Category: Uncategorized

After Repeated, Virulent Anti-Semitic Monologues, Kanye West Has Been “Removed” From Fulton St. Market Building, Too…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The history, they say, in Chicago… runs as deep as the river bearing its name.

A river, ironically, whose flow was REVERSED in 1900, about 120 years ago, to take the raw sewage away from the lakefront, and end endemic… cholera, there — for good.

And it turns out that just a stone’s throw west of that river, for nearly a century. . . sat a burgeoning fresh fish and meats market, not exclusively — but predominantly — run by Jewish, Italian, German and Irish business owners, there.

It also happens that near the dawn of the new millennium, Kanye also grew up not far from this same spot. It also happens that — as part of a revitalization of the Fulton Street markets spaces — about a decade ago, a Chicago artist, Jason Peterson, was commissioned by a building owner (who happens to be Jewish), to paint a gray-scale mural honoring Mr. West’s contributions to “The West Side” on the side of his building at Sangamon and near Lake Street.

Yesterday, the artist — in agreement with the owner — both decided to remove just the figure of Ye’s body, leaving the rest of the mural untouched.

By 4 pm local, Mr. West’s image had been stricken. Blacked out. There is video of it all, on Twitter. We concur with the owner and artist — this is how “Never Forget; Never Again” is… actualized:

…FULTON MARKET — An image of Kanye West has been removed from a mural in Fulton Market as the rapper made antisemitic remarks in recent weeks.

The 14-foot mural was created by Chicago-based artist Jason Peterson at the intersection on West Lake Street near North Sangamon Street. It showed a black-and-white image of West over words painted in white and black-and-white stripes.

A video posted to Twitter on Wednesday showed someone painting over West, replacing him with a silhouette….

Much might be said about unmedicated mental illness, here — but at base, this is a story about… choices. Choices to meet hate speech, with silent but eloquent… rebukes. Well done, well… done.

नमस्ते

Timing… They Say, Is “Everything”…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Less than a week after Elon Musk said he would in fact buy Twitter at the original bargained for price, and close the deal by Halloween 2022… Candace Owens was able to “glamour” Kanye West into agreeing to “buy”… Parler.

Parler (for those who do not know) is a dying far right / hater “social media” waifish competitor site — when compared to Twitter.

Parler has around 40,000 visits a day, on a recent average week. Twitter? Daily Active Users are about 200 million.

And if we believe Elon, he is — as the now controlling shareholder — going to allow far more hard right / haters back on to that 200 million a day set of engaged eyeballs.

What, indeed will be the use of “Truth”, “Gab” or… Parler — if Tangerine is in fact let back on to Twitter? Near zero.

So — Ye paying perhaps $15 million cash — to buy out the Parler shareholders — the Mercers (and likely Candace’s husband, George Farmer) and bail them out of their “money pit”… is simply a grift against her supposed “friend”. A guy clearly suffering an ongoing mental break.

Damn. She struck gold, at the Paris fashion show, by courting Ye, when she learned Elon was closing in on Twitter.

Gotta’ admire the nihilistic hustle though.

Don’t hate the playa’… hate… the game.

H I L A R I O U S.

[I’d put it at under one in ten odds, that Kanye actually does the buyout — there is no written contract yet on price and structure, as I understand it.]

As Promised — Merck (Smallest Of The Three), Through Three Quarters Of ’23… On Lobby Spending Of ~$7.2 Million.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

As we said we would on Sunday, past — we now begin to get to the other two bio-tech / pharmaceutical companies — whose trendlines we’ve been tracking for well-over a decade, here. For the older deets, just search “lobby spend” in the search box, to get back to 2012, at least — and dozens and dozens of posts, for each of these companies (though Amazon is a 2021 and later addition).

In any event, here’s how modestly Merck spent its lobbying funds (only $1.8 million of the amount at right was actually spent in Q3, proper), going into a mid-term election year, in Congress:

…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. 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. 5260, Reduced Costs and Continued Cures Act; H.R. 5376, Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, including provisions relating to drug pricing; 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

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 Isssues; Prescription Drug User Fees Act (P.L. 102-571); 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….

