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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#167201: Jan 17th 2017 at 11:35:41 PM

Yeah but Blackwater is a cut and above. Sometimes deliberately escalating conflicts and targeting civilians to get themselves more contracts.

Oh really when?
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#167202: Jan 17th 2017 at 11:36:58 PM

Wow, they're actually worse than I thought. That is frightening.

Do not obey in advance.
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#167203: Jan 17th 2017 at 11:40:38 PM

[up] Like I said, they are pretty much Talon Company in real life. A real-life example of Always Chaotic Evil.

edited 17th Jan '17 11:59:59 PM by Bat178

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#167204: Jan 18th 2017 at 12:07:39 AM

One of Trump's new advisors allegedly hired white thugs to keep black people out of his clubs.

Christ. Well, he ought to fit right in.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#167205: Jan 18th 2017 at 12:18:00 AM

[up] Christ, we really are going back to the Wild West. How long before they start hanging people again and shooting people who cheated in a poker game becomes legal again?

edited 18th Jan '17 12:23:12 AM by Bat178

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#167206: Jan 18th 2017 at 12:29:24 AM

Heh, whoever takes the WH after Trump is going to have to hire a cleaning crew and an exorcist to make the place bearable again.

edited 18th Jan '17 12:31:00 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#167207: Jan 18th 2017 at 1:05:31 AM

Assuming they're any better than he is...

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#167208: Jan 18th 2017 at 1:29:53 AM

Did the toupet give anything more about Trumptreat other than it being better than Oabamcare and coming 'Soon'

(I'm expecting it 6 months after the Halflife 3 Anniversary Edition)

"You can reply to this Message!"
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#167209: Jan 18th 2017 at 1:35:11 AM

"Like those US troops caught pissing on a Taliban fighter's corpse in Afghanistan some years ago."

So much for "polite" and "professional".

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#167210: Jan 18th 2017 at 1:40:46 AM

@Blackwater: They're a shining example of why Sun Tzu and Machiavelli were so disparaging of mercenaries.

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#167211: Jan 18th 2017 at 1:53:27 AM

So, Cory Booker has been getting a lot of shit hurled in his direction after supposedly voting against a Sanders-sponsored bill that would lower prescription drug costs. BLM activist Deray McKesson breaks down here why the outrage is unfounded, and why the situation is not exactly that straightforward.

tl;dr: The Sanders-Klobuchar agreement wouldn't actually have mandated lowering drug costs, but instead operated on the assumption that importing them from Canada would result in them being lowered. Booker actually voted in favor of a different amendment that would mandate lowering drug costs.

There's also the fact that the Sanders-Klobuchar agreement was never going to pass with or without Booker, which Sanders quite possibly knew. A lot of people are of the opinion that Sanders incited this specifically with the intention of damaging Booker, one of Sanders's more likely 2020 opponents.

Also from McKesson - he's launched a project called The Resistance Manual, a faily comprehensive wiki guide to modern political issues, what's under threat, and the most effective means of fighting back against the GOP's supervillain agenda.

edited 18th Jan '17 1:54:11 AM by RBluefish

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#167212: Jan 18th 2017 at 2:20:08 AM

On Erik Prince:

Having had way too many lectures to count on PMC's, I can tell you that getting Erik Prince liable for anything is almost impossible under current international law (businesses are not subject to international law, only states). A Bush era executive order protected them from legal consequences, with only a few getting prosecuted after the Nisour Square massacre. Currently Academi (formerly Blackwater) is part of Constellis Holdings, along with Triple Canopy, Constellis Ltd., Strategic Social, Tidewater Global Services, National Strategic Protective Services, ACADEMI Training Center and International Development Solutions.

Currently Erik Prince is the head of Reflex Responses working in the UAE, with the mission of training commandos under 529 million dollar contract.

edited 18th Jan '17 2:20:33 AM by TerminusEst

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#167213: Jan 18th 2017 at 2:31:48 AM

[up][up]Except the amendment could have passed. If Booker, plus the 12 other Democrats, had voted for it. Because 12 Republicans also voted for it.

That would've been 59-39 in favor of being able to import prescription drugs from Canada (with 1 D & R vote missing due to Feinstein and Sessions being absent).

edited 18th Jan '17 2:46:07 AM by Eschaton

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#167214: Jan 18th 2017 at 3:02:45 AM

Yes, but that doesn't actually address the question of whether or not the bill was a good idea in the first place.

Booker attempted to address the issue in a statement:

"I support the importation of prescription drugs as a key part of a strategy to help control the skyrocketing cost of medications. Any plan to allow the importation of prescription medications should also include consumer protections that ensure foreign drugs meet American safety standards. I opposed an amendment put forward last night that didn't meet this test. The rising cost of medications is a life-and-death issue for millions of Americans, which is why I also voted for amendments last night that bring drug prices down and protect Medicare's prescription drug benefit. I'm committed to finding solutions that allow for prescription drug importation with adequate safety standards."

His response was panned and often based on information from a widely shared article from New Republic that portrays the "safety argument" as a disingenuous industry lie. But did Alex Shephard in his article really examine the basic facts, or give Booker the benefit of the doubt he deserves? Not only did he not do that, but he also did not provide any evidence to back up his audacious claims that connect Booker's vote to him being under the sway of the pharmaceutical industry, and many of Booker's other votes, including the SA 188, the vote immediately after SA 178 contradict that claim.

[...]

