pathetic little tramp posted:

I honestly don't think he's going to fall to the wayside like Rubio either because he's sufficiently anti-immigrant and knows all the evangelical codewords. I think it's Cruz v Trump up until the convention where Trump is the clear winner and the RNC screws him anyway.

eviltastic posted:

Forgive the derail: I could use a recommendation for a USPOL-esque book that's come out recently. I'm getting someone Jim Crow's Last Stand, but could use a backup gift. My own reading preferences are terrible, so I'd appreciate a suggestion.

pathetic little tramp posted:

baw posted:

The OP contains several recommendations

Joementum posted:

Chelsea Clinton just announced she's pregnant again and expecting in the summer, probably during the convention as a stunt to steal all of Bernie's delegate support!!

DynamicSloth posted:

Ted Cruz is now the favorite to win the Republican nomination according to predict.org bets.

This is the first time Rubio has fallen off of the lead since October. The betting market had really fallen to a three way tie between Rubio, Cruz and Trump. I'd be hard pressed to come up with better percentage break downs than 33/33/33 myself (that's certainly more realistic than whatever 538 is pushing).

quote:

In fact, in some ways, Mr. Shkreli, chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, has taken the heat off other drug companies.

Most drug companies do not increase prices fiftyfold overnight, as Mr. Shkreli did.

But they often increase prices 10 percent or more a year, far faster than inflation. And those 10 percent increases — on drugs for common diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol and cancer — have a far bigger impact on health care spending than the 5,000 percent increase on Turing’s drug, Daraprim, which might be used by about 2,000 people a year facing possible brain damage from a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis.
“Because he played the part so well of the evil Wall Street hedge fund guy, Martin really drew attention away from the more serious issues with much bigger dollar impacts,” said John Rother, chief executive of the National Coalition on Health Care, a Washington organization concerned with drug prices. Its members include medical societies, insurers, consumer groups and labor unions.

The arrest and indictment will buttress the efforts of more established pharmaceutical companies to distance themselves from the upstart Mr. Shkreli. They have been arguing that most companies do research to invent innovative new drugs, not merely acquire the rights to old ones and raise their prices.

“He is not us,” Kenneth C. Frazier, chief executive of Merck and chairman of the pharmaceutical industry’s main trade group, said this month at the Forbes Healthcare Summit this month. Now, pharmaceutical executives can look at the federal indictment and say that Mr. Shkreli is an aberration, a rotten apple.

But his arrest is not likely to make concern about drug prices go away. First of all, Mr. Shkreli was arrested on charges of securities fraud stemming mainly from his time as a hedge fund manager, not for increasing the price of Daraprim to $750 a pill from $13.50. And his professed motivation — charging high prices to get money to spend on developing new drugs — is not all that different from that of other pharmaceutical companies.

Just a year ago, the public outrage was over Sovaldi, a new hepatitis C drug being sold by Gilead Sciences for $1,000 a pill, or $84,000 for a course of treatment. The drug was a true innovation, curing the disease in 12 weeks with few side effects. But so many people wanted treatment that the drug racked up sales of $10.3 billion in 2014, shattering the sales record for a first-year drug and straining the budgets of state Medicaid programs, private insurers, prisons and the Veterans Health Administration.

Now, Gilead has been largely shoved out of the news by Turing and other companies with similar practices, most notably Valeant Pharmaceuticals International.

quote:

The paper also published an exposé on Friday revealing that some of its top reporters received an "unprecedented" request while the Adelson family was in the process of purchasing the newspaper. Three reporters were asked to temporarily drop their assignments and devote all of their resources to monitoring the activity of three Nevada judges, one of whom was overseeing a case involving Adelson’s casino properties in Macau, off the coast of China.

Epic High Five posted:

He's 2015's Kony

eviltastic posted:

Forgive the derail: I could use a recommendation for a USPOL-esque book that's come out recently. I'm getting someone Jim Crow's Last Stand, but could use a backup gift. My own reading preferences are terrible, so I'd appreciate a suggestion.

