Category: Uncategorized

On July 19, Hinderaker Said US COVID-19 Fatalities Were… “Largely Over”. FALSE.

~ condor ~ 7 Comments

I will likely attach this to everything John Hinderaker henceforth posts on Twitter related to the pandemic. He said it very recently — not even a week ago, now.

“…The numbers suggest that the COVID epidemic is more or less over, as far as fatality is concerned….”

— John Hinderaker,
on July 19, 2020.

After he said it, Trump suddenly cancelled the Jacksonville Klan-demic he was to host (GOP Convention) in August.

After he said it, this week… we’ve reached a still-accelerating rate of death — over 1,000 per day, one that equals one 9/11 attack, every three days. [And every three days thereafter — until at least… September 11, 2020. And all preventable.]

After he said it, he went silent on COVID-19 predictions.

He has been making dangerously, lethally, WRONG predictions about COVID-19 since mid-March 2020.

He has openly lied about statistics related to the pandemic.

And — in the face of now overwhelming scientific evidence — he hasn’t once apologized for denigrating people who wear masks, or choose other safety precautions, to stay… alive. Oh and he also touted that dangerous old malaria drug — the one Trump pushed for without success — too. The one the FDA yanked the investigatory authority for.

This moron is… dangerous. And increasingly… delusional, on all matters bio-science.

You’ve been warned.

[Major Update, On Friday Morning] BLM Chicago Filed Tonight — Against Acting Sec. Chad Wolf… A TRO In Portland, Too!

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Ahem. I must say, it is precious… that Scott Johnson, at Powerline… complains bitterly (and in fact filed a now-settled suit!), about not being included in local Minnesota press briefings, on COVID-19 mitigation efforts [“Oh! the Humanities!“]… yet the boys remain silent as the grave, about real, live field journalists being SHOT and beaten, by Trump’s Stazi-like goon squads, in Portland. Precious, indeed.

In any event, here is the TRO (in a victory for the rule of law, and our system of ordered liberty), entered by the able USDC Judge Michael H. Simon, in Portland — but apparently, an few hours after it was issued, another clearly marked press employee was shot in the hand, from over 50 feet away from the DHS jack-booters. We federal taxpayers will owe very substantial Bivens’ type damages, to the injured protesters, as indicated below. Disgusting.

Also overnight, Black Lives Matter Chicago and others filed a federal suit (of 41 pages) to ward off Chad Wolf’s secret police, on our streets. From the Portland order, then — some towering language, followed by snippets of a faithful recounting — of the disturbing facts which led to it:

…”Open government has been a hallmark of our democracy since our nation’s founding.” Leigh v. Salazar, 677 F.3d 892, 897 (9th Cir. 2012). “When wrongdoing is underway, officials have great incentive to blindfold the watchful eyes of the Fourth Estate.” Id. at 900. “The free press is the guardian of the public interest, and the independent judiciary is the guardian of the free press.” Id. This lawsuit tests whether these principles are merely hollow words….

Plaintiff John Rudoff is a photojournalist. His work has been published internationally, including reporting on the Syrian refugee crises, the “Unite the Right” events in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Paris “Yellow Vest” protests, and the Rohingya Genocide. He has attended the protests in Portland during the past two months for the purpose of documenting and reporting on them. Since this lawsuit began, he has been published in Rolling Stone, The Nation, and on the front page of the New York Times. While attending the Portland protests, he carries and displays around his neck press identification from the National Press Photographers Association, of which he has been a member for approximately ten years. He also wears a helmet and vest that is clearly marked “PRESS”….

. . .[A]round 30 feet away from federal agents, standing still, taking pictures, with no one around him. Id. 11 5-7. He asserts that suddenly and without warning, he was shot in the chest just below his heart with a less lethal munition. Id. 17. Because he was wearing a ballistic vest, he was uninjured. He also witnessed, and photographed, federal agents firing munitions into a group of press and legal observers….

