This is going to be the way of things, for quite a while — it would seem.
Tangerine well-knows these crude oil-prices and therefore, US retail gas prices… are going to kill the GOP candidates, at the mid-terms. So he keeps making happy talk, about grand deals… that mostly don’t exist. And won’t exist — as he’s given the people in charge in Iran… ample reason to make him look even more foolish than he himself looks.
So buckle up, for more retail increases — in the price of… everything, that needs to be flown, or trucked — anywhere, into or around, even — in the US (via a gas or diesel engine). Here is the latest from Tokyo, Monday mid-morning their time:
…Brent rose to $96.04 on April 20, 2026, up 6.27% from the previous day. Over the past month, Brent’s price has fallen 3.90%, but it is still 44.95% higher than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. This data was last updated on April 20 of 2026….
D A M N. Our economy won’t work with oil above $90 a barrel, into the summer. It is broken. Damn — thanks Trump.
Likewise, John well-knows that the only legitimate path to changing that… is a Constitutional amendment. And he also well knows such a thing could never garner the 2/3rds majorities needed, to even begin that process.
So he hopes for a judicial coup d’etat. One that will never come. [And of course, without violating that clause, the GOP is increasingly unlikely to win very many more national elections. So he… proposes… cheating. Y A W N.]
This is John — demand that everyone (excepting him!) play by the rules, established some 150 years ago.
We have long covered these twin “grand-daddies” — of interstellar flights [Voyager 1 and 2]. We know it takes 23 hours for commands to reach the craft, at the speed of light, now. That’s pretty far out — out, there. And we hope it can all continue, to be certain. But we are aware that the craft was designed to last only five years, and it is now approaching ten times that age.
…On April 17, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California sent commands to shut down an instrument aboard Voyager 1 called the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP. The nuclear-powered spacecraft is running low on power, and turning off the LECP is considered the best way to keep humanity’s first interstellar explorer going….
The LECP has been operating almost without interruption since Voyager 1 launched in 1977 — almost 49 years. It measures low-energy charged particles, including ions, electrons, and cosmic rays originating from our solar system and galaxy. The instrument has provided critical data about the structure of the interstellar medium, detecting pressure fronts and regions of varying particle density in the space beyond our heliosphere. The twin Voyagers are the only spacecraft that are far enough from Earth to provide this information. . . .
During a routine, planned roll maneuver on Feb. 27, Voyager 1’s power levels fell unexpectedly. Mission engineers knew any additional drop in power could trigger the spacecraft’s undervoltage fault protection system, which would shut down components on its own to safeguard the probe, requiring recovery by the flight team — a lengthy process that carries its own risks.
The Voyager team needed to act first.
“While shutting down a science instrument is not anybody’s preference, it is the best option available,” said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at JPL. “Voyager 1 still has two remaining operating science instruments — one that listens to plasma waves and one that measures magnetic fields. They are still working great, sending back data from a region of space no other human-made craft has ever explored. The team remains focused on keeping both Voyagers going for as long as possible….”
Now you know — onward, smiling into the sunshine. So many things for which to be grateful, indeed.
In the video posted below, by the Lyric — to describe what the audience’s experience would be like — the creator (and Illinois Poet Laureate) avery r. young said the musical work he would present would be “no chocolate-covered Mozart“.
The man was true to his word.
The musical score drives the both inspiring and harrowingly pathological story of the Great Migration forward, out of the deep South and up to Chicago, by following one newly land-owning Black family — threatened by the Klan — in the early parts of the 20th Century. The narrative then returns late in the second act — to the deep South, for a spreading of the ashes of the patriarch — over a half century later.
While there for a spiritual home-going, a supernatural apparition delivers the long delayed, and richly deserved, Karma — to the by now elderly Klanners.
To be sure, this was a marvelous first outing, by a primarily written-word artist, to stage a very modern opera — crossing seamlessly from gospel to blues, and on, to funk.
My only edit to the score, would be that the piece could have been interlaced with a very tender musical interlude — between either of the primary couples — that drive the narrative.
There could have been a slow, loving movement in the form of a song, or dance — for either of the couples (or both of them), to vary the pace, just a little bit. But the story is certainly primarily about struggle. And that struggle — we do see.
