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Tuesday, June 30, 2020

  

JUNE 30, 2020

PROGRESSIVE OPINION AND NEWS 

“THIS IS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. THIS IS THE WORLD WE COVER.” I REALLY LOVE THIS COMMONDREAMS.ORG MOTTO, AND IN SOME OF THESE ARTICLES, IT APPLIES BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE I COULD SAY.

Published on
Monday, June 29, 2020
byCommon Dreams
'Absolute Robbery': Gilead Announces $3,120 Price Tag for Covid-19 Drug Developed With $70 Million in Taxpayer Support
"Taxpayers provided funding for the development of this drug. Now Gilead is price-gouging off it during a pandemic. Beyond disgusting," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
byJake Johnson, staff writer
 50 Comments

PHOTOGRAPH -- A woman wearing a mask walks by Gilead Sciences headquarters sign in Foster City, California on April 30, 2020. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)

Consumer advocates reacted with disgust Monday to an announcement by Gilead Sciences that it will charge U.S. hospitals around $3,120 per privately insured patient for a treatment course of remdesivir, a drug which has proven modestly effective at speeding Covid-19 recovery times.

INSERT -- "Allowing Gilead to set the terms during a pandemic represents a colossal failure of leadership by the Trump administration."
—Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen

Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen's Access to Medicines Program, called Gilead's pricing—which works out to around $520 per dose for non-government buyers like hospitals—"an offensive display of hubris and disregard for the public" and slammed the Trump administration for failing to ensure that the price of a drug developed with substantial taxpayer support is affordable for all.

Maybarduk pointed to Institute for Clinical and Economic Review research showing Gilead could still make a profit by pricing remdesivir at $310 per course.

"Gilead has priced at several thousand dollars a drug that should be in the public domain. For $1 per day, remdesivir can be manufactured at scale with a reasonable profit," Maybarduk said in a statement. "Gilead did not make remdesivir alone. Public funding was indispensable at each stage, and government scientists led the early drug discovery team. Allowing Gilead to set the terms during a pandemic represents a colossal failure of leadership by the Trump administration."

Public Citizen estimated in a May report that U.S. taxpayers contributed at least $70.5 million to the development of remdesivir.


Public Citizen
@Public_Citizen
US taxpayers spent $70,000,000 developing this drug. This is an absolute robbery. https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1277568895973560320 …

CNBC
@CNBC
Gilead's coronavirus treatment remdesivir to cost $3,120 per U.S. patient with private insurance https://cnb.cx/2NAxZ1c

3,158
2:30 PM - Jun 29, 2020
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1,526 people are talking about this


Shortly after Gilead's announcement, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department said it reached an agreement with the pharmaceutical giant to purchase more than 500,000 treatment courses of remdesivir for American hospitals.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is "the only developed country where Gilead will charge two prices"—one for government buyers ($390 per dose) and one for non-government buyers like hospitals ($520 per dose). The typical remdesivir treatment course consists of around six doses.

INSERT -- "Trump's refusal to stop pandemic profiteering with a stroke of a pen is a green light to other manufacturers to exploit this tragedy."
—Rep. Lloyd Doggett

Unlike the U.S., the Journal notes, the governments of other advanced nations "negotiate drug prices directly with drugmakers."

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), chair of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, said in a statement that "Trump's refusal to stop pandemic profiteering with a stroke of a pen is a green light to other manufacturers to exploit this tragedy."

Doggett said he is pressuring the Trump administration and Gilead to disclose the details of their agreement, including the sum the government paid for the 500,000 treatment courses of remdesivir.

On Twitter, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) condemned Gilead's price-tag as "beyond disgusting."

"Taxpayers provided funding for the development of this drug. Now Gilead is price-gouging off it during a pandemic," said Sanders. "Coronavirus treatment must be free to all."

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HOW CAN A SENATOR FAIL TO SEE THE KEY PIECE OF INFORMATION HERE? SENATOR KELLY LOEFFLER IS RUNNING FOR ELECTION. SHE WAS APPOINTED TO THE OFFICE WHEN HER PREDECESSOR STEPPED DOWN, AND WILL FACE ELECTORAL COMPETITION THIS TIME. IT’S GOING TO BE A LONG, HOT SUMMER, AND THAT MAY MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO HER. JUST A WEEK OR SO AFTER A GROUP OF WHITE AND CONSPICUOUSLY ARMED PROTESTERS MARCHED AT PRESIDENT TRUMP'S BIDDING TO "LIBERATE" THEIR STATE, SHE HAS CALLED AN IDENTICALLY ARMED BLACK GROUP DOING THE SAME THING  A CASE OF "MOB RULE."  SUCH AN OBVIOUS BIAS IN HER JUDGEMENT WON'T HELP HER WIN ELECTION, ESPECIALLY NOW WHEN PEOPLE ARE PAYING SO MUCH ATTENTION.

