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[U] It Is Very-Clear Tangerine Has Lost His Grip On The Party… Time To Put Him Out To Pasture, Ole’ GOP Faithful.

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Just look at left — it is about all you need to know.

He’s a loser.

And very likely to end up behind bars, now.

Offering pardons to witnesses in the sedition of Jan, 6, 2021… is evidence of his demented state — he is proactively confessing to crimes, then trying to tamper with witnesses… all without the protection of the Oval Office’s executive privilege.

Updated — this afternoon, Tangerine confirms his lack of fitness for any office, with this response to Mike Pence: “…Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible… Mike Pence said he had no authority other than to send the votes forward to the Old Crow, Mitch McConnell. If so, why are the Dems and RINOs fighting so hard to make it impossible for a VP to do so in the future?….”

How very… droll — and insipid.

Hilarious. Put ole’ paw paw down for his codger meal, and bed — by 6 pm.

[U] GOP Again “Drops The Bar” — On What Makes A “Hero”… And 900,000 Are Dead — Thanks, Hinderaker.

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Let’s lead with the thought that (for once!) Mike Pence has told the truth — in public — about January 6, 2021. Good remarks in so far as they go.

But before declaring him a GOP “hero” — should it matter that it has taken him 13 months to muster the courage to do so? Is it, as I suspect, a purely practical calculus now that Tangerine’s influence is fading, under the weight of multiple investigations of corruption — and worse, sedition?

Of course. And should it matter that he has not disavowed the GOP “censure” of Ms. Cheney, et al.? Calling armed violence against the Congress and Veep — while in session, to certify an election the GOP lost — calling that “legitimate political discourse” by the GOP, is to adopt… wholly-Orwellian contortions of language.

But whatever. He will never be president. So — be on your way Mr. Pence.

Updated: Tangerine this afternoon confirms his lack of fitness for any office, with this response to Mike Pence: “…Just saw Mike Pence’s statement on the fact that he had no right to do anything with respect to the Electoral Vote Count, other than being an automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get Biden elected President as quickly as possible… Mike Pence said he had no authority other than to send the votes forward to the Old Crow, Mitch McConnell. If so, why are the Dems and RINOs fighting so hard to make it impossible for a VP to do so in the future?….”

How very… droll — and insipid.

My second topic is… deeply-steeped with pathos — and saddening, beyond words — as it was mostly… avoidable.

Feckless political opportunists like John Hinderaker sought — for over nine months in 2020 into 2021 — to use the pandemic as a wedge issue, urging far right know nuthins’ to reject all the bio-science (and now to riot, about food deliveries in Canada, of all places!), and declare it simply a form of common cold. On July 19, 2020, John boldly predicted (and disingenuously so — since he had an education that allowed him to know better — but it fed his wedge issue, for Trump and Trumpians), when “only” 110,000 were dead in the USA, that the dying was mostly over, already.

In fact, it was just beginning — due primarily to the fact that he and others in the “elite, educated” wing of the GOP were telling people the vaccine was ineffective, and maybe even… a dangerous hoax — all to boost pharma company profits — essentially… no answer to the virus.

Those lies, in very large part… have now catapulted America to the worst mortality figure, world-wide from the pandemic. In addition, John and his boys threw in lots of jingoistic aspersions that China (to this day, without any real evidence) had intentionally created it, as a bio-weapon, against white Americans. To replace… his know-nuthins. The level of feckless depravity, in telling that lie — over and over again… must be recorded on John’s grave-stone. It should be his epitaph: “The dying is mostly over — July 19, 2020.”

This morning, the USA is at ten times the figure John declared… the end of the dying.

This is a once a century pandemic — made perhaps 10 to 15 times worse, in terms of mortality, due to people like Hinderaker, Candace Owens-Farmer, Paul Mirengoff, Steve Hayward and Scott Johnson.

D A M N A T I O N.

Out.

[Tangent:] “Calling a Hack an Exploit Minimizes Human Error” — But Renaming Theft As Either… Is Dishonest. And Crypto’s Central Problem.

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Coindesk’s Daniel Kuhn offers an op ed that covers some good ground this afternoon, pointing out some of the “gilding of the lily” crypto-bros use to refer to the unlawful tactics many of them are known to employ, against one another. But it falls too short, by more than half — in letting two classes of bad actors avoid admitting, even to themselves, that they are… crooks. Yes. CROOKED crooks.

That is a central problem with the very fabric of these “markets”. For instance, in securities trading (by contrast), “front running” a trade is clearly-unlawful, as a fraud against fair price discovery by honest unaffiliated purchasers and sellers. But in Bitcoin trading, these a-holes tell each other that it is just more “risk on”… all okay — if no one gets caught, they say.

The language… they employ — embeds an Orwellian lie. These Ayn Rand-ians think outright stealing is a morally-neutral act. And they think that anyone who cannot protect themselves “deserves” to be stolen from. So — into this warped, corrupt “market”, appear at least some (or perhaps most?) 20 somethings — who think of all of it as just a massive multi-player video-game — to exploit. To trick.

