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First Time In 15 Years(!) — Pfizer Spent LESS Than Merck, On Lobbyists, In Q2 2023… Only $2.48 Million [Merck Hit Nearly $3 Million].

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We will offer the analogous Merck Senate.gov LDA disclosures tomorrow — but I wanted to give Pfizer its due here: despite being about 30 per cent larger than Merck, for the first time in my memory, it refrained from spending a ton on lobbyists in Q2 2023.

Of course, it could be that the company has assessed (likely correctly) that very little legislation will pass in this fractured, partisan environment. [OTOH, Pfizer has filed no strike suit against US health agencies, in contrast to Merck’s / Mr. Davis’ choice to do so — in what is now widely regarded as largely a bit of MAGA/GOP infused political grand-standing.]

So — the lower spending may be transitory here — if Democrats recapture all chambers and keep 1600 Penn., in 2024. We shall see — but Pfizer’s categories of ear-bending involve the following:

…Drug Pricing, Support of Biosimilars, Out-of-Pocket Costs, Rebate Reform, Vaccine Infrastructure/Excise Tax, PDUFA, Pandemic Preparedness/PAHPA….

Medicare Part D, Rebate Reform- PBMs, Out-Of-Pocket Costs, Government negotiation on Medicare, Antimicrobial Resistance, March-In….

Comprehensive Corporate Tax Reform, International Tax Reform, OECD Profit Allocation, U.S. Manufacturing Credits, Build Back Better Act, Minimum Tax. . . .

International Supply Chain/Buy America; Harmonize International Drug Manufacturing Standards; Global Access to Medicines; Foreign Market Access Issues (including IPR)… and

TRIPS Waiver, Bayh-Dole March-in-Rights, General IP Issues….

Now you know… but do note that Pfizer is lobbying on negotiating with Medicare, rather than litigating about it. Grin…. G’night.

नमस्ते

So… Hinderaker Admits: Nixon Would Have Despised Tangerine.

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In a supposed defense of Mr. Clinton (imagine… that?!) and indictment of Mr. Biden tonight, John reads from a three decades old letter Nixon penned to Clinton.

Fine — as far as the letter goes, in that Nixon openly recognizes Clinton’s own masterful foreign policy chops.

Putting aside the fact that everything Nixon said post Watergate was intended (by him) to try to regain some relevance… it is clear Nixon would have said he knew Trump was selling American policy to the highest frenemy bidders — in Russia and the Persian Gulf.

He would have praised Mr. Biden in the same way he praised Clinton.

But as I say, it all is of scant moment — and proves how low John has to reach — given his own assessment that Trump is like… ricin, to the GOP’s future chances.

Poisonous.

Out.

In Which Paul Mirengoff Churlishly Plays “Bait And Switch” — On The Harvard/UNC Cases…

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Paul’s aim, such as it is (overnight), is to defend the practice (which highly favors largely mediocre whyte kids!) of legacy admission criteria, as a “booster” — at elite colleges and universities.

But as ever, he starts from a false premise. Then he argues whataboutism.

The false premise: there is no purely race-based admission in the US after the Supremes’ Michigan cases (Grutter v. Bollinger) in 2003.

The Supremes there held — and as we’ve pointed out, re-affirmed in the Harvard case last month — that using several factors to sort applicants (some of which might correlate with a particular racial background) IS PERMISSIBLE.

The Chief Justice clearly wrote just that — but Paul then FALSELY labels that “race-based”.

That is no more “race-based” than an ear of corn, grown in soil that might also have been fertilized a season ago or more with manure… is “cow-based” corn.

But from this false premise, Paul then claims legacies are less odious than “race-based” admissions.

What a stupid, non-logical argument.

Sit down, Paul. No one believes your… unctuous bullsh#t.

Out.

Just Published In Nature… We Have New Evidence That Around 3 Billion Years Ago, There Could Well Have Been Life In Rivers On Mars…

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The Perseverance rover at Jezeero Crater — in what is almost certainly an ancient and now long dessicated river bed… has used an instrument called SHERLOC to establish that at least a few of the rocks there contain mineral trace signatures, signatures that would be the fingerprint of… organic biological processes — life. That’s exciting, but not definitive.

Here’s the latest, from NASA:

…The new Nature paper looks at 10 rock targets SHERLOC studied, including one nicknamed “Quartier.”

“We see a set of signals that are consistent with organics in the data from Quartier,” Sharma said. “That grabbed everyone’s attention.”

SHERLOC’s capabilities center on a technique that looks at the chemical makeup of rocks by analyzing how they scatter light. The instrument directs an ultraviolet laser at its target. How that light is absorbed and then emitted – a phenomenon called the Raman effect – provides a distinctive spectral “fingerprint” of different molecules. This enables scientists to classify organics and minerals present in a rock and understand the environment in which the rock formed. Salty water, for example, can result in the formation of different minerals than fresh water.

