Category: Uncategorized

Texas State Supreme Court Beclowns Itself.

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Apparently around midnight, between Thursday night and Friday morning, the state Supremes in Texas placed a hold on a married woman’s lower court order, one “allowing” her to terminate a non-viable pregnancy at 20 weeks, where her doctor testified that she is being endangered by carrying to term.

The facts… admit to only one conclusion: Texas is indeed a hellscape. . . ruled by hard right largely whyte mediocre old men, plainly including the state’s highest court — where six of nine of those codgers think they own women’s bodies.

Here’s the self-mocking order. These good ole’ boys won’t even say when they will rule. . . on a medically-needed procedure. When they might condescend to “allow” the doctor and patient the privilege of protecting her life and health.

Texas’s highest court is populated with… village idiots. But apparently, ones beholden enough (and elected to six year terms) to MAGA Gov. Abbott… to be… useful idiots.

Damnation. We will keep you updated.

नमस्ते

Why? Because They Know World History Didn’t Just Start — In Oct. 2023.

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Hinderaker tonight pretends not to understand why Red Cross is aiding wounded Palestinians.

They aid the fallen.

John — your deluded sense of absolute certainty about Gaza — down to eradicating all Palestinians who live there — suggests your mind is… broken.

That, or you are simply lying to yourself — in hopes of new donor pools emerging.

Either way… it seems you’ve lost the plot.

Out.

Both Mirengoff And Hinderaker Are Positively Frothing — About Some College Functionary “Possibly” Resigning. YAWN.

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These sorts of resignations (if one should occur) happen every day. They are scarcely news, even in the small college towns in which they occasionally occur (Philly or Cambridge).

But tonight both of these chuckleheads are crowing about the mere possibility of one — after decades of being among the most vocal opponents of academic campus “speech codes”. [And the claim the boys NOW make is that the campus speech codes… are not stringent enough. “Irony — it’s for me!”]

What has changed? Well — they see new pockets of donor money as a possibility — most of all.

Conveniently, it also allows them to avoid opining on the ongoing attempts to intimidate witnesses, and court staff — and to generally obstruct justice in a felony case, in DC — these attempts coming from none other than the mouth (and keypad) of their presumptive GOP nominee (as both have admitted).

What the rest of the world thinks is newsworthy — in the sense that Capone and Dillinger were… these boys scarcely even mention. Their guy is going down, just like Capone, and Dillinger. And going down soon.

So — don’t expect them talk at all about this excellent on the law federal appeal / DC Circuit opinion, of 68 pages — just published:

… One official explained: “After the President tweeted at me by name, calling me out the way that he did, the threats became much more specific, much more graphic, and included not just me by name but included members of my family by name, their ages, our address, pictures of our home. Just every bit of detail that you could imagine. That was what changed with that tweet.” Special Counsel Mot. 3; Indictment ¶ 42….

Many of former President Trump’s public statements attacking witnesses, trial participants, and court staff pose a danger to the integrity of these criminal proceedings. That danger is magnified by the predictable torrent of threats of retribution and violence that the district court found follows when Mr. Trump speaks out forcefully against individuals in connection with this case and the 2020 election aftermath on which the indictment focuses….

The district court appropriately found that those threats and harassment undermine the integrity of this criminal proceeding by communicating directly or indirectly with witnesses and potential witnesses about their testimony, evidence, and cooperation in the justice process. They also impede the administration of justice by exposing counsel and members of the court’s and counsel’s staffs to fear and intimidating pressure. The First Amendment does not afford trial participants, including defendants, free rein to use their knowledge or position within the trial as a tool for encumbering the judicial process….

All this hullabaloo over some academics — who (perhaps naively / stupidly) fell into a rhetorical trap set by a pungent MAGA congress-woman? It is just a diversion.

No one really cares, boys, as the real “speech crimes” are Tangerine’s threatening of felony witnesses, judges and court staff — and their families.

Where is your “speech code” outrage, on that?! That course of conduct / speech is ALREADY a separate felony — under 18 USC § 1512.

It is called witness tampering. You kids should be reporting on your boy — he’s been doing it all day, every day — for months.

“Code” that, for “context“, chuckleheads.

Out.

Almost A Year Ago — We Said This Day Was Upon Us… Sickle Cell Is Cured, And FDA Approved — But At ~$2.2 Million Per Patient? Who Will / How To Pay?!

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We first covered this, just about 11 months ago — and it is excellent, ground-breaking news, for Vertex, CRISPR Therapeutics and blue bird bio. But it ultimately may not mean too terribly much — for people of limited means, worldwide, with the life-long disease.

