Prices...

Drug makers spend billions selling prescription drugs on TV to the public, sometimes turning a new drug into a blockbuster. Nexium is the “little purple pill.” Pro golfer Phil Mickelson treats his psoriatic arthritis with Enbrel and that Cialis, for erectile dysfunction, “helps you be ready.”

Using pleasant music, happy faces, sexy scenes and visuals of people leading better, more fulfilling lives all because they’re taking a prescription drug. There’s also some rushed language about side effects, in some cases cancer or death. In 2016, drugmakers spent more than $6 billion on this effort.

The 10 most commonly advertised drugs sport monthly prices ranging from $503 for Eliquis, which is used to prevent blood clots, to more than $11,000 for  Cosentyx, to treat plaque psoriasis.  .

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar proposed a huge change in drug advertising, requiring that drug makers disclose the list price of drugs in their TV spots. 

Boom...

Canada became only the second country in the world to legalize marijuana nationally.

Although Uruguay started selling cannabis products last year under a 2013 law, Canada's foray is considered more significant because of its economic status and much larger population.  

Canadian officials have said they want to take a "public health approach" to limit youth access to pot, displace the illegal market, and ensure safety requirements for cannabis. 

Brandon Lee, consul general of Canada in Seattle, told the Seattle Times that people should be especially cautious when traveling by ferry or by road because they may forget they're carrying cannabis.   

Business will be booming across the border with Canada as parties would travel for a quick fix. Boom on the other side.  

What would be next? Legal prostitution. Just a thought.

Unwanted...

The U.S. has among the highest rates of unplanned births in the world. A report by UNFPA, the U.N. Population Fund, has found that 45 percent of the 6.1 million births annually in the U.S. are unwanted or accidental.

The data puts North America far ahead of the rest of the world for unplanned births. Southern Europe has the next highest rate, where slightly under 20 percent of births are unintended. The average rate of accidental birth across developed countries is around 25 percent. 

The question is Unplanned by who?

Con...

President Donald Trump lashed out at porn star Stormy Daniels, calling her "Horseface" and lambasting her "3rd rate lawyer" after a federal judge dismissed their defamation case against him a day earlier.

Daniels sued Trump in April, after Trump sent a tweet accusing the adult film actress and director of a "total con job" following her appearance on daytime talk show "The View."

During the broadcast, Daniels, held up an sketch artist's image of a man she said had threatened her to "leave Trump alone" in Las Vegas in 2011. The alleged threat against Daniels and her daughter was made a time when she was in talks with a magazine about going public with her story of the tryst with Trump.

How much money can we get?

Drama...

Police who searched the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul found evidence that Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed there, a high-level Turkish official said.

Security forces began setting up barricades in front of the consul's residence just hours after Consul flew out of the country,  state media reported.  

Saudi officials have called Turkish allegations "baseless."

Police planned a second search at the Saudi consul's home nearby. Leaked surveillance footage show diplomatic cars traveled to the consul's home shortly after Khashoggi's disappearance at the consulate on Oct. 2.

Power...

Party...

Dossier

No Swet-Nick...

Julie Swetnick, accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and a friend of attending house parties where women  including herself  were sexually assaulted, had a restraining order filed against her years later in Miami by her former boyfriend.

A Miami-Dade County court docket shows a petition for injunction against Swetnick was filed March 1, 2001, by her former boyfriend, Richard Vinneccy, who told POLITICO the two had dated for four years before they broke up. 

“Right after I broke up with her, she was threatening my family, threatening my wife and threatening to do harm to my baby at that time,” Vinneccy said in a telephone interview with POLITICO. "I know a lot about her.” "She’s not credible at all,” he said. “Not at all.”

Swetnick does not accuse Kavanaugh himself of sexually assaulting her in the sworn statement. But she asserts Kavanaugh was present when she was the victim of a “gang rape” by multiple boys at one party.

Swetnick's sworn statement asserting that she met Kavanaugh in the 1980-1981 time period and subsequently attended more than 10 house parties where she said Kavanaugh and a close friend of his, Mark Judge, attended.  

UFO...