After SHERLOC captures a rock’s textures with its WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera, it adds data to those images to create spatial maps of chemicals on the rock’s surface. The results, detailed in a recent paper in Nature, have been as promising as the instrument’s science team had hoped….

Onward, to a sunny, mountain bike riding weekend, now — by my own ancient, vast fresh water body… the fifth largest on the planet. Smile.

नमस्ते

Tucker… Scorched — By USDC Judge Lamberth — On The “QAnon Shaman” Conviction — And So Too, Then… Is Bitsy And Hinderaker!

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Well, this will leave a mark. And thanks to EW for sourcing it, in the first instance.

Here’s a long serving, hard boiled but completely fair USDC Judge re-affirming the QAnon Shaman’s sentence, and felonies conviction — and rejecting the outright lies Tucker told on-air, in the process:

…Finally, the Court would be remiss if it did not address the ill-advised television program of March 6, 2023. Not only was the broadcast replete with misstatements and misrepresentations regarding the events of January 6, 2021 too numerous to count, the host explicitly questioned the integrity of this Court — not to mention the legitimacy of the entire U.S. criminal justice system with inflammatory characterizations of cherry-picked videos stripped of their proper context….

In so doing, he called on his followers to “reject the evidence of [their] eyes and ears,” language resembling the destructive, misguided rhetoric that fueled the events of January 6 in the first place. The Court finds it alarming that the host’s viewers throughout the nation so readily heeded his command. But this Court cannot and will not reject the evidence before it. Nor should the public. Members of the public who are concerned about the evidence presented in Mr. Chansley’s case and others like may view the public docket and even attend court proceedings in these cases.

Those of us who have presided over dozens of cases arising from, listened to hundreds of hours of testimony describing, and reviewed thousands of pages of briefing about the attack on our democracy of January 6 know all too well that neither the events of that day nor any particular defendant’s involvement can be fully captured in a seconds-long video carelessly, or perhaps even cynically, aired in a television segment or attached to a tweet….

Mr. Chansley has not made a substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right. The Court will therefore decline to issue a certificate of appealability for Mr. Chansley’s claims….

V. CONCLUSION

For these reasons, the Court concludes that Mr. Chansley’s motion and the record in his case do not show his entitlement to relief. No evidentiary hearing is warranted, see 28 U.S.C. § 2255(b), and the Court will DENY Mr. Chansley’s motion….

Smoke that, Bitsy, Johnnie and Tucker… Wet-End.

Out.

It Is Unclear Whether He Still Works As A VP Of Quality At Amgen, But Is That An “Officer” Level Title, There?

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I post this here, from another property, to ask why it is that the minnows get three year bans, but the whales — like Musk — remain as D&O of public companies, even after very solid evidence of insider trading in several Howey-type securities. That is a vexing difficulty of limited enforcement budgets, but old Elon should see the same rigor applied, given his outsized impact on the Doge coin markets, for example.

In any event, on the main topic, I do ask, mostly because his settled charges at the SEC forbid him from being an officer of a ’34 Act reporting public company, for the next three years.

And obviously, Amgen is a ’34 Act public company. In any event, here is the latest — from the fine reporting at Fierce:

…Nirdosh Jagota, 61, who was a vice president of global regulatory affairs at Merck when the Pandion buyout was announced, has agreed to a deal with the SEC. Jagota will return the $39,660 he made from the two stock purchases he made on Feb. 9 and Feb. 17, ahead of the Feb. 25 merger.

Jagota, who left Merck in August of 2021 and has since held positions at three other biopharma companies, also will pay a civil penalty of $39,660 and prejudgment interest of $3,605. He also has agreed to not serve as an officer or director of a public company for three years. Jagota has been Amgen’s VP of quality for the last 13 months….

I would imagine that the role at Amgen — though called VP of Quality — is not an actual Section 16 officer slot, at least not as appointed by the full Amgen board of elected directors.

But we will know, soon enough. [Interestingly, the SEC settlement is not limited to being a Section 16 “executive” officer (see page 4, at IV.B) — it says any officer position. Hmm….] Onward, smiling on a sunny Thursday… with a probable indie documentary shoot coming up next week, on Wednesday here. Heh.

नमस्ते

Meanwhile — In Reality, US Universities Are Ending Legacy Admission Preferences…

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John blathers on tonight, impotently, about a bunch of nonsense threats being made out of Texas. His belchings concern the perfectly lawful “wiggle room” Chief Justice Roberts, for the majority, spelled out in the Harvard and UNC cases, last month.