SHE NEEDS TO BE CAREFUL IF SHE CAN’T BE GOOD, ESPECIALLY THIS YEAR. PERSONALLY, I DON’T THINK ANY PROTESTER SHOULD HAVE A GUN, OF ANY RACIAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP, JUST BECAUSE OF THE OBVIOUS EXTRA DANGER, AND PERHAPS EVEN THE POLICE SHOULD BE INCLUDED. UP UNTIL RECENTLY THE BRITISH POLICE DIDN’T CARRY GUNS EXCEPT IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, SUCH AS WHAT WE CALL SWAT TEAMS. FOR AN INTERESTING ARTICLE FROM 2017 ON THAT SUBJECT, GO TO THE NBC NEWS STORY FOLLOWING THIS BY REASON.COM.

GUN RIGHTS
This Republican Senator Calls Three Black Men Peacefully Carrying Long Guns 'Mob Rule'
A Second Amendment hypocrite with a plan to undermine federalism
SCOTT SHACKFORD | 6.25.2020 2:00 PM

PHOTOGRAPHS -- Foxguns_1161x653, (Fox News)

This week Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R–Ga.) described a handful of protesters carrying guns in public as "mob rule."

Is Loeffler the rare conservative politician with a history of calling for expanded gun controls? That doesn't appear the case. Here's a tweet from her from January expressing appreciation for National Rifle Association President Carolyn Meadows:


Senator Kelly Loeffler
@SenatorLoeffler

Great to be back in Atlanta with @NRA President and fellow Georgian, Carolyn Meadows. Truly appreciate her work in Washington and around the country to protect and defend our 2nd Amendment Rights. #gapol
4:04 PM · Jan 17, 2020
100
51 people are Tweeting about this


What could possibly make a pro-gun-rights senator suddenly take such a dim view of citizens' rights to bear arms? Watch this Wednesday segment from the Fox show America's Newsroom, and the answer becomes apparent pretty quickly:


Kelly Loeffler
@KLoeffler
Joined @edhenry on @AmericaNewsroom to discuss my efforts to end the defund the police movement & pass the #JusticeAct. Enough with the political games from Democrats in Washington. Americans deserve better. #gapol #gasen

EMBEDDED VIDEO – FOX, SENATE TO VOTE ON POLICE REFORM BILL, 4;28 MIN.

As you can see, Fox interviewed Loeffler amid a montage of young, armed black people protesting police abuse in Atlanta, where a cop recently shot and killed Rayshard Brooks. Another Fox host, Sean Hannity, reported on Tuesday that there were "at least three men brandishing long guns" near the Wendy's where the incident happened.

Hannity, Fox, and Loeffler all represented this as evidence of the dangers of defunding police. Indeed, one young man with a gun (who seemed perfectly polite and respectful) told Fox he was carrying a 12-gauge shotgun because he didn't believe police officers would protect him, adding that cops were not going to be "allowed" in this space. Asked what he'd do if police rolled up and ordered him to drop his weapon, the man insisted he had the legal right under the Second Amendment of the Constitution to bear arms: "And at no point will I allow my right to be disturbed." Good for him!

Carrying long guns in public is legal in Georgia, by the way (with exceptions for a few places like courts and schools). Fox does not actually accuse any of these men of breaking any laws. But they clearly intend viewers to see these men as a threat—and not just because they have put up barricades and hope to shut out the police, but because they're bearing arms. By contrast, when a predominantly white group of protesters showed up at Michigan's capitol in April to protest the state's COVID-19 rules, Fox's coverage was reasonably neutral and factual, giving voice to critics but pointing out that guns were legally allowed in the state Capitol building.

Loeffler isn't just a hypocrite about gun rights. She's trying to undermine another value conservatives are supposed to believe in: federalism. The senator is introducing legislation that would reduce federal transportation funding from states and municipalities that cut funding to law enforcement, unless they can show a "clear budgetary need." The idea that the states and cities should have to get permission from the U.S. government to make a budget decision is, of course, absolutely anathema to local rule. It's up to a community's citizens to determine how much money their police department should receive—not the U.S. Senate or the Department of Transportation.

