Professional...

Potential 2020 Democratic presidential contenders are rolling out a slew of plans to lower prescription drug prices.

Democrats see lowering drug prices as a way to harness populist anger at pharmaceutical companies and reclaim an issue that President Trump has put in the spotlight.

Harris joined with Sens. Jeff Merkley and Amy Klobuchar, to introduce a bill allowing the Department of Health and Human Services to review and reject drug price increases that it deems unreasonable.

Warren introduced a bill to let the government manufacture certain drugs and sell them at lower prices if there is not enough competition.

Booker introduced a bill to increase transparency requirements around drug company payments to people with influence over deciding which drugs Medicaid covers.

Sanders unveiled a bill to strip monopolies from drug companies if their prices are deemed excessive.

Democrats see the issue as a political winner for their side, but they are dancing around it with nonreal solution.  Just a thought.

Gross...

Confidence...

Lawn...

Restraining...

Damn...

Failure...

The Conventional Wisdom Is Wrong. Libya's 2011 uprising was never peaceful, but instead was armed and violent from the start. Muammar al-Qaddafi did not target civilians or resort to indiscriminate force. Although inspired by humanitarian impulse, NATO's intervention did not aim mainly to protect civilians, but rather to overthrow Qaddafi's regime, even at the expense of increasing the harm to Libyans.

NATO's action magnified the conflict's duration about sixfold and its death toll at least sevenfold, while also exacerbating human rights abuses, humanitarian suffering, Islamic radicalism, and weapons proliferation in Libya and its neighbors. If Libya was a "model intervention," then it was a model of failure.

Three Lessons to learn from this intervention. 
First, beware rebel propaganda that seeks intervention by falsely crying genocide. 
Second, avoid intervening on humanitarian grounds in ways that reward rebels and thus endanger civilians, unless the state is already targeting noncombatants. 
Third, resist the tendency of humanitarian intervention to morph into regime change, which amplifies the risk to civilians.

• Alan Kuperman
  Belfer Center. September 2013

Cross-road...

A development firm that inked a $12 million deal with the city donated $25,000 to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s nonprofit  after receiving a phone call from Hizzoner himself, according to newly released details. A less-redacted version of the 15-page Department of Investigation report released last month gives a closer look into de Blasio’s fundraising tactics.

Though many details remain secret, the identities of four development companies that donated to de Blasio’s now-defunct nonprofit Campaign for One New York were revealed.

The latest version of the DOI document was first reported by The City.

The firms included Douglaston Development LLC, which got approved for more than $12 million in taxpayer funds, as well as a transfer of city-owned property in the Bronx, for its mixed-use project “Crossroads Plaza” in December 2014, the report said.

DOI investigators reported they “substantiated” reports the “Mayor solicited contributions from any individual who had, or whose organization had, a matter pending or about to be pending before any executive branch of the City.”

Watch...

Prior studies have examined the effects of the Dash diet on the incidence of heart failure, and they have yielded some results.

Following the Dash diet can reduce the risk of developing heart failure by almost half.

The study recommends cutting five things out of your diet: This Dash diet recommends fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, poultry, fish and low-fat dairy products, while reducing consumption of three main components: salt, red meat, sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages.

It is very similar to the Mediterranean diet, but the Dash diet recommends cutting out two more things: full cream (in favor of low-fat dairy products) and alcoholic beverages.

(Dash is an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.)

Shift...

Political parties with platforms calling for stricter immigration policies are on the rise. Support for the Sweden Democrats, a far-right political party increased from 5.7 percent of the vote in 2010 to 17.5 percent in the September 2018 elections.

Fueled by anti-immigrant sentiment, the party is promoting slogans like "Keep Sweden Swedish."

The Sweden Democrats and like-minded right-wing populist movements gained traction across Europe.

Its views are amplified by alternative news sites like Nyheter Idag ("News Today"), which regularly features stories linking newly arrived immigrants to crime.

According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, overall reported crimes increased by 2 percent in 2018, with much of the uptick due to fraud cases. The number of reported rapes rose by 8 percent, while sexual abuse declined 3 percent.

Many share a perception that crime is concentrated in ethnic enclaves where many recent immigrants have settled.

Many argue that mainstream news sites refuse to make a connection between crime and immigration which is not an accurate picture.   Just a thought.