Author: condor

It’s A Good Thing Hinderaker Was Never A Crim. Defense Counsel — His Clients Would All Go To JAIL!

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John is lying again tonight. YAWN. And… as a matter of fact, when Trump was shown to have withheld Congressionally mandated funds from Ukraine, in 2019, until the Ukrainian government would agree to snoop for dirt on Mr. Biden… Hinderaker poo-pooed it as a “mere process crime”.

He opined it probably wasn’t a crime at all — but now, that the non-credible, bare allegation is that Mr. Biden received something, in exchange for an official act… Hinderaker is just certain that 18 USC § 201 means he’s committed… a felony.

Balderdash.

As I say, there is zero evidence of this — and in any event, when it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that Trump did it… in 2019… Hinderaker claimed that it could not be a crime — due to “presidential immunity” — for official acts. Not from criminal exposure, son. [Which the Supremes’ opinions in US v. Nixon case definitively… debunked — for all time.]

Damn son… sit down, until you can… get your sh!t… together.

Make up your mind… that is to say — as to which lies you want to stick to, and which you are jettisoning.

Out.

FDA Formally Sends Merck “Back To Drawing Boards”, On Its Next Gen Cough Med — GSK May Benefit…

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We earlier mentioned that this would be the likely outcome. And we said, and still believe — this should not change Merck’s NYSE price, in any way — when the denial came.

And then we predicted that GSK could benefit from going to school — on where Merck missed the mark, three weeks ago. Now… FDA has tonight formally issued a denial — what are now politely called “complete response letters” — to Merck. No surprise — and immaterial overall:

…[Merck] announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Complete Response Letter (CRL) regarding Merck’s New Drug Application (NDA) for gefapixant, an investigational, non-narcotic, oral selective P2X3 receptor antagonist, under development for the treatment of refractory chronic cough (RCC) or unexplained chronic cough (UCC) in adults. In the CRL, the FDA concluded that Merck’s application did not meet substantial evidence of effectiveness for treating RCC and UCC. The CRL was not related to the safety of gefapixant. Merck is reviewing the FDA’s feedback to determine next steps.

Chronic cough is defined as a cough lasting longer than 8 weeks. In adults with RCC, the cough persists despite appropriate treatment of underlying conditions such as asthma or gastroesophageal reflux disease, and UCC is a cough where the underlying cause cannot be identified despite a thorough evaluation….

Now you know. Onward — to a second graders’ pageant — for the ’23 holidays! Woot!

नमस्ते

The Lunacy — Out Of Texas, And Its Local GOP Politicians… Has Been Obvious, For Decades — But This May Take The Cake.

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After the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, coupled to a fairly uncommon feature of Colorado state law… meant that Tangerine’s name cannot be placed on primary, or general ballots in that state — since he is an insurrectionist (as were all officers of the Confederate Army — after 1865)… Texas’ sitting Lt. Governor Patrick said he might seek to remove Mr. Biden’s name from that state’s ballots. Charming.

Come — let us reason, together: Mr. Trump is a four time, 93 count indicted felony defendant; and was twice impeached, whilst in office. All these are for crimes against the ordered liberty America enjoys.

Even if one disagrees with Mr. Biden’s border policies (that was Mr. Patrick’s “hook”, for the threat)… no one seriously disputes that the executive branch (Mr. Biden) is given exclusive authority over immigration policy (limited only by the guardrails of the US Constitution — which is why Tangerine was stopped from separating families at the border, BTW). There is no indictment — no impeachment — not even a credible allegation about him, even related to his son.

So — just as then GOP Gov. Perry was, about 12 years ago (see legacy graphic at right)… this current Texas GOP must be seen as a force largely for fascism — and against the will of the people… of the other 49 states. Back then, Perry tried vainly to prevent Obamacare from aiding millions of Texas’ poorest citizens. [He failed — as Abbott and Paxton and Patrick, are failing, this afternoon.]

नमस्ते

Mirengoff Is… Confused. It’s Hilarious.

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So… Paul thinks the Supremes will strike the Colorado Supreme Court decision. But he’s missed that the normal GOP actually is setting this up — to move Tangerine off the nomination stage.

It’s just… pathetic. These vipers… are confident Trump is not smart enough to realize the GOP is taking him out (think Hinderaker here). [Gorsuch may even pen the opinion doing Trump in.]

Mirengoff has missed the memo.

The suit was filed… by Colorado Republicans.

That’s all I need to say.

