Pentagon 'Shocked' By Houthi Arsenal, Sophistication Is 'Getting Scary'

 A top Pentagon official responsible for purchasing arms for America's defense stockpile has expressed 'shock' at the increasingly sophisticated arsenal possessed by Yemen's Houthis.

Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Bill LaPlante spoke at an event hosted by Axios on Wednesday, where he said that Houthis are displaying and deploying advanced weaponry, especially missiles that "can do things that are just amazing."

He described that Houthis "are getting scary" in terms of their capability on display for more than a year in the Red Sea, where they've gone to war against Israeli and international shipping.

Houthi anti-ship missiles, via The War Zone

"I'm an engineer and a physicist, and I've been around missiles my whole career," LaPlante said before the summit, called the "Future of Defense" in Washington, DC.

"What I've seen of what the Houthis have done in the last six months is something that — I'm just shocked."

Among the surprisingly advanced capabilities include anti-ship ballistic missiles. Analysts have widely asserted that without doubt Iran is directly supplying these and other capabilities.

The Houthis have also routinely scored direct hits on commercial shipping vessels with both aerial and drone boats.

The Shia group has also claimed many times to have scored hits on US, UK, and other allied warships; however, the US has kept a tight lid on the extent of this, or actual damage, perhaps wishing to not give the Houthis a propaganda win.

According to the latest attacks on US warships via an announcement this week from the Pentagon:

Houthi forces attacked two American destroyers with drones and missiles as the ships transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait entering the Gulf of Aden on Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said today.

The Houthis launched at least eight one-way uncrewed aerial systems, five anti-ship ballistic missiles and three anti-ship cruise missiles at USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Stockdale (DDG-106), which engaged all the projectiles, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Tuesday. U.S. Central Command has not yet issued a statement.

The Pentagon says that the warships were not damaged in the attack, which contradicts the account of Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Sare’e, who quickly claimed the attack on the pair of destroyers was successful.

The past year has seen a number of videos like the below showing destruction of large tankers off Yemen's coast:

Footage released by the #Iran-backed Houthis of their targeting the Greek-owned and operated bulk carrier Tutor has sent shockwaves throughout the shipping industry, especially after it was confirmed Tutor sunk on 19 June.pic.twitter.com/MkfQMzlHKM

— Bachar EL-Halabi | بشار الحلبي (@Bacharelhalabi) June 20, 2024

The enduring conflict in the Red Sea has been widely acknowledged as the biggest naval battle that US forces have been engaged in since World War II. Several US and Israeli airstrikes have hit Houthi positions hard over the last months, but this appears to have done little to erode Houthi capabilities. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/pentagon-shocked-houthi-arsenal-sophistication-getting-scary

Regenxbio Webcast: First Functional Data from the AFFINITY DUCHENNE® Trial

 REGENXBIO Inc. (Nasdaq: RGNX) today announced that it will host a webcast to discuss the AFFINITY DUCHENNE® pivotal program and new clinical data, including the first functional data from the ongoing Phase I/II study of RGX-202, the company's next-generation gene therapy for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The webcast will feature AFFINITY DUCHENNE principal investigator Aravindhan Veerapandiyan, M.D., Arkansas Children's Hospital, and Michael Kelly, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of CureDuchenne.

Webcast details
Title: AFFINITY DUCHENNE Trial of RGX-202: Pivotal Program and Interim Clinical Data
Date/Time: Monday, November 18, 2024, at 8:00 a.m. EST 
Access: The live webcast can be accessed here and in the Investors section of REGENXBIO's website at www.regenxbio.com. An archived replay of the webcast will be available for approximately 30 days following the presentation.

These updates will also be presented at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and Muscular Dystrophy Association 2024 Breakthroughs in Muscular Dystrophy conference November 19, 2024, in Chicago.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/regenxbio-to-host-webcast-discussing-pivotal-program-and-first-functional-data-from-the-affinity-duchenne-trial-of-rgx-202-302305167.html

Arbutus, Barinthus Combo Achieves Functional Cure in Hep B

 50% of patients who had baseline HBsAg levels less than 1000 IU/mL achieved functional cure in Cohort A1 of the IM-PROVE I Phase 2a clinical trial

Overall, in Cohort A1, 25% of patients achieved functional cure

Data to be presented in late-breaker poster session at AASLD – The Liver Meeting® on Monday, November 18, 2024

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/11/15/2982137/14025/en/Arbutus-Imdusiran-Achieves-Functional-Cure-in-cHBV-Patients-when-Combined-with-a-Short-Course-of-Interferon.html

Mexican Government Seeks to Shrink Deficit With 2025 Budget Plan

 The administration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum aims to lower the fiscal deficit next year through a combination of spending cuts and an increase in tax revenue, according to the budget proposal submitted Friday to the congress.