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… out, smiling — ever… smiling… at memories of an entirely unbothered sauntering wild turkey or three, in the southern wood — exactly eight years on, this Sunday.

नमस्ते

Q3 2022: Every Business Line Is Hitting On All Cylinders, At Merck — Except Perhaps Animal Health.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

To be sure, Animal Health is largely a “nice to have” in Merck’s total results (and could be spun off, at any time — if need be), and it did provide some insulation — during the sharpest teeth of the COVID-19 induced non-emergency procedure shut-downs at most US and EU hospitals. But the relative slowing in Animal Health is really no worry, since Keytruda® alone is set to be a $20 billion a year franchise this year.

And the HPV vaccine franchise branded as Gardasil® posted significantly better Q3 2022 sales than most models predicted. That is likely due to the fact that the EU government purchasers have now topped the tank off, on COVID-19 vaccine supplies, and are adding back to draw downs, on other vaccines, like the one used to prevent most strains of HPV. Demographic data out of Europe would suggest that younger and younger people are also opting to get that jab, as well (expanding the pool).

Here’s some more local color, from BioPharmaDive, this morning:

…Sales [for juggernaut pembrolizumab] continue to grow, too, reaching $5.4 billion in the three months between July and September, according to third quarter earnings figures released by Merck on Thursday. The company also raised its revenue guidance for the full year to between $58.5 billion and $59 billion, as third quarter sales surpassed Wall Street expectations. [Gardasil sales beat expectations, as well — driven by EU governmental payors’ purchasing contracts, as COVID-19 vaccine stocks are largely fully replenished.]

Merck’s business is executing well, wrote Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat in a Thursday note to clients, and will likely mean Wall Street raises its estimates [shortly, for] Merck’s [next year] revenues….

Now you know — and though I am not long in significant amounts in this company, perhaps I should once again… be. Now onward, grinning into a non-Mississippi / Oxford weekend, due to a few last minute changes of circumstance (will do All Souls Eve here — with those baby girls!).

नमस्ते

Still Cannot Verify This Item — But Maybe My Readers… Can… Who IS He?!

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

If the claim is that this never happened, I’ll listen.

I don’t use FB — (so even if it hadn’t been taken down, I could not see it to verify) but it all supposedly went down over there. The claim is that the guy is in Arizona, as the on-campus president at some college Republican organization.

The guy who asked him “what’s up with the n-word in the picture…” though has been verified on Twitter, as having been part of this convo….

[It is deeply, and profoundly… sad — to me at least, that Candace has remained silent about it — neither debunking it as a photo-shop, or excoriating the whyte boyz speaking here.]

Any comments, Hinderaker, Hayward or Johnson?

I’ll not wait up.

Out.

Merck Hit With ~$38.5 Million Antitrust Violation/Fine In Spain… And Davis Now Chairman, Too…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Just a bit of immaterial housekeeping here, tonight — as the amount of the fines / damages in Spain are definitively immaterial to Merck.

But it was for allegedly anti-competitive behaviors, in keeping other contraceptive ring manufacturers at bay inside the country — all aimed at keeping selling prices high (on the legacy Organon products). Here is the latest, from FiercePharma:

…Merck has been hit with a fine in Spain for alleged anti-competitive practices. The Spanish antitrust watchdog National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) has docked the New Jersey pharma giant 39 million euros ($38.45 million) for hindering a generic version of its NuvaRing contraceptive device.

The agency said that Merck used deceptive practices in preventing Insud Pharma of Spain from marketing its device. The U.S. company also obtained a court order that barred Insud from manufacturing its generic in Spain, the CNMC said, which effectively prevented Insud from selling the device anywhere in the world.

…Merck said it disagrees with the ruling and is considering options including an appeal….

