Random News and Notes 29 June
Just one notable event in history today. On this date in 1927, a US Army Air Corps trimotor became the first ever non-stop flight from the mainland to Hawaii.
The crew, Lieutenants Lester Maitland and Albert Hegenberger, flew the Bird of Paradise from Oakland, California, to Wheeler Field on Oahu in 26 hours and 17 minutes. They covered roughly 2400 miles.
We start the news at 1 First Street, NEWashington, DC. For those who don’t know, that is the address of the Supreme Court building. 3 and a half opinions dropped today.
We start with Watson v RNC. This is the mail-in ballot case. In a 5-4 decision, the Court upheld a Mississippi state law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and received up to five days later. This ruling deals a setback to a Republican-led challenge and effectively secures mail ballot grace periods across 18 states and territories ahead of the upcoming elections. Barrett wrote the majority, Alito authored the dissent with Thomas, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh joining.
Next up is Chatrie v US. This case is about geo-fence warrants for electronic records. The Court addressed the constitutional limits of “geofence warrants,” which law enforcement uses to obtain cell-phone location data from technology companies within a specific virtual perimeter. Justice Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court, providing much-anticipated guidance on Fourth Amendment privacy expectations regarding modern digital tracking data. The decision establishes that an individual’s digital location history is protected data, meaning the government cannot use sweeping virtual dragnets without meeting strict constitutional requirements.
In the final actual opinion, the Court delivered the opinion in Trump v Slaughter. The Court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that the President possesses broad constitutional authority to remove Senate-confirmed officials from independent federal agencies. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, drastically narrowing a 91-year-old precedent (Humphrey’s Executor) to hold that subordinates exercising executive power must remain directly accountable to the President.
The half opinion comes to us in a case named Trump v Cook. Lisa Cook is a Federal Reserve board governor. She’s also under indictment for financial crimes. President Trump wanted to fire her, but a lower court enjoined him from doing so. The Court denied the Trump administration’s emergency application to lift a block on the firing of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. The Court found that the administration failed to provide the necessary “for cause” evidence or proper pretermination due process, preserving the historical independence of central bank governors.
There was a 5.5 magnitude earthquake today off the Oregon coast. The quake struck at 4:35 a.m. Pacific time near the seismically active Blanco Fracture Zone, where the Juan de Fuca plate slides past others.
This editor watches seismic activity, but is not any kind of expert, so take this with a grain of salt. It seems as if the ring of fire is a lot more active of late.
Staying with the earthquake theme for a minute, here’s an update on Venezuela. As of this writing there are 1,450 confirmed dead, 3,150 injured, and anywhere from 50,000 to nearly 69,000 people reported missing or unaccounted for. The coastal state of La Guaira has been officially declared a disaster zone and bears the brunt of the casualties
USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) arrived in Venezuela last night. In addition to providing a base of operations and a command and control center for US troops doing relief missions in the area, she has substantial medical facilities that include two operating rooms and 124 beds. ANd before you ask why the Comfort or Mercy aren’t on site, they are both in port for maintenance and are not available.
It seems the Chavistas have not been purged from the government in Venezuela. Here is video of Hugo supporter and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello interfering with rescue and recovery efforts.
You didn’t hear this from me, but there is now perfect cover to make some of the more commie members of the VZ government disappear. There is an entire Marine landing battalion on the ground there right now.
Mount Merapi, an active volcano in Indonesia, erupted recently, producing a pyroclastic flow.
Mount Merapi, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, is at Level III alert with ongoing lava dome growth and collapses producing frequent lava avalanches and occasional pyroclastic flows; authorities urge avoidance of river channels and danger zones within 5 miles of the summit.
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