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In Which Hinderaker Minimizes Armed Attacks On Congress, Incited By Trump. 1814 Redcoats Edition…

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Well… I should have known John’s conscience would last less than 24 elapsed hours.

He tells us tonight that the outrage from seditionists attacking Congress… is overblown.

Because… BLM did a street protest, or something in DC once or twice. There is no comparison. None.

I missed the guns drawn standoff, on US House floor, back then, I guess…

Sadly, Hinderaker here has regressed — in 24 hours, to the role of a willing apologist for men who drew guns with the aim of taking Mr. Pence and sitting Congressional leaders hostage, for show trials — after Trump egged them on.

One officer has reportedly died (beaten over the head with a fire extinguisher), and one rioter (a supremely disturbed female Air Force vet) was shot by police in defense.

She was well inside the Rotunda; climbing and trying to force her way past a broken interior door/window, to get to the floor of the House — after being warned to back off, repeatedly. The video is clear that she knew deadly force was being leveled at her chest… but she lunged at the officer. And now she’s dead.

There is literally blood on (John’s and) Trump’s hands, then — from this.

Perhaps most troublingly, Trump knowingly endangered his Veep, out of a pure fit of pique — when Pence wouldn’t go into full dictator mode, for him.

Yes… one must go back to the War of 1812… to find a similar attack on the Capitol. But these were Trump’s own “troops” — the Proud Boys (not British Redcoats) he previously told to “step back and stand by”. Let’s be clear: they were then activated — and did this for him, Wednesday.

John is… a lost soul. And a malignant one, at that, for trying to equate these actions with ordinary street protests.

Out.

[Mash-Up Post] Ms. Simone Was Right: “There’s A NEW World Comin’…” And The AUSAs Answer Martin’s Release Motion Forcefully.

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Editor’s Confession: this below is a “mash up“ post, with the end of it being the most relevant part for this blog — but I’ll set it here, since Martin’s “entitlement” disorder is very much like Mr. Hinderaker’s. Each of them refuse to realize the privilege they breathe, in and out, every day… the privilege of white skin.

How many young black and brown men and women would have been shot dead, on sight, inside the Capitol Rotunda yesterday, were they similarly armed, and “looting” the offices of Senators? Get serious. The dead would number into… the hundreds. But since all the rioters looked like Hinderaker and Martin, it seems at least some law enforcement simply moved the gates out of the way, for them — and welcomed them into the Capitol (Video available).

Onward, to Ms. Simone’s NEW world, then….

But at the head, Martin’s second attempt at early COVID-19 release is likely doomed to failure.

The AUSAs cogently point out that (as established by the FTC’s evidence in the civil antitrust case in Manhattan) he continues to use WhatsApp, among other illicit means, to communicate his unlawful directions on Daraprim® to Mr. Mulleady — in plain violation of BoP core rules. And in direct violation of his sentencing order — which gave him a reduced sentence length to begin with, if he would comply with those rules. He hasn’t. Here’s just a bit, from the excellent overnight 20 pager:

Add to the above that he is younger and healthier than many, many FCI Allenwood Low inmates, who have served almost all of their 10 plus year sentences… and there is little real hope that he’ll be bumped to the front of that long line.

Sorry, Marty. You may actually see an enhanced sentence, rather than a reduced one — at the end of the FTC’s case.

Onward, into the somehow incongruous Arizona sunshine….

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Part Two — after the horrors of yesterday… this belongs here — with 13 days left — and so, I resolve to smile, and be hopeful. We have won. [I may add tracks here, during the day — to remind us. . . we are indeed going to overcome this dark night. . . .]

We will see positive change, very soon — we will move through all three chambers:

And. . . from my older brother:

नमस्ते

Donald J. Trump Is Responsible For ALL Of This Terrorism, In His Name — At His Insistence.

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He has not ordered them to go home.

He’s been silent. He is… a traitor to America’s ideals.

This is beyond disgusting.

We are a nation of laws, not a… rogue failed state.

Please, people of good will — talk these lunatics out of the Capitol Rotunda.

If that will not work, then start gassing them.

This is no peaceful protest.

The last time similar insurrectionists held the floor of the Senate, it was the red-coated British troops, in the War of 1812. Insane.

See at right — armed standoff, on the US House floor.

नमस्ते

We Are Unlikely To Know Who Prevailed In Georgia Before Tomorrow Around Midday…

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The runoff races for the two Senate seats there are… each essentially toss-ups.

