Category: Uncategorized

Some More Of The Detail, On That Very Fishy McGuireWoods $2.6 Million Government/Tangerine-Engineered Payday…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

About two weeks ago, Above the Law ran a rather alarming story (well-before the as NPR-reported conflict of interest was widely-known) saying essentially that it was that publication’s understanding that such large sums could not be let on no bid contracts by federal political appointees — but that is apparently exactly what happened, under Michael Pack. The recipient of that largess? John D. Adams, a McGuireWoods partner (and reputedly a lineal descendant of our nation’s second President).

Of course, paying outside lawyers to do what should be internal (flat cost to taxpayers) federal work should always raise flags… but when it turns out (as here) that that law firm switched sides, and “fired” a litigation client (as well as — effectively — its own partners working on that side of the matter), a client contemplating litigation over these same issues, against that federal agency — in order to take on the politically-motivated “dirt-digging” work from Pack, the bar authorities need to step in. That is simply far beyond the bounds of any acceptable advocacy, under every ethical canon in force in any of the 50 states, in this author’s experienced opinion. Here’s the list of at least some of the heavy-handed staffing (and thus high daily billings), on the Pack matter — again, according to Above the Law:

…According to the records, five partners, six associates, two counsel, two staff attorneys, seven paralegals, three case assistants, 14 other timekeepers, and 11 outsourced attorneys were all on the engagement. The engagement was led by partner John D. Adams, who has
a ton of conservative bona fides as a former GOP candidate for Virginia attorney general and as a former Clarence Thomas law clerk….

The at least $2.6 million tab was run up in under four elapsed months. Breath-taking. Even so, I suppose nothing Tangerine appointees do should surprise any longer, but this one is… well beyond any of that crime crew’s usual and ultimately, banal… Blarney.

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Before Midday Thursday, I’ll Post Complete Final Brackets — Condor Vs. Obama… As We Have Ever Since 2012…

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But since he has left public life, his aren’t online yet (and probably won’t be, until noon on Thursday) — so I’ll post a few partials, from my alternate… “for fun” bracket pools with my bros and friends… why? Well, because the Irish is risin’, in me — this fine morning… and long-shots rule this day of… climbin’ Croagh Pádraic.

It turns out that Sister Jean has been vaccinated, and at 101 years young she will travel to Indy to see her team. That alone means Final Four. Grin… and now, courtesy of the late Billy Kerrigan (all delivered in a thick, deeply resonant Irish brogue):

…May those that love us… love us.

May the good Lord turn the hearts — of those that do not…

And if He canna’ turn their hearts — then…

Let Him turn their… ankles,

That we might know them — by their limpin’…

Do be excellent to one another, and know that these green eyes are crinkling at the corners, smiling at all of you of good will. Erin Go Brah.

Onward, with full side by side official brackets — if Mr. Obama puts one out — by Thursday around 11 AM EDT.

नमस्ते

Rudy G., And “Tangerine Hisself” Will Owe An Under-Oath Answer In The 19th Century Federal Anti-Klan Statute Voting Rights Case Brought By Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, In DC By April 26, 2021

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Yet another shoe is falling. The former president, and nominal head of the Republican party, along with his consigliere, and domestic white terror groups… are being sued in a 21st Century version of the 19th Century anti-Klan lawsuits (under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(1)). Pre-planned, well-organized, domestic racial terror — the likes of which we haven’t seen on this scale. . . in over 75 years.

By agreement, Baby T will have until late April to explain why he and Rudy G. should not be liable for attempting to intimidate, and otherwise deprive all people (but especially people of color) of their lawful voting rights, in these United States, in this last election cycle. This is a very solid case — my backgrounder on it all, may be found here. Here’s the latest, this morning:

…MINUTE ORDER granting [9] Consent Motion for an Extension of Time.

Mr. Trump shall file his answer or otherwise respond to the Complaint by no later than April 26, 2021. Signed by Amit P. Mehta on 3/16/2021….

Now you know — onward, grinning just the same… as we watch the snow melt here now, under coolish steel-gray skies.