VIDEO -- ReasonTV on the importance of defending open carry rights in black communities to defend civil rights, 7:06 MIN.

NEXT: The Feds Sent More than 1 Million Coronavirus Stimulus Payments to Dead People, GAO Says


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Alex English
@AlexEnglish_2
·
Jun 26
This is a bad look for the
@AtlantaDream
 and the
@WNBA
 ... Donald Sterling vibes. #blacklivesmatter
Quote Tweet

Shannon Watts
@shannonrwatts
 · Jun 24
Republican Georgia Senator @KLoeffler - an @NRA darling who champions gun rights for her white constituents - calls open carry by Black Americans “mob rule” and says it endangers civilians and law enforcement.
1.7M views
2:06 MIN.
Copy Video Address

Saif Shaikh
Saif Shaikh, Blogger at Suggestbest
Mumbai Area, India connections


“POLICING BY CONSENT” AND “STRONGER LINKS WITH THE COMMUNITY,” NOW THAT’S RADICAL. THAT SOUNDS LIKE A BERNIE SANDERS COMMIE PINKO IDEA TO ME. THIS IS A 2017 ARTICLE FROM BRITAIN, BUT THE SITUATION APPLIES SO CLEARLY HERE IN THE USA AS WELL, ONLY IN BRITAIN THEY APPROACH POLICING FROM A VERY DIFFERENT  VIEW. TO QUOTE A FORMER BRITISH OFFICER, “IN A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY, THERE IS GOING TO BE A BALANCE BETWEEN DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM AND OPENNESS, AND A POLICE STATE — AND NONE OF US WANT TO LIVE IN A POLICE STATE . . . "

The Vast Majority of U.K. Police Don't Carry Guns. Here's Why.
March 23, 2017, 9:13 AM EDT / Updated Sept. 15, 2017, 9:08 AM EDT
By Alexander Smith

PHOTOGRAPH -- A London police officer blocks off a street following the attack targeting the U.K. Parliament in March.Carl Court / Getty Images

LONDON — The terrorism-linked fire aboard a Tube train, the London Bridge attack and a similar one in March near the heart of Britain's democracy may have been shocking, but authorities have known for years that such incidents were coming.

Last year — when Brits watched terrorists strike France, Germany, and Belgium — London's police chief warned it was a case of "when, not if" the U.K. joined that list.

And yet more than 90 percent of the capital's police officers carry out their daily duties without a gun. Most rely on other tools to keep their city safe: canisters of mace, handcuffs, batons and occasionally stun-guns.

This is no accident.

VIDEO -- London's Unarmed Bobbies Manage to Keep the Peace
AUG. 19, 2016, 01:13 MIN.

The Metropolitan Police, which covers most of London, was founded in 1829 on the principle of "policing by consent" rather than by force.

Giving everyday police officers guns sends the wrong message to communities, so this thinking goes, and can actually cause more problems than it solves.

Although there are higher numbers of armed police guarding Parliament, the attacker who rushed its gates in March was shot dead by a relatively rare member of the country's security forces — one who had been trained to use a firearm.

INSERT -- "None of us want to live in a police state"

Some of these gun-wielding officers patrol the city in pairs, others are members of crack response teams — units dressed in body-armor, helmets and carrying long rifles — who are called to the scene of violent incidents like these.

In most instances, they don't use their weapons.

In the year up to March 2016, police in England and Wales only fired seven bullets. (Although these government figures do not include accidental shots, shooting out tires, or killing dangerous or injured animals.)

IMAGE: Counterterrorism officersCounterterrorism officers with London's Metropolitan Police.Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP

These officers fatally shot just five people during that period, according to British charity Inquest, which helps families after police-related deaths.

In August, when a teenager suffering an episode of paranoid schizophrenia killed an American tourist in a busy London street, armed police rushed to the scene but not a single bullet was fired.

They were able to subdue the attacker, Zakaria Bulhan, using a stun-gun. And no one else, bar 64-year-old American Darlene Horton, who had already been stabbed to death, was hurt.

The Metropolitan Police carried out some 3,300 deployments involving firearms in 2016. They didn't fire a single shot at a suspect.