It may come down to just a thousand or fewer votes, state-wide, in each case. So we should be prepared to wait it out… patiently — even though effective control of the Senate, and thus the possibility of Democratic agenda setting roles last seen in the 2008 to 2010 period (when Messrs. Obama and Biden were able to broker what became the ACA of 2010… or Obamacare, if you prefer — the most significant US health care delivery / reform measure ever enacted) hangs in the balance, here overnight.

In the mean time, in DC, the NAACP LDF (one of several of my backgrounders is here) has moved to compel Baby T’s law enforcement taskforce to disclose all its documents, in the suit it has won in federal court there. Here’s the full memo of law, from the motion filing, and a bit:
…FACA’s disclosure requirement is not dependent on who ultimately reviewed any documents or how they were used. Instead, in order to determine whether an advisory committee’s “records, reports, transcripts, minutes, appendixes, working papers, drafts, studies, agenda, or other documents” must be publicly disclosed, Section 10(b) asks whether the documents were “made available to or prepared for or by” the advisory committee. 5 U.S.C. app. 2 § 10(b). Thus, the document’s origins and intended audience are critical—for example, a document “prepared for” the advisory committee (including public comments or staff work product) must be disclosed under Section 10(b), even if it was ultimately only shared with a subset of the committee’s membership. The D.C. Circuit recognized as much in Cummock v. Gore, 180 F.3d 282 (D.C. Cir. 1999), finding that Section 10(b) required disclosure of records that were not shared with all committee members.

Similarly, a document “prepared… by” one or more members on behalf of the advisory committee must also be disclosed under Section 10(b), even if the document itself is nonsubstantive or administrative. And as courts in this district have determined, an advisory committee’s working groups may themselves be subject to disclosure under FACA where — as here — they are substantively involved in holding hearings and drafting the committee’s work product.

While some materials within Defendants’ asserted categories may be properly withheld — such as personal messages sent to Commissioners or privileged documents concerning this litigation — Defendants have not provided sufficient information to identify and exclude those materials from production. Therefore, Plaintiff respectfully requests the Court order Defendants to disclose all documents that were “made available to,” “prepared for” or “prepared… by” the Commission and its working groups, including any such documents found in the eleven categories of documents currently being withheld; and further order Defendants to provide an index describing with specificity any documents they continue to withhold based on any proposed exemption or privilege….

Onward, into the sunshine — and do trust that our system of ordered liberty is self-healing, and righting itself… as I type this, in real time — primarily with all the voter enthusiasm in the Peach State. As ever, grinning.

नमस्ते

Three Years Later, “Haven” Admits That The Whole Idea… Couldn’t Work. Disbanding Now.

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I was duly skeptical in January of 2018. And, it seems my thoughts about it have turned out to be correct [That’s the MSM outlet’s explanation of the death of the three way joint venture, tonight]. I think it best if I just re-run what I wrote now three years ago.

That post appears immediately below the slug line.

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Dateline January 30, 2018: The nation’s papers and airwaves are simply agog with this — a something that amounts to… very amorphous news.

But I will offer the three my encouragement — just the same. If, for example, people who sign up for their privatized plan would agree to curtailed rights to sue providers, in return for much lower premiums, and access to proven medications at more sensible price points — and doctors would agree to charge less, since their malpractice premiums would decline… this could work. But that’s a whole raft of “ifs” — on what is just an idea, at this point (from The New York Times):

…The three companies provided few details about the new entity, other than saying it would initially focus on technology to provide simplified, high-quality health care for their employees and their families, and at a reasonable cost. They said the initiative, which is in the early planning stages, would be a long-term effort “free from profit-making incentives and constraints….”

Here’s to hoping, just the same (from CNN).

But (to be certain) the for profit folks at Aetna, HCA and Andersen Cancer Centers — among others, should feel a twinge — a cold chill — on the backs of their necks, this morning. The fair market is coming for you.

And even without affirmative help from this administration, the cost of health care must be tackled in the US. That much is sure. Onward — clear and cold, here.

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Actually it is lovely here, this night. Onward, grinning into 2021.

नमस्ते

“Find 11,780 Votes!” — That’s A… Felony, More Than Two Months After Polls Closed.

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I will not quibble, or be drawn into any debate about what he actually meant here. Let’s not belabor the obvious: he wanted “manufactured” votes, months after the polls closed.

This is a felony, on audiotape, no less. A series of them, actually — see, 52 U.S.C. §§ 10307(c), 10307(e), and 20511. See also 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242. See the DoJ primer here. It is called solicitation of election fraud — and criminal conspiracy to achieve the same.

