Category: Uncategorized

In Which Hinderaker Claims There’s “No Science” For Relaxing COVID Restrictions… C’mon, Man!

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So we must (tongue firmly in cheek) conclude that the end times are arriving: Hinderaker is defending 1974-era Soviet thinking, and — after being wrong by a ten fold factor on the lethality of COVID in the US… he NOW would tell us that easing COVID restrictions is purely politics, and not science. He shows a version of the same blue chart I have at left, but blithely ignores the decline in daily deaths of late.

More tellingly, though — he ignores the NYT data in green altogether, as it would mean he’d have to admit that we’ve saved perhaps 300,000 lives over the pandemic in the US, via these measures.

And, again — he’d have to admit that his July 19, 2020 prediction of only 110,000 deaths in the US was… completely baseless, thus irresponsible… and immediately correctible. But he never did.

It took 900,000 excess deaths in the US alone, before he could admit he had lied to his readers.

Now he lies to his readers — to make easing restrictions look like a wedge issue. It is not.

It is a science issue.

Sit down Hinderaker.

[Tangent: Space / Solar Science] Parker’s Lithe Craft Appears, Anew…

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Just for some Friday fun, we offer a look at the data we expect from the Parker Solar probe, in the next three months — now that it has pierced the heliosphere — the outer atmosphere of the Sun.

This is the only spacecraft presently in service that is named for a living human.

That he’s still on faculty just south of here, still brings a grin to my face — every time it crosses my mind:

…As NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completes its latest swing around the Sun, it’s doing so in full view of dozens of other spacecraft and ground-based telescopes.

These powerful instruments can’t actually see Parker itself – the van-sized spacecraft is far too small for visible detection – but they offer from a distance what the probe is sensing close-up, as it samples and analyzes the solar wind and magnetic fields from as close as 5.3 million miles (8.5 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface….

Now you know — do go be excellent to one another, this weekend and always — for as the depravity unfolding in Ukraine is teaching us all, daily. . . we are all we’ve got.

नमस्ते

UPDATING: The Required Settlement Conference Was Held This Week — But To A Certainty, Tangerine’s Offering… Nothin’.

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We have been following — and following closely — the clearly-meritorious copyright infringement suit (in Manhattan) that Eddy Grant brought against Tangerine for stealing almost a full minute of Mr. Grant’s 1980s hit “Electric Avenue” and using it in an odious anti-humanitarian campaign ad. [The original song decries police brutality against people of color in Brixton, and around London — in the 1980s.]

Mr. Grant has a rock solid case. Tangerine used it without asking, and got some 23 million views in under a few weeks, in 2020-21. Under local rules, since the able USDC Judge ruled in September 2021 that Baby-T. must stand trial, Tangerine’s legal team was required to attend a judicially-governed settlement conference, to see if this could be resolved without a costly trial (largely by the payment of damages — by him).

That occurred on this past Wednesday. And while no published report of the outcome was made, and the session was not on an open Zoom feed, we may safely infer that (as ever) Tangerine is refusing to pay his lawful debts… here.

His claim (such as it is) is that this was political speech, and protected. The applicable law actually answers… that artists may fairly control the market for their art. And any given political ad’s author doesn’t (without more) have the right to foreclose that artistic property right. [Mr. Grant was seeking no office himself, obviously — so it cannot be said the ad was a comment upon him or his politics. And the ad didn’t even bother to rewrite the lyrics to the song — it just… stole them.]

And so, this artist quite understandably wants nothing to do with Tangerine. [Don Henley (“Boys of Summer“) won a similar federal copyright suit against a GOP campaign, back 2010.]

So T. will ultimately lose. And Mr. Grant will get both an injunction against any future use, and a check for substantial damages. But we all know T. will drag it out, for as long as he can — or until he runs out of cash. Ugh — what a tool.

नमस्ते

Between The California Eastman Disclosures, And The Sedition Plea, Yesterday…

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…it is looking clearer and clearer that Tangerine will be properly indicted for felonies out of January 6, 2021.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

So… he again offers an incoherent, ungrammatical screech on gab[dot]com to try to deflect from that train, now barreling down the tracks at him, under a full head of steam.

See at right. Or, actually — don’t bother. I put it here solely to preserve his desperate lies, for posterity. He tells new ones with every passing day, now. Each more loony than the last.

Mark my words: old 45 is going to jail, eventually. On these — and other — charges.

See ‘ya, you malevolent Powerliners / mindless defenders… of a seditionist, on the hoof.

Out.

UPDATE: Trying To Reunite Families Torn Apart By Tangerine (2017-2021).

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The various pieces of class action litigation in California’s federal courthouses are winding down, as they enter orders to pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys fees, and whereever possible release and reunite asylum seeking families. [Prior backgrounder, here.]