The case dates to 2018 when… [regulators said Merck was abusing the global patent processes] “in order to delay and hinder the entry into the market of third-party competitors in Spain….”

Oh — and Mr. Davis — a competent (if uninspiring, and non-charismatic) leader… has become the Chairman, as well — with Mr. Frazier’s final curtain call effective December 1, 2022. Now you know… smiling.

नमस्ते

Today’s “Doddering Old Fool” Edition: Steve Hayward — Cuban Missiles Edition.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

It is rather remarkable, how these three old guys’ faculties have… deteriorated, and even… accelerated, toward the abyss, since the time of Tangerine (2017-’21).

Today’s installment finds Hayward “warning” us all (now more than 60 years on)… that Soviet Russia “wanted us” to see the missiles in Cuba.

And…? So what?

So — in this telling… I guess we should NOT have bothered to have them removed.

“Just leave nukes on Florida’s doorstep!” — but his oh-so-smart frothy hard righters will have “owned” the Soviets. Or sumpthin’.

This whole idea — very common among Tangerine acolytes, BTW — that they are smartest… when they figure out a usually-mythical purported “why” someone acts in a certain way, and then they go… do the opposite… this, this…
Is, in fact — just… creeping, crotchety old… senility.

The choice in Cuba was a hot war to remove the missiles, or make some policy trades.

And how idiotic is it — that six decades later, he wants to armchair quarterback that set of policy trade-offs (without also critically considering the far more important, on a global scale — and more recent — debacles that were Reagan’s “Star Wars” initiative, or Tangerine’s “Space Force”?!)????

Just… stinkingly stupid, that. Mr. Obama had the right idea — to bring Cuba into the western world, as a commercial matter… and wean it from the Russian influence.

But Tangerine — wrongly bent on reciting last century’s shibboleths… and thus, undid it all — just like Hayward and Hinderaker so believe in 1890s-era foreign policy “ideas”.

Y I K E S….

Disconcerting Ebola Update, Overnight — Over 1,800 Contacts Being Monitored, And 109 Cases…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

And the Ministry of Public Health still says we are about two weeks away from beginning an ethical field trial of the ex-GSK / Sabin Institute vaccine candidate against the Sudan-species ebolavirus.

This is a moment of inflection. The vaccine needs to by given to as many of the 1,820 or so contacts as are willing to take it as soon as humanly possible. It is, at present, the best shot for averting a ever-wider scale outbreak, across Uganda, and South Sudan. Here’s the latest from Reuters:

…The number of confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda has risen to 109 and the outbreak has claimed 30 lives, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said on Wednesday, adding that the government was setting up an additional treatment centre.

Fifteen of the confirmed cases were among health workers, of whom six had died, she told a news conference….

Aceng said her ministry would be evaluating the efficacy of three candidate Ebola Sudan vaccines in the coming weeks….

The Sabin Institute doses are going to be available in Uganda by this Friday — that should begin right away, in most pandemic experts’ opinions. Now you know — onward… into cool sunshine, after nearly an inch of rain. Smiling….

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Had Spoken Out, Claiming (Without Evidence) That Wolverine Watchmen Were “Entrapped” Or A “False Flag” — Not So.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Three more would be domestic whyte terrorists were convicted this morning, in the plot to kidnap the sitting Governor of Michigan. [In January of 2021, one of the number flipped, pled guilty and was sent to prison for it — these now are the people he worked the plot with — convicted of felonies that carry decades long sentences — in hard prisons.]

I note this — primarily to remind the world that John Hinderaker repeatedly wrote — at the time of their arrests, and then after the indictments… that they were being entrapped and scapegoated. [What a crock — and a dangerous insurrectionist-supporting crock at that.]

This was all driven by his hateful MAGAt lunacy, and enmity for the policies of the Democratic Governor of sister state Michigan. He didn’t like her approach to COVID-19 abatement among other matters, and cheered the heavily armed stand-off in the Michigan state capitol house, in October of 2020.

What a sad, embittered old loser he is.

