So we correct it, for him tonight. The “Me” below… is Elon Musk, to be clear.
I am the guy a lil’ left of BHO 44.
But that’s no news at all; so — for Steve’s understanding (he’s like Elon in only this regard — not net worth):
Category: Uncategorized
[U, X2] Unprecedented, In US History In The Last Century And A Half…
Update 05.03.2022 @ 11 AM CDT: The Chief Justice has confirmed it authentic, and has ordered an investigation into this historic breach of Court security. The frothy right argues that rules Roberts out as having been behind the leak. They suspect “the left” whatever that might mean. But it could also be one of Thomas’s clerks or loyal staff — trying to shame Roberts into staying on the Alito side — and avoid Roberts’ coming defection… to write his own dissent. We shall see.
Update No. 2 (after biking): Since it is confirmed as being from Alito’s chambers (though clearly this part may be excised from the final decision)… I think I will offer only one comment on how transparently… political his opinion is (not grounded in US law). Alito hangs his hat in no small part, on a 16th Century string of decisions from Lord Coke, in England (1775). From England — when we weren’t yet a nation, let alone had a 14th Amendment. From England, that regarded us as mere “chattel possessions” — as she did, in large measure, her own women. No vote, no voice. And he was a slaver. So the fact that Alito reaches back to this — as his defense of ignoring more than a half-century of settled US law… is truly… self-mocking:
“…Sir Edward Coke’s 17th-Century treatise likewise asserted that abortion of a quick child was “murder”if the “childe be born alive” and a “great misprision”if the “childe dieth in her body.” 3 Institutes of the Laws of England 50-51 (1644)….”
Confidential to Mr. Justice Alito: right after your citations, there was this… uh… revolution, here on our side of the pond. You might have heard about it. We see that you will reach back almost five centuries to preserve your view that women are chattel property of men, and that the white, landed gentry / patrimony knows what’s best for women, and their own bodies.
Abortion was lawful in the Americas, long before the white man arrived. There are citations for that too. But I’m pretty sure the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment is where he should be looking for guidance — not an enemy monarchy (and, at the time), a Lord’s textbook — from now almost three and a half centuries ago.
I think that is all that needs to be said about his “opinion.” [It is unlikely to be published in this form, to be sure. It is almost hilariously wrong on the law, throughout in truth. Almost — except that it threatens… us all.]
I am honestly too discouraged to blog on space or any topic really, today — taking a long cold bike ride by the lake waters. Out.
No new graphics. [Nope — just the archived one, from the last time this dance was done — at the Supremes.]
And. . . I won’t link the first draft. It is not positive law, in any sense. [If you want to read it, go to scotusblog.com. It is there.]
No matter what, I would ask for calm — around the steps of the high court tonight, and tomorrow. And thereafter.
It seems there is what looks to be an authentic first draft of an Alito majority opinion to overrule Roe circulating tonight.
If genuine, and all indications are that it is genuine, this is a breach of security unseen in 150 years.
I will refrain from additional comment, as even votes occasionally change, and certainly language does, from draft to draft. I think it unlikely that this opinion is issued, formally tomorrow. But I concede that is possible.
नमस्ते
“These Are Not The Droids [Mice] You Are Looking For…” German Merck Licensing Genetically-Modified… Mice, From China.
Look — mouse model lab research has always been an important part of overall… pharma new therapies research. [Prove it in a tube, then prove it in an mouse model… then primates, then… humans.] And mice bred to lack or exhibit certain traits are an unfortunate part of that research. And the truth is, if one believes mice are intelligent, this is a fraught area. Even so, as between saving new human lives with new drugs… and not doing so… I do choose… progress.
Even so, I am worried about how the Q.Anon nuts are going to spin the “RenMice”™ platform / concept. Thankfully, this is going to be something the Germans will have to contend with — not the folks here in the US. So, once again — I offer it solely to clear up any ambiguity, and to remind that the naming spat (see purple logo, at right) has… knock on effects, on both companies:
…Under the agreement, Biocytogen will provide [German] Merck antibodies directed against at least three targets specified by them from Biocytogen’s Project Integrum (also called HiTS Platform), which are generated by leveraging Biocytogen’s proprietary RenMice™ Platform. Merck will carry out feasibility tests and be responsible for further development and commercialization of the products if exercising an option. Additional targets subject to mutual discretion may be included under this agreement….
