District 1 is where I live and vote. County Board pays a better paycheck than being a town mayor, or in the legislature, but it is not nearly as slick a deal as the current board gave former Board boss Rhonda Sivarajah when her residency in district was questioned while she held one of the Board's District seats. Cozy folks.
Link.
Two Strib links. One an AP feed, the other local content. An MJ booster party candidate croaked before election day. The Republican candidate challenging the Craig incumbancy wanted an election delay on that basis, and lost the challenge. It turns out, per the second Strib local content link, that the Republicans instigated the MJ booster's candidacy and fronted some money for him in hopes of siphoning off Craig votes. Reprehensible? Or worse? You decide. Minnesota Republicans being Republicans never fails to amaze and cause loathing. (Amazement and loathing, not fear and loathing. You cannot fear anything that inept in practices and that corrupt in motivation. But you can loath loathe.)
- that last sentence - fixed spelling as an update -
This DWT link, in part, including part of a quote within that item:
One of the demographic cohorts most likely to be sticking with Trump are poorly educated white evangelicals. On Sunday evening, Matt Kaufman, a former editor for Focus on the Family’s Citizen magazine, explained to Bulwark readers why Christians should dump Trump. A conservative Christian himself, Kaufman is offended by Trump's torrential lying and gaslighting; pathological narcissism; pettiness, bullying, and cruelty; Twitter tantrums and schoolyard name-calling; corruption and abuse of public power for private interests; assaults on institutions and standards across government and culture; admiration and emulation of dictators; derogation of public servants, statesmen, and heroes; elevation of cranks, crooks, and clowns; bizarre rants and conspiracy-mongering; shameless appeals to the ugliest instincts; blatant racism; staggering ineptitude; and sheer stupidity. And that was just the beginning! He claims there are many Christians like him-- disgusted with Trump-- who are keeping it to themselves. But most conservatives won't abandon him because they see him as the lesser evil compared to Democrats.
That’s their eternal bottom line. No matter what this president does, no matter how indefensible, the greatest dangers they see always come from the left. How can I fail to back Trump, they wonder, with those threats looming? The closer Nov. 3 comes, the more urgently some of them want to know.
...If a president is (say) an utterly amoral, unstable, incompetent, insecure egomaniac, then he’s just got to go. Likewise if he acts like an autocrat, a thug or a criminal. Or if he’s beholden to hostile foreign powers. Or if he tramples the constitutional boundaries of his office, undermines basic norms and institutions, shreds the social fabric, poisons civil discourse, promotes tribalism and sets Americans at each other’s throats. He’s. Got. To. Go.
...It’s not enough for us to behave well individually if we collectively support someone who behaves like Trump. How many people will believe we’re not motivated by hate and fear if we tie ourselves to someone who traffics in both-- someone who invites the worst elements of society to come out and play?
There is much more in that single post, it arguably rambles, but if there's a heart to the post, it is quoted above.
Image source, with AP's swearing-in story, should you care, at Seattle PI.
For a refresher look at that op-ed, NYT here.
Now, adults absent? See, Guardian reporting on this substitution of catch phrase to "sue if you must," per the puffing match between lawyers, for clients, arising per the "publishing" of this screen capture image.
If you are an adult, would you stay in a room with either that spousal pair or Lincoln Project folks producing those billboards? Two room options, no adults. Just lawyers.
Burns re Hagedorn first, then Timmer re Barrett.
Burns headlines, " MN-01: Rep. Hagedorn sticks to Trump like a limpet."
First, that headline makes me disagree somewhat. I envision, per Quora here and here, remoras, a host of them - all Republicans, Hagedorn, Lindsey Graham, all swimming around the big predator, grooming the big predator, getting "table scraps," feeling safe doing so. Nimble enough to not fear the shark turning on them.
It's not that they like the shark. They may not, and could be quietly hostile or indifferent. What they like - They like the relationship. The benefit they get over their short, grim, petty little public-office lifetimes. The nature of Republican politicians, hungry for security - hence, hanging with THE SHARK.
Back to left.mn - Burns writing - again this link.
Timmer, (who writes in a way I envy and would try to imitate if I could), this link.
No quotes. Read both items. And a special hat tip to Burns, whose posting justified my being able to use that image of the Republican Senators and Reps whose names we all know - and "respect" for who they are and the behavior they display.
Strib headlining: Inside Minnesota's Boogaloo movement: Armed and eager for societal collapse - Militia-style extremists "know we have a target on us," a New Brighton man says. -- By Stephen Montemayor Star Tribune - July 18, 2020
Quoting, starting with reportedly secret law enforcement document disclosure:
According to the documents, authorities raced to confirm reports that white supremacists were planning to burn Black churches in Minneapolis. Agents also tracked the movement of both local and national Black Panther activists participating in Floyd demonstrations.
Another bulletin later described motorcycle gangs capitalizing on the unrest to move increased amounts of heroin into the Twin Cities.
The files also mentioned antifa activists, citing at least one police informant warning that antifa would use “vehicle borne improvised explosive devices” to target National Guard and other law enforcement. There have been no confirmed reports of such attacks.
Correspondence among law enforcement in Minnesota reflects the growing profile of the Boogaloo Bois as unrest spread beyond the Twin Cities. Solomon also appeared on camera in a Daily Mail news report as he and others helped guard a tobacco shop.
[...] Both Solomon and experts who have tracked the movement add that it was initially miscast as an offshoot of far-right white power extremism.
“Our whole thing is, we believe in freedom and absolute liberty for everyone regardless of race, creed, sex, gender, whatever; we don’t care,” Solomon said.
J.J. MacNab, a fellow at the George Washington University Program on Extremism, said the confusion can distract from the movement’s true beliefs and plans, particularly “accelerationism,” which holds that the political order can be dismantled through increased civil disorder.
“Just because they’re not white supremacists doesn’t mean that they aren’t antigovernment extremists wanting to take down cops and the rest of the government,” MacNab said. “What they want to do is to kill cops, to kill politicians, to start chaos so that their anarcho-capitalist world can emerge. It’s accelerationism. It’s just not white supremacist accelerationism.”
Kathleen Belew, an assistant professor of history at the University of Chicago, called the Boogaloo Bois “a new name for something that is very old,” following in the footsteps of survivalist movements. It draws on some of the same paramilitary strategies deployed by other movements in trying to generate an apocalyptic war, she said, in this case against the government rather than among races.
In Minnesota, Solomon said, Boogaloo Bois rarely gather in groups of more than 20 or 30. More common are training exercises in smaller “squads.”
The takeaway, what one local Minnesota individual says of his allegiance may not be a script for a covert strictly organized movement, but rather his view of himself and others he congregates with. Whatever the national impact, these allegedly are not ultra right wing white supremacists, per the local description and quoted sources. More like wanting a different government and law enforcement orientation; neither populist, socialist, religio-extremist cultists [unlike Ms. Barrett], nor biker types. More loosely Pepe the Frog adherents. Reportedly, an off-island market for uglier than average Hawaiian shirts.
Strange? Decide that for yourself.
UPDATE: Gary had earlier emailed a link to an online report consistent with Strib's latest. With the one source and uncertainty Crabgrass did not then post. This latest item fits the earlier Strib item Gary pointed out. Armed, apparently, but not antifa nor rigidly anti-antifa. Bois just wanting to be free? Okay. Good enough. Moving on.
Strib, here and here in reply. The whole thing was a softball game.
