Author: condor

The Iran War (However Long It Lasts) Will Not Be Kind To Bitcoin — Or The Alt-Coins. Trust That. Get… Overweighted, Into Pharma.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Yes… it was a tumultuous day in the trad-fi markets. Oil was over $110 a barrel early, but as calmer heads prevailed (and realized that mostly affects China’s supplies of oil), it is now around $88 and change. General industrial stocks were off early, but even they are moderating late today.

My central point here is this: in times of war and upheaval, it is generally true that pharma and life-science companies will far outperform the regular stocks — and will out-run gold, and certainly will be safer than Bitcoin (or crypto- ones and zeroes, overall).

People will need life-saving bioscience solutions — as we all age, independent of any war.

And with war, the medicines used “in the field” are always bought in vast supplies, by the Israeli and US forces [and stockpiled as reserves].

[Here think about antibiotics, IV bags, vaccines and… wound dressing kits.]

So — as CoinDesk vainly tries to polish the BTC turd [early today, saying a long war favors BTC — then reversing after Tangerine 2.0 said it could be a short war (CoinDesk claims — three hours later — that too favors BTC!?) do recall that it was over double where it is now, as recently as October 2025. [This is no safe-haven asset — in fact, gold really isn’t either — but that’s a story for another day.]

Do also note that cutting edge bio-science like that seen at above right… for Huntington’s Disease… has tripled, in just a week’s time. And that is not fading with today’s volatility. In fact, overall pharma was up about 2% all day today.

Sure, there will be some see-saw, but Merck, Moderna and Amgen (as examples) will NOT lose half their value in any six weeks on record.

Want a bet on safety,with fat dividends? And a proven decades long track record of high earnings?

Bet on the big life sciences names… though at the moment, I might shy away from… Pfizer.

You heard it here first [of course, do your own due diligence]. When someone touts an investment — always ask yourself: “What is the REAL risk profile vs. the return possibility?” And… “What are… the other alternatives, open to me?”

BTC… doesn’t make the cut in war times.

Out.

नमस्ते

Update: Abrego’s Motion For Sanctions [And Damages!] Against The Noemites — To Be Forthcoming, In Maryland… Per This Morning’s Phone Conference With USDC Judge Xinis.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

About time! This below means that the DoJ / DHS and ICE will owe Mr. Abrego Garcia a (large) payment for all the legal fees he expended, fighting for his right… to have… rights.

Mr. Hecker’s firm will be reimbursed for what is easily at least a million dollars, here and in Nashville — too. But Abrego and his family should also win damages, for being unlawfully ID-ed in Maryland court documents (including home addresses!) filed by the Noemites. This forced his family to go into hiding, after death threats were received at the home. Here’s that order [and separately, Mr. Abrego Garcia has won the right to go to a church of his choosing (all details sealed) on Sundays, without any person on the government side disclosing any details about those private faith-based activities — that order was entered in Nashville over the weekend]:

…PAPERLESS ORDER:

For the reasons discussed during today’s recorded call, ECF No. 200 is DENIED as moot.

Plaintiffs’ Oral Motion to Withdrawn ECF No. 211 is GRANTED, pending a renewed motion to be filed no later than March 23, 2026.

By March 23, 2026, the parties SHALL file a joint status report proposing a hearing and briefing schedule in connection with any supplemental motion for sanctions.

Signed by Judge Paula Xinis on 3/9/2026….

What a topsy-turvy world these ICE folks have engendered with their… endless lawlessness. Damn.

नमस्ते

Updates, On Lassa Fever’s Continued Spread, In West Africa…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We had last reported in 2016 on an elegant knockout approach — at Oxford University — to subduing Ebola. Lassa is a close cousin, though not quite as lethal as the Ebola virus. Still, it presents with high hemorrhagic fevers and not too infrequently, a spiral down and then… death. [In fact, a man who had traveled to Liberia last year — returned to Iowa, and was diagnosed with Lassa… and even with the fine care, and facilities — at the University of Iowa, ultimately succumbed to the virus.]

And so, building on that earlier Oxford work, the med school continues working on a protein-based Lassa vaccine candidate — which is now in investigational trials, in Africa. We are hopeful that it will deliver high efficacy — since the virus is known to be circulating in Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa. Here’s the latest, from GAVI:

…Lassa fever kills thousands of people every year in West Africa, but many of those infections go undiagnosed until it’s too late.

