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Once Again, A “Dress Rehearsal” — At Loading The Liquid Hydrogen And Oxygen Tanks, For Artemis II… But, Why Even Go?

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There are collected and sealed sample tubes, resting in and around the Perseverance rover out there, 40 million miles off — on Mars. Or Barsoom, if you prefer. NASA’s Trump appointed Administrator recently canceled all funding — for the 2030 mission to robotically reurn them to Earth.

That is an extremely important astro-biology science program — it may definitively establish that there was prior life — on Mars. But instead of spending that money — with no risk to human crews, Tangerine 2.0’s priority is to showboat “boots on the moon” — near the Fourth of July. For nearly no real scienctific purpose. Ask Armstrong. Ask the Apollo teams — we’ve learned what we can there. No need to risk life and limb, at all. Here’s the latest — but this is not the fault of NASA — this is politico-hacks’ fault:

…11:11 a.m. EST

Teams in the firing room at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are experiencing an issue with ground communications and have moved to backup communication methods to maintain safe audio command and control. The launch director has decided to maintain the current vehicle state, continuing the liquid oxygen fast fill, but delaying moving into liquid hydrogen fast fill, while engineers troubleshoot the issue….

11:45 a.m. EST

Normal communications have been restored, and NASA teams have made the decision to transition to fast fill of the SLS rocket’s core stage with super-cold liquid hydrogen. Core stage liquid oxygen remains in fast fill.

Fast fill rapidly loads hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into their core stage tanks. During this process, teams also monitor for leaks and conduct engine bleed procedures to thermally condition the RS-25 engines for launch. Once fast fill is complete, operations will move to topping and replenish phases.

Up next, teams will start chilling down the liquid hydrogen tank on the interim cryogenic propulsion stage – or the upper stage – of SLS….

So — there is an argument we ought to do both — in the near term (Moon; and Mars) as a stepping stone to boots on Mars. But we haven’t solved the radiation shielding issue — for humans to go to Mars. So we cannot use humans to collect these tubes, safely.

Yes, this is a very stupid time, in US administration / public policy toward (and in many cases, opposing)… real science. Damn.

नमस्ते

Bill Glahn: Feckless Idiot. And Evil, Too.

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

So… This morning, the putz Bill Glahn would tell us that returning important identification cards to people wrongfully detained… so that they can avoid being grabbed and subject to potential deportation again… is somehow “concierge’s level service” that our government should not provide.

This man is as stupid… as he is evil.

Bill you and your goon squad… cannot ignore a federal court order. This was a federal court’s order, on habeas, moron.

If one’s documents are questionable — and one’s been picked up once and released under habeas, with specific orders to hand back the documents one possesses, so that he might not be picked up again… including the order that says he’s been released on habeas and cannot be picked up again… that is not in any manner “luxury hoteling” service — that is a fundamental constitutional right — to be free from false arrest.

Another word for a re-arrest, in this situation, would be… a kidnapping.

Yep — Bill Glahn is a moron.

Out.

Tangent: Indemnity? Only If Martin Shkreli Was Exercising His Rights “As Intended” Under The Purchase Agreement. He Wasn’t.

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So… Martin Shkreli has (through counsel) filed more papers in Brooklyn — this time claiming to properly make the Wu- parties part of the PleasrDAO action. [I won’t link them, as they badly misstate the law and facts of the case.] Even if these papers do that, his claim is now for indemnity (from the Wu-) for disputes about the “ownership” of the work.

That theory would be heard solely and exclusively at a “Mad Hatter’s Tea Party”. When Martin failed to pay the over $8 million he owed in criminal fines and forfeitures (as a result of three felony convictions), from his cash — the able USDC Judge ordered his assets seized, and sold — by operation of law. Not by contract — by law. “All right, title and interest” in and to the Wu-. That is what was sold. And then resold, to PleasrDAO. There was nothing wrongful about the following of the court’s order.

Martin could have avoided all this, had he come up with the $8 million he then owed. But he chose (again!) to stiff a judgment creditor — this time, the federal government. Bad idea.

So he clearly lost every right he could ever have claimed in and to the Wu- work: box, IP, recorded voices — and all. There is no reversionary interest left for him. And it is a complete fiction to claim otherwise. Federal judgments cut off contract claims. And his is a contract claim for indemnity (and the supposed 50% reversion). Silly stuff, Marty.

In any event, here is Bloomberg Law ($$ subs. req.) on it all:

…Convicted hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli said two Wu-Tang Clan rappers are contractually committed to fund his defense — and any judgment against him — in a trade secrets case over the group’s one-of-a-kind album.

