Rigby, Putting Hinderaker… In His Place — About Whom, Exactly… Is A “Hater”.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is utterly… flawless.

Thanks go out to Rigby — for collecting it all:

“Liberals are haters,” John concludes. Indeed, here are some more hateful remarks he could have highlighted:

“Despite the droning orthodoxy of his every thought and utterance, he possesses infinite belief in his capacities.”

“[His] enormous vanity comes packaged with vast ignorance. He has not hesitated to put his glaring ignorance of basic history on display before the public.”

“[His] lust for power and contempt for the Constitution have led to rule by unlawful administrative fiat. One day he admits that he can’t rewrite America’s immigration law because he’s not a dictator. The next day he rewrites American immigration law.”

“[He] has repudiated his most basic duty as chief executive, to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

“Of all [his] unforgivable sins, his corruption and politicization of the Department of Justice ranks near the top.”

“How many days before this liar/ignoramus–take your pick–departs the stage? It can’t come too soon.”

“He has abandoned any pretense of being the president of all Americans….He has maligned [his opponents’] motives, lied about their actions, and wherever possible blocked them from any participation in the legislative process.”

“[His] mishmash of proposals, exhortations and orders are the ultimate in small ball.”

“When the history of the…administration is written, it will be condemned, more than anything else, for its lawlessness. Its many policy failures and betrayals of the American people are important, individually. But the overarching theme of the…administration has been its contempt for the rule of law. [The president], in seeking to govern illegally by executive decree, has taken us half-way down the path toward a tinpot dictatorship in the Mussolini/Peron/Chavez mold. This is unprecedented in American history, and the first task of [his] successor will be to restore the rule of law to the United States.”

“As is so often the case with the..administration, one is confronted with a policy of such towering stupidity that one wonders whether it can be accidental.”

“Does he even think about what he says, or does he just blurt out random BS?”

“To an unprecedented degree, the administration is staffed by scofflaws who flout their legal obligations.”

Strong words, yes? Although it may seem obvious whom all of the above quotes are about, they’re actually all John Hinderaker quotes, written during the last year of the presidency of Barack Obama….

As I said at the top… Flawless. Thanks man!

Some Decent DRC Ebola Spread Guesses — At How Deeply Under-… The Current Counts May Be.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We very well know (based on solid inductive reasoning) that there are more cases — and fatalities, out there — because the world learned of this outbreak after many were already dying. And many of the original index cases were traveling the remote country-side, and unknowingly leaving death in their wake.

Now a new Scientific American article attempts to estimate how many there really are — and what will be the “upslope curve”, on the progression of the disease — since cases in new places continue to appear without any documented connection to the originally-afflicted.

I won’t call this article definitive, yet — but it certainly is a more useful model. . . for assessing how much support, and where that support should be first delivered. . . than only looking at lab tested, confirmed illnesses and deaths. Here’s the latest, on all that:

…[T]he researchers calculated case numbers for moderate, fast and slow growth scenarios based on cases imported from Ituri alone versus Ituri and Nord Kivu.

Both methods produced fairly consistent estimates for the size of the outbreak as of May 27. The first model yielded an estimate of between 306 and 2,521 cases, whereas the geographic spread model estimated between 282 and 1,345 cases. The researchers stress that these estimates have a lot of uncertainty and that many cases could be missed. “The broad convergence of our estimates from two independent methods supports the conclusion of potentially substantial underdetection of cases and the potential for wider transmission,” the authors wrote in the study….

Tracking the number of cases and deaths in Ebola outbreaks is notoriously difficult, complicated by weak public health systems, armed conflict and other factors. That makes comparisons between the current situation and past Ebola outbreaks almost impossible, McCabe says….

Please be excellent to one another — it is baby grrls’ day here at my place… with sunny bike rides, park-play and grilling in store after noon. Smile….

नमस्ते

John — I Might Ask: How Many Preznits Were Felons? And Sexual Predators?!

~ condor ~ 3 Comments

Tonight, John laments the fact that families of former Hollywood A-Listers are expressing the departed’s abiding hatred for Trump — in their obituaries.

Hinderaker says he cannot understand ANY of that — and falls on his fainting couch — about how “dangerous” that is.

Gee… John… you might take a hard look at yourself, in the mirror. Would you have left your then teenage daughter unsupervised around him — and Epstein?

Consider that (or over 500 other deplorable FACTS, about him), in your faux “palpitations”.

And all of this comes after he cluck clucked (in his own words!) that the UFC 250 fights on the lawn at 1600 Penn… were “rude and crude”.

