Jack Klugman is Still Murdering People

Klugman has been dead for more than 6 years, but the orphan drug act that he championed is still giving drug companies a license to price old drugs at unaffordable levels:

In a letter sent Monday to the CEO of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) demanded the company explain its decision to set the price of Firdapse, a drug used to treat a rare neuromuscular disease called Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), at $375,000 per year.

For two decades, patients have received the same drug – known as 3,4-DAP – for free from Jacobus Pharmaceutical under the Food and Drug Administration’s compassionate use program. Recently, Catalyst licensed the rights to the drug and received exclusive rights to market Firdapse for seven years under the FDA’s orphan drug designation. In December 2018, Catalyst announced to investors it would set the list price for Firdapse at $375,000 per year.

As a result, patients around the country are frightened as to whether or not they will be able to maintain access to a drug they depend upon to survive.

Last week, Sanders spoke via Skype with one of those patients, Rebecca Hovde of Wellman, Iowa, who told him about the incredible anxiety people with LEMS are living with as a result of Catalyst’s decision to increase the price. “I have friends saying that it’s too much. They know they can’t afford it. And they’re just going to go to bed when their 3,4 DAP runs out,” Hovde told Sanders. (Watch the full conversation here.)

In response to the concerns raised by Hovde and other patients, Sanders asked the CEO of Catalyst how many patients will suffer or die due to their decision to set such an outrageous price, calling that decision “not only a blatant fleecing of American taxpayers, but…also an immoral exploitation of patients who need this medication.”

“By setting such a high price and forcing production and distribution of the older, inexpensive version to cease, you are threatening access that patients had to a cheap version of this product, and handing a completely unwarranted bill to American taxpayers,” Sanders wrote.

Sanders requested information on what Catalyst is charging patients, private insurers and government payers for the medication.

“The egregious price set by Catalyst cannot be allowed to stand. Patients in America should not be allowed to suffer or die because of the greed of a drug company. If Catalyst does not substantially lower the price of this medication, Congress must act to ensure it is affordable for every patient,” Sanders said.

Read Sanders’ letter to Catalyst here.

Sanders is right, but the problem is not Catalyst as much as it is a regulatory regime that is dedicated to excessive monopoly rents. 

It is evil, and it is wrong.

A Feature not a Bug

It now appears that the removal of erotic services ads on Craigslist have increased the instance of violence against women:

Under the guise of targeting sex traffickers, FOSTA has both done damage to Section 230 protections and sex workers’ literal lives. The law has yet to result in any credible, sustained damage to human trafficking, but that hasn’t stopped the bill’s supporters from trotting out debunked numbers anytime they need a soundbite.

There will likely be no studies performed by the government to determine FOSTA’s actual impact on sex trafficking, but plenty of academics are offering evidence that pushing sex work further underground is endangering the lives of sex workers. This is just the icing on the stupid, life-threatening cake as multiple law enforcement agencies — including the DOJ itself — pointed out passing FOSTA would make it more difficult to hunt down traffickers.

A study released in 2017 showed the introduction of erotic services section on Craiglist tracked with a 17% drop in female homicides across many major cities. Craigslist spent a few years being publicly vilified by public officials — mainly states attorneys general — before dumping its erotic services section (ERS). This didn’t stop sex work or trafficking, but it did shift the focus away from Craiglist as everyone affected found other services to use.

A newly-released study [PDF] (via Sophie Cull) shows there’s been a corresponding increase in female homicides since the point Craigslist dumped ERS. Online services — enabled by Section 230 — helped sex workers stay safe by reducing or eliminating a few of the more dangerous variables.

This is not a surprise.

The effects were predicted when FOSTA was being debated.

Free Market Fail, ISP Edition


Greed, it appears, is not so good

People have been talking for years about how unleashing the creative power on markets on the internet service market.

The problem is that providers are natural monopolies, and as such their incentive is to minimize their monopoly rents, not by providing better and cheaper service.