Robert “RZA” Diggs and Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzourgarh must indemnify Shkreli in any case arising from his ownership of “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” under a 2015 purchase agreement, he told the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York in a third-party complaint filed Tuesday.

Shkreli previously failed to add the rappers as necessary plaintiffs and as counterclaim defendants in the suit initiated by investor group PleasrDAO….

This will be… tossed. [Do also recall that, after PleasrDAO bought it, Martin was playing his “bootleg” (wrongfully copied and retained) versions, over Discord and on YouTube live streams — for all to hear. He even admitted on the live-streams that he knew that course of action violated the contract — the same one he now speciously tries to claim “indemnity” under. Yikes.] Onward.

The Contempt Orders… Roll In, Against Tangerine’s Govt. Lawyers…

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

This too may be where we are headed in the latest Chicago class action, Case 26-cv-321. [Both the order and the NYT story are linked here.]

These jerks are not above the law — see here:

…According to the ruling, by Judge Laura M. Provinzino of Federal District Court in Minnesota, the government failed to return “identification documents” belonging to Rigoberto Soto Jimenez, a detained immigrant whom she had ordered to be released with all of his property returned. The judge ordered a $500 daily fine imposed on Matthew Isihara, an administration lawyer, for each day the documents are not returned, beginning on Friday….

‘Bout time! Onward, grinning.

नमस्ते

This Is… Difficult News — Even Decades Later.

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True enough — six have survived. And all were very experienced back country skiers, we are reliably informed.

But the central object lesson here is that some times… the snow is so unstable, and the slide opens nearly instantaneously — without warning or sound — and comes down in overwhelmingly massive waves… such that nothing would prevent tragedy. Nothing other than not being on the mountain at all, that day.

Here is the NYT’s reporting, so far:

…The bodies of eight skiers killed during an avalanche were found during a rescue effort late Tuesday in California near Lake Tahoe. Six skiers from their party survived and were evacuated, while one member of the group remains missing and presumed dead in what is already the deadliest avalanche in modern California history….

The skiers, including four guides, had been finishing up a three-day backcountry expedition in a rugged but popular recreational area near Castle Peak. The six survivors were able to use a combination of emergency beacons and iPhone S.O.S. functions to contact rescuers, who braved treacherous conditions to reach them….

There are old back country skiers… and there are bold back country skiers. . . but there are very few… old, bold such skiers. May they rest in pow[d]er. Onward — but there is still (likely) one body, to retrieve off the mountain, when conditions improve. Yikes.

नमस्ते

John… Now, On Teen Beauty Pageants — And Jeff Epstein… SRYSLY?!

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Hinderaker is desperate not to talk about Trump moving more aircraft carriers into the Persian Gulf (remember here that the GOP has, since 2016 at least supposedly run on non-interventionist platforms)… that he now decides to insult AOC — by purportedly comparing her to a 2007 teen beauty contestant of no note.

Y A W N.

Hey John — AOC said what she said at the conference in Munich last week. And she was, in the main, more warmly received than the frenetic, and wildly conflicting versions of messaging Rubio offered. Those are facts.

Astonishingly, today he also claimed that “no crimes were committed” by anyone other than Jeffrey Epstien and Ms. Maxwell… again, looking to set up deflection battles — rather than genuinely address the real issues of the day.

But whatever John — talk about public transport in your frost-bitten city. But leave real international affairs to the grownups.

Please.

Much Of The Long Overdue Hudson Tunnel Federal Payments Have Been Made — Under Court Orders, In Manhattan As Of Today And Tomorrow. Whew.

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So… is the end of a bad thing — is that… a good thing? I am uncertain. I am certain, however — that it should never have happened.

Trump’s monstrous vanity was all it was. New York will not rename the tunnel after him. So he lawlessly tried to stop the workers from being paid their wages. What an a$$.

In any event, here’s that three page Treasury status report — on payments so far:

…With respect to the three loan agreements executed between the Build America Bureau (the “Bureau”) and GDC under the Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing (“RRIF”) program, all outstanding reimbursement requests totaling $30,207,203 were paid on Friday, February 13. . . .

With respect to the Federal Transit Administration (“FTA”) grant agreements executed between FTA and GDC under the Capital Improvements Grant (“CIG”) program, GDC had $66,542,105 in outstanding reimbursement requests. On Friday, February 13, FTA approved the full $66,542,105 and transmitted this payment to Treasury. Treasury is processing the request. We understand that GDC should receive payment today or tomorrow….