Merck Will Engage Dr. Meriem Sefta, And Owkin’s AI, To Build Out Diagnostic Tests For Various Gastric, Bile Duct And Endometrial Cancers — Sharpening Keytruda’s Focus.

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The idea here — since Keytruda is such a pricey therapeutic — is to more closely predict who will likely benefit most from getting the immuno-oncology therapy. [Patients with tumors that express lots of PD-1 are prime candidates, in this regard.]

Owkin’s AI shows promise to greatly sharpen the predictive diagnostics, in various gastric cancers — as the platform has already been demonstrated to work well in colorectal cancers, at predicting therapy candidates.

The age of truly personalized” cancer panels is upon us. And in the EU health systems, regulations dictate that patients be screened for expression of promising proteins before spending the perhaps $200,000 in a year — for a course of pembrolizumab. So having the Owkin diagnostic available will more readily allow oncologists in the UK and EU to prescribe Keytruda (with solid evidence that a given patient will see a robust benefit from the therapy) — now, in gastric cancer settings. Here’s a bit, from Fierce:

…In patients with colorectal cancer, finding out a tumor’s level of microsatellite instability can be essential in guiding treatment. Representing defects in a cell’s ability to correct errors in its DNA, those with high levels can see fewer benefits from chemotherapy, but better outcomes when matched with targeted immunotherapies — such as Merck’s mainstay immune checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda.

Testing for high status, known as MSI-H, is now recommended by international cancer treatment guidelines — with about 15% of colorectal cancer patients carrying the biomarker — however, according to Owkin, that screening is not typically performed in the collaboration’s four cancer targets.

“It is clear that there is a need for AI diagnostics that can both ease bottlenecks and resource pressures while also ramping up biomarker testing to match patients with optimal treatments,” Owkin’s chief diagnostics officer, Meriem Sefta, said in a statement….

Now you know… escaping the icy air tomorrow afternoon — for the cacti, for a month. But first, baby-girl’s second grade Holiday Pageant tonight… grin. Whoosh!

नमस्ते

[U] In Which Hinderaker… Finds A Fainting Couch — And Well, You Can Guess The Rest… Hilarious.

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Updated @ 11:20 pm EST — Hinderaker has taken a lot of flack in his comments, from his MAGA readers… incensed that he said the Supremes won’t overturn the Colorado result. So in an update, he quotes a “highly respected” (but anonymous) lawyer to say the US Supremes will dump the Colorado opinion 9-0. Heh. Dream on.

That’s why I update — all the rest is trivial, but there is very little chance KBJ or the Wise Latina Justice will say that CO got it wrong. At most, they’ll decline to rule at all. And Gorsuch — a Justice from Colorado, may very well agree with his CO brothers. In any event, it will be… entertaining from here.

I could even see the Chief (Roberts) letting the CO ruling stand — so as to kill Trumpism good and dead before the 2024 cycle ends. Hilarious! End, updated portion.

I get that on the surface of his bleating tonight, John hopes to incite violence against the Supreme Court of Colorado — and her Justices — as well as the trial court judge there.

That is transparently obvious.

What I think is his more subtle goal… is one he and the Powerliner boys have long openly courted. They all want the GOP to be PREVENTED from naming Tangerine as the 2024 nominee, this coming summer.

And this 213 page Colorado decision (especially if one views it as essentially immutable, and not subject to being overturned in the US Supremes — as John says he does) is a perfect on-ramp to that outcome.

If Hinderaker is right, that the Supremes will say this is a states’ rights issue… then no sane GOP delegate to the Convention next summer will nominate Tangerine.

You cannot win, if you are not on the ballot in as many as perhaps five states, by then. [No matter that they are reliably blue states.] The math will never work for any GOP nominee who cannot garner a single vote, in perhaps 10 per cent of all states. And thus those states’ electoral college electors… will already be certifying a Democratic president, as winner — before polls close, even. The slaughter will be historic, for if that is how it goes, MAGA voters won’t even show up, and down ballots will be deep blue, nationwide.

All (John implies, UNLESS)… unless the GOP votes to run… someone else. Someone who is still eligible to be on Colorado’s ballots.

That is in fact John’s end game — getting to the compelled “someone else” — on the GOP ticket, in the general… and having the ability to blame Democrats when said “someone else” loses. [As he or she will.]

Again, accept the ugly truth of it, John — if Trump is not the GOP nominee, we all know he will run third party — and that per force means… your “someone else” is about 20 to 30 million votes in the hole, out of the gate.

It is… in sum, a wipe-out — either way. Democrats will control 1600 Penn. no matter what now — for four more years, minimum.

