We respond…
Make no mistake: these whyte, disaffected men with mental illnesses… are Trump’s true believers. And John never disavows them.
And they’ve killed hundreds of times more innocent Americans than all your BS spun-crimes have.
So blather on, you malign idiot.
Your boy will get killed in the debate, too.
Cheers.
The lunacy rolls onward, with Texas AG Paxton openly ignoring federal rules of civil procedure.
Y A W N.
Here on nearly the eve of a trial, he wants at least twenty, and perhaps unlimited depositions — in a civil matter. A waterways case. He should lose — but this is… West Texas. So we shall see:
…Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(a)(2)(A)(i) provides that, absent a stipulation, no party may take more than ten depositions without leave of court. Texas has already taken four depositions, leaving them with six. In the hours before the June 17, 2024 deadline to do so, Texas served on the United States fifteen non-expert deposition notices and a second set of requests for production of documents. This included four 30(b)(6) depositions of federal agencies and another 43 requests for production of documents, bringing the number of depositions Texas plans to take to 19 (not including any depositions of the United States’ rebuttal experts) and the number of document requests to 62.
At no point in the three months since the entry of the scheduling order did Texas seek leave of court or the United States’ agreement before serving these excess deposition notices. Nor did the parties agree to any depositions beyond the Federal Rules’ presumptive limit of 10. What’s more, at no point since first serving discovery requests in January 2024 until the June 17, 2024 deadline did Texas notice any non-expert depositions, thus underscoring the gamesmanship and lack of necessity of these depositions….
The Court has already told the parties that “[t]here’s no need for any extensive discovery here,” ECF 69 at 7:9 (Transcript of January 19, 2024 Status Conference), because it will be an expert-heavy case in which the issues “have been known for several years [and are] not new,” ECF 95:1-3 (Transcript of February 22, 2024 Status Conference)….
Damn. It is clear that AG Paxton simply wants to stall / run out the trial clock — until after November 2024 — believing (foolishly) there will be a Tangerine again — at 1600 Penn. (and that said Tangerine will order the case dropped). What a putz that Ken Paxton is. Out.
नमस्ते
That’s his annual draw — in 2023.
A year. With a “B”.
John complains tonight that governmental hourly workers make more than private sector ones. [So deceptive, as to be meaningless — hourly workers are no barometer of the overpaid, on either side. See at right.]
That whole complaint is dwarfed, if CEOs and top executives in industry are not excluded. They blow all government salaries out of the water.
In any event, Hinderaker grounds his bleating in the fact that our taxes pay the government workers.
In that regard, I hope he’d going to be suitably angry that Elon Musk ducks his fair share of that tax bill — and pays out only 4% of his personal income in taxes. [I’ll bet even money that Hinderaker’s tax rate approaches 40% — where’s his outrage about that?]
Seriously — where’s your howling, now Johnnie?!
Out.
UPDATED –06.25.2024 @ 2PM EDT: By a one page letter, counsel for the German Merck just informed USDC Judge Salas that the parties will be filing public, but redacted, versions of all documents shortly — with a schedule for the same being proposed to the court, yet this evening. That Pretrial Order from September 2023 ought to be on the schedule, too. Indeed. Stay tuned. [End, updated portion.]
There are about 20 new documents and motions, all filed this afternoon in the Lanham Act name fight, between US Merck and the (no relation) German Merck. To be fair, about 10 of the 20 are just exhibits to the main documents/motions and memos. [I’ll not bother to read or link them.]
But it appears most of them are parties’ “eyes only“. I don’t care about the motions, nearly so much — but we have been waiting since September of 2023 for a redacted copy of the pre-trial order, here. And as we’ve long said, that is a fundamental right of we the people — to see (in real time, at least redacted) public record filings (judicial records) in our courts of law.
That these vast multi-national commercial parties to a multi-billion dollar piece of litigation… have yet to make available on the public dockets (even in a redacted form). We’ve been patient, but as the motion practice heats up, it is clear this burp-fest is being positioned for a federal trial. And possibly one of the largest trials ever, in the NJ USDC. So, we will begin a more aggressive campaign to get the able trial judge to make specific findings on the record, in open court, if the intent is to keep this civil pre-trial commercial order hidden from public view.
Indeed, as we’ve long said, Davis, Wright & Tremaine (in the recent past, in other newsworthy commercial cases) repeatedly litigated for access — all along the eastern seaboard, and those rules clearly apply here — in this litigation. Hearings and specific findings on the record must come next. Then a redacted version, for it cannot reasonably be believed that not one page of the as-filed pre-trial order in this decade long, vast litigation docket has properly disclosable Amendment One material. It simply cannot be.