It should surprise no one who’s been paying any attention at all that the criminal here is… the outgoing president. Let’s mention just one, specifically:

…Causing the production of voter registrations that qualify alleged voters to vote for federal candidates, or the production of ballots in federal elections, that the actor knows are materially defective under applicable state law (52 U.S.C. § 20511(2))….

That is precisely what Baby T was directing the Georgia Secretary of State to do, on a recorded call. Seventeen days. Only seventeen. Out.

नमस्ते

Hamilton County, Tennessee — For Shame.

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This is… deeply disappointing. At a minimum, with these early drop-shipped, limited availability vaccine doses, there should be a protocol that anyone over 75 years of age is automatically moved ahead in line, and anyone (without other risk factors) under the age of 30… is automatically shunted toward the back of the line. And when the doses run out for the day, so be it.

I suspect there is some dramatizing of the way this was reported, but the essential facts seem undisputed, and confirmed by several outlets:

…Officials in Hamilton County, Tennessee have been caught giving the COVID-19 vaccination to “close friends and family” after turning away elderly people by claiming they had run out of the vaccine.

When a journalist questioned a car of seven younger people who had been vaccinated, the people in the car laughed and said, “We got contacts,” as in, they’re connected to people who could give them the vaccination over older people who need it far more.

WRCB reports that on Thursday, the Hamilton County Health Department began offering vaccines to people 75 and older at 9 a.m., quickly causing a traffic jam and causing the department to start turning away cars by 1 p.m., including cars filled with old people who had been waiting over four hours….

People — we need to be… better. We are better… than this would imply, as a nation. Please think of those who have come before you, and sacrificed… for your life to be… what it is.

नमस्ते

As We Predicted, Team Baby T Has Voluntarily Abandoned Its Appeal In East Bay IV Immigrants’ Rights Class Action.

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As we’ve been saying ever since Mr. Biden won, the government’s appeals of its nearly uniform losses — in various civil and human rights cases — will be dropped by Mr. Biden in any event.

But in the least plausible of the Baby-T appeals (like this one, arguing that ICE and BPS are not to be held responsible for “lost” kids in their own custody, if they were originally placed there under HHS orders — and claiming Baby T may impose gouging fees on immigrants from the Southern Border, but not from Europe), we are now seeing the staff AUSAs abandon the most frivolous of the appeals. This is the one in East Bay IV, out of Oakland — it has been dumped from the Ninth Circuit calendar, as of New Year’s Eve.

blockquote>…MANDATE of USCA as to [106] Notice of Appeal to the Ninth Circuit, filed by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Chad F. Wolf, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services.

Appellants’ unopposed motion (Docket Entry No. 9) for voluntary dismissal is granted. (cjlS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/31/2020)….

Onward — smiling as I ride out into the glorious sunshine — of a new Saturday’s dawn, a new year, and with some luck — an new era in human rights… now opening.

नमस्ते

This Gohmert / Texas GOP Joke Of A Suit Is… Dead. No Surprise.

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It is too silly to really spend much time describing.

He claims a novel power, found nowhere in any relevant founding document — that he may sue the sitting Veep, and force the Veep to effectively ignore several states’ appointed (state level) electors, and without any process, select alternate electors who might vote the states’ college ballots for Baby T. It was just tossed, after three elapsed days — by a Baby-T appointed federal judge no less, thus:.

…Congressman Gohmert argues that on January 6, 2021, when Congress convenes to count the electoral votes for President and Vice President, he “will object to the counting of the Arizona slate of electors voting for Biden and to the Biden slates from the remaining Contested States.” Docket No. 1 ¶ 6. If a member of the Senate likewise objects, then under Section 15 of the Electoral Count Act, each member of the House and Senate is entitled to vote to resolve the objections, which Congressman Gohmert argues is inconsistent with the state-by-state voting required under the Twelfth Amendment. Docket No. 2 at 5. Congressmen Gohmert argues that the Vice President’s compliance with the procedures of the Electoral Count Act will directly cause his alleged injury. Id. at 7. And he argues that a declaration that Sections 5 and 15 of the Electoral Count Act are unconstitutional would redress his alleged injury….

Congressman Gohmert’s argument is foreclosed by Raines v. Byrd, which squarely held that Members of Congress lack standing to bring a claim for an injury suffered “solely because they are Members of Congress.” 521 U.S. at 821. And that is all Congressman Gohmert is alleging here. He does not identify any injury to himself as an individual, but rather a “wholly abstract and widely dispersed” institutional injury to the House of Representatives….

The able USDC Judge in the Eastern District of Texas just effectively said “Shut it, Louie“… the argument is so devoid of merit, it nearly amounts to… sedition. Onward now, to a brighter 2021.

नमस्ते