Update no.1080

 Update from the Sunland

No.1080

19.9.22 – 25.9.22

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

We passed the Autumnal Equinox at 18:03 [T] MST on Thursday, 22.September.2022—the biannual astronomical moment when days and nights are equal over the earth. It also means we are headed into winter, so do not forget to receive your influenza and COVID-19 booster shots soon.

 

The follow-up news items:

-- The Space Launch System (SLS) Artemis I [1076] cryogenic fueling demonstration test was successfully completed on Wednesday, 21.September.2022. The vehicle was fully fueled and maintained in launch readiness. The test team resolved several glitches during the test and took most of the day to successfully complete the fueling demonstration test. The engineers will review the collected test data to decide whether they are ready for launch. As of the release of this edition of the Update, the launch has been scheduled for Tuesday, 27.September.2022. I will be watching.

Then, by Saturday morning, with Tropical Storm Ian strengthening in the Caribbean Sea and forecast to strike Florida as a Category Four hurricane, the launch team decided to scrub next Tuesday’s launch attempt. NASA has begun preparing the rocket and the supporting crawler to roll back to the protection of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) in advance of the storm. The storm’s forecast track and progress indicate Cape Canaveral is not likely to feel the outer bands until Wednesday or Thursday. However, the risk is simply too great . . . another opportunity lost, this time due to weather. My guess is they will probably use the VAB time to recertify the Flight Termination System (FTS) to avoid the need for another waiver extension. The next launch window opens in early October, assuming there is no storm damage to the vehicle or launch facilities that must be repaired.

During the Artemis test, NASA switched to detailed coverage of the Soyuz MS-22 launch just after sunset at Baikonur, Kazakhstan. One American and two Russians launched to the International Space Station (ISS)—a replacement crew. It was a flawless launch with no signs whatsoever of the tensions that currently divide the two countries.

-- On Monday, 26.September.2022 at 23:14 UTC {16:14 [R] MST}, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) [1037] is expected to impact Dimorphos, AKA Didymos B and Didymoon, the small asteroid satellite of the larger asteroid Didymos. The impact will not dislodge the satellite, but the test is intended to demonstrate momentum transfer from the 610-kilogram DART impactor that is expected to decrease the orbital period of Dimorphos, currently 11.92 hours, by roughly 10 minutes (0.17 hours) [-1.4%]. At impact, DART will be traveling at 6.6 kilometers per second (14,800 mph). The astrophysics experiment should give us a good test of whether a distant small kinetic impact can alter the track of an inbound asteroid sufficiently to avoid an earth impact.

-- A three-judge panel of the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals issued their ruling in the case of DONALD J. TRUMP v. United States of America [11CCA Case: 22-13005 (2022)], the government’s appeal of Judge Cannon’s order in DONALD J. TRUMP v. United States of America [USDC FL SD Case 9:22-cv-81294-AMC (2022)] [1078]. This is the FBI search & seizure action at Mar-a-Lago. The circuit panel concluded “that the district court [Cannon] abused its discretion in exercising jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s motion as it concerns the classified documents.” They granted the government’s request for a stay of Judge Cannon’s order as it applies to the marked classified documents. The court-appointed Special Master is charged by Judge Cannon to segregate personal (non-presidential records) and privileged documents of which there are certainly many from those documents that by law belong to the government. The internal FBI Privilege Review Team has already segregated many of those affected documents. Just so we do not forget, [the person who shall no longer be named] appears to have absconded with numerous (nearly 12,000) unclassified presidential records covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 [PL 93-591; 88 Stat. 2523; 4.11.1978] [1039]. The man was given multiple opportunities to comply with the law. He freely chose to ignore the law.

Once the 11^th Circuit released their ruling, [the person who shall no longer be named] immediately went on the Hannity Show on FoxNews to claim he could declassify documents simply by thinking they are declassified. His appearance on FoxNews was rather shocking, and I must say, he looked very distraught and worried . . . and rightly so. I suspect [the person who shall no longer be named] is well on his way to receiving a very harsh lesson in life—he is not as great as he thinks he is and has been telling all of us he is. 