While holding his press pass and identifying himself as press, he was hit with a baton by one federal agent. Id. 18. Two others joined and surrounded him, and he was hit with batons three or four times. Id. One agent then deployed pepper spray against Mr. Berger from about one foot away. Id. 19. He was given no warning. Id. 111. He states that he was not demonstrating or protesting, was leaving the area, and was clearly acting as a journalist….

Because the Court considers any willful violation of this Order, or any express direction by a supervisor or commander to disregard or violate this Order, to be a violation of a clearly established constitutional right and thus not subject to qualified immunity in any action brought against any individual employee, officer, or agent of the Federal Defendants under Bivens v. Six Unknown Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), notice of this Order must be widely disseminated. Accordingly, the Federal Defendants are ordered to provide copies of this Order, in either electronic or paper form, within 24 hours, to: (a) all employees, officers, and agents of the Federal Defendants currently deployed in Portland, Oregon (or who later become deployed in Portland, Oregon while this Order is in force)….

Onward — as of Friday morning, there is still no really reliable report, or sign — of any of these goon squads in Chicago. Overnight, my Mayor removed all the statues of Columbus, in the city — by official action. Fewer places, for DHS to try to provoke. . . a violent confrontation. Like the supposed ICE raids, after the ACLU’s suit, and the BLM suit linked above, I wonder if (Merely) Acting Sec. Chad Wolf has already turned tail, and run home. . . or to some other city.

He will meet very-formidable lawful resistance, in any event, should he roll into our town. Out.

नमस्ते; end update.

Here is the 41 page complaint for a federal declaratory judgment — that Wolf’s DHS is violating the Constitution, with his secret police / goon squads.

Wolf will soon be run out of town, along with his goons.

We are the City of Big Shoulders.

Here endeth the lesson.

Indeed! Glad You Asked, Mr. Hinderaker….

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Hey, John — let’s compare: how does the Harvard professor’s singularly-clear (but only once published) error… compare and contrast… to your equally clear — but dozens of errors, regarding COVID-19 — over many, many repeated publishings?

Did the professor’s error increase anyone’s risk of death?

Nope.

Now… did your repeated lies / errors increase vulnerable, low-information senior citizens’… risk of death, John?

Almost certainly. Your “hurry to open” and “masks are optional” nonsense… (documented here many times) — to a near certainty. Has. Caused. Added. Harm. To. Humans.

Yep, you’re an… ass. [And that’s before we mention your touting of Trump’s dangerously ineffectual Hydroxy- “treatment”, at left… you and Ms.Owens-Farmer… remember? Yup… people were clearly harmed, by not getting any experimental therapy that might have actually… worked.]

Case closed.

Just f#ck right off, now John.

Silly Hinderaker. Reasoning… Is A Skill. One That Is Now Increasingly… Beyond Your Ken.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

Tonight, John returns to one of his oldest — and lamest — tropes: that liberals are racists.

Certainly, some liberals are. It is true of all human groups: some are. Just as certainly… John is. We’ve established that (that’s a 2012 version, linked), over about 300 posts (on that topic, alone) over the last 18 (or so) years.

So — when he complains that someone labels an entire group, unfairly… well, we just smile — as it was what he was doing not even five nights ago, right here.

That’s all.

No need to belabor it. John Hinderaker is… all the things he claims to detest about what he sees… in liberals.

Here endeth the lesson. My grilled, rare ribeye with bacon wrapped asparagus, also grilled… calls. As does the frosty root beer.

Out.

Gosh — Who Would Have POSSIBLY Guessed This? USDC Judge Salas’s Sunday Night Home Shooter (Now Dead) Was A Pro-Trump, Anti-Feminist Lawyer…

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She is a very capable US District Court jurist. Now… her son is dead. And, her husband — also a lawyer — remains in critical condition. She (thankfully) was physically unharmed.

But it is now clear that the attempted assassination of the able USDC Judge was carried out by a self proclaimed “anti-feminist”, pro-Trump lawyer. For the proof of this, we need only consult his public record court filings.

That’s a baseless RICO suit he filed in 2016 due to what he claimed was unfair coverage of then candidate Trump. [He also had at least one case pending before the able Judge.]