Here below is the author, talking about what he intended with the work — and now we await its next run, in some future theater venue, either in the city of big shoulders or in any other major city of the US:
Even in this, its present form — it is more than ready for New York, Houston, LA, Atlanta, Nashville or San Francisco. But being a romantic at heart — I would sure love to see at least one quiet love ballad inserted — as the present running time would certainly allow it to come in at under two and a quarter hours even with such an added number.
But that’s just me — certainly there was great and deep love, between these couples — and I do get that the story is about the struggle — and in those times, there might have very been little energy left for love, after working two jobs (18 hours in a day) — at the high end hotels of Chicago, followed by a night shift at a plastic factory. Then home for no more than five hours of exhausted sleep — and back, at the hotel lobby, by 7:30 am. So it went — over and over, for four long decades, at least.
We have long known that these jokers’ arrogance… is perhaps only eclipsed by their INCOMPETENCE.
Last night, Todd Blanche’s DoJ / DHS team of lawyers filed what purports to be a “notice of appeal” — to the Fourth Circuit. The “appeal” recites that Mr. Blanche “deems” his motion to dissolve Judge Xinis’ injunction (against sending Mr. Abrego Garcia anywhere) denied.
The problem with this… is that… Judge Xinis HAS NOT RULED.
She has explained how quickly she’s been working — after Team Blanche dragged their own feet for four months. But the idea that he thinks he can dictate the timing, to a federal judge… is jaw-slacking. He will lose — and be bounced out of the Fourth Circuit — as that court has no “final order” to base its limited jurisdiction upon.
These are truly… crazy times. And crazy clowns, in Tangerine 2.0’s thrall. They need to be brought to heel. Costa Rica will accept Mr. Abrego — but these jokers say only Liberia will do — because (of course!) they seek to punish him — for asserting his rights. This is no national security matter, at all. No one is in any exigent danger here.
This is a Maryland family man, kidnapped — and now freed on bail — with papers that permit him to be present on US soil, to this day. And his family is here — as his wife is a US citizen — which makes his kids… right! Citizens. Out.
Not surprising, given that the various viral vectors are not wildly different (and, many people in West Africa may have experienced several childhood diseases — that already weakened their hearing, like strep). It makes intuitive sense that the viral after-effects can be systemic, and long tail.
Here’s that story, from CIDRAP, and the University of Minnesota:
…Survivors of Lassa fever may experience a range of post-infection complications, including hearing loss, according to a meta-analysis published in the Journal of Infection.
For the analysis, researchers at Imperial College London analyzed data from six studies on post-acute sequelae (lingering health effects in the weeks and months after initial infection) among 559 people who had recovered from Lassa fever, a viral hemorrhagic illness endemic to parts of West Africa.
They found that Lassa fever survivors reported an array of post-infection complications, including musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, ocular, and psychiatric symptoms. The most common post-infection complaint was hearing loss, with a pooled prevalence of 18%….
In 42 survivors across four of the studies, the severity of hearing loss varied widely, with most experiencing mild to moderate hearing loss and a minority experiencing complete deafness….
Onward, into a chilly Saturday. Smile — Google Meet-up — with the travel arranger, for the month of September in France, in a few.
We have long followed this rover proposal — from drawing board, to now… the build. [This is what Mars missions ought to look like — that is, automated — with no need for boots on the Martian surface, with humans inside them.]
It will likely get spacecraft tech support and touchdown support from NASA — even though the payload is… an ESA project build.
…NASA has given approval for the agency’s Rosalind Franklin Support and Augmentation (ROSA) project to begin implementation, underscoring the agency’s continued partnership with ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosalind Franklin mission. The mission is led by ESA and that agency is responsible for providing the spacecraft, including the carrier module, the landing platform, as well as the rover and surface operations.
Scheduled to launch in 2028, Rosalind Franklin will be the first Mars rover to search for signs of past or present life under the Red Planet’s surface. The ROSA project will provide designated hardware and services to ESA in support of the Rosalind Franklin mission, including the launch service, braking engines for the rover’s lander platform, and radioisotope heater units for the rover’s internal systems.
The project also includes specialized electronics and a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer for the Mars organic molecule analyzer science instrument, which will search for the building blocks of life in samples collected at the rover’s landing site, Mars’ Oxia Planum….
Now you know. Onward to tomorrow — through a warmly drenching rain, tonight — but much colder by tomorrow night, at the Lyric.
John admits that Trump nowhere defines what the deal on nukes might entail. And Trump doesn’t even indicate what a “complete transaction” would look like.
