EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: SecDef Hospitalized; Press Protests Lack Of Info To Public. “The Pentagon Press Association (which represents the press corp at the Pentagon) went on to say in it’s letter protesting the lack of information: ‘At a time when there are growing threats to U.S. military service members in the Middle East and the U.S. is playing key national security roles in the wars in Israel and Ukraine, it is particularly critical for the American public to be informed about the health status and decision-making ability of its top defense leader.'”

Related: A Pentagon mystery: Why was Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s hospital stay kept secret for days?

UPDATE: Ouch. But our ruling class sees China as a role model, so . . .

This is the type of behavior you expect from the Chinese government. https://t.co/e0Zclvnmhw

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) January 6, 2024

ANOTHER UPDATE: Hospitalized Pentagon Chief Was in Intensive Care Unit. (Bumped).

MAYBE LUCID SHOULD JOIN SPACEX’S LAWSUIT AGAINST THE NLRB: Lucid illegally fired workers for supporting UAW, labor board alleges.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN, JUDGE CARPENTER ON TWITTER:

Judge Carpenter says that “officer of the U.S.” is “repeatedly” used in Mississippi v. Johnson, 71 U.S. 475 (1866). That’s a canonical or lead case. If you went to law school, it was probably assigned in Introduction to Constitutional Law or Introduction to Federal Courts. Still, I have written on this issue since 2008—Did I really miss this? And it is not just me—many others have written (or recently begun to write on this issue)—Did they all miss this too? So I looked it up. That phrase—“officer of the United States”—appears exactly one time in the report for the case. It does not appear “repeatedly.” Hyperbole is, at best, a legitimate tool for lawyers. For judges, I think it is less than appropriate.

More importantly, the phrase “officer of the United States,” although it appears in the case’s report, it is not part of the opinion of the Court. And, it is not part of any concurrence. It is not even part of a dissenting opinion. Actually, Judge Carpenter is quoting from an editor’s headnote reproducing a lawyer’s argument. So, the Supreme Court never used the phrase “officer of the United States” in Mississippi v. Johnson. Not even once.

Not very judicious.

Related: A New, Rushed, Flawed Article In The Section 3 Debate: Scholars and lawyers should exercise caution before citing a new paper by James Heilpern and Michael T. Worley.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY:

Now @JohnFetterman is telling everyone how he's not a progressive, he rejects us and is now calling Harvard "pinko." What the fuck? This is why people lose hope, because of frauds like Fetterman. You work hard to get a progressive elected and they turn into Republicans instantly.

— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) January 6, 2024

UPDATE: Heh. Indeed.

He was a progressive then got mental health care. Good for him for his newfound sanity.

— Hollywood Resistance (@ResistItAllTX) January 6, 2024

GUNS AREN’T ALWAYS THE BEST TOOL FOR THE PROBLEM: The Ins And Outs Of Pepper Spray: Because there are some self-defense problems which require something other than “BANG!”

WELL, THAT SEEMS REASONABLE: FAA temporarily grounds certain Boeing 737 MAX 9s after emergency landing.

PUNCH BACK TWICE AS HARD: SpaceX sues US labor board, claims agency structure is unconstitutional.

BELIEVABLE: Study shows dementia risk for older people with hearing difficulty could be reduced by use of hearing aids.

LESS THAN SHOCKING NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF SCIENCE: Obese teens at higher risk of kidney disease as adults.

THAT DOESN’T SEEM VERY FAST: 18 Minutes to Evacuate a Burning Plane: Success Story or Cautionary Tale?

In its certification, Airbus AIR 0.23%increase; green up pointing triangle

was required to prove that its A350 aircraft can be evacuated in less than 90 seconds. In Tuesday’s collision in Japan, the last crew member escaped the aircraft after 18 minutes—but there were still no casualties.

The sizable discrepancy, for the moment, represents a puzzle for the industry: Does the safe and deliberate evacuation represent a triumph of new aircraft designs and improved procedures? Or was it a one-off, a fortunate confluence of events that doubles as a cautionary tale showing how difficult it is to quickly evacuate modern aircraft?

Aircraft safety and evacuation experts are applauding Japan Airlines’ 9201 -0.36%decrease; red down pointing triangle

cabin crew and passengers for escaping the burning wide-body plane without any loss of life before its fuselage collapsed. In doing so, they avoided what could have been one of the most deadly plane crashes in decades.

“Obviously it took a lot more than 90 seconds, but even though it did take longer, it was a very organized and a very orderly evacuation, and it was impressive,” said Anthony Brickhouse, an associate professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and director of its forensic crash lab. “This is a great case study.” . . .

“The 90 second rule is there for a reason, because that aircraft can obviously be incinerated in seconds,” said Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, a union that represents cabin crew at several airlines. “The flight attendants appear to perform their jobs perfectly, but the question remains what was that configuration of the cabin? How close were the seats together? And who was on board?” . . . Planes have gotten bigger since such demonstrations were introduced following a 1965 crash in Salt Lake City. Passenger weight and girth have climbed in recent years, and seat spacing on many planes is tighter—developments some have argued regulators haven’t adequately considered.

I suspect that tightly-packed seating arrangements don’t help.

