"The pharmaceutical company Mylan says a generic version of its EpiPen anti-allergy device will be in pharmacies starting next week… The company is introducing the generic at a price of $300 for a two-pack, half the cost of its brand-name cousin." But still 3x what Epi-Pens costed just a few years ago. Plus the "'Families will continue to face sticker shock for medications and may be forced to make difficult choices until the pharmaceutical pricing system is reformed to address the increasing shift of costs directly to consumers,' (CEO Heather) Bresch said in the company's statement." Okay, last I knew there was no centralized pricing scheme for pharmaceuticals and it was up to the individual companies to set the price. Can anyone point to anything different? Until then these are just words to the effect of "not really our fault" when it's entirely their fault.
"As this post was publishing, the auction for coffee with Ivanka Trump was pulled from the Charitybuzz website. The link now redirects to its home page, with no explanation." I'm sure it was just for charity, but even soliciting for charity can be a form of influence peddling (depends on who get the tax advantage, also, you're still selling access). Remember in the election where this was this whole pay-to-play scandal against Clinton (and her family's foundation)? Remember how several government agencies investigated and found there was no basis for the claim. This is a member of the first family auctioning off their time. This is literally how "pay-for-play" works.
"Congressional Republicans quietly closed a year-long investigation into Flint, Michigan's crisis over lead in its drinking water, faulting both state officials and the Environmental Protection Agency… In letters to fellow Republicans, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Friday that Michigan and federal officials were slow in detecting high levels of lead in the water and did not act fast enough once the problem was discovered." So, basically, "it'll make Republicans look bad" so we'll shut it down. Also in the report, Rep. Jason Chaffetz writes, "The committee also found that the federal regulatory framework is so outdated that it sets up states to fail." This goes against the mantra of "no new regulations." So, yeah, embarrassing. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"China's Navy seizes American underwater drone in South China Sea." Oh fuck. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
Although there's now reports that they'll return it. And that Trump is taking credit, even though he didn't do anything but misspell a tweet about it.
"On Wednesday… a Google document entitled 'Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda' began making the rounds online. Its origin was the Twitter account of Ezra Levin… His tweet’s simple message, 'Please share w/ your friends to help fight Trump’s racism, authoritarianism, & corruption on their home turf,' belied three weeks of unpaid work by some three dozen mostly young progressives who had been collaborating on the document since the week of Thanksgiving.'" (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
Not that the NY Post is highly reputable, but… "Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin told a Manhattan federal judge in a court filing Thursday that neither she nor Anthony Weiner ever received FBI search warrants for emails found on her estranged husband’s computer — raising questions about whether FBI warrants for the emails were ever issued, and if so, to whom." Um, ein klein a bitte moment. (Grokked from Michele)
"Why does Trump publicly reject these intelligence agency conclusions and the bipartisan proposal for a congressional investigation? As president-elect, he should have a strong interest in presenting a united front against Russia’s interference with the electoral process at the core of American democracy." Yeah, it's also been bothering me. The excuse of "thinking it legitimizes his election" doesn't fully wash beyond a superficial gaze. And as I've stated (and what has become apparent) there are just too many connections between Trump's staff and Putin. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
"Tucked away on a corner of the site, next to links for Twitter and YouTube, is a link to another social media platform that most Americans have never heard of: VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook. It is a clue that Patriot News, like many sites that appeared out of nowhere and pumped out pro-Trump hoaxes tying his opponent Hillary Clinton to Satanism, pedophilia and other conspiracies, is actually run by foreigners based overseas." James Dowson is what they call "a true believer", which means he's convinced of his own superiority and his importance.
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