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[U] Danco Labs Mifepristone Case Will Be Decided Next Summer — In The Thick Of The 2024 Election Cycle… But The Odds Are Good That Matthew Kacsmaryk’s Loony Opinion Gets Dumped.

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Amy Howe — at the SCOTUS Blog has an excellent rundown up, overnight. [My earlier backgrounder, here.]

And she is right — there is some clear tea reading available in the Supremes’ twin grants. The Supremes feel the trial court and the Fifth Circuit both needed a clear statement that the FDA approval, from the year 2000 — cannot be at this point a basis for challenge in 2023. And, I think it clear that the Court is in favor of wide availability for drugs that show smaller side effect profiles that Tylenol, and offer women choices — over their own bodies and lives — along with the close (and intensely private) consultations… of their doctors. In sum, I think the trial court will be completely… overturned. Here’s the SCOTUS Blog on it all:

…The Biden administration and the drug manufacturer Danco came to the Supreme Court this spring, asking the justices to intervene to maintain the status quo until the dispute is resolved. The justices granted that request, allowing the drug to remain widely available for now.

The Biden administration and Danco came to the Supreme Court in September, asking the justices to weigh in on the propriety of the FDA’s decisions in 2016 and 2021 to make mifepristone more widely available, as well as whether the challengers have a legal right to bring their case at all. The doctors and medical groups asked the justices to take up their challenge to the FDA’s initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 – both its timeliness and the propriety of the decision itself.

In a brief order, the justices granted review of both the Biden administration’s and Danco’s appeals and indicated that they would be argued together, presumably sometime early next year.

The justices’ decision not to take up the challengers’ petition for review was the only denial of review noted on the one-page list of orders, suggesting that the justices wanted to make clear now that they would not weigh in on the FDA’s initial approval of the drug in 2000….

This set of issues — GOP states trying vainly to prevent women from making decisions about their own uterine functions, and overall health — Condor predicts, will be potent motivation — for many college educated, largely suburban women who previously would have identified as GOP… to step behind the curtain and in private… vote for choice candidates. Candidates who recognize a woman’s right to decision-making, about her own body — with her doctor. Onward.

Updated: And through pure luck, in unrelated fashion, I’ve scored a last-minute ticket tonight to “Boop!” at the CIBC Theatre. Should be… hilarious.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker: Major Narcissist Edition

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Late night tonight, John complains about a traffic jam in Minneapolis. Yawn.

One he didn’t get stuck in (on account of he was still in Florida — at one of those hard right confabs).

But because the jam was a protest along the lines of those we’ve seen here in the City of Big Shoulders (pro-Palestine), he’s burping about it.

Whatever you vain old coot.

But he goes on to say “Jews don’t protest such things.” Again, a universal statement that is provably false.

I am not bugged by it, but in real time, we reported on Jewish groups shutting the main train station to the wealthy northern suburbs here, to seek a cease fire.

In fact, John, I support both: the right to protest is fundamental to ordered liberty.

And Hinderaker is apparently growing too fragile in his dotage to endure… these slight jostlings — of his daily routines.

Even when he’s not even there.

Hilarious!

Hinderaker Bleats Again — About The Largely Non-Existent “Problem” Of Voter Fraud. YAWN.

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This time, he says people self-reporting what they “think” might be happening… as opposed to data, on what ACTUALLY happened… is Hinderaker’s stock in trade — his evidence of widespread vote fraud..

This is… in a word… pathetic. First, the poll is from Rasmussen, an outfit known to oversample GOP households, and report them as “independent”. Second, the entire case relies on people saying, in essence… “yeah, I think it happens.” Not even… “I’ve seen someone do it.”

Finally, and as my legacy graphic at right indicates, when — in each of the last four cycles — we get actual data… it confirms the problem is vanishingly small.

Shut it, John. Just shut it.

Hilarious! Billings-Puss Thinks A Paper That Refutes — On Science — A Sham Pseudo-Science Attempt To End Lockdowns… Is… CENSORSHIP?!

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Boys, its been over three years now.

And see — how the “marketplace of ideas” works here in America… is we encourage SCIENTIFIC debate. Even challenging debates, when based on real data.

Disagreement in these matters is… common. It is healthy. It is the way life sciences advance, without serious doubt.

But in epidemiology, the spreading of baseless and dangerous claims (DURING a pandemic, about drinking bleach or taking a bovine de-wormer — or colloidal silver potions!) — ones that ended up needlessly killing around 200,000 people in the US — before the real science took hold… ought to be… frowned upon.

And so Dr. Fauci, FDA, the NIH and CMS and HHS all put out wide-spread fact checks, and correcting pamphlets — all to ultimately save low-information / elderly folks’ lives.

The notion that the Powerline boys ludicrously equate this with “censorship“… is churlish beyond any serious argument.