IT’S PAST TIME: Policy experts, right-to-left, weigh in on taxing university endowments.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Harvard — Out the frying pan into the fire.

TEACH THEM HOW TO TAKE A PULSE: Ohio State health sciences program sparks controversy with mandatory ‘privilege’ assignments.

Seriously, my doc told me a few years that the younger medical and nursing school grads just rely on pulse oximiters and electronic pulse devices. But those just give you a number, by taking a manual pulse you can tell if it’s thready, bounding, or whatever and that’s a lot of useful data.

WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SUCH A CESSPIT OF BIGOTRY AND HATE? 1L Sues Rutgers Law School For Ignoring Rampant Campus Antisemitism.

Related: Shapiro: Learning From My Lived Experience With Academic Intolerance.

ACCOUNTABILITY TIME: $30 million suit filed over Jan. 6 protester Ashli Babbitt’s death.

WOEING: Alaska Air Grounds Boeing 737 Max-9 Fleet After Fuselage Blowout. “Alaska Airlines will ground its entire fleet of Boeing Co. 737 Max-9 aircraft after a fuselage section in the rear part of the brand-new jet blew out shortly after takeoff. . . . The grounding by a loyal Boeing customer marks the most severe response to an incident since the manufacturer’s entire fleet of Max aircraft was temporarily taken out of service in 2019 following two deadly crashes. The 737 Max is by far Boeing’s most popular aircraft and its biggest source of revenue, with single-aisle aircraft like the Max and the corresponding Airbus SE A320neo family used the most widely flown shorter routes.”

WHY SO MANY? Yet Another Trans Shooter.

INSURRECTION: Arson of Construction Equipment Connected to ‘Cop City’ Opponents.

A SYMBOLIC MOMENT for a Counter-Woke Offensive?

FIGHT THE POWER: Civil Disobedience in Illinois As Gun Owners Defy Registration Mandate.

SEEMS LIKE DISNEY HATES ALL ITS FANS: Disney Day Drinkers Club (Yes, That Exists) Feuds With Epcot Over Trashy Mascot: Outrage erupts after ‘Binny,’ a symbol adopted by tippling superfans is moved; ‘Oh my gosh—why would they do this?’

For the last two years, Binny has reigned as the official mascot of the Disney Day Drinkers, a fan club based at the theme park. Also known as D3, the group was started by self-proclaimed Disney Adults who enjoy socializing over the signature cocktails at the various bars inside Walt Disney World.

Binny’s founding story—detailed on the trash can’s very own page on the club’s website—starts in late 2021, when some D3 members were “drinking around the world”—a common pastime at Epcot, where nation-themed pavilions line the shores of a man-made lake.

The Rose & Crown Pub at the U.K. pavilion, then operating under Covid-prevention protocols, required tipplers to go outside to imbibe. With few tables in sight, the group congregated around Binny, whose flat top made an enchanted place to set down drinks. . . .

The Disney Day Drinkers culture has ballooned to a group with more than 85,000 members registered on Facebook and at least two spinoff clubs—one for running marathons and the other for singles looking to meet their own Mickey or Minnie. At least four couples who met through the singles group have become engaged, and one is already married.
Disney Day Drinkers have their own merchandise featuring Binny.

Bars around Walt Disney World, including the Yak & Yeti inside the Animal Kingdom park, offer a secret menu of cocktails to club members. “Take me to the summit,” D3 members say to the bartenders—a private password that gives access to the secret menu.

D3 members also started a tradition of visiting Binny to pay homage to a mascot who the club’s website says is “always trashed.” (The site also cautions, “Don’t trust any other trashcan.”)

The group’s Facebook page racked up hundreds of posts showing members posing with Binny. Families plastered Binny with stickers and placed knit koozies on it. The Day Drinkers’s meme-makers adapted the mascot into a famous silhouetted image of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouse’s hand, substituting Binny for Mickey.

Then, in September, the clock tolled midnight for Binny. In a move only an evil stepsister could love, Disney staffers spirited the can away from its usual spot in front of the Rose & Crown pub sign, to a new location across the street in front of the Sportsman’s Shoppe. . . . Annual passholders, many who enjoy spending hours sitting on the benches in the park’s Main Street, U.S.A. section, objected. “They couldn’t believe that we had made changes to something that was so sacred to Walt,” D’Amaro told the Journal in 2022.

I’m beginning to think that happy fans are Disney’s worst nightmare.

“THEY WEREN’T COUNTING ON THE INDIAN NAVY, AND WHAT A HOOT!” Indian Commandos Give Somali Pirates a Bit of FO When They Decide to FA. “Who’s the captain now, eh? Message received. What a great story and a happy ending.”

OUR RULING CLASS IN A NUTSHELL:

Joe Biden is calling Trump a “dictator” while simultaneously supporting his chief political opponent getting kicked off the ballot pic.twitter.com/dER9htucqu

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 5, 2024

WELL, GOOD: China Had a Bad Year.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG:

NEW: According to just-filed Judicial Watch suit, the officer who killed Ashli Babbitt had his police powers revoked for a prior off-duty shooting in which "stray bullets from Lt. Byrd’s firearm struck the sides of homes nearby. Investigation found use of force was not justified"

— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) January 5, 2024