This Is… Self-Refuting — Sophistry.

December 9, 2023December 9, 2023 ~ condor ~ 3 Comments

This is… utterly comedic. In a tragic sort of way.

A supposedly learned man, writing on Powerline, tonight… purports to tell America that the “sensibilities and observations” of some dead whyte guy (who owned other humans) — while writing in 1776 — (no that’s not a typo!) are to be trusted, as accurate about the Muslim faith, and all Muslims… in 2023.

Riiiiiiiight.

That’s just… immensely sad. I blame his upbringing. [OTOH, it seems likely the two were in boarding school together; that might explain the shared delusions… across nearly 260 years.]

Heh.

Out.

Amazon Workers, More Or Less Nationwide — Albeit In Patchwork Fashion — Staged A Mid-Shift Walk-Out Today.

December 9, 2023December 9, 2023 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

With the busy holiday season’s deliveries still sitting in bins today, many Amazon team members staged a one day walk out, mid-shift — to decry the alleged union busting tactics the company has renewed in the last few weeks. [Backgrounders here — or search “Amazon” in the box at right, for dozens more.]

The report below relates to the Queens, New York facility — where tensions have been high, after last week’s ALJ decision finding that Amazon violated labor laws in the JFK8 facility. [That JFK8 ALJ decision has been sent to the full NLRB for final orders, this week.]

So the labor difficulties continue — in the way the company abuses its lowest rung employees, with the allegation that the company traps them in a “poverty cycle”, here in the US, by paying differential wages, depending on geography. Here’s a bit, from the local NYC ABC affiliate:

…The employees at the Maspeth [Queens] facility joined a nationwide movement of Amazon workers to strike against the company’s union busting practices and for better working conditions.

Workers say they’ve seen retaliation from the online retail giant against union organizing, including the suspension of one of their union activists collecting petition signatures.

They are demanding starting pay at $26 an hour and $2 hourly bonuses during peak season, along with adequate staffing, recognition of third-party delivery drivers as Amazon employees, and winter clothing for delivery drivers.

Maspeth workers held a press conference Saturday morning to announce the move….

Now you know — we will likely have two more Amazon items this month. Onward — but it is clear that the days of labor power via unions… are on the ascent, and across many industries, tonight… smiling.

नमस्ते

The Resistance To These Cretins Is Rising: ACLU Files Class Action. This Time, In Kentucky, Overnight.

December 9, 2023December 9, 2023 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Please do forgive me: this is a very long follow-up post, to the Texas Hellscape series. Now, the ACLU has been forced to file suit in Kentucky, on an eerily similar fact pattern.

In this case, the woman is only about eight weeks pregnant(!), but she and her doctors know she needs to terminate. And no one should have the right to jail her, or the doctors, for removing a cell-line from inside her own body. So this is a state level class action, as of Friday — the complaint (a 6 MB PDF), in full — and the presser:

…A Kentucky woman filed a lawsuit [December 8, 2023] in Jefferson County Circuit Court challenging two of the Commonwealth’s abortion bans. The case details the severe harms that Jane Doe, who is approximately eight weeks pregnant, and a class of all pregnant Kentuckians seeking abortion are enduring because the government has denied her access to the care she needs.

Jane Doe brings the class action on behalf of all Kentuckians who are pregnant and seeking abortion to strike down these abortion bans, which have been in effect since August 2022, under the state constitutional right to privacy and self-determination.

Statement from Jane Doe, lead plaintiff in class-action lawsuit:

“I am a proud Kentuckian and I love the life and family I have built here. But I am angry that now that I am pregnant and do not want to be, the government is interfering in my private matters and blocking me from having an abortion. This is my decision—not the government’s or any other person’s. I am bringing this lawsuit because I firmly believe that everyone should have the ability to make their own decisions about their pregnancies. I hope this case will restore abortion access in Kentucky, if not for me then for the countless people in the future who deserve the autonomy to decide what is best for themselves and their families.”

Statement from Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project:

“Jane Doe should have the power to make decisions about her body, and to access essential health care in her community, but Kentucky politicians have denied her that fundamental right. Kentucky’s abortion bans violate the Kentucky Constitution, including its promise of protecting everyone’s right to privacy, which encompasses the right to access abortion. These bans have harmed countless Kentuckians since going into effect last year, and we are relieved to be back in court to try to restore abortion access in Kentucky. Jane Doe has tremendous courage to step forward, and we invite others to join her in the case as well.”

Statement from Amber Duke, executive director for the ACLU of Kentucky:

“We at the ACLU of Kentucky said we would not rest until access to abortion was restored in our commonwealth. Today, alongside our brave client Jane Doe, we renew our legal fight. Kentuckians have been forced to either travel hundreds of miles or carry pregnancies against their will, resulting in life-altering consequences and serious health risks over the past year. We know Kentuckians support access to legal, safe abortion care without government interference. They said so clearly when they soundly rejected anti-abortion Amendment 2. We hope for a victory that aligns with the will of the people and overturns these unconstitutional bans.”

