Another Year Gone - What a One It's Been.

Twist on Drug Prices

One constantly reads of exorbitant prices for life saving drugs. Ours here in the US seem to be higher than everywhere else. Go across the border - north or south - and prices drop precipitously.

This might be one reason why.

In 2020 the highly flawed NAFTA was replaced by the USMCA, which Trump pushed hard for. This agreement among the US, Mexico and Canada helped mightily to level the playfield for US businesses and farmers. In order to get it passed, concessions were made to the old crone, Nancy Pelosi. One was concerned the 10 years of regulatory data protection on cutting edge biologic medicines. In the US, developers get 12 years of protection. Why is this significant? Well because competitors who get their hands on clinical trial results can use them to produce knockoffs. Freeloading personified.

New drugs require years of research and testing, which cost $$$ billions (with a B). Unless the developer has a reasonable period of exclusivity once a new drug is released there is no way they can recoup the investment in research let alone reap beaucoup profits. You can see where this leads. Meritocracy out the window as incentives are destroyed.

Buried the Lead

A few weeks back we highlighted the crisis in Nigeria where thousands of Christians are being slaughtered. Well this last week, President President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave a national address in which he proudly announced the rescue of 24 girls abducted from a school. Couple of things to note. 50 kids escaped, they were not rescued. 253 students and 12 teachers are still being held. President Bota - my hero.

NY Mayor's Team Takes Shape

"I'm excited to announce that I have been asked to join the Mamdani Transition Team to work on community safety issues. A New Era for NYC," Alex Vitale said on X.

Brooklyn College Professor Vitale is the author of "The End of Policing," published in 2017. The book, which opens by explaining that police don't exist to help citizens, argues for an end to traditional policing for certain criminal activity, including narcotics use, prostitution, patrolling borders and "misbehaving adolescents." The book also argues that police shouldn't combat street gangs.

Vitale has often called to abolish police on his X account, including bicycle police, police helicopters and police in schools. He has also called to abolish joint terrorism task forces, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Border Patrol and even the presidency of the United States.

Here we go.

How Can We Compete?

There are supposedly 1000 or more AI-related bills moving through state legislatures to inhibit the development of this hyper-critical lever of competitive advantage. Meanwhile China probably has like five (or zero) regulations, except for you can't badmouth XI or the CCP.

I'm all for states rights and leaving most things up to the individual states. But this is different. This really is national security and that has always been the Federal government's #1 responsibility.

We need a national policy on AI. And fast as China is marching ahead full steam.

The Robots are coming and you better hope they're Elon's and not the ChiComs.

Like Stealing Money from a Cookie Jar

480 Minnesota state government employees collaborated and wrote to former Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) multiple times "warning them" about Gov. Tim Walz and what they described as his "incompetence, fraud scandals and retaliation."

In the Medicaid scandal, once thought to be yet another "one-off abuse during a health emergency" as the NY Times put it, 86 people have been charged with committing felonies and 59 convicted. All but eight are Somalis.

One Somali thief said it was "like stealing money from a cookie jar." What does Timmy say...Minnesota is a "generous state, so criminals come here". Gotta protect that Somali voting block.

Perhaps the cruelest of the thefts involved a perpetrator named Asha Farhan Hassan, who targeted a Minnesota Health Care Program for young people with autism. Hassan and her partners approached parents in the Somali community to recruit their children. When a child did not have an autism diagnosis, HASSAN and her partners worked to get the recruited child qualified for autism services. The fraudsters paid parents kickbacks of approximately $300 to $1,500 per month. In all, prosecutors say, Hassan and her cohorts raked in some $14 million, which she used to buy property in Kenya among other things, of course.

Governor Timmy said it's not his job to police these things. But he's "put people in jail". Yeah after stealing billions. Gotta protect that voting block.

Kinda amazing. Somebody on Trump's team screws up, turns out to be a dud or has a dirty past exposed and they get broomed. With Dems they swing into full on coverup mode. Then top it off by nominating him for VP. As said before, best way to exonerate a crook is promote him.

Lots Easier with Help from Da Judge

Committing billion $$$ fraud becomes a lot more attractive when the courts are stacked in your favor.

Just last week Minnesota Judge Sarah West overturned a guilty verdict for an individual convicted in a $7.2 million fraud scheme that involved taxpayer money. Abdifatah Yusuf and his wife Lul Ahmed stole $7.2 million from the state's Medicaid program while running a home healthcare business that lacked an office building and operated for "years out of a mailbox," Yusuf received Medicaid money for services that weren't provided and overbilled for services that didn't have documentation. The money funded a "lavish lifestyle" that included shopping sprees at "luxury clothing stores including Coach, Canada Goose, Michael Kors, Third Degree Heat, Nike, and Nordstrom." Judge West ruled the case relied too much on "circumstantial evidence". Yeah, 7 million of it. Gotta protect that voting block.

Little wonder why the single biggest cause of our nearly $40 trillion debt is Medicare/Medicaid (in addition to SS). You'll never guess which three networks failed to even mention the burgeoning Walz scandal?

My Baby is Gone Forever

Words from the father whose daughter was gunned down.

Just sickening. Every American should be furious. 20 year old National Guardswomen, Sarah Beckstrom was gunned down on Wednesday in DC, our nation's capitol. A second guardsman, 24 year old Andrew Wolfe, lies in critical condition.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted, "The suspect who shot our brave National Guardsmen is an Afghan national who was one of the many unvetted, mass paroled into the United States under Operation Allies Welcome on September 8, 2021, under the Biden Administration." 

Apparently the Afghan who shot the guardsmen when stopped shouted, "You stupid white people. You let me into your country."

When is enough enough?