Klobuchar made my short list earlier, playing hardball teamed with Biden, Clyburn and others to undermine a chance at actual decency and progress. On that list with Tom Perez, Little South Bend Mayor, Beto, Harris, others. Pure and simple, the Biden inner party cramdown sucked then and still sucks.
BOTTOM LINE ON KLOBUCHAR: Kin in spirit with Bloomberg. Not as rich.
UPDATE: View it for yourself. Are you proud that this is the senior person representing Minnesota in the Senate. Progress shudders.
Amy questioning Amy, progressives not welcome.
Cult presence in Minnesota, while headquartered in Notre Dame town, Indiana.
The Barrett Court woman is in the cult, it's affiliated with the Roman Church, and suspect.
People of Feeling Self Importance, People Who Feel Special, those are two better names; even while their praise of each other stands as a rhetorical anchor for the name they give themselves. BOTTOM LINE: A pompous name, a turn-off.
________UPDATE_______
Softball, this video, and note the remainder of video available per autoplay or selecting a follow-up softball pitch. What's a question, what's a speech? What's up when presented a done deal - Mitch having the votes? Theater of softball.
Open up a Google search tab in your browser, and search = Trump.
Are the returns favorable? Unfavorable? Google tracks your search and usage history, and creates a profile. Would your search returns mirror your past, per the profile of you that Google keeps?
Being sued - might that bias the search algorithm? Not Google, no, never.
But for now that question is a hypothetical. We have no evidence either way, beyond we do that search, we see the results. My search returns were generally not favorable toward Trump, but there could be multiple causes - the profile Google has of me being the most likely influence. Or the predominant mood of the day might simply be anti-Trump.
UPDATE: Seattle PI has its five takeaways from the Google lawsuit. One -
DO POLITICS LURK BEHIND THE CASE?
From the timing of the case to its co-plaintiffs, the Justice Department's lawsuit raises unanswered questions about the politics behind the move. For starters, there's the fact that it filed the suit exactly two weeks before Election Day, a time when most administrations generally try to avoid making splashy moves for fear of being seen as attempting to influence elections.
It also did so in conjunction with just 11 states, all of whom have Republican attorneys general, despite the fact that all 50 states kicked off an investigation of Google roughly a year ago.
The attorneys general of New York, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah released a statement Monday saying they have not concluded their investigation into Google and would want to consolidate their case with the Justice Department’s if they decide to file.
Actually, the PI published an AP feed, so it's the AP asking if politics is a factor.
FURTHER: WaPo has posted the Justice Department's complaint online here.
FURTHER; This Google search.
FURTHER: Justice Dept. press release page re the litigation.
FURTHER: cnet.com coverage, closing its post -
A 'nonpartisan' fight
Inside the DOJ, the timing of Tuesday's lawsuit had reportedly become the source of in-fighting. Most of the lawyers on the probe argued they needed more time to build a strong case against Google, but Attorney General William Barr is said to have overruled their guidance, according to The New York Times. Some of the attorneys were concerned the aggressive timeline, with work completed before the election, was to ensure the Trump administration gets credit for taking on a big tech company.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle applauded the DOJ complaint, though Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, scrutinized its timing. "For years we have heard complaints that Google has used its dominance in online search markets to undermine rivals and limit competition," Klobuchar said in a statement. "I am pleased that the Justice Department is finally taking action, but I hope the questionable timing of the suit so close to the election doesn't undercut the work that must be done for American consumers in the weeks and months ahead."
Should you expect vigorous follow-up from the Biden administration?
Should you expect net neutrality to get a big push from Joe Biden?
Would Joe Biden be expected to balance and expand Supreme Court membership, and would it be better to wait for an AOC presidency? (A separate question aside from balancing the Court to better fit the aims and feelings of the people, might Biden do the opposite; i.e., enlarge membership now via clone expansion of the Roberts-Barrett Court's business-friendly composition? To do so in order to make it harder later for a successor progressive to balance things in line with popular expectations and aims, when/if following the Biden time in office? Call it a roadblock strategy, call it a speedbump tactic, yet Biden and the Court possibilities make one want to hear the question Pence pushed at Harris answered - where it's not Kamala's call, but Joe's = Are you going to try to pack raise the membership number for the Court, while in office?) Biden should answer that. To say he'd like to have like-minded people on the Court is to ignore that he already has.
FURTHER: appleinsider.com posts -
Google's deal with Apple to maintain its standing as the default search engine for iOS devices is reportedly at the heart of a recent Justice Department lawsuit against the tech giant.
[...] Within Google, the prospect of losing the default position was thought to be so dire that it was internally dubbed "Code Red," according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.
Google search is the default search engine in Safari and for Siri on iPhone and iPad devices. According to the Journal, that has been a major source of revenue for both companies. [... Google pays Apple a fee] Although neither company has confirmed how much the deal is actually worth, the lawsuit indicates that it accounts for between 15% and 20% of Apple's annual profits. That suggests payments of as much as $11 billion.
Furthermore, the prominence of the deal between the two tech giants in the Justice Department's lawsuit likely indicates that it will intercede in the relationship. [Apple ultimately a co-defendant; together they oligopolize the phone search market?]
In 2018, the department says, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet/Google CEO Sundar Pichai met to discuss how both companies could work together to drive search revenue growth. After the meeting, a senior Apple executive told a Google counterpart that "our vision is that we work as if we are one company," the lawsuit claims.
Sherman Act language fits. Microsoft promotes its Bing web search and its Edge browser as default applications for its operating system; as an example of others bundling and vertically integrating. Microsoft and Amazon compete in selling cloud storage and services. Search, browser, phone OS, webmail, video, maps, entertainment content - Google is big in each.
FURTHER: AP is reporting that a judge has been assigned.
Link. If you stand for and represent donor and lobbying powers, you can be Supreme.
Who knows or cares among those with installation power about how far you'd allow elasticity or austerity attaching to and allowed population aims - on social issues only - to yin or yang. Speeches are for social issue positions - appointment approval hinges on having played the game as money wants it. Dems take contributions; Repuublicans do too, and career moves after leaving office are not independent of conduct while in office. The right stuff. Approval. Both parties, in reality, if not in rhetoric. What matters; capital friendly. Ask Joe, the Obamas, the Clintons, Schumer.
Tina Smith is the personification of why bother? Franken stepped aside, millionaire Dayton appointed millionaire Smith to the Franken seat. No heartbeat was missed in cementing the status quo. CounterPunch:
With the Presidential election weeks away now and the country rigidly polarized—people violently divided on matters rooted deeply in their moral and cultural biases and unreconcilable—an urgent call is made from true believers in the democratic process, liberals mainly, to vote.
While this is nothing new, the pressure this cycle is more intense than ever. The mantra goes like this: if you don’t vote for their candidate, the other will win, and that will be the end of America.
[...] Two elements in the mantra need revision. First, we don’t have, have never had, a democracy; at best, a hamstrung republic. Second, not voting won’t end America and whatever you wish to call what we do have. America is ending itself fine on its own, regardless of voting, campaigning, and all the Dada imbecile trappings of our polity.
So, what drives this persistent, passionate adjuration? Why are so many so certain of its critical importance? The idea of democracy, at its origins, was to entrust governance to the Demos, the People. It was a noble concept that, when implemented, was quickly subverted by brute economic power and has been, when tried, ever since.
Human history, as far back as we can trace it, has been a tale of the tyranny of economic power in various forms, and the struggle of the people for equity, endlessly waged and endlessly defeated. Until very recently, power had no need to disguise itself because its mandate was said to be divine. Only in the last few hundred years has a rising tide of popular discontent forced power to camouflage its cruelty and corruption.