Statement from Rebecca Gibron, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky:

“Jane Doe’s decision to fight back in court while pregnant and in need of an abortion is beyond brave. In challenging the state’s abortion bans, she has provided hope for reproductive freedom that Kentuckians so desperately need. But this lawsuit should not have been necessary in the first place. Every Kentuckian should have access to abortion in their own state, because this is essential reproductive health care. The right to privacy and self-determination should not be up for political debate, because Kentuckians believe that government does not belong in our medical decisions. Planned Parenthood is proud to fight alongside Jane Doe until abortion access is restored for people all across the Commonwealth….”

So true. And truly… shocking — that we are back to the early 1950s — in many states like Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama [and the more rural counties in Tennessee and Florida].

Increasingly, in the marginal / collar states — this is becoming a question of whether local law enforcement is willing to invade the homes and lives of good women, who meet privately with their doctors — to discuss health care choices. In Nashville and nearby, they will not. But out east, toward Chattanooga, in the smaller towns… who knows? Ugly. Just… ugly.

नमस्ते

Paul Mirengoff Tries (Yet Again) To “Explain Away” His “Speech Code”: Hilarious Exercises, In Sophistry

December 9, 2023December 9, 2023 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

At least he admits that this is a 180 degree reversal in the last eight weeks — in his advocacy — spanning three decades, minimum.

And, while all will agree (especially Paul — and Hinderaker — as of November 2023!) that targeting specific people for specific violent action / eradication is properly a category of “well-banned” speech on college campuses…

Neither of them admit that action (their own banned speech) is exactly what they are demanding — as to Palestinians living in now-occupied Gaza. Both have called for the eradication of a people, without distinguishing that Hamas… is not coterminous with Gazans who are not Jewish.

So… either they are utterly feckless… or they now lie, about what they truly believe, in their heart of hearts.

Charming. I think I’ve already explained that the true goal… is not to have to talk about Trump’s own felony witness tampering — as that too is in the form of “speech“. But it is by… their boy.

Texas State Supreme Court Beclowns Itself.

December 9, 2023December 9, 2023 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Apparently around midnight, between Thursday night and Friday morning, the state Supremes in Texas placed a hold on a married woman’s lower court order, one “allowing” her to terminate a non-viable pregnancy at 20 weeks, where her doctor testified that she is being endangered by carrying to term.

The facts… admit to only one conclusion: Texas is indeed a hellscape. . . ruled by hard right largely whyte mediocre old men, plainly including the state’s highest court — where six of nine of those codgers think they own women’s bodies.

Here’s the self-mocking order. These good ole’ boys won’t even say when they will rule. . . on a medically-needed procedure. When they might condescend to “allow” the doctor and patient the privilege of protecting her life and health.

Texas’s highest court is populated with… village idiots. But apparently, ones beholden enough (and elected to six year terms) to MAGA Gov. Abbott… to be… useful idiots.

Damnation. We will keep you updated.

नमस्ते

Why? Because They Know World History Didn’t Just Start — In Oct. 2023.

December 8, 2023 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Hinderaker tonight pretends not to understand why Red Cross is aiding wounded Palestinians.

They aid the fallen.

John — your deluded sense of absolute certainty about Gaza — down to eradicating all Palestinians who live there — suggests your mind is… broken.

That, or you are simply lying to yourself — in hopes of new donor pools emerging.

Either way… it seems you’ve lost the plot.

Out.

Both Mirengoff And Hinderaker Are Positively Frothing — About Some College Functionary “Possibly” Resigning. YAWN.

December 8, 2023December 8, 2023 ~ condor ~ 1 Comment

These sorts of resignations (if one should occur) happen every day. They are scarcely news, even in the small college towns in which they occasionally occur (Philly or Cambridge).

But tonight both of these chuckleheads are crowing about the mere possibility of one — after decades of being among the most vocal opponents of academic campus “speech codes”. [And the claim the boys NOW make is that the campus speech codes… are not stringent enough. “Irony — it’s for me!”]

What has changed? Well — they see new pockets of donor money as a possibility — most of all.

Conveniently, it also allows them to avoid opining on the ongoing attempts to intimidate witnesses, and court staff — and to generally obstruct justice in a felony case, in DC — these attempts coming from none other than the mouth (and keypad) of their presumptive GOP nominee (as both have admitted).

What the rest of the world thinks is newsworthy — in the sense that Capone and Dillinger were… these boys scarcely even mention. Their guy is going down, just like Capone, and Dillinger. And going down soon.

So — don’t expect them talk at all about this excellent on the law federal appeal / DC Circuit opinion, of 68 pages — just published:

… One official explained: “After the President tweeted at me by name, calling me out the way that he did, the threats became much more specific, much more graphic, and included not just me by name but included members of my family by name, their ages, our address, pictures of our home. Just every bit of detail that you could imagine. That was what changed with that tweet.” Special Counsel Mot. 3; Indictment ¶ 42….