Now you know… and now, go be like Rae — let “the Fourth, Awaken in you” (but don’t lisp!) — this week.
Smile….
नमस्ते
Hinderaker Seems To Argue That “Farm-Type” Subsidies Ought To Be Paid To US Mining Concerns, For Copper, Nickel And Cobalt… Precious.
Actually… what he argues is dumber than just bad policy (subsidies for mining) — it is… lunacy — in that he dresses his pitch up, in “drag“, as it were. Hinderaker offers a false narrative about “liberals” not ALLOWING the US mining concerns (for-profit, all!) to mine cobalt, nickel and copper.
First, US miners do not extract ore from the Earth when minerals are priced at levels that mean the high-cost US miners (due primarily to how much higher prevailing wages in the US are, compared to say… Russia, or China) would lose millions of dollars on every ton of refined copper or nickel or cobalt they mined. That, as John well-knows — is not what capitalism is about. So, either he wants the government (contrary to his 60 years of claiming to be a conservative!) to pay miners to extract these minerals… “because… Chyyyyyna…” or something. Or, he just thinks “liberals’ control” is the reason Tangerine never provided such subsidies, when he was in power. Or Bush (either of them). Or Reagan. Huh. [Nor even Mr. Obama. Why? Because his would be / is… bad policy.]
Hilarious. As I’ve shown John before, our total deposits are a small fraction of what is embedded in most of Central and South America. [And… China’s are a small fraction of Chile’s, in copper, for example — see at right below.] Maybe he thinks we should subsidize Latin American extraction operations — except, of course, several large US public mining concerns already are operating down there — at hefty profit margins, too (again, due in large part to much lower wage costs, down there).
Tellingly, he doesn’t even mention lithium (as he knows we cannot possibly find much of it — even at uneconomic extraction rates inside the US) — because it is needed for batteries, and now in very short supply worldwide, due in no small part to the Musk-ian demand for car battery raw material. He should realize that all of these are like oil, which he specifically mentions (albeit again as the fault of the liberals, that the cheapest extraction points for it are under Persian Gulf sand)… must be sourced outside the US, for our economy to work.
We will break our economic engine if (as Tangerine disastrously tried) we return to tariffs and import duties in an attempt to make non-economic US operations… profitable (Tangerine tried it on a variety of other nonsensical fronts). It cannot be done. The 19th Century called — she would like her failed economic “theories” back, John.
[And as a matter of fascination, he neglects to mention that Putin sits on vast deposits of these, as well — because he’s pro-Russian totalitarianism in Ukraine, and may even take money from Russian-affiliated state actors, for his writings and foundations.]
So — said more plainly — his whole argument is a tissue of lies, just to complain about… our need for Chinese processing of these metals (and minerals). Here it is:
…The United States has massive deposits of many of these minerals, including copper, nickel and cobalt. But the same liberals who insist on shutting down the energy sources where the U.S. reigns supreme — fossil fuels — won’t let us develop our own minerals, and insist that we remain reliant on China for our future standard of living. To go “green” is literally to turn our economy over to the Chinese Communist Party….
As I say… he has no genuine point — the facts do not remotely support his contentions.
Out — be like Rae — let the Fourth awaken, in you… smile.
[Power-Alley Dept.:] So — Elon Decided To Tweet Some Libelous Nonsense About… Wellbutrin [Bupropion]…
And, as one might expect — actual MDs — with real experience in mood-regulating pharmaceuticals… as well as many patients happy with their experiences, on the long-approved drug… weighed in.
Suffice it to say — just like Musk’s tweet about the sitting Vice President and the eighth planet in our solar system… he got his ass handed to him.