[...] A rank simplification here… If I have an unstable power over you and your group while taking all that is yours by force, to obtain security I need you to accept my theft as justified. So I create a system that lets you endorse me by voting. If necessary, I allow a rival to oppose me. If he’s a flunky, he loses graciously. If not, my election bureau will find that he was beaten legitimately but your voice was heard.
That’s the primitive model of the “democracy” ruse, employed by all absolutists: caudillos, dictators, military capos. Nations claiming to be democracies refined their methods to disguise their predatory nature. The fact that every one is an exploitative Capitalist Tyranny obviously required a more subtle, persuasive masking.
[...] Allowing choice conceals the fact that “democratic” government, just as all others, serves only its economic elite. People have to be convinced this is not so, that they are sovereign, that by voting they control the policies of their nation. Thus, the intense effort nations invest in sacralizing the vote, and the plea that we do our civic duty. We are all enjoined to act in this barefaced, shopworn charade.
A century ago, battling the monstrous power of rampant Capitalism, Emma Goldman said, “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.” She saw that the core purpose of “democratic” government had nothing to do with improving the lot of its people, and everything to do with maximizing profit for the Capitalist juggernaut. No country on earth has greater government/Capitalism symbiosis than America.
[...] Try to recall the last legislation that socio-economically benefited the American people at large. Stumped? That might be because it was before you were born. Two bills have passed that were indisputably for the public good: Social Security, in 1935 under FDR, which also provided for unemployment and aid to mothers with dependent children; and Medicare/Medicaid, under LBJ in 1965. That’s it.
Take that in. Digest that. There has been, in 55 years—the better part of a normal lifetime—no legislation to significantly socially and economically benefit 300 million ordinary American people. None.
[...] The indoctrination is being reinforced by the unity of most Deep State heavyweights appalled at the ludicrous, pants-dropping burleycue Trump has made of the presidency and, more importantly, desperate to regain control of what they regard as their very own ship of state. With fronting by the Dem Politburo’s Crone and Geezer junta, and all media—visual and print—but Fox, they are all in on replacing their nightmare with the appalling ghost of the reprehensible Joe Biden.
Apart from the fact that Joe is far past his sell-by date, Biden has been on the morally and ethically wrong side of every major policy issue that has arisen throughout his endless tenure as the Senator from MBNA. The list is long. Let it suffice that he shilled for mass jailing of black men, cheerled for the Iraq invasion, lauds the Zionist Nazism of Israel, and is a major War Machine flack baiting China and Russia. Oh, and there’s the multi-million black bag job he and son, Hunter, pulled with Burisma in that hog’s nest of corruption, Ukraine.
When you live in a false, rotten Capitalist “democracy” in which there is no hope of reform; when the same vile crimes and depredations will continue at home and abroad under either contemptible phony; when nothing of value to people or the world is even considered by either dead soul, then engaging in fine gradations of imposed evils is a lunatic’s exercise.
And, Tina, you are not a part of any solution, you are the problem, so get out your own vote or see the talk radio guy do precisely as you'd do, if continuity has its way.
Put another way, let Dayton get out your vote. What have you done to make society better? Right, stripped to the bare essentials, you've not done one fucking thing of value. You and Archie can kiss your portfolio, and cash in a part of it to pay phone bank BS. You don't deserve reelection, but Jason Lewis is worse than you.
That's all you've got, in having my vote. Another lesser evil choice offered by the corrupt two-party exploitative fascism imposed upon people of our nation.
Tina, your emails clutter my in-box.
 |
| Why would you? |
Sure. I do trust Rudi, but only as far as I trust, and like, his golfing partners; i.e., not at all because none of the foursome is worth a pinch of - trust. Not Bubba of lust [Lolita Express passenger, several times]. Not Bloomberg the Republican in Democrat clothing, the Bernie backstabber. Not Fred Trump's landlord-money-grubbing-conscience-deprived-business-failure $750/yr income tax son.
They're lost sinners. As a thought experiment, could you pick a WORSE foursome? (Presuming Hillary does not golf. And that Pence does not golf with another woman without his wife present.)
_________UPDATE___________
https://www.google.com/search?q=ny+post+hunter+biden+emails+rudy+verification&lr=&hl=en&as_qdr=all&sxsrf=ALeKk020n7dJ9ytSikXxTMYElJkNrDaDkQ:1603125646499&ei=jsGNX7H2HcK8-gTG4JTAAw&start=20&sa=N&ved=2ahUKEwix9cG1jMHsAhVCnp4KHUYwBTg4ChDy0wN6BAgLEDE&biw=1179&bih=548 | ny post hunter biden emails rudy verification - Google Search
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/biden-emails-burisma-rudy-giulliani-russian-hackers-ukraine-new-york-post.html | Rudy Found Biden Emails, Totally Weren’t Stolen by Russia
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/new-york-post-insiders-slag-flimsy-hunter-biden-stories.html | New York Post Insiders Slag ‘Flimsy’ Hunter Biden Stories
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/14/biden-campaign-lashes-out-new-york-post-429486 | Biden campaign lashes out at New York Post - POLITICO
https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/10/17/biden-email-episode-illustrates-risk-to-trump-from-giuliani/ | Biden Email Episode Illustrates Risk to Trump from Giuliani
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/14/experts-dismiss-garbage-fire-hunter-biden-expos-in-ny-post-seems-like-a-complete-fabrication/ | Experts dismiss "garbage fire" Hunter Biden exposé in NY Post: "Seems like a complete fabrication" | Salon.com
https://www.salon.com/2020/09/14/rudy-giuliani-collaborated-on-smear-of-joe-biden-with-active-russian-agent/ | Rudy Giuliani collaborated on smear of Joe Biden with "active Russian agent" | Salon.com
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/16/politics/russian-disinformation-investigation/index.html | US authorities investigating if recently published emails are tied to Russian disinformation effort targeting Biden - CNNPolitics
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/17/924506867/analysis-questionable-n-y-post-scoop-driven-by-ex-hannity-producer-giuliani | N.Y. Post's Questionable Scoop Driven By Ex-Hannity Producer And Rudy Giuliani : NPR
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/10/17/fbi-probes-possible-russia-link-hunter-biden-data-trump-ally-giuliani/3661895001/ | FBI looks for Russia link in Hunter Biden data given to NY Post
https://nypost.com/2020/10/14/email-reveals-how-hunter-biden-introduced-ukrainian-biz-man-to-dad/ | Email reveals how Hunter Biden introduced Ukrainian biz man to dad
https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-post-hunter-joe-biden-giuliani-red-flags-disinformation-2020-10 | New York Post story about Hunter Biden has several red flags - Business Insider
Also: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=HUNTER+BIDEN+LAWYER+requests+laptop+refused&ia=web
Does this laptop/email questionable story make any difference?
It is still, Trump for four more, or Biden for at least four. Smokescreening and spinmeistering aside, vote one or vote the other or don't vote either.
Fretting and hand-wringing over something traceable in chain of custody through the hands of Rudy G. - Well - Besides trust Rudy - What if this computer person in Delaware who just now surfaced had taken things to Bloomberg instead of to Rudy - would that make the story and the physical thing - the hardware - trustworthy?
If Jeff Bezos and his newspaper were in the chain of custody, would that make you happier? Back to trust Rudy, or not, with still no forensic analysis of the "copy" of the laptop hard drive, never mind forensic scrutiny of the actual item itself - in custodial hands we know nothing about - a laptop in third-party hands to begin with after someone left the laptop at someplace, in the hands of someone - things get thin in terms of trustworthy stewardship of a hardware piece of evidence.