Many of former President Trump’s public statements attacking witnesses, trial participants, and court staff pose a danger to the integrity of these criminal proceedings. That danger is magnified by the predictable torrent of threats of retribution and violence that the district court found follows when Mr. Trump speaks out forcefully against individuals in connection with this case and the 2020 election aftermath on which the indictment focuses….

The district court appropriately found that those threats and harassment undermine the integrity of this criminal proceeding by communicating directly or indirectly with witnesses and potential witnesses about their testimony, evidence, and cooperation in the justice process. They also impede the administration of justice by exposing counsel and members of the court’s and counsel’s staffs to fear and intimidating pressure. The First Amendment does not afford trial participants, including defendants, free rein to use their knowledge or position within the trial as a tool for encumbering the judicial process….

All this hullabaloo over some academics — who (perhaps naively / stupidly) fell into a rhetorical trap set by a pungent MAGA congress-woman? It is just a diversion.

No one really cares, boys, as the real “speech crimes” are Tangerine’s threatening of felony witnesses, judges and court staff — and their families.

Where is your “speech code” outrage, on that?! That course of conduct / speech is ALREADY a separate felony — under 18 USC § 1512.

It is called witness tampering. You kids should be reporting on your boy — he’s been doing it all day, every day — for months.

“Code” that, for “context“, chuckleheads.

Out.

Almost A Year Ago — We Said This Day Was Upon Us… Sickle Cell Is Cured, And FDA Approved — But At ~$2.2 Million Per Patient? Who Will / How To Pay?!

December 8, 2023 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We first covered this, just about 11 months ago — and it is excellent, ground-breaking news, for Vertex, CRISPR Therapeutics and blue bird bio. But it ultimately may not mean too terribly much — for people of limited means, worldwide, with the life-long disease.

Even so, this is a watershed moment, after centuries of early-deaths, and more recently, life-long disability — largely inside the communities of Black African origin, in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere… in addition to Africa itself. This is truly remarkable news. We could see sickle-cell relegated to the dust-bin of history the way polio was.

The real problem though, lies — as with all genetic therapies — in the daunting cost to be “cured”: best estimates put the cost of cure, including a year or more out of commission… at over $2.2 million ~~a million dollars~~ per patient. In the US, that may make marginal sense, because the costs of a life-time dealing with the effects of (uncured) sickle-cell, greatly exceed the therapy’s likely costs.

But in the developing world, there is not likely to be any way to incent any provider to deliver it, unlike the very cheap COVID-19 vaccines, by comparison. So it is likely that sickle-cell will continue to be scourge, outside North America and Western Europe. Still — this is an amazing achievement for biotech / life sciences. Here’s the latest:

…The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease, making one of them the first treatment in the United States based on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing technology.

Casgevy, developed by partners Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and CRISPR Therapeutics, and bluebird bio’s Lyfgenia were approved for people aged 12 years and older….

It is, in fact… a functional… cure.

Now you know (and as long time readers recall, we covered Vertex closely, as the second legacy graphic implies — for a decade of Hep C cure market battles).

Be excellent to one another; for we — as a society — now face some very important choices: should a sickle cell sufferer (largely in communities of color) be any less advantaged, in the public health reimbursement scheme… than say a sufferer with solid organ tumors / cancers? I submit that we need to confront this, directly — as Keytruda rumbles ever onward, at ~$22 billion a year. Onward.

नमस्ते

The ISS Turns 25… A Quarter-Century Of International Space Science!

December 8, 2023 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This celebration will continue for a few weeks, but it is one for the books. An international cooperative venture — including cooperation between scientists and astronauts whose countries are increasingly hostile to one another (i.e., Russia… and just about the entire Western World) — is a reason to have hope, for the future of humanity.

If the science leads, there is little we as a global community cannot achieve. That is the central lesson of the ISS. This first module was Russian; the next was a NASA contribution… and in the decades since, Canada, the EU, Britain, India and others have provided immeasurable support, as well as… space science personnel / astronauts and staffers.

Space botany, human research, and bioprinting were among the recent — and worldwide broadcast — science endeavors demonstrated aboard this wonder of solar powered space engineering. Despite occasional hiccups, the station remains a vital laboratory in the sky, through a quarter century. Here is just a bit of the story, at NASA — with video below:

…Growing plants in space is critical as astronauts prepare for longer missions farther away from Earth. Space agriculture may help feed crews and provide a cleaner breathing environment aboard spacecraft and space habitats. Crews will have to be self-sustainable relying less on cargo missions packed with food, fuel, and supplies from Earth.

NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Andreas Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) took turns servicing the Advanced Plant Habitat replacing environmental control components on the research device. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli assisted the duo reconfiguring the botany facility that has grown a variety of vegetables in the Kibo laboratory module….

O’Hara and Moghbeli then joined Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) for eye checks that are part of the CIPHER suite of 14 human research experiments….

Microgravity gives researchers the chance to learn how humans, machines, and materials react to months-long stays. It jumpstarts medical research, proves material strength, and generates new markets for items that can only be made in orbit….