[Updated.] Y A W N. The Fifth Cir. Decides GOP Politics — Not Federal Law — Controls Them. No Matter.

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Here is the badly mistaken Fifth Cir. panel opinion, just published this evening.

You may safely ignore it.

This will decided by the Supremes.

But for a moment now, CBP and DHS cannot permanently remove (but may cut) razor wire. They may however, cut and / or remove during “exigent circumstances” — (defined here and in the District Court opinion as) “for purposes… [of] a medical emergency, inspection, or detention….”

Why? Because that exception (with the word “inspection”) appears in plain text in federal statutes. And so, the exception entirely swallows the rule announced by the Fifth tonight, so long as CBP lays down about $60 worth of razor wire, after freeing the asylum seekers being held back by it.

This is solely a political speech — not a legal opinion, in the Fifth tonight.

That is, the Fifth Circuit panel doesn’t explain how (or why) it squares this circle, preferring instead to call their order “temporary”. Pure political theater, that.

All of which… tells you all that you need to know — about the sophistry of these GOP appointed judges.

If on the other hand, this opinion is meant as a “shot across the bow” — of the Colorado Supreme Court… for ruling Tangerine ineligible to seek high office ever again… well, my personal view is that Colorado ought to let him be thrashed at the ballot box (without doubt he will be), and avoid letting him claim martyrdom. Yet and still — I am grinning (all 213 pages here, as a pdf file)!

नमस्ते

With The Plaintiffs Nearly Certain To Win The Appeal, The Feb. 1 Argument Date In The Sixth… Is Merely A Formality.

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We note it — as we may choose to live blog the oral argument, via the Sixth Circuit’s live YouTube audio feed, that morning. But make no mistake: the outcome will not be subject to serious debate. This “law” is DOA.

It will be February 1, 2024 — at 9:00 AM local:

…ORAL ARGUMENT SCHEDULED for 9:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Thursday, February 1, 2024. (RLJ) [Entered: 12/19/2023 09:31 AM]….

Now you know — onward, grinning into a sunny, but crisp City of Big Shoulders morning.

In Which Paul Mirengoff Admits Some Facts About The West Bank, But Then Draws Wrong Conclusions…

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It is true — as Paul now begrudgingly concedes — that many of the Jews who moved to occupy the West Bank did so, to make a two-state solution nearly impossible.

But from this agreed factual point of departure, Mirengoff reaches an untenable conclusion: that it must be that Palestinians leave the West Bank, entirely.

Not that Jews return most of the land they squatted on. Fascinating. There’s that PTSD kicking in, again. Here’s his quote, from this very morning:

…[T]he “two-state” solution — cornerstone of U.S. Middle East policy under most U.S. presidents — is a non-starter. Most Palestinians don’t want it, and Israelis shouldn’t want it because such an arrangement would undermine the security of the Jewish state.

Ignatius counters that (1) it’s the large Jewish presence on the West Bank that renders a two-state solution all but impossible and (2) this was the intention of the settler movement. I think there’s truth to the second of these claims. But I question whether a two-state solution would be possible, or desirable, even if the Jewish presence on the West Bank were small and geographically confined….

The only likely path to peace — as ever — involves surrender of some West Bank land, by Israelis.

But to be sure, Paul well-knows this. He’s just too traumatized to accept that is the way this will go, once Israel’s civilians grow desperate about the daily drum-beats — of dead Jews… AND dead Palestinians. [As it is with justice — peace is often something that makes all sides partially uncomfortable — and unhappy with the outcome. Nobody gets all they want. And that is how is becomes… durable.]

Stay tuned. Paul will see this, in time — as the fog of the trauma clears.

The Able USDC Judge Ramos Has Granted Trevor Milton’s Bail Motion — To Continue, While He Appeals His Felony Convictions… Very Odd.

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That is doubly puzzling.

See my short entry of this afternoon. Judge Ramos is a very capable federal jurist.

He specifically agreed with the jury. And that jury found Mr. Milton was lying about material matters, at Nikola. He said today that people were truly harmed by those lies — into the millions of dollars.

But breaking with a trend against being free after felonies, on an appeal — Judge Ramos allowed Trevor Milton to stay outside. True, he hasn’t been a flight risk so far. But who knows what an effective three year sentence will do to his judgment?

I think — respectfully — that Judge Ramos got this one wrong. True, he is not like Elizabeth Holmes — patients were not making life and death decisions (as they were, based on her false technological claims)… but fake electric cars… are still… fake.

Onward,