But make no mistake — both “exploits” and “hacks” do only one thing: they… steal. Steal real value (or at least steal stuff other idiots are willing to pay real fiat cash for).

So, Coindesk offers this, as its close out:

…[I]t’s worth asking if the language crypto uses to explain its myriad vulnerabilities (risks stacked on risks) contributes to the ongoing business made out of hacks [Ed. Note: “Theft” is the word you mean, here]. Or if sometimes we’re pulling definitions from hats….

[Again, Ed. Note: here making up (from whole cloth) FALSE definitions; ignoring the actual conduct involved, and the bad actors’ actual crimes.]

Dammit. Call. The. Thing. By. Its. Name.

Until all of these Randian-kids are willing to end the stupidly ineffective game of “rewriting history” — to label a thief as a white hat “security researcher” — and pay him/her/them (but it almost always turns out that it is a young white male) a “bounty” — actually, a BRIBE/ransom, to get at least some of the value back…

This will be no real market at all. It is simply a pirate cove, with many a pirate just biding their time, lounging on the piers, in full view — waiting… until enough value can be grabbed quickly, to make it worthwhile to undertake the pirate run, and sail out of the cove, under cover of darkness.

So — Coindesk: stop calling it anything other than… felony theft. My advice? Call a cop — immediately. End the bounties. Period. Full-stop.

A true white hat (in the land of software security research) shows the code, but does not steal the dough. Every one of these three years worth of attacks… have stolen the dough, at least for a time.

So — get serious and grown up about it — or get out.

And now, we will sit back and grimace, as tomorrow (in additional Randian gyrations, in these “markets”) Riot Blockchain tries to make much more by NOT mining — than mining — selling its rights to electricity back to the broken, long-since privatized Texas grid — again. Last time it killed over 80 people (February 2021).

They froze to death.

What will be the total this time ’round, Gov. Abbott?

Out — not grinning, tonight.

In Which DeSantis’ Bloviating Is A Headline Item For Idiot Hinderaker.

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Well… the fecklessly-stupid political grandstanding never ends with the legacy Yale baseball “also ran” — and his political appointee GC. That much is certain. [I will re-run the legacy Hinderaker defense of racism image — now that Washington is officially renamed as the Commanders. Another one John… lost. And lost, in a clueless fashion.]

Back to the main topic — a Dartmouth and Harvard man falling for DeSantis’ illogic — well… that’s just silly.

Even so, Hinderaker doesn’t actually sign on and agree with this nonsense — as he well knows, this could be the end of much federal funding in DeSantis’ Florida, a state that is deeply dependent (moreso than almost any other state — given its high level of low income seniors) on such funding, than many others.

It is ironic in the extreme that Florida’s governor presides over a vast federal welfare state, and claims to be a “self starting, can do” state — all while openly complaining that he isn’t getting enough of the pie of federal dollars.

Then again, they don’t teach logic at Yale when the only reason one is there is to play baseball. Apparently neither did they teach it to Hinderaker at Dartmouth (or more likely he slept through that class, pass / fail). Come to think of it, DeSantis probably also slept through it at Yale — it is a fine institution, and should not have to answer for one more entitled mediocre white failed sports dude.

How very… droll.

Not That They’ve Agreed, But Mr. Grant (Of “Electric Avenue” Fame) Will Have A Settlement Conference March 2…

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Pursuant to local Manhattan federal trial court rules, the parties in this sort of a dispute are required to conduct a settlement conference before a judge before the trial prep gets fully underway. I doubt that Tangerine is going to offer a sensible, fair amount in compensation, so I DO NOT expect that this (unlike the REAL Lady A matter, also an infringement claim, below) will close it out. [Backgrounder, here.]

No, I fully-expect a “Scorched Earth” approach, from Former-Dotard-T. In any event, here’s that regularly-scheduled order, and a bit:

…Finally, Paragraph 3 of the Standing Order requires that if plaintiffs have not already made a demand, they must do so no later than 14 days prior to the conference, and defendants shall respond no later than 7 days thereafter. Even if plaintiffs have made a demand as part of a court-ordered or private mediation previously attended by the parties, plaintiffs are still required to make (or renew) a demand 14 days prior to the conference, and defendants must respond within 7 days.

In other words, the parties should not wait for the settlement conference in order to commence negotiations of a resolution of their dispute….

Now you know — and the Pfizer Paxlovid contract with the US government contains a limited most favored nations clause. That’s good news — and more on that later (near noon) — after I’m done… shoveling. [Finally, the NFL will now call the Washington team the Commanders — also very late, but good news.] Grin.

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It Seems The White Country Act Has Agreed To Dismiss — And The Parties Have Settled, In Nashville: REAL Lady A Keeps Her Name!

