Category: Uncategorized

Justice Thomas Wrote An Incoherent, And Self-Contradictory Dissent, As The Supremes Let The Nov. 2020 Pennsylvania Election Results “Dubious Challenges”… Die.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

I note it solely for the preservation of a complete record.

It appears at the tail end of the order list this morning that also ends Trump’s chance of stopping Cy Vance’s subpoena of his tax and financial records, in the Big Apple, an order which is understandably getting much wider coverage… in the popular press, today. It likely means jail for Trump.

But it should not go unnoticed, that — for Thomas to pen this dissent (at about page 30 of that pdf file) — he had to abandon every purported claim of “judicial modesty“ he (often along with Scalia, when Scalia was still living) ever made.

He only now tells us that there are some disputes, by his cock-a-mamey lights — even when it is clear that the Supremes (as here) possess no standing to hear the case… the Court should hear — and resolve — matters well beyond its jurisdictional reach.

Why?

Because his delicate political senses… wish to overturn the will of a clear majority of his fellow Americans’ lawful votes. In sum, because his guy didn’t prevail.

Yup. Thomas is a bought hack — as is his wife, the organizing financier of many of the bus caravans which delivered the violent white supremacists / insurrectionists to the Capitol — on January 6. These goons killed a police officer, and tried to kidnap members of Congress, and their own Vice President, all to stop the completion of a lawful vote certification process. Again, because their guy… lost.

That is in no manner… American. That is… insurrection, against her. Disgusting.

But the Thomas couple seems cool with it. Let that echo through history, in eternity, with their names.

I’m out.

Cy Vance Will Shortly Have Access To The Mazars / Trump Financial Records — For Criminal Investigative Purposes — In The Big Apple

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The wheels of justice, it is said, turn very slowly. . . but they tend to grind. . . the accused, to a very fine powder, in the end.

So it is that the former occupant of 1600 Penn. this morning is learning from his defense lawyers that an Empire state level felony criminal inquiry proceeding, and a Big Apple city level similar proceeding, both believed to have empaneled grand juries, will now be able to promptly execute subpoenas on Tangerine’s accounting firm, called Mazers LLP. The Supremes just now rebuffed T’s final effort to avoid the legal processes all the rest of us must live by, without any additional comment:

. . .ORDERS IN PENDING CASES

20A63 TRUMP, DONALD J. V. VANCE, CYRUS R., ET AL.

The application for a stay presented to Justice Breyer and referred to the Court is denied. . . .

And, yes — I am grinning ear to ear. The likely bank fraud and tax fraud set out in those documents each could lead to ten years, so twenty in total in New York state level prisons. That, finally, would be at least some measure of rough justice. Onward.

नमस्ते

Parker Makes Fourth “Gravity Assisted” Dip Around Venus — Continually Shaping An Eventual Final Solar Perihelion Approach…

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There is much to report upon out in the inky black night of space, these past ten days.

All of it encouraging, and good news. The spacecraft named for “Hidden Figure” Katherine Johnson reached orbit near the ISS yesterday safely, and deployed its solar arrays flawlessly. And we smiled widely at that.

Also yesterday, the Ingenuity helicopter — attached to the latest Mars rover, was partially charged up and reported all systems nominal. In about 50 Sols on Mars, or about 60 Earth days or so, it will be fully checked out and ready for test flights.

But this at right depicts. . . a looping dip around the Goddess Venus, by Prof. Eugene Parker’s solar probe — now underway. The lithe craft is presently shaping its “shepherded moonlet path,” by using the goddess’s gentle gravitational tug, to place it in an optimal orbit for close obervations of our Sun. A graceful dance, now unfolding over years — indeed:

. . .While @NASAPersevere settles into its new home on Mars, our #ParkerSolarProbe is making a quick visit to Venus. On Feb. 20, Parker performs its fourth Venus gravity assist, a maneuver that makes use of Venus’ gravity to draw its orbit closer to the Sun. . . .

