Out of Afghanistan

After 13 years of military engagement in Afghanistan, the US-led involvement in the Middle Eastern country ended on Monday on a subdued note.

With Kabul subject to repeated Taliban bombings, the authorities took the decision to conduct the closing ceremony at an undisclosed location somewhere in the capital.
The campaign has come at a heavy cost, with 3,500 foreign soldiers having died in the war and $1 trillion being spent.

At the conclusion of the longest war in America’s history President Obama said: “We salute every American – military and civilian, including our dedicated diplomats and development workers – who have served in Afghanistan, many on multiple tours, just as their families have sacrificed at home.”

About 13,000 foreign troops, mostly Americans, will remain in the country under a new, two-year mission named “Resolute Support” that will continue the coalition’s training of Afghan security forces to fight the insurgents, who have killed record numbers of Afghans this year.

You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Just a thought.

Macadamia Nuts...*!

Heather Cho [Cho Hyun-ah] resigned from the airline's catering, in-flight sales business, its cabin service and hotel business divisions.

But she is keeping her title as a vice president of the national carrier. Just far away from Nuts.

According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, Cho is the eldest daughter of Korean Air's chairman, Cho Yang-ho.

The incident occurred Friday at New York's JFK airport on a flight due to take off for South Korea's, outside Seoul.

Cho reportedly demanded that the plane go back to the gate so the crew member who served her could be kicked off the flight.

Korean Air is facing $1.3 Million fine after CEO's daughter delayed takeoff in response to macadamia nut service.

According to her biography, Heather Cho joined the airline in 1999 and has since been "actively involved in establishing a new corporate identity for Korean Air." She studied at Cornell University and the University of Southern California.

Nuts any one?     Just a thought.

A friend...?

The Turkish gunman who shot and wounded John Paul II in 1981 laid white flowers Saturday on the saint's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican officials said.

The surprise visit by Mehmet Agca, believed to be his first time in the Vatican since the assassination attempt, lasted a few minutes, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said. 

Benedettini said there are no legal matters pending against Agca in the Vatican and he was free to visit. Agca's trip came on the 31st anniversary of his meeting with the pope.

John Paul, forgave his attacker, visited Agca in a Rome prison on Dec. 27, 1983, and later intervened to gain Agca's release in 2000. Agca was extradited to Turkey For the 1979 killing of a Turkish journalist and he completed a 10-year sentence.

When Agca was apprehended after shooting the pontiff in St. Peter's Square during a public audience, the Turk said he acted alone. Later he suggested Bulgaria and the Soviet secret services masterminded the attack on the Polish-born pontiff, whose championing of the Polish Solidarity labor movement alarmed Moscow.

Twice, Italian juries acquitted three Bulgarians and three Turks of alleged roles in the shooting. Agca has often given contradictory accounts and has claimed to be a Messiah.

Italian TV ran a brief video of the tomb visit, apparently filmed by an Italian journalist accompanying Agca in the basilica. The Turk is heard to mumble, "A thousand thanks, saint," and "Long live Jesus Christ."

He also said: "Today I have come because on Dec. 27, 1983, I met the pope."

Just a thought.

In Search....

Officer Rafael Ramos.

Sextremist...?*

A blond pro-choice activist wearing nothing over her torso except the written words "God is Woman" interrupted a Nativity scene at the St. Peter's Square in Rome on Christmas Day.

An online video of the incident shows the woman sneak underneath the fence and then storm the nativity display on a stone stage as hundreds of people watched.

She grabs the baby Jesus and hoists it over her head and yelled a message, but the video did not contain audio. She was quickly apprehended by an officer who covered her in his jacket. Eventually several cops responded and the woman was taken away in a vehicle.   Baby Jesus was returned to his manger.

The woman is part of Femen, an organization of topless female protestors who oppose the political power of the clergy.
The group states on its website that the unidentified "sextremist" was part of its campaign that opposes the church's stance on women's rights over their own bodies.

"The maniacal desire to control women's fertility is a common trait of many religions, National Socialism, nationalism and other antediluvian, anti-humanist ideologies," the group says. "Abortion is sacred!"

People are looking for the "Naked" Truth.         Just a thought.

"Don't Cry for.... Sony

The cyberattack on Sony exposed sensitive internal communications and coerced theater chains to drop one of the company's films. It represents a seminal moment in the advancement of hacking.

While the attack was not technologically sophisticated, its success may embolden other cyber criminals to follow suit.  The hackers not only released internal emails and other information, but wiped data from Sony's system.