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Not a surprise, by any stretch, but this does strongly suggest the white country act well-knew it was headed to a loss, at trial — and perhaps boxcar damages — for willful infringement (I won’t link their site). One of my many backgrounders, on this — here.

Now it will remain to be seen whether the country act will try to use the “Lady A” name — but it is certain that the original common law trademark / trade name owner, Ms. Anita White. . . the Black blues artist, WILL use her own name on stage. Here’s the bit, out of the federal district court in Nashville overnight:

…Plaintiffs and Counterclaim-Defendants Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, David Haywood, and Lady A Entertainment LLC (collectively, the “Band”) and Defendant and CounterclaimPlaintiff Anita White (“White”) hereby file this joint motion to dismiss the litigation captioned above.

The Band dismiss all claims in this action against White with prejudice. White dismisses with prejudice all counterclaims against the Band in this action….

Told ‘ya. Onward, grinning….

नमस्ते

EndPoints News Reports That Pfizer May Help FDA Speed The Release Of FOIA Documents, Providing COVID Vaccine Transparency. Good On Them!

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Back to core-life science law and policy, then: John Carroll’s EndPoints News has a good story out, on how the anti-vaxxers may just… run out of conspiracy theory-fodder, and soon.

I applaud the FDA’s move to make thousands of pages of the data and documents available — even to ardent, unschooled anti-vax lawyers and their clients. That is a free democracy, at work. And eventually the best antiseptic against their collective idiocy will be. . . sunshine. I trust Pfizer’s team will adroitly speed the delivery (as it does with EUA application data-sets) — it is in all of our enlightened self-interest, to let the truth shine through. There is no “12 Monkeys” conspiracy to depopulate the Earth, or put chips in people’s bodies, or most-presposterously… replace all the “whyte pipple” in the US… with brown and black (and yellow) ones… via a weaponized designer virus. Sheesh.

And the data will show, in the vast majority of typical cases, mRNA vaccines are safe, and very effective. [The FDA might also consider voluntarily-releasing more data on the Ebola vaccine (see, Merck and partners), since it too is an mRNA approach — and it has completely changed the course of that dread African virus, in one elapsed year.] Here’s the more narrow topic though:

…The Jan. 6 court order required that FDA disclose more than 12,000 pages of information by the end of this month, and then 55,000 pages every 30 days, including the production of redacted versions of any documents for which FDA claims a privilege, exemption or exclusion.

“FDA respectfully requests that the January 6 Order be modified to provide that — for only the first two 30-day periods following FDA’s scheduled January 31, 2022 production — FDA’s monthly quota be adjusted to 10,000 pages per month,” the agency wrote on Jan. 18. “FDA would use this period to ‘stand up’ the extraordinary resources that will be required to bring full compliance with the Order within the realm of possibility — while still processing records at a rate on par with the most extreme processing rates that Plaintiff cited in its briefing….”

Let’s put these lunatics’ claims to rest once and for all — so that we may exit this now two year nightmare. Onward, smiling… ever smiling, with a hat tip to erstwhile Anon. for the embedded Brad Pitt reference above.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Didn’t Care When Trump Golfed 4 Or 5 Days A Week…

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History will record that Tangerine accomplished the least of any modern President, that he golfed at his own clubs five to 20 times more often than his two most recent predessessors — and generally scheduled his days around watching Fox programs. He rarely worked even a five hour day… but tweeted out his grievances generally from midnight to 2 am Eastern most nights.

Yet it bothers John to the point of vexation that our current President stopped for… ice cream at 3:15 pm today?

Okay.

Good luck with that. Out.

Consider It Mid-Week Humor, On Penn. Monkey-Truck Crash — But Perhaps Q-Theorists Are Serious About It. If So, That Is… Sad.

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As a rule, I try to avoid reading idiotic non-science based pandemic stuff by MAGA people, on Twitter and the like. [“I blame our public schools, here.” Heh.]

But the author of this piece did a wryly-understated take-down of the would-be conspiracy theorists — on last week’s monkey truck crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike system. It is a fact that a woman contracted pink eye, after touching one of the cages, in a Good Samaritan fashion… helping to move the cages off the highway.

But from that thin gruel, Q-Anoners have spun up a tale that Bill Gates is attempting a real life version of the movie “Outbreak” — as a favor to (wait for it!) President Xi, in China. Uh-huh. Here’s the very droll send up of this nonsense:

…While concerns around the ethics and safety of animal experimentation are legitimate, the chances that the CDC purposely crashed a monkey truck in order to re-enact a more than 25-year-old movie — on behalf of Bill Gates and China seems… highly unlikely….

Well… that’s a smile. [Personally, the Q-theory sounds more like the original… Jumanji to me.]

Onward — now just above zero on the thermometer (after minus seven around 4 a.m.), and only minus 12 — on windchills. With the sun shining, that’s… progress.

Progress.

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