To me, it's bullshit or of as much interest as if bullshit; but readers can feel how they each care to, about this entire late October pile. TRUMP HAS GOT TO BE OUSTED IS THE BOTTOM LINE AT CRABGRASS. Feel free to feel otherwise. As you like it.
_________FURTHER UPDATE__________
ZeroHedge, here, here and here. Is it all spin, or is Biden on a true hotseat?
You get Rudy, and then you get Steve Bannon. Trust does not have infinite elasticity, stretch it too far and it breaks.
In any event, 2016, 2020, Bernie would easily have won, each time.
This laptop/hard drive business smells of a forgery, but we wait, and we see.
____________________
Yes, I already voted by mail, for Joe; based on lesser evil belief. Based on Bernie's conceding and backing.
__________FURTHER UPDATE__________
Politics being local, Gary in St. Cloud, continuing loyal posting of GOP talking points; about Biden, here titled, "Hunter Biden-Joe Biden Scandal keeps getting worse for Joe - October 19th, 2020," and largely the same thing, here; and about Tina Smith, here.
Having difficulty getting comments onto Gary's site, thoughts at Crabgrass about the titled Biden post:
So what? Nothing about Hunter Biden translates into "Well, let's give Trump-Pence four more." Presidential election time is lesser evil time, and you, Gary, have a hard sell trying to call Trump the lesser evil after four years of lying even over inconsequential stuff - steady lying - and ineptitude over the pandemic management crisis. Willfully bad policy propagation killing 225,000 citizens is a greater evil than anything Hunter Biden did. Where Joe is not responsible for Hunter's adult lifestyle any more than Trump is for Ivanka and Jarad's. And profiteering over holding the Presidency, hotel, golf estates and all? That was shameful yet the man has no sense of shame; being only Fred Trump's landlord progeny. The $750 tax payer! Obscene beyond Hunter, by far and not by mere degrees.
The Tina trashing from Gary, title: Tina Smith supports court-packing
October 18th, 2020, ignores context, per Crabgrass opinion:
The thing is Republicans packed the court. They had the chance. They did it. Chief Justice plus. Expanding the number of justices would unpack the stacked deck making it more representative of things the U.S. of A. holds in the range of policy options actually embraced, including things wanted by a majority of the people such as decent medical care for all, and not elite fast tracking with all others left to self-treat with a limited over-the-counter range of stuff. I can get gauze at the pharmacy as good as used at Mayo clinic, but getting a scan or a range of scans is major league stuff, ONLY.
Be fair about the truth, Gary.
UPDATE: Bankers/owners/savants: Davos, 1, 2 and 3. A new phrase, "Law and New World Order." Like it? Love it? Trump seized, "Law and Order" while Biden fits but studiously avoids mention these days of the new phrase or anything near it. Just being the non-Trump. Getting there. Another new phrase, "Two Party Fascism." Ask Kasich or the Clintons about that. Kapital uber Alles.
__________FURTHER UPDATE_________
This is viewed at Crabgrass as an important post. The spirit seeming to be widespread is that Biden replaces Trump, per November and earlier voting, and that an orderly transition happens in January, perhaps with a Biden to Trump "move on" committment much as Obama ignored Bush era torture abuses.
Biden's will be a Law and New World Order term. Expecting a single term, then Harris and a primary challenger who's a progressive, Harris winning the primary, somebody besides Pence on the Republican side, Cruz perhaps. The mood of people after four years of Biden is difficult to forecast, even for six years from now so that mid-term election changes and 2024 outcomes, both open to pure guessing. But by November vote counting, expect enough of a blue wave to hold the House by an increased margin, and to perhaps tip the Senate.
Biden and both houses? There was Obama and both houses, and they served warmed over Heritage Foundation Romneycare; so expect little. Hope for a surprise. Mediocrity over decades generally can be bet on to remain mediocre today, tomorrow. Ditto, ambition. Lincoln Project will be like a cancer, similar to PATRIOT Tea Party dreck, but from the muddled middle outward to worsen the Democratic Party and the hubris of its legacy human impediments.
Trust a promise given to others than US. Do not expect fundamental change.
All politics is local, so all politics touches Coon Rapids' policing decision making.
Part of suppression of peaceful assembly is when cops come in badge heavy in military equipment and start swinging truncheons. It happens. Denials can be made but they are false even before being stated. A local news outlet published, "CRPD to get grant-funded riot gear " The item states in part:
Council members approved a memorandum of understanding with Anoka County following a public hearing Oct. 7. The grant required the memorandum to ensure funds are spent within the city for law enforcement purposes.
The city is eligible for a $10,373 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, which the city intends to use for protective gear and less-than-lethal equipment.
[...] “This year we’re looking to enhance our defensive tactics gear relating to riots,” Police Chief Brad Wise said.
The grant will be spent on seven sets of mobile field force gear, which includes helmets and padded equipment, Wise said. The money also will be used to purchase six additional sets of helmets, gas masks and batons and an M-40 device used to fire gas canisters into crowds, according to Wise.
“Frankly it saddens me that I am asking for this stuff to be honest,” Wise said. “I wish I didn’t need to.”
In total the purchase will cost approximately $10,734, but only about $362 will be paid by Coon Rapids residents.
The city has not needed the equipment for events within is borders, but Coon Rapids police were deployed to Minneapolis during the protests and riots earlier this year, Wise said.
Frankly, it saddens me to see a top cop dissembling. Money need not be spent on militarization, chemical weapons launchers, etc.
THERE IS GRANT MONEY TO BE USED FOR POLICE PURPOSES. FINE. BUY BODY CAMS. THAT WAY CITIZENS CAN MORE EASILY PURSUE REMEDIES AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY.
USE THE CAMS REGULARLY AND REQUIRE THEY BE ON FULLTIME DURING "CROWD CONTROL." FAILURE TO RUN A BODY CAM WHEN REQUIRED BY WRITTEN POLICY SHOULD BE GROUNDS FOR IMMEDIATE DISMISSAL, WITH THAT REQUIREMENT IN PLACE AS A PART OF ANY POLICE - MUNICIPALITY EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT, UNION OR OTHERWISE.
Yes, this may be a "who cares" for readers outside of Coon Rapids city limits. It should not be. An example of a bad practice can and should reach beyond those affected by proximity to the bad outcome. Everyone should consider George Floyd's death, and how riots grew out of badge heaviness during peaceful protesting.
BOTTOM LINE: Paramilitary policing is unwise, and should be discouraged by thinking city officials. While thinking city officials are rare animals, they do exist in small numbers, and their best thoughts should be heeded.
Greater evil politics is the motivational propellant envisioned by Crabgrass which serves to explain the early voting trend. Nonetheless, WaPo has it wrong, headline to end, saying:
Anybody enthusiastic about Joe Biden who is not Bloomberg or some other wealthy buyer of politicians has to have his/her head examined.
Yes, I voted lesser evil. This time. Again as often. (Last cycle I declined to vote for any evil, neither Hillary nor Trump, and who knows, the Clintons may be a greater measure of evil than the Trumps - it's too close to call.)
But Joe. He stinks.
Trump, he's clearly worse and has proven that time and again over his four years, so far. Bad judges. Bad VP. Bad appointees. Bad family.
Just Trump. Bad to the Bone. Killing people during pandemic times.
So, Joe? If he or anyone else says he'll win because of "enthusiasm" we progressives in a single voice should call bullshit on that notion.
