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Noerr-Pennington Doctrine Remains Controlling Law In Merck’s Third Circuit US Court of Appeals: Mumps Vaccine Suits, Dismissed.

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In general — under controlling US law and regulations — there are very few avenues to sue makers of life saving vaccines.

That was a considered Congressional policy decision, over a half century ago — to encourage the provision of what are very low margin, but vital, vaccines to school children nationwide. [Rahway withdrew this vaccine in 2022 — but we’ve been following various versions of this vaccine litigation since early 2010.]

Here is the latest on that piece of ongoing litigation. We will wait to see if the plaintiffs appeal to the Supremes, in the next 90 days.

…[Merck has won an appeal, that it is] immune from an antitrust lawsuit accusing it of misleading regulators about the effectiveness of its mumps vaccine in order to ward off competition, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.

A 2-1 panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Merck is protected by a legal doctrine known as Noerr-Pennington immunity, which states that parties cannot face antitrust claims for petitioning the government even if they are advocating for government action that would reduce competition….

The plaintiffs said that Merck deliberately misled the FDA in order to prevent competition from GSK, violating the federal Sherman Act and state consumer protection laws. U.S. District Judge Chad Kenney in Philadelphia last year granted Merck summary judgment on the state law claims but let the Sherman Act claim go forward, and Merck appealed.

But the majority of the 3rd Circuit panel, reversing Kenney’s ruling, found in Monday’s non-precedential opinion that Noerr-Pennington immunity held even if Merck’s actions were “unethical.” “The record contains troubling evidence that Merck sought to extend its apparent monopoly by misrepresenting facts about its mumps vaccines on the FDA-approved drug labeling,” Circuit Judge Tamika Montgomery-Reeves wrote for the panel.

“But those allegedly false claims were the result of Merck’s genuine and successful petitioning of the FDA….”

Now you know. Do “enjoy” the likely spotty cell coverage today — but also marvel at the citizen-generated Northern Light pics… rolling in at local weather stations, and web-sites — all day! [See the one at left, from my baby sister, high in the Rockies overnight!]

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Says Eating Doritos… Is Anti-Christian?!

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It’s official: Hinderaker is… fully senile.

He burps up about seven paragraphs to claim that a meme-parody video — by Michigan Governor Whitmer… means to mock X-tians.

Yikes.

This despite the fact that he himself points out that it is intended as, and functions as, a parody of a well-known non-religious meme.

Folks that’s the pungent smell… of desperation in the air – over at Powerline.

It isn’t worth another moment’s thought. [Just as his latest purported soothsaying on the polls… isn’t, either.]

Out.

Right On Cue — ANOTHER “Solar Max” Flare / Wave, Coursing Past Earth, Tonight And Into Later Tomorrow…

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Earlier this week, we mentioned a press briefing — coming on the 15th — as to this current solar max cycle (about half-done) — and what to expect, from here on. Not to put too fine a point on it… but, expect more… of this.

And for beleaguered Floridians, this could not come at a worse time. The cell disruptions are expected to be mostly a parallel or so north of Florida, but people in Tennessee, and perhaps even Oxford, Mississippi may see the aurora tonight, if the skies are clear.

Here’s the latest, from NPR, NCAR and NOAA:

…A severe solar storm is headed to Earth that could stress power grids even more as the U.S. deals with major back-to-back hurricanes, space weather forecasters said Wednesday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals.

NOAA has notified operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft to take precautions. It also alerted the Federal Emergency Management Agency about possible power disruptions, as the organization copes with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene and gears up for Hurricane Milton barreling across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida….

Now you know. And, onward. . . go Buffs [also a home to NOAA and NCAR], let’s beat those Cats, from K-State in two nights — in Boulder!

Between now and then — and always — let’s be excellent to one another — even as Tangerine floods the tee-vee advertising spaces with odious lies about our fellow Americans, many of whom have lawfully now migrated here.

He’s to be… summarily… ignored.

नमस्ते

The Next Step, In Our Learnings — About “Whacking” Asteroids Off-Course — To Potentially Protect Earth… Is Now Under-Sail, From ESA and JAXA…

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Due to other commitments, we are slightly delayed in getting this ESA good news out. We covered the DART mission closely, and now the European Space Agency has successfully launched a follow on analysis mission. Excellent!

The follow on Hera journey into deep space is being overseen from ESA’s facilities in Darmstadt, Germany. “Hera is finally on its way to Didymos; today we are writing a new page of space history,” said Hera mission manager Ian Carnelli. “This deep space mission took shape from contract signing to launch in only four years, a testimony to the hard work and dedication of the Hera team across ESA, European industry, science, and the Japanese space agency JAXA”. Here’s the full press packet, on it all:

…ESA’s first planetary defence spacecraft has departed planet Earth. The Hera mission is headed to a unique target among the more than 1.3 million known asteroids in our Solar System – the only body to have had its orbit shifted by human action – to solve lingering mysteries associated with its deflection.