Amgen Spent Almost $3.2 Million On Lobbying Efforts, In Q3 2022 — Others, In Coming Days…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We are switching things up a bit here (this quarter, with a focus on how these companies seek to control the taxes they must pay, globally — via “in-US lobbying” efforts), and leading with Amgen (though Amazon clearly outspent them — at well-over $5 million in the quarter). Odd, into the teeth of an election eve… very odd.

I’ll post both Pfizer, and Merck detailed listings later this week — but here’s where the vast bulk of Amgen shareholders’ lobby-spend money went:

. . .Issues related to drug pricing reform; H.R.5376, Build Back Better Act; S2891 Restoring America Invents Act; S1435 affordable prescriptions for patients act; H.R.2873 Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Through Promoting Competition Act; H.R. 2884 Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Through Improvements to Patent Litigation Act; Biosimilars reimbursement issues, no specific bill; Supply Chain Issues, no specific bill; Issues related to clinical trial diversity, HR 6584 DEPICT Act, HR5030 DIVERSE Trials Act, HR 7845 and S2706 NIH Clinical Trial Diversity Act of 2022; Issues related to biodefense issues, S3799 PREVENT Pandemics Act; Issues related to cardiovascular disease awareness, S. 3018/ HR 3173 Improving Seniors Timely Access to Care Act….

S.464 Safe Step Act and HR8295 Labor/HHS Appropriations bill; H.R. 5801 HELP Copays Act; Issues related to patient affordability issues, including copay cards, copay accumulators, National Benefit Payment Parameters; FDA Issues; User Fee Reauthorization HR7667 Food and Drug Amendments Act and S4348 FDA safety and landmark advancement act; H.R. 6963, the Accelerated Approval Integrity Act of 2022; H.R. 7047, a bill to amend Title III of the Public Health Service Act with respect to the determination by the Secretary regarding certain biosimilar application elements, and for other purposes; H.R. 6000, the Cures 2.0 Act; H.R. 7008, the Pre-Approval Information Exchange Act; S4293 Pharmacy benefit managers transparency act; HR 8588 Fair Care Act, 340B hospital reporting; HR 4390 Protect 340B Act….

Issues related to drug pricing reform and Medicare Part D redesign; H.R. 5376 Build Back Better Act; S. 1943 and H.R. 3517, Issues related to DXA scans, osteoporosis; Issues related to cardiovascular disease awareness; Issues related to ESRD bundle; Issues related to asthma and self-administered drug list; S. 2428 False Claims Amendments Act of 2021; Reimbursement for biologics/biosimilars; Issues related to discarded drugs. . . .

Issues related to corporate and international tax, including regarding Public Law 115-97, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; Issues related to Puerto Rico; Final Rule, Guidance Related to the Foreign Tax Credit and Clarification of Foreign-Derived Intangible Income; Issues related to OECD negotiations on the taxation of global income; H.R. 5376, Bill to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title I of S. Con. Res. 14….

S.1435 Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act; H.R.2873 Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Through Promoting Competition Act; H.R. 2884 Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Through Improvements to Patent Litigation Act; S 2891 Restore the America Invents Act; S. 2774- Pride in Patent Ownership Act; S. 4704- Patent Examination and Quality Improvement Act of 2022; S. 4417- Patent Trial and Appeal Board Reform Act of 2022; S. 4430- Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2022; FTC related issues, no specific bill; Issues related to the Patent Act; Issues related to march-in/Bayh Dole, WTO/TRIPS waiver, no specific bill; Mergers and acquisitions, no specific bill….

As I say, Amazon outspent them all [and… this quarter at least, Amazon handily outspent Apple (which only spent $1.9 million though its enterprise value is many multiples of these others, and its businesses are more complicated)]. Amazon almost spent more than the other three listed above, combined — and it pushed hard on US labor laws, and on global tax measures — as well as telecom regulations.

Now, sleep tight — and… don’t let the bed-bugs bite, you pumpkin-patch buckaroos! Smile…..

नमस्ते