With respect to the Federal Railroad Administration (“FRA”) grant agreement between FRA and GDC under the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail (“FSP”) program, GDC had $136,724,429 in outstanding reimbursement requests. On Friday, February 13, FRA approved $8.8 million, which covers the first of five invoices GDC submitted, and transmitted this payment to Treasury. We understand that GDC should receive the payment today or tomorrow. The remaining four invoices of approximately $128 million were approved Friday evening and were sent to Treasury today at 2:30 PM. We understand that GDC should receive the payment tomorrow or Thursday, February 19, 2026…

This is… progress — but it is simply atrocious that Tangerine 2.0 jerks hard working construction people around — many living paycheck to paycheck — like this. Damnation.

नमस्ते

Mayo and Merck: “Better… Together” — A New R&D Collaboration.

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The initial three areas of focus under the collaboration agreement are Gastroenterology — Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); Dermatology — Atopic dermatitis, and Neurology — Multiple sclerosis.

As ever, Merck is playing for the long term wins — spanning decades perhaps. And it can afford to do so, with the pembrolizumab franchise to contribute over $20 billion a year, through the mid-2030s, now. Here’s the latest — and a bit, from both CEOs:

…Merck and Mayo Clinic, the world’s top-ranked hospital system, today announced a research and development agreement to apply artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics and multimodal clinical data to support drug discovery and development. The agreement integrates Mayo Clinic’s Platform architecture as well as clinical and genomic datasets with Merck’s ambition to harness AI-enabled virtual cell technologies to enhance disease understanding, improve target identification and drive early development decisions….

“New cutting-edge technologies are enhancing our ability to innovate with the potential to bring important new therapies to patients faster. By working with Mayo Clinic, we aim to integrate high-quality clinical data and AI-enabled insights into discovery research to improve target identification and, ultimately, the probability of success for our programs,” said Robert M. Davis, chairman and CEO, Merck.

“By combining Mayo Clinic Platform’s de-identified data, clinical expertise and Platform technology with Merck’s world-class research and development capabilities, we are poised to speed innovative breakthroughs to patients and redefine drug development,” said Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., president and CEO, Mayo Clinic. “This collaboration represents a new present and future for healthcare — one where platform-based collaboration leads to more answers, more cures and better outcomes for patients worldwide….”

So there’s your power alley item of the day, for Wednesday… with a lovely 60-ish degree sunny day ahead, here. Excellent!

नमस्ते

USDC Judge Paula Xinis Rules Abrego Garcia Cannot Lawfully Be RE-Detained, By Rewriting A 2019 [Supposedly Non-Final] Administrative Order… Woot!

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So it is, once again, that Kristi Noem possesses no “magic wand” that might (via evil pixie dust) undo a 2019 order — one that controls this case in Maryland.

Any attempt to detain him should have happened in 2019. That didn’t happen. So he is no longer subject to detention, as a matter of statutory rights. Here’s her much anticipated ten page ruling in full, and a bit:

. . .The matter at ECF No. 112 is now ripe for resolution. For the reasons stated below, the Court grants Abrego Garcia’s request to convert the TRO to one for injunctive relief and clarifies that the Court’s habeas relief includes enjoining his re-detention under Zadvydas and its progeny, as previously articulated….

To read the order otherwise, as [Noemites] Respondents suggest, would indeed rewrite the history of this case. It would restart Respondents “removal period” pursuant to § 1231, and by extension, eviscerate the removal period and the six years when Respondents did nothing to effectuate third-country removal. See ECF No. 110 at 7–14. Respondents reading would also conveniently erase this last year of Abrego Garcia’s detention and count none of it as relevant to the Zadvydas analysis. Because a “now for then” order cannot alter substantive rights or rewrite history, the Court must reject Respondents’ arguments….

As to what this means for Abrego Garcia’s continued release, it secures rather than undermines it. The Court had previously articulated the many reasons why the teachings of Zadvydas demanded release. ECF No. 110 at 25–30. Those reasons, and the factual underpinnings for them, squarely apply now that Abrego Garcia has a final order of removal and withholding of removal to El Salvador as of November 2019. The Court incorporates the reasons articulated at ECF No. 110….

Now you know — grinning — as expected. Onward, resolutely — to the hearings in Nashville next week.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Is In No Manner A Serious Adult…

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From his nonsensical belchings about DEI (which is he well knows continues to this day…), to just silly claims that California is losing out to Florida and Texas (on undefined dimensions). [That would only be true if we were measuring excessive and cruel over enforcement of immigration policy.]

None of it is backed by any real evidence and none of it makes any sense.

But for John, it’s just another crazy Tuesday.

Out.