Author: condor

Scott Johnson: Blithering Idiot — And An Embittered, Senile Old Whyte Guy.

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This morning, Scott Johnson conveniently forgets that legislators, when speaking inside the rotunda, in every state in our storied Union… enjoy (almost) carte blanche, on speech — when debating actions to be taken (or refrained from) on the floor of the rotunda.

More robust is that protection, than even in the public square (“public outcry”), or from the pulpit, for a preacher, under our long-standing black letter common law. For nearly 240 years, we as a nation have held that speech — even incendiary and defamatory speech — is absolutely protected, on the floor when a legislator speaks.

True, the Tennessee Three started their chanting outside of the floor, proper — in the hallways. But they then spoke on the floor. And for the first time in Tennessee’s history (going back to early day slavery, and beyond — before statehood even) these overwhelmingly whyte GOP super majority legislators… expelled two young black men of their number, while sparing an older whyte woman — for… speaking out of turn (they say).

It was impotent, as they are being re-appointed by the Democratic Party of Tennessee, formally, as we write this. But the message was unmistakable — in the place that saw the Klan founded, and until just two years ago, kept a bust of Nathan Beford Forrest inside the halls of that same rotunda… impertinent young black men… will be excluded (or worse) — even in the year 2023.

But it is not even the audacity of the act of stifling that most vexes me. It is that Scott Johnson dares to compare/equate the Tennessee Three to the Proud Boy leader, and/or to the QAnon Shaman (each private citizens not elected to speak, by the people — then breaking through glass, and grabbing a podium from the floor, while trespassing — with intent to overturn the lawful outcome of a national election). And it resulted in felony murder of Ashli Babbitt.

But Scott sees boisterous debate on the floor of the chamber, BY HER OWN MEMBERS… as the same as insurrection.

That is all we need to know.

Scott thinks the second amendment precedes the first, in our Bill of Rights.

It does not.

And advocating for legislation on sensible gun control (BY LEGISLATORS!) is in no manner akin to a riot by lawless vigilantes to overthrow a government BEING CERTIFIED.

Uh… yeah, Scott… take your nonsense… directly to the ashcan of history. That is where it lands.

Cheers.

Another Forum-Shopped Young Texan / Trump Appointee… Preposterously Decides He Knows More About Pharmacological Experiences and Effects Than 20 Years’ History On Market At FDA…

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Well… Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, the only USDC judge in the division of his district in northern Texas (thus, if conservatives file there, they can be certain to get him — and only him — as their judge!) was handed a chance — and he took it.

No matter that he has no pharmacological training, or medical training of any sort. It only matters that Tangerine appointed him without any real litigation experience, other than religious rights cases, to a life-time seat since he had shown unwavering devotion to hard right causes.

The only good news here is that his unhinged ruling is stayed, while the government appeals to the Fifth Circuit. And a capable USDC Judge in Washington State has already (employing Heckler deference) ruled that in view of FDA approvals granted two decades ago, never since revoked… with 20 years of largely uneventful use in the US markets (and now even with generic versions on market), the courts should not be second guessing an agency charged with safe delivery of drugs — drugs that in many cases, may save the life of the putative mother.

Read that garbage opinion if you like… but it will be tomorrow’s fish wrap soon — never regarded as good law. In fact, Kacsmaryk had previously ordered the reinstatement of Tangerine’s putative requirement that asylum seekers wait outside the US while their claims were adjudicated. In his order, he said that Mr. Biden had ended the policy without fully considering the consequences of the decision (not a proper scope of review for a USDC judge, again). That opinion was vacated by the Supreme Court of the United States on June 30, 2022.

Expect much the same here. Onward.

नमस्ते

Crazy Rad, Bitsy! Love The Look — And The Lunacy!

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So — she’s out of sound bites… that haven’t been proven false.

Back to almost a decade ago, now she treks.

Hilarious, “Baby Che”!
Clearly, Ms. Stauffer’s thesis on the so-called “Twitter files” has been holed well-below the water line (repeatedly!), so she has returned, on Good Friday afternoon (apparently wishing to get crucified!) to the old Ukraine / Burisma / Hunter Biden nonsense.

So predictable — and transparently silly.

This thread buries that whole Matty “D!ckPics” Taibbi narrative, as a tissue of lies and misinformation.

So back to pre 2016 stuff she goes — back to… yep, 2014.

It is pathetic really — that’s getting to be nearly a decade — of discredited info.

Meanwhile, no one of any moment will ever take her seriously… again.

She’s QAnon… just minus the Q.

Out.

Hinderaker, Again Employing “The Fallacy Of Composition”. Classical Logical Blunder.

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The blunder has been well known since the time of Aristotle, under that name.

But Hinderaker thinks it… persuasive rhetoric.

Charming.

As ever, the reason he is persuaded… is that it purports to validate his irrational prejudices.