However, the tragic reality is (based on this latest status report filed overnight)… there may be upwards of 220 children who will never see their parents again. That crime against humanity belongs firmly around the neck of Tangerine, Steven Miller, and Chad Wolf. Here’s a bit of the 11 pager:

…Additionally, as previously reported, the Steering Committee has undertaken broad-based media outreach efforts to publicize the toll-free phone numbers created by the Steering Committee in Spanish language media. The Steering Committee has also arranged for advertisements on Spanish language radio in Central America. Those advertisements have aired over the last several months. The Steering Committee continues to work to identify opportunities to broadly disseminate the toll-free numbers through various media to maximize visibility to potential Ms. L. class members, including seeking to collaborate on such media outreach initiatives with other non-profit organizations….

And keep the people of Ukraine (over a million now moving toward the Polish border) top of mind, as you go about your days. Many of those innocent asylum seekers seem to be facing similarly long odds — and at least some invidious discrimination, if their skin is brown or black (non-native born, to the region).

Let us move forward, to do the right — where the right may still be done.

नमस्ते

We Look In On Goofy Drew Tipton, In Texas, Once More… For Grins

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The intrepid, largely insipid USDC Judge purported to hold a mini-trial last week, on all of this (as we’ve long explained, there is no standing here for any party suing the US government).

He purported to “try” the issue of whether (as a matter of positive law) a federal agency guidance document, allocating various factors to consider in exercising border enforcement discretion, in view of the obviously limited resources. . . could be tortured into a violation of the Constitution, by NOT prosecuting every jay walking offense the authorities happened to run across, to the maximum extent permitted by the criminal laws. I think the answer there, based on dozens of Supreme Court cases… is obvious. But Judge Tipton feels he needs briefs (here “post trial”) on the issue, thus tonight:

…1. For the purpose of Final Agency Action under the Administrative Procedure Act, whether the challenged action either determines rights or obligations or produces legal consequences. [Spoiler Alert: It Does Not.]

2. The relationship between Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748, 125 S.Ct. 2796, 162 L.Ed.2d 658 (2005), and Demore v. Kim, 538 U.S. 510, 123 S.Ct. 1708, 155 L.Ed.2d 724 (2003), including whether there is “some stronger indication” from Congress that “shall” under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1226(c) and 1231(a)(2) means must. [Spoiler Alert: there is none and it does not — not in every single circumstance. It never has — it never will, lest we decide that law enforcement generally is bereft of discretion to allocate precious resources.]

3. The difference, if any, between “custody” and “detention” under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1226 and 1231 and how that impacts the present case. [Spoiler Alert: It Does Not.]

4. Whether and how the challenged guidance is contrary to law under the APA if “shall” in 8 U.S.C. §§ 1226 and 1231 is mandatory. [Spoiler Alert: It Is Not.]

It is SO ORDERED.

Signed on March 2, 2022 [Editor’s notes supplied — by yours truly]….

Now you know. Grinning. This will die an ugly death, soon enough — but young Tipton will have his “published hard right GOP manifesto” upon which he no doubt intends to run for elected office in the State of Texas, very shortly. What a waste of the local taxpayers’ money, that — creating campaign literature on the federal dime, for an office he hasn’t yet sought. Out.

नमस्ते

The Oath Keeper “Body Guard” Who Shadowed Roger Stone On 01.06.2021…

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…has just taken a plea deal. And, he’s pleading guilty to the top felony of “seditious conspiracy” — a potential 20 year stint.

But he will flip on Roger Stone, and cooperate. He’ll likely get under ten years. Stone, on the other hand, should probably have hopped a one way flight to Moscow a couple of weeks ago.

Stone is going to jail.

Trump’s pardon does no good here. These are all new offenses — and they’ve been entered in front of the same able USDC Judge who last month ruled it entirely “plausible“ that Tangerine’s own statements motivated this now seditious conspiracy to prevent the lawful, peaceful transfer of power, from one office of the Commander in Chief, to the next, under our founding documents.

This 16 page plea deal, all by itself — could end up snaring both Stone and Tangerine — for crimes against their nation:

…James intended to use force and did, in fact, use force in the Capitol and when engaging in physical altercations with law enforcement, in order to prevent, hinder, and delay the execution of the laws governing the transfer of power. James corruptly obstructed, influenced, and impeded an official proceeding, that is, a proceeding before Congress, specifically, Congress’s certification of the Electoral College vote as set out in the Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and 3 U.S.C. §§ 15-18….

