach of most children. That is… just shameful, in the richest nation on Earth.

Listen to NPR, on it all:

…President Joe Biden will headline the White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health on Sept. 28, unveiling his plan to make good on a pledge to end hunger and diet-related diseases by 2030.

The conference… will feature panels and working group sessions involving hundreds of advocates, educators, health care professionals, lawmakers, cabinet officials and everyday Americans.

Doug Emhoff — the husband of Vice President Harris — will also speak at the conference, the White House says. Other featured speakers include Chef Jose Andres, known for his work feeding people after disasters, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

It will be the first conference on hunger, nutrition and health since 1969. That Nixon-era conference led to the creation of the big programs underpinning U.S. hunger response, like food stamps and child nutrition assistance….

Do tune in on Wednesday with me… smile.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker’s Usual Fare: No Evidence?! Okay, I’ll Just Make It UP!

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Tonight, Hinderaker claims that a kid run over and killed by a drunk driver is… Mr. Biden’s fault.

There is zero evidence that either man mentioned Mr. Biden’s name.

The drunk man, the driver — made a statement about politics when he called 911. But here is what the local police themselves (after an investigation) say:

…The North Dakota Highway Patrol is speaking out after last weekend’s fatal hit-and-run crash after a street dance in McHenry has become a national political talking point.

“I understand why that happened because there was a statement made by the suspect when he called 911, but there is no evidence to support this was politically motivated at all,” North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind said….

Funny that Hinderaker only sees this in one way: his only route is to nakedly… lie.

Actually… not funny.

But time to say this is Trump’s fault too, John — if you are being honest.

We already know the guy who fired on the FBI in Ohio about a month ago… was motivated by Trump. He is dead, now.

And your lies, and incendiary rhetoric are… going to get more people killed.

Find a conscience, John. Use it.

Out.

All This “Machinery Of Death” Is Fundamentally BROKEN. Alabama Man Strapped Down To Die — But Prison Guards AGAIN Cannot Find A Vein?!

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Damnation. Just imagine: you are already strapped down, on the bed… the guard is already digging into your arms / and later, your legs… to try to find a service-able vein. To pour poison into you. To end you. [Backgrouner here; search for a dozen more on this topic in the box above left by putting in “death penalty”.] How torturous must that be? Knowing they are actively working to kill you… and you CANNOT stop it… for hours, perhaps.

This scraping and digging, into your veins… goes on for hours and hours… without ever finding a wide enough vein. Then shortly before midnight, the State of Alabama just… calls it all off. Stitches your wounds shut, and…

You are unstrapped, and wheeled back to your cell on death row. But you’ve been watching them try to kill you, helplessly for… hours already. That’s EXACTLY what Alabama just did. Of course the man is a murderer. But that is both cruel, and unusual — it does not comport with civilized penal interests — at all. If this doesn’t ring in as torture… then we need to rethink whether we are a civilized society, at all.

Here is The UK Guardian on it:

…Prison officials in Alabama abandoned an attempted lethal injection of a man on Thursday after trouble accessing his veins, two months after the state was accused of “cruel and unusual punishment” when it spent three hours executing Joe Nathan James.

Alabama halted the execution of Alan Miller, who was convicted of killing three people in a shooting in 1999, after they determined they could not get the lethal injection under way before a midnight deadline….

We need to face the fact that we cannot reform this incoherent, deadly, awful and now nearly random non-system we cling to. End it. Out.

नमस्ते

Friday Lunacy: Scott Johnson Is Reduced To Claiming… Missing An Ohio State Game… Is A Political SCANDAL?!

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Well — as we’ve said, the ostriches at Powerline have almost uniformly stuck their heads in the sand, to avoid talking about or seeing, the GOP implosion heading into the mid-terms… all being delivered on the considerable haunches(!) of Tangerine’s latest insane Hannity interviews. Oh, and the expanding criminal investigations, and civil frauds, eclipsing $250 million.

And that’s before we get to how the GOP has cheered the Supremes’ taking away US women’s bodily autonomy. So yeh — these guys have a very narrow band of acceptable discourse, to avoid stepping on land-mines.

But here on Friday morning, Scott claims it some deep political scandal… that a democratic candidate inside Ohio chided his GOP opponent for attending a Trump rally. And then the Democrat had the temerity to (wait for it!)… miss… an Ohio State football game… while the democratic candidate was presiding over a wedding (and so had to miss the game), as well.

Oh. The. Humanities.

Scott: give it up. Attending a wedding as the officiant, is certainly less odious than joining a bunch of MAGAts, giving repeated (but only slightly modified) Heil-Hitler salutes.

No, the real scandal is that the GOP is running MAGA campaigns… all day, every day. Not that a democratic candidate missed attending a college ball game, to marry two humans. Sheesh.

Out.

Just As We Said — O’Keefe/”Veritas” Loses Jury Trial; And A Minimum Of $120,000.

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This was the case where the O’Keefe boys used a mole to try to spy on a Democratic charitable organization, to get “oppo dirt“, back in the 2016 cycle in DC — by having their female mole get hired, and then (violating her fiduciary duties to the organization paying her), she audio-recorded almost every conversation she had with… anyone, in the offices, or at functions — all (admittedly!) so that she could provide the wire-tapped dirt-results to… O’Keefe.

Just as we earlier said, ever since the DC laws were beefed up after the wire-tapping attempts in Nixon/Watergate… this was a foregone conclusion: Veritas would lose this trial. This sort of thing is severly… frowned upon in DC (but apparently not so, in Tennessee — outside of Nashville, that is).

Y A W N.

Here’s the seven page verdict form, with only the signature of the foreperson redacted.

I suppose the only slight surprise is that the damages were NOT at least ten times higher than listed by the foreperson.

Onward — like Alex Jones, this is the first of several suits where O’Keefe is exposed for boxcar damages… as is his entity, Project “Veritas”.

Out, into the evening breeze… grinning.

Hinderaker: Domestic Terrorist Apologist, And Serial Fabulist…

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This evening, John Hinderaker tells one of the worst lies I ever seen him tell. And that… is no mean feat, from this endless gasbag.

It is willful; it is manifestly false… and it does grave damage to the nation.

Hinderaker says that Democrats are criminalizing dissent. Poppycock.

His “examples” of the lawful dissent that has been criminalized?

(a) Trump stealing Top Secret documents — not sure how that thievery is any form of… “dissent”;

(b) The January 6 “rally” — note that he refuses to acknowledge what the “rally” engendered, and refuses to accept Trump’s role in inciting the subsequent maimings, beatings and shooting deaths; and

(c) That several of his “friends” have had their devices and offices searched, each under judicially issued federal search warrants — most related to either election fraud, or COVID-19 loan fund frauds.

Separately (likely because he’s been paid by Lindell to write this new post)… (d) he says the My Pillow guy simply questioned whether the 2020 election was actually won by Tangerine. He says this even though the unsealed evidence so far shows he conspired with named indicted individuals in Colorado to change the results inside Dominion voting machines. That is not “questioning”… That is… yep, a felony, John. Damn.

So — how this works, John… is that we prosecute felonies. All of these are just that. In contrast to being a banana republic (as you complain), this is what we do to even former presidents who commit felonies. See Spiro Agnew, John Mitchell and Richard Nixon.

Cheers. You are a wilfully lying dangerous sack of watery pig crap.