Category: Uncategorized

Simplest Explanation? Hinderaker Now Is Suffering From “COVID Brain” — Confused Thinking Dept.

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I won’t waste much time on his, other than to say… Occam’s Razor here applies. The simplest explanation tends to be the correct one, that is (with a suggested therapy course, for John Hinderaker — under that tiny brain pan image — heh).

If he thinks private actors (even if shown by clear and convincing courtroom evidence to be acting as explicitly Democratic operatives — which has no basis in reality) are acting “unconstitutionally” (his wording), in protecting the reputation of their private club’s product…

I’d say that sure sounds like Covid-foggy brain thinking.

In a heartbeat John will defend the private country / golf clubs around the nation when they decide not to offer membership, at any price, to people they disfavor (and unless it is based on race or gender, the excluded have zero grounds to complain, he would agree).

To pretend that a vast conspiracy of Democrats, tech moguls and federal bureaucrats (deep state) control the world… is to show signs of scarlett fever, if not lithium posioning.

But in John’s case, it is likely just a Covid-fog.

Hopefully it clears up — eventually (though numerous primarily elderly long-haulers say it has lasted over a year). Ouch.

Out.

An 1819 Era One Sentence Reply, To Specious (Non-)Claims — In Texas OSHA Vax Matter

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Here is what purports to be a 14 page response to the fine OSHA brief, filed last week. It asserts all sorts of nonsense, making political rather than legal arguments. It will fail.

Now, as promised — the one sentence (from a now 202 year long, unbroken line of USSCt. cases) that makes this so (the opposition fails to account in any manner for this federal principle, instead arguing that individuals may substitute their judgments on the matter — in places of interstate commerce employment — thus potentially thwarting the will of the electorate, and lawlessly so):

“…Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the constitution are constitutional [and then, its powers are plenary]….”

— Chief Justice Marshall (1819)
M’Culloch v. Maryland.

Since OSHA’s authorizing legislation is anchored to the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, the agency has nearly carte blanche to deal with emergencies of health in any workplace (in any rational fashion). That OSHA chose to reduce the burden on small employers (under 100 employee shops) allows/leaves employees worried about COVID-19 outbreaks to “vote with their feet,” and sign up with larger employers. This is a long standing, well-vetted and quintessential aspect of reasonable, rational… federal regulation (see the first days of Title VII, in this regard — it exempted small employers in the very first days, and then phased them in — to compliance).

In sum, OSHA will prevail. And a ruling could come from the Supremes yet this week.

Onward, grinning….

[Martian Space Science] China’s Space Agency Sharing “Selfies” — Of Their Tiawen 1 Mars Orbiter, Cruising Gracefully Over The Ice Capped North Pole, This New Year’s Afternoon…

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It is important to recognize that China (even after all our political / policy differences) conducts excellent interplanetary space science. Do go look at the below link from the South China Morning Post (Sunday edition, their time).

The team, at their version of NASA, is celebrating the Western New Year with a release of various photos, over the ice caps, on the tip-top of Barsoom:

…China published on Saturday photos showing its Mars orbiter Tianwen-1 circling above the north pole of the red planet.

The photo was taken by a detachable sensor equipped with two wide-angle lenses on the outer wall of the probe that was controlled from earth, according to the Chinese National Space Administration….

The upper part of my image is one of these photos, the rest are at the link. Stay safe, dry and warm, one and all… on this first full night of 2022. Smile.

नमस्ते

Confirmed: Hinderaker Cancels Event Due To… “Appalling Cold”. And Denial Ain’t Just A River, In Egypt, Bro.

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BUMPED — NEW YEARS EVENING 2022 — In a post ostensibly about what he calls “fake” Indigenous Peoples’ claims… Hinderaker let slip that he has been “laid up” for three days… with what he calls a “appalling cold“. This, just a few days after two of his adult children, their partners and kids visited (kids almost certainly unvaccinated — judging by age in photos of Christmas 2021).

Right. As irony would have it, as he talks of what he calls “Pre-tend-ians” — he is actually confessing to pretending a cold (bacterial), which most in modern science would call… viral — in sum, likely… a variant of the COVID-19 virus. [He has said he is fully vaccinated, before.] I wouldn’t care — or mention it, if he hadn’t lied incessantly for over a year, about the known data on this virus. We wish him a speedy and full recovery, just the same. End update.

It is reasonably likely that one or more of the authors of Powerline blog now have COVID-19 symptoms.

We wish them a speedy — and full — recovery.

