Category: Uncategorized

Good (If Delayed) News: The Bulk Mpox Vaccines Are Arriving In The DRC Tomorrow, Thursday — September 5, 2024…

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I held this story, from early this morning, trying to find out which provider was making the deliveries tomorrow and Saturday.

Now we know — it is Bavarian Nordic, via an EU collective donation. Here’s the latest, from Reuters:

…Democratic Republic of Congo, epicentre of an mpox outbreak that prompted a U.N. declaration of a global public health emergency, said it expects to receive its first delivery of vaccine doses on Thursday and a second delivery on Saturday.

The World Health Organization declared the health emergency last month but efforts to curb the spread of the disease have been hampered by a lack of vaccines.

At a press conference in Geneva later in the day, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed the doses were due to arrive in Congo. They are manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union….

The head of country delivery for the global vaccine alliance Gavi, Thabani Maphosa, told Reuters on Wednesday that around 200,000 doses would arrive in the first tranche….

So (per our graphics, that is Thursday AND Saturday totals) these are the ~130,000 doses we mentioned last week, that are from the reserve supplies built up in the EU last year. Even so, test (diagnostic) kits are running in very short supply in many clinics, so those are almost as urgently needed, as the prophylaxis of the vaccine, itself.

Onward. First big test of the season, in Lincoln — this Saturday. Woot!

नमस्ते

So… GOP Has Now Devolved To Reporting How “Cousins” Might Vote?! This Is… In NO MANNER… News. Y A W N

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Some more stupid sh!t — old pop pop Johnson says…

D A M N.

He offered some Nebraska cousins… to someone… as some form of a chuckle-headed endorsement — for a 34 time convicted felon. [I recall that Mike Pence’s Chicago cousins forced him (at Thanksgiving!) to see “Hamilton“ — and these cousins, despite being cops, mostly — always vote blue. Pence walked out before the play ended. Point? There is none, about cousins. They may disagree. So what?!]

Scott — cool story bro. Now do the thousands of fellow felons… who are for Trump. Here, I’ll help you out — with a start on the list of people voting for Trump, who are felons, and at least some of whom were PARDONED by Trump for crimes committed at his behest: Manafort, Papadopoulos, Bannon, Stone, Lewandewski, Flynn, Giuliani, and Shkreli(?!)… Damn, son.

Just… damn.

You Can’t Make This Up! The Leaders Of Tangerine’s “Crypto” Offerings… Lost $2 Million In A Hack, This July. And One Ran “Date Hotter Girls LLC”. Damn.

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Coindesk (the outlet that broke the FTX / SBF scandal / $19 billion rug-pull — and saw SBF get 25 years!) has the scoop tonight.

This guy… knows no shame. Previously, in the Spring/Summer of 2024, his son Barron was the (unconfirmed) private key holder for a Martin Shkreli organized supposed Sh!tCoin, one that ultimately fell 95% in a single day, when Trump distanced himself from that nonsense. [And Martin may have pocketed most of the $2 million on it — though he claims he never saw a penny.]

So now, INSTEAD of launching with the convicted felon Shkreli… he’s going with a guy who organized and ran a “Date Hotter Chicks” web-platform… and with guys who just two months ago, were “hacked” (or rug pulled) for over $2 million.

Yeah — that just screams… P R E S I D E N T I A L.

Erh… nope — it’s giving VERY big… Fraudster / Mobster vibes:

…The document and other reporting describe a borrowing and lending service strikingly similar to Dough Finance, a recently hacked blockchain app built by four people listed as World Liberty Financial team members. Other participants include all three of Trump’s sons (including 18-year-old Barron, who is identified as the project’s “DeFi visionary”), financiers and e-commerce influencers.

According to a person familiar with the plans, the project will also include a new cryptocurrency: WLFI, a non-transferable governance token. A transfer restriction could make the asset difficult for speculators to trade….

