Category: Uncategorized

How STUPID Are Andrew Torba’s Minions At Gab.com?! No Need To Guess…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is… just priceless.

One of the morons there (insulting Bebe Rebozo by using her name) suggests that Putin offer to trade Brittney Griner And Whelan for… (wait for it!) all the insurrectionists under indictment for the 01.06.21 terror attack on our nation.

Hmmm… me?

Let’s do this thing! Every single one of them must spend the REST OF THEIR lives… inside Russia, as Russian citizens — their US citizenship is permanently revoked. Yep — they become Russian citizens, and may travel anywhere Putin allows — but they are forever denied any right to enter the US or any of its possessions / territories.

DEAL!

I love it. [How f-in’ stupid are these chumps?!]

Out, on a perfect summer’s night, to go get some Cold Stone Vanilla & Cherries ice creamery treats!

नमस्ते

Merck Sees A Path Forward — Albeit Slightly Elongated At FDA, For Its Next Gen Cough Therapy Candidate, Gefapixant.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

There is a race afoot, among three very-capables… to see who first clears the FDA regulatory process for a new generation, prescription cough treatment. Merck had the early lead, being first to file, but FDA sent a complete response letter seeking better (actual clinical) measurements, on whether the candidate was suppressing coughs in a statistically significant way (over the prior standard therapies).

So, Merck has proposed its clinical plan for collecting that data, and in the mean time a smaller but NYSE traded outfit, called Bellus Health (NYSE: BLU), will start enrolling on its much similar candidate’s clinical trials as soon as this Fall, with likely enough data for an FDA filing in early in 2023 (including clinical data on actual cough reduction levels). So it may yet beat Merck to market. We shall see. Here is the latest, from FierceBiotech, this morning:

…After receiving a complete response letter from the FDA in January, Merck has now promised to perform new analyses to fulfill a request for more efficacy information from the agency. The Kenilworth, New Jersey-based pharma was seeking an FDA nod for gefapixant to treat refractory chronic cough or unexplained cough in adults. . . .

Merck plans to conduct “additional analyses” and the application should be back before the FDA in the first half of 2023. Meanwhile, a review timeline for a similar application in Europe has been extended to wait for the same information….

Once approved both companies are likely to see solid sales figures, but since Bellus is so much smaller, getting out first would have a proportionately much larger positive impact on its NYSE stock price. It is up over 5.4% this morning, on heavy volume — likely due to this news, out of Kenilworth.

Now you know. Onward, grinning — ever grinning.

नमस्ते

Dick Cheney FINALLY Tells AN Unvarnished… Truth.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

For almost two decades, on and off, I argued with Hinderaker and the boys — about Cheney’s fecklessnes.

They uniformly, always, took his side. I still think he was an awful, self-obsessed, vain, old man — even before the end of 43’s time.

But he is right — tonight — about this much:

…“In our nation’s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn’t lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it. He knows it, and deep down, I think most Republicans know.”

Her father’s ad dropped less than two weeks before Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is set to face a tough challenge from a Trump-backed candidate, attorney Harriet Hageman, in her Aug. 16 primary. Cheney has raised millions as her national profile balloons, but it might not be enough to take on Trump and his advisers, who have poured money and energy into her takedown….

Cheers boys… we can finally agree on one thing. Dick is right, about Tangerine.

Once Again, There Is A Marburg’s Outbreak Underway In Africa…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We are keeping an eagle’s-eye on this one — as it is a close cousin to… ebola. And now a 14 month old has perished.

This time it is in Ghana — most recently, in 2019 it was Tanzania — but before that (in 2017), it was in mountainous Uganda. Here is the latest:

…The most recent outbreak of the Marburg virus, a disease similar in nature to Ebola, has claimed its first infant victim, according to a new report.

The West African nation of Ghana is currently in the midst of an outbreak of the Marburg virus. The disease was first identified in early July in two deceased men, ages 26 and 51, and it was later recognized as an outbreak by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is the first time in the disease’s history that it has had such an outbreak in Ghana.

An additional fatality was later confirmed in late July, with a fourth being reported on Thursday by the Ghana Health Service….

Contacts of contacts and ring vaccination are the appropriate strategy here. And already missing my youngest boy… even though he doesn’t fly back to the West Coast until late tomorrow night. With a slightly sad sort of… smile.

नमस्ते

The Hurdles The OneMedical Deal Will Have To Clear…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

While I do mention Amazon below (and it will clear HSR shortly), this is more a piece to amplify what all is broken about health care reimbursement schemes in America. So fundamentally broken that even a gorilla’s foray (AMZN) is unlikely to make any significant dent.

The US spends roughly double what any other high income nation spends on health care delivery, yet its outcomes are usually almost 40% worse. And, it is a fact that there is essentially no preventative care for the lowest one fifth, measured on an annual income basis: they in the main, have little choice but to only seek care in the ERs, and thus only when they are acutely ill. That explains much of the disparity.

These same patient cases account for the bulk of the over-spend in health care. That is not their fault, of course — it is a system wide “feature”. In fact just five per cent of the US population accounts for half of all health care spend, year after year.