-- After a three-year investigation [1041], Attorney General of New York Letitia Ann ‘Tish’ James filed a civil suit against [the person who shall no longer be named], his children (except Tiffany and Baron), two of his helper/enablers, and the fellow’s organization in its many variations. [A case number has not yet been assigned.] It is a civil suit to seek US$250M in fraudulent gains and to banish the whole crowd from doing any business in New York State. James also referred her findings to various agencies of the U.S. Government (USG) for criminal prosecution. Given the civil suit, many legal minds believe criminal charges are coming, but there was no indication from the attorney general. I suspect AG James may have made a very wise move. Nothing precluded a criminal action by the State of New York, but I also suspect James realizes the federales have a much deeper criminal bite. We shall see how this plays out.

-- After Putin announced his intention to mobilize and draft 300,000 men for his unilateral war in Ukraine [1050], hundreds of thousands of Russians are fleeing the country to any country that will take them. Putin’s level of desperation grows substantially. Protests against Putin’s war are also increasing in Russia. The Ukrainians have made substantial gains recently toward reclaiming their sovereign territory from the Russian invaders.

Putin has ordered a shameless referendum in very much the Stalin-esque model to annex the eastern two provinces of Ukraine—Donbas. He presumably wants to claim the Donbas as sovereign Russian territory, so he can quickly up the ante if the Ukrainians make further advances toward reclaiming their land.

 

President Biden spoke to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Wednesday, 21.September.2022. He declared Putin and Russia “shamelessly violated” the UN Charter by their unilateral attack on Ukraine, and he is spot-on correct. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov re-iterated Putin’s claim before the UN Security Council that the Russians are combating neo-Nazis in Ukraine. The only problem with the Russian claim is they have no standing, as they say in the judicial world. Heck, during the Second World War, the Germans formed the 14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS[galizische Nr. 1] with ethnic Ukrainian volunteers, who chose to join the German occupiers against the advancing Russian previous occupiers. There are very strong reasons for that fact. Thus, Lavrov’s parroting Putin’s claim has a ring of truth given the history. We had more than a few instances during the Cold War [1945-1991] where the Soviet Union violated the UN Charter, but none of those instances were as grievously blatant as the Ukraine invasion [24.2.2022].

I understand and appreciate the risks associated with removal of Russia as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. However, there is no greater example of Russia’s unworthiness to hold unilateral veto power than Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the mounting war crimes and crimes against humanity being carried out by the Russian military. The Russians have violated virtually every rule of contemporary warfare and terrorized the Ukrainian people. Removing Russia as a permanent member of the Security Council would not be easy, but it can be done. It deserves to be done. It needs to be done.

At the bottom line, Russia must be totally isolated and condemned as a pariah state until such time as they remove Putin and the conservatives in the Duma, and establish an orderly government committed to abiding international law. If that day ever comes, we can consider reinstating their permanent membership on the UN Security Council that they originally earned the hard way during the Second World War.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1079:

Comment to the Blog:

“We know Pence is a more committed ideologue than most prominent people. I’d like virtually all medical decisions to occur between a patient and a doctor.

“I’ve been wondering if/when King Baby will die or become severely disabled. He’s old, unhealthy, and under severe stress, as the law finally closes in from several directions. What happens then?

“I have another very literate friend who has read enough of Ulysses to have an opinion, and it’s very like yours. It’s not on my reading list.

“The Popular Information column includes photos of false information provided to the refugees who were dumped in Martha’s Vineyard. For Governor DeSantis and his agent, the mysterious ‘Perla,’ criminal charges could follow. (I sent the column separately.)”

My response to the Blog:

Indeed, he is! I am with you emphatically. The bodily functions of every citizen are beyond the reach of the State. There is a very real and distinct reason the HIPAA protections were codified in law. {Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) [PL 104-191; 110 Stat. 1936; 21.8.1996]} I am constantly reminded of the prophetic writing of Aaron Sorkin in the series The West Wing. In a staff debate, the character Sam Seaborn declared, 

“It’s not about abortion.  It’s about the next 20 years.  In the 20’s and 30’s, it was the role of government; 50’s and 60’s, it was civil rights. The next two decades are going to be privacy. I'm talkin’ about the Internet, talkin’ about cell phones, talkin’ about medical records, and who's gay and who's not. Moreover, in a country born on the will to be free, what could be more fundamental than this?” [S1, Ep9; 24.11.1999]

I say, spot on! That is exactly the issue at hand today. It is not about abortion. It is entirely about every citizen’s fundamental right to privacy, full stop!