A limited liability corporation for World Liberty Financial is registered to Folkman, who, along with Herro, is the co-creator of Subify, which bills itself as a censorship-free competitor to both Patreon and OnlyFans – both services that let customers pay content creators, with the latter skewing toward explicit content. Folkman previously registered a company called Date Hotter Girls LLC and posted seminars on YouTube on how to pick up women….

The ONLY surprising thing, here… is that none of us are remotely… surprised by that state of affairs from the GOP’s Presidential nominee.

Wow — may you live in interesting times, son.

Out.

With One Mpox Case Now Arriving In Jordan, That Makes Ten Nations — And… Six, Outside Of Africa.

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This ’24 Mpox outbreak is now in more countries outside of Africa, than were witnessed in either the 2018- or 2022- Ebola outbreaks — and far more than any Marburgs outbreak. At six nations outside of Africa, it is still below where the 2013 Ebola outbreak landed, however — but there, we saw over 14,000 deaths, globally. [But to be fair — back then, we didn’t yet have an approved vaccine.]

In any event — pay attention: it can be lethal in up to 5% to 10% of cases, if not promptly treated. The WHO wants all health agencies worldwide to make this a top prevention / screening priority. Here’s the latest:

…Jordan’s health ministry has recorded an mpox case for a non-Jordanian resident, state news agency Petra said on Monday, adding that the case was currently in isolation.

The health ministry said the case was not the first for the kingdom, as it recorded one back in 2022.

The ministry said the case was a 33-year-old male, without identifying his nationality….

Now you know (and to be clear, the second graphic is related to this year’s Ebola spike in DRC) — and when you know better, you should do… better. Onward.

नमस्ते

UPDATE: The Son Of Sen. John McCain — A Marine, Speaks Out Against Trump’s Assault On Arlington…

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Hey, Hinderaker — that whole “you Dems should drop it” thing… how’s that working out, now? McCain will vote Kamala in 2024.

Hinderaker is an… idiot. He’s the one who should have shut up about it all.

Now, with backing like this, I feel comfortable identifying the fallen hero, USMC Maj. Moises Navas (at left). His family did not consent to his grave being clearly identifiable in Tangerine’s campaign video, at Arlington.

This afternoon, Jimmy McCain, son of Sen. John McCain, said he is voting for Kamala Harris — and torched Tangerine for this deplorably craven and cynical stunt. The campaign’s stunt at Arlington National Cemetery last week finally “tore it”, for 1st Lt. Jimmy McCain. He now says he viewed that as a deep “violation.” Here is all of that:

…[First Lt. McCain] is speaking out now for the first time about Trump because of the former president’s conduct at the hallowed ground where several generations of McCain’s family, including his grandfather and great grandfather, are buried….

“It just blows me away,” McCain, who has served in the military for 17 years, told CNN. “These men and women that are laying in the ground there have no choice” of whether to be a backdrop for a political campaign, he said.

“I just think that for anyone who’s done a lot of time in their uniform, they just understand that inherently — that it’s not about you there. It’s about these people who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their country.”

McCain’s decision to speak out now is part of his broader shift away from the Republican Party and his family’s famously conservative roots. After years as a registered independent, he says he registered as a Democrat several weeks ago and plans to vote for Kamala Harris in November, adding that he “would get involved in any way I could” to help her campaign….

Tangerine claims there was no assault. Of course, the police reports directly contradict his telling. And in any event, Trump and his people willfully violated 32 CFR Part § 553.32(c). That prohibited by law, the campaign ad he shot in Section 60 — on deeply hallowed ground. Damnation.

Trump took six deferrals, for supposed “bone spurs“ — during Vietnam, while Jimmy’s father flew an F4 Phantom in combat there, and was ultimately shot down. His arm was broken, shoulder separated, and without any medical attention, the Vietcong dropped him into the notorious Hanoi Hilton as a PoW (for 21 months). He was beaten and starved.

