Author: condor

Now, A New Horizons/NASA Check-In — At Nearly Two Decades On…

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We have followed the New Horizons mission for most of its 17 year life now. [As an example, here’s an earlier background one — from July 2015.] It has been a spectacular five billion mile journey, thus far.

It yielded amazing images of Neptune, and the first close up surface images of tiny Pluto, including the heart shaped ice formation, over a third of that globe (see below left), when properly oriented in space. About the size of a grand piano, she is now zipping on an upward trajectory, out of our orbital plane — headed to ever deeper Kuiper Belt objects. But that may be a decade more, of travel time. These distances are just… unimaginably vast. So, we will wait — patiently for the next 17 years… to pass.

In the mean time, this fall, she will point her camera backward, and down, to capture BOTH Neptune and Uranus in a single frame. True enough, that image will be very low res, but it will add to the data from both Hubble, and from citizen scientists — which we’ve already collected, thus:

…In September — in tandem with the Hubble Space Telescope — New Horizons will turn its color camera toward Uranus and Neptune. From New Horizons’ position in the Kuiper Belt, more than five billion miles from Earth, these unique images acquired from “behind” the two giant planets will provide new insights into the atmospheres above and the energy balance within both worlds.

“By combining the information New Horizons collects in space with data from telescopes on Earth, we can supplement and even strengthen our models to uncover the mysteries swirling in the atmospheres of Uranus and Neptune,” said Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “Even from amateur astronomer telescopes as small as 16 inches, these complementary observations can be extremely important.”

With New Horizons and Hubble focused on the details of the planets’ atmospheres and the transfer of heat from their rocky cores through their gaseous exteriors, observers on Earth can measure the distribution of bright features on Uranus or characterize any unusually bright features on Neptune. They can also track those features much longer than either spacecraft….

Now you know… enjoy your Sunday evening, one and all. I certainly will… gazing skyward, this evening, and remembering the Perseid meteor showers (ten to twenty per minute, visible with the naked eye, as of tonight), all part of my youth in the high Rockies… smile. Out.

नमस्ते

Scott Johnson Thinks (Wrongly!) That “Flashy Rhetoric” Will Win Out In Fifth Circuit, Over Well-Settled Black Letter Law. It Won’t.

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This morning, clearly despondent over the losses, on at least six fronts, of what the GOP thinks of as “culture wars”… Scott writes a howlingly unhinged piece about how… Louisiana and Mizzou will win over the federal government — after Judge Doughty’s insane 105 page nonsensical, internally-contradictory trial court “opinion”.

Uh-huh.

I think his is… silly.

So the state lawyer offered a couple of witty zingers. So what?

So the GOP members of the panel asked tough questions, designed to highlight the GOP position. So what?

No one on that side… dealt with the actual law: that a sitting administration may advocate, even forcefully, in the press for its policy positions. If a paper decides not to run an unhinged, non-scientific and thus dangerous anti-vax bleating… even if encouraged by the feds — it is not government censorship.

The NYT is a private company, just as FB and Twitter are. They make their own rules.

Get over it Scott.

This is a dead bang loser for Louisiana — and just to remind — here’s why.

Out.

In Which Mirengoff FINALLY Discovers “The Faux News Effect”. Hilarious!

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So, for over two decades we’ve been writing about how the Murdochs, Roger Ailes, and Fox (and more recently), Brietbart and Bannon, et al. have been hood-winking the under-educated segment of primarily whyte America… on a wide range of topics.

But never more obviously than on topics economic.

Throughout the terror-reign of 45, these outlets touted the Dow’s rise (which only benefits about the top 5% of Americans), while 45 cut taxes on billionaires, spent wildly on crony contracts, and ran the deficit to 3X what it was under Mr. Obama. [And don’t get me started on the lunacy of 45’s tariff non-sequiturs.]

Then the bills all… came due. Just as obtained… under Bush/Cheney — and Reagan.

Democratic Presidents, each and all — cleaned it up. Fixed the corruption and insider dealing, and righted the ship. You’re welcome Paul.

But Fox especially (for over 20 years!) kept on lying about the ACTUAL economy — as experienced by middle America. They painted it as a horror-show, when it was nothing of the sort.

So too, today. Mr. Biden’s unemployment numbers are now better than Tangerine’s best two quarters. Yes, there is still some inflation, but the economy has actually recovered from Trumpian disaster-nomics.

Yet Mirengoff’s criticism amounts to a complaint that the people fed a diet of Fox News (et al.) still THINK the economy is tanking.