With the Ebola-like haemorrhagic disease now emerging in hospitals from Iowa to Johannesburg and Beijing, it’s a problem that is pushing beyond West Africa’s borders.

A new study in Liberia, published by the Lancet Infectious Diseases, found that 11% of people admitted to hospital with fever who weren’t suspected to have Lassa fever, turned out to be infected.

The study authors argue this points to an urgent need for a clearer understanding of the symptomology and better detection and treatment….

Among people admitted with fever with no clinical suspicion of Lassa… children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years old accounted for about 43% of confirmed cases, above….

Now you know — and, where is the USA [and USAID] on all of this? Damn.

नमस्ते

Geneva Convention, Art. 54: The Bombing / Destruction Of Drinking Water Facilities… Is Clearly To Be OFF-LIMITS.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This would have been unthinkable (of LBJ / Nixon) — even in the darkest days of Vietnam (and was last widely employed by Nazis, in 1945 — as they were being run over and routed — at the end of WWII).

Here tonight, we see the US is indisputably “looking the other way“, as Israel targets desalination plants — in Iran. This is a desert nation, and its drinking water comes from taking the salt out of… the sea water.

That is — the bulk of its civilian population… will be dead — in weeks — without these industrial scale desalination plants. [And this is a deplorable echo, of the Israeli forces pouring concrete down the drinking water wells, in Gaza — just two years ago.] These are… unmistakably… pattern act / war crimes.

Even if the US is not itself firing the missiles and dropping the bombs — it is complicit in letting Bibi do these unspeakable horrors. History will not be kind to Whiskey Pete Hegseth, Lil’ Marco Rubio, and Tangerine 2.0. Nor Bibi. Specifically, this is the Article of the Geneva Conventions at issue:

…Article 54 – Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population

1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.

2. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive….

Who are… these… evil men? This cruel insanity must be reigned in, by our Congress — as Trump himself is now the senile vassal — of Bibi. Damnation. Out.

नमस्ते

Trump “Couldn’t Be Bothered” To Obey Military Protocol — And Take His Hat Off. Damn.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Though, for me — the idea that the bodies of the fallen were “held” on the plane, on the tarmac — from about 2 AM Friday morning, to yesterday afternoon… is the most disgusting aspect of it all.

At least three times during his two terms, President Obama rose at around 1 AM, to meet a plane at 2 AM, promptly arriving to stand at attention, during the fallen troops’ transport — at Dover AFB. That was when the planes landed — and the dead should not be housed (like beef), in a locker — until Tangerine 2.0 can get around to fitting them in to his golf / campaigning schedule. Damnation:

…The transfer is considered one of the most somber duties of any commander-in-chief. During Saturday’s event, the president wore a Trump-branded “USA” golf cap. Cellphones were not allowed during the entirety of the dignified transfer….

Those killed in action were Sgt first class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Capt Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Chief warrant officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California; Maj Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; Sgt first class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist.

The families of the six army reserve members were present during the transfer….

I truly have… no words. Damn. This dishonors their sacrifices — and the families of the fallen.

Indeed, “…Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralyzed force, gesture without motion…

Is it like this

In death’s other kingdom

Waking alone…”

TS Eliot was spot-on.

नमस्ते

Updating Our Assessment — Of Moderna’s Prospects…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Back in November of 2024, we first offered our comprehensive assessment of what was then deeply undervalued Moderna. Our assessment is that it still remains undervalued (but now by less than 30%).

That said, on November 18, 2025, it was trading down around $22 a share — during peak lunacy from RFK on vaccines, generally.

Here in early March 2026, Vinay Prashad has once again left / been pushed out(?) of FDA for the second time in a year — after spouting nonsense about various bioscience matters. That is good news, if long overdue, for all vaccine makers, but especially Moderna.

And so, we noticed that Moderna is now up over 130% since November of 2025, trading above $57, early last week (but pulling back a touch, to $52 by Friday).

Even so, we stand by our original analysis / conclusion — that the stock is worth closer to $85, when fairly valued for the long-lived vaccine franchises. RFK’s lunacy about vaccines will fade in time, and while it is unlikely that Moderna will return to the $448 level it saw in the chaos of Covid in 2021, $100 a share is possible — once sensible science takes full-hold again.