By sharpening scientific understanding of the ‘kinetic impact’ technique of asteroid deflection, Hera aims to make Earth safer. The mission is part of a broader ambition to turn terrestrial asteroid impacts into a fully avoidable class of natural disaster.

Developed as part of ESA’s Space Safety programme and sharing technological heritage with the Agency’s Rosetta comet hunter, Hera lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA, on 7 October at 10:52 local time (16:52 CEST, 14:52 UTC) with its solar arrays deploying about one hour later.

The automobile-sized Hera will carry out the first detailed survey of a ‘binary’ — or double-body — asteroid, 65803 Didymos, which is orbited by a smaller body, Dimorphos. Hera’s main focus will be on the smaller of the two, whose orbit around the larger asteroid was changed by NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, demonstrating asteroid deflection by kinetic impact, in 2022….

This is truly an amazing time to be alive, and following all the life-sciences. And space-science.

That said, do keep Florida (post Hurricane Milton) in your morning meditations, and if you are in a position to donate to relief efforts there, the American Red Cross is a good vehicle for that. Onward.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Should Heed His Own Advice — On Ukraine — As To Israel, As Well.

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But first, John lies overnight — in claiming he’s been a steadfast supporter of Ukraine.

We documented in real time, his posts advocating the Putin influenced positions there, in the early days of the invasion and slaughters. And see here. See at right, as well.

But my central point this morning… is to ask why he says this is the PREFERRED answer, in Ukraine [but not in… Gaza(?)]:

…Like almost all Americans, I was on Ukraine’s side when Russia launched its invasion [Ed. Note: this is a straight-ahead lie!], and I still am. But two and a half years down the road, one can only wonder whether Western support for Ukraine has mostly had the effect of getting a lot of people killed, while very little has been accomplished on the ground.

Some kind of settlement needs to be reached. The obvious question is, could an acceptable settlement have been accomplished a long time ago, and saved a great many lives?….

Yeh. Great idea, senile old Hinder-puss. Truly top notch — first rate… as churlish grandstanding goes.

Now do Gaza. And no, I won’t give this nonsense (his grand-standing, to no practical effect) another pixel’s worth of space.

Out.

Found — By An Amateur “Rock-Hound” — On Hart’s Range, In The Northern Territory Of Australia’s Outback… Amazing 4 Lbs. Of Elestial Quartz & Amethyst!

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Do go see the movies and stills, from a guy posting under the handle “crystals of australia“… on Instagram.

His boyish joy — at every new find… is simply infectious.

[Do see at right! That’s an amethyst crystal fused to the top of a very large piece of ancient mostly clear quartz… weighing in at over four pounds! It was under about a foot of reddish overburden… likely just resting there, on what was the bottom of a silty, muddy water basin, since long before… the time of the dinosaurs (that is, it is likely about 850 million years old!).]

And I must say, he’s struck my imagination — reigniting the geologist — and the miner, in me — all these decades later.

This is what’s best… about the wild, untamed internet, and the Aussie outback, too!

And we will (expansively) declare this as on topic — under the Earth Sciences Dept. of this property.

Grinning….

नमस्ते

Overnight, Hinderaker Deflects From Trump’s Seven Private Calls (As A Presidential CANDIDATE, No Less!), With A US Sanctioned Dictator, In Russia

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Overnight, John Hinderaker belches up the specious claim that Kamala Harris is making lawless, specific threats against Tangerine’s safety. This is purely… poppycock.

And we all well know why he is lying, too.

He is deflecting. It is now confirmed by Vlad Putin that he had private phone conversations, on seven occasions, with the Don-OLD, while he was running for preznit, this cycle (2024).

I read somewhere… somewhere… Oh. Right….

It is in… 18 USC § 953, that private US citizens (on US soil) are to report person to person contacts with sanctioned country leaders through, and to, the US State Department. And unless the State Department authorized the contacts-back, there must be no additional conversations. But there were… at least seven of them. All clandestine.

This, I am 100% certain, Tangerine did not do. That is a three year prison stint, under 18 USC § 953. [You could look it up — I did.] Heh.

This is what Hinderaker wants the news cycle to… memory hole.

But that won’t happen. What did Trump promise Putin in those calls — and how much oligarch money, through dark pools and Super-Pacs… has been dumped into Tangerine’s coffers, in return?

We will likely never know.

But imagine the world learning that “Saint” Ronnie Raygun… was chatting up Soviet dictators, on the sneak, in 1980 (whilst a candidate, but not yet elected)?! [Or… Eisenhower, or JFK — decades earlier?!]