But sure “I’m your Huckleberry, John” — let us play this game: let’s have him answer for the number of hetero whyte men under the age of 22, in an alarming spike since 2017 — appearing among the ranks of mass shooters:

“…Dylan Roof [cough! Kyle Rittenhouse], James Alex Fields, Payton Gendron, and… in addition to Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, there was a mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colo., in March 2021 that the police said was carried out by a 21-year-old man; a massacre by what authorities said was a 21-year-old gunman targeting Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in El Paso in August 2019 that resulted in 23 deaths; a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, in which a 17-year-old student is accused of killing eight students and two teachers in May 2018; and the killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February 2018 by a 19-year-old former student.

Prior to 2017, only two of the 30 deadliest mass shootings recorded (from 1949) involved gunmen younger than 21: The first was the massacre of 13 people by two teenagers at Columbine High School in 1999, and the second came when a 20-year-old killed 27 people, most of them children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012….”

Let go of your trans-phobia, Hinderaker — and do take a long, hard look at the disaffected young whyte (failed but hetero) incels your brand of hatred fosters.

Then get back to me. [Many of them have cited their “inability” to attract a female mate as a factor in their violence. That they are unattractive, because they hold views like yours — but aren’t in their 70s… is no surprise at all.]

Your supposed two (trans-), versus… my 14 (single whyte hetero males under age 22) just since 2017.

As long as we are trafficking in fallacies of composition — mine is the far more numerous… “composed” set of killers.

That much, you must admit.

Cheers.

Well… At Least Hinderaker Can See… ONE Reality: His Jingoism Won’t Win… Majorities Of Consumers, Anywhere.

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I suppose, what with Good Friday arriving tomorrow, I should accept this fleeting, momentary lucidity from John, with gratitude.

I suppose.

He tonight admits that “going woke” (whatever he thinks that might mean), won’t cause companies to “go broke“. That data is clear: being inclusive has improved Nike’s bottom line — and the bottom line of many a public company. In short, it is good business.

[Except perhaps, for US gun makers — and if they market a pink gun or whatever… who am I to care? I hope they all… fail. Utterly. But not because they decided to include drag queens in the mix of people to whom they want to sell those guns. I just hope drag queens buy pieces only for defensive purposes in Tennessee, and elsewhere.]

But I guess I digress, because as ever… Hinderaker’s thoughts are amply (and properly!) subject to… ridicule in the rest of his rant.

So, sorry John — consider your opinion ridiculed, after the Last Supper here on Holy Thursday 2023 — going into Good Friday.

Yep — you’ll be (figuratively, at least)… crucified, on the morrow.

Cheers.

[U: TN GOP… Dons Its White Hoods.] The Lines About Tennessee, And Alabama… Belong — With Mississippi, And Supplications To The Gun Lobby.

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I’ve waited until Good Friday morning to add this update, though it was known last night. Forget for a moment that no one in the history of Tennessee’s statehood has ever been expelled (for speech) from the legislature there. Ask yourself: there were three Democrats who spoke against gun violence (and for sensible gun control measures a la “well-regulated” below) after three kids not yet a decade old were gunned down with an AR-15 inside their school. Yet only two were voted expelled by the GOP.

The GOP apparently doesn’t care — or in fact wants intentionally to send a (white hooded) message: only the two young Black men who spoke have been expelled. The older whyte woman is still a sitting member of their body this morning. It likely won’t matter much, as the young men will be voted back in by their constituents, shortly — but this impotent show of whyte rage — in favor of the gun lobbyists, by the GOP in Tennessee… harkens back to the end of Reconstruction there. The GOP may now take great pride in carrying on the work of Nathan Bedford Forrest here in the 21st Century. “Tennessee… goddamn.” End update.

Please listen — all you GOP legislators of Tennessee. Your fellow three Democratic members have an unequivocal first amendment right (which comes prior in time, and right, to the second amendment for a reason), especially on the chamber floor — where for two centuries an absolute right to speak has prevailed.

No one has ever been expelled for speech in Tennessee (not even during abolitionist speeches of 170 years past)… but this time, it seems the speech cuts into / threatens the GOP’s gun lobby payment-streams. Listen to Ms. Simone.

Updated, after 8 pm EDT on 04.06.2023: And do consider this: only the two Black men were actually expelled by the GOP. The whyte woman, Rep. Johnson, was NOT. The whyte men of the GOP decided to spare her (and her alone) a recall election. That is the latter-day KKK, on the hoof. But to be sure, both of these young men will be re-elected to their seats — and then, the GOP cannot remove them, under some arcane Tennessee House rule related to “double jeopardy”. Ain’t that a kick in the head?! And the special elections will cost ALL Tennessee taxpayers over $240,000 per election — so around a half million dollars of wasted money, charged to all Tennessee taxpayers!? Hilarious!

She is 100% right:

Just… damn.

नमस्ते

Et Tu, “Bitsy Spicy Che” Stauffer?! Hilarious!

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Elizabeth believes (echoing Victor Davis Hanson) something she calls “the revolution” has come.

It is all very… charming, as what has come is… not the revolution she (and he) imagine, at least. Not by a long shot.

What has come (except for the aberration of Tangerine’s four pock-marked years) is the death of Reagan-Bush-GOP world orders and views. Death of whyte savior-isms. Death of trickle down theories. Death of demonizing the poor. Death of long prison terms for non-violent offenses — and selective prosecutions of people of color. Death to the practice of ignoring our multi-national treaties, as to how we will treat asylum seekers who arrive unbidden — on our doorstep.