Case in point, the studies showing that zero-rating some internet content raises prices:

When an ISP decides to exempt certain applications or services from cutting into a user’s data cap, that’s zero rating. And the evidence is in that it conclusively makes broadband more expensive.

A comprehensive multi-year study by the non-profit Epicenter.works, comparing the 30 member countries of the European Union (EU) on net neutrality enforcement, has found that zero rating business practices by wireless carriers have increased the cost of wireless data compared to countries without zero rating. This directly contradicts all of the assertions by major wireless carriers that their zero rating practices are “free data” for consumers.

Based on the evidence, zero rating not only serves as a means to enhance ISPs’ power over the Internet, but it’s also how they charge consumers more money for wireless service. Zero rating was originally going to be banned by the FCC under the General Conduct Rule, but when the FCC changed leadership the agency promptly green lighted and encouraged the industry to engage in zero rating practices before it began its repeal of net neutrality.

EU countries that do not have zero rating practices enjoyed a double digit drop in the price of wireless data after a year. In comparison, the countries with prevalent zero rating practices from their wireless carriers consistently saw data prices increase. This makes sense; carriers have an incentive to raise the costs of exploring alternatives in order to make their preferred, zero-rated choice of content more attractive. However, once that incentive is removed, the wireless carrier no longer has a reason to raise the cost of alternatives because nothing is given special treatment. In short, zero rating practices cost you more money.

So not a surprise.

The evidence is clear:  The more that internet service policy depends on “free market” forces, the more that the service costs, and the lower the quality of service.

Oh, You Delicate Snowflakes

It looks like Amazon little fee-fees are getting hurt by criticism from some New York politicians, and it is threatening to take its balls* and go home.

The undeservedly wealthy and powerful are just SO sensitive:

Amazon.com is reconsidering its plan to bring 25,000 jobs to a new campus in New York City following a wave of opposition from local politicians, according to two people familiar with the company’s thinking.

The company has not leased or purchased office space for the project, making it easy to withdraw its commitment. Unlike in Virginia — where elected leaders quickly passed an incentive package for a separate headquarters facility — final approval from New York state is not expected until 2020.

Tennessee officials have also embraced Amazon’s plans to bring 5,000 jobs to Nashville, which this week approved $15.2 million in road, sewer and other improvements related to that project.

Amazon executives have had internal discussions recently to reassess the situation in New York and explore alternatives, said the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the company’s perspective.

“The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” said one person familiar with the company’s plans.

Let me guess, this, “Person familiar with the company’s plans,” has a name that sounds a lot like, “Splif Cheetos.”

Amazon supporters are aghast that local New York politicians — including Gianaris and Van Bramer — have turned against the company.

They are aghast I tell you, aghast, that they are not being properly worshiped.

Who the f%$# do they think they are?  My cats?

*As an aside, you can see Amazon’s balls in their full glory on the website of the National Enquirer.

Tweet of the Day

“Bitcoin’s basically a re-enactment society for early modern economics. Like getting dressed up in medieval garb and going to feasts except instead you get to re-discover why each and every financial regulation we have today came into existence.” – Riina Stewart

— David Gerard (@davidgerard) February 7, 2019

I would argue that you can apply this more generally to the entire tech industry.

Speaking of Chicken Sh%$s

Amid record profits, GM is shuttering Canadian plants, and moving production to Mexico, and the Canadian auto union Unifor has run a Super Bowl ad condemning the move.

GM has responded by threatening to sue the labor union:

The Canadian trade union Unifor is pissed that GM is shutting down the Oshawa Assembly Plant, which has a long and rich history spanning over 100 years. GM says on its website that the facility—which now builds the Cadillac XTS, Chevy Impala, Chevy Silverado, and GMC Sierra—has been open since 1953, but that before that, it built McLaughlin Buicks and Chevrolets prior to The Bowtie merging with GM in 1918.