Joementum posted:

This discussion on CNN could create a singularity that turns into a plane-eating black hole.

eviltastic posted:

I was angling for something that came out this year, but thanks for the reminder; looking again there's one of the Pearlstein books that I don't think he has.

Thanks folks!

baw posted:

If you want stuff from this year there are The Nixon Defense and The Wilderness, but I haven't read either because I'm waiting for the paperbacks to come out. Heard good things about both tho

Of course if your friend doesn't have Invisible Bridge then that's the priority

Shageletic posted:

I've been having a blessedly ignorant time away from the forums last few days, but thought this article would act as a nice capstone in the shrekeli saga

Martin Shkreli's Arrest gives Drug Makers Cover

Joementum posted:

I recommend brushing up on Clinton conspiracies because we're in for a renaissance.

Shageletic posted:

Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmond MacCulloch for a mild sense of befuddlement at current Christian practices, for the mildest dip.

Luigi Thirty posted:

Yeah no poo poo. He's not from the super-rich dynasties so he is a sacrifice to allow them to keep doing what they do and hope nobody notices. Did anyone seriously think differently?

mdemone posted:

Anytime someone mentions this book in any context I'm forced to post my enthusiastic agreement. So, you know...here it is.

(Best history of Christianity ever written at any size, and easily the best single-volume book on any religion.)

quote:

Also on Monday, Republican state lawmakers said they will introduce legislation that would require aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated — and women who have abortions would have to make the decision.

“Today, we stand for the voiceless. Today, we stand for the dignity of the unborn,” Rep. Robert McColley of Napoleon said at a Statehouse news conference, joined by three other lawmakers.

One bill would require hospitals, abortion clinics and other health-care providers to dispose of fetuses and fetal tissue either by burial or cremation.

The second bill would require women who have abortions to sign a paper designating whether they want the fetal remains to be buried or cremated. If the law is not followed, the provider, but not the woman, could be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable with up to 180 days in jail.

“We can no longer sit on the wall about what is going on inside their (Planned Parenthood) clinics,” said Rep. Kyle Koehler from Springfield.

House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, said the bills will be “a priority in the House” when lawmakers return in January.

One other state, Indiana, has a similar law, signed in August by Gov. Mike Pence.

pathetic little tramp posted:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/12/14/planned-parenthood-court-case.html


It says Indiana has a similar law but the law in Indiana as far as I can tell from reports does not attach a misdemeanour and basically seems to just be saying that an abortion clinic must offer burial as an option.

pathetic little tramp posted:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/12/14/planned-parenthood-court-case.html


It says Indiana has a similar law but the law in Indiana as far as I can tell from reports does not attach a misdemeanour and basically seems to just be saying that an abortion clinic must offer burial as an option.

Aliquid posted:

Trump talking about killing reporters and pallin' around with Putin. If y'all ain't watching the rally you need to.

pathetic little tramp posted:

pathetic little tramp posted:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/12/14/planned-parenthood-court-case.html


It says Indiana has a similar law but the law in Indiana as far as I can tell from reports does not attach a misdemeanour and basically seems to just be saying that an abortion clinic must offer burial as an option.

quote:

One bill would require hospitals, abortion clinics and other health-care providers to dispose of fetuses and fetal tissue either by burial or cremation.

pathetic little tramp posted:

joeburz posted:

debbie wasserman schultz!!!

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

But we actually stopped this one!

eviltastic posted:

Forgive the derail: I could use a recommendation for a USPOL-esque book that's come out recently. I'm getting someone Jim Crow's Last Stand, but could use a backup gift. My own reading preferences are terrible, so I'd appreciate a suggestion.

hangedman1984 posted:

One great thing to come out of the Sanders datagate thing is all the hate that DWS is getting

Republicans posted:

Why is she still the DNC chairman? Does nobody else want the job? She seems so thoroughly reviled by everyone.

fishmech posted:

Because people who barely understand politics are not actually in charge of firing and hiring DNC chairs.

baw posted:

Of course if your friend doesn't have Invisible Bridge then that's the priority

hangedman1984 posted:

One great thing to come out of the Sanders datagate thing is all the hate that DWS is getting