This is a budget appropriations bill and thus would not be able to give power for the FDA to regulate these imports. We are asked to believe that there is no concern, because coming from Canada these drugs would allegedly be subjected to the same safety standards as the U.S. and often be coming from the same factories, but this is largely untrue due to some of the regulatory peculiarities concerning how Canada exports drugs. Most importantly, drugs that are marked for export are not actually subject to ANY regulation by the Canadian government. That means any startup company could bring in drugs manufactured in countries with zero regulations, and then directly sell them without oversight from the Canadian government, to pharmacies and hospitals in the U.S. without any regulatory power from the FDA. This reveals the real and potential danger of this amendment, and also why someone like Senator Ted Cruz would be in favor of it. It undermines the FDA, which like any regulatory agency is not without it's flaws, but which also undeniably plays an important role in maintaining a standard of safety in our prescription drugs. In the so-called "free market" frontier of a post-ACA world people who rely upon complex life saving medicines, hospitals would have an unmitigated ability to distribute medications without any oversight or obligation to disclose where they came from. This is about so much more than just ordering online prescriptions. When the article in The New Republic uses that comparison, it misses the mark completely. It also ignores the fact that there HAVE been problems with online prescriptions. Regardless of some of the dangers, Americans are able to currently order supplies of less than three months from online pharmacies, and the current policy of the FDA is to "look the other way".

I can hardly pretend to be an expert on the subject of pharmaceutical safety regulations and importation agreements, but though people are free to disagree with it, Booker's stance sounds reasonable to me. Certainly not as outrageous as many on the left have been trying to paint it as.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#167215: Jan 18th 2017 at 3:06:44 AM

Whaaaaaat, Saint Bernie lying about something to paint establishment Democrats in a bad light?

That would never happen.

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#167216: Jan 18th 2017 at 3:24:03 AM

[up][up]A good counterpoint. Now, it's all a matter of messaging.

Most importantly, drugs that are marked for export are not actually subject to ANY regulation by the Canadian government.
Booker needs to hammer this specific sentence day in, day out, for the next four years if he wants to walk away from this relatively unscathed.

Also, what's the deal Canada? Shouldn't somebody be checking that kind of stuff?

edited 18th Jan '17 3:27:59 AM by Eschaton

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#167217: Jan 18th 2017 at 3:28:28 AM

Agreed. This is doing some serious damage to Booker's image, and he needs to get in control of the message if he wants to stem the bleeding.

If this really was just orchestrated by Bernie to try to slam Booker in preparation for 2020, then...goddamn it, Bernie. Can't we all just gang up on Trump for now?

edited 18th Jan '17 3:29:19 AM by RBluefish

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#167218: Jan 18th 2017 at 3:39:20 AM

From what I understand, these kinds of votes are usually symbolic, and usually intended to make Republicans demonstrate how bad they are. For example, the other drug pricing bill that Booker did vote for was shot down purely along party lines.

The fact that some Democrats got caught in the cross-hairs of this kind of bill raises questions on why they would choose to be on that side of a symbolic sledgehammer, especially when some Republicans - either out of genuine agreement or soulless political maneuvering - got out of the way.

AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#167220: Jan 18th 2017 at 4:26:22 AM

I'd like a few more details on the safety issues of importing drugs from abroad. Cruz is a creep and I don't doubt for a minute that he'd encourage snake oil salesmen, but the articles complaining about the Klobuchar-Sanders amendment are a bit too perfunctory to make the issue clear. Also, having seen some proposals to make fences or walls along the Canada-US border I wonder if some people work under the assumption that it's the lawless wild up there.

(And while we are into speculating about people's motives on thin evidence, I recall Booker receiving lots of money from pharmaceutical companies. Maybe that was the reason for his vote? Or perhaps he received the money because he tends to vote in favour of these companies' interests?)

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
WhatArtThee Since: Oct, 2015
#167221: Jan 18th 2017 at 4:35:00 AM

Just two more days sad

Fitting song

edited 18th Jan '17 4:35:46 AM by WhatArtThee

Just another day in the life of Jimmy Nutrin
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#167222: Jan 18th 2017 at 4:38:40 AM

[up][up]That's where the criticism from the left is coming from, of course. And it extends to all of the Democrats who voted against it; Booker is simply the most high-profile, which is in large part his own doing.

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#167223: Jan 18th 2017 at 4:44:10 AM

[up][up][up] Well, that's certainly the narrative being floated by the Sanders wing - that Booker's nothing but a corporate shill who's sold out his principles to Big Pharma.

For reference's sake, this chart shows the top 20 industries who have contributed to Booker's campaign. Pharmaceuticals are at #8, with a total of $388,678 - small potatoes compared to some of the donations he's received from other industries.

Admittedly I don't know how much is a normal amount when it comes to campaign donations from the pharmaceutical industry, but a little under 400 grand doesn't seem particularly disproportionate. Chuck Schumer, for example, has actually received more than that.

edited 18th Jan '17 4:44:33 AM by RBluefish

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#167224: Jan 18th 2017 at 6:36:11 AM

[up] It's worth noting that a lot of jobs in NJ are pharma jobs. It's possible that, in addition to safety concerns, Booker may have been motivated a bit by a desire to protect the livelihoods of his constituents.

And if one wants to condemn him for that, one should also call out Sanders for his ties with the military industrial complex in his state.

Disgusted, but not surprised
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#167225: Jan 18th 2017 at 6:38:59 AM

And curiously no one calls him out for voting against establishing the Amber Alert.

New Survey coming this weekend!

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