Here is the actual science. You can go look at Musk’s nonsense tweet (and the destruction of his little rant) for yourself — I won’t reprint mis-information like that.
Here is the most relevant peer reviewed study on the topic. Trust real science and real scientists. Not hucksters shilling electric cars, rockets and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” [two enter; one leaves…], as a policy for social media platforms.
Check it out:
…No statistically significant differences were observed between bupropion and placebo in expressed suicidal ideation or behavior, we believe that all patients treated with antidepressants should receive careful monitoring for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior….
Now you know. And Musk tried to refute Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger on their takedown of Bitcoin, but also ended up looking like… a fourth grader in that attempt.
His self destructive streak is about a mile wide, now. Geez….
G’night one and all of good will, as we begin the week of “The Force“… and Sith, too. Smile… another year… another heroine….
Hinderaker Should Read… The HEROES Act, And Its Associated Rules…
Sigh. Hinderaker — without so much as a simple Google search, made the bald-faced statement that Mr. Biden lacks authority… to forgive student loans.
In literally three minutes of just my Google searching, I offer this, the actual answer to John’s supposed conundrum. It comes from Sections 209 and 221 of the rules adopted under the HEROES Act. [Tangerine used this provision as well, just FYI.]
As a bit of background, low income borrowers have always (since the 1980s — I know, because I was one of them!) been able to defer any payment, principal or interest, by making annual showings of low income status. [I long ago repaid mine in full, with all the interest, then at 7 per cent per annum, right after passing the bar.]
In any event, the Secretary (in the Executive Branch) is empowered, under 34 CFR 685.209 & 685.221, to waive even that annual income submission paperwork — as Tangerine directed, and the Secretary actually executed — in mid-2020.
So — should Mr. Biden desire to do so, he could (through the Secretary) simply “make permanent” under 34 CFR 685.209 & 685.221, the no-paperwork… deferrals.
That five GOP House members are trying to introduce a NEW bill to block this approach (a bill that will never make it out of committee, BTW)… is a tacit admission by the GOP/right that this power is clearly already established as part of the Executive Branch’s delegated powers, by statute in the HEROES Act.
Specifically, Sections 685.209 and 685.221 provide that a borrower participating in an income-driven repayment plan is required (unless waived by the Secretary) to provide documentation, acceptable to the Secretary, that enables the annual calculation of the borrower’s payment amount for each year that the borrower remains on the plan, unless waived. The Secretary may so waive, under §§ 685.209(a)(5)(i) and 685.221(e)(1), without time limited duration.
That the end of the story.
Or… perhaps, since no specifics have been announced, it could be that Mr. Biden only directs this “permanent” waiver toward low income borrowers — to shut down Hinderaker’s more than occasional howling about “rich kids” getting off from student debts. Most rich kids, in my experience, use mom and dad’s money — not student loans.
But whatever.
Mr. Biden could also say that if a kid with student debt creates more than say a million dollars of net cash taxable income in any single (future) year, he must repay his/her original principal balance to the federal government, on top of his income taxes that year. That seems emminently fair, given what would have been much earlier help in getting started.
Left unsaid here is the notion (of course!) that some portion of the student debts will be covered by the feds (repaid to the lenders, on behalf of those… so waived) — except perhaps — as to predatory for profit student lending scams.
But make no mistake, Mr. Biden does possess this power.
Sit this one out, John — as you didn’t complain, when Tangerine did it.
Where Does BLEXIT’s ~$5 Million A Year… Go? 2020 Last Available IRS Form 990 Data.
Hinderaker has repeatedly arguably libeled BLM — about how the money gets spent at that organization. He feels it is… irresponsible. Weird.
But he is very, very tight-lipped about how his puppeteer, Candace Owens, spends her Blexit 501(c)(3) money.
After paying herself a salary of $180,000 and a BONUS of $50,000 — it looks to me like she has a pot of around $7 million over several years, banked — with an annual net cash raised of about $5 million. That’s after paying the commissions based phone bank operators roughly 25% off the top.