It drives mediocre, embittered doddering whyte guys like Hinderaker… crazy. I love it.

I also love that now at least three elite colleges — including Wesleyan — have ended “legacy” admission boosts, which because of 200 years of history, overwhelmingly and unfairly gave mediocre whyte kids an admission they hadn’t… earned on merit.

So smoke that, you Nineteenth Century moron, Hinderaker.

Out.

In The Sea Of Cortez — Come April of 2024…

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I will likely be on a catamaran, awaiting the same visions I saw in the Shawnee National Forest about two hours from Nashville, in the Summer of 2017 — a total eclipse over North America.

But this time, it will run from Southwest to Northeast, ending over Maine. And it will be April, so rain or even snow might be a visibility problem over continental land-masses. So I think being mobile on the warm water will be the best viewing / videoing strategy. And who doesn’t love the idea of Tulum, for a week — before or after? Or… both! From NASA, then:

…NASA has awarded funding for three science teams to conduct citizen science investigations as a total solar eclipse sweeps across North America on April 8, 2024. In these experiments, volunteers will help study the Sun and its ethereal outer atmosphere, called the corona, which is revealed when the Moon completely covers the Sun’s bright disk.

“During next year’s total eclipse, hundreds of volunteers will capture images of the Sun and its corona to help answer real science question about our star and how it affects us,” said program scientist and eclipse lead at NASA Headquarters, Kelly Korreck.

“These three projects will build upon citizen scientific efforts from the 2017 solar eclipse and allow a multitude of ways to participate in the eclipse during the Heliophysics Big Year,” said NASA Heliophysics citizen science lead, Elizabeth MacDonald. “Volunteers make this important research possible, and we look forward to seeing what they help reveal. . . .”

Experiences are what enrich our lives, in last measure, through memories — not material things, per se… and why not a sublime experience, indeed, infused with solar science experimentation… in those crystal blue glassy warm waters? Why… not? Grin — out, as it will be more than a century before it occurs again over the heart of America.

नमस्ते

Just As Bitsy Retreads Stupid Lies, We Will Cite Emerging TRUTHS, About The Trump J6 Multi-Count Indictment…

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Ole’ Bitsy is doing her level best (pathetic though that effort undoubtedly would appear, to any sentient being) to say “I am NOT crazy! — they are crazy!!!” while retracing a slew of already fully debunked piles of dung.

Charming.

Meanwhile, outside the MAGA reality distortion bubble (in which she resides, at least on paper — not clear if she even believes any of it) — we read fine analysis of EW, based on what is known about the coming J6 indictment of Tangerine, on multiple felony counts. Do go read it all — but here is a bit:

…[P]otential implications of this. When January 6 defendants have argued that Trump authorized them to attack the Capitol, DOJ has always responded that the President has no role in the vote certification. So if DOJ were to include January 6 in such a charge, it would be an area — one of the most clear cut areas in the Constitution — where the President literally has no authority, and so easy to show that Trump was exceeding his authority.

Additionally, as noted above, the standard for corrupt purpose on obstruction is not yet settled. The DC Circuit might yet require “corrupt purpose” to be shown via some “otherwise illegal activity.” If that happens, DOJ may want to have several other crimes charged that will prove that prong of the offense, of which 242 could be one.

In other words, the thinking may be, in part, that it’s clear the President has no authority in the Electoral vote certification. Trump tried to deprive Biden voters of their franchise with his efforts on January 6. And that is one of a number of other crimes he committed in his efforts to obstruct the vote certification….

As I say… this has all become a bit like shooting GOP idiot-fish, in a barrel now.

H I L A R I O U S.

Out.

Gossip Initially (And Mistakenly) Attributed To Ebola Or Marburg’s — Five Recent Deaths In Algeria Were Heat Related / Dehydration…

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It is rather disconcerting from a “process” standpoint that, even for only 24 or so hours, some members of the public (likely due to hospital workers’ gossiping) thought that Ebola might be the cause of five in-hospital deaths. That would be how unfounded panics get started.

Fortunately, quick testing revealed that they were heat-exposure related, and the government got pressers out immediately — to avoid a wider panic.

Do go read it all, but here is that story — from a local news outlet:

…The statement came after reports of five deaths in Tizi Ouzou from the viruses. The hospital in question denied this and said five people died from hyperthermia due to an ongoing heatwave….

“Due to the continued circulation of false information related to the presence of Ebola and Marburg virus cases in Algeria, it must be clarified that, to date, no case of these diseases has been identified or registered,” the health ministry said in a statement published to its social media….

It is a truly odd moment in history, when the GOOD news is that they died of heat exhaustion — i.e., not directly contagious, in the way a viral load might be. Wow. Onward.

नमस्ते