Politics And Current Events

[Morkle]

I wish the "influencer" shtick would go away.

[Gaucho]

A pandemic plan, go figure.

[Freddy Rumsen]

If that video is fake, then there are lots of dum dums out there cause that thing has been posted all over the place.

Fake, but accurate

[shoeshine boy]

I wish the "influencer" shtick would go away.

I don't even understand how social media celebrities became a thing, much less how most of them make a (really good) living off of it.

[faftorial]

This is a bad look for De Blasio

Fourteen years ago, Mayor Bloomberg released a pandemic plan for New York City and began stockpiling ventilators and N95 masks.

Mayor de Blasio later auctioned off the ventilators and disposed of the masks.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how- ... tion-block

He's looking horrible in this whole affair and I doubt he runs for any type of office again.

[Morkle]

https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-reje ... ent-2020-4

Following the news, Trump told a press briefing that his administration had contacted Johnson's doctors and told them he had asked two unnamed pharmaceutical companies to offer the prime minister support.

"I've asked two of the leading companies, these are brilliant companies — Ebola, AIDS, others, they've come with the solutions and just have done incredible jobs," Trump said. "And I've asked them to contact London immediately."

He added: "They've really advanced therapeutics and therapeutically and they have arrived in London already. Their London office has whatever they need, and we'll see if we can be of help.

"We've contacted all of Boris's doctors and we'll see what is going to take place, but they are ready to go."

The president did not name the companies or drugs he was referring to, though he has increasingly promoted the antimalarial hydroxychloroquine in combination with the antibiotic azithromycin — drugs whose efficacy treating COVID-19 is being tested but has not been proved.

Johnson's spokesman rejected the offer on Tuesday, saying "any treatment he receives is a matter for his doctors."

"We're confident the prime minister is receiving the best possible care from the National Health Service," the spokesman said. "Any treatment he receives is a matter for his doctors."

The person added, however, that "we are grateful for all of the warm wishes the prime minister has received overnight."

[Freddy Rumsen]

He's all about making that 49 cents per dose or whatever wherever he can get it.

[grunthy]

He's all about making that 49 cents per dose or whatever wherever he can get it.

You mean 2-3 cents...

[MWB]

Nah, he’d never think about trying to make any money at all off of something.

Maybe he’s just wanting to help. Maybe he wants to look like he knows what he’s talking about. Maybe he sees a profit angle. Maybe it’s all of the above.

[Morkle]

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) have been buying hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug that Trump has been pushing as a COVID-19 cure despite a lack of evidence for its efficacy.

"It appears to be the first time that the BOP has purchased the drug," reports The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay. He points out "the use of taxpayer money on hydroxychloroquine by the two agencies came in spite of a heated debate among policymakers and medical professionals about the drug's effectiveness in treating the virus, and the possibility that a sudden surge in demand for the drug could diminish the supply for those who use it to treat other ailments such as malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis."

In the midst of this, rumors about Trump's alleged financial stake in hydroxychloroquine have started swirling, with help from Ian Sams, Kamala Harris's former communications director. "Trump himself has a financial stake in the French company that makes the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine," Sams tweeted last night, citing The New York Times as his source.

The Times article stated that "Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in [drug maker] Sanofi," which sells hydroxychloroquine under the brand name Plaquenil.

Both the Times and Sam use vague language and omit specifics, making the matter sound potentially nefarious. It turns out that one of the many mutual funds that the president's family trusts invests in holds significant stock from Sanofi.

"The suggestion that this is significant is a huge stretch," tweeted lawyer and vocal Trump critic George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser.

Mutual funds consist of diverse securities packaged together and managed by a fund adviser; it's not as if Trump owns stock in Sanofi directly. What's more, Sanofi makes a lot of different drugs, and its patent on Plaquenil has run out. That means hydroxychloroquine is hardly a big money-maker for the company, and there are abundant other sources where one can get versions of the same drug.

https://reason.com/2020/04/07/trump-was ... trillions/

[Freddy Rumsen]

So, basically it means nothing.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Rand Paul has recovered.

[Morkle]

Yup, looks like it. Glad I was able to post the initial report, and the follow-up.

[count2infinity]

How does this work...

lawyer and vocal Trump critic George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser.

[faftorial]

How does this work...

lawyer and vocal Trump critic George Conway, husband of Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser.

She can't talk shop at home.

[Freddy Rumsen]

More $$$$$ out of thin air.

[shafnutz05]

"We're not owned! We're not owned!"

Thanks for that useless, false information NBC.

This is shameless and depraved even by their standards.

[Troy Loney]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/0 ... nel-171943

Shameless.

[blackjack68]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/0 ... nel-171943

Shameless.

So much for checks and balances. Fewer checks and no balances apparently.

[DigitalGypsy66]

So Wisconsin is moving ahead with their planned primary today. Evidently, Milwaukee only has five precincts open, out of 180 during the last election. Lines hours long, naturally. State legislators voted to keep the election going, as did the US Supreme court.

It's almost like they don't want people to vote...

[Freddy Rumsen]

Democrats should have canceled the primary.

[AuthorTony]

I think WI tried to delay their primary but the courts wouldn't allow it. Idiots.

[Freddy Rumsen]

There's no reason to have a primary at all at this point. The party should have canceled it, since they are party run.

Biden is the presumptive nominee and it's not like they are going to be able to have the convention in its present form any way.

[AuthorTony]

Democrats should have canceled the primary.

Wisconsin Democrats wanted to extend absentee voting and even postpone the election altogether, but Republicans successfully blocked both in court. As a result, Democratic turnout is likely to be depressed because of the virus and the deadlines for absentee voting. A crucial seat on the State Supreme Court is on the ballot.

[Morkle]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/0 ... nel-171943

Shameless.

So much for checks and balances. Fewer checks and no balances apparently.

So where does it go from here? They just pick and choose who gets the money and no oversight?