In taking such actions, James intended to influence or affect the conduct of the United States government or to retaliate against the United States government. He accomplished this by intimidating and coercing government personnel who were participating in or supporting the Congressional proceeding, including Members of Congress, Congressional staff, and law enforcement officers with the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department. After exiting the Capitol, James gathered with Rhodes and other co-conspirators approximately 100 feet from the Capitol, near the northeast corner of the building. Rhodes told James he was glad James and others had gone inside the Capitol….

Because of the dangerous circumstances caused by the unlawful entry into the Capitol by James and others, including the danger posed by individuals who had entered the Capitol without any security screening or weapons checks, Congressional proceedings could not resume until after law enforcement had removed every unauthorized occupant from the Capitol and confirmed the building was secured. Accordingly, the proceedings did not resume until approximately 8:00 p.m. on January 6, 2021, after the building had been secured. Vice President Pence remained in the Capitol from the time he was evacuated from the Senate Chamber until the session resumed….

The attack on the Capitol resulted in substantial damage, requiring the expenditure
of more than $1.4 million dollars for repairs….

Charming. Let them ALL rot in a federal prison now.

Yawn — Hinderaker Made No Mention — Of Boebert’s Malevolent Screeching From The Cheap Seats Last Night…

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Not that I’m surprised, mind you — ever since the old Tea Party wing of the GOP took it upon itself to interrupt BHO 44’s SOTU… in 2012… there’s always been one or two morons in the GOP who think “decorum” does NOT require that they sit quietly while the Commander in Chief is speaking to the nation, regardless of whether they agree or disagree with the message’s particulars.

I would note that no one on the Democratic side of the aisle said a word against Tangerine… for four long years (but flawlessly, Speaker Pelosi did rip up his speech — in full view on the world). [Childishly, Baby-T. then said she ought to be investigated for — get this! — destroying official federal records. Said the guy who took classified documents down to Mar-A-Lago, for a year — after he left office. Whatever, Donnie.]

Now, to last night — while Mr. Biden was talking about his son who died of cancer, and about vets suffering similar maladies… Boebert shouted out that he had “killed” 13 service members (referring to Afganistan, most likely).

This level of… depravity has become the norm, among Trumper Goopers. She will be gone from Congress in a year or so — back to running her stupid red-neck bar in Eastern Colorado. But for now, she embarrasses all the decent humans of the Centennial State.

Sit down Boebert — and shut it.

And John, I am just shocked — shocked I tell you! — that you are so butt sore that Mr. Biden stole all of Tangerine’s thunder. Get ready to be buried by patriotic sentiment, at the mid-terms… all while your boys defend… Putin’s crimes against humanity.

As of last night, Trumpism’s a dead letter. Utterly. Dead.

I Might Say That… Tonight, Hinderaker Saw Trumpism’s END, Right Here. HERE.

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I did not expect any Earth-shattering oration from Mr. Biden. I wasn’t even planning on watching. But his speech is… moving, genuine and I think resonating with middle-America.

Yes, I am watching.

And for the first time in over a decade, I saw Republicans stand and clap for a Democratic President.

I saw… patriotism. Only flickers of it, but I saw it.

I think we will look back in about five years or so, and say… tonight was the night Trumpism… died.

And I am grinning — ear to ear. Steve can take his Bingo Card (for the State of the Union speech)… and shove it.

Tangerine’s future just fell dead, on the floor of the Senate… tonight.

[More Crypto-Tangents:] Looking For Macro-Analogies — To Today? Look At 2001, In Afganistan…

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I suppose the wild card here is whether Bitcoin maximalists are willing to break international law, and the moral sense of the planet — and keep the Russian oligarchs liquid, by continuing to trade with them in Bitcoin and to a lesser extent, other crypto-.

But IF the whales are willing to stand with Ukraine, this will all shape up as did the market macro moves in 2001. That is, we will see a risk off asset winter, continue.

It may take a couple of months… but Condor predicts… it is coming. The Bitcoiners / Ayn Randers… hate totalitarians (Putin) even more than they hate Democratic governments.

They will almost without exception hold the line, with the people of Ukraine. Here’s the latest from Coindesk — and a bit of it:

…[In 2001,] the S&P 500’s post-invasion rally peaked within three months and resumed a decline related to the dot-com bust before setting new bear market lows. QCP expects risk assets to chart similar moves this time, saying the macroeconomic conditions today are similar those of 21 years ago….

“The closest parallel to the present situation is the 2001 Afghan war given the similarities: 1. Markets were under pressure from the dot-com deleveraging. 2. Impending stagflation with inflation at a then decade-high level of 3.5%,” QCP said. “In the Afghan war, markets saw a relief rally that lasted three months before resuming the downtrend and eventually breaking below the post-invasion lows….”

We should see Riot Blockchain’s year end GAAP losses tonight.

Onward, looking for better days… ahead. Be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते