Covid-19: Acuitas, Pfizer, and BioNTech

Thomas D. Madden, PhD / bio*

Madden’s path to this moment began in the working-class neighbourhood of Clapham in London, where he lived above a pub run by his Irish immigrant parents.

He completed a BSc and a PhD in biochemistry at the University of London in 1980 and began searching for a fellowship opportunity to continue his training.

“I had always wanted to come to North America, so I applied to work with Pieter Cullis* at UBC,” he said. “I had no idea what Vancouver was like, I barely knew where it was.”

Once Madden arrived it was soon apparent he would not be going back to England anytime soon, “not once I realized what a paradise it is.”

Madden met the woman who would become his wife — family physician Dr. Linda Tai — at UBC while she was a graduate student in the same research group. They have raised twins — a boy and a girl.

Over the years, Madden has founded a number of companies based on his research successes.

At Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, he led the development of anticancer drugs, including Marqibo, Alocrest and Brakiva.

Earlier this year, Madden was made a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering for his work in the field of nucleic acid delivery.*

see also: a prescient 2017 piece on Moderna in Science* … and more from the Guardian last week*


*a link; see a note on notes and links; see also a disclaimer

mRNA site:theatlantic.com (!?) / added 2021-04-03

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Noam Chomsky in the 1990s, the Overton window, and the five filters

Andrew Marr (aged 27 in 1996) is today a prominent member of the media elite in the UK*
(note that the third of the five filters – see animation below – is the media elite)

seven seconds from Chomsky, at 11:08:
I’m not saying you’re self-censoring. I’m sure you believe everything you’re saying. But what I’m saying is if you believed something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.
the 1945 Orwell essay Chomsky mentions earlier, at 08:23, ends with this:
If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. The common people still vaguely subscribe to that doctrine and act on it. … [I]t is the liberals who fear liberty and the intellectuals who want to do dirt on the intellect: it is to draw attention to that fact that I have written this preface. (!?)*
Caitlin Johnstone heads her 2019 post on the Overton window* with this Chomsky quote from 1998:
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there’s free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.
animation narrated by Amy Goodman (!w2) of Democracy Now! (!w2)
media operate through five filters: ownership, advertising, the media elite, flak, and the common enemy*


*a link; see a note on notes and links; see also a disclaimer

browse tweets from selected sources on Twitter* / free, no account needed

see the article the tweet links to – archived*



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seen in the wild: instances of usage


areas where the more deadly aspects … are likely to manifest … administration … manifesting much of its murderousness* / intransitive, but see OED entry* (especially senses 6 and 7), and transitive  01-24

… to raise key questions, such as: Should we accept the revolving door that keeps spinning between the Pentagon and the weapons industry? Does an aggressive U.S. military really enhance “national security” and lead to peace?* / more than one question 12-08

For a mind free of beliefs, what is, is, whatever anyone says.* / comma, italics, 12-02

What is, is. When the Buddha, instead of speaking, remained …* / comma, no italics, 12-02

All these things raise the question (asking for a friend): How do you get someone to face reality and get out of the White House?*
/ raise, not beg; (asking for a friend); colon introduces direct question; no quotation marks; 11-15

This is what Donald’s going to do: he’s not going to concede, although who cares.* / no question mark, 11-08


*a link; see a note on notes and links; see also a disclaimer






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“we must first reclaim our minds”


Jonathan Cook:

Today’s globalised wealth elite prefer neoliberal, technocratic politics that keep borders open for trade; that treat the labouring poor as human chattel, to be moved around on a global chess board as a way to force wages down; and that ensure the elite can stash its ill-gotten gains away on island sanctuaries far from the tax man.

But when technocratic politics is on its death bed, as it is now, the corporate elite will always settle for the populism of a Trump or a Farage over the populism of the left. They will do so even if rightwing populism risks constraining their financial empires, because leftwing populism does much worse: it upends the warped logic on which the corporate elite’s entire hoarded wealth depends, threatening to wipe it out.

If the corporate elite can no longer find a way to foist a neoliberal technocrat like Biden on the public, they will choose the populism of a Trump over the populism of Sanders every time. And as they own the media, they can craft the stories we hear: about who we are, what is possible and where we are heading. If we allow it, our imaginations will be twisted and deformed in the image of the deranged totem they choose.

We can reclaim politics – a politics that cares about the future, about our species, about our planet – but to do so we must first reclaim our minds.

from cached article*



*a link; see a note on notes and links; see also a disclaimer
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Chris Hedges: American Requiem



from the Chris Hedges piece:
The Democrats and their liberal apologists are, the election has illustrated, oblivious to the profound personal and economic despair sweeping through this country. They stand for nothing. They fight for nothing. Restoring the rule of law, universal health care, banning fracking, a Green New Deal, the protection of civil liberties, the building of unions, the preservation and expansion of social welfare programs, a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, the forgiveness of student debt, stiff environmental controls, a government jobs program and guaranteed income, financial regulation, opposition to endless war and military adventurism were once again forgotten. Championing these issues would have resulted in a Democratic Party landslide. But since the Democratic Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate donors, promoting any policy that might foster the common good, diminish corporate profits and restore democracy, including imposing campaign finance laws, was impossible. Biden’s campaign was utterly bereft of ideas and policy issues, as if he and the Democrats could sweep the elections by promising to save the soul of America. At least the neofascists have the courage of their demented convictions.*


*a link; see a note on notes and links; see also a disclaimer
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