नमस्ते

Pi Day 2021 Answer Key — From NASA/JPL…

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Here you go! Below this is the simplest approach to an answer, as a graphic for this poser, from our multi-topic Selection Sunday/Pi Day post — of yesterday — but one could also derive the actual values for each using this formula: where L is the path loss in decibels, λ (or lambda) is the wavelength and d is the transmitter-receiver distance in the same units as the wavelength. Note the power density in space has no dependency on λ; The variable λ exists in the formula to account for the effective capture area of the isotropic receiving antenna.

And the area of each disk of the antenna may be had using π times r2.

And, the problem itself:

Be excellent to one another — don’t let the signals, between one another, fade out….

नमस्ते

These Are “New Days”, Indeed: Merck And Gilead Are Throwing In, Together — On “Long Haul” HIV Therapies…

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Throughout about seven years of one of my other blog’s life-span, we detailed (in hundreds of posts) the tens of billions of dollars at stake, in the toe-to-toe battles for Hep C primacy, between Gilead and Merck. It was both for market supremacy, and patent rights / priorities. The two were (as regular readers there will recall) literally at each others’ throats, on may fronts — each accusing the legal team of the other, of misconduct (and sometimes, worse).

Now though, the two leaders in HIV therapies will jointly address HIV therapeutic suites, aimed at long term HIV positive people. That is a wise allocation of the scarce resources of time and talent needed to apprach this increasingly well-managed disease state. Here’s the WSJ on it all:

…Rivals Gilead Sciences Inc. and Merck & Co. are joining forces to develop a long-acting HIV therapy, the next frontier in treating the disease.

The big drugmakers said Monday they had agreed to explore whether a combination of two experimental drugs, which the companies had been researching separately, could treat HIV even if taken every several months.

Patients and investors have been closely watching the development of the two cutting-edge HIV agents, Gilead’s lenacapavir and Merck’s Islatravir.

The pairing, if proven successful in testing could further HIV treatment’s shift into a new phase that doctors hope will reduce the number of patients with detectable disease while limiting new cases….

We are pleased by this — and we do not read it at all as either of them were concerned that their disparate approaches would fail, so much as an acknowledgment that if they work together (and the clinical trials prove effectiveness), there will be plenty of revenue to share. Obviously, with all of the documents very carefully drawn, so that they are not acting in an unlawful anti-competitive way — under the prohibitions of the the Sherman and Clayton Acts.

Onward, smiling — with snow due in here, again in a few hours… possibly quite heavy snow, with big wheeling flakes, through dawn tomorrow. We shall see… I do love these Spring snows. . . the air smells so… clean, ahead of them. I am missing you something fierce this morning, D — truth told. Muah….

नमस्ते

NASA’s Pi Day 2021 Quiz Hint…

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where L is the path loss in decibels, λ (or lambda) is the wavelength and d is the transmitter-receiver distance in the same units as the wavelength. Note the power density in space has no dependency on λ; The variable λ exists in the formula to account for the effective capture area of the isotropic receiving antenna.

And the area of each disk of the antenna may be had using π times r2.

Enjoy!

[O/T] Lovin’ Pi Day ’21 — With A Poser, From NASA…

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See at right. Very tasty; and see below.

Before we solve the puzzle, here’s a story of a Juno discovery the team wasn’t expecting to make. We now know, thanks to Juno — the true source of the so-called “Zodiacal Light” seen at dawn and dusk here on Earth.

…A team of Juno scientists argues that Mars may be the culprit. They first published their finding online on Nov. 11, 2020, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, with a final peer-reviewed paper published on March 9, 2021.

An instrument aboard the Juno spacecraft serendipitously detected dust particles slamming into the spacecraft during its journey from Earth to Jupiter. The impacts provided important clues to the origin and orbital evolution of the dust, resolving some mysterious variations of the zodiacal light.

Though their discovery has big implications, the scientists who spent years studying cosmic debris did not set out to do so. “I never thought we’d be looking for interplanetary dust,” said John Leif Jørgensen, a professor at the Technical University of Denmark….