WaPo, owned by Bezos, may be enthusiastic that Joe will keep Amazon largely free of state sales taxes the brick and mortar outlets have to pay.
But Biden? Harris? Mediocrity and ambition is not a good blend.
__________UPDATE_________
AP coverage, via Seattle PI headlining gets the headline clearer,
However, same judgmental terminology in alleged news reporting, not presented as the editorializing it is, with an opening paragraph:
More than 17 million Americans have already cast ballots in the 2020 election, a record-shattering avalanche of early votes driven both by Democratic enthusiasm and a pandemic that has transformed the way the nation votes.
Again, uncalled for - not evidence but a questionable inference from evidence - use of the word "enthusiasm."
No point repeating at length that Joe is Joe and enthusiasm is enthusiasm while the overlap need not be large and likely is not. So, moving on, this quote, mid-item:
So far the turnout has been lopsided, with Democrats outvoting Republicans by a 2-1 ratio in the 42 states included in The Associated Press count. Republicans have been bracing themselves for this early Democratic advantage for months, as they've watched President Donald Trump rail against mail-in ballots and raise unfounded worries about fraud. Polling, and now early voting, suggest the rhetoric has turned his party's rank and file away from a method of voting that, traditionally, they dominated in the weeks before Election Day.
That gives Democrats a tactical advantage in the final stretch of the campaign. In many critical battleground states, Democrats have “banked” a chunk of their voters and can turn their time and money toward harder-to-find infrequent voters.
But it does not necessarily mean Democrats will lead in votes by the time ballots are counted. Both parties anticipate a swell of Republican votes on Election Day that could, in a matter of hours, dramatically shift the dynamic.
“The Republican numbers are going to pick up,” said John Couvillon, a GOP pollster who is tracking early voting. “The question is at what velocity, and when?”
Couvillon said Democrats can't rest on their voting lead, but Republicans are themselves making a big gamble. A number of factors, from rising virus infections to the weather, can impact in-person turnout on Election Day. “If you're putting all your faith into one day of voting, that's really high risk,” Couvillon said.
That’s why, despite Trump’s rhetoric, his campaign and party are encouraging their own voters to cast ballots by mail or early and in-person. The campaign, which has been sending volunteers and staffers into the field for months despite the pandemic, touts a swell in voter registration in key swing states like Florida and Pennsylvania — a sharp reversal from the usual pattern as a presidential election looms.
Inference is at play whether it is "enthusiasm" as Mainstream Media wants to say, or anti-Trump animus as Crabgrass says, but the fact is Dem voters are early birds.
Turnout indications are favorable to Dems because of the ratio between the early voters for each party, but election day is not nearly rendered moot, and Trump haters who are also Dem inner party sorts need to not become complacent, as was the case with pre-election polling, 2016.
In closing, Bernie would have won easily in 2016 had he not been torpedoed by the likes of Obama and Tom Perez, et al., and it would be no context contest, not even close, if Bernie had not been done in by the Clyburn and fringe candidate shift before the South Carolina and deep south primary voting, 2020.
Harris had dropped out before the fringe candidate bailout (can you say Amy, can you say Pete). She had that little wind in her sails. Nobody liked her enough to get her above single digits, and now, VP nominee. Strange happenings.
Progressives got jobbed, big time, and each and every one would be justified to refuse the lesser evil square dance, this time. Trump, however, is such a peice of work that progressives are put into the grin-and-bear-it posture. AGAIN.
The Dem donor class and inner party donor-slaves have succeeded where they failed in 2016. Long term repercussions can be debated. Yet as Keynes famously said, "In the long term we're all dead anyway."
Bless Joe. Bless Kamala. Just never say "enthusiastic" about either, if you are looking at progressive sentiment.
Choice? MIA this time. It's hatefully narrow, A disaster vs GOP-lite.
Yes, I voted GOP-lite. And still have self-doubt for having done so.
AOC would make a hell of a great President; not Harris. In a gender based pairing. 2024, let us hope there is an actual, real, choice. A progressive vs. a non-progressive, let the chips fall as they may with the MSM propagandists doing their all yet again, for GOP-lite.
A giant populous may wake up, despite all the tons of cash spent to forestall such a happening. May Michael Bloomberg choke to death on his fucking money!
May FOX together with MSNBC perish. Soon. May alternate internet outlets lessen MSM power, and may enlightenment prevail.
Bet against it, sanity says so. But we can HOPE. For CHANGE. Beyond sloganeering.
_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
The Seattle PI item continues:
Republicans argue that these signs of enthusiasm are meaningless — Democratic early voters are people who would have voted anyway, they say. But an AP analysis of the early vote shows 8% of early voters had never cast a ballot before, and 13.8% had voted in half or fewer of previous elections for which they were eligible.
The data also show voters embracing mail voting, which health officials say is the safest way to avoid coronavirus infection while voting. Of the early voters, 82% cast ballots through the mail and 18% in person. Black voters cast 10% of the ballots cast, about the same as their share of the national electorate, according to the AP analysis of data from L2, a political data firm. That's a sign that those voters, who have been less likely to vote by mail than white people and Latinos, have warmed to the method.
Mail ballots so far have skewed toward older voters, with half coming from voters over age 64. Traditionally, younger and minority voters send their mail ballots in closer to Election Day or vote in person.
The mail ballots already returned in several states dwarf the entire total in prior elections. In Wisconsin, more than five times as many mail ballots have been cast compared with the entire number in 2016. North Carolina has seen nearly triple the number so far.
In-person early voting began this week in several major states and also broke records, particularly in crowded, Democratic-leaning metropolitan areas. In Texas, Houston's Harris County saw a record 125,000 ballots cast. In Georgia, hours-long lines threaded from election offices through much of the state's urban areas.
Voter turnout seems to have captured the news; voter suppression effort being real, but undermined by the will of many to vote against the greater evil. Turnout will matter.
There's a new top sidebar image - click the image to read the story. For phone users of this site, this link.
Mitch, how is he doing? Trump and Mitch failing to get another Covid agreement with the House, where concerns for those besides corporate donors exists, is not the highest and best Mitch can reach. Concerns? What concerns?
Presuming Mitch could also get the Walter Reed special treatment, if infected. Presuming Mitch does not rent housing so he would not face eviction. AOC's district - well, they must be deplorables to Mitch - they vote Dem after all. Presuming such things about disdainful politicians with extensive portfolio wealth not held by US - why not eliminate the worse of that disdainful batch?
Next, you want links? More links? Here, here and here. Brunhilde is singing. From the last of those three links, the virus is ecumenical (not just hitting lettuce pickers and packing plant workers with or without citizenship or green cards): TIB - The Immigration Bogeyman, himself, Stephen Miller, now has also been infected.
Questions? You have some questions? My one nagging question,
FROM THOSE TAX RETURNS, ALL THAT TRUMP DEBT, TO WHOM DOES TRUMP OWE THAT MONEY? HOW HAS THAT IMPACTED HIS DISCHARGE OF PRESIDENTIAL DUTY? HAS HE SLANTED THINGS BECAUSE MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR CREDITORS HAVE HIM ON A PIN? OR READY TO PIN AT ONE STEP OVER THE LINE? DOES HE OWE LOTS TO RUSSIANS? TO GERMAN BANKS? TO SAUDIS AT WAR IN YEMEN? TO ISRAELIS WANTING JERUSALEM THEIR CAPITAL? TO WALL STREET?
Which is not to say that Trump may be alone in feeling pressures of debt. Ask a recent college graduate without Kushner levels and kinds of college bankrolling.