Lowering the deficit is seen by economists as one of the first and most pressing tasks for the new president, who took office Oct. 1. Sheinbaum's predecessor and political mentor Andrés Manuel López Obrador increased the deficit in his final year in office, partly to complete a number of key infrastructure projects before leaving office.

The 2025 budget plan calls for the public sector borrowing requirement--a broad measure of the fiscal deficit--to decline to 3.9% of gross domestic product from 5.9% of GDP this year. Public sector debt is expected to hold steady at 51.4% of GDP in 2025.

Total proposed budget outlays of 9.226 trillion pesos ($453 billion) are down 1.9% from 2024, with higher debt financing costs expected to partially offset a reduction in other spending, including investment. Tax revenue is seen rising 3% from this year, supported by economic growth and measures to reduce tax evasion.

"Overall, a tough, but not impossible budget to execute," Goldman Sachs's chief Latin America economist Alberto Ramos said in a note. The adjustment relies heavily on spending cuts and "revenue may also disappoint given that real GDP growth is likely overestimated by at least 1.5%, but the administration may eventually benefit from a more depreciated peso and higher oil prices," he added.

The budget plan estimates economic growth next year between 2% and 3%, "backed by a solid labor market, robust private consumption, and high levels of public and private investment," the Finance Ministry said.

Other macroeconomic assumptions include inflation easing to 3.5% in 2025 from 4.3% this year, and an average exchange rate of 18.70 pesos per U.S. dollar, compared with 18.20 to the dollar this year.

The peso has depreciated sharply against the dollar since Mexico's June 2 elections as the ruling Morena party won enough congressional seats to make constitutional changes, including a recent overhaul of the judiciary that is seen weakening the system of checks and balances and possibly discouraging investors. The peso was trading at 20.39 to the dollar Friday.

Production of crude oil and condensates are expected to be steady at around 1.89 million barrels a day, with crude exports projected to average 892,000 barrels a day compared with 900,000 barrels a day in 2024. The average price per barrel for Mexican export crude is estimated for next year to be $57.80, down from $70.70 this year.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/index/S-P-GSCI-BRENT-CRUDE-INDE-46869164/news/Mexican-Government-Seeks-to-Shrink-Deficit-With-2025-Budget-Plan-48382012/

US judge strikes down Biden overtime pay rule

 A federal judge in Texas on Friday permanently blocked a Biden administration rule that would have made about 4 million more salaried U.S. workers eligible for overtime pay.

U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan in Sherman, Texas, said the U.S. Department of Labor rule that took effect in July improperly bases eligibility for overtime pay on workers' wages rather than their job duties.

The state of Texas and business groups representing a range of industries had filed lawsuits challenging the rule, which had been consolidated.

Jordan, who was appointed by Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his first term, struck down the rule after saying in June that it was likely invalid and temporarily blocking it from being applied to Texas state employees. 

The rule would have required employers to pay overtime premiums to salaried workers who earn less than $1,128 per week, or about $58,600 per year, when they work more than 40 hours in a week, beginning Jan. 1, 2025, and it had temporarily raised the threshold to about $44,000 per year on July 1. 

The previous threshold of about $35,500, which was set in 2019, will now be back in effect. 

The Labor Department and the office of Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

David French, executive vice president of the National Retail Federation, one of the groups that sued, said the rule would have curtailed retailers' ability to offer greater benefits to lower-level salaried employees. 

The Labor Department can seek review of the ruling in the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is widely regarded as the most conservative federal appeals court. But the incoming Trump administration could abandon any attempt to revive the rule. 

Federal law exempts workers with "executive, administrative, and professional" (EAP) duties from receiving overtime pay, and the Labor Department has for decades used salary as one factor in deciding when that applies.

The Labor Department, in adopting the rule, said that lower-paid salaried workers often do the same jobs as hourly employees, but work more hours for no additional pay. The rule also established automatic increases in the salary threshold every three years to reflect wage growth.

Jordan on Friday agreed with Texas and the business groups that by substantially raising the salary level, the rule improperly jettisoned the duties requirement written into federal law. 

"The Department may impose some limitations on the scope of the EAP Exemption's operative terms, but it cannot enact rules that replace or swallow the meaning those terms have," Jordan wrote.

https://www.marketscreener.com/news/latest/US-judge-strikes-down-Biden-overtime-pay-rule-48381796/

Startups Like Neuralink And Science Corp. Are Aiming To Help The Blind See Again

 Companies like Elon Musk's Neuralink and Science Corp. are going to become bigger and bigger talking points heading into the future, as they are on the forefront of companies aiming to help blind people see. 

Company milestones are starting to make the possibilities of their respective technologies, which once seemed far off, appear as though they are in reach, according to a new report.

