Author: condor

To A Person, He’s Captured… John, Steve And Scott (And Paul).

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Hayward just quoted Saint Ronnie, here on the fortieth year, to the day. I’ll point out that the Powerline boys cannot see themselves, for themselves — in his long dead and over the top remarks.

But I sure see them — in his closing quote from CS Lewis:

“…The greatest evil is not done now… in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint. It is… not even done in concentration camps and labor camps. In those we see its final result, but it is conceived and ordered; moved, seconded, carried and minuted in clear, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice….”

[It is done now, in defending the indefensible — that traitorous lying Tucker Carlson prattles about, night after night — this week.]

That is certainly the Powerline boys — to a tee. And it is a certainty that Ronnie’s “evil empire” lives on, in the workings of Vlad Putin — whom these boys regularly defend.

D A M N.

Betsy Stauffer: A Steaming, Lying 20 Lbs. Sack Of Fetid Elephant Dung.

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Yep. I am out of patience with her damnable lies.

She now wants to argue that police officers’ de-escalation of “the QAnon Shaman” Chansley antics were some form of proof that the charges against him were… unjust — and that he had been denied his Brady material.

Except that his very capable, experienced criminal defense lawyers agreed to a plea involving 41 months of jail time, after seeing all the Brady material. And he admitted he was committing felonies — by obstructing an official proceeding, while trespassing. Damn.

She also bemoans the fact that her own party’s MAGA wing leadership refused to participate in its legislative / investigative duties, as an official matter. She blames the majority for getting the truth.

She then goes on to laud Tucker, who claims it was not a deadly insurrection.

Personally, Betsy — I think Ashli Babbitt’s mom might have a few words for you — and Tucker, and that stinkbug Hinderaker.

But the one you will really need to answer to… is your creator (whom- or what-ever you may believe that to be).

You’ve now eternally smudged your soul, a tarry / pitch black, with these lies.

Hey John And “Betsy”: Let’s Ask Ashli Babbitt’s Parents If It’s A Hoax, That She’s… DEAD.

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Okay. This churlish turd-flinging by Tucker, Hinderaker and Betsy Stauffer is really starting to wear thin.

Yes, in America a free press can print any damnable lie it likes — 20 years of Hindreraker and Powerline is proof positive of that proposition.

And yes, even treasonous lies may be printed. But the printer may be liable in damages, after the fact. [Thus, we see Rupert Murdoch largely disavowing (under oath) his reporters’ prior coverage of lies about the 2020 presidential election outcome.]

Soon he will have to admit that Tucker is on his own here: these defamatory and deceptive edits of the footage… will soon lead to lawsuits — by the families of officers, and perhaps even Ms. Babbitt’s parents.

She is dead John — that is no hoax. Yes she was mentally ill, whipped into a frothy frenzy by Tangerine, Tucker, you and yes Betsy. And now… she is dead.

“Have you no shame, man? At the end of the day… have you no shame?”

More, soon — I am sure, when Betsy finishes her latest libels.

An Odd Eye-Opener, This Morning: The Vaccine Science May Be Solid… But I’d Be Cautious About Investing With This Billionaire…

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A full run down of the history of one Phillip Frost, MD’s various investment and public company leadership travails is beyond the scope of this blog. But I covered him, tangentially — related to a bitcoin mining company now called Riot Platforms, about four years ago.

Suffice it to say that his associations with one Miami area serial securities “pumper and dumper” / fraudster Barry Honig, now banned by the SEC and FINRA from working in the securities industry, as well as this settled action. . . should raise eyebrows. [Opko’s latest quarter was. . . a train-wreck.]

But this morning, this largely flailing diagnostics and R&D med-tech company has popped 25% (another “pump”?), because Dr. Frost’s been able to ink a deal to have Merck license an EBV vaccine candidate, should it make it through trials. Merck is only putting in $50 million upfront, but Team Frost is hyping the remote possibility of over a billion in revenue, if the whole thing goes perfectly.

For now at least, I will assume that Rahway has done solid due diligence on the science here — and that the vaccine looks promising perhaps in spite of this company’s past, since it was acquired by Opko in a deal from Sanofi. [But Rob Davis better know who he’s dealing with, as it is unusual for a major to allow a fly-by-night to draft off of its good name. That’s all I’ll say for now.] To be sure, we will keep an eye on it. Here’s the latest, off the wires:

…Opko will receive an upfront payment of $50 million and is eligible for milestone payments of up to $872.5 million, plus royalties on global sales.