But Trump said in 2016, of Sen. McCain, that he preferred heroes who “didn’t get captured“. This dotard is… a monster. Out.

[And confidential to John Hinderaker — on the traffic death in Conifer, Colorado. As fate would have it, he was a classmate of mine. My family knows… his. I knew him about 40 years ago, in high school. They are kind people.

And, I can vouch for them — to a person, they would say the fact that the truck driver in what was clearly a traffic accident didn’t have papers to be here… IS IN NO MANNER relevant — to why Scott is now dead. It was a traffic accident. There is zero evidence of any recklessness. Shut it, John.

You are a malign a$$hole Hinderaker. Drop it.]

नमस्ते

Glenn Reynolds And Scott Johnson Lie — By Omission — By Not Explaining Context Of Kamala’s 2020 Remarks…

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Come, now — let us reason — together.

Scott Johnson (retired attorney) and Glenn Reynolds (law prof at University of Tennessee) both know better. They both know the right to free speech is not without limits.

Especially so, in that both of them have acknowledged that false or misleading statements (and health claims) about the human life-saving properties of unapproved, non FDA vetted substances, chemicals and devices… are absolutely subject to limited, proper “time, place and manner” restrictions, to protect the public from death or disability. Doubly so, in the time of a pandemic.

Here’s Scott’s morning lunacy, in full.

What he drops by footnote, only… is that the clip he’s burping incoherently about… is from the Summer of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was killing thousands every day.

Hard Right televangelist/now snake-oil fraud Jim Bakker was selling “colloidal silver” solutions. Donald Trump was advocating injecting bleach. Candace Owens was pushing horse dewormers.

And… the KKK was advocating the shooting of Rabbis — at synagogues. All on social media. Kamala Harris was saying that hate speech (with specific threats of violence against identified persons), and similar knowing lies — about the treatment of public health emergencies… are APPROPRIATE places for the US to assert time, place and manner restrictions.

But Scott, and Glenn both omit this context… to make it seem that she wants to monitor and police all speech on social media.

Never mind that Tangerine actually censors anyone who says anything factual about his DJT stock or NFTs on his UN-Truth Social. No mention of the actual censorship these jamokes claim the social media platforms perform on the own.

As many know, I’ve long agreed that these private living rooms may uninvite any speaker for any reason, or no reason at all.

But I’ve never agreed (nor has Kamala) that the government has the right to force speakers to shut down, on private platforms — excepting when they clearly violate FDA safety rules, or clearly commit securities fraud, or advocate the violent overthrow of the US government — or for inciting race wars (as examples).

So… in sum… everything Scott Johnson belly-aches about this morning… is a nothing burger. A fake outrage, by omitting the context for a 20 second video clip from 2020.

Just more lying, to desperately try to win back an election the hard right knows it is losing, day by day. In the House and Senate, as well.

Out.

So… Hinderaker Focuses On 20 Year Old (Entirely False!) Claims About Walz’s Military Record…

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Why?!

Because he wants to say that his military unit “didn’t like him”. Hilarious.

What this is really about, is a few dead enders, all age contemporaries of John — and Trumpers all… looking for any reason to spew bile — about perceived slights, from now a quarter century ago.

AND… it is largely about… trying to distract from the non-partisan Marine Times article, of under five days ago — on how Tangerine PRESENTLY dishonors fallen war heroes — by politicizing their undeniable blood sacrifices — for a campaign video, of all things(!), inside Section 60 of Arlington. Chalk up yet another… federal crime, for the old dotard. See 32 CFR Part § 553.32(c), viz — “…Memorial services and ceremonies at Army National Military Cemeteries will not include partisan political activities….”

What a putz.

In Which Hinderaker Assures Us That The German “AfD” Isn’t Hard Right/Neo-Nazi

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Well… I am not sure that he’s — in any sense — an objective observer.

More importantly, though — he ignores the central story, here out of Germany tonight: of the outrage — from the moderate conservatives in Germany, to the middle of the spectrum, to the far left there, at the prospect of even a hint of a return of National Socialism.