Despite all of that history, in 2018, GM announced plans to close the historic manufacturing site. Shortly thereafter, workers walked out in protest, and the president of Unifor, the trade union representing the plant workers, voiced his displeasure, saying “They are not closing our damn plant without one hell of a fight,” per CTV News.
But last night, during the Super Bowl, the battle between Unifor and GM got heated, with the former unleashing this commercial in Canada:

The commercial is scathing, mentioning how Canada helped GM with the bailout last decade, and criticizing the company’s expansion into Mexico. “GM, you may have forgotten our generosity,” the commercial concludes, “but we’ll never forget your greed. If you want to sell here, build here.”

 According to the Detroit News, GM wasn’t thrilled, and even threatened legal action:

Who knew that the automobile manufacturer was such a bunch of beautiful cinnamon rolls who are too good for this world?

In related news, Unifor is also calling for a boycott of Mexican made vehicles.

If the VIN starts with the number “3”, it’s from Mexico.

Officer, Would You Like a Cup of Shut the F%$# up to Go along with Your Doughnut?

Waze is a navigation app, and it’s better than Google Maps, in part because its users can report road conditions and the like.

One of the road hazards that users can report are speed traps, and cops HATE that, because that’s how they make their money.

Well, now the NYPD has issued a cease and desist letter to Waze, who promptly told them to go Cheney themselves:

The popular traffic app Waze gathers user-submitted feedback to alert drivers to possible inconveniences they might experience on the road—inconveniences like getting stuck at DWI traffic point. Now, the NYPD reportedly has a message for Waze and its parent company Google: Snitches get stitches.

CBS New York obtained a cease and desist letter that it claims was sent by the NYPD to Google in the law enforcement agency insists the Waze app is creating a dangerous situation by alerting users of nearby checkpoints. According to the report, the letter states:

Individuals who post the locations of DWI checkpoints may be engaging in criminal conduct since such actions could be intentional attempts to prevent and/or impair the administration of the DWI laws and other relevant criminal and traffic laws.

The posting of such information for public consumption is irresponsible since it only serves to aid impaired and intoxicated drivers to evade checkpoints and encourage reckless driving. Revealing the location of checkpoints puts those drivers, their passengers, and the general public at risk.

Curiously, a link to the full letter on the CBS website is now broken. An NYPD spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email, “I can confirm the NYPD sent the letter.” When asked for comment, a Google representative told us, “Safety is a top priority when developing navigation features at Google. We believe that informing drivers about upcoming speed traps allows them to be more careful and make safer decisions when they’re on the road.”

There are a number of things that are wrong with what the police have done.

First, Waze does not report sobriety check-points, ir reports speed traps, traffic cams, and  the presence of police cars.

Second, this is a seriously chicken sh%$ move, but seriously chicken sh%$ moves are all a part of law enforcement mentality, which is why one occasionally hear porcine metaphors when referring to the local constabulary.

Thank You James Tobin

Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) is proposing a transaction tax on financial transactions.
This tax, called a “Tobin Tax”, after its creator, Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin, would serve to disincentivize speculative activities:

Wall Street would bear the brunt of the latest tax proposal as Democrats jockey for the most progressive tax ideas with the approach of the 2020 elections.

Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, is working on a plan that would tax financial trades, according to his spokesman, Michael Inacay, who declined to provide details on how, exactly, it would be structured.

Financial transaction taxes typically place a levy of a fraction of a percent on the price of a securities trade. The idea has gained popularity within the Democratic Party as a way to curb high-frequency trading as well as raise revenue for progressive policies such as free college tuition.

………

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, another 2020 presidential candidate, as well as Sanders, has backed plans that would tax financial trades. The revenue of a tax set at 0.1 percent of the value of a securities trade is estimated to raise about $777 billion over a decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Overseas, the idea for a tax on financial trades in gaining steam. Stock buyers in Europe would pay a 0.2 percent tax under a plan that Germany and France proposed last month.

Of course, such a tax might not raise that much money, because it would serve to discourage reckless speculation.

To quote Randall Munroe, “Mission f%$#ing accomplished.:

Assuming that it is properly structured, so, for example, short sellers would have to pay for each of their 4 transactions, (borrow, sell, buy, return) any revenue shortfall would be just fine with me.

