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Video [Age 9 And Up Appropriate]: “How To… Draw It!” — A Mars Rover Arts Tutorial — And Coloring Book “Opportunity”…

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I sure wish these resources would have been available when mine were little — or even when. . . I was of that age.

In any event, we are now less than 24 hours away from liftoff — for Barsoom, and so here is more home-educational / interplanetary space science / art class fodder:

…Mars beckons and NASA is ready to heed the call of the Red Planet with the upcoming launch of the Perseverance rover. But before launch day, kids of all ages can put their imagination to paper via the latest edition of NASA Space Crafts….

As ever, be excellent to one another, and grow now, tall, strong, smart and most of all… wise. Grinning….

नमस्ते

Hard Question: When A COVID-19 Vaccine Comes — Is $60/Person, For Perhaps 220 Million Americans… Excessive?

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In the US, under current so-called vaccine shield laws, the manufacturer of the as yet unapproved COVID-19 vaccine candidate will almost certainly face zero liability for suits by US consumers, so long as the product is produced to “good manufacturing” standards. And so, if the first year’s US sales amount to $13.2 billion — after receiving nearly $1 billion in R&D subsidies — it is fair to ask: how much profit… is too much, for what is very likely to be the highest revenue vaccine, in all of human history?

(If it turns out to be Moderna, the rest of world will buy billions of doses, but likely at a lower per dose price. If history is any guide, it is likely that eventually — three to five years from now, there will be perhaps six separate competing vaccines, and pricing will… accordingly decline.) Yes, there is a pronounced Martin Shkreli echo effect, here — and it would seem his aid (even from the clink) wasn’t ever needed — to reach this finish line.

Will the US government agencies agree pay to vaccinate all prisoners? All people present in the US, regardless of whether they have papers? If our government doesn’t — we will see overall system-wide health care spending… increase — as the drum-beat of cases marches onward, into thousands of ICU units, nationwide — for years to come. Here’s a bit, but do go read it all:

….That price is well above the other known prices set by companies developing Covid-19 vaccines so far. Pfizer (PFE), which unlike Moderna took no government money to develop its vaccine, is charging developed countries roughly $20 a dose, or $40 per treatment course. And the Financial Times says that one analyst puts the amount AstraZeneca (AZN) charged a consortium of European nations for its Covid-19 vaccine at $3 and $4 per dose.

The price of the Covid-19 vaccines under development is threatening to become a larger issue for the industry, which has struggled for years against efforts by both Democrats and Republicans in Washington to limit the cost of prescription medications.

In a statement to Barron’s on Tuesday night, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, charged that Moderna, which began the Phase 3 clinical trial of its vaccine on Monday, “is already contemplating how to turn [its] federal funding into sky-high profits….”

[In previous reporting,] Rep. Schakowsky was the lead sponsor of the COVID-19 Price Gouging Prevention Act, a bill she introduced in April that would make it illegal to offer products or services at prices that are “unconscionably excessive,” and suggested sellers are using the circumstances related to the pandemic to raise prices “unreasonably….”

I am mindful that this vaccine has the potential to be a world-history defining moment, much as the polio vaccine was, in the mid 20th Century — and so, vaccine-makers might consider the longer-view (much as Merck took, under Roy Vagelos, in eradicating river blindness, in Sub-Saharan Africa, at essentially zero profit). Indeed, there will be babies born every year, now — and this vaccine will likely be sold to all of them, by the time they reach school age. Perhaps it is time. . . to think… of the longer lens of unfolding history, Mr. Bancel. [I’d be willing to wager a frosty root beer, that Martin only now wishes… he had.]

[Onward, smiling ear to ear… a cool kids’ Mars mission (NASA) coloring book video up next, for “home schooling” projects.]

नमस्ते

[U] Could John Be Paying Some Group Of City Kids, To Deface His OWN Billboards?

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I mean… why not ask the question? [He’s such a publicity hound after-all… and he’s hoping Trump will take notice — of course, and tweet about it, to be certain.]

John regularly traffics in completely “evidence free” tropes — on matters that have been proven to kill innocents, related to COVID-19 myths he pushes.

So what’s good for the goose, is good… for the gander: John, are you hiring kids to go deface your billboards, under the cover of night, in Minneapolis? [It all looks like the same “hand”, using only red or black spray paint — and from a right handed stance. No art in evidence — just a scrawl. Like a… hired hand.]

Do tell.

[This form of free expression… is what is known as “deflating satire” — for the purpose of skewering… a particularly odious racist gas-bag. We claim full Gertz v. Welch protection for it (as Mr. Hinderaker is clearly a public figure), here in America.]

Steve H. Has Decided… He Gets To Tell A Pulitzer Prize Winning Black Woman What To Call Herself.

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Yep, we will get to all that Old White Ass-ness, in a moment.