Good question. Not soon enough, I must say. Yet, despite my revulsion of that despicable con artist of a ‘man,’ I want him to live. I want him to face justice in the dock. I want history to officially record his crimes, and more importantly, I want the Judicial record to be permanently imprinted with his culpability, malfeasance, and total disregard of the law. If we are to learn and improve from this MAGA tragedy, we need a very hard statement in the historical record . . . or his crimes can be repeated. If he dies, judicial action ceases as moot, which might be more injurious to our future, e.g., Ford’s pardon of Nixon.

I suppose if a person is an afficionado of abstract or impressionist artwork, you might find connection or relevance in Joyce’s Ulysses. If you are not one of those folks, I would say that it is NOT worth the effort. Others have told me what the book is about, but my little pea-brain was apparently incapable of seeing even a sliver of a story—any story. Yet, all that said, I condemn the social conservatives who sought to prohibit the book a century ago, and those contemporary conservatives who seek to ban or burn the book today. I prefer knowledge over ignorance in every topic I can think of, which is precisely why I chose to expend the effort to read the book—to understand.

DeSantis used state funds (presumably) to charter two jets, sent them to Texas to pick up potential immigrants, and flew them unilaterally to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. He has professed the intention to do it again. It is my understanding that he is now under criminal investigation in Texas for that action. I have not yet read the Popular Information article, but I will do so.

 . . . Round two:

“I’d love to see the Chump convicted and sentenced. I just don’t know how long his body will hold up.

“The irony of Ulysses is that if people hadn’t made a fuss about it, it would have vanished due to being unreadable.

“DeSantis used the document pictured in the Popular Information article to deceive the immigrants so that they would board the planes. That’s fraud to add to the other charges.”

 . . . my response to round two:

Quite true, but I do not care. My concern at this point is, I want and advocate for a clear, definitive, unequivocal statement in the historical record that behavior such as his is absolutely unacceptable. That man has exploited assumptions of goodness. We need a trial, conviction and confirmatory appeals up to the Supreme Court to achieve a clear definition in the law. That is not an easy goal to achieve. I do not want to imagine what might become of our once grand republic if he is not charged, acquitted by a jury, or pardoned as Nixon was. As we can see all around us and in Comment section of this humble forum, there is a substantial chunk of our citizenry who truly believe he has done no wrong. That segment may never accept conviction like they do not accept the 2020 election results, but that is another bridge to cross.

You may well be correct. I wish I could see what others apparently see, but my limited cerebral capacity is incapable.

There are a number of aspects that trouble me about the brochure. It looks like an informal, unofficial, informational brochure. What is more important is they reportedly signed a consent form. If so, the content and presentation of that consent form is crucial. Were they fraudulently misled?

 . . . Round three:

“I agree with your statement about King Baby, but we don’t control whether he has a heart attack, stroke, etc.

“The brochure is a copy of the information in a UN handout for other refugees in a different situation. Ordinary people have been deceived by poorer counterfeits. It’s unknown whether we’ll see the consent forms.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Nope, none of us controls that potential. Simply, we shall have to deal with whatever comes. In this question, I fear for history and future generations; we cannot leave it as we left Nixon.

As the investigators dig deeper, we learn of mounting indications of fraudulent transport. What has not been mentioned so far is fraudulent relocation across state lines make the action a federal matter. So far the investigations have been state matters; I have not heard of any federal action, as yet. If the investigations lead to prosecutions in a court of law, we will eventually see the evidence.

 . . . Round four:

“It only makes it more interesting that other investigations of King Baby continue. Even with his ego, the stress has to be adding up.”

 . . . my response to round five:

Oh my, yes, quite so. Further, all his stress is self-induced. He freely chose the path of a conman, demagogue, and wannabe tyrant. He has gotten away with far too much already, and it is long past due for him to face the consequences of his actions.

