New Problem

 A failed asylum-seeker from Syria blew himself up and wounded 15 people after being turned away from an open-air music festival in southern Germany, authorities said Monday. It was the fourth attack to shake Germany in a week three of them carried out by recent migrants.

The 27-year-old set off a backpack laden with explosives and sharp bits of metal outside a wine bar Sunday night after being refused entry to the nearby festival in the southern town of Ansbach because he didn't have a ticket.

A spokesman for Germany's interior ministry said the man had received two deportation notices.

Two days earlier, a man [German-Iranian] went on a deadly rampage at a Munich mall, killing nine people and leaving dozens wounded. Police said that he had planned the attack for a year.

And an ax attack on a train near Wuerzburg last Monday wounded five. A 17-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker was shot and killed by police as he fled the scene. 

These attacks came shortly after a Tunisian man driving a truck killed 84 people when he plowed through a festive crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, along the famed French Riviera.

The culture, perceived religion, society norm, freedom of women, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, choices, respect for life, can be shocking to so many of the migrants. Just a thought.

Boos...

Ted Cruz defended his decision not to endorse Donald Trump after the real estate mogul’s attacks on his family during the primary. He added, “That pledge [to endorse the Republican Nominee] was not a blanket commitment.

[During the primary campaign, Trump retweeted an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz along with one of his ex-model wife, Melania Trump, writing, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Trump at one point insinuated that Rafael Cruz, Ted Cruz’s father, was a conspirator in President John Kennedy’s assassination.]

The boos began during Cruz’s speech to the RNC after it became clear he would not be endorsing Trump as the party’s nominee. Cruz also received a hostile reception from some Texas delegation. One held a sign that read “Cruz-Clinton,” and others broke into chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!”

Cruz called it “troubling” that he was booed. “What I wanted to do is lay out the principles I believe we stand for as Republicans,” he went on to say.  Cruz vowed that he would not to say anything negative about Trump.

Ted is for Ted .....   He had a choice. He could stay home, attend and not speak, or speak and not waste our time.   Just a thought.

Eat...*!

Sodium plays a key role in balancing the levels of fluid in our bodies by signaling to the kidneys when to retain water and when to get rid of it. A high-sodium diet can interfere with this delicate process and reduce kidney function. Less water removed, may lead to higher blood pressure. Excess strain on the kidneys can lead to kidney disease or exacerbate kidney problems.

This will lead to many serious conditions, such as stroke and heart failure. Although blood pressure increases naturally with age, according to the American Heart Association, reducing your salt intake can help prevent your blood pressure from increasing too much.

About 75 percent of the sodium we consume comes not from the salt shaker, but rather in processed and restaurant food.

A 2011 Australian study found that the brain responds to sodium similar to how it does for substances such as heroin, cocaine, and nicotine.

Canadian study on 1,200 older sedentary adults with normal brain function found that over the course of three years, high-sodium diets were linked to increased risk of cognitive decline. This result was “independent of hypertension and global diet quality” 


Excessive salt in the diet can cause swelling in the hands, arms, ankles, legs, and feet, caused by fluid retention. 

Look for the labels of any product and steer away of the high salt content.   Just a thought.

...and Alcohol

A man and a woman in Massachusetts have been convicted of charges they sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl and recorded the attack using Snapchat.

The victim told the court she remembered waking up nude and confused. "I remember saying, like, 'stop taking pictures of me'....I was naked and I was getting flashes,".

Among those watching the assault on Snapchat was teenager Syndee Enos, who took the witness stand. She said she knew the teens in the video, and that she saw the victim being restrained.  She recognized Kayilyn's blue hair.

"She was holding her down...almost in a headlock," said Enos. "She was kind of wiggling around trying to get out of it."

Screenshots from the Snapchat video were shown to jurors during the trial. The victim recalled drinking vodka with Deihim and Bonia on a couch in the woods near an elementary school in Saugus.

   Just a thought.

Needle....?

Image is not related.

The popular, needle-free FluMist influenza vaccine has not protected kids or adults against flu for years and should not be used this coming flu season, experts said.  FluMist was only 3% effective last flu season, CDC said.

The surprise decision could also leave pediatricians short of vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
                     

"In comparison, inactivated influenza vaccine (flu shots) had a vaccine effectiveness estimate of 63% against any flu virus among children 2 years through 17 years."
AstraZeneca said other research contradicts ACIP's and the CDC's findings.

The CDC recommends that just about everyone should be vaccinated against influenza every year. Even when the vaccines on the market do not work perfectly, vaccinated people are less likely to get severely ill and die from flu.

"How well the flu vaccine works can range widely from season to season and can be affected by a number of factors, including the person being vaccinated, the similarity between vaccine viruses and circulating viruses, and even which vaccine is used," the CDC said.  Just a thought.