Debt stinks. But it has its control dimension the bankers and politicians favor. For others; not for themselves. Perhaps all that IRS reported debt is fiction? Art of some kind of a deal? Like the foundation and the portrait.
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| Introducing two hockey goons |
The headline tells the story, Nystrom against Stauber, (who is still whoring shamelessly and incessantly to mining interests), but being able to present and caption that image was worth the time to post it all.
UPDATE: Worth quoting from the item:
Nystrom cites her deep roots in the region as an advantage. “The race that I’m running is local,” she said. “I’m a fourth generation of this area. I’ve served on the city council. I served on the Minnesota Council on Disabilities. People can look at my history and see that ‘She is beyond committed to helping with this health care crisis.’”
Stauber voted against legislation in May 2019 which would have prevented states from disregarding federal guidance that requires health insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing health conditions.
“I had no intention of running for Congress,” Nystrom said. “But my background is being a health care advocate. We’re in a health care crisis and this was all before COVID.”
Stauber’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests from the Minnesota Reformer for an interview.
Question: How could Stauber have cast such a swinish vote?
Answer: By following Trump's swinish healthcare leadership. Sucking up to the Obfuscator in Chief. Stauber's a Republican after all, without the courage to join Lincoln Project, instead wanting Trump recognition of his pet aim to ruin the Boundary Waters Canoe Area ecology with crappy sulfide mining because it might yield a few short term jobs while risking poisoning the environment for half a millennium or more. Mining companies are only as careful as forced to be since care impacts shareholder bottom line, and Stauber says all kinds of stuff:
Nystrom said she’s seen layoffs of health care workers, resorts unable to open their indoor dining and the only pharmacy in Cook County closing this summer.
“We have to make sure that we’re supporting more than just one industry,” she said.
Stauber voted against the recent $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package that the House passed that would have extended unemployment benefits, extended billions to states and funded another round of $1,200 checks for Americans. He argued that the package should not allow undocumented immigrants to receive stimulus checks, and that the bill extends “policies that allow individuals to make more on unemployment than working.”
[...]
In the online debate, Stuaber said one way for jobs to come back to the district and for Minnesotans to rebuild their economy was to turn to mining. He stressed that allowing the copper and nickel mines of PolyMet and Twin Metals Minnesota would “protect our way of life.”
“I have fought and will continue to fight against job-killing regulation, and anti-mining and anti-jobs groups,” Stuaber said.
Nystrom wants a comprehensive report on the environmental impacts of a possible nickel and copper mining project near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area — the state’s crown jewel and most visited wilderness area in the U.S., with 250,000 visitors a year.
“Iron-ore mining built the Iron Range and they’ve proven that it can be done in an environmentally safe way,” Nystrom said. “But the truth is copper-nickel mining has never been proven to be done in an environmentally safe way.”
Environmentalists and conservationists fear sulfide mining would damage the Boundary Waters if the toxic contaminant from the mine leaks into the thousands of streams and lakes that make up 1 million acres.
Minnesotans are opposed to mining near the Boundary Waters, according to a Star Tribune/MPR News Minnesota Poll that found 60% of registered voters in the state did not support building new mines near the wilderness, while 22% did.
“The Twin Metals mine is the wrong mine in the wrong place,” said Jeremy Drucker, the senior adviser for the environmental group Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters. “You don’t put one of the most toxic industries next to one of the most pristine wildernesses.”
Twin Metals, which is owned by a Chilean conglomerate, has been trying to get a permit to mine copper and nickel for more than 10 years. Shortly before Obama left office, his administration put a 20-year moratorium on mining near the Boundary Waters.
But the Trump administration has had its own ties to the Chilean company. In 2016, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner rented a condominium in D.C. from Andrónico Luksic, who was the CEO of Antofagasta, a subsidiary of Twin Metals Minnesota, the New York Times reported.
Antofagasta has ramped up its lobbying in the past year, spending $900,000, according to lobbying records.
A 2016 report from the Conservation Economics Institute evaluated the economic impact of the Boundary Waters from tourism and recreation and found that 1,000 full and part-time jobs stem from the Boundary Waters and provide $77 million in annual economic output.
“Outdoor recreation provides for stable employment and is sustainable over time due to limited associated environmental damage coming from this export industry,” according to the report.
Similarly, James Stock, a Harvard economist professor, assessed over 20 years what the economic impact of building the Twin Metals mine would have on the region.
“Over time, the economic benefits of mining would be outweighed by the negative impact of mining on the recreational industry and on in-migration,” Stock wrote. “This leads to a boom-bust cycle in all the scenarios we examine, in which the region is in the end left worse off economically than it would be under the withdrawal.”
Earlier in the item, a bald lie told by Stauber, to promote his narrow view:
“We can mine safely using the best environmental standards and labor standards,” he said during a Sept. 28 online debate hosted by the area chambers of commerce in Chisholm, Grand Rapids, Hibbing and Virginia.
First, mining companies never use "best environmental standards" and instead get away with all the risk they can, since profits are theirs and the risks can be socialized to taxpayers when the outcomes of risk can be remediated and all the profitable ore has been extracted and exploited. It is the history of mining, worldwide. Take the money and run.
Sulfide mining has a record of leaving ill-redeemable havoc and devastation to the lands. The record of disaster after disaster is undeniable.
BOTTOM LINE: In talking down true risk, Stauber lies. In terms of preserving water quality in the Boundary Waters, the most visited of our National Parks and the crown jewel of outdoor Minnesota, Stauber could give a shit. In terms of sound healthcare for our nation's people, all of us, Stauber could give a shit. A true short-term profit-focusing people-are-fungible Republican in all ugly aspects imaginable.
FURTHER: left.mn - latest Stauber post.
Where to start a post like this one? It could be direct. A followed by B followed by C, and you get the drift even if slowly because you are slow. That's no fun.
Build a theme, then cap a theme? Let's try.
NYT rightly reported ["Opinion" actually] back in March 2020,
Drug Companies Will Make a Killing From Coronavirus
Unless we fix the system, American taxpayers will get gouged on a vaccine they paid to produce. -- By Mariana Mazzucato and Azzi Momenghalibaf
Ms. Mazzucato is a professor at University College London and the author of “The Value of Everything.” Ms. Momenghalibaf is a senior program officer at the Open Society Public Health Program.
[...] Since the 2003 SARS outbreak, the United States has spent nearly $700 million of taxpayer money on coronavirus research — more than any other country — through the National Institutes of Health. Yet the question right now for Americans — thousands of whom are forced to ration their insulin and face astronomical bills for live-saving drugs — is not only when these treatments and vaccines will become available, but at what price.
As the world’s leader in public financing of biomedical research, the U.S. government has the opportunity to set a precedent to ensure that medicines developed with public funding are accessible and affordable to the public; this will have enormous implications not only how for we deal with the coronavirus, but also for the crisis of unaffordable medicines in America.
Health Secretary Alex Azar recently said that he could not guarantee coronavirus treatments or vaccines would be affordable, despite taxpayers’ significant investment in their development. Faced with public backlash led by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Azar backtracked, although details on how the administration would keep prices down remain unclear.
One way was spelled out in a letter sent on Feb. 20 by 46 lawmakers: It demands that coronavirus vaccines and treatments developed with taxpayer money should be produced without giving an exclusive license to private manufacturers.
Yet that is not how our system works.