He ignores it… because he knows only too well, that is the same opprobrium he hears day in and day out — from his fellow Republicans here at home, especially the moderate end of the scale (relatively speaking).

He’s pretty much the closest thing to a neo-nazi still writing to an audience of over 50,000, left in the USA.

So… of course, in my opinion, he’s going to be super sensitive to patriotic Germans calling the AfD “neo-nazis”.

Hilarious.

While This Is Russian Science — That Might Have A Certain “Political” Usefulness — I Think It Worthy Of Serious Coverage / Reporting, And Analysis.

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Mr. Musk’s explosion may have punched a temporary hole, in the extreme reaches of our upper atmosphere, called the ionosphere — back in November 2023.

That is the conclusion offered by Russian scientists. The unexpected detonation of SpaceX’s Starship rocket during a test flight in November 2023 tore an “ionospheric hole” in the upper atmosphere. It is the first time this type of hole has been created by a human-caused explosion, according to the paper. Here’s a very cogent, balanced summary from LiveScience reporting:

…The high-altitude explosion of one of SpaceX’s supersized Starship rockets last year temporarily ripped a hole in the upper atmosphere, a new study from Russian scientists shows. It is the first time this type of atmospheric disturbance has been created by a human-caused explosion, the researchers say.

On Nov. 18, 2023, SpaceX launched its superheavy Starship rocket — the largest and most powerful rocket ever built — for the second time ever from SpaceX’s Starbase test and manufacturing facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Around 4 minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage — the large, lower part that contains the main engines — detached from the upper part of the rocket as planned but unexpectedly exploded shortly afterward, before it could land back on Earth. Then, another 4 minutes later, the rest of the rocket blew up in a larger “rapid unscheduled disassembly” around 93 miles (150 kilometers) above the ground, when a fire started as the rocket vented liquid oxygen. The company’s founder and CEO Elon Musk later said that the rocket would have made it to orbit if it had been carrying a proper payload….

Now you know… and obviously, as that hole rotated around the Earth for the next few days, until closing — whatever it was over (think France, Germany or even… China!) was bathed in excess interstellar radiation, without the “sheathing” of the ionosphere. I am grinning just the same, in part because the hole closed, and because… Mr. Musk may see new international, or even UN level attempts to slow his occasionally reckless pursuits — in space, as a private commercial enterprise — on the back of studies like this one.

नमस्ते

2024: A Space “Oddity” — Butch Reported Hearing Some “Sonar-Like Pulsings” Being Emitted From The Boeing Starliner Capsule, On Saturday…

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So… the strange journey of Starliner continues. There seems to be an electronically-generated chirping emanating from the capsule’s speakers from time to time — and Mission Control has confirmed that it too can hear it, through Butch’s microphone / headset. Just one more good reason to get the craft to ground, safely, and disassemble it for inspection — and ultimately… design improvements.

Here’s the latest from the very reliable British news outlet The Guardian, on it all:

…The source of the pulsing noise coming from Boeing spacecraft has not yet been traced. Wilmore asked Houston flight controllers to see if they could listen but ultimately Wilmore, apparently floating in Starliner, had to put his microphone up to the speaker.

“Alright Butch, that one came through,” Mission control radioed Wilmore. “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.” Wilmore radioed back: “I’ll let y’all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on … Call us if you figure it out.”

The strange ping was captured and shared by a Michigan-based meteorologist named Rob Dale and was first reported by Ars Technica. According to the outlet, audio oddities in spacecraft are not unusual. In 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he heard what sounded like an iron bucket being struck by a wooden hammer….

Now you know — speaking of space — perhaps a “Romulus” viewing this evening, on a quiet Labor Day ’24. And… get ready, you Buff fans, for Saturday’s national TV games. Smile… the Huskers will play tough, end to end, in Lincoln.

नमस्ते