But first, it continually amazes me that the Powerline old and doddering white boys‘ club gets so apoplectic about anyone but… old white men… explaining to America… how it may view American slavery. [We may safely surmise they need an antiquated racists’ narrative, to help them feel less… inadequate, as they wander off into irrelevancy. BTW, how many Pulitzers have these boys, among all four of them? How many?! Oh. Right. One fewer than Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones possesses — all by herself.]

The addled old fools cannot abide any new, alternative, more accurate or emerging narrative. In sum, the Powerline boys view the orthodoxy they themselves helped carve into stone… as immutable.

I don’t. Most Americans… don’t. Most of us have the ability to… reason. To learn from prior blind spots, and refine our understanding. But not these highly privileged white boys.

And I’ll leave the full critique of their views for another day.

But it takes a special kind of entitled white ass-hat to dare tell… a Pulitzer Prize winner of a journalist by what name (as a handle on Twitter, no less!) she may refer to herself, thus:

“…I think a lot of people would find it presumptuous?….”

My advice for Steve? Ahem — you’re an insufferably flatulent old ass. Take a seat. Try not to speak.

You’re welcome.

Hey John — Just Asking, Here: Please Detail The Overall Percentages Of Whites, Who Hold Section 16 Officer Seats, In US Public Companies… Then Get Back To Me.

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More racist lunacy from Hinderaker, tonight, in the form of specious arguments — against a few Democratic draft platforms:

“…If the United States were really a white supremacist society, as the Democrats claim, the facts would be very different. Whites incomes would dwarf non-white incomes….”

Of course, in John’s rush to lie, about the realities of America, since he is the favored class, here — he falsely assumes the only relevant measure is… annual income. And then he goes on to falsely assume, that because some people of Asian heritage out-earn… almost everyone… there is no racism.

Balderdash.

We all well know that a better measure of a representative America… would be representation. And among the highest offices, of America’s largest public companies, and in its board rooms… people of color, and LGBTQ+ and differently able people… make up just over three per cent.

Black men are less than one percent. Black women approach four and a half per cent. But in each case, they are 12 per cent of the American public… you do the math: by 12 to 8 times, they are under-represented.

Mr. Hinderaker, please explain that, in your completely non-racially discriminatory view of our US society. I’ll wait.

Crickets, of course….

Finally (and what the uprisings are all about), John’s skin color alone guarantees he is only one half as likely to be shot, if/when he is stopped by police, than if he were of color. He has as real and tangible a survival privilege, as any exists anywhere on the planet — due exclusively to his… skin color.

John — that sh!t… matters.

I wish you were grown enough (in your soul)… to see it.

On July 19, Hinderaker Said US COVID-19 Fatalities Were… “Largely Over”. FALSE.

~ condor ~ 7 Comments

I will likely attach this to everything John Hinderaker henceforth posts on Twitter related to the pandemic. He said it very recently — not even a week ago, now.

“…The numbers suggest that the COVID epidemic is more or less over, as far as fatality is concerned….”

— John Hinderaker,
on July 19, 2020.

After he said it, Trump suddenly cancelled the Jacksonville Klan-demic he was to host (GOP Convention) in August.

After he said it, this week… we’ve reached a still-accelerating rate of death — over 1,000 per day, one that equals one 9/11 attack, every three days. [And every three days thereafter — until at least… September 11, 2020. And all preventable.]

After he said it, he went silent on COVID-19 predictions.

He has been making dangerously, lethally, WRONG predictions about COVID-19 since mid-March 2020.

He has openly lied about statistics related to the pandemic.

And — in the face of now overwhelming scientific evidence — he hasn’t once apologized for denigrating people who wear masks, or choose other safety precautions, to stay… alive. Oh and he also touted that dangerous old malaria drug — the one Trump pushed for without success — too. The one the FDA yanked the investigatory authority for.

This moron is… dangerous. And increasingly… delusional, on all matters bio-science.

You’ve been warned.

[Major Update, On Friday Morning] BLM Chicago Filed Tonight — Against Acting Sec. Chad Wolf… A TRO In Portland, Too!

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Ahem. I must say, it is precious… that Scott Johnson, at Powerline… complains bitterly (and in fact filed a now-settled suit!), about not being included in local Minnesota press briefings, on COVID-19 mitigation efforts [“Oh! the Humanities!“]… yet the boys remain silent as the grave, about real, live field journalists being SHOT and beaten, by Trump’s Stazi-like goon squads, in Portland. Precious, indeed.

In any event, here is the TRO (in a victory for the rule of law, and our system of ordered liberty), entered by the able USDC Judge Michael H. Simon, in Portland — but apparently, an few hours after it was issued, another clearly marked press employee was shot in the hand, from over 50 feet away from the DHS jack-booters. We federal taxpayers will owe very substantial Bivens’ type damages, to the injured protesters, as indicated below. Disgusting.