For example, in September, Neuralink gained FDA approval to fast-track its Blindsight vision tech, while last month, Science, led by former Neuralink President Max Hodak, reported clinical trial success in restoring vision for age-related macular degeneration.

Backed by growing investor interest and regulatory support, startups like Science ($150M raised) and Neuralink ($600M raised) are advancing brain-computer vision technology, according to Yahoo/Bloomberg.

Hodak told Bloomberg: “Restoring vision to patients will be the first killer app."

Science reported that 32 of 38 patients in its study experienced significant vision improvements, reading an average of five lines lower on an eye chart, with one patient improving by nearly 12 lines.

The Yahoo/Bloomberg report says that startups restoring sight are exploring diverse approaches.

Science is developing Prima, a retinal implant offering vision improvements through an 80-minute outpatient procedure. It complements future brain-based devices and has FDA breakthrough status, like Neuralink’s Blindsight.

While retinal implants show promise, some researchers aim for visual cortex implants, which could address severe retinal or optical nerve damage with greater resolution. Competing technologies, like cell therapy, are also advancing, with companies like Cellino raising significant funds.

Though sight restoration via electrodes often results in blurry flashes, patients report life-enhancing benefits. Neuralink's Blindsight aims to implant electrodes in the visual cortex, promising ambitious advancements as patient trials progress.

Neuralink President DJ Seo concluded on a podcast earlier this year. He spoke about the potential for a glasses-and-electrode system that could eventually go beyond treating blindness: “We’re currently limited by our biology in terms of the wavelength that we can see. But when you have an external camera with this BCI system, you’re not limited to that."

"You can have infrared, you can have UV, you can have whatever other spectrum that you want to see,” he concluded. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/startups-neuralink-and-science-corp-are-aiming-help-blind-see-again

Will RFK Jr make it all the way to HHS secretary?

by Vinay Prasad

Trump has announced that RFK Jr. will be his nominee for HHS secretary. But will he make it to the office? And will he be able to enact his agenda?

There are several practical parts to this question. First, will enough Republicans vote for him? He can lose no more than 3 senators. Second, will corporate interests push against him? How far will they go?

Of course, Trump might use a recess appointment to get him in, but he will more likely need a Senate confirmation. There are reasons to think he may lose this. He has a long history of statements that can be used against him. He has a several hundred billion dollar industry that will do everything possible to stop him. Many of these companies have lobbied throughout Congress. They will use those connections. Unlike, other controversial appointees, RFK Jr. will be the single greatest threat to profits in America.

If Matt Gaetz makes it, but RFK jr doesn’t; we must conclude that money talks, and his reason for dismissal was lobbying, even if another reason is given. Between now and the job there are many things that can derail a candidate. Think about Daschle and HHS.

Having said that, let me argue the other side of the coin, and make the case that he does make it to HHS secretary.

The case that he makes it…

Although he has many views, and many are controversial and incorrect, he has some views that are popular. He hates pollutants and hates the oversized and corrupt role of Pharma. These are popular ideas.

Unlike others, he is, in many ways, close to a traditional politician. He has political connections and experience navigating these circles.

Although not a doctor, he has a long-standing interest in health care.

He is part of Kennedy family and Trump supposedly likes him a lot.

Furthermore, he is already generating a strange cross the aisle appeal.

Jared Polis, the successful Democratic governor of Colorado endorses him. Polis says something similar to me about what precisely RFK jr’s stance on vaccines and mandates will be.

Finally, there is less of a shock factor— this has been coming for some time. RFK Jr endorsed Trump and it has been said he would play a role in the administration, this is in contrast with Gaetz, whom many were surprised about.

Now for the second question

Will RFK Jr. enacts his changes:

My prediction is no. He will be opposed at every turn. He may get one or two things done, and then the wheels of the system will stop him, sue him, halt him, and grind him down. There is too much money in health care, and the status quo is too powerful. The press opposes him entirely. If he is wise, he will take a center position as I propose, and pursue these 9 things for health care. If he pushes too hard, or goes after vaccines too much, he will be stopped. I would recommend he start with conflict of interest, as that ruins the current system and he is strongly anti-conflict.

What a Trump presidency can mean for health care

Vinay Prasad

·

Nov 6

Trump has won a decisive victory and most Americans think the country is on the wrong track. RFK Jr and Casey and Calley Means have been called in to help advise Trump about health care. While some have expressed concern about past statements by Mr. Kennedy, there are several avenues of reform that I believe everyone can agree with.

Read full story

Finally, I think it must be remembered that the recent origin of anti-vaccine sentiment did not start with RFK Jr. It started with Fauci and Walensky and Biden and others who pushed a COVID19 vaccine mandate with no data it halted transmission. Those actions, set the stage for widespread vaccine hesitancy. The blame is not with RFK but with their overzealous and incorrect actions, and some of us predicted this.

https://www.sensible-med.com/cp/151675578