Onward. . . and, it is these most subtle of corrections, that we celestial bodies exert on one another — occasionally even over decades or longer. . . that may most matter — to the longest lasting joy, of our lives.

And so, we sail onward, indeed — as it once again smells like snow, approaching here, tonight. Smile — cold, crisp and full of mineral content, the air. . . .

नमस्ते

Now A Suspected Ebola Case In Sierra Leone — That Makes It A Three Nation Outbreak, This 12th Time…

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This was not entirely unexpected — but the latest Ebola flare up is now becoming a regional — rather than single country — concern. The best news is that there is a nearly 100% effective vaccine — and if people will step forward and admit to being contacts, or contacts of contacts — ring vaccination has been shown to work quite well at arresting the spread.

But there can be no arrest, until all the first-, and second-, tier contacts step up and get vaccinated. Even with several thousand doses of the Merck vaccine in-country this morning, we are still likely several weeks from having all those people vaccinated. And in the mean time, there will be more cases — as the virus finds new hosts — of that we may be certain, in these hard to reach forrest and mountainous locales.

So. . . this becomes a rather daunting moment, in the ongoing (but clearly improving) WHO and partners’ struggle against deadly Ebola epidemics. In 2014 to 2016, more than 11,300 lives were lost; in the most recent past one, that number came down significantly. From Relief Web, then — this latest disconcerting news:

. . .On February 14, Guinea reported 7 suspected cases of Ebola in the southeast of the country, in an area close to the Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone borders creating fears that it could spread wider across the region, with early reports of a new case already in Sierra Leone.

The first reported case was of a female health worker. This marks the first time the disease has been reported in the country since the end of the devastating West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2016 that left over 11,000 people dead.

This comes as there is also yet another resurgence of Ebola in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Cases both in Guinea and the DRC are in hard-to-reach areas. . . .

With up to six more inches of fluffy white snow due here as early as 1 AM Sunday. . . I am sorely tempted to get back on a jet (or anything smokin‘ really. . .) to the saguaro cacti. . . for a few more weeks. Grinning. . . .

नमस्ते

As Of This Morning, The US Has Officially Rejoined The Paris Climate Accords. With Small Steps, Back — Toward Sanity.

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We may quibble that the Paris accords don’t do enough to solve the looming crisis of our age. [But “perfect” is often the only real enemy of the. . . good.]

We would be right. We should be working for. . . more, to be certain.

For. . . better. But doing nothing, and withdrawing from our role on the planet (as under Tangerine). . . was absolutely the wrong approach.

So, as Texas sees what climate change does to local economies (and utilities) long ruled primarily by privatized “regulatory capture“, and Republican-donors’ avarice — we are gratified to see Mr. Biden moving us back onto the world stage, as a leader — no longer a 19th-Century-policies driven. . . dinosaur.

And now. . . we are off, smiling — out into the chilly sunshine, to make more three-foot-deep snow angels. . . by the lake — heh.

नमस्ते

USDC Judge Tipton Just CANCELED The Prelim. Injunction Hearing Due In Houston, For Tomorrow — Weather Likely?

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I am running it to ground now, but a minute order was just entered — on PACER, in Houston. . . to the effect that tomorrow’s midday Zoom hearing is. . . canceled. People are dying; people are freezing; people are still being deported, in Texas. What gives, Your Honor?

The most likely bet would be that Judge Tipton, or some of the lawyers, are without power — or running water — and thus cannot make the Zoom appearance. Even so, though — it is still possible that Judge Tipton will simply rule tomorrow. Not likely — but possible.

. . .Preliminary Injunction hearing set for Friday, February 19, 2021 at 10:00 am is cancelled. (KelliePapaioannou, 2) (Entered: 02/18/2021). . . .

More as I learn it. Even with all of this, I am candidly smiling widely. . . that we are sitting like a hot coal, moaning in the winter night’s sky. . . on Barsoom. Five by Five. Grin. . . .