Also overnight, Black Lives Matter Chicago and others filed a federal suit (of 41 pages) to ward off Chad Wolf’s secret police, on our streets. From the Portland order, then — some towering language, followed by snippets of a faithful recounting — of the disturbing facts which led to it:

…”Open government has been a hallmark of our democracy since our nation’s founding.” Leigh v. Salazar, 677 F.3d 892, 897 (9th Cir. 2012). “When wrongdoing is underway, officials have great incentive to blindfold the watchful eyes of the Fourth Estate.” Id. at 900. “The free press is the guardian of the public interest, and the independent judiciary is the guardian of the free press.” Id. This lawsuit tests whether these principles are merely hollow words….

Plaintiff John Rudoff is a photojournalist. His work has been published internationally, including reporting on the Syrian refugee crises, the “Unite the Right” events in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Paris “Yellow Vest” protests, and the Rohingya Genocide. He has attended the protests in Portland during the past two months for the purpose of documenting and reporting on them. Since this lawsuit began, he has been published in Rolling Stone, The Nation, and on the front page of the New York Times. While attending the Portland protests, he carries and displays around his neck press identification from the National Press Photographers Association, of which he has been a member for approximately ten years. He also wears a helmet and vest that is clearly marked “PRESS”….

. . .[A]round 30 feet away from federal agents, standing still, taking pictures, with no one around him. Id. 11 5-7. He asserts that suddenly and without warning, he was shot in the chest just below his heart with a less lethal munition. Id. 17. Because he was wearing a ballistic vest, he was uninjured. He also witnessed, and photographed, federal agents firing munitions into a group of press and legal observers….

While holding his press pass and identifying himself as press, he was hit with a baton by one federal agent. Id. 18. Two others joined and surrounded him, and he was hit with batons three or four times. Id. One agent then deployed pepper spray against Mr. Berger from about one foot away. Id. 19. He was given no warning. Id. 111. He states that he was not demonstrating or protesting, was leaving the area, and was clearly acting as a journalist….

Because the Court considers any willful violation of this Order, or any express direction by a supervisor or commander to disregard or violate this Order, to be a violation of a clearly established constitutional right and thus not subject to qualified immunity in any action brought against any individual employee, officer, or agent of the Federal Defendants under Bivens v. Six Unknown Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), notice of this Order must be widely disseminated. Accordingly, the Federal Defendants are ordered to provide copies of this Order, in either electronic or paper form, within 24 hours, to: (a) all employees, officers, and agents of the Federal Defendants currently deployed in Portland, Oregon (or who later become deployed in Portland, Oregon while this Order is in force)….

Onward — as of Friday morning, there is still no really reliable report, or sign — of any of these goon squads in Chicago. Overnight, my Mayor removed all the statues of Columbus, in the city — by official action. Fewer places, for DHS to try to provoke. . . a violent confrontation. Like the supposed ICE raids, after the ACLU’s suit, and the BLM suit linked above, I wonder if (Merely) Acting Sec. Chad Wolf has already turned tail, and run home. . . or to some other city.

He will meet very-formidable lawful resistance, in any event, should he roll into our town. Out.

नमस्ते; end update.

Here is the 41 page complaint for a federal declaratory judgment — that Wolf’s DHS is violating the Constitution, with his secret police / goon squads.

Wolf will soon be run out of town, along with his goons.

We are the City of Big Shoulders.

Here endeth the lesson.

Indeed! Glad You Asked, Mr. Hinderaker….

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Hey, John — let’s compare: how does the Harvard professor’s singularly-clear (but only once published) error… compare and contrast… to your equally clear — but dozens of errors, regarding COVID-19 — over many, many repeated publishings?

Did the professor’s error increase anyone’s risk of death?

Nope.

Now… did your repeated lies / errors increase vulnerable, low-information senior citizens’… risk of death, John?

Almost certainly. Your “hurry to open” and “masks are optional” nonsense… (documented here many times) — to a near certainty. Has. Caused. Added. Harm. To. Humans.

Yep, you’re an… ass. [And that’s before we mention your touting of Trump’s dangerously ineffectual Hydroxy- “treatment”, at left… you and Ms.Owens-Farmer… remember? Yup… people were clearly harmed, by not getting any experimental therapy that might have actually… worked.]

Case closed.

Just f#ck right off, now John.

Silly Hinderaker. Reasoning… Is A Skill. One That Is Now Increasingly… Beyond Your Ken.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

Tonight, John returns to one of his oldest — and lamest — tropes: that liberals are racists.

Certainly, some liberals are. It is true of all human groups: some are. Just as certainly… John is. We’ve established that (that’s a 2012 version, linked), over about 300 posts (on that topic, alone) over the last 18 (or so) years.

So — when he complains that someone labels an entire group, unfairly… well, we just smile — as it was what he was doing not even five nights ago, right here.

That’s all.

No need to belabor it. John Hinderaker is… all the things he claims to detest about what he sees… in liberals.

Here endeth the lesson. My grilled, rare ribeye with bacon wrapped asparagus, also grilled… calls. As does the frosty root beer.

Out.