In fact, it was Lloyd’s co-author, John Hinderaker, who throughout the Summer of 2020, kept saying that the fatalities were mostly over, at 20,000 people. He was wrong by a factor of 20X, when the real studies were tallied.

He was telling people to go out, maskless, and spend money in bars and restaurants, to keep his capitalism dreams alive. [HE personally wanted to eat nice dinners out — but few restaurants were doing sit-down dining.]

Telling him to shut his non-medically trained, narcissistic mouth… was no censorship. He was drowned-out, in the marketplace of ideas, by real facts.

These bitter old codgers regularly beclown themselves, now — but their readership is truly of what was once called… the “shop class track” now, so they get away with it, in the main. And Lloyd may be chief among these — just a few days ago, he was praising a guy from 1776 (patriarchal dead whyte dude who owned slaves, no less!) as “having the pulse” on the current, late-2023 actual practices of the Islam faith, and modern Muslims — all as a stereo-typical class. Ugh.

So stupid was that “hot take”, that Scott Johnson wrote a form of polite rebuke, yesterday — to suggest that the 1776 treatise was actually a critique of (wait for it!) Christianity — but used the phrasing “Mahomet”… over and over. Hilarious.

Scott’s utterly dubious claim is that the historians of the day could safely attack “heretical” faiths, like Islam — but critiquing Christianity… would be… a stoning offense. So (in Scott’s telling) everyone knew — just knew! — the words were meant to eviscerate Christian preachers, not Imams (like it was an elite secret code, of some sort). What a crock. And even if (or, ESPECIALLY IF!) that is true — Billings-puss in 2023 quoting it, and referring approvingly to this gross mis-characterization of modern Islam… and Muslims… is disgusting.

And, so… what a pair of putzes. Complete… putzes.

US Supremes Grant Special Counsel Cert. — Tangerine Must Defend “Absolute Immunity” Nonsense There, In Eight Elapsed Days.

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Not surprising — after all, Leon Jaworski got immediate Supremes’ review, almost 50 years ago now — in the Nixon / Watergate Tapes case. [And Nixon was still the sitting president, at the time — so his immunity claim was far stronger than Tangerine’s.]

And we all know how that turned out. He was out, like so much poop, through a goose:

…Dec. 11, 2023 — (Petition in 23-624) Motion to expedite consideration of the petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment is granted, and respondent is directed to file a response to the petition on or before 4 p.m. (EST) on Wednesday, December 20, 2023….

So, too — now Jack Smith will win (as Jaworski did)… and in the process, bury Tangerine, on his preposterous theory that he is immune for life, from prosecution for the felonies he may have committed while still in office.

Buckle up, GOP — you are thinking of nominating a (by then) convicted felon?

Good luck with that.

Sad Update, On The Kentucky Case… But Plainly Reflects Why Legislatures And Courts Should Not Invade Private Doctor / Patient Discussions.

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This morning, counsel for the plaintiff in Kentucky (as we mentioned last week) let it be known that the embryo no longer has a beating heart.

The fight is over (she should never have had to air her private pain, in public — just to have a right to bodily integrity). Will the Kentucky AG agree that he has no business — in this sensitive, highly private and deep life sciences arena (of doctor/patient)? I for one am more than slightly skeptical.
Here’s the latest:

…A pregnant woman in Kentucky who filed a lawsuit demanding the right to an abortion has learned her embryo no longer has cardiac activity, her attorneys said Tuesday.

Her attorneys didn’t immediately comment on what effect the development would have on the lawsuit filed last week in a state court in Louisville. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, was seeking class-action status to include other Kentuckians who are or will become pregnant and want to have an abortion. The suit filed last week said she was about eight weeks pregnant….

Will the Kentucky AG still try, as other red state AGs have, to charge the woman, for loss of the zygote? I certainly hope not. But she’s become a political football, sadly — so who knows? This is all… awful, and ugly. Out.

नमस्ते

Power Alley: Merck Buys Access To Novel DACs For Cancers, At C4 Therapeutics — For Only $10 Million In Upfronts…

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This is smart use of smallish cash upfront, to get a very big “fisheye lens / periscope” look — at C4’s aptly named “torpedo” platforms, and their potential use in immuno-oncology.

The deal will be very lucrative for C4, in a few years, if even one of the torpedos arms itself, and shows efficacy in a clinical trial. But it is firmly pre-clinical at this point.

Still very much a good news / potential future diversifying revenue stream for Rahway into the next decades. Here’s the latest, this morning:

…C4 Therapeutics shares jumped 50% premarket on Tuesday after it forged an exclusive license deal with Merck to develop its degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs) for certain cancer targets….

Merck will be responsible for antibody conjugation to create DACs in the discovery phase and for advancing these DAC candidates through preclinical and clinical development as well as commercialization.

C4 Therapeutics (CCCC) will receive a $10M upfront payment plus milestone payments ~$600M for DACs directed to the initial oncology target. The company will also earn tiered royalties on future sales.

