Category: Uncategorized

Honestly… I. Don’t. Care. Do. You?!

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

So — if we are to believe Paul this morning… we should take a aging country singer with a “pro-vigilante/lynching” ditty… now out… very seriously.

But we should not take seriously the then sitting First Lady, when arriving at the Southern Border (for an aid tour, no less!) — in an overcoat that mocked all people of limited means in very vulgar terms?!

Yeh.

Forgive me if I won’t take Mirengoff seriously, ever — on any issue — about pop culture.

And having grown up in a town of (then) under 2,000 people, at 10,000 feet in the remote Rockies… I know a thing or two about “small towns”.

The Aldean song doesn’t speak for a single person I grew up around. Nor the same folks, I now spend many a summer night visiting with around a fire-pit… in the same tiny mining town, to this very past weekend.

It is a dog whistle to the KKK. Nothing more.

Out.

Merck To Collab- With Portage Biotech — In Keytruda® Combo- Trials — In A Wide Array Of Solid Organ Cancers

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This is a significant validation of Portage’s clinical programs, to date.

Now the question will be: does this combination of immuno-oncology agents extend progression free survival in a meaningful way? It will likely take about two years to gt the answers. But still, very promising. Here’s the bit:

…Portage Biotech Inc., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company advancing novel multi-targeted therapies for use as monotherapy and in combination, today announced that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Merck… to evaluate Portage’s next-generation adenosine antagonists in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), Merck’s anti-PD-1 (programmed death receptor-1) therapy, for patients with solid tumors. The collaboration will explore Portage’s adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR) antagonist, PORT-6, its adenosine 2B receptor (A2BR) antagonist, PORT-7, individually and together in combination with KEYTRUDA in prostate, renal, head and neck, colorectal, endometrial, ovarian and non-small cell lung cancers….

“We are excited to initiate another collaboration with longstanding immunotherapy leader, Merck, to further explore the potential benefits of combining checkpoint blockade with PORT-6 and PORT-7,” said Dr. Ian Walters, Chief Executive Officer of Portage Biotech. “Our suite of potentially best-in-class adenosine antagonists are designed to act on multiple immune cell types for potentially more robust immunological effect and have been demonstrated preclinically to be more selective, more potent and more durable than other adenosine antagonists in development. We look forward to expanding this collaboration, evaluating our adenosine antagonists and continuing our mission to offer transformational therapies for patients in need….”

Onward smiling into a short week, ahead. And the high mountains beckon again, in two weeks (with all my great and grown kids — and partners).

नमस्ते

This. Is. Barbaric. And. Unlawful. Full Stop. Texas Is A Lawless “Local Dictatorship”, Now.

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The briefing on the case was completed now almost 10 days ago.

Injunctions by their very nature… are emergency actions — and it is time for the federal district court in the western district of Texas to rule.

Tomorrow would be good — even if too slow, given the nature of the emergency — life threatening injuries, to humans entitled to legal protection, when seeking asylum under our federal laws. Here’s the latest compiled data, from the Houston Chronicle’s Texas state level FOIA requests:

…The medical data, obtained by Hearst Newspapers through a public information request, offer the most complete picture yet of injuries along the border, where Texas has strung miles of razor wire and deployed a wall of buoys in the Rio Grande. [At least 133 asylum seekers were treated for laceration injuries by state troopers.] The actions have drawn concerns, including from [federal agents at] Border Patrol, about an increased risk of injury and drownings….

Both GOP Gov. Abbott and GOP AG Ken Paxson need to be out of office. As fate would have it, the latter’s trial opens tomorrow — on wide ranging criminal charges of official corruption. He may well be disbarred, shortly as well (he cannot remain AG without a valid Texas law license, BTW). Out.

नमस्ते

And… PSA: Please — Do Wear Your Sunscreen, Today — And Always.

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I don’t care which brand — just get the SPF 30 or higher… and… use it.

He’s a poignant reminder of why you should.

And, our Dragon capsule splashed safely into the warm Atlantic waters, off the coast of Florida last night — so all is well, with my soul.

If you are in a position to do so, please speak for, and support, labor — especially lower wage labor — support all “living wage initiatives“. Out, smiling.

नमस्ते

The Better Question: Why Is Hinderaker… Obsessed With Whose Culture Is “Highest”?

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John brings this nonsense topic up at least twice a year, in one form or another, every year — for now well over… two decades, running.

His (largely false) thesis is that Euro / Whyte culture was the highest on the planet from around 900 CE… to the present.

But putting aside the quibbles — about whether the Aztec long count calendar pre-dates much cruder Euro- efforts, or the fact that Arabs / Persians / Asian Indians had the calculus long before Europe did… or all that Chinese dynasties taught Europe about gunpowder and tea and art…

The more salient question would be: why does John forever (and insecurely so!) need to beat his chest about whytes’ supposed “greatness”?

After all, we all arose from the Nama tribe / people, in sub-Saharan Africa, and walked all over the globe (all of us) over the last 132,000 years, minimum. Every current human on Earth. We come from brown Africans, all of us.

What a sad, insecure old man he’s become — despite all his unearned privileges.

Out.

De-Orbit And Splashdown, Late Night, Tonight — SpaceX…

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The weather is finally favorable, to bring our people home, from the ISS.

So it should happen around 11 PM EDT, this evening. Here’s that bit, from NASA:

…11 p.m. EDT – Coverage of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft deorbit burn, re-entry, and splashdown. Splashdown scheduled no earlier than 12:17 a.m. Monday, Sept. 4. Ahead of the broadcast, follow the real-time mission audio between Crew-6 and flight controllers on NASA’s Mission Audio stream….

Now you know — here’s to hoping / looking forward to… a 5×5 re-entry, and soft, wet landing, under the billowing white sheets / parachutes. Onward, grinning….

नमस्ते

[U: No Ebola At Burning Man.] And — A Smallish Follow-Up, On India’s Polar Lunar Rover…

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While the base station stays in steady communication, now that the lil’ rover has conducted its two weeks of science, it has been powered down, into a sleep mode.

The solar panels are fine, and the battery is fully charged, but it is smarter to let it sleep until mission control at ISRO / India decides on, and maps out… further science operations, for the lil’ rover. No need to waste battery charge cycles, idling.

All of this was disclosed by the agency in an “X”(formerly known as Twitter) post, overnight, local time.

So — a trifecta, of sorts for the people and nation of India. All is well on this Sunday morning — warm and… grinning!

UPDATED: And, in a rather odd footnote, there was an entirely false rumor that the single death, in the muddy mess at Burning Man right now… was the result of an ebola outbreak. That is categorically not the case. Some people may get water borne infections, there — but it will NOT be… ebola. I will not even credit that nonsense, with a link.

So, believe in true life science, and… be excellent to one another… out.

नमस्ते