Linkage

 SpongeBob Singing “Sweet Victory”:

Perspective on the Unemployment Numbers

It doesn’t feel like historically low unemployment, and one of the reasons why is that involuntary part-time work is also at an all time high, and the standard U-3 measure does not count them:

Britain just notched up yet another record-breaking low for unemployment, according to the government. Unemployment stayed at just 4%, while the number of people with jobs rose to 32.54 million, or 75.8%, “the highest since comparable estimates began in 1971,” according to the UK’s Office for National Statistics.

But once again, the monthly jobs tally eclipsed how that miracle was achieved. “Headline” unemployment is only at a record low because of a 42% increase in the number of people who are in “involuntary” part-time work.

“Involuntary” means they’re only working part-time because they cannot get a full-time job.  

In March 2006, at the peak of the economic boom that preceded the great financial crisis, involuntary part-time work was at a low of 620,000. It rose to a peak after the 2008 crisis. But today, after 10 years of economic growth, it has settled back to 881,000 — an increase of 42% over the period, according to the ONS.

This is not good news.

Four percent unemployment is technically “full employment.” Anyone who wants a job should be able to get one. But 881,000 workers need full-time jobs — the kind that get people out of poverty — and those jobs are not available.

I have a feeling that this is a feature, not a bug.

The politicians get to crow about success, and the captains of industry still don’t have to pay a fair wage.

Oh, Canada!

Green energy campaigners in Canada applauded a precedent-settiing Supreme Court ruling on Thursday which ordered the bankrupt Alberta-based oil and gas company Redwater Energy to clean up its failed wells instead of leaving the task to the public.

Observing the “polluter pays principle,” the 5-2 ruling overturned two earlier decisions by lower courts which had sided with a federal law stating that insolvent companies could prioritize paying back their creditors over fulfilling their environmental obligations.

“Bankruptcy is not a license to ignore rules,” Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote in the ruling, which was celebrated as one that would set a new precedent for the entire country.

“The Supreme Court of Canada has prioritized paying clean up costs before creditors when extractive companies go bankrupt. This outcome reinforces the growing understanding that polluters are responsible for their clean up obligations,” said the Pembina Institute, a think tank focused on clean energy and environmental policy.

Indeed.

I would argue that corporate bankruptcy generally serves to provide too much protection to companies and management.

In addition to ecological damage, how about allowing the claw back of sky high executive pay,  private equity management fees, etc. as a part of bankruptcy proceedings.

My First Thought Was That They Were Rebroadcasting Trump’s Speech

That was my fist thought when I read a report of a new Russian Weapon System that induces nausea, vomiting, and hallucinations:

The Russian Navy reportedly has a new weapon that can disrupt the eyesight of targets as well as make them hallucinate and vomit.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that a Russian military contractor has installed the weapon on two Russian warships.

The weapon fires a beam similar to a strobe light that affects the target’s eyesight, making it more difficult for them to aim at night. During testing, volunteers reportedly used rifles and guns to shoot targets that were protected by the weapon. The volunteers reported having trouble aiming because they couldn’t see.

Additionally, about half of the volunteers said they felt dizzy, nauseous and disoriented. About 20 percent of the volunteers reported experiencing hallucinations.

The weapon, called the Filin, has reportedly been installed on the Admiral Gorshkov and Admiral Kasatonov, two Russian warships. The weapon is expected to be installed on more ships that are currently being built.

This is actually not as far out as it sounds.  A phenomenon known as Flicker vertigo, as well as a flashlight type device that has been mooted for law enforcement use, have been known for years.

Still, it’s an opportunity for me to make a cheap snark, so I took it.

T/t naked capitalism.

Why is this Guy not in Jail?

I understand that prosecutors are loath to pursue charges in cases of law enforcement, but this Sheriff needs to go to jail.

He used courtroom cameras to read notepads of the defense attorney and a juror.