It's a world away from the United States, where cops killed 1,092 people in 2016, according to figures compiled by The Guardian.

Of course it's easier for police to remain unarmed if civilians do the same. Out of every 100 people in Britain, fewer than four of them owns a firearm, according to GunPolicy.org, a project run by Australia's University of Sydney. In the U.S. there is more than one gun per person.

IMAGE: Parsons Green Incident, Members of the emergency services work outside Parsons Green Tube station after a fire on a train Friday.Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP - Getty Images

While British officials have long since accepted that an attack is "highly likely," they believe that intelligence-gathering and stronger links with the community — rather than gun-toting cops — will do more to keep the city safer.

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"In a free and democratic society, there is going to be a balance between democracy, freedom and openness, and a police state — and none of us want to live in a police state," said Brian Dillon, former head of the Met's firearms command who now runs the counterterrorism consultancy Rubicon Resilience.

"Therefore at some point some attacks are regrettably going to hit home, that's inevitable," he added. "Not everything can be stopped."

While shootings involving police are relatively common in the U.S., authorities in Britain say they review each one with painstaking diligence.

Every time a British police officer shoots and injures or kills someone, it is automatically referred to an separate watchdog called the Independent Police Complaints Commission, or IPCC.

This process is not without its critics.

Some police have complained that officers are reluctant to sign up for firearms training because they fear being dragged through years of lengthy investigations in the unlikely event they have to use their weapon.

"Officers have seen what happens to their colleagues who have had to use lethal force to protect the public," outgoing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told reporters earlier this year. "Increasingly, they seem to be portrayed as suspects, based, I can only assume, on an underlying belief that they must have acted in a criminal fashion if someone has died."

Families of people shot by police have also alleged the IPCC treated them insensitively, and in 2014 the watchdog released an internal review, "apologizing for our mistakes, and doing our best to put them right."

British police are attempting to recruit more firearms officers but the overwhelming majority will remain unarmed. Officials believe they have the balance about right.

"An attacker attempted to break into Parliament and was shot dead within 20 yards of the gate," Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers after the March attack. "If his intention was to gain access to this building we should be clear that he did not succeed. The police heroically did their job."

*Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.
*Michele Neubert and Marc Smith contributed. 


ADULT EDUCATION FOR THE COMPLACENT -- HOMELESSNESS IN LOS ANGELES CONTINUES TO BE A HUGE PROBLEM. I FIRST HEARD OF THIS A FEW YEARS AGO, IN WHICH THE DOCUMENTARY MENTIONED THE FACT THAT THE COST OF RENTALS IS UNAFFORDABLY HIGH IN CALIFORNIA, WITH NUMEROUS PEOPLE LIVING IN THEIR CARS. THERE ARE CERTAIN PARKING LOTS WHERE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO PARK AT NIGHT. IN THIS FILM BELOW, ONE OF THE PEOPLE INTERVIEWED HAS A DEGREE AND A JOB, BUT HE CAN’T AFFORD A PLACE TO RENT. TO ECHO WHAT BERNIE SANDERS SAID ON THE DRUG PROFITEERING GOING ON NOW THAT A TREATMENT FOR COVID IS READY TO COME OUT, ALLOWING RENTS TO BE SO HIGH THAT PEOPLE ARE FORCED OUT ONTO THE STREETS  IS “BEYOND DISGUSTING." R E N T  C O N T R O L.

ON THE STREETS -- a feature documentary on homelessness in L.A.
3,271,435 views • Mar 25, 2016
UPS   21K    DOWNS   1.8K

Los Angeles Times
358K subscribers

'On the Streets' is a 12-part video series about homelessness in Los Angeles. Journalist and filmmaker Lisa Biagiotti tackles this complex issue by putting faces to the statistics.

She starts by following The L.A.Times' homeless data map, and sets out to have conversations with people who do not have homes. Since October, Biagiotti has been learning about their varied experiences and connecting their stories to larger issues. Along the way, she gains input and insights from Angelenos.

The series concept is to build a dynamic documentary scene-by-scene with our audience. Thank you for participating and helping us tell this story.

ON THE STREETS:
 http://www.latimes.com/onthestreets

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RACHEL MADDOW IS ON THE JOB, WITH THE USUAL TIMELY INTERVIEWS ON A NUMBER OF SERIOUS CURRENT NEWS STORIES.