She also pays her husband about $35,000 a year out of this pot.
But I’d sure like Hinderaker to ask her what she’s doing with the other ~$5 million per year.
There are reports on Twitter that the Blexit Foundation spent over $2 million in advertising on Facebook, and spent nearly $1 million in airfare in 2021. I cannot verify them.
But I can verify the figures in the above graphic, from a IRS 990 database, at least for the 2020 calendar tax year.
So John — of geese and gander, here: Ms. Owens lives in a palatial McMansion, on the waterfront in Hendersonville, Tennessee. You loudly complain about the BLM real estate purchased in California, by its leader, with salaries she was paid, there.
I do note that you draw a smaller annual cash salary from your 501(c)(3), the one that runs your “American Experiment” think tank. Much smaller than Ms. Owens [but you’ve been around far longer; raise far more, sponsor various hard copy studies of government in Minnesota and beyond — and put out a glossy magazine, all things we’ve not seen from her 501(c)(3)].
Grow a pair… and ask her: where does $5 million a year disappear… to?
Out.
[U: Irony Alert!] In Which Hinderaker Complains… About Stuff He Regularly Traffics In…
UPDATED — 04.30.2022 @ 9:30 AM EDT: I apologize. I should have led with this reminder. But it came to me, just now as I was pouring my hot black coffee… to add the cream and sugar. We — John and I, have done this precise dance before, a decade ago, related to the estimable Newton Minnow. [I think he was right — 60 years ago, when three networks controlled all broadcast television content. It was “a vast wasteland” designed solely to sell products. And so, public television was born. Here, over a half-century later, there are quite literally millions of ways to “broadcast television” or thought, more precisely — around the globe. So that time (the one John yearns to return to) has fallen, forever silent now — to… immutable… US history. The idea is no longer… relevant, in the 2020s. What Hinderaker clammers for is a “conscripted audience” for his agitprop. No one need provide that, any longer. Certainly not, if the “broadcaster / platform” is not… the US government.
But I will note that John didn’t squawk when Tangerine, using Twitter as his official government pronouncement arm, BLOCKED US citizens, based on viewpoint — from seeing his official government pronouncements. Charming. Whew…. yep — that’s… a lot to unpack.]
And, the updated, and now most ironic part of all of his latest… it that just over a year ago, he was drafting, publicizing and trying to sell state level legislation that, in plainly unconstitutional terms would restrain entirely private actors from curtailing plainly disruptive conduct — in their OWN virtual living rooms.
In a stunning display of ignorance about the Constitution, and his purported law school training, he thought it wise and proper to ask individual states, through their AGs, to act as his Orwellian “censorhip prevention officers” — which were to be in actual operation “forced speech boards“. That is, Hinderaker advocated a return to the “fairness doctrine” rules that Saint Ronnie Reagan scrapped at FCC in the beginning of the 1980s. He apparently thinks millions of web-outlets (including this silly little one!) are as powerful as the big three networks last were (when CBS, ABC and NBC were the only networks) in the 1960s. [That all led, through Mr. Minnows great effort, to what we now call PBS — to be clear, not John’s desired “conscripted audience“, at all. Just an option.]
Welp. That’s all just… crazy — and yet, he screams that a DHS government group monitoring mis-information, and putting out correcting information is… somehow… wrong (out of the other side of his big mouth).
How so, John? — it is a very weakened, watered-down version of your own state level sauces. And it is clearly lawful. [I guess it only matters to John when his party is NOT in the position of power, as below.] End, update.
I’ll make short work of his insipid opinions tonight.
Somehow Hinderaker forgets that he’s been a five year “talking pile of pig sh!t” (to quote Rogers Hornsby)… sniffing up everything that came out of either orifice of Tangerine.
But it is only now, three years into the disinformation curtailment efforts of the feds… that he complains.
He loved it when the official Bill Bar / Tangerine line was recreating the “star chamber” approach to militarizing our local police forces. The committee held meetings in secret in direct violation of federal sunshine in government / open meetings laws.