Frankly, I don’t care, either way: whatever he says — it will be mostly lies, anyway.
They protested — risking their lives — on a Trump promise to come to their aid.
He has done precisely the opposite. He has damaged their civilian economy — setting it back decades. And, he’s left an awful cadre of violent thugs in charge… again.
All this was easily foreseeable, when he took the stupidly rash and wicked actions he took.
But Hinderaker calls this… victory. All because his stock-holdings are modestly… recovering.
What a putz.
These are the “evil men” Sam L. Jackson referred to as “the tyranny”.
I’m candidly rather sad that the Pulp Fiction characters (played ably by Jackson, and Travolta) won’t be able to… unload their chrome-plated 9 mms… into guys like John.
This — in broad strokes — will define the largest component of potential damages, in this clearly multi-billion dollar suit about word-mark and trademark infringement, under the Lanham Act. Current financial metrics (specific to franchises, and geographies) from the German Merck are the raw inputs, that allow a calculation of the extent of the damages, US Merck may well have suffered. It hardly makes sense to even discuss “mediation” — if one cannot get a current handle on the size of the agreed / mediated payments. So it goes. [We did mention this specifically, before.]
…KGaA’s motive to rewrite Rule 26(e) is transparent: it wants to avoid more damages. But shifting blame to Merck for not requesting this update sooner is no excuse. As explained (Br. 3), Merck’s 2017 document request already asked for this data. Merck need not repeat that ask — Rule 26(e) already obligated KGaA to update its response. The Court’s recent decision to keep disgorgement in the case (ECF No. 302 at 11-12) is all the more reason to address this now. And even if Merck had moved earlier, KGaA would still need to bring its financial data current for trial….
Thomas & Betts forecloses KGaA’s arguments. Updated financials did not “reopen” discovery (Br. 8), nor was all discovery revisited as a result. KGaA now distinguishes Thomas & Betts as limited to past infringement with ongoing harm. Opp. 7–8. But it was the continued use of trade secrets there that required updated financials, not just a one-time misappropriation. Thomas & Betts, 2010 WL 2400151, at *3–4. In any event, disgorgement does not parse between KGaA’s profits for past and continued infringement. Both inflict ongoing harm. Br. 6. KGaA cannot avoid the straightforward application of Rule 26(e) to its financial records.
The text of Rule 26(e), this Court’s precedent, and the common practice of updating financial information before trial all compel supplementation….
We do continue to say (based on real science) that the overall risk to US residents, generally, is small — but among the communities that share intimacy, male to male — the risk of infection and transmission is… moderately high. SF is the latest on the US list, to see such Clade 1b cases.
. . .San Francisco public health officials on Wednesday confirmed the city’s first case of clade Ib mpox, a strain of the virus that officials say may cause more severe illness than the type behind the outbreak in 2022.
The case was identified in an unvaccinated San Francisco adult who was hospitalized and is now improving, according to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The person reported close contact with someone who had traveled internationally, the agency said.
Health officials stressed that the risk to the general public remains low. But they urged people at higher risk of exposure to get fully vaccinated with the two-dose mpox vaccine….
“SFDPH is closely monitoring mpox. While clade Ib mpox cases remain rare in the United States, clade II mpox cases continue to occur in San Francisco and throughout California,” Dr. Susan Philip, the city’s health officer, said in a statement.
“This development reminds us just how important it is to be fully vaccinated against mpox if you are at risk. With summer travel and events quickly approaching, now is a great time to seek the mpox vaccine….”
As we’ve repeatedly said, the higher risk community here is largely a tightly overlapping Venn Diagram, with the male communities that have sex with other men. That would be true here in SF, as well.
So, go get… both doses — fully vaccinated, right away — there are free clinics all over the Bay Area. Stay safe.
[Onward, to a world premiere of new musical work, called Safronia commissioned by the Lyric Opera here, tomorrow night — should be a vibrant, and complex — series of themes, based on the US history of “The Great Migration”, to Chicago — by people of color, from the South over the last century and a quarter.] We will report/review, on Sunday… smile.
This is going to be the way of things, for quite a while — it would seem.
So buckle up, for more retail increases — in the price of… everything, that needs to be flown, or trucked — anywhere, into or around, even — in the US (via a gas or diesel engine). Here is the latest from Tokyo, Monday mid-morning their time:
Powerline Lies... 