 

Another contribution:

“Why does Trump belong in prison for the rest of his life ? You thought that about his supposed Russian collusion which was always a farce. Now you believe all the lies about January 6 and you believe the bull crap that Trump supporters are tyrannists . Sure you and Jeanne and a few others would like him in prison to get him out of the way but really Cap .. why does he deserve to be in prison even one single day ? You are childish and irrational for even saying this. The Bidens deserve to be in prison let them go first. Hope by me saying that pisses you off as much as you saying prison for Trumppisses me off.” [redaction mine]

My reply:

Simple answer: He committed multiple crimes. If I had taken just one of those classified documents, I would have been charged, tried, convicted, and in prison by now. Despite his vaunted status among some citizens, he is NOT above the law. Judge Cannon has shown inordinate deference to the man who does not deserve such deference. He is just a citizen, period.

No, that is not what I thought. I believe there was more than enough evidence beyond the ‘probable cause’ threshold to investigate thoroughly the suspicious potential for collusion. The investigation did not establish collusion. I have NOT seen sufficient evidence to cross the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ threshold that is necessary for trial and conviction for collusion. What I thought he did in the 2016 election was wrong in many ways, but it was not against the law . . . to my knowledge.

The BIG LIE perpetrated by [the person who shall no longer be named] and the subsequent actions he stimulated, encouraged, and advocated for were serious felonious crimes, and I still believe he will face justice in a court of law, where he will be appropriately judged. There remains to this very day no evidence of widespread or sufficient fraud to alter the outcome of the 2020 election—he lost by the exact same system that enabled him to win the 2016 election despite losing the popular vote by a substantial margin in both elections.

No, again!. I do not think his MAGA supporters are tyrannists—some are but most are followers. Most of the MAGA folks at the Capitol on 6.January.2021 did not violate the law, did not assault police, and did not trespass into the Capitol building, only a comparative few chose to violate the law. I do think MAGA folks have succumbed to the Sirens’ Song of a practiced and accomplished confidence man (conman), who sold them worthless tripe. I do not blame his supporters for that, I blame the perpetrator. To me, he is the contemporary version of Clark Stanley [1906]. What he did sucking people into his magic, snake-oil elixir was not illegal; it was sad that so many people succumbed to the promise of his worthless snake-oil.

No, I do not want him out of the way. He is and remains a citizen of this once grand republic. I do emphatically want him to face justice in a court of law where rules of evidence prevail. I have also considered the potential that despite his crimes, he may well escaped justice, as he did in TWO (2) impeachment trials in the Senate [the only man in history, so far]. I remember the O.J. Simpson murder trial in 1995; there is zero doubt in my little pea-brain that he committed those murders, but a jury refused to convict him; the same could occur in a trial of [the person who shall no longer be named]; it will only take one MAGA believer to hang the jury.

OK, I’ll bite. What crime has President Biden committed?

It is not my intention to piss you off. I am truly sorry my words induce that emotion in you or anyone else. But, if we are to remain a democracy, we must debate these issues freely, openly, and vigorously.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Comparing conviction of OJ Simpson to Trump is ridiculous.. they won’t convict Trump because he’s done nothing wrong .. OJ did. They just continually try to get him .. and you fall for each attempt.. Russia collusion (you wanted Comey to be right so badly you had to watch him speak three times) , January 6 (you originally believed the entire crowd were tyrannists). and now the corrupt FBI raid .. yes they are trying to get him out of the way and they hate us for supporting him. What if Trump stepped aside and let’s say Ron DeSantis became the President Elect ? I support him as well .. would that make everyone happier?

“I don’t think I need to explain the Biden family crime .. you’ve heard all about it .. if Trumps kids did what Bidens did it would be all over mainstream news ..” 
[redaction mine]

 . . . my follow-up reply:

I was only referring to the potential for acquittal despite the overwhelming and convincing evidence. To my knowledge, the subject man has not murdered anyone.

Yes, you are quite correct as the portion of the tribe in the U.S. Senate gathered around ihr Anführer. That will not happen or rather is not likely to happen in a court of law, except as I noted that it will only take one (1) MAGA supporter on the jury to hang the jury’s verdict; most juries must be unanimous, 12-0, for conviction or acquittal. What will be different is, we will see hard, tested evidence and his nonsense rhetoric will not be tolerated. The Special Master he foisted on the process through a sympathetic judge has directly challenged his baseless rhetoric—basically, put up or shut-up. He will not be allowed to tout his evidence-less BIG LIE in court. Either you have evidence or you do not, period, full stop.