Roy Den Hollander, the gunman, has died of a self inflicted gunshot wound, apparently not too long after posing as a Fed Ex driver — and shooting into the Barack Obama appointed federal judge’s home.

If Trump doesn’t immediately renounce this act of terror, he is complicit in it — and responsible for any additional harm that flows from all of these, his hate-filled followers.

Expect only crickets, over at the Powerline boys’ joint. Hinderaker, especially so.

Disgusting.

More Of The Rep.-John-Lewis-Inspired “Good Trouble”: Oregon State Attorney General Style; We Say “Bring It ON!” — In Chicago.

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It took us a few minutes, but Friday’s filing in federal court in Portland — by the highest state law enforcement official, there — against the Trump brownshirt goon squads, operating largely in secret, on local government turf without authority or invitation — has been made public.

In it, we read the following — but do go read it all (can this really be America, in 2020? Trump authorized, but otherwise untrained, rogue DHS “Secret Police” raids, on locally permitted… peaceful protests?!):

…On information and belief, federal law enforcement officers including John Does 1-10 have been using unmarked vehicles to drive around downtown Portland, detain protesters, and place them into the officers’ unmarked vehicles, removing them from public [places] without either arresting them or stating the basis for an arrest, since at least Tuesday, July 14….

The identity of the officers is not known, nor is their agency affiliation, according to videos and reports that the officers in question wear military fatigues with patches simply reading “POLICE,” with no other identifying information….

In one widely reported incident, in the early hours of Wednesday, July 15, Mark Pettibone alleges that he was confronted by armed men dressed in camouflage who took him off the street, pushed him into a van, and drove him through downtown until unloading him into a building, which is believed to have been the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse….

Pettibone alleges that he was put into a cell and read his Miranda rights, but was not told why he was arrested, nor was he provided with a lawyer. He alleges that he was released without any paperwork, citation, or record of his arrest….

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been reported by the Washington Post to have taken responsibility for pulling Mr. Pettibone off the streets of Portland and detaining him….

Defendants are injuring the occupants of Portland by taking away citizens’ ability to determine whether they are being kidnapped by militia or other malfeasants dressed in paramilitary gear (such that they may engage in self-defense to the fullest extent permitted by law) or are being arrested (such that resisting might amount to a crime)….

State law enforcement officers are not being consulted or coordinated with on these federal detentions, and could expend unnecessary resources responding to reports of an abduction, when federal agents snatch people walking through downtown Portland without explanation or identification….

Defendants’ tactics violate the rights of all people detained without a warrant or a basis for arrest, and violate the state’s sovereign interests in enforcing its laws and in protecting people within its borders from kidnap and false arrest, without serving any legitimate federal law enforcement purpose….

These are, without any serious question, lawless detentions of local citizens — in plain violation of their Amendments 4, 5, 6 and 14 rights — as well as of all of our core First Amendment rights — as this no doubt will chill political protest speech if it becomes widespread. DHS Trumpsters say this same lawless conduct is going to be rolled out… nationwide.

The late, great man, John Lewis, left all of us a very clear road map, of what to do next: peaceful civil disobedience — every time we see these goon squads. Be forewarned, BPS and DHS — we here in the City of Big Shoulders (due to our prior 2019 practice, in dealing with secret ICE raid trucks rumbling through our neighborhoods) are ready, organized and waiting. And in the end, many of you will lose your badges — and perhaps your freedoms, for following clearly unlawful orders, in the face of lawful state and city commands, to stand down.

I am sorry it has come to this, but… you are NOT welcome here. Read our Constitution; we have the right to self-police locally — unless we call you (we haven’t). And we won’t — so, you must now depart when ordered by our Mayor, Lori Lightfoot (a force of nature who warned the president’s press secretary to “watch your mouth, Karen!” this week), so long as our local police actions are not themselves in violation of federal law. And they are not. So… be gone.