नमस्ते

TOUCHDOWN! Safe On Mars!

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Flawless! 5 by 5. . . sitting pretty on the surface of Mars!

Do refresh your browsers, from time to time — if it doesn’t auto-start by 2:00 EST.

And encourage the school-kids in your homes this snowy afternoon — STEM bound or no — to tune in, as well:

Lesson plans for at-home schoolers are available from links at the YouTube page. Be excellent to one another — and now go bring me that. . . undiscovered horizon!

नमस्ते

Just A Quick Detour, From Mars — To Marvel At The Lies Texas Gov. Abbott Is Telling, While His People Freeze To Death, And Ted Cruz Flies To Cancun(!)…

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The odd and poorly run state of Texas — ever since at least the time of the Enron debacle in 2000, had an energy “policy” built primarily to maximize the private profits for wealthy donors to the reliably Republican state-wide office-holders. That is to say, the Texas “grid” (to the extent it exists any longer, at all) is held together with rubber-bands, and duct-tape, run to make a profit, and disconnected from the national energy grid — so even if Gov. Abbott wanted to buy electricity from Arizona, Utah, New Mexico or Colorado — he cannot. That was by design.

It gave wealthy GOP Texans a monopoly over energy in the state. By and large, that group overlaps almost 90% with the oil families of Texas. [Shocking, I know.] But now people are dying due to lack of heat — and water. And it takes Bill Gates of all people, to tell the unvarnished truth — where Abbott lies to the voters he is killing, day by day, thus:

. . .”Actually, the main capacity that’s gone out in Texas is not the wind, it’s actually some of the natural gas plants that were also not ready for the super cold temperatures,” Gates says.

Moreover, Gates said that climate change causes extreme weather patterns like the winter storm to “become more likely.”

“Because the normal wind patterns are broken down and so cold fronts can go further south more often than we would expect,” he says. . . .

Okay — that is simply. . . deplorable. Vote those crooks out — you good people of Texas.

Now we will return to watching and waiting — for a soft Barsoom landing.

नमस्ते

More Of (Former) Tangerine Mussolini’s Lawlessness, Now Officially Enjoined By Judge Tigar: East Bay IV Litigation, In Oakland’s Federal Courts…

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Again, no surprise. None at all. The other shoes… are dropping, and dropping apace, now. The monstrous things he impotently tried, are daily being erased from the law books.

Here (do go read all eight pages) an able USDC Judge flatly holds DJT violated the law, in his attack on people lacking papers.

…On December 17, 2020, just weeks before a change in presidential administrations — and with an effective date of January 19, 2021, just one day before that change — the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) issued the final third country transit ban rule, entitled “Asylum Eligibility and Procedural Modifications” (the “Final Rule”). 85 Fed. Reg. 82,260 (Dec. 17, 2020) (codified at 8 C.F.R. pts. 208, 1208). The Final Rule is functionally equivalent to the interim rule that this Court preliminarily enjoined (and another court vacated). 84 Fed. Reg. 33,829 (“Interim Rule”). It categorically denies asylum to most persons entering the United States at the southern border who did not first apply for asylum in Mexico or another third country….

Under controlling Ninth Circuit law, the Final Rule is invalid because it is inconsistent with existing asylum laws. As with the Interim Rule, the Final Rule deprives vulnerable asylum applicants of essential procedural safeguards designed to avoid arbitrary denials of asylum. Also, rather than ensure their safety, the rule increases the risk asylum applicants will be subjected to violence. See E. Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Barr, 385 F. Supp. 3d 922, 953-56 (N.D. Cal. 2019) (“E. Bay I”). For these reasons, and the additional reasons set forth below, the Court now enjoins the Final Rule from taking effect….

Onward — to about four piled up feet, of gorgeous mirror bright snowbanks… grinning, ear to ear — as a copper hued goddess glows increasingly larger, in the NASA mission’s front camera lens — and…. tomorrow is almost here! It’s like Christmas Eve….

नमस्ते