BILL BARR’S JUSTICE

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/barr-interfered-in-sdny-cases-tied-to-trump-interests-nyt-86030917607
RACHEL MADDOW   05:56 MIN.
Barr interfered in SDNY cases tied to Trump interests: NYT
SHARE THIS - COPIED
Rachel Maddow looks at a new report from the New York Times that Bill Barr exerted influence on federal prosecutors in cases tied to Donald Trump from the beginning of his time as attorney general, including the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
June 25, 2020


https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/barr-micromanagement-out-of-proportion-on-trump-tied-cases-nyt-86031429769
06:03 MIN.
RACHEL MADDOW
Barr micromanagement out of proportion on Trump-tied cases: NYT
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Katie Benner, Justice Department reporter for the New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about new reporting that Bill Barr pressured federal prosecutors at the Southern District of New York office on cases with ties to Donald Trump.
June 25, 2020


https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/us-squandered-costly-lockdown-failed-to-stem-coronavirus-86030405711
RACHEL MADDOW
Trump admin failure on coronavirus threatens unity of the states
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Rachel Maddow looks at how the absence of federal leadership and the failure of governance by the Trump administration in addressing the coronavirus disaster has left the states in competition and conflict with each other.
June 24, 2020


03:16 MIN.
RACHEL MADDOW
Confederate monument removals a mark of progress long in coming
SHARE THIS - COPIED
Rachel Maddow looks at how the removal of Confederate monuments is being viewed by members of the communities that have lived in their shadows for generations.
June 24, 2020


10:05 MIN.
RACHEL MADDOW
Rice: 'Makes no sense' that Trump wasn't told of Russia bounties
SHARE THIS - COPIED
Susan Rice, former national security advisor in the Obama administration, talks with Rachel Maddow about shocking reporting that Russia paid Taliban fighters to kill U.S. service members and that Donald Trump, upon learning this, did not do anything.
June 29, 2020


IS SUSAN RICE ON THE SHORT LIST FOR BIDEN’S VP?
01:30 MIN.
RACHEL MADDOW
Rice: No higher imperative for U.S. than electing Joe Biden
SHARE THIS - COPIED
Susan Rice, former national security advisor in the Obama administration, talks with Rachel Maddow about reports that she is under consideration to be Joe Biden's running mate and her willingness to do whatever is asked of her to help Biden win in 2020.
June 29, 2020


RACHEL MADDOW   1:19 MIN.
Rising hospitalizations expose fallacy of testing-driven surge in COVID-19
SHARE THIS - COPIED
Rachel Maddow points out that while Donald Trump and his acolytes have blaming spiking coronavirus numbers on increased testing, the testing does not explain the increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
June 23, 2020


“SURGE CAPACITY” OF ICU HOSPITAL BEDS IS COMPARED TO HURRICANE HARVEY. THREE VIGNETTES.

TRIAGE STANDARDS IN A “SURGE STATUS,” AS IS CURRENTLY OCCURRING WITH COVID 19 IN SOME PLACES, INCLUDES THE QUESTION OF “HOW MANY MONTHS OR YEARS ARE [THE COVID-19 PATIENTS] LIKELY TO HAVE LEFT” WITHOUT THE COVID FACTOR. HE MENTIONS THAT THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION WILL BE “PUT INTO AN ALGORITHM,” WHICH TO ME IMPLIES THAT A COMPUTER WILL MAKE THE DECISION. NONE OF THAT COMFORTS ME. I WONDER HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE THE ABILITY TO PAY MAKES.

RACHEL MADDOW
Doctors face tough choices, narrowing options on COVID in Arizona
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COPIED
Will Humble, former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, talks with Rachel Maddow about how dwindling hospital bed space for COVID-19 patients in Arizona means doctors may have to make hard choices about who gets a bed as the spread of the virus progresses.
June 26, 2020


MSNBC
Houston area hospitals running out beds for COVID-19 patients
Dr. Cedrick Dark, emergency medicine physician in Houston, Texas, talks with Rachel Maddow about how the surge in coronavirus cases in the Houston area is putting a strain on hospital resources.
June 26, 2020


RACHEL MADDOW
Counties struggle with consequences of rash Texas reopening
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Judge Lina Hidalgo of Harris County, Texas, talks with Rachel Maddow about how her county's health workers are trying to stay ahead of the surge in COVID-19 cases and why they way the state reopened is making matters worse.
June 24, 2020


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