This is so blatantly corrupt and so blatantly illegal that he should be arrested and held without bail:

Some defense attorneys in San Juan County worry that Sheriff Ron Krebs has a finger on the scales of justice after learning he used a courtroom security camera to surreptitiously zoom in on defense documents and a juror’s notebook during a criminal trial last week.

The incident has drawn outrage from criminal and civil-rights attorneys and frustration from the county prosecutor, and prompted a rare weekend hearing during which a judge dismissed misdemeanor assault and trespass charges against a Lopez Island man after finding the incident amounted to government misconduct that had violated his right to a fair trial.

“I’m flabbergasted,” said San Juan Public Defender Colleen Kenimond, the attorney whose notes were targeted. “This was a court of law. You are supposed to be safe there, and the proceedings are supposed to be fair. Here, the sheriff used the courtroom to violate my client’s rights. Outrageous hardly covers it.”

Kenimond isn’t alone. San Juan County Prosecutor Randall Gaylord — whose office has been stung by misconduct in the Sheriff’s Office before — distanced himself from Krebs. “I too am frustrated at what has happened here, frustrated that it has happened to cases I personally was involved in, and concerned about the community we represent.”

………

In court filings, Krebs and Gaylord insisted the incident was isolated and unintentional and resulted from security concerns about the defendant in the case, who allegedly had threatened to stab a Lopez Island grocer. Krebs, in a sworn declaration, said he “inadvertently manipulated the camera in the District Courtroom in such a way that it zoomed in on one or more locations in the courtroom” and insisted he didn’t read or pass on anything he may have seen. He claimed he did not know the camera had a zoom function.

Bullsh%$.

I guarantee that this is not the first time that he did this, it’s just the first time he got caught doing this.

Even if it had been the fist time, he should be in facing criminal charges over this.

When the DCCC Calls for Money………

Remember Nancy Pelosi’s promise to the insurance companies that there won’t ever be Medicare for all.

I am not suggesting that you close your wallet for the 2020 election season, but I AM suggesting that allowing the party establishment to decide where YOUR money goes is a sucker bet”

Less than a month after Democrats — many of them running on “Medicare for All” — won back control of the House of Representatives in November, the top health policy aide to then-prospective House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Blue Cross Blue Shield executives and assured them that party leadership had strong reservations about single-payer health care and was more focused on lowering drug prices, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

Pelosi adviser Wendell Primus detailed five objections to Medicare for All and said that Democrats would be allies to the insurance industry in the fight against single-payer health care. Primus pitched the insurers on supporting Democrats on efforts to shrink drug prices, specifically by backing a number of measures that the pharmaceutical lobby is opposing.

Primus, in a slide presentation obtained by The Intercept, criticized single payer on the basis of cost (“Monies are needed for other priorities”), opposition (“Stakeholders are against; Creates winners and losers”), and “implementation challenges.” We have recreated the slides for source protection purposes.

An added benefit to not giving to the DCCC is that the DC consultants won’t siphon away 60% of your donations to line their own pockets.

I Hope That This Means Something

The New York State Senate has appointed a vociferous critic of Amazon “HQ2” deal to the Public Authorities Control Board, which has the power to stop the deal.

I think that there are a couple of things going on here, first the Senate is feeling its oats in challenging a governor of their own party who attempted to keep the body in Republican hands, and second, after the Foxconn debacle in Wisconsin, this deal has become much less popular with the general public.

In either case, :

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and newly emboldened Democrats in the State Senate appeared headed for open warfare on Monday over a plan to bring Amazon to New York City after the Senate leader named a critic of the $3 billion deal to a state board that could scuttle it.

 The decision to choose the critic, Senator Michael Gianaris, for the board immediately presented a direct political challenge for Mr. Cuomo — who must decide whether to refuse the Senate’s selection. And it demonstrated the ability of the Democrat-led State Legislature to call into question the governor’s control over the kinds of state boards that, in recent years, he had been mostly able to bend to his will.

