Category: Uncategorized

The Biden Executive Order Most Likely To Provoke “Christian” Right Litigation (So Far)…

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So far (about 48 hours on!), in the main, Mr. Biden is restoring, by executive orders, clearly lawful exercises of presidential perogatives to the state they were in, when Mr. Obama last held the office. But there’s been at least one sea change, at the Supremes, in favor of LGBTQ+ rights, since he left.

The Supremes ruled last Summer that the statutory language “on the basis of sex” must per force include prohibitions against discrimination aimed at the status of being gay or lesbian. And despite Baby-Tangerine’s endless attempts to rip it out of our well-settled laws, that remains… the federal law. So, Mr. Biden intends to cover additional logical classes of humans in that definition, as he re-instates policies of non-discrimination, where the classificaation might turn on gender identity. The logic is clear; if one is prohibited under our Constitution, so too, are the corallary “like cases“.

But the hard right has already threatened litigation (Y A W N), out of Texas, even as the ink dries on those new orders. Here’s that bit, from Reuters:

…Some of Biden’s executive actions are sure to prompt fresh court battles or reignite existing ones including orders bolstering LGBT rights. . . .

…[T]he Supreme Court is likely to have the final say absent the passage of legislation by Congress that cements the policies into law….

Onward, but I’d predict that the hard right christians will face tough sledding on LBGTQ+ rights, at the Supremes. And (once outside of Texas, on appeal), they are likely to lose every lower level federal case they bring, in view of Gorsuch’s majority opinion in Bostock. Out now, smiling, into the clear cold sunshine of a flawless Friday.

नमस्ते

More, Of The Departing “Baby-Tangerine” Shenanigans, In East Bay Sanctuary III — This Will Shortly Be Enjoined, In The Federal Trial Courts In Oakland…

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Make no mistake. Very shortly, the able USDC Judge Jon S. Tigar will enjoin (ruling in favor of this motion, just filed) the outgoing Baby-Tangerine claims of a new “final DHS rule” in the southern borders / asylum matters. This is so, (i) because Mr. Biden has ordered a pause to such new rules, as of yesterday, and (ii) on account of a cogent memo of law from the plaintiffs’ counsel filed today, but drafted before noon yesterday — when it was not yet a fact that Mr. Biden had issued an enforceable executive order halting any such measures… from taking effect.

Yesterday, the White House placed a freeze on new regulations, and it squarely addresses abuses like this one; an abusive action taken just as Team Tangerine was departing 1600 Penn. In the new directive, Mr. Biden’s administration provides:

…Should actions be identified that were undertaken before noon on January 20, 2021, to frustrate the purpose underlying this memorandum, I may modify or extend this memorandum, pursuant to the direction of the President, to request that agency heads consider taking steps to address those actions….

I can laugh about this nonsense now. He is an impotent, embitttered increasingly irrelevant old man now. I can… laugh, directly — at him. He’s engaged in such a transparently futile… act. Hilarious.

नमस्ते

YAWN. Zero Surprise. Parler Won’t Be Back On Amazon Servers Anytime Soon.

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This is a reassuring (if expected) outcome, for our domestic national security, and the safety of Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris — and the ongoing reclaiming of American life — from hard right white supremacist factions.

Here is a link to the full 14 page opinion, out of the federal trial courts in Seattle. It is precisely correct. And effectively, Parler has lost. It has only the potential of a “ЯЏSSЇДИ option” for getting hosting services, for the foreseeable future.

. . .In short, Parler has proffered only faint and factually inaccurate speculation in support of a Sherman Act violation. AWS, in contrast, has submitted sworn testimony disputing Parler’s allegations. Parler therefore has failed to demonstrate at this stage a likelihood of success on its Sherman Act claim. . . .

There you have it — the ship is being righted, plank by plank. Grinning, into a beautiful sunset here. . . .

नमस्ते

With Very Limited “Dangerousness” Exceptions, If You Were In Process For Deportation… There Is Now A 100 Day “Standstill” Order.

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If any of your clients or loved ones were in any form of US sanctioned deportation proceedings by November 1, 2020, Mr. Biden has, pursuant to clearly lawful authority, ordered a 100 day “moratorium” period to assess whether the current ICE, BPS, DHS and HHS policy schemes violate our existing laws and treaties. [Spoiler alert: they do. See about 35 federal cases, including Flores, East Bay I, II, III and IV, and Ms. L. class actions. Trump was about 1 for 54 in the lower courts. Only his third version Muslim Ban was allowed to remain, at the Supremes. And again, within his powers, Mr. Biden has swept that away with a stroke of his pen last night.]

So — if you had any doubt (per NPR reporting) about this election mattering. . . put that doubt to rest.

…Karen Tumlin, founder of the Justice Action Center, an organization providing legal aid to immigrants, called the step to end MPP “huge.”

Tumlin wrote on Twitter that, “It confirms the Biden-Harris commitment to restoring dignity to our asylum system. Here’s to the next, critical steps to remedy the inhumane impacts of this shameful program….”

People arriving at our southern borders, whether at an official port of entry, or not so. . . are entitled to basic due process — a hearing before an impartial tribunal, as to any credible fear of reprisal, in their country of origin or transit.

They can no longer be ordered to remain/return to Mexico or elsewhere.

And we will now spend real resources to try to find the parents of the children Trump snatched from their arms. Onward, into a sunny… NEW day, in America. Ms. Simone was/is right.

In a more pragmatic vein (but not entirely trivially, here), I will note again that our lead in technology and life science depends very greatly on fair and humane immigration policies. Out.

