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Hinderaker’s Dumbest Straw Man Argument… Ever?! A Tall Order, That.

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It has to be in the top five, at least — all time.

To be sure, it’s not new, for him: he has repeatedly cited the cretin Heather Mac Donald, for various denialist lies, primarily about racial profiling / police brutality in the past five years.

This afternoon, he’s… back at it.

But first, I want to note that she directly claims that we “destroy beauty“… with efforts for a more just society. [I kid you not — it is part of the “subtitle” of the book, on its hardbound front cover.] WTAH?! I take it she means that when we praise of people of color, in all their myriad shapes, sizes and forms… we denigrate her personal whyte entitled sense of “beauty.” [She is… as I say… a cretin herself. So, go figure. Even if she means to say there can never be too many statues of alabaster-whyte Athenas… in public squares, museums and art collections… it is a pungently stupid idea.]

And now — more down the center of their collective rhetorical problems… is this pervasive straw man: both John and Heather suggest an entirely preposterous “reality” — one that does NOT exist, anywhere in today’s America — then they argue wild-eyed… against that false reality.

That is, both regularly claim that people of color are being preferred — get this! — for every role, in US society, writ large, over more qualified whytes.

Riiiiight.

There is literally no reliable evidence of that — but the “bogeyman” they create will let Mac Donald sell a few of her turgid fiction books, come April 2023.

Charming.

These sorts of grifters… cannot age out of our society quickly enough in my view.

Onward.

Johnson’s… “johnson”… Is Doing All His Thinkin’ — On The “99 Red Balloons, Go Bye!”

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I. Can’t. Even.

Scott this morning thinks that the White House should press release “sources and methods” intel, about when and how the three Trump era fly-overs were apparently ignored by that administration — one too deeply pre-occupied (at the time) with (i) advising people to inject bleach, or take horse dewormers for COVID-19; (ii) egregiously violating treaties and federal law at our southern border; and (iii) jetting off to the British Isles (repeatedly) to go golfing, and charge all the people in his detail — the government phalanx of about 240 people — over $600 a night, per person for staying at his resort… to care.

He thinks it (somehow?!) a Biden Admin. scandal that people now know (on their own) of Tangerine’s utter incompetence — no, in his mind, the scandal is that someone said (correctly) that Tangerine was “dead stick” on all these issues.

And of the Biden Administration’s measured, competent response.

How will he feel, with his “johnson” — when we are able to say definitively (based on recovered parts off shore at Myrtle Beach) whether this was even ever a threat?

Yeh — he will fall (as ever!)… utterly flaccid.

Just sit down, already you moron. You have no idea what you’re yammering on, and on… and on… about, even.

Exactly 178 Years Ago Yesterday Afternoon, Perhaps The Most Costly Drunken College Age Vandal’s Act, In History…

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As I’ve often extolled the virtues of the Irish people, around the world… this morning, I feel compelled to make mention of some effects of what is often called “the Irish affliction“, in fair balance.

The Trinity College (Dublin) student was rumored at the time to be mentally infirm, but when immediately arrested he smelled strongly of alcohol. [My graphics are from last year (but I never published this one, then), thus the 177 reference — it is 178 this year.]

The kid served a month in a British prison (because of a poorly crafted statute, he could only be charged with destroying the glass case, not the vase, itself). And he is lost to… a footnote of ignominious drunken Irish history. It is all of our enduring loss, though — as each restoration (three of them since) have only been moderately successful at hiding all the cracks and chips. Here’s from any number of web-sites, on the tale:

…It is a Roman two-handled glass amphora which is dated to between 23 BC and 25 AD. Made of cameo glass, it likely depicts the marriage of Peleus and Thetis from Greek Mythology.

The vase is a violet-blue glass surrounded with white glass cameo (likely blown as a separate white jacket around the original violet-blue amphora, then exquisitely cut away, with abrasive tools). There are horned heads with beards below the handles of the vase that are placed between the paired scenes. The scenes depict seven human figures and a large snake. The vase is 24.5 cm in height and 17.7 cm in its maximum width. The vase may have been originally commissioned for a member of the family of Caesar Augustus….