It’s not “just a flu/cold, bro.”

Namaste.

New Morning, Dawning. New Year. New… Day!

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And the next gen space ‘scope deployment continues… flawlessly.

Here’s the latest (below) — we too will enforce the law of gravity, on the couch, today, on the first.

…Work on the deployment of [the next gen ‘scope’s] sunshield mid-booms went late into the night yesterday. [The next gen ‘scope’s] mission management decided this morning to pause deployment activities for today and allow the team to rest and prepare to begin [the next gen ‘scope’s] sunshield tensioning tomorrow, Sunday, Jan. 2. That deployment is still expected to take place over at least two days.

This will likely affect the full timeline for [the next gen ‘scope’s] deployment. The timeline will be updated as major deployments resume….

We are smiling ear to ear, seeing now that the snow warnings, and the tornado watches, around the nation have passed without really serious incidents. Onward!

नमस्ते

“It Is The Consensus”… Of Three Or Four Nut-Job MDs — And They File As Amici.

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I write here on nearly a new year, to note that a very small handful of ostensibly US-licensed MDs have apparently lied in front of the US Supreme Court. In writing, no less.

Here it is:

“…It is the consensus of the medical community that the currently available Covid-19 vaccine injections do not prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2….”

Rii-i-i-i-i-i-ght.

So — three or four yokels in the rural Dakotas and Montana perhaps… declare themselves a “consensus”.

Justice Sotomayor may find this very useful — as the paper copy may be used — as kindling to start a fire, in the fireplace in her chambers.

WHO are these lying morons?

Geez — we will wish Gov. DeSantis a swift recovery from his COVID bout (and whoever it is on Powerline’s staff who has been stricken with it), just the same.

On, and smiling, into an even-numbered year, again.

[U: 01.01.2022] This Is… Ironic. And… Sad.

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UPDATED NEW YEARS NIGHT — In a post ostensibly about what he calls “fake” Indigenous Peoples’ claims… Hinderaker let slip that he has been “laid up” for three days… with what he calls a “appalling cold“. This, just a few days after two of his adult children, their partners and kids visited.

Right. If he talks of what he calls “Pre-tend-ians” — he is actually confessing to pretending a cold (bacterial), which most in modern science would call… viral — in sum, likely… a variant of the COVID-19 virus. [He has said he is fully vaccinated, before.] I wouldn’t care — or mention it, if he hadn’t lied incessantly for over a year, about the known data on this virus. We wish him a speedy and full recovery, just the same. End update.

It is reasonably likely that one or more of the authors of Powerline blog now have COVID-19 symptoms.

We wish them a speedy — and full — recovery.

It’s not “just a flu/cold, bro.”

Namaste.

[O/T: Cosmos-Gazing Dept.] Like Hubble Before It, This New ‘Scope May Last More Than 20 Years, In Space — At L2…

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While an entire ocean of things could still go wrong, and cut the life of this next-gen space ‘scope short (or prevent it from ever operating, at all) — it seems that fuel to point and aim it will not be a limiting variable.

And so, like Hubble before it, it is highly likely to serve up solid space science for more than double its originally-targeted life-cycle. That is good news, and would greatly boost the return on the $10 billion investment… spent to get it to this point. Kudos to the ESA team for that [animated GIF credit NASA | Goddard Spaceflight].

Here’s that presser from NASA’s Goddard team — all as the unfurlings are proceeding without any hitch:

…The analysis shows that less propellant than originally planned for is needed to correct Webb’s trajectory toward its final orbit around the second Lagrange point known as L2, a point of gravitational balance on the far side of Earth away from the Sun. Consequently, Webb will have much more than the baseline estimate of propellant – though many factors could ultimately affect Webb’s duration of operation….

The extra propellant is largely due to the precision of the Arianespace Ariane 5 launch, which exceeded the requirements needed to put Webb on the right path, as well as the precision of the first mid-course correction maneuver – a relatively small, 65-minute burn after launch that added approximately 45 mph (20 meters/sec) to the observatory’s speed. A second correction maneuver occurred on Dec. 27, adding around 6.3 mph (2.8 meters/sec) to the speed….

There will be a series of briefings, between now and January 6, on the progress of the origami-like unfoldings. But know that they are all working exactly as hoped. And that makes me smile… heading into an even-numbered year. For whatever reason, I always feel more grounded, focused, relaxed and freer — in even numbered years. [Don’t ask why — I have no rational explanation. But this has been true for most of my adult life, though I’ve become more keenly aware of it, since at least 1998 or so.]