There is currently no vaccine for the Epstein-Barr virus, which is the leading cause of mononucleosis, or mono, commonly called the “kissing disease”….

To be fair, Frost has also leveraged a relationship with Pfizer, in the last two years. But, were I a skeptic, I might start looking to see who all bought into Opko after the trashy quarterly results two weeks ago — and who stands to make “dump” style profits on this hyped announcement, there. At this point, in my experienced opinion, the billion dollars is a pure puffery claim. Damn.

नमस्ते

Elizabeth Stauffer’s Dissembling Cannot Explain Away The Mob’s Felony Murder Of Ashli Babbitt (Ex-USAF)

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So… Elizabeth Stauffer, along with the execrable liar Tucker Carlson, seeks this day to engage in Orwellian sophistry. [Let’s get the truth up front, before her endless lying: Stauffer claims the footage blew a hole in the “deadly insurrection” story. Funny. Facts matter. An ex-USAF officer (likely mentally ill at the time) is six feet under due to the mob. That is an unassailable fact. She charged after being ordered to stand down, or be fired upon. These are facts. Facts absent from Stauffer’s and Tucker’s tellings.]

The claim here by her is… blatant: that since some small portion of the footage doesn’t show overt violence against Capitol Police officers — then… none of it can be unlawful.

Obviously, that statement is so illogical as to be self refuting.

She might try to explain why the guy at below left (Rhodes) has been convicted for a nearly decade long sentence, by a jury of his peers — and dozens of others, along with him — with dozens yet to face justice.

But of course, the truth is not what she and Tucker seek. They seek a reason to sow Civil War 2.0. Nothing else. [And you will note that Tucker will be mum about Ashli Babbitt getting herself killed by ignoring a direct police command. Why? Because the shoot was righteous. She was ex-military — and knew what it all meant — she chose “suicide by 01.06.21”. But don’t expect Stauffer or Tucker to say or do anything about it.]

And putting her in a pretty package makes her no less a traitor to our nation.

She. Is. An. Unabashed. Traitor.

In a just world, she would be tried and ordered stripped of her citizenship.

She 100% knows she is lying about the insurrection. She is… a deplorable — to be certain.

But, give him this: Hinderaker sure can pick his wing-nuts — that’s plain as day, now.

Paul Mirengoff Thinks… Very Little.

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This time, he’s on about student loan relief.

He seems unaware that Mr. Biden acted under a explicit Congressional statute, one signed into law by Tangerine.

He also seems unaware that many Congressional relief laws do not pay something to “everyone” — and certainly not to everyone equally. But that is his basis for opposing it (plus that more brown people and women will get benefits than whyte men, of course — so he argues in favor of the exact thing he faults the program for achieving — equity).

But I made short work of this, because he will soon see that he is wrong on the pure technical aspects of federal law — there is no standing to bring the claims. Chief Justice Roberts will so rule.

Finally — and what I REALLY wanted to get to… back when Paul was with Powerline, he and his fellow millionaire blog-authors benefited mightily, from Hinderaker’s getting over $202,000 in PPP loan funds — and then, he and John… and the others… spent the money (having these paychecked underlings write up biased right wings studies, and republishing much of that on the blog…) — and never offered to pay ANY OF IT back. Not a penny, gifted from Tangerine, directly. [The student borrowers must meet a means test; these jokers had no such PPP requirement.]

What was equitable, there, boys — three or four old whyte millionaires taking federal funds — to pay their supposed “think tank” / charity workers… while keeping their millions… in their own pockets?

Right. Silence. Complete… silence.

Charming.

Scott Johnson Is Obsessed With “Cheating” In Women’s Sports — But Not With Saving Their… Lives.

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About once every three weeks now, Scott, John or Steve bang out a stupid scree about how it is a barn burning emergency that some local competition or another has allowed a person who was born with androgynous or even vestigial male anatomy… compete somewhere, against humans born with female anatomy.

One would think that it was raining cats and dogs, from the breathless tone employed there.

Meanwhile… they are as silent as the grave, about the fact that at least five young women in Texas have literally had their lives endangered, by state intrusion into private doctor patient conversations on family planning. Despite Dobbs, Texas and Florida and Louisiana and Mississippi have all taken a bridge too far, from an equal protection point of view. [And a putative federal class action lawsuit there, will establish this fact, this year.]