नमस्ते

Back To The Power Alley: Merck’s Attempt To Collect Nearly $2.7 Billion In Patent Case Is Over, With… Zero Recovered.

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Maybe we can get back to the rather less tumultuous affairs of all things pharma again, now…. jusssst maybe.

Over the last decade, we closely covered the Sovaldi® (sofosbuvir) patent battles here. And Merck’s intitial multi-billion dollar verdict has been closed out, as the Supremes declined the case to re-instate that verdict, after an appeals court ruled Merck’s patents invalid. Here’s the bit, from FiercePharma, yesterday:

…In its Tuesday update, the Supreme Court said it would not take up the lawsuit between Merck subsidiary Idenix Pharmaceuticals and Gilead Sciences. Merck had won the $2.54 billion patent verdict in 2016 when a jury found Gilead had infringed on a Merck patent. The jury ordered Gilead to shell out those billions because of its high sales for hep C meds Harvoni and Sovaldi.

During the years that followed, the companies battled over the massive award. In 2018, a federal judge found Merck’s ‘597 patent invalid and overturned the verdict….

Onward, with three new inches, soft and fluffy on the ground — and a bright, single digits windchilled day out there — Lady Gaga and J.Lo killed it! Huge grins, henceforth….

https://play.vidyard.com/embed/v4.js

नमस्ते

[U] So… These “Parler Patriots” Are Going To Entrust Their Archives And Picture IDs… To A RUSSIAN State Connected Service?!

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

I promise this will be the end of it. [Update: Additional high profile morons are weighing in, agreeing to share their personal comms. and DMs with Russian intel agents. Hannity; and Rand Paul.]

But I can’t even imagine or describe… the cynicism it must take, for Levin, Peikoff, Bongino, Hannity, Paul and Matze to offer up their readership, for sacrifice — to ЯЏSSЇДИ ЇИҐԐL (Russian intel) connected hosting, while lying over and over, about their (now former) Insurrectionist In Chief. Only 15 more hours; only 15 or so….

We just made must make it through to tomorrow afternoon, now… that’s all.

नमस्ते

The Latest Flores Report, On Children Being Held ALONE, In Custody — Around Significant COVID-19 Risks — Is Here, In Full.

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As we’ve said, Mr. Biden is going to completely revamp the way this all happens, very shortly. He has also set out that he will sign an executive order with an eight year path to full citizenship (presumably it will correlatively allow for the immediate release of all of these children and their separated parents, into the interior US in under a few weeks). I expect the Congress will likely agree to its terms, and make it permanent binding law — since the Senate will be under Democratic control, as well as the US House, until at least late 2022/early 2023.

We already know Mr. Biden will not let Baby-T’s team offer preferential (COVID risk increasing) admissions to the US from Western Europe (in a failed attempt at invidious discrimination, against people arriving from our southern ports of entry). We expect Mr. Biden will however, quickly process most of those listed in this report, who are presently held in custody at the southern border facilities — many for going on a year or more, now — and likely release them, as well (effectively on i-Bonds), trusting they will return for future hearings, to establish more permanent rights.

And so, I am placing this archival report (13 pages, in all) here, in full — should it turn out that large numbers of children are still being held without process, at or near the border — next month.

I sincerely doubt that will be the case, but we will revisit it, if there is renewed evidence of mistreatment in either the federal district courts sitting in Los Angeles, Oakland or San Diego.

I for one am pretty confident that will not be necessay. Onward, to a brighter new day — and new world, thanks to all of you of good will — who voted for… progress, not regressive “Hunger Games” style “rich take all” capitalism (which is actually socialism/welfare for the top one hundreth of one per cent, and hard luck for the rest of us). Onward, smiling — with barely 20 hours left, I’m like a 1950s kid — on Christmas Eve.

नमस्ते

[U] Trivial Tangent Alert: I Saw Some Odd Rumblings — On Twitter. Likely Nothing; But He’s A Pure… Crook. So, Who Knows?

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UPDATED: After 1 AM EST on the 20th, the list of 78 names was posted on the official White House website. Mr. Shkreli’s name does not appear on the list, but Steve Bannon’s does. Bannon (according to a felony indictment) stole at least $500,000 from a charity that Trump donors supported to build the wall, diverting it to his own personal expenses. I suppose there could be another bolus of names, before noon, but that seems unlikely. End update.

I won’t spend a whole lot of pixels on this… as things always get crazy when a crime family feels the walls closing in. And these next 24 hours certainly… qualify in that department.

But I did see some stuff on Twitter overnight, to the effect that at least some people close to Martin seem to believe he’s on the list of 100 to 150 people who will either see outright pardons, or see their sentences commuted, from the Grifter-in-Chief.

Color me skeptical, as I don’t think Martin has the kind of money it would take — as a straight up bribe — to make the list. And you may be certain the Trumpian Crime FamilyTM is effectively selling these commutations.

Just watch as Lil’ Wayne gets one, later this evening. It is a bought deal.

Even so — as I say — Martin probably is not among the 150 or so highest bidders for one. Not for lack of trying, but because there are so many ahead of him, with so much more to offer the crime family, in favors, access, or cash — outright. [OTOH, If he makes the list, he’ll be a free man before Friday — staying at his sister’s home — most likely. But he’ll still have the FTC antitrust litigation to contend with, and that could lead to a separate felony indictment, eventually — so he might go back inside, as making this list cannot lawfully cover any future criminal indictments.]

But now you know — with even all the rumors, unfit to print available right, right here. Read all about it?!

So nah, I’ll just… pixelate them. Grinning, here — Tangerine Mussolini gone in about 24 elapsed hours now….