And thus he thinks GOP has a chance — essentially because people without even high school diplomas will BELIEVE things are far worse than they are.

Mediocre whyte guys blaming non-existent quota systems, for why they cannot keep a job. Ignorant whyte women believing all asylum seekers are drug dealers.

And so on.

It is true, Paul, the propagandists can sway the most gullible among us. But this time, well-educated suburban whyte women are turning out and in private voting for progress, not the Handmaids’ Tale version of AmeriKKKa the Foxers are selling.

Just look at the flame out of the constitutional “anti-abortion” vote in Ohio — your insane zealots went down to a 58-42 defeat.

That is a sea-change — a landslide — in favor of real women having control over their own bodies.

Educated, self-assured women (albeit perhaps secretive, given their souring marriages) — as many are married to highly-controlling MAGAt men… are voting (in the privacy of the voting booth!) — for progress. For Democrats. For Democratic (free) ideas.

The next morning, they likely express (entirely faux) befuddlement — to their idiot hubby: “How did the GOP… lose?!” Meanwhile, they KNOW exactly how. They are the change, you GOP idiots… THE Change you embittered old whyte guys inadvertently created — with these 19th Century culture agenda tests.

Hilarious.

So sure Paul… talk about what seventh grade educated whyte men believe — in the face of actually solid, real and utterly obliterating / conflicting data. The GOP is a dead, lying brand.

Out.

Tangent: Crypto-Bro SBF Has Been Remanded In Manhattan — Bail REVOKED; No More Suretors!

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Just as we guessed — and like both Virgil Griffith and Martin Shkreli before him… trying to communicate with / intimidate witnesses — in a multiple-felonies matter…

Earns you an orange jumpsuit — until trial — here’s the full text, just entered:

…Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan:

Bond Revocation Hearing as to Samuel Bankman-Fried held on 8/11/2023.

Defendant present with attorneys Mark Stewart Cohen and Christian R. Everdell. AUSAs Danielle R. Sassoon, Nicholas Roos, Samuel Raymond, and Diane Kudla present. Pretrial Services Officer John Moscato present. Bond as to Samuel Bankman-Fried (1) Revoked and defendant ordered remanded.

Defendant moved to stay the Court’s ruling on pending appeal, which was denied by the Court. (Court Reporter Eve Giniger) (Mohan, Andrew)….

Now… he may get out on the already-filed interlocutory appeal in a few weeks (and then again, he may NOT!), but this may… chasten him enough.

Flawless… out.

नमस्ते

Colorado, NY And California Explain How “Broken” Tennessee’s And Alabama’s “Laws” Are… Medical Expertise Edition.

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We won’t belabor it, but we will quote from it. See below.

The full brief is here, filed this very afternoon in Cincy, Ohio:

…In light of the adverse consequences that arise when transgender individuals are deprived of access to medically necessary healthcare, many amici States have enacted laws and regulations to ensure that their residents, including transgender teenagers, have access to gender-affirming healthcare. These laws promote sound medical practices and increase equity in healthcare. Beyond these general protections, some amici States have issued explicit guidance prohibiting insurers from denying minors treatment for gender dysphoria solely based on age, in recognition of the importance of gender-affirming interventions for this vulnerable population. For instance, Oregon approved puberty suppression coverage for minors after considering “extensive testimony/debate from experts at various public meetings” and “relevant evidence and literature.” Washington explicitly allows coverage for puberty suppression and gender-affirming care for those under age twenty. Wash. Admin. Code §§ 182-531-1675(b)(ii), (f). Similarly, New York law requires coverage for medically necessary hormone therapy for individuals who are sixteen years of age and older. N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 18 § 505.2(l)(2)(i)–(ii).

In contrast to Tennessee and Kentucky’s categorical bans on gender affirming care for minors, amici States’ policies also recognize that best medical practices require an individualized assessment to determine whether — and to what extent — gender-affirming care is medically necessary for an individual patient. For example, the District of Columbia has instructed that determinations of “medical necessity” for insurance coverage purposes “must also be guided by providers in communication with individual patients.” Washington forbids insurers from “deny[ing] or limit[ing] coverage for gender affirming treatment” when it is “medically necessary” and “prescribed in accordance with accepted standards of care.” And California encourages health insurance companies to evaluate coverage criteria for gender-affirming care in order “to avoid needlessly delaying and interfering with medical care recommended by a patient’s doctor.” Taken together, these laws and policies reflect amici States’ core commitment to preserving the integrity of the medical profession, protecting the equality of all people, regardless of their gender identity, and ensuring that people with gender dysphoria are not denied medically necessary healthcare….