Finally, see if you can solve this, one of the quizzes NASA has put up (click it to embiggify), to help us all appreciate 3.14159.

[Answers on Monday. Grinning… be excellent to one another.]

नमस्ते

[O/T, But Not Entirely] Even With Great Progress In Guinea, Cause For Concern — From Latest Ebola Virus DNA Sequencing Results…

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The good news here (I suppose) is that we may be confident that the vaccine will work well, in arresting this outbreak (as we’ve seen, so far), since the 2021 current strain of Ebola being battled… is almost identical to the 2014-16 strain upon which the Merck/NewLinks Genetics 2014 mRNA susceptible strain of Ebola was modeled, developed and replicated. That’s good.

But this latest genome sequencing data pretty much proves some concerning news: the virus may linger undetected, for up to five years, inside a host.

Ebola was — as an mRNA susceptible virus — thought to be wholly unlike, say… herpes. That is, it was thought to be too fragile to linger inside a human biome, dormant — only to re-emerge years later.

It looks like that assumption was mistaken, as the virus we face in 2021, seems to have its index case in a health worker/nurse who was in contact with Ebola patients in 2014-15, but never showed symptoms. While it is at least theoretically possible that she independently acquired it from animal to human transmission (by eating tainted bush meat, for example), it would be unlikely to be such a close genetic match (if it had traveled by that separate path), unless it was from human to human, and… of the 2014 version. And that means we must either expect to face sporadic re-emergence over decades, perhaps — or decide to spend vast resources to use therapeutics to clear the viral load from all contacts of contacts. That is geometrically more resource intensive than a two dose vaccine.

Here’s the latest, from Science, this morning:

…The virus causing the new outbreak barely differs from the strain seen 5 to 6 years ago, genomic analyses by three independent research groups have shown, suggesting the virus lay dormant in a survivor of the epidemic all that time. “This is pretty shocking,” says virologist Angela Rasmussen of Georgetown University. “Ebolaviruses aren’t herpesviruses” — which are known to cause long-lasting infections — “and generally RNA viruses don’t just hang around not replicating at all.”

Scientists knew the Ebola virus can persist for a long time in the human body; a resurgence in Guinea in 2016 originated from a survivor who shed the virus in his semen more than 500 days after his infection and infected a partner through sexual intercourse. “But to have a new outbreak start from latent infection 5 years after the end of an epidemic is scary and new,” says Eric Delaporte, an infectious disease physician at the University of Montpellier who has studied Ebola survivors and is a member of one of the three teams….

This obviously is a much larger policy question: how much do we, collectively spend, to eradicate it — if vaccines are cheaper and effective? And that’s in relatively far off Africa. What if I told you that COVID-19 looks to be very much like Ebola, in its mRNA susceptible mechanics? What then should we be thinking about that admittedly far less lethal, but far more prevalent scourge, now — globally? These are likely to be the debates of the next five to ten years, in/at pandemic eradication sciences conferences.

This is also why I find life sciences problems so. . . ever intriguing: life — even viral life, finds a way. Not in the sentient sense, but in the idea that over billions of generations, random mutations confer survival advantages, to a select few — and those few… become the dominant many, by replicating in overwhelming numbers. Smile….

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The Difference Early, Aggressive Intervention [And A Widely-Available, 99%-Plus Effective Vaccine] Makes, In Epidemiology: Ebola In Guinea 2021

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Well. The object lesson here is unmistakable, for the anti-vax crowd — with regard to COVID-19, here in the EU and US. Just do it. Get the jab. Period.

The difference between living on — and an awful, rattling death — in rural Nzérékoré prefecture, in Spring 2021, is almost entirely due to ring vaccinations of those who are contacts of contacts, or direct contacts — this time around. Kudos go out — to Merck. Over 2,000 have been inoculated, through this week. And, as of yesterday, the latest stats then — from the African Union’s version of the CDC:

…Since the last brief (3 March 2021), one new confirmed case, two new deaths, and no new recoveries of Ebola virus disease (EVD) have been reported in Nzérékoré, Guinea. . . .