Merck will have an option to extend the collaboration to include three additional targets that would be exclusive to the collaboration, which… could result in payments of ~$2.5 billion to C4, across the collaboration, eventually….

Now you know — onward and grinning — into the very crisp sunshine this morning — as Harvard’s board votes to keep its president, despite the GOP distraction tours / silly House crisis actors, now trolling the Congress.

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Paul Mirengoff: Gunning For More Firings — When He Has Opposed Academic Speech Codes, His Whole Adult Life.

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I am bored to death with these morons.

They are more than moronic. They are malign reprobates. Updated: it is so insipid, he’s now hidden it behind his paywall. No, I won’t pay for that drivel. Nor should you.

That is, Paul doesn’t believe a word of this drivel he types, in truth. He knows that advocating for something, that targets no specific person, is bedrock First Amendment protected. He also knows that Dr. Gay was speaking of nuance — and that if it seemed that the speaker was trying to incite violence against Jews for being Jews… it would be a code violation, and grounds for expulsion — and likely prosecution, under federal hate crime statutes.

Here’s the proof: he complained — and bitterly so, with Hinderaker, in 2020, about DoJ using hate crime laws, in relation to Black people being beaten and killed — solely for being… Black. [Same, Asians — in 2019-20.] And, back in 2018, naturally, he complained that there weren’t enough “free speech” zones on a Georgia college campus, places where fundamental Christians could fire and brimstone public preach, with a mega-phone — to unwilling students passing by, on their way to class. Yup against the use of just those same speech codes,

Really Mirengoff — shut your prevaricating, whining pie-hole, on the topic of Harvard’s testimony on its speech codes, last week, before Congress.

Just shut it.

Of Hinderaker’s Entirely Unblinking Irony: Ask Gov. DeSantis, About 12 And 13 Year Olds Being Shown The Same Cesarini Painting.

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So… we all well know MAGA GOP Florida Gov. DeSantis is a book banner/burner. As is Texas Gov. Abbott.

The pair have independently threatened teachers with firing or prosecution — ones who’ve allow middle school kids to read materials on the Holocaust (as one example — slavery, as another).

Here we have a series of nude young women, in a masterpiece of oil — from Cesarini. But Hindereaker goes on for several paragraphs about how Muslim parents in France ought not be allowed to object to the content of it, for 12 year olds.

I guarantee you, John, that Gov. DeSantis would charge teachers as groomers / child pornographers, if it were learned that they showed it to 12 year olds, in any public middle school.

And John would be right there, cheering the prosecutions.

[Of course killing French middle school teachers is no answer. But John’s suggestion that this is a serious problem… in America… is NOT a serious person’s position. It is a polemicist’s.]

Irony is an amazing thing, Hinderaker. Take a teaspoon — or a tall glass — on second thought, you better drink the tall glass of it.

Part II — Of The Nine Cowards — On The Supreme Court Of Texas. Disgusting.

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The Texas Supremes now know they’ve awakened the righteous indignation of all educated Texans, but especially the women of Texas. What else might explain this frankly BS opinion’s issuance, only after Ms. Cox’s counsel let it be known by press release that she’s left the state (since the Texas Supremes on Friday night had effectively blocked her right to a medically necessary abortion — as determined by her own physician)? Nothing else.

I won’t quote the odious sophistry of the Texas Supreme Court. These (at the moment, entirely) political creatures have twisted themselves — and the rules of civil procedure in Texas — into a pretzel, to avoid admitting the obvious: the sitting Attorney General of Texas, on this past Friday, openly threatened in a public press release he posted to Xitter — that he would bring felony charges against any hospital or clinic that aided Ms. Cox — or her physician. AG Paxton himself wrote:

…[Anyone] allowing an abortion to proceed will not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else, from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas abortion loss. This includes first-degree felony prosecutions….

That is simply a gestapo tactic — one the highest court of Texas ought (if it had any respect for ordered liberty under the rule of law) to admonish him against, and perhaps even sanction him, for a false public statement about what Texas law actually provides. That was an en terrorem and falsely premised attempt — and as hideous as it was. . . it turned out to be momentarily effective (yet and still, she will be vindicated, in Colorado or Illinois or California).

Paxton drove Ms. Cox out of the state.

It matters not a whit, that tonight the Texas Supremes only vaguely imply he hasn’t that authority. They could have ruled he was out of bounds. They did not. They never breathed a peep about it — at all.

They were willfully blind to the threats made, lawlessly — as an absolutely crystal clear abuse of his office… and instead published a half-assed, chicken-feed opinion, saying that doctors themselves (perhaps with some future guidance from a Texas medical board) must risk criminal prosecution, if AG Paxton remains in office.

That is, these Texas Supremes won’t rule that any given situation… is a reasonable medical judgment. They… punted — when there could scarcely be a clearer case that the medically necessary exemption ought to cover.

Cowardice — that is what rules the Texas GOP Supreme Court. Nothing more. Out.

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