Here is that news on Prashad, but do not be afraid that Moderna has reached overvalued stage… the firm still has quite a ways to run:

…The Food and Drug Administration’s embattled vaccine chief, Dr. Vinay Prasad, is once again leaving the agency — the second time in less than a year that he’s departed after controversial decisions involving the review of vaccinations and specialty drugs for rare diseases.

FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced the news to FDA staff in an email late Friday, saying Prasad would depart at the end of April. Makary said Prasad would return to his academic job at the University of California, San Francisco….

It is truly unfortunate that ill-informed political winds still are endangering the health of American children, but hopefully that time is coming to an end. And with it, Moderna’s RSV vaccine, and mRNA vaccine makers generally — should flourish. Onward.

नमस्ते

Unfortunate News: ESA’s Solar Coronagraph / Twinning Mission Has Lost Touch With The “Camera” Component / Spacecraft…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The very bad news is… that the batteries are likely drained — based on the time since a confirmed sun-facing attitude, for the heavier “photo-shooter” component.

Here is the latest, from last night — at the European Space Agency:

…The anomaly caused an apparent chain reaction that prevented the Coronagraph from entering safe mode and led to a “progressive loss of attitude,” the ESA update said. The change in orientation pointed the spacecraft’s solar panels away from the sun, quickly draining its batteries and triggering a “survival mode.”

As they search for a cause, mission operators are investigating how they might safely steer the Occulter probe closer to the Coronagraph to assist in diagnosing the issue and reestablishing contact. ESA officials said they will provide updates “as new information becomes available….”

The Proba-3 spacecraft entered [a] precise station-keeping formation in May 2025, demonstrating for the first time ever the ability for two spacecraft to remain in such synchronicity. Then, in June 2025, the mission captured its first photos of an artificial solar eclipse.

Now, ESA is trying to determine what exactly went wrong last month. “The root cause of the anomaly is under investigation, and mission teams are working hard to recover the situation,” the agency said in an update on March 6….

Here’s to still-hoping for a good outcome — but normal solar battery chemistry / physics would tell us that that is now… unlikely. The clock has wound down. Onward, just the same [and I think we can officially declare MAVEN, at Mars… DOA, for NASA.]

नमस्ते

In Which Rigby Runs Rings Around… Old Paulie — The Serial Fabulist.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

 This is one of Paul’s more troublingly stupid and dishonest posts. I can’t count the number of falsehoods and fallacies, but here are two that stood out:

[The country] can prosper and flourish without Medicare for all, as it has throughout our history.

Paul conveniently elides the fact that individuals and families have been ruined, driven into bankruptcy and destitution, by crushing medical debt, a problem that exists only in our country in all of the Western world. He also seems to have forgotten that the country flourished—flourished—from the New Deal to Reagan due to socialistic government programs and policies that kept the rich in check and provided support for the people who most needed it. It’s how we built the most successful and prosperous middle class in the history of the world. Then came Reagan, deregulation, and ruin. How’s that working out? For CEOs and shareholders, pretty great, actually. For everybody else, not so much. Then there’s this:

Thus, the dispute is really about Anthropic’s attempt to place limits beyond those required by law on how America protects its national security. It’s an attempt by a private company to substitute its judgment for that of our elected officials in the all-important realm of national security.

 Well, no. It’s a private company that has decided how its product can be used. Anthropic isn’t insisting that the government use its software. It accepted the loss of its government contract, and the financial hit that entailed, without complaint. The government is free to develop its own software or to make an arrangement with another company. This is free speech and the free market at its finest, something Paul should celebrate. Also, Paul’s dismissal of the potential dangers of using AI for mass surveillance or to control lethal weapons systems with no oversight is either staggeringly dumb or staggeringly dishonest. Or both.

Hinderaker’s Whining Again — About Canada. (He never even visits there.)

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

John Hinderaker would tell us this afternoon that we should worry more about Canada‘s healthcare system than our own deplorable deaths by gun problem.

Every 19 minutes in America, someone dies from a gunshot wound.

That’s 47,000 people a year.

But lately in Canada about 14,000 people in a year choose medically assisted suicide as part of the Canadian way of dealing with end of life issues. John falls on his fainting couch (again) about what other countries do — while ignoring his own part in enabling the US death machines.

Funny, he doesn’t bother to mention the thousands of younger women of limited means here — who die in childbirth each year, either — because of our horrible healthcare non-system (in the rural South), primarily.

So much for his right to life stance. [This is a largely GOP created outcome, too.]

Out.