These bans cannot be understood as the mere regulation of medical procedures without regard for a patient’s sex. They prohibit certain procedures only when the treatment is sought by a teenager whose gender identity does not conform to the teenager’s sex at birth. These bans are therefore not equally applicable to all minors. Rather, they treat cisgender and transgender minors differently by permitting certain medications for the former while categorically banning the same medications for the latter. See, e.g., Ladapo, 2023 WL 3833848, at *9 (N.D. Fl. June 6, 2023) (explaining that to know whether prescribing puberty blockers is legal or illegal, “one must know whether the child is cisgender or transgender. The treatment is legal if the child is cisgender but illegal if the child is transgender because the statute prohibits [puberty blockers] only for transgender children, not for anyone else.”). It is beyond dispute that one group — and only one group seeks this medical treatment for this purpose: transgender teenagers. See Skrmetti, 2023 WL 4232308, at *11 n.18 (SB 1’s prohibitions “are directly and exclusively targeted at minors who are transgender.”); see also Thornbury, 2023 WL 4230481, at *4 (“Regardless of its stated purpose, then, SB 150 would have the effect of enforcing gender conformity.”). That discriminates against transgender individuals and constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex.

The district courts’ equal protection analysis is consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. The high court explained that, in the context of a Title VII claim, “it is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex.” Bostock v. Clayton Cnty., Georgia, 140 S.Ct. 1731, 1741 (2020). In other words, “if changing the employee’s sex would have yielded a different choice by the employer — a statutory violation has occurred.” Id. Here, a similar analysis reveals that the challenged laws also impose differential treatment on the basis of sex: changing the minor’s sex at birth yields a different result on whether a medication is authorized….

Now you know. Tennessee will… lose. Out.

Good News! The Supremes Will Hear A Challenge To The Sacklers’ Attempt At Exoneration In The Purdue Oxy- Bankruptcy…

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We have followed this for a solid decade.

The idea that a billionaire family might keep $10 billion, and only contribute about $4 billion — into the bankruptcy estate, but STILL get a completely clean slate, from all Oxy-suits… is frankly both against the well settled US bankruptcy laws and decisions… and shocking to my conscience. Justice Sotomayor is my new hero here. The Sacklers are stopped dead in their tracks:

…Application (23A87) granted by the Court. The application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is granted. The mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in case No. 22-110 and the consolidated cases is recalled and stayed. Applicant suggested this Court treat the application as a petition for a writ of certiorari; doing so, the petition is granted.

The parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: Whether the Bankruptcy Code authorizes a court to approve, as part of a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, a release that extinguishes claims held by non-debtors against non-debtor third parties, without the claimants’ consent. The Clerk is directed to establish a briefing schedule that will allow the case to be argued in the December 2023 argument session.

The stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court….

The non-consensual release of claims in bankruptcy ordinarily would require that the Sacklers themselves file a chapter, and leave court with only $6,000 left, each to their names. That is all other individuals would get to “start over” with. But not a penny more. Yes, that is how mere mortals are treated in similar bankruptcy proceedings (not not not $10 billion). Now you know.

Get ’em, Mr. Biden! Out, grinning….

नमस्ते

The Silly Old Racist Bill Otis Commits The Fallacy Of Composition — Without Data.

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It is often said, in science that the singular of data… is “anecdote“.

It cities with over nine million people in their metro areas… NY, Chicago and LA… it is just mind numbingly stupid to infer a collapse of any society based on what amounts to three individual… anecdotes, Bill.

I just think it evinces his racist… natural preferences, when his only anecdotes are about arrestees of color, and primarily men.

I have never seen him write about the whyte mob, on the dock in Montgomery — that attacked a Black security guard, just doing his job — in asking the mobsters to move their pontoon boat.

As long as you think anecdotes are “data”, Bill — why isn’t Montgomery, Alabama a civilization that is collapsing — due to the whyte mob?

As long as you are going to offer anecdotes, man… c’mon.

C’mon, man — grow up.

Preposterous-ness! A Local Texas Water Cop Argues That Since “He Rarely Sees Boats On The Rio Grande”… It Is NOT A “Waterway”?!

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Well, we knew that Texas GOP Gov. Abbott would clutch at straws, to argue to keep his “Cold War Berlin-style” razor wire barrier on the Rio Grande, in a transparently unlawful move.