North Korea called the comedy an "evil act of provocation" and threatened "stern punishment" against its star and co-director Seth Rogen. The crippling Sony Pictures hack followed soon after, with the studio's upcoming films and confidential, industry-shaking emails leaked.

Meanwhile, North Korea still denies any involvement in the Sony hack, even as the FBI pointed the finger at them. North Korea has issued a proposal for a joint investigation into the incident.

Sony Cancelled then cancelled the cancelation of broadcasting the film as the President, the Country and the public stood fast against this threat.

All in All, North Korea, if true, gave Sony a free publicities, no one else got, for a  (Non-Sense) movie. Let us see the review and the revenue once the dust settles.

Just a thought.

A Week-End- AbbVie

On Friday, the FDA approved AbbVie's Viekira Pak.
AbbVie had done Gilead a huge favor pricing its new hepatitis C drug on par with Gilead's Harvoni.
 
AbbVie announced a deal with Express Scripts making Viekira Pak the Exclusive hepatitis C drug covered by the pharmacy benefits manager for patients infected with the genotype 1 virus, [most common in US]. Gilead's Sovaldi will still be available for other genotypes 

Neither Express Scripts nor AbbVie is disclosing how much of a discount to get the exclusivity. You can't blame them; it's not to either company's advantage to disclose it, tipping off the authorities, the public, and the Congressional bodies.

Gilead was down 14% on the day of the annoucement,  investors are worried about the potential to be knocked out of other markets or give steep discounts. The discount problem is compounded because the price that government programs Medicare and Medicaid pay for drugs are set based on the price drug-makers give to private insurers. We could be in a full-blown price war soon between corporation to their own benefits.

With a thousand Dollars [$1000] per day treatment, the Pharmaceutical companies, PBMs and the Insurances having a FIESTA while the 3 Millions US patient is paying three folds the price of a European or Canadian patients. 

Chuck Schumer asking how come the Airline tickets is priced high while oil prices collapsing?  The answer is simple.
You don't have to travel, but you have to have health. Pay a little attention to what is important.

Just a thought.

Recklessness...?*

A Canadian woman was sentenced to 90 days in jail, no driving for 10 years and 240 hours of community service  for causing two deaths in 2010 when she stopped her car on a Quebec highway to help a group of ducklings crossing the road. Emma Czornobaj convicted of two counts each of criminal negligence and dangerous driving causing death.

According to media reports, Czornobaj stopped her car abruptly in the passing lane of a highway south of Montreal when she saw the ducklings. The motorcycle behind Czornobaj’s car then crashed into her vehicle, killing the 50-year-old man driving the motorcycle and his 16-year-old daughter.

“I just wanted to pick all these ducklings up and put them in my car,” Czornobaj had testified during her trial. “I know it was a mistake.”  

 She could have been killed with the ducks and others by this action.             Just a thought.

Big Mac.

 A government labor watchdog has accused McDonald's and some franchise owners of violating workers rights by retaliating against them for taking part in fast food protests.

According to the NLRB, the restaurant owners reduced hours and discharged some workers who took part in the movement. The employers also engaged in other "coercive conduct" against its employees, including surveillance, interrogations and restricting worker's ability to communicate with union representatives.

Worker advocates say the complaints filed suggest that the NLRB general counsel has seen evidence that McDonald's meets the legal definition of a joint employer.

McDonald's said in a statement that it will contest the allegations. The government agency "improperly and dramatically strike at the heart of the franchise system -- a system that creates economic opportunity, jobs and income for thousands of business owners and their employees across the country. You be the judge.         Just a thought.                                    [CNN]

Cuba's Deal

President Obama’s announcement to overhaul U.S. policy toward Cuba is historic.  The relationship between both nations frozen in time for decades despite the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.

A spy swap, loosening of travel and economic restrictions, and launching of discussions to re-establish full diplomatic relations go as far as the president can go without congressional authorization. Now the ball is in the later.

Obama's unilateral move has gently shaken up the 2016 race to succeed him, exposing divisions among Republicans and possibly helping.

Potential contenders Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio adhered to the traditional Republican hard line. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who has a libertarian streak, backed the new policy. Paul said the 50-year-old embargo with Cuba "just hasn't worked."

Hillary Clinton also had asserted the previous policy was not working. In her memoir, "Hard Choices," she wrote that she urged Obama to shift. 

The isolation of Cuba kept the country backward for about 50 years. Thus there is no additional action can be taken against. On the other hand, Russia, the  restriction imposed is impacting the Russian economy hard and will eventually change their behavior. In other word, Obama's decision is historic. Just a thought.