The world would have dumped him out on his ear, to a person. [And we real patriots will, to a person, dump Tangerine, in favor of the first Black Woman President, at right!]

D A M N A T I O N.

This guy is a real and present danger — to all nations espousing ordered liberty, across the globe, John.

Grow up.

Upcoming NASA / NCAR / NOAA Briefing, On The 2024 “Solar Max” Cycle — And Its Effects, So Far…

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As we mentioned back in November and December of 2023 — the peak solar activity cycle, called “Solar Max” — was likely to arrive early and be more intense this time around. That transpired almost precisely as expected — we’ve been in the max portion of the 11 year cycle since mid January of this year. And it has been one for the record books.

The helio-science crews at at least three agencies will now hold a press conference to describe learnings, and offer predictions, for the remainder of the max year or so to come. That will be a briefing worth hearing, since back in January, we saw likely the most intense coronal mass ejection, or CME — aimed directly at Earth, ever recorded (see lower left graphic).

[That particular CME burst largely meant the “end of days“, for the aging NEOWISE craft. It safely burned in on de-orbit shortly thereafter.]

Here’s the latest, from NASA | NCAR (in Boulder):

…NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will discuss the Sun’s activity and the progression of Solar Cycle 25 during a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 15. Tracking the solar cycle is a key part of better understanding the Sun and mitigating its impacts on technology and infrastructure as humanity explores farther into space.

The Sun goes through regular cycles of activity lasting approximately 11 years. During the most active part of the cycle, known as solar maximum, the Sun can unleash immense explosions of light, energy, and solar radiation, all of which create conditions known as space weather. Space weather can affect satellites and astronauts in space, as well as communications systems such as radio and GPS — and power grids on Earth. When the Sun is most active, space weather events become more frequent. Solar activity, such as the storm in May 2024, has sparked displays of aurora and led to impacts on satellites and infrastructure in recent months….

During the teleconference, experts from NASA, NOAA, and the international Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, which is co-sponsored by both agencies, will discuss recent solar cycle progress and the forecast for the rest of this cycle….

We will listen in, and likely offer a new post, outlining those learnings. Be excellent to one another — and check on your relatives in Florida — Milton is going to be a… monster, even if it weakens slightly during the afternoon today, into the night.

[Out, to a black tie charity dinner tonight, so will be no updates here, until near midnight.] Namaste, one and all….

नमस्ते

Merck Signs An Up To $1.9 Billion Deal, Involving “Bio-Bucks” — With Mestag Therapeutics, In Britain…

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This is certainly good news for the newer, smaller British biotech, and is of course immaterial to the behemoth at Rahway.

The company’s science program is quite well thought of though, with J&J’s Janssen unit also signing a biobucks deal a few years ago with the entity. Here is that bit of news from FierceBiotech, this morning:

…Details remain vague, with Mestag providing Merck with options to acquire licenses to develop and commercialize therapies against a “prespecified number of potential targets.” The exact upfront payment the British biotech will receive hasn’t been disclosed, either, but the company did say that combined with access fees, option fees and “downstream payments,” the total value of the deal could reach $1.9 billion.

Fibroblasts are a type of connective tissue cell that have long been studied in the areas of wound healing and fibrosis, or scarring, but were traditionally considered bit players when it came to tumors and inflammation. More recently, researchers have started to understand that fibroblasts play not just a supporting role but a central one in inflammation….

Merck also posted some nice head and neck cancer results for Keytruda today — but those are also immaterial, since so many oncologists are already using it in these and other cancers. Now you know. Onward!

नमस्ते

As Ron DeSantis Faces A Second Hurricane Wipe-Out, In Two Weeks, He Refuses To Take A “Federal Aid” Call… From Kamala?!

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Hinderaker tonight is so bugged, about free expression in Australia and the EU — that he neglects to grapple with the FACT that right here (under his nose) in red Florida, MAGA Gov. DeSantis refused to take calls from both Mr. Biden and Veep Harris today — calls offering federal aid for beleaguered Floridians, displaced by Helene — and millions more, about to be… wiped out by Milton.

These MAGA idiots are spreading lies about FEMA solely to politicize natural disasters. And Gov. DeSantis is going to literally kill dozens, if not hundreds of Floridians, with his malign political grandstanding.

Who ARE these churlish losers?! [We must note in passing that for over a decade both Florida and Texas have taken out far more in federal aid, than their taxpayers deposit by federal income taxes. Despite all their bluster, they are federal welfare states, unlike Colorado, and Vermont.]

But now, when Tangerine needs a wedge issue to lie about (never waste a natural disaster crisis!) — DeSantis claims he’s not for the welfare he’s long taken, and spent. In Florida.

Who, indeed are these goofs — they are… in sum, everything Hinderaker hopes for in political “leaders”: self-serving, egotistical sociopaths.

D A M N.