No, I did not so claim. The myriad videos were ample coverage that most of the insurrectionists were inside the Capitol disrupting the constitutionally mandated process. The vast majority of MAGA supporters were outside, part of the mob, but they were not violent and did not enter the Capitol Building. Most committed misdemeanor trespass, but those inside committed felonious trespass plus other crimes. Many have been convicted and imprisoned, while others await trial.

DeSantis is a practiced politician. He is far smoother and craftier than [the person who shall no longer be named] will ever be. I can find very little to agree with politically. No, DeSantis will not make everyone happier. From my perspective, he a slicker version of [the person who shall no longer be named]—Trump v2.0. While we have not seen the evidence yet, DeSantis appears to have made a dreadful mistake and may well face criminal charges himself. We shall see.

Of course, you don’t. These are the times in which we live. I will only state for the record here that I have seen no evidence or even remote hints that President Biden has violated any laws—plenty of accusations but no evidence. If Hunter Biden broke any laws, charge him, try him, convict him, and send him to prison. The president’s younger son has made more than a few terrible mistakes, but it still comes down to evidence. Accusations must be substantiated beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. I listen to but I do not care about rhetorical accusations—only evidence. To my knowledge, having an errant adult son is not a crime.

 

A different contribution:

“Only one comment re 1079:

“I hate to hear comments that reinforce the caustic cancerous contemporary thinking that undermines our national confidence in the wisdom of our three independent branches of government. Even Justice Somtameyer (sp?) , whom I admit was considered by me to be a leftist appointee, has eloquently lamented the media-encouraged cynicism that assumes that a justice appointed by a President of one party will favor that party or President in later decisions! Let's stop weakening our country by perpetuating this scandal. Sure, it seems that way sometimes, but perhaps only seems. The important thing is to expect and see evidence of the opposite. You can do your important part by softening such commentary and, indeed, expecting justices to shed any party loyalty upon accepting lifetime appointments, at last immune from political pressures and able to fulfill their roles as impartial rulers on the law, rejecting all temptations to legislate.

My response:

Well said and amen, my friend. However, that is a two-way street. Condemning the free Press as an “enemy of the People” is not helpful to that end.

I am a greater fan of print media because the resultant printed articles are edited and survive layers of review. Singular voices like Alex Jones are not useful in any manner I can imagine.

Yet, at the end of the day, each of us must learn to filter information like intelligence analysts must assess collected data—source accuracy, reliability, and corroboration.

 

Yet another contribution:

“Thank you Cap. Indeed BofB day. My father served in the RAF at an airfield called RAF Manston on the east Kent coast. They seemed to be involved in many activities defending the base-including manning anti-aircraft weapons both in the air and ground. I had the honour of being born there at that time. Of course that airfield was after the war manned by Uncle Sam’s air-force something I can remember. It has a massively long runway.

“I was once during my service sent there to do an engine change on a squadron aircraft. What memories. Currently plans are firmly afoot to develop the unit into a civilian airfield.

“I must confess Cap that the loss of our Queen darkened such memories.”

My reply:

Quite understandable, my friend. She was a stabilizing force in troubled times. These dark days shall pass as our grief subsides. She lived a good and worthy life. King Charles III has had plenty of time to prepare and had an able teacher. I truly hope he is up to the task.

By the way, I meant to ask earlier, has her cause of death been disclosed? We have not seen it here.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Whether Charles will be up to the style/charm and wonderful personality of our last monarch we will have to see. But yes he is qualified and capable to do the job adequately.

“No, to my knowledge there has been no statement re cause of death. When that arrives I will of course send it on.

“Trust you both are well.”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

We wish the King well. We will be watching.

No worries. Just curious. I suspect we are not likely to hear, given the divine right of monarchs. I am suspicious when anyone passes so suddenly, even a 96yo woman.

All’s well here . . . well other than the sordid continuing drama swirling around the former fellow. Hey, that is the cards we were dealt. And so it goes.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)