The vase was reputely discovered in a sarcophagus, in the tomb of the emperor Alexander Severus and his mother, by Fabrizio Lazzaro and was excavated sometime around 1582… The first written mention of it is in 1601, in a letter describing it as among the Barberini family’s holdings….

On February 7, 1845, at about 3:45 pm, the vase was smashed into more than 200 pieces by a drunken Irish college student. He tossed a larger nearby sculpture onto the glass case, shattering it, and in the mayhem crushing the vase….

Now you know… Don’t drink, and browse. Smile….

नमस्ते

Here’s What Merck Lobbied On, In Q4 2022… Spending ~$2.49 Million (Less Than Pfizer, At $3.0 Million; But More Than Amgen’s $2.14 Million)

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In a near future installment, as ever, we will list what the other two spent their funds lobbying about. Tonight, though — I am thinking more than just a bit about whether these massive cash flow generating machines, for now a half century or more… are paying their fair share, for the opportunities America offers them.

In this regard, I’d note especially that Amgen year in and year out, pays nearly no federal corporate income taxes (See Note 6 on page F-21), yet it just laid off 300 US workers on the commercial teams, last week (saying it cannot afford them, while being wildly profitable — and immensely cash flow positive, for all its global shareholders, this year and next, to be certain). This is no company struggling under massive debt, nor facing dying markets. So… what’s fair about that, I’d ask?

[We will have more on this, in the Pfizer installment (on patent chicanery), as well.] But here on a State of the Union night, tonight, albeit slightly delayed — is what Merck lobbied about:

…H.R. 3, Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act; H.R. 19 Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2021; H.R. 1550, PREVENT HPV Cancers Act of 2021; H.R. 2873, Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Through Promoting Competition Act of 2021; H.R. 3173, Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act of 2021; H.R. 3655, Vaccine Injury Compensation Modernization Act of 2021; H.R. 3932/S. 2079, Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions To End Up surging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act of 2021; H.R. 4127, Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms (DISARM) Act of 2021; H.R. 5416, Give Kids a Chance Act; H.R. 5801, Help Ensure Lower Patient (HELP) Copays Act; H.R. 6584, Diverse and Equitable Participation in Clinical Trials (DEPICT) Act; H.R. 6963, Accelerated Approval Integrity Act of 2022; H.R. 7559, Prescription Information Modernization Act of 2022; H.R. 7667, Food and Drug Amendments of 2022; S. 1435, Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2021; S. 1712, Developing an Innovative Strategy for Antimicrobial Resistant Microorganisms (DISARM) Act of 2019; S. 2774, Pride in Patent Ownership Act; S. 2891, Restoring the America Invents Act; S. 2543 (116th Congress) Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019; S. 1895 (116th Congress) Lower Health Care Costs Act; S. 4348, Food and Drug Administration Safety and Landmark Advancements (FDASLA) Act of 2022; S. 4760, (116th Congress) The PASTEUR Act.

Issues relating to: 340B program integrity; 340B of the Public Health Services Act; 340B policy; 340B issues; 340B drug pricing program; Drug pricing; Drug Pricing reforms — international reference prices and government price setting; Anti-microbial Resistance; Vaccines; COVID-19 vaccines; COVID-19 therapeutics coverage issues; COVID-19 Pandemic response; Cost and value of medicines; Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) immunization; Vaccines catch up; Vaccine provisions; Vaccine Issues, including return to care access, and pandemic-related policy; Package inserts, labeling issues, and E-Labeling authorization legislation; Pharmaceutical Supply Channel issues; Prescription Drug User Fees Act (P.L. 102-571); Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169), issues relating to drug pricing provisions; Animal Drug User Fee Act (P.L. 108-130); Prescription drug cost-sharing; Accelerated approval reform; Food and Drug Administration Safety and Landmark Advancements (FDASLA); Executive Order 13937, Access to Affordable Life-Saving Medications; FY-2023 Budget and Appropriations Legislation; Intellectual property protection; WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement; Animal Health; Animal Health Technology Issues; One Health Issues; Rural Broadband Issues; General pharmaceutical issues; Farm Bill 2023; Animal Drug User Fee Act 2023; Vaccine Injury Compensation Program….

