Pharmaceutical companies have to charge all those high prices so they can fund research on new drugs. "An audit commissioned by Purdue, and introduced Monday during the company's bankruptcy proceedings, found that the Sackler family withdrew more than $12.2 billion from the company since federal regulators approved the sale of OxyContin in the mid-1990s. Roughly $10.7 billion of that sum was pulled since the start of 2008, after several Purdue executives had already pleaded guilty to misleading regulators and consumers about the drug's risks." It always was a fucking lie. And understand, this wasn't their salaries (which were also substantial). These were profits that they paid to themselves. And let us not really discuss the $35M being paid out as bonuses to Purdue Pharma executives this year.
"Australia experienced its hottest day on record on Wednesday and temperatures are expected to soar even higher as heatwave conditions embrace most of the country." It's fine. Everything is fine. We're all fine here. How are you?
"It's morning in Berkeley, California, and the Kiwibots are heading off to work… It's a real-world test of robot delivery that sometimes collides with reality." The final mile is the hardest.
"By some estimates, Americans paid $34 billion in overdraft fees in 2017 — fees incurred by people with $0 in their bank accounts who are often just waiting for their paychecks to come… Today on the show: we find out how paychecks and pay periods were born in the first place." And at the end of the show there is "new technology" that may help, and I just want to call bullshit on it. It sounds great, access your money when you need it. Except you're still paying fees. They may be lower than the $35 overdraft fee, but note that this company isn't seeing people transferring all the money they have to their bank accounts, but just enough to cover a (singular) bill. At almost $3 every time. So while that's one-tenth of the fee, it's still a fee to access money that is yours. Just pay people more (and include basic financial literacy, it won't help in this case because the problem is simply lack of income, but it's still good). And the story also ignores that even with biweekly pay, employees are still typically 1 to 2 weeks in arrears with their pay.
"Facebook says California’s new privacy law doesn’t apply to its trackers. These lawyers disagree."
"Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA have reached a binding agreement over their roughly $50 billion merger that will reshape the global car industry."
"(Boeing) is so important to the economy — it's the No. 1 exporter — that its decision this week to suspend production of its troubled 737 Max airplane is expected to reverberate throughout the manufacturing sector… Several analysts project that the move will slash economic growth by half a percentage point and eventually lead to layoffs."
"If the richest 1% of American households paid at the same rates they did in the 40s and 50s, the change could be transformative." For one, there would be no deficit.
"They call themselves the 'Sardines' — because they want to quietly pack Italy's main public squares like fish in a can. Organizers say their goal is to stop a far-right, anti-immigrant wave rising in Italian society and politics."
"The process for receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is already notoriously complicated, and the Trump administration is attempting to add yet another layer of complexity that critics say is aimed at slashing people’s benefits… The Trump administration’s proposed rule would another category called 'Medical Improvement Likely,' which would subject beneficiaries to disability reviews every two years." So much for cutting regulations.
"Maine Sen. Susan Collins announced Wednesday she intends to run for reelection, seeking a fifth term in what will likely be the most difficult campaign of her career." But she's very concerned about it… or something.
"The top U.S. diplomat for Ukraine, Bill Taylor, will leave his post at the end of the year, a current and a former U.S. official told NBC News on Tuesday." I don't expect anyone who testified to still have that job by the end of January. So continues the gutting of the State Department.
"President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been hospitalized for a cardiac event while serving his over seven-year sentence for charges related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, according to two sources familiar with his situation." Setup for a hardship commutation? Manafort attempted (and somewhat succeeded) in subverting our democracy. He's got 5 more years left on his sentence.
"Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Sean Hannity that he would seek to conduct any Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump according to the whims of the accused, promising to 'take my cues from the president’s lawyers.'" Want an example of white/rich privilege, there it is.
"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday bluntly acknowledged some of the political realities surrounding the upcoming Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, notably saying, 'I'm not impartial about this at all.'" Funny thing is, he must swear to be impartial when the trial starts. He has disqualified himself from his job. I hope Sen. Schumer has his immediate point of order ready to go after the swearing in (probably in January).
"Republicans in Congress are avidly denying the obvious truths about President Donald Trump’s serial criminality. Though they lack the votes to stop impeachment in the House of Representatives, they are poised to acquit Trump in the Senate, where they easily can block the necessary supermajority of 67 votes required to evict a president from the White House." Again, the DNC needs to actually explain this narrative to the public. One party no longer has any interest in governing, they only want to hold power.
"Impeachment seems to have struck a nerve in President Donald Trump. On the eve of the House’s impeachment vote, he sent a six-page public letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, replete with self-justification, recrimination, and accusation. I will leave the psychological profiling to others. My job is to address the constitutional arguments, such as they are, in the extraordinary document. They may or may not be made again on the floor of the Senate in the upcoming trial; regardless, Trump has now made them part of the historical record." Opinion piece. But stupidity is no defense in the face of the law.
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