Yes. That’s a broken model — tangled and broken. So, Amazon will face entrenched interests that benefit from this dislocation. Do go read the entire article — as it is nuanced, and based in reality (the author is a former Obama administration IT/health maven):

…Amazon also faces competition from the likes of United’s Optum and the combined CVS Health and Aetna, which have the advantage of providing both insurance and health care services and which already employ physicians and other providers at scale. Their existing presence in local markets, data on hospital and specialist prices and utilization, and experience with managing risk put them well ahead of Amazon, which is just dipping its toe into health care delivery….

Yep. Now you know — down to the last two days with my tri-athlete / doctoral grad student at home… smiling a sort of sad smile… rooftop dining tonight, though. So it is well… with my soul. The trip to the Big Apple looked… like a ton of fun. But no “Wicked“? That’s for you, as mom, right — this fall?

नमस्ते

Local Rioter/Insurrectionist Gets Seven Years… And Al Queda No. 1… Dead. Droned.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Look, I do think the world becomes safer as we (US/NATO forces) cooperate to kill operatives of the violent terroristic global elements (primarily in hiding in the middle east). But I do not condone it. It is fairly clear that there is no longer an ongoing declared war there (as we withdrew from Afghanistan last year) — and fairly clear that no treaty allows us to kill people without due process, while they are sitting inside foreign sovereign nations.

Even so, I get it. We are safer for it.

Now, the chucklehead who just got seven years — but avoided a domestic terrorism enhancement in his sentence: that… is rough justice.

Many more like him to come. And predictably, while Powerline fanned the flames of what became 1.6.21, both before and after… it is NOW utterly mum on the idea that its feckless followers — morons, to a person — will spend decades collectively in federal custody for deeply unpatriotic acts.

Yes, Powerline — that is in part on you. And of course, it is mostly on… Tangerine’s karmic ledger.

And… to be certain, there is scant difference, from a moral perspective, between the various now sentenced insurrectionists, wasting away in jail cells… and the Taliban.

Out.

Moron: It Was “Tax” — Not “Eat”!

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Some chucklehead was given a guest post slot at Powerline… while Hayward is off drinking in Scotland (after he ran Paul M. off entirely, earlier this year), so they are very short on brain-wattage over there (obviously).

This particular guest moron decides to go “all in” — on agreeing with commenting on AOC’s lady parts, in a derisive and objectifying manner.

He argues that “it’s the same” as AOC calling fascists out by their names.

Well… that’s childishly wrong but whatever.

I don’t need to say much more, because his is… self refuting: he (to this day) thinks that AOC’s dress reads “EAT” the rich.

[I guess he thinks (idiotically!) that was a violent threat.]

The word is “Tax”. Damn. Taxing is not… unlawful.

And a legislator — even if it is “threatening” to tax something or someone (i.e. do her job) it is… in no manner equivalent to a misogynist making sexual comments about her body on the steps of the Capitol.

Out.

The “quality of thought” over there… has positively died.

As A Kid, I Dreamed Of Playing On Bill Russell’s Celtics In Boston. I Had No Idea What He Endured, Until Decades Later…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

He was absolutely the Michael Jordan of his day (or, was Jordan the Russell of HIS day?) — and at a time when most prominent black athletes were very careful about being associated with Dr. King. The whyte power establishment pointed out that King’s home had been bombed, as had his church — and explained that a goodly-portion of the country saw King as the problem… not the systemic racism crippling America. [The FBI under Hoover came after him, and Ali and Jim Brown for their civil rights work.]

So, into that maelstrom he strode at the March on Washington in 1963 — and sat himself directly behind King, in full TV camera view, to let the world know where he stood. On opposing courts, and even occasionally in Boston, he endured hateful racist taunts, while playing. He backed Ali’s stance (going to jail) to avoid the draft and being sent to Vietnam.

He ALSO was of course, the first black man to be named a head coach of any major franchise in any pro sports league in America. And throughout his entire life, he remained true to his early ideals.

I must note that he was ALSO possessed of what is likely the most infectious laugh, of any public persona… ever. Travel well, Mr. Russell. We will miss you.

नमस्ते

In Huntersville, NC: Amazon Hit With A “Refusal To Recognize” Charge — Union Woes, Unabated.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This time, it is a new charge, to the overall landscape against Amazon: that the workers have under NLRA § 8(a)(5), the right to be represented by a union NOW (since a vote was won on Staten Island), but the management in the Huntersville, NC Amazon facilities will not recognize the associated right to bargain, on behalf of the union. Won’t even allow an election there.

This drumbeat will thunder on, for years now. And a Vox exposé of three days ago suggests that in Inland City, CA, Amazon explicitly targeted, and hired… ex-inmates, and cash strapped high school drop-outs, all to put them in a position where they’d be afraid of losing that roughly $15 an hour job they’d won, and knuckle under, when it came time to vote for (or against) a union.

How depraved… is that?

Out.

नमस्ते