H.R. 3, Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, provisions related to Medicare Part B; H.R. 2716, Consolidated Appropriations Act; 2023 provisions relating to Medicare Part D emergency use authorization coverage; H.R. 5376, Build Back Better Act; S. 476 (116th Congress) Creating Transparency to Have Drug Rebates Unlocked (C-THRU) Act of 2019; S. 2543 (116th Congress) Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019

Issues relating to: Medicaid; Medicare; Medicare Part B and D drug pricing issues; Medicare Part D, Six Protected Classes; Prior authorization process under Medicare Advantage plans; 340B program integrity; 340B of the Public Health Services Act; 340B drug pricing program; Drug Pricing; Prior Authorization under Medicare Advantage Plans; FY-2023 Budget and Appropriations Legislation….

H.R. 5376, Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, including provisions relating to budget reconciliation tax provisions

Issues related to: Tax reform and tax policy, generally; Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (P.L. 115-97); Tax provisions of Budget Reconciliation….

Now you know — onward, smiling a sardonic smile, tonight….

And all John Hinderaker can find to talk about related to the SOTU, is to retell more lies about no-knock police raids — and the deaths of young black men, inside their dwellings, while sleeping — by police gun-fire. Damn.

नमस्ते

Scott… Persists, Shrilly — X3. And (Unwittingly) In Self Mocking Fashion: Now, “98 Red Balloons Go… Bye!”

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It is surprising, actually.

Surprising, that Scott, John and Steve cannot see the dolts they are revealed to be — by still harping on the pop-tunes worthy meme “98 Red Balloons/China Xi Remix”.

The idea that Tangerine was wholly unaware of three similar incidents… speaks plainly to his addled incompetence, and the fecklessness of his staff — not reading any intel report that lacked crayon worthy graphics and Sharpie marks.

But even more so, the boys seem unaware that the balloon in question was jammed ever since it entered US airspace (explaining how China lost any ability to “drive” it).

And Johnson now writes a second morning post — idiotically thinking we’d ever press release “means and methods” of spy-craft in real time. Tangerine was too busy urging people to inject bleach to notice, but the intel community does its job mostly in silence.

Scott should realize that. Damn.

And, we are recovering the impotent gassy thing (no not Mr. Johnson!), from the Myrtle Beach shoreline, to reverse engineer what it might have been looking for (if not weather).

All of which leaves the boys… as silly red scare fools, on their fainting couches.

Hilarious!

They really should leave this nonsense alone.

Again, Hinderaker’s Fear-Mongering… On US Health Care Delivery Relies On A False Premise. Or Three.

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Again tonight, Hinderaker argues that the US will soon get stuck with UK-style socialized medicine, and it will be the bane of us all. But there are at least two false premises here: (i) most Americans already experience an irrational system of rationed care (if one does not have very high end, expensive private insurance, from a current or prior employer), and (ii) the overall outcomes in the UK are better, almost across the board, for the types of care… the Brits do get.

So… our very wasteful, high-priced non-system (with wildly-overcompensated doctors, as compared to their EU counterparts) actually does worse — on many dimensions that matter. First, in many states (especially in the rural South), a young mother giving birth faces worse survival odds, for herself, and her baby — than many developing nations in Central Europe see — and geometrically worse than all of Western European nations. Shameful.

We are annually somewhere between number 53 to 58, on that shameful global list — for safe delivery outcomes… despite literally throwing hundreds of billions into high end hotel-like birthing suites, etc.

The problem is — the US non-system is so capitalistic, and un-monitored… at for profit hospitals… that it caters in significant measure to the richest one percent… and often (in the rural South) offers only 19th Century care to public aid patients.

Just to fully put the lie to Hinderaker’s nonsense… consider cardiac care, after an acute event — but not just for the former partners of law firms, or the former hedge fund managing directors and crypto-bros:

Yes, Americans do — in the main ultimately get treated, and in the main… survival data whilst waiting (often for almost 18 months!)… is improving. But… yes, John Americans too are plainly experiencing rationed care.

