The Olympics...

Vote Epi...

When Nicole Smith took her son’s EpiPen prescription to her local Walgreens she balked at the $600 price quote for a two-pack. Her high-deductible health plan meant Mylan’s “$0 co-pay card” would only bring the cost down to $500.

The story is an all-too-familiar one: company buys dated drug, raises prices and impedes patient access to life-saving treatment in the process.

This time, the target of the tired narrative is a medical device with an unusual amount of brand name recognition, effectively no alternatives and a growing patient population                                                                                                                                              

The price of the EpiPen, which treats emergency allergic reactions, has climbed sixfold over the last several years.  While inflation is below zero.

There is a solution to this price gouging, but would the Presidential Candidates say something about it?  Vote your Conscious.   Just a thought. 

Louisiana.....

USA Today.

Free ??

If a robbery did indeed happen, Lochte, Feigen, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger are the victims. They are the ones who were "liberated" of their wallets and, in Lochte’s version, had a gun held to his forehead.

Yet the 12-time Olympic medalist and his teammates are being treated as if they stood atop Christ the Redeemer and flipped off all of Brazil.

A judge ordered the swimmers’ passports seized and said they should not leave Brazil. Judge Keyla Blank's order said investigators need more time to determine whether the Americans filed a false police report, a "crime" punishable by up to six months detention or a fine, mind you.

And on Wed. night, Bentz and Conger were pulled off their flight to the U.S. Because escalating this to the level of a capital crime is seen as appropriate in Brazil. Now we know what really happened.

This is shameful indeed.

Valeant-Enron like...

Reitz has filed papers in two Los Angeles courthouses laying out details of what he and his lawyer call "a massive fraud."

Valeant became one of the hottest healthcare stocks in recent years by buying other firms' medicines and then swiftly hiking their prices by as much as 500%.

Specialty pharmacies such as Philidor are part of a little-known strategy by Valeant and other pharmaceutical companies to sell high-priced drugs that insurers otherwise wouldn't pay for.

Many of Valeant's expensive brand-name medicines including Jublia for toenail fungus and Solodyn for acne are similar to generic medicines available for far less. When patients fill those prescriptions at the pharmacy, insurers often require the druggist to switch to the generic causing Valeant to lose the sale.

To get around that blockade, Valeant has been distributing coupons on the Internet and to doctor's offices that allow patients to lower or even avoid a co-pay if they ordered the drugs through Philidor. 

A federal securities fraud class action is brought on behalf of  all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Valeant between February 23, 2015 and October 20, 2015, inclusive, seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

How can Seniors afford the medicine?   Just a Nightmare thought.

Might Be...

A Canadian woman looking for her missing daughter since she went missing as a toddler almost 40 years ago received a Facebook message that may change her life, the Ottawa Citizen reports.

The private message sent to Liliane Cyr, who's maintained a Facebook page dedicated to finding daughter Yohanna, was from a U.S. woman who started off asking a very specific question about a birthmark on Yohanna's finger, followed by this: "I'm not 100% sure, but I think I might be your daughter."

The woman told Cyr that the discovery that her birth certificate was a fake, an odd lack of early childhood photos, and fuzzy memories of a plane ride led her to suspect something was amiss in her past.

The Montreal Gazette tells the story of what happened the week Yohanna disappeared in 1978, with 20-year-old Cyr leaving 18-month-old Yohanna in the care of Aaron Lewis Guay, her U.S. boyfriend at the time, while she was out of town for work.

Guay met up with Cyr a few days later without the baby, first telling Cyr his mom was watching Yohanna, then saying the toddler had drowned in the tub and he'd buried her.

Guay was charged with kidnapping, but he denied his original story and a judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence to go on with the case; he was released and disappeared.

Cyr says she's trying not to get her hopes up, but she notes that photos of the woman resemble Yohanna. DNA tests are in the works.  May Be?

Indefinite.....?

Fifteen prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were sent to the United Arab Emirates in the single largest release of detainees during the Obama administration, the Pentagon announced.

The transfer of 12 Yemeni and three Afghans to the UAE comes amid a renewed push to whittle down the number of detainees held at the U.S. prison in Cuba that President Barack Obama aims to close.

The Pentagon says 61 detainees now remain at Guantanamo, which was opened in January 2002 to hold foreign fighters suspected of links to the Taliban or the al-Qaida terrorist organization. During the Bush administration, 532 prisoners were released from Guantanamo, often in large groups to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

The latest batch of released prisoners had been held without charge at Guantanamo, some for over 14 years. They were cleared for release by the Periodic Review Board, comprised of representatives from six U.S. government.

Thousands from Europe joined terrorist organization in Syria while we are  holding old age prisoners for no reason at this time!!?  Just a thought. 

Hold Back..

The Whole Truth.

Attorney General Kathleen Kane, the first woman elected to the office, showed little emotion as jurors announced their verdict. The jurors agreed Kane leaked information about a 2009 grand jury probe to embarrass a rival prosecutor.

The leak grew out of Kane’s feud with former office prosecutor Frank Fina. According to trial testimony, Kane believed Fina had planted a story that showed she had dropped a statehouse sting.

Kane, 50, was once a rising star in the state’s Democratic party, using her then-husband’s trucking fortune to run for statewide office after stints as a Scranton prosecutor and a stay-at-home mother.

But an early honeymoon period in office, when she spoke out for the legalization of gay marriage, was soon marred by turmoil as she sparred with officials inside and outside the office.

She described the charges as payback for her efforts to take on an “old-boys network” in state government that traded offensive, mildly pornographic emails. Her investigation led two state Supreme Court justices and others to resign.

Perjury, the only felony charged, can bring up to seven years in prison. The misdemeanor charges Kane faced included conspiracy, official oppression and false swearing. Kane lost her law license over the charges. 
[USA Today]

I'm Not...

U.S.-backed fighters liberated a strategic Syrian city from the Islamic State after weeks of intense fighting and coalition bombing.  Joyous residents of Manbij poured into the streets.  Men shaved their beards, and women could walk outside without face coverings for the first time in years.

Manbij was the main processing center for foreign fighters coming to join the Islamic State and also a place where terrorists were sent to carry out operations outside the region.
U.S. intelligence officials are analyzing thousands of items captured as  militants were fleeing the city in recent weeks.

The battle was a test for the newly formed Syrian Democratic Forces, a collection of Kurdish and Arab forces organized to battle the Islamic State. The force is being advised by U.S. Special Operations Forces and supported by coalition airstrikes.

Opposition forces in Syria have captured about 20% of the territory controlled by the Islamic State at its peak last year. Progress has been faster in neighboring Iraq, where Iraqi forces have retaken at least 45% of the territory held by the Islamic State.

Earlier this year, the White House authorized the Pentagon to send several hundred additional U.S. personnel to help organize and advise the opposition forces in Syria.

So one fraction of terrorists is being defeated, are we supporting their New Replacement?

Who will rebuild Syria?  And who will pay for it?       Just a thought.