We may go silent on this topic for a bit — as we seek out some of the DWT equity partners we are long acquainted with. This is NYT level important public concern stuff [See, for example, Chicago Tribune Co. v. Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., 263 F.3d 1304, 1310-12 (11th Cir. 2001); Nixon v. Warner Commc’ns, Inc., 435 U.S. 589, 597 (1978)].
It needs to be made… public (except for trade secrets).
नमस्ते
This morning, there was to be an electrical repair — to a faulty electronics box — on a starboard truss of the ISS antenna, via a space-jaunt, in suits.
But it was all over, before work really got started. [No new date has been set, for the walks. Just as no new date is set for the Starliner crewed de-orbit.]
Water leaks meant a scrub 30 minutes into the walk. Here’s the latest on it all:
…NASA astronauts Tracy C. Dyson and Mike Barratt are back inside the International Space Station after U.S. spacewalk 90 ended early Monday due to a water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit on Dyson’s spacesuit. The crew members were not in any danger as result of the leak. Dyson and Barratt set their suits to battery power at 8:46 a.m. EDT and opened the International Space Station’s Quest airlock hatch to the vacuum of space before reporting the water issue.
The spacewalk lasted a total of 31 minutes, when the crew suits re-pressurized the crew lock section of the airlock at 9:17 a.m. Dyson and Barratt removed their spacesuits at around 10:25 a.m….
Now you know. Space is… indeed, hard. Onward.
नमस्ते
I’m long on record that these purported laws are all… unconstitutional.
This invasion of the patient / physician privilege, where the science is clear that the medical condition is real… is very much like the idiotic Louisiana “commandments” laws. The idea that state cops could prevent a doctor (on pain of a criminal prosecution) from treating a willing patient, even with the patient’s parental consent… is… just loopy. These are simply wedge issue distractions, and most of the Governors signing the laws… likely don’t even agree with the measures. But they are red meat for the MAGA crowds. This, from the estimable SCOTUS Blog, with the ever-capable Amy Howe at the keyboard:
…The justices will hear arguments in the case in the fall, with a decision likely by late June or early July 2025.
Major U.S. medical groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have opposed efforts by states to restrict gender-affirming care. In a 2021 letter to the National Governors Association, for example, the American Medical Association cited studies indicating that gender-affirming care can lead to (among other things) “dramatic reductions in suicide attempts, as well as decreased rates of depression and anxiety.”
Tennessee enacted the law at the center of the case in 2023. It bars gender-affirming care, such as hormone treatments and gender-transition surgeries, for transgender patients under 18. The law carved out two exceptions from that general rule: It allows the use of hormone treatments for other patients under 18, such as those who begin puberty too early, and it allowed health-care providers to continue to administer hormone therapy to patients who were already receiving it until March 31, 2024. The legislation allows lawsuits against health-care providers who violate its restrictions, as well as the possibility that such providers could lose their licenses to practice medicine.
The challengers in the Tennessee case are a 16-year-old transgender girl, who has received puberty blockers and estrogen therapy, a 13-year-old transgender boy who has received puberty blockers, and a 16-year-old transgender boy who has received puberty blockers and testosterone therapy. The youths, along with their parents and a doctor who treats transgender patients, filed a lawsuit against Tennessee officials in federal court, seeking to bar the state from enforcing the ban on puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and gender-transition surgeries.
The Biden administration joined the case under a federal law that allows the government to intervene in private cases alleging violations of the right to equal protection under the law “if the Attorney General certifies that the case is of general public importance….”
Now you know — I expect the Supremes will say… this is inappropriate, and unAmerican — we believe in equal protection of the law.
नमस्ते
Back in mid-October 2023, I pointed out that (just perhaps) a bio-bucks deal was the creative, value adding way the two now-partners solved a rather nettlesome set of patent disputes.
That deal will show its victory flag, this week — as FDA’s accelerated decision date arrives. I’ll let BioSpace tell the story from here, as their rendition is very well thought out:
…By June 26, the FDA is expected to release its verdict on Merck and Daiichi Sankyo’s Biologics License Application (BLA), seeking approval for its investigational antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) patritumab deruxtecan to treat EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Designed using Daiichi Sankyo’s proprietary DXd technology, patritumab deruxtecan is an investigational ADC that targets the HER3 protein, which is highly expressed across a variety of solid tumors, including breast and lung cancer. The ADC carries a number of exatecan derivative topoisomerase I payloads, which can kill the targeted cancer cells.
Merck and Daiichi Sankyo’s BLA, which the FDA accepted and granted Priority Review in December 2023, is backed by data from the pivotal Phase II HERTHENA-Lung01 study, which demonstrated a 29.8% objective response rate in 225 patients with advanced or metastatic NSCLC that had progressed after prior treatments….