But he couldn’t find it in himself to debunk the MMA chucklehead who shouted that “Michelle Obama is a man.”

Seems John’s pleas for decency… are a one way only street. Huh. No surprise, there.

Out.

So Now Tangerine 2.0 Is Pushing Forward The Biden-Enacted CMS Drug Price Negotiation Measures. YAWN.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Now that Trump has seen that under the Inflation Reduction Act (passed during the Biden administration), millions of seniors are achieving real savings in their pharmaceutical bills, this year… he has flip-flopped — and decided that he wants to make it permanent. He will “clone” it — under Dr. Oz.

Dr. Oz’s only real change to the Biden well-thought out measures is that the choice of high impact drugs selected into the program each year from 2029 on, will be so selected via blue ribbon committees. That — and very small makers of high value bio-therapies will be exempted from required negotiations for those therapies — until they reach a certain dollar level in annual sales in the US.

In any event, I don’t care how they got there — this is good for the vast majority of seniors who live on a fixed income (now being reduced by Trump-flation at over 4% a year). Here’s the latest:

…The pharmaceutical industry has waged a public campaign against the IRA price negotiations, likening the system to government price controls rather than genuine negotiations, given the harsh penalties for noncompliance, but, so far, the industry hasn’t been able to meaningfully resist the IRA measures, Fierce Pharma reported….

Every suit brought against the Biden era negotiations / mechanics has failed in the federal courts. And failed on appeal.

This is one where the good guys have won.

नमस्ते

Conundrum: Mr. Musk Now Has Two Separate Groups Of Public Co. Shareholders… Expecting His Full-Time Attention, To Each Business — Regardless Of The Other One.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

When a company decides to avail itself of the public securities markets, the private “controlling shareholder(s) can do whatever they like” mantra comes to an end (as to the minority shareholders, for certain).

And. . . when one person (or tightly-affiliated small group) effectively controls all decisions at TWO (or more) public companies, the potential conflicts — for time, attention, talent and financial resources… can become overwhelming.

True enough, this particular controlling shareholder has vast wealth… so some of the concern is mitigated, if he is willing to risk his last dollar, for both companies (if need be)… but it still remains true that each set of shareholders (into the trillions, in market caps) will now expect the full measure of his devotion — to their respective businesses (separately).

And — that is simply not physically possible. He is (wrongly, I personally think) considered by many of these largely-duped shareholders as some sort of engineering Houdini — a guy who can make silken threads — from a sow’s ear. There are only 24 hours in a day, and time he spends on one business will inexorably be at the expense of the others. That is simply physics — there is no multi-verse.

The most common legal solution, in these situations (with prior ’34 Act companies) has been to merge the companies, and have only one public company parent deciding everything for all the subsidiaries. In this way, the shareholder(s) get the benefit (and risks) of all the far-flung “businesses” he claims to be creating.

[And all of that is before we start talking about the untruths he told lenders about the prospects of Twitter, now called X-itter — to the tune of about $30 billion.] No, my strong hunch (based on experiences in similar but smaller situations) is that within a year or so, the Tesla and SpaceX public companies will be folded together, so that all shareholders own the same pieces of his various pies.

If he doesn’t do that, eventually some of the people with now billions at stake in SpaceX will sue — if/when the stock price falls off of these vaporous valuations. They will allege that he is preferring to spend time on present day electric cars and trucks, rather than plans for distant futures, a la the mining of asteroids. They will be… right.

So it goes. And, in the end, he will no longer be a trillionaire, no matter what he does from this moment forward. Count on that — within two years. Onward.

नमस्ते

Tangeriners For ICE, At The Southern Border, Continue To Foot-Drag — On Even IDENTIFYING Those In Custody — For Legal Aid. Damn.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This obstinance, in defiance of clear federal immigration law and regulations — to say nothing of explicit federal court orders… is maddening.

In the San Diego Ms. L. class action, the lawyers for the asylum seekers are owed names of those in custody, so that counsel may meet with them — with appropriate native language interpreters in tow. This the Stephen Miller/Trumpists are… refusing to do, without repeated — ever smaller sentences, in new federal court orders. The insouciance is… bordering on sanctionable. Here’s the latest, in any event:

…Further, providing such information is not as simple as the Court potentially anticipated in the Order. Specifically, while the Court notes that 8 C.F.R. § 241.4(l)(1) requires the government to notify certain formerly paroled aliens “of the reasons for revocation of [their] release or parole,” ECF No. 937 at 8, this regulation is not applicable to every ICE arrest but rather applies to aliens with final orders of removal who may be subject to detention beyond the removal period imposed by 8 C.F.R. Part 241.