And yes, death to the idea that any man controls any adult woman’s family planning choices.

That revolution… if she wants to phrase it as “the Obama revolution“… has indeed come to pass. [Her days of sneering whyte-grrl- / faux-“superiority”… are at an end.]

And that clock cannot be turned back. The Genie is out of that bottle….

She will either learn to cope in the new world, here — or… as we suggested yesterday… she might pick up sticks and move to the far right enclaves of… Germany.

It is up to her. But there is no “large and silent middle” that sides with her xenophobia any longer.
Not in the numbers she (and he) would need to see Tangerine, or DeSantis elected in 2024, or beyond.

Nope. Nikki Haley may-well-be the only possibly electable GOP candidate for 2024 — in a general election. But Stauffer regards her as a traitor too. Hilarious.

Good luck storming the castle, there Bitsy.

Nope. Steve Hayward… Is Utterly Clueless — About Chicago.

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I’ll not waste much (any?) time on his “thoughts” — really just a race baiting set of maps, by ward… color coded to… race and income.

How… utterly predictable, Steve. It is the limit of your faux-“powers” of perception. I get it: that’s all you can see.

Me?

I choose to see my city as at right (from 2019-20 a legacy graphic on “welcoming ordinances”).

She is still the city of big shoulders. Still flawed, but struggling to do better — for all.

Not like you Powerline 1950s patrician-, increasingly isolated-, increasingly-embittered… old whyte pop-pops.

Not at all like that.

Cheers.

Scott Johnson: Fully… Senile. [On Top Of Finding Shadowy “Conspiracies” At Cadwalader, Two Days Ago.]

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So, this morning Mr. Johnson would tell the world that someone who holds no federal office, and has been a local prosecutor, elected by the people of his city, for many years… is being controlled by a federal office holder, in a vast, shadowy conspiracy…

Where the sole objective… is to… enforce the law as it is written? Okay. [Do see the John Edwards prosecution.] The decline of all the codgers over at Powerline is now in full-on, stark relief.

Just before that piece of unadulterated lunacy, Scott took a tome of about 13 chapters (plus an Appendix!? Yikes!), and used it as a clunking metaphor for some complaint he has about Hunter Biden. Any critique that needs a piece of classic literature, and 14 chapters to explain… is probably just a delusional fever dream, Scott. Do try the decaf.

[To be clear… he probably is NOT senile. Which means… he is simply a paid shill — a lying propagandist tool for the Mercers / Sacklers / Wynns / Murdochs of the world.]

How so? He shows that he understands what is really going on — in the piece where he admits the results from Tuesday night in Chicago and Wisconsin… reflect that the greatest gift the GOP gave Democratic chances in over a half-century… was letting Clarence Thomas effectively gut Roe v. Wade, in Dobbs. Those are now enduring scars on GOP chances with “the middle of America“.

That, and the fact that, as a brand now, the GOP stands largely for xenophobia and various forms of intolerant hatred… and tax cuts for billionaires (only).

Cheers, buddie!

It’s Often Hard To Tell What Portion Of The “Bio-Bucks” Actually Eventually Get Funded, In Cash — At R&D Shops… But Still Impressive.

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This very new company — it just formed a proper board of directors two months ago — Proxygen, in Austria, has already racked up some world class collaborators, and joint target funders.

So today we read that it added US Merck to the roster (of course, in the EU, our Merck is called MSD). It already had a deal with German Merck (no relation) for what may be up to around $554 million in bio-bucks, from last fall. It also has a deal with Boehringer Ingelheim (from 2020 — funding terms wholly undisclosed — withheld).

Yep. That is pretty heady company, already. Here’s Fierce with the latest:

…Proxygen’s molecular glue ambitions are continuing to take shape as the Austrian biotech sticks together a third licensing deal in less than three years….

The company has signed a licensing agreement with Merck & Co. worth more than $2.55 billion in biobucks, according to an announcement Wednesday. How much the biotech is receiving upfront, or how many targets it is offering the U.S. Big Pharma, remains undisclosed….

Proxygen has been able to stay under the radar in part because the biotech hasn’t taken any venture capital money, relying solely on grants and upfront payments received from the trio of deals.

With a handful of external projects and ongoing internal development, Proxygen would appear to have its work cut out, though Boidol didn’t exclude the potential for another deal within the next year and half. He acknowledged that the team has “a lot of things that we’re executing at the moment….”

Proxygen’s potential [lies in its ability] to churn out molecular glue degraders, druglike compounds that stick problematic proteins with ubiquitin ligase, destroying the protein….

Now you know — this has the potential to make many diseases (previously considered “undruggable”) amenable to a new class of drugs, called molecular glue degraders. Instead of merely inhibiting a harmful protein’s function, molecular glue degraders eliminate the protein completely. They do this by reprogramming the natural protein recycling machinery present in every cell.

Onward grinning — after a wonder-filled day with my baby-girl… smile. Six years on, exactly.

नमस्ते