Even so, this is a watershed moment, after centuries of early-deaths, and more recently, life-long disability — largely inside the communities of Black African origin, in the US, UK, Europe and elsewhere… in addition to Africa itself. This is truly remarkable news. We could see sickle-cell relegated to the dust-bin of history the way polio was.

The real problem though, lies — as with all genetic therapies — in the daunting cost to be “cured”: best estimates put the cost of cure, including a year or more out of commission… at over $2.2 million a million dollars per patient. In the US, that may make marginal sense, because the costs of a life-time dealing with the effects of (uncured) sickle-cell, greatly exceed the therapy’s likely costs.

But in the developing world, there is not likely to be any way to incent any provider to deliver it, unlike the very cheap COVID-19 vaccines, by comparison. So it is likely that sickle-cell will continue to be scourge, outside North America and Western Europe. Still — this is an amazing achievement for biotech / life sciences. Here’s the latest:

…The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease, making one of them the first treatment in the United States based on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing technology.

Casgevy, developed by partners Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and CRISPR Therapeutics, and bluebird bio’s Lyfgenia were approved for people aged 12 years and older….

It is, in fact… a functional… cure.

Now you know (and as long time readers recall, we covered Vertex closely, as the second legacy graphic implies — for a decade of Hep C cure market battles).

Be excellent to one another; for we — as a society — now face some very important choices: should a sickle cell sufferer (largely in communities of color) be any less advantaged, in the public health reimbursement scheme… than say a sufferer with solid organ tumors / cancers? I submit that we need to confront this, directly — as Keytruda rumbles ever onward, at ~$22 billion a year. Onward.

नमस्ते

The ISS Turns 25… A Quarter-Century Of International Space Science!

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This celebration will continue for a few weeks, but it is one for the books. An international cooperative venture — including cooperation between scientists and astronauts whose countries are increasingly hostile to one another (i.e., Russia… and just about the entire Western World) — is a reason to have hope, for the future of humanity.

If the science leads, there is little we as a global community cannot achieve. That is the central lesson of the ISS. This first module was Russian; the next was a NASA contribution… and in the decades since, Canada, the EU, Britain, India and others have provided immeasurable support, as well as… space science personnel / astronauts and staffers.

Space botany, human research, and bioprinting were among the recent — and worldwide broadcast — science endeavors demonstrated aboard this wonder of solar powered space engineering. Despite occasional hiccups, the station remains a vital laboratory in the sky, through a quarter century. Here is just a bit of the story, at NASA — with video below:

…Growing plants in space is critical as astronauts prepare for longer missions farther away from Earth. Space agriculture may help feed crews and provide a cleaner breathing environment aboard spacecraft and space habitats. Crews will have to be self-sustainable relying less on cargo missions packed with food, fuel, and supplies from Earth.

NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Andreas Mogensen from ESA (European Space Agency) took turns servicing the Advanced Plant Habitat replacing environmental control components on the research device. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli assisted the duo reconfiguring the botany facility that has grown a variety of vegetables in the Kibo laboratory module….

O’Hara and Moghbeli then joined Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) for eye checks that are part of the CIPHER suite of 14 human research experiments….

Microgravity gives researchers the chance to learn how humans, machines, and materials react to months-long stays. It jumpstarts medical research, proves material strength, and generates new markets for items that can only be made in orbit….

This is a model, for those paying attention at home, and around the globe. Please emulate it. Onward.

नमस्ते

The Aging Hubble ‘Scope Will Safely Resume Star Gazing… Tomorrow: NASA

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This is indeed decidedly good news.

Last week, NASA put the ‘scope into safe mode, while it evaluated a gyro- issue. The ‘scope will now resume imaging — using the three remaining good gyroscopes. Excellent — and honestly… surprising — news:

…NASA plans to restore the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope to science operations Friday, Dec. 8, following a series of tests to gain insight into the gyro performance that caused the spacecraft to pause science operations last week.

After analyzing the data, the team has determined science operations can resume under three-gyro control. Based on the performance observed during the tests, the team has decided to operate the gyros in a higher-precision mode during science observations. Hubble’s instruments and the observatory itself remain stable and in good health….

That is — absolutely — an unexpected holiday gift. I had pretty much guessed that this would be end of mission, for the now nearly 34 year old prodigy. Some times, the cold of space — along with constant radiation blasts, over three decades… end the circuits’ ability to function. But that day is not… today. Grin.

नमस्ते

In Which Hinderaker Continues To Try (To Appear To) Change His Stripes. But That Tiger Is Far Too Long In The Tooth, Now.

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John thinks he’s found a winning wedge issue: paint all who are not hard right GOP as… wait for it!… Jew-haters.

Uh-huh.