You are just salty that brown and black cardiac care patients (at least in the last few years, since the full-implementation of Obamacare) are doing… pretty well, even in this non-system.

But no, John, all your money… isn’t buying you the clear whyte privilege here you might imagine. Why? Because it is more than occasionally driven more directly by red state politics, than science — (a la the Tennessee example at left, under Tangerine — and Marsha Blackburn).

Suck that.

Nabriva — Facing Difficult Times — Relinquishes the Exclusive Right to Sell Sivextro®, in the US; Returns It To Merck…

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In truth, this “to-and-fro” is a very common occurrence in the life cycle of any stable, longer term drug. In this case, it is a drug used to combat so-called Gram-positive microorganisms, typically in the hospital settings. And now, Merck itself, or perhaps with several others (which may include Nabriva, but on a non-exclusive basis, in the US) will distribute the medicine. [Just one of many 2015 era background pieces of mine, on the Cubist acquisition.]

Nabriva had acquired the exclusive US rights in 2020, and in the process, let go of most of its R&D staff, deciding to focus on near term commercial revenue opportunities. But it now seems that Nabriva simply wasn’t selling enough of the drug, under the Merck performance metrics, in those 2020 contracts. [Nabriva had previously reported about $24.5 million in net revenue from sales of the drug through the first three quarters of 2022 — clearly a fly-speck, to Merck.] So it is “a free-ball“, once again — see the solid wire-frame model of it, below right. Here’s the latest:

…Pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the Company’s exclusive license to promote, distribute and commercialize SIVEXTRO was converted to a non-exclusive license, and the parties agreed to terminate the Distribution Agreement, effective June 30, 2023.

The Company no longer intends to actively promote Sivextro but expects to continue to make Sivextro available to wholesale customers and record revenue on account of any sales until June 30, 2023. After June 30, 2023, the Company will no longer have the right to promote, distribute or commercialize [the drug in the US]….

Now you know… and onward, smiling….

नमस्ते

Hinderaker’s Hateful Denialism Doesn’t End, At Minnesota’s Northern Border…

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Tonight, Hinderaker — in the course of justifying / denying mass graves found around and about Catholic run First Nations “orphans’ residential schools” (actually, prisons)… would tell us… it all never happened (sans any evidence, at all).

And in the face of mass, unmarked graves with childrens’ bones found.

This sad, old decrepit man… is out of things to say. So he bottom-feeds — again.

For perhaps 15,000 years before John’s (primarily whyte) fur traders and lumberjacks arrived… the people of what became Canada self-governed in peace and subsistence with the forces of nature.

But to Hinderaker… nothing ever happens, until whyte guys arrive.

Damn. Just damn.

Mass murder was largely unheard of, until the “missionaries” from France and England arrived, too John.

So sit down. Again.

Hinderaker… Hallucinates, Part LVII

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For about the “four score and some-teeth” time, John speaks wistfully — of a new Confederate States of America.

He imagines a “Brigadoon” like situation where Texas and Florida are “free” states, ones that ignore the will of the vast majority of their fellow Americans. He hopes for it — prays for it… in truth, and about once a month, now… he writes about it. So we debunk it.

Along the way — tonight, he quotes some voter registration clap-trap from Florida. What he and the GOP speaker there neglect to mention is that no voter is required to choose a registration status when the sign up – GOP or Democratic.

So if the one million new voters is accurate, and only 47,000 signed as Democrats, but ~500,000 signed on as GOP… that means the other 453,000 new voters are “independent”. [And in a deep red bully-state like DeSantis’s (at present), some benefits come more easily by at least appearing to be… GOP. So let’s not discount the “go along, to get along” aspect — knowing many voters do split tickets (behind the curtain), anyway.]

But I mostly want to make plain that Texas, Florida, Arkansas and the Dakotas and Wyoming… will starve without us. Without California’s produce, or Illinois fresh water and grains, or New York’s Wall Street banking services… the rebels will starve, or be tariffed to death, in trade.

Do “have fun storming the castle, boys!” Hilarious — but it won’t end as well as it did in Princess Bride, for Johnnie.

Out.