Cumulatively, 29 EVD cases, 13 deaths (CFR: 45%), and four recoveries have been reported from Democratic Republic of Congo (11 cases; 4 deaths; 2 recoveries) and Guinea (18; 9; 2).

Seven healthcare workers are amongst the confirmed cases: DR Congo (2) and Guinea (5).

DR Congo updates: Since the last brief, no new cases, deaths, or recoveries from EVD have been reported. Cumulatively, 11 confirmed cases, four deaths (CFR: 36%), and two recoveries have been reported….

This is (all things considered) very good Friday news. Onward, and locally, on COVID-19, going to see if there are excess doses available at the city clinic in Humbolt Park this afternoon. The Moderna vaccine is given in groups of ten people, per each opened vial. When there is a prior appointment’s no show, and a vial that will spoil in under an hour or two, late into the afternoon hours — “regular people” may offer to accept that remaining unused dose — under Chicago’s local delivery rules.

[In all likelihood, by mid-next week, I’d be eligible regular way here, anyway — based on age.] But if there is a spare dose or two, this afternoon — I’ll bring a bag-chair, a Cubs baseball cap, some sun-block, stake out a hunk of sidewalk, in the line, just outside the clinic — previously having snagged a flight of hot fresh fish tacos, and root beer — from my favorite truck, just around the corner. What’s not to love… about that, for a Friday — I ask you? Grin….

नमस्ते

The Central Reason For Conflicts Of Interest Rules… Is To Protect Client Confidences And Secrets: McGuireWoods DC Edition

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I return tonight, to the blockbuster NPR story of yesterday, about a white shoe / silk stocking law firm that (it would seem, based on ten separate sources) decided it could make more money by (in secret) throwing off a pro bono client from whom it had received numerous specific litigation strategy secrets, and for whom it had developed confidential work product — and take on the client’s opponent, the Trump appointed head of the entity charged with keeping non-partisan Voice of America running — specifically, to litigate against the former client, and find dirt to remove officers of that former client who were generally immune to summary firings, as federal civil service employees, of a certain rank.

The whole reason lawyers cannot do this is that the firm would then have a very powerful incentive to invade the secret files of the former litigation client, and use those secrets against the client — in favor of the firm itself, or the new client. And that is, it seems, exactly what happened here, in the waning moments of the Trumpians’ time in office, as the firm made well over $2 million in just a few months — for work normally done inside the federal government, at no extra charge to the taxpayers.

People may well be disbarred for conduct like this — and certainly, less well-connected lawyers, at smaller firms have been — in DC:

…Comment [10] to Rule 1.6(g): Exploitation of Confidences and Secrets

…In addition to prohibiting the disclosure of a client’s confidences and secrets, subparagraph (a)(2) provides that a lawyer may not use the client’s confidences and secrets to the disadvantage of the client. For example, a lawyer who has learned that the client is investing in specific real estate may not seek to acquire nearby property where doing so would adversely affect the client’s plan for investment. Similarly, information acquired by the lawyer in the course of representing a client may not be used to the disadvantage of that client even after the termination of the lawyer’s representation of the client.

However, the fact that a lawyer has once served a client does not preclude the lawyer from using generally known information about the former client when later representing another client. Under subparagraphs (a)(3) and (e)(1), a lawyer may use a client’s confidences and secrets for the lawyer’s own benefit or that of a third party only after the lawyer has obtained the client’s informed consent to the use in question….

There was no consent — informed or otherwise, as according to the agency GC, she “was blindsided.” So, I await the word that the DC Bar authorities have referred this matter to a Hearing Panel, in a few elapsed weeks. [Separately, I note that one of the most promising young litigation stars at the firm’s North Georgia offices announced today she is leaving to join the core of US Attorneys under Merrick Garland, in that District. Likely not entirely coincidental, sez Condor.] Onward tonight, grinning — ever… grinning.

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