No shit, Sherlock. We all know who is evil and how, and the wonder is the brigands get away with it in our U.S. of A. Against US. The politicians owned and in bed with Big Pharma are: Against US. And so it happens. Back to NYT content - as to how the system works in good and rugged capitalist social Darwinism ways and means:
Yet that is not how our system works. Instead, the government grants exclusivity to pharmaceutical companies to conduct later stage drug development on publicly funded inventions, without requiring that these drugs be widely affordable or accessible. These exclusive licenses allow drug companies to enjoy a monopoly and charge exorbitant prices for medical technologies developed with public funds.
We are once again handing over the fruits of publicly funded research to for-profit corporations with no strings attached.
Under a deal struck with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, the federal Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority agreed to pay 80 percent of the costs of developing and manufacturing coronavirus treatments — without any requirement that the final products be affordable. Regeneron has the two highest-paid executives in the pharmaceutical industry.
Similarly, another promising experimental drug to treat coronavirus, remdesivir, was developed with the help of taxpayer-funded research. Gilead Sciences, famous for its price gouging of other medicines developed with public funding like Truvada for PrEP and Sovaldi, owns the exclusive rights to remdesivir. In the case of coronavirus vaccines, nearly every candidate in development involves public-private partnerships that builds off publicly funded research, like Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi’s collaborations with the government’s biomedical research authority.
Despite Democratic lawmakers’ [half-hearted, all for show and toothless] push for stronger access and affordability protections for coronavirus vaccines and treatments, the pharmaceutical lobby got these protections removed from the coronavirus spending bill recently approved by Congress, which included $3 billion in federal funding for research and development of coronavirus vaccines, tests and treatments.
The National Institutes of Health pours $40 billion annually into health innovation, and it is on track to spend billions more for Covid-19. In fact, N.I.H. funding contributed to every one of the 210 new drugs approved by the Federal Drug Administration from 2010 to 2016.
Yet the pricing of medicines does not reflect this contribution. While the reasons for this are varied, including the lobbying power of the pharmaceutical industry, it reflects an entrenched but misguided belief that the private sector is the primary driver of innovation and should reap all the rewards. Recent studies show that large pharmaceutical companies like Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer are focusing less and less to research — instead acquiring smaller biotech firms with promising drug candidates that rely on public funding — and spending more on strategies to inflate executive pay, such as share buybacks.
The United States needs a system where public and private sectors work together. This is not about bashing Big Pharma; it is about reclaiming the focus on health and the public interest in an industry that has for too long been driven by profiteering.
Mentioned in there, Regeneron, the firm with this Wikipedia page, stating in part:
Marketed products
Arcalyst (rilonacept) for specific, rare autoinflammatory conditions. Approved by the FDA in February 2008.
Eylea (aflibercept injection) approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2011,[4][20] to treat a common cause of blindness in the elderly. Eylea is reported to cost $11,000 per year for each eye treated.[21]
Zaltrap (aflibercept injection) for metastatic colorectal cancer approved by the FDA in August 2012.[22]
Praluent (alirocumab) indicated as an adjunct to diet and maximally tolerated statin therapy for the treatment of adults with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) who require additional lowering of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Approved by the FDA in July 2015,[23] It is reported to cost $4,500 to $8,000 per year.[24]
Dupixent (dupilumab injection) is for the treatment of adolescent and adult patients' atopic dermatitis. Approved by the FDA in March 2017.[25] It is reported to cost $37,000 per year.[21]
Kevzara (sarilumab injection) is an interleukin-6 (IL-6) receptor antagonist for treatment of adults with rheumatoid arthritis. Approved by the FDA in May 2017.[26] Trials commenced in March 2020, to evaluate the effectiveness of Kevzara in the treatment of COVID-19.[27][28]
Libtayo (cemiplimab injection) is a monoclonal antibody targeting the PD-1 pathway as a checkpoint inhibitor, for the treatment of people with metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) or locally advanced cSCC who are not candidates for curative surgery or curative radiation. Approved by the FDA in September 2018.[29]
REGN-EB3 is a drug made of three antibodies, developed to treat deadly Ebola virus.
Technology platforms
Trap Fusion Proteins: Regeneron's novel and patented Trap technology creates high-affinity product candidates for many types of signaling molecules, including growth factors and cytokines. The Trap technology involves fusing two distinct fully human receptor components and a fully human immunoglobulin-G constant region.
Fully Human Monoclonal Antibodies: Regeneron has developed a suite (VelociSuite) of patented technologies, including VelocImmune and VelociMab, that allow Regeneron scientists to determine the best targets for therapeutic intervention and rapidly generate high-quality, fully human antibodies drug candidates addressing these targets.[30]:255–258
Financial performance
Financial Year Revenue Ref 2012 $1.4 billion [31] 2013 $2.1 billion [32] 2014 $2.8 billion [33] 2015 $4.1 billion [34] 2016 $4.8 billion [35] 2017 $5.8 billion [36] 2018 $6.7 billion [37] 2019 $7.8 billion [38] Key people
The company was founded by CEO Leonard Schleifer and scientist George Yancopoulos. They are reported to hold $1.3 billion and $900 million in company stock, respectively. Both are from Queens, New York.[21]
Schleifer was formerly a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical School. Yancopoulos was an assistant professor at Columbia University. Yancopoulos was involved in each drug's development.[21]
That Wiki fn.21 points to a Forbes July 2018 item, stating in part:
Sipping a lemon-flavored VitaminWater at a sprawling complex of laboratories and offices in Tarrytown, New York, Leonard Schleifer, the 66-year-old cofounder of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, is, as usual, criticizing the pricing practices of other drug companies. (He once told the chief executive of Pfizer: "You're not entitled to a fraction of the GDP.")
"It's not simply about just growing your earnings per share by raising your price," Schleifer says. "So, yes, I'm glad I've been outspoken, because I think that I am trying to prevent what is still at risk of happening: If the industry does not behave properly, the government is going to step in."
Look who's talking. Regeneron, like other biotech firms, spends giant sums to find new cures, and it charges accordingly. Its big seller, the eye drug Eylea, costs $11,000 a year per eye. A newer Regeneron product, Dupixent, treats skin rashes; that one can run $37,000 a year. A cholesterol treatment costs $14,000 a year. Even more insane: These eye-catching prices really are cheap by pharma standards.
In a letter sent to Forbes after this story's original publication, Schleifer wrote that Regeneron believes in "responsible pricing." He points out that Regeneron submitted to external review to come up with a fair price for both Dupixent and its cholesterol treatment. "These were unprecedented steps that set a shining example of how it is possible to make great medical advances and provide those advances at a fair price."
It took Regeneron 24 years to make back the billions investors poured into it. Now it's making good money, $1.2 billion last year on sales of $6 billion. Wall Street values the company at $37 billion.
Schleifer and his cofounder, scientist George Yancopoulos, both kids from Queens, have made fortunes for themselves: $1.3 billion for Schleifer, mostly in Regeneron shares, and $900 million for Yancopoulos, making him one of the richest research chiefs ever, in any industry.
But Regeneron, whose shares are down 40% from their 2015 peak, isn't quite living up to expectations. Regeneron has brought to market six drugs, all co-invented by Yancopoulos, but only Eylea is a big hit. Eylea generates $6 billion in annual global sales. Bayer, which markets it outside the U.S., gets about 20% of that. The drug represents 80% of Regeneron's revenue.
Always attuned to profitable opportunity, the company writes of collaboration:
Our entrepreneurial culture and history as one of the industry’s longest-standing biotech companies fosters a high-science mindset, nimble decision-making and highly collaborative relationships.