Indeed, if these malevolent, embittered old farts want something to rail on and on about… why not the endangering of vulnerable women’s very lives — and not just… weight lifting records?

Why, indeed? It is about control — not empowerment, for these dinosaurs.

Merck’s Stock Jumps Almost $4/Sh (~4%) Overnight, On Sotatercept’s Fine Showing At San Diego’s ACC 2023…

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This is indeed very good news (as we first mentioned back in October of 2022). That’s when the top line results first came out. Rahway is seeing a nice — and justified — NYSE price bump for it. [Original September 2021 item here.]

Sotatercept clearly vindicates the wisdom of spending over $11.5 billion to acquire Acceleron about two and half years ago. And it is good to see Merck posting a next-gen potential cardiovascular candidate — in a very high burden disease, in the US.

This is why I’m not concerned about the eventual 2035 patent expiries for pembrolizumab. Merck has a fleet of great products likely to reach US markets between now and then. Here’s FierceBiotech on it all, from San Diego and ACC:

…Entering the last day of the American College of Cardiology’s annual conference, the Big Pharma is trotting out new phase 2 data of its anti-PCSK9 drug, finding that it reduced particular kinds of cholesterol by up to 61% compared to placebo.

Meanwhile, expanded phase 3 data of sotatercept, added onto background therapy, has exceeded the expectations of Chief Medical Officer Eliav Barr, M.D. “It just hits the right receptor,” he said in an interview with Fierce Biotech.

Sotatercept was the prized jewel in the company’s $11.5 billion purchase of Acceleron Pharma in 2021. The cardio med aimed at treating pulmonary arterial hypertension improved patients’ six-minute walk distance by more than 40 meters after 24 weeks compared to placebo, hitting the primary endpoint of the 323-patient trial.

The therapy also reduced the risk of clinical worsening or death by 84% compared to placebo for a median follow-up of 32.7 weeks, according to the conference presentation. What’s more, sotatercept had a slightly lower discontinuation rate due to treatment-related side effects than placebo patients….

Now you know — and well done, Rahway. [As a point of fair balance though, I should note that Merck laid off some 170 of the former Acceleron science staff just exactly one year ago… citing changing research priorities (even though it acquired the whole company at bargain basement prices).] Onward into a warm sunshine here…. grin.

नमस्ते

After Governors In Red States Pressured Walgreens Into Ending Sales Of “Morning After” Pills…

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The State of California has let it be known today that US women’s rights to health care choices… eclipse GOP political grand-standing. It should be remembered that California, were itself a nation, would be the fifth largest economy on the planet.

So Gov. Newsom has said the state won’t spend state funds in Walgreens outlets until it once again stocks choice meds… nation-wide.

Without regard to ones’ personal religious or moral views here — it must be my continuing position that (like the position taken by state leaders in California and Illinois) women and their doctors should make these decisions — privately, and for themselves. It is not the state GOP organization’s right or role to foreclose choices in health care state wide, in the states where they control the legislatures and mansions. Of course, other pharmacies will likely still stock the meds anyway — or a woman in need may drive across state lines to get it… but this idea (like Florida’s book banning ways, mentioned last night)… must be resisted, forcefully:

…Gov. Gavin Newsom said California will cut ties with Walgreens over the company’s decision to stop selling abortion medication in 20 Republican states.

“California won’t be doing business with Walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Newsom tweeted Monday. “We’re done….”

I think it laughable… that Walgreens decided to prefer the few hundred thousand GOP people of say Wyoming over the fifth largest economy on the planet. But if boycotts are needed to preserve choice… then so be it. Onward.

नमस्ते

Steve Hayward Offers Charts To Explain Why, As A Mediocre Whyte Guy, He Can’t Secure A Tenured Faculty Position…

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It is all… just… so blindingly obvious.

For now almost 12 years now, Steve hasn’t had a regular full professorial level appointment at any higher education institution.

But to hear him tell it, it is primarily if not solely because too many women… are being selected to the positions he feels he ought to be awarded.

Such a classic case of transference: his own lack of ability… hidden behind an imagined cabal that seeks to keep him (the doddering old whyte guy) down.

Damn. Like Hinderaker — pretty pathetic.