Doing his job...

An officer with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department died Tuesday after being shot while investigating a report of gunfire, reports CBS affiliate KCTV.

Police say three or four people were inside a vehicle when police approached the scene where gunfire had been reported, at about 1:33 p.m. An officer took a suspect into custody minutes later, but other suspects fled, according to police.

Capt. Robert Melton, 46, was searching for one of the suspects when he drove up to someone who matched that person's description just before 2 p.m., police spokesman Tom Tomasic said. Before Melton could get out of his vehicle, the suspect opened fire and hit the officer multiple times, Tomasic said. The alleged shooter was caught five minutes later about a block away, he said.
Sad story.

Trouble...

Migrants who landed in Greece.

The coup attempt took Turkey out of Europe and placed it squarely in the Middle East. It tore away the country's stability. This added to ISIS suicide attacks; fighting with the Kurdish  (PKK); wholesale destruction of Kurdish towns by Turkey's security forces [given immunity]; and the ongoing Low-level violence targeting women.

 A government witch hunt for "putschists" and massive violent reprisals means more anger, more polarization and a destabilized population that is more likely to seek protection from outside. Groups like ISIS will likely capitalize on this disenchantment to seek more recruits.

The ruling party has systematically throttled the independence of state institutions, the media, education, civil society, and the highest courts in the land. It has tried to muzzle the army through a series of court cases that jailed hundreds of officers. 

Friday's tragedy is largely self-inflicted by a government who trade in a functioning democracy for dictatorial power. .  More Migrants to Europe ahead. Just a thought.

Robbery ???

Image not related.

In a period of low inflation and sluggish economic growth, Drug makers’ power to raise prices still exceeds most other industries. The magnitude and frequency of the increases have grown in recent years.

Prices received by manufacturers of U.S.-made pharmaceuticals rose 9.8% from May 2015 through May 2016, the second-highest increase among the 20 largest products and services tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index. 

Biogen Inc.  reported that U.S. sales of its multiple sclerosis pill Tecfidera rose 15% to $744.3 million in the first quarter, the company explained it “was primarily due to price increases.” U.S. revenue for Biogen’s other biggest-selling products, Avonex and Tysabri, also benefited from higher prices, Biogen said.

Gilead Sciences Inc. said higher U.S. prices positively affected revenue for four HIV medications that had combined global sales of $2.43 billion in the first quarter. For example, sales of Truvada rose 16% to $898 million in the quarter on the back of higher prices and increased use as a preventive treatment for HIV.

Amgen raised Enbrel’s U.S. list price by 28% last year, and an additional 9.9% in July, according to Leerink.  A Pfizer spokesman declined to specifically address the company’s price increases. 

Some reports projected that per-beneficiary Part D spending will grow by 75% from 2015 to 2025, compared with a 37% rise in hospital spending and 57% increase in doctors’ cost.

Make the pills' market Fair for senior citizen.    Just a thought.              

Bull..

An American was gored and five other runners were injured in the next-to-last running of the bulls at Pamplona's San Fermin festival, officials said.  One of the six bulls crashed into a group of runners close to a fence.

More than a thousand people took part in the 8 a.m.  dash with six fighting bulls and their accompanying steer along a 930-yard  street course to the city's bull ring. The bulls then face matadors. The nationally televised run lasted 2½ minutes.

The nine-day fiesta, known also for its 24-hour street partying, became world famous with Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises." It attracts thousands of foreign tourists.

Six were arrested for suspected sexual assault, including rape, and 10 for suspected sexual harassment, officials said. Nine foreigners were arrested, including six Frenchmen, a Bolivian, a Pakistani and a Romanian.

The city government, political parties feminist and social groups cooperated to hold two major rallies to protest against sexual aggression since the festival began.

Don't mess with the bull.      Just a thought.

Again...*!

Former Valeant CEO Michael Pearson unloaded more of his personal holdings nearly 5 million shares and options for a total of $96.8 million. The news comes the same day that the Sequoia Fund revealed it is completely out of the stock. Sequoia was at one time the largest Valeant shareholder.

Wednesday also saw short seller Andrew Left say the company's stockcould be headed to zero [ $23/Share and was $264 at its high]. That news took more than 7 percent out of its shares.

The company came under fire when The New York Times reported that Valeant and other pharmaceutical companies were using a network of specialty pharmacies to sustain sales of their high-priced drugs and prevent patients and insurers from switching to cheaper generic drugs. Citron Research subsequently published a note calling Valeant the "pharmaceutical Enron."  

 Social Security annual increase for inflation was zero, yet medications' prices doubles every three years......   Just a thought.