 ………

 Mr. Cuomo could reject the pick, though doing so could create a protracted standoff with the Senate leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and her fellow Democrats. Already, the battle lines were hardening on Monday as Mr. Cuomo’s office reacted angrily to Mr. Gianaris’s appointment.

 ………

 It was yet another sour note in the Amazon deal. Company executives have bristled at the intense criticism and, last week at a City Council hearing, seemed to float the notion that Amazon could reconsider its commitment to New York.

 The ability of a local legislator to block the deal to bring a major new Amazon campus to Long Island City was exactly what Mr. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio had tried to avoid when they decided to use a state development process and to bypass more onerous city rules. Opposition, while vocal, seemed futile.

 But now, with the insistence of Senate Democrats on appointing Mr. Gianaris to the little-known Public Authorities Control Board, those who want to stop Amazon from coming to Queens have gotten their most tangible boost yet. The board will have to decide on the development plan for Amazon, Mr. Cuomo has said, and could veto it.

 ………

 The obscure state board does have a history of blocking major deals: 14 years ago, it helped derail former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plans for a new stadium in Manhattan.

 ………

 He would be one of three voting members of the board; any voting member of the board has the power to stop projects that come before it.

………

Lawmakers have used the Public Authorities Control Board — whose voting members are appointed by the Senate, the Assembly and the governor — as a roadblock to big projects before. In 2005, Mr. Bloomberg saw his plan for a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan, part of the city’s bid to host the 2012 Olympics, shot down in front of the board by the vote of one state lawmaker, Sheldon Silver, who was then the Assembly speaker. Mr. Silver said he could not support a deal that could harm the district in Lower Manhattan that he represented.

(emphasis mine)

I doesn’t help that Amazon has stated that it will continue to aggressively sabotage any unionization efforts in the state.

They Will Always Be J. Edgar Hoover’s Boys

And now, we discover that, in response to KKK and neo-Nazi violence, the FBI went after the people protesting against them.

Call me old fashioned, but I find being on the side of the KKK and Nazis vaguely un-American:

The FBI opened a “domestic terrorism” investigation into a civil rights group in California, labeling the activists “extremists” after they protested against neo-Nazis in 2016, new documents reveal.

Federal authorities ran a surveillance operation on By Any Means Necessary (Bamn), spying on the leftist group’s movements in an inquiry that came after one of Bamn’s members was stabbed at the white supremacist rally, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. The FBI’s Bamn files reveal:

  • The FBI investigated Bamn for potential “conspiracy” against the “rights” of the “Ku Klux Klan” and white supremacists.
  • The FBI considered the KKK as victims and the leftist protesters as potential terror threats, and downplayed the threats of the Klan, writing: “The KKK consisted of members that some perceived to be supportive of a white supremacist agenda.”
  • The FBI’s monitoring included in-person surveillance, and the agency cited Bamn’s advocacy against “rape and sexual assault” and “police brutality” as evidence in the terrorism inquiry.

The FBI’s 46-page report on Bamn, obtained by the government transparency non-profit Property of the People through a records request, presented an “astonishing” description of the KKK, said Mike German, a former FBI agent and far-right expert who reviewed the documents for the Guardian.

………

Shanta Driver, Bamn’s national chair, criticized the investigation in a statement to the Guardian, saying, “The FBI’s interest in BAMN is part of a long-standing policy … Starting with their campaign to persecute and slander Dr. Martin Luther King, they have a racist history of targeting peaceful civil rights and anti-racist organizations, while doing nothing to prosecute the racists and fascists who attacked Dr. King and the movement he built.”

The FBI launched its terrorism investigation and surveillance of Bamn after white supremacists armed with knives faced off with hundreds of counter-protesters, including Bamn activists, at a June 2016 neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento. Although numerous neo-Nazis were suspected of stabbing at least seven anti-fascists in the melee, leaving some with life-threatening injuries, the FBI chose to launch a inquiry into the activities of the leftwing protesters.


I really do believe that the FBI needs to to be fumigated to get the cockroaches descended from Hoover out of the organization.