Maybe It's Time to Profile

“Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me."

These famous lines inscribed on the Statue of Liberty described America's invitation for all the world (who shared our values) to come and be welcomed. Key phrase being...shared our values. In fact when you enter you must declare your allegiance to America. A fact habitually ignored by leftwing courts.

How about this? Some groups are just not good immigrants.

Today's lax immigration policies have invited far too many who hate America and wish us the worst. No longer is it appropriate and certainly it is not advisable to throw open our doors to anybody who shows up, just cause they might vote Democrat.

It is perfectly reasonable, indeed, mandatory that we be selective. It's time to "profile". Immigrants from certain countries, parts of the world, cultures are clearly more likely to come here because they do share our values, want to contribute and believe America is "bestest". These should be welcomed providing, of course, they follow immigration law and are likely to benefit America.

And then there are other cultures, societies, parts of the world known to despise America and wish nothing more than our destruction. Aspiring immigrants from these places must be scrutinized and rarely given the benefit of the doubt. The potential for admitting radicals or those soon to be radicalized has grown far too great. Are there many good people in terrorist-prone, anti-American countries? Absolutely. But there are also many enemies who hate our guts and would blown themselves up to prove it.

We have no obligation to take in refugees who hail from regions controlled by terrorists and subject to terrorist radicalization. In 1990 there were 2500 Somalis living here. Today there are almost 200,000. I'll guarantee 200K can steal a lot more than 2500.

Thank Goodness, Kristi's a Beast.

Ironically, few weeks ago amidst calls for ICE to rein in its deportation activities, it was DHS Secretary Kristi Noem who lobbied for "full steam ahead", not Tom Bulldog Homan.

After the murder of a National Guardswoman and the attempt on another last week in DC, Secretary Noem, declared..."I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every d--- country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."

She's right, I think. Enough turning a blind eye to those who hate us, want only our hand-outs and seek to destroy our way of life. We owe them nothing.

Go get 'em Kristi.

Blue State Roadblocks

You remember Letitia James, AG of the Empire State. The one who brought the bogus charges against President Trump. Well, she and her NY cohorts are throwing up every roadblock possible to deter ICE's removal of felons who are here illegally. Defying ICE's demands that criminals here illegally upon release from prison be remanded to ICE, James and her band have released 7000 criminals back onto NY streets since Jan 20. And there are about 7000 more being held that James is shielding.

I won't bore you with the number of cases where the recently released have gone on to commit new crimes. But, trust me, there's plenty.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Every other day lately I read a piece that reports Trump is pushing for Republicans to end the Filibuster. As opined before this seems a bad idea to me. The way things work now sucks, I agree. America is either whipsawed every time the Administration changes from one side to the other or hopelessly gridlocked. Still...draconian changes in core practices and institutions seem very risky.

One must always keep in mind - what goes around comes around. Can you imagine Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in charge without the check of a the filibuster? We'd have a packed court, PR and DC would become states thus giving Democrats perpetual control and God knows what else. Of course, Dems feel the same about Republicans. How about if Mamdani seized the reins?

I don't know. Maybe the right answer is take off the shackles, win the midterms at any cost and let this Administration keep on doing the "right" things. Then hope the results speak for themselves. A true conundrum.

Nah, I think that's naive. There's too much money in politics. People are too venal by nature.

Given the feckless, self-serving, highly partisan behavior of the House and Senate since 2008 (Obama), it still seems a bad idea to remove checks and balances. Having them has been, plain and simple, the American way since the git go. Much rather see term limits as a start. But that dog won't hunt. Or - bite the hand that feeds.

Woke Ain't Dead Yet

Samantha Fulnecky is a Junior Pre-Med student at Oklahoma University. As part of her "lifespan development" course (whatever that is) she was asked to write her opinion about an article on "Gender binary and mental health and gender stereotypes in children" (again, whatever that is). Samantha wrote about her Christian beliefs and how they relate.

She was give a "0" (zero). Can you imagine if she was going to Harvard or Cal Berkeley? She would have been expelled or maybe pilloried. Apparently the TA who gave Sam the ZERO uses we/they pronouns. I'm shocked.

Go for It, USA. Get that Green Energy

Two North American solar companies, Canadian Solar and Sci-Tech were awarded almost $400 billion in subsidies from Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. Guess to whom these companies are closely tied? Bingo. Chi-coms. CEOs names are Zhu and Qu, so hard to figure out, right?

Meanwhile, as China urges the US to spend its taxpayer's dollars chasing green energy, they go merrily along burning coal up the wazoo. Clever guys those Chinese.

Far from Over

Reports from inside Gaza say Hamas is using the ceasefire to regroup and rebuild. While Trump and Bibi must look to the positive, hopefully, they are not naive. These are evil people and will not stop until they cease to breathe. Insiders claim none of the actual components of the peace plan that call for disarming Hamas have been implemented to this point.

The Thanks We Get

Prices for Americans (all non-EU citizens) just went up 3X more than EU visitors to the Louvre. Maybe it has to do with the jewels that were stolen.

We saved their butts from the Nazis and this is what we get.

Haters are Losers

The AOC of Tennessee got whupped. On Tuesday, Aftyn Behn, who ran for the US House seat out of Nashville, lost to her Republican opponent, Matt Van Epps. Ms. Behn was the one who vented several weeks ago detailing everything she "hated" about Nashville. Guess you can't despise your district then expect its voters to put you in office - even as a Leftwing Democrat.

There are limits even to blind ideological solidarity, it seems. Go you Vols.

Wonder Why?

Six Blue States (Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington) refused to comply with their legal obligations under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1960, three federal statutes that require states to maintain accurate voter rolls and make those records available for inspection.

Have a Good Mid Week.