Therefore, requiring ICE to provide the bases for detention for all future ICE detentions of class members and QAFMs is not as simple as providing previously created notices that are readily available….

The Trumpers now employed at ICE seem to be saying “since it is not [in all cases] easy, already collected — and simple… we don’t have to do it.” The USDC Judge already ordered this, idiots. Get with it, you malign clowns. Out.

नमस्ते

Merck, Plus Gilead — For Twice A Week Oral HIV Treatment — Soon?

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is a very exciting time for real bio-science. We are on the verge of having oral therapies that are practically a cure, for the scourge of HIV. [Here is one of my prior backgrounders, on Gilead’s twice a year injection therapy for HIV.] And longer-term readers will recall that we first mentioned this oral combo probability in March of 2024.

Rather than rehash that, let’s simply listen in, to FiercePharma — ever cogent, on the topic of new drugs in the pipeline — nearing FDA clearance:

…A combination of Merck’s islatravir and Gilead’s lenacapavir has succeeded in two phase 3 trials and is in line to become the first long-acting oral HIV treatment that can be taken weekly.

Both trials of the combination regimen — which includes a 2 mg dose of islatravir and a 300 mg dose of lenacapavir — included people with HIV who are virologically suppressed and both achieved their primary efficacy endpoint.

In the Islend-1 study, the combo showed its non-inferiority in those who had switched off Gilead’s once-daily pill Biktarvy. In Islend-2, the combo measured up in those who had switched off standard-of-care antiretroviral regimens. No new safety concerns were identified in either study….

“Long-acting oral therapies represent a new wave of transformational innovation in HIV drug development, with the potential to reshape the landscape of care,” said Jared Baeten, M.D, Ph.D, Gilead’s SVP, Clinical Development, Virology Therapeutic Area Head, said in a release. “Innovative oral HIV treatment options that allow for less frequent dosing may make a meaningful difference in the lives of people living with the virus, potentially offering more flexibility and discretion.”

In a note to clients, analysts from Jefferies said that they viewed the data as a “plus,” but that they expect Biktarvy to remain the standard of care because of its well-established efficacy. While five-year data on Biktarvy has shown that 97% of patients remain suppressed, questions remain about the long-term safety and resistance of ISL/LEN….

Gilead’s lenacapavir has been on the market since 2022, when it was approved in the U.S. as Sunlenca for twice-yearly administration for those with drug-resistant HIV. Twelve months ago, the FDA signed off on lenacapavir for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). It is known commercially in that indication as Yeztugo….

Now you know — onward, to a cool but clear and sunny Monday. Smile….

नमस्ते

World Cup Fireworks — Now Underway…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

I am not a wildly-obsessive soccer fan, but I do enjoy the unscripted dramatic moments. This evening, Ivory Coast was able to break a nil-nil tie, in the ninetieth minute, as Amad Diallo (also of Manchester United when not in World Cup play) scored on Ecuador.

It is hard not to embrace these moments of complete joy.

As watching a son, decades ago, just a high schooler, advance to the boxing semi-finals against a variety D1 NCAA Football players…

…Or finish second in an olympic tri-, two weeks ago… these are the golden moments. So, do take the time to savor and enjoy them — like a Korean BBQ, or a night at Kennedy’s steak house in Eugene. Smile. Onward.

नमस्ते

John Hinderaker, Again Spinning Orwellian Lies: MAGA Wishes To ERASE Accurate — But Painful — US History.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The level of his depravity… geez.

It is clear as the nose on my face (from the factual record), that long before Mr. Biden — before Mr. Obama, even — many US National Parks displays made accurate, unflinching references to the pernicious effects of slavery (since the early 1990s), and the mistreatment of indigenous peoples (since 1924)… and various other ills, that beset — and in some cases, still beset our nation — America.

But the Orwellian lie MAGA (and/or Hinderaker) tries to tell us is… that these unflinching looks at our actual past all started with Mr. Biden — and that these accurate historical narratives are themselves… lies — designed to weaken America, as a nation.

Poppycock.

John goes even a step further, tonight, arguing that court orders preventing MAGA acolytes from whyte-washing US History in the National Parks… is the US judiciary ordering us all, on pain of contempt, to engage in “hating America”.

Damn this malign fool. Damn him — and let his senility utterly overrun his mind — as quickly as possible now.

O U T.