He clearly knows he’s lost, as overnight, he offered a local water cop’s opinion that he rarely sees boats (other than swamp runners / low bottoms / air-boats — which he himself admits he sees pretty often!) chugging along in the Rio Grande near El Paso.

That is — of course — entertaining, but the black letter federal law of nearly 150 years now… says NOTHING about how many watercraft are observed on a FEDERAL waterway per day. [And it says nothing about it being okay if the barrier is “colorful or well-marked“! Damn — how stupid is this?!]

Not a peep.

Moreover, WHY these Texas hooligans placed it there (even if we were to credit Abbott’s bleatings) bears exactly zero relevance under the federal statutes. One simply cannot obstruct a federal waterway. There is no “guilty mind” standard here — it is simply the sole province of the feds to deal with federal waterways.

And to belabor the obvious, some local cop, beholden to Abbott, even if it is his genuine (and genuinely stupid) opinion… matters not a whit, to whether Abbott’s monstrosity may be razed by federal agents. It may — and will — be, shortly.

नमस्ते

Parker Adjusts Its Course Slightly, For Next “Venus Slingshot” Maneuver…

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Once again, lithe speedy lil’ Parker is preparing for a ripping sprint past the Sun. But first, to gather more velocity, it will slingshot past Venus, in a close curving dip. [And we all know, Prof. Eugene Parker, the only then-living human ever to have a spacecraft bear his name, is beaming down on her — proud of all that engineering marvel has already learned… and will teach all of us.]

So it is that NASA’s solar/space science team this week fine tuned her trajectory — by only a few miles per hour… so that she gets the maximum “crack of the whip“, from the Venusian encounter. Here’s that story, and a bit:

…Operating on preprogrammed commands from mission control at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, Parker fired its small thrusters for 4.5 seconds, enough to adjust its trajectory by 77 miles and speed up – by 1.4 seconds – its closest approach to Venus. The precise timing and position are critical to that flyby, the sixth of seven approaches in which Parker uses the planet’s gravity to tighten its orbit around the Sun.

“Parker’s velocity is about 8.7 miles per second, so in terms of changing the spacecraft’s speed and direction, this trajectory correction maneuver may seem insignificant,” said Yanping Guo, mission design and navigation manager at APL. “However, the maneuver is critical to get us the desired gravity assist at Venus, which will significantly change Parker’s speed and distance to the Sun”.

Parker Solar Probe will be moving 394,742 miles per hour when it comes within just 4.5 million miles from the Sun’s surface – breaking its own record for speed and solar distance – on Sept. 27, 2023….

Now you know. All so sublimely… excellent (even with rain fallin’ in Music City, now — smile). [Do contrast the above, with my next one, which will detail the lunacy of Greg Abbott, and some of his local Texas water cops… in opposition to the feds dismantling his razor wire blockade on the Rio Grande. Sheesh.]

नमस्ते

Condor Observes: UK’s Astex Is Doing What Mr. Shkreli Said “Druglike” Would Try To Do… But Astex Is Making $35 Million Upfront On It…

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The future milestone-based royalties and other payouts from Merck in Rahway could reach $500 million — over a decade.

This is how platform-based, software-driven candidate discovery works.

Real scientists, with dozens of decades of experience in the so-called “dead ends and blind alleys“… narrow down a fairly short list of pitfall producing molecular structures… based on real world experiences. Then computational (big iron) software cranks through billions of potential candidates / compositional molecule choices, to studiously avoid the pitfalls, but still offer dozens of potentially viable molecules for additional virtual refining — and perhaps ultimately, in vitro testing.

Then and only then… in vivo. To do it right, it takes… years, not weeks. Here’s Fierce Biotech on it all:

…Cambridge, U.K.-based Astex will receive $35 million upfront with $500 million per program available down the line in milestones, plus royalties, to generate leads on new small-molecule modulators for a number of targets. Astex will use its fragment-based drug discovery platform to find new therapeutics that have activity toward the p53 tumor suppressor protein. The candidates will then be handed off to Merck for further optimization and preclinical development, according to a Tuesday press release.

There’s no cap on the number of targets the companies will turn up through the collaboration. Merck will assume responsibility for future research and development as well as commercialization of any candidates it picks….

Indeed. While the idea of super cheap “drug discovery” sounds promising… without lots of real world, human scientist-informed guidance, Martin’s idea was always a bit like expecting a lab full of 100 or so monkeys (with typewriters) to deliver the full, word for word transcript of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” — in a single throw.

Now you know.

Out, smiling….