John apparently simply missed the memo that… many, many Jews are very liberal — perhaps most of them (having seen what authoritarian / totalitarians like Hinderaker can do, if not opposed — by clever but open minds). And I daresay, even more of them self-describe as middle of the road Democrats (though my experience is they are on the left side of that road).

Sure — there also are quite a few who are hard right (at least as to internal Israeli affairs — “Bibi believers“)… and most of those folks tend to have the highest overall net worth, in the world-wide Jewish community.

So, obviously — Hinderaker sees a potential NEW donor group (he’s never had deep donations from Jewish factions) ones that might save his silly, bitter and now struggling… blog.

So that is — at bottom — all there is to see, here.

Cheers.

Texas Hellscape Update — Feckless TX GOP AG Paxton, On Civil “Bounty Hunter” Cases — If Doctors Do Provide Women’s Health Services…

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This is… deplorable.

After the order I mentioned earlier today, GOP MAGA AG Ken Paxton issued a statement to threaten abortion providers, under other (likely unconstitutional) laws Texas has passed. It purports to enable a bounty hunter law, to allow private citizens to report on, and go after any abortion provider or anyone who enables the same. [Sheesh. Hellscape meets Stazi indeed.]

Here is that late-breaking ghouls’ report:

…Within hours, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a warning of his own. “The Temporary Restraining Order (“TRO”) granted by the Travis County district judge purporting to allow an abortion to proceed will not insulate hospitals, doctors, or anyone else from civil and criminal liability for violating Texas’ abortion laws,” he said in a statement.

“This includes first degree felony prosecutions.”

Paxton acknowledged that Cox’s OB/GYN, Dr. Damla Karsan, was shielded by the order, the TRO “does not enjoin actions brought by private citizens” — a blatant threat to people who seek or provide abortions….

What a completely churlish pig. Out.

नमस्ते

[U] Finally Got Around To Reading The Dec. 1 DC Opinion That (Unsurprisingly) Holds Tangerine Doesn’t Hold An Absolute Immunity Card.

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Updated @ 9:40 PM EST: Tangerine is trying to delay his trial (again!) on these felonies, by taking an immediate appeal of the below ruling — he says nothing else can be decided until he reaches the Supremes on immunity. Balderdash.

The able Judge Chutkan has set a very short fuse tonight, on his appeal, thus:

. . .MINUTE ORDER as to DONALD J. TRUMP

Upon consideration of Defendant’s [178] Motion for Order Regarding Automatic Stay of Proceedings Pending Appeal, it is hereby ORDERED that the government shall file any opposition to Defendant’s Motion by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 10, 2023, and that Defendant shall file any Reply by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 12, 2023. Signed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on 12/7/2023. . . .

End update.

USDC Judge Chutkan has written a very fine opinion here, in 48 pages.

It is spare in its prose — and elegantly courtly… harkening back to an era when federal judicial opinions were scathingly lethal… largely as a result of the civility and aplomb with which they eviscerated felonious actors.

So too, here. Trump has been… filleted, quite nicely. He will lose on his specious mid-process appeals, as well. This is solid black letter law… devastatingly delivered largely because of how free from any hint of exaggeration it is. [In this regard, you may want to directly compare and contrast the below — with any USDC opinion we’ve discussed out of Texas, in the last two years.] Here is the whole PDF — and a bit, for spice and flavor of it:

…Those concerns do not carry the same weight in the context of a former President’s federal criminal prosecution. First, the Supreme Court has largely rejected similar claims of a “chilling effect” from the possibility of future criminal proceedings. During the Watergate prosecution, President Nixon argued that if recordings of his conversations were subject to criminal subpoena, the Presidential decision-making process would be compromised because his staff would be less candid. Nixon, 418 U.S. at 705–06. The Court disagreed, stating that it “cannot conclude that advisers will be moved to temper the candor of their remarks by the infrequent occasions of disclosure because of the possibility that such conversations will be called for in the context of a criminal prosecution.” Id. at 712….

Indeed, the possibility of future criminal liability might encourage the kind of sober reflection that would reinforce rather than defeat important constitutional values. If the specter of subsequent prosecution encourages a sitting President to reconsider before deciding to act with criminal intent, that is a benefit, not a defect. “Where an official could be expected to know that certain conduct would violate statutory or constitutional rights, he should be made to hesitate.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 819 (1982). Consequently, to the extent that there are any cognizable “chilling effects” on Presidential decision-making from the prospect of criminal liability, they raise far lesser concerns than those discussed in the civil context of Fitzgerald. Every President will face difficult decisions; whether to intentionally commit a federal crime should not be one of them….

Yup. He’s soon to be… a convicted felon — in at least two separate jurisdictions, around the east coast.