So it is a little precious to now oppose… efforts to end Tangerine level in-secret propaganda efforts.
And he loved the outright lies Tangerine told about it all, right up until the able DC USDC Judge Bates slapped Barr down — ending the suit in favor of our First Amendment right to know.
Maybe John should seek a more formal resolution, in the courts, if he actually thinks this violates any law.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
Sit down, clown.
Up To 267 People Are To Be Monitored, In Connection With Latest DRC Ebola Outbreak; 78 Have Already Been Vaccinated…
A solid, swift response here — however, two matters are of particular concern, this time around.
First, this outbreak (based on genetic testing of the reservoir of viral loads in the two deceased patients) is not from any already known variant in the human population. So, either the source of virus was bush meat (a nearly impossible path to regulate or prevent), or the source is a new chain from human to human, as yet undetected — either of which would mean there will be more cases, perhaps outside the 267 now being monitored.
Second, the public health / relief workers are still encountering community resistance. Some of this is understandable, since being “labeled” in these more remote towns as having contact with Ebola may result in life-long stigma, and mostly unfounded discriminatory treatment. But it is also very-likely true that while no person vaccinated as a “contact, of a contact” will ever get the virus itself, there have been credible reports of reprisals against vaccinated people — on the false assumption that they remain potential carriers.
In turn, there have been some sporadic reports (in prior outbreaks in DRC) of violence, including sexual abuse (even, in a few cases, allegedly by supposed health workers), of people isolated but found not to harbor the virus, after a two 21 observation periods have elapsed. In some ways, the people connected to an outbreak become what were once called “untouchables” — in India.
All of that… is deeply vexing — and heart-breaking. We do support, and salute the vast majority of selfless health workers putting themselves at risk, in trying to arrest these outbreaks. Here is the latest, from ReliefWeb’s reporting overnight:
…Gene sequencing indicates a spill-over event from the host/animal reservoir, not linked to previous outbreaks in the province.
267 contacts of the Ebola victims need to be monitored, but not all are yet. Community resistance is a fact.
The first 200 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine arrived in Mbandaka. 78 people have been vaccinated so far. Vaccination targets contacts of the Ebola victims, frontline and health workers….
Do treat each other better than you would expect to be treated, in similar circumstances… make that a goal, for the day… Smile — and Elon: try not to litter, on Mars when you (eventually) get there.
नमस्ते
Gee — Who Would Have Guessed… That Gov. DeSantis (A “Florida Man” Story!) Did Not — Or Cannot! — Read His Own Florida State Statutes?!
It turns out all that Ron DeSantis’ silly show of a puppet theater actually… did — on Reedy Creek’s Special Tax District, which covers the land and buildings owned by Disney… was to make the State of Florida (not just the largely blue counties involved, as MSM has mis-reported) responsible for around $1 billion in new debts.
The STATE level taxpayers must make the bond holder(s) whole. Full stop.
Charming. The 1960s era granting document, at Section 56, on page 67, reads as follows:
“…The State of Florida pledges to the holders of any bonds issued under this Act that it will not limit or alter the rights of the District to own, acquire, construct, reconstruct, improve, maintain, operate or furnish the projects or to levy and collect the taxes, assessments, rentals, rates, fees, tolls, fares and other charges provided for herein and to fulfill the terms of any agreement made with the holders of such bonds or other obligations, that it will not in any way impair the rights or remedies of the holders, and that it will not modify in any way the
exemption from taxation provided in the Act, until all such bonds together with interest thereon, and all costs and expenses in connection with any action or proceeding by or on behalf of such holders, are fully met and discharged….”
What a uselessly stupid, unprincipled — and feckless… idiot this guy has turned out to be. And Hinderaker loves the guy.
Figures.
Me? I’m just so glad that we — and all those we hold dear, had ALREADY taken our kids, to Disney World, collectively… long before the state went full-on… fascist.
Sanity will eventually win the day, down there — and then we shall return. But not before… smiling — enjoy the weekend, wherever it finds you… and be of good cheer!
नमस्ते