Merck and Daiichi Sankyo entered into a global partnership in October 2023 to develop and commercialize three ADCs developed using Daiichi Sankyo’s DXd ADC platform. These assets include patritumab deruxtecan, as well as ifinatamab deruxtecan for small-cell lung cancer and raludotatug deruxtecan in ovarian cancer….
Now you know — onward, into the sunshine here — also into the week that Martin Shkreli’s life long ban from all life sciences, and pharmaceuticals, industries (as well as the securities industries, earlier) became absolutely final. His twice extended deadline for cert. at the Supremes was missed last Friday night. His ban is final and now unappealable, any longer. See ‘ya — just one more… loser. Out.
नमस्ते
नमस्ते
It is hilarious — only in the saddest way possible (see my graphic on the deplorable state of Texas public schools — this is what comes from them). The AG doesn’t understand the most rudimentary contours of the federal court rules — and the reasons they exist.
This comes up in the federal Razor Wire Barrier cases. Gov. Abbott, and his AG (and outside lawyers) feel so put upon by federal law… that they demanded trial by a jury. [Hoping to catch a suitably prejudiced local Del Rio panel, I guess.]
There is just one problem — it is NOT a right granted to the State, in a civil matter… in the federal courts, where another governmental agency is the opponent. Sit down, boys.
…[State of Texas AG Paxton] moved to “Place Case on Jury Docket.” ECF 123 (June 21, 2024). Plaintiff, the United States, opposes. The Court should deny the motion for one or both reasons below:
1. There is no “jury docket” in this Court. There is a civil, and a criminal… docket. As the caption above communicates, this case was placed on the civil docket last year. The additional thing Defendants desire access to does not exist here. Thus, their motion is simultaneously moot, and futile. [In general States don’t possess, in a civil matter, the right to a jury trial.]
2. The United States has separately moved to strike Defendants’ jury demand and deny their advisory jury request. ECF 125 (June 21, 2024). That relief should be granted for reasons explained in the pertinent parts of that motion. Id. at 1, 5, 16-20. Rulings granting that relief would be a further basis to deny this motion if one were needed….
As I say — this is what decades of underfunding real public education looks like. [Texas runs a single state-wide school district, largely so that no textbook can be used in any public school (unless cleared by hard-right conservative x-ian flacks on a panel) if it is not devoid of teachings about evolution, or the pernicious effects of slavery, or even… on many constitutional rights accuseds possess, nationwide. Only one published textbook is allowed, in Texas — since the mid 1980s.]
See any Colorado or California or Illinois or New York middle school civics textbook, boys — the truth is out there.
Out.
First, the “plain as day” facts — so no one gets distracted by the red herring of the purported “law” itself. The ACLU has already filed against the yellow state, and will win — all the way to the Supremes. This will never be good law (See, Stone v.Graham). It directly contradicts nearly 80 years of well-settled law.
But I write instead to first note that each of the outlined states is said to be considering a similar measure. What do they have in common?
Obviously, each is below the Mason-Dixon line. But more saliently, each spends very near the bottom (out of 50) on public school educational attainment, and not surprisingly, sees results that are consistently in the bottom ten percent or so. One or two are only in the bottom 20% — but the correlation is beyond dispute: they don’t value real public education, very highly.
So, my central point: why on Earth should any of us get all frothy about the idiotic wedge issue they seek to create? It will be DOA (literally, on arrival!) in the federal courts.
I guess — as responsible adults in the room — we need to keep an eye on it, but just imagine how much MORE good the Gov. of Louisiana could do, if he’d commit to real funding, for real state of the art libraries — and real innovative public education plans?
Just imagine. I will. You should too.
[Rant, off.]
नमस्ते
This morning, in the course of all but admitting that the TP USA contract signed with Trumpworld RNC/GOP is a “grift” to move money to Charlie Kirk (is this where Baby T’s will land after the ‘24 loss?)… Mirengoff does set out some other truths.
First, Tangerine is likely 10 to one behind on field offices, in swing states.
Second (a corollary, actually) Mr. Biden has a deep, well-oiled, rolling and wide spread ground game underway in each swing state.
Third, his sentence is likely going to awaken even very low information independents.
Finally, we all know negative ads work well in the last two weeks. The ones Mr. Biden will run… will ruin Tangerine’s chances — solely on jury decided FACTS.
Separately, by Sunday night, Karl Rove had this:
…“The movement is among independents,” said Rove, who helped lead George W. Bush’s two presidential campaigns. “And they have moved, in recent polls, roughly nine points towards Biden.”
Rove noted that polls of independents have previously found that 21 percent have said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he’s convicted…
Voting is, afterall… a jury’s final outcome. A jury with about 240 million members (eligible voting age adults). Fully eight million are new voters — turned 18, since 2020… and about 64 per cent of them are people of color. That’s just lethal to Trumpworld.
He’s… DOA — and Paul all but admits this today.
Out.
Powerline Lies... 