We follow the science, rather than limiting our innovations to any one therapeutic area. We are open to collaboration opportunities with the potential to offer important benefits to patients, representing a true scientific or medical advance. In particular, we consider:
- Novel platforms that enable next-generation therapeutics
- Technologies for antibody discovery and development against new / challenging targets
- New approaches that enhance activity of tumor-directed antibodies
- Biomarker discovery and validation
- Drug delivery or formulation technologies that improve the efficacy / safety profile, address a CMC or supply challenge or enhance patient convenience or compliance
- Studying the potential of combinations pairing our pipeline molecules with other innovative clinical-stage therapeutic candidates
- Collaborations with leading academic groups to advance our efforts in human genetics, animal model development, target discovery, target validation and antibody discovery
That's all great, but who's picking up the check? Who pays, while collaborative profits roll in? That is hard to pin down, as is the part federal dollars add to the value of the firm and its products, with the federal government getting zero say and zero return on its essentially "given away" tax revenue to privateers. The firm jumped the Covid-19 train to maximize its chances, per a June 2020 press release:
So, in the Covid-19 money-hunt, got their dog in the hunt, Science accepting papers, so it is not fly-by-night speculation and hand waving - but real, and
How to market stuff?
To the headline, Who's the huckster? Don't waste time with Hollywood celebrities with nice teeth and fine faces, go top rank, as Lincoln Project explains:
And what's the price, when Medicare pays for it for seniors; or when private insurance pays for those lucky enough to be insured with coverage for it, and what's the fate of those without coverage, without Medicare for All, and up the creek without a paddle that way - well, does the huckster care about them, or are they like war dead to him, suckers and losers?
From there, Crabgrass focuses only on this item about the VP debate:
We saw a vice president who had internalized the Trump White House’s culture of disrespect, and especially disrespect to women. He talked over Kamala Harris and the moderator, Susan Page; he ignored the rules of the debate to which he agreed. At the core of the Trump political project is the reassertion of dominance over the historically dominated by the historically dominant. That reassertion of dominance was Pence’s supreme project at this debate too. Pence did not imitate his boss’s manic and undisciplined-- and ultimately catastrophically unsuccessful-- style of dominance. Instead, he brought to this debate the more measured and controlled disdain of a man who had considered the matter carefully-- and decided that the woman in front of him had no right to control him and that the woman to his right did not deserve to be onstage with him. With the sound on, you heard Page trying and failing to summon Pence to order with a repeated, “Mr. Vice President, Mr. Vice President.” With the sound off, you saw Harris-- a vice-presidential nominee, a U.S. senator, a former attorney general of the largest state in the nation-- obliged to smile and smile in an effort to assert herself without seeming… well, you know, without seeming something that might offend somebody. Pence never worried about offending anybody. And he did not feel the need to smile when asserting himself.
We saw a weird moment when a fly landed on Pence’s snow-white hair-- and the vice president did not react at all. No doubt, it’s a conundrum, what to do in such a situation. If Pence had shooed the fly and the fly had refused to shoo, that would have been bad. So he did nothing. And that doing nothing somehow in one powerful visual moment concentrated everything. It symbolized the whole Pence vice presidency, the determined, willful refusal to acknowledge the most blaring and glaring negative realities. Through all of the scandals and the crimes and the disasters of the past four years, Mike Pence was the man who pretended not to notice. And now there was a fly on his head, and he pretended not to notice that too.
It's over.
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| Read more - this link |
"Crazy Nancy" does not fit. "Nasty Nancy," "Canny Nancy," "Scheming Nancy," "cryptoRepublican Nancy," are a few adjective-noun pairs that work to a degree.
But not crazy.
Beyond that, Trump criticizes Barr for not indicting Obama and Biden.
Beyond that, he has bats in his belfry and needs to be Penced into non-dangerous mode per the 25th Amendment. Exactly as Pelosi says.
This headlining is from NYT reporting, (per a Strib carry), about the man and his urge to FOX trot against his perceived enemies. The man is worrisome. He needs attention, in the direction Pelosi suggests.
Surely Mike Pence would not disagree. Wouldn't you like to be listening as a fly on the wall on his head while he and aides discuss it?
__________ UPDATE_________
More Strib, this an AP carry, a thread of brief items, where from mid-item, quoting:
There is a coherent Democratice message, Republicans may call it a lie, but when a statewide newspaper owned by multi-millionaire Republican former Minnesota state legislator and sports franchise owner Glen Taylor, carries two items as above, Brunhilde is singing, last aria, curtain closing.6:25 p.m.
Joe Biden is pitching an economic message as he campaigns in Arizona with his running mate Kamala Harris, telling a union crowd that President Donald Trump "looks down on" working Americans.
The Democratic presidential nominee told a masked, socially distanced crowd at a Phoenix area union training facility on Thursday that the country "deserves a president who understands what the American people are going through. Who sees who you are, what you want to be."
A key part of Biden's closing argument ahead of the Nov. 3 election is to pitch Trump as only pretending to care about the working-class voters that propelled his 2016 victory.
He blasted the Republican president for walking away from congressional negotiations for a new pandemic relief package and for asking courts to strike down the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Biden said those moves will hurt millions of workers and small businesses.
___
6:20 p.m.
[...] Joe Biden and Harris are campaigning together Thursday for the first time since their nominating convention in August, and they chose Arizona to highlight the critical new battleground.
Harris introduced Biden by continuing to blast President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, just as she did in her debate Wednesday night against Vice President Mike Pence.
Harris says Trump's "refusal to contain this virus is what has wreaked havoc on our economy."
Early voting began this week in Arizona, and Democrats believe population growth and Trump's sliding support among suburban voters make the GOP-leaning state a pickup opportunity.
_________FURTHER UPDATE__________
Minnesota blogger Gary Gross has posted this Breitbart video hoax:
Not only a Covid spreader. A manure spreader. This BS from the 2016 campaign promisor who said back then that he had a health plan better than Romneycare, no detail, actually no plan, four years have passed, no plan, only cheap words with no legitimate action, none, zero.
As to this medical treatment the spieler per that Breitbart video spiels, the opening linked item of this post closes:
“I felt pretty lousy,” Trump said. But, he added, “I’m back because I’m a perfect physical specimen and I’m extremely young.” He once again played down the severity of the disease. “Now what happens is you get better,” he said. “That’s what happens, you get better.”
White House aides privately expressed concern about whether the president’s animated mood in recent days stemmed from the dexamethasone steroid he is on. Doctors not involved with the president’s care said it could have a significant effect on a patient’s behavior.
Dr. Negin Hajizadeh, a pulmonary/critical care physician at Northwell Health, noted that the majority of COVID patients receiving dexamethasone are on mechanical ventilation and in a state of induced coma, so they do not exhibit any behavioral side effects. But, she said, large studies show that generally 28-30% of patients will exhibit mild to moderate psychiatric side effects like anxiety, insomnia, mania or delirium after receiving steroid treatments, and about 6% may develop psychosis.
“When we prescribe steroids we warn our patients: ‘This may cause you to feel jittery, might cause you to feel irritable,’ ” Hajizadeh said. “We will tell family members, especially for our older patients, ‘This may cause insomnia, this may cause changes in eating habits and, in extreme cases, mania and impaired decisionmaking.’ ”
Yes. The Yogi Berra criterion is met. For this snake oil salesman:
It's over.
And - Steve Timmer awards another Spotty, COVID-19 related, Minnesota politics related rather than national in focus, and a well-earned Spotty it is. The focus: Yet another Republican ineptitude/indifference icon needing to be swept out of DC along with Trump.