So… here’s to a great and grand 2022. Be excellent to one another.

नमस्ते

Thanks To Anon… We Now Know That Judge Wood’s Largely-Unhinged Order Has Been Stayed…

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A fine long term commenter pointed us to this, whilst we were out bike-hiking the desert peaks, here. Great catch!

Only one full elapsed day later, the Second Appellate Division in New York (state court) has stopped the order that Judge Wood entered — and indicated at the head that it will decide the matter shortly, largely on the papers alone. No protracted argument. That’s a powerful hint that the law is clear to the panel — and they will strike this trial court order as wildly beyond the trial judge’s purview.

It is just as we expected, but gratifying, just the same — to see swift, real, professional career jurists well-versed in the law made out of Watergate at the Supremes, even-handedly applying the law, and in the process, clipping the wings of GOP electees who regularly now overstep their assigned roles. Here’s the order made available this afternoon — and a bit of it:

…ORDERED that the provisions of [Judge Charles D. Wood’s] Decision requiring (1) The Times “and its agents, employees, legal counsel or other persons underits control” to “immediately turn over to the plaintiff Project Veritas’ counsel all physical copies of the subject legal memoranda prepared by Project Veritas’ counsel, Benjamin Barr, that are in its control or possession,” and

(2) The Times “and its agents, employees, legal counsel or other persons under its control” to “immediately delete / destroy copies of the legal memoranda prepared by Project Veritas’ counsel, Benjamin Barr, from any computer, cloud server or other data collecting or disseminating sources, including but not limited to, all attachments to emails and cloud server devices, and to remove such documents from the internet and any web site or servers over which they have control,” and

(3) The Times’s counsel and the defendants to “use best efforts to retrieve copies of the legal memoranda prepared by Project Veritas’ counsel, Benjamin Barr, provided to third parties,” and

(4) The Times to “file with the court within ten (10) days of service with notice of entry of this order an affidavit / affirmation confirming its compliance hereto,” is stayed….

Now you know. Onward, grinning — ever grinning.

नमस्ते

Three Former Heads Of OSHA, Including One Under Bush 43, Filed As Amici, In SUPPORT Of Authority For Vaccine Standards In Workplaces.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

It may seem a little repetitive, but this is vitally important — that the Supremes get it right, here. I cannot go as far as some employment lawyers, in their brief, and claim that all of the past 70 years of workplace law will be invalidated if this COVID-19 vaccine standard cannot be sustained as lawful exercise of the agency’s charter… but I will say that it is clear beyond doubt that the statute, by its terms, and Congress, in enacting it — expected the agency would have this authority — if needed.

And now, it is needed. If one disagrees with the level of perceived “need” — one’s remedy is the ballot box: vote in a new Congress, or a different president… next time. In the mean time, a very solid majority of us voted Mr. Biden into office, and asked him to make these judgment calls. Full stop. Here’s that fine amicus brief — well argued, to be sure — and a bit:

…The OSH Act authorizes OSHA to issue health and safety standards “to serve the objectives of” the Act. 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(1). Those objectives include protecting workers from “illnesses arising out of work situations,” id. § 651(a), and assuring “healthful working conditions” by reducing “health hazards” at “places of employment,” id. § 651(b)(1). The Act’s protections are explicitly aimed at “diseases” connected to work environments, id. § 651(b)(6) & (13), and the development of “medical criteria which will assure insofar as practicable that no employee will suffer diminished health, functional capacity, or life expectancy as a result of his work experience,” id. § 651(b)(7).

Section 6 of the OSH Act, 29 U.S.C. § 655, grants OSHA ample authority to carry out the Act’s purposes by issuing standards aimed at preventing workplace outbreaks of communicable diseases caused by viruses and other infectious agents. OSHA’s authority expressly extends to setting standards addressing “toxic materials or harmful physical agents,” id. § 655(b)(5) (emphasis added), so as to “adequately assure[], to the extent feasible, on the basis of the best available evidence, that no employee will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity” resulting from “exposure to the hazard,” id. Section 6(c) authorizes OSHA to issue emergency temporary standards to protect employees from “grave danger” resulting “from exposure to substances or agents determined to be toxic or physically harmful,” and from “new hazards,” id. § 655(c)(1) (emphasis added).

These provisions unambiguously grant OSHA authority to protect workers from workplace exposure to a virus that causes severe and often fatal illness….

Onward, grinning into the warm Arizona night air, now….

नमस्ते