नमस्ते

In Which John Writes More Insufferably Stupid Sh!t, On Yet Another Sunday Night…

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It is — without exception, unworthy of any considered response, as all he does is take some badly out of date all-cause mortality data — from the CDC, in the US in 2020… and then assume away any effect of COVID-19, at all.

He simply… ASSUMES. What an… ass.

What an ill-educated, un-scientific, non-argument. He again endeavors (in reliably failing fashion) to say it is only marginally worse than the seasonal flu, on a global basis. But he ignores the fact that this is already the worst US “flu” — in two generations, minimum. And he compounds his lunacy by ignoring the fact that it is now spiraling, nearly out of control in over 16 states — and the trend is accelerating death rates in the US, not level or declining ones.

I’ll just ignore it. He is simply willfully lying now. Dressed up with self-made idiotic charts — but… lying.

Out.

Oliver Wendell Holmes — In Biddle (1927) — On The Way The Pardon (And Commutation) Power Is Constrained By The Constitution

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I’ve spent my cool, foggy and rainy Sunday morning, over hot coffee, ripe red cherries, a banana and icy fresh OJ, reading the law review articles cited for the proposition (now in Roger Stone’s case) that Trump cannot lawfully engage in self-dealing pardons, not without violating the the framers’ shared understanding of the “take care” and “faithfully execute” clauses of his oath.

Here are those 150 plus pages — from Harvard Law, and Fordham Law, respectively — if you are curious.

But in terms of actual positive US Supreme Court law, this below, from the legendary Oliver Wendell Holmes may be the clearest proof that Trump’s action was unconstitutional. From that 1927 Biddle opinion then — a bit:

…We will not go into history, but we will say a word about the principles of pardons in the law of the United States. A pardon in our days is not a private act of grace from an individual happening to possess power. It is a part of the Constitutional scheme. When granted it is the determination of the ultimate authority that the public welfare will be better served by inflicting less than what the judgment fixed. See Ex parte Grossman, 267 U. S. 87, 120, 121, 45 S. Ct. 332, 69 L. Ed. 527, 38 A. L. R. 131….

It cannot be said with a straight face that Trump avoiding his own public trial for crimes against the nation and her people is in any meaningful service of “We, the people’s” properly understood public welfare.

Commutation is, in the US — for a century now, at least, no longer a “grace” granted by a King, without any limit — as a personal decision. No, in our modern democracy, it must not be used to insulate a President or other elected official from the rightful consequences of his or her prior criminal acts.

And so, even if the able Judge Amy Berman Jackson doesn’t ultimately decide to invalidate Stone’s commutation in her courtroom — it is clear beyond doubt that President Biden will possess the power to “UN-commute” his sentence — simply by saying Trump’s decision involved self-pardoning behaviors, and violated the “take care” and “faithfully execute” clauses in the Constitution (even without ever prosecuting Trump for his own crimes).

These admonitions are there in the founding document, not just once — but twice — so they must mean… something.

नमस्ते

Oh. John… Take A Seat. You’re Going To Split A Brain Blood Vessel, Here…

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

Gosh… this is all rather remedial stuff (in the study of logical argument forms), but apparently John Hinderaker needs a basic education.

First, he conflates “being woke” solely with… whatever it is he thinks he means by “antifa“. Bad enough, if he were to look at all the footage of BLM folks: black, yellow, brown and yes, white — explaining what they mean… when they say “woke” — he’d better understand [but no, that’s not his aim, at all — as we well-know, is it?].

Then as proof of his non-existent premise (and to drive home his would-be racist point), he offers a two minute video of a police officer who happens to be of color, complaining (entirely legitimately, I’ll note) about the behavior of one white woman.

That the officer has a solid point — in an individual case, mind you — doesn’t in any way support a general rule, based on group membership.

But that has forever been John’s problem: he cannot resist labeling behaviors he sees in individual cases, as endemic to entire groups — usually, people of color, LGBTQ+, or men and women who dare cross his supposed “gender normed” radar.

Sad indeed. Good thing guys like him are becoming increasingly infirm, bitter old men — and dying off. He cannot be taught to unlearn his… blindly unthinking, unblinking… ill-will.