Monday, February 25th, 2019
David Armstrong, - truthdig/ProPublica/STAT
Stephan: Here is the latest on the story of the Sackler family and their company, Pardue Pharma. It is my belief that the opioid crisis which has now killed something north of 200,000 people constitutes a crime against humanity and that the entire wealth of the Sackler family should be confiscated through legal action and dedicated to creating universal health care, and assisting families devastated by the opioids Pardue Pharma created, and from which the family benefited. It will be interesting to see if once again being very rich places you above the law.
The Sackler family
In May 1997, the year after Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin, its head of sales and marketing sought input on a key decision from Dr. Richard Sackler, a member of the billionaire family that founded and controls the company. Michael Friedman told Sackler that he didn’t want to correct the false impression among doctors that OxyContin was weaker than morphine, because the myth was boosting prescriptions — and sales.
“It would be extremely dangerous at this early stage in the life of the product,” Friedman wrote to Sackler, “to make physicians think the drug is stronger or equal to morphine….We are well aware of the view held by many physicians that oxycodone [the active ingredient in OxyContin] is weaker than morphine. I do not plan to do anything about that.”
“I agree with you,” Sackler responded. “Is there a general agreement, or are there some holdouts?”
Ten years later, Purdue pleaded guilty in […]
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Sunday, February 24th, 2019
Stephan A. Schwartz, Editor - Schwartzreport
Stephan: I don’t think most Americans really comprehend how corrupt the American government has become at the federal level under the Trump administration and Republican dominated Senate. So today’s edition is dedicated to just the corruption of the last week. I find it astounding. It is clear that not only has the swamp not been cleared, it has been dredged, restocked, and refertilised. I couldn’t do all the stories, that’s how bad it is and, of course, this has nothing to do with Mueller, and the seemingly endless criminality of the people immediately around Trump. I just picked a selection of the leading corruption pieces, and even that has produced a longer than usual SR.
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Sunday, February 24th, 2019
Stephan: Example 1, America's new UN ambassador.
Kelly Knight Croft
President Donald Trump promised he’d always hire the “best people” during his presidential campaign, but not only has that turned out to be false, he’s had more turnover than any president in modern history, if not ever. The president is fond of playing “whack-a-mole” with his personnel problems, by shuffling the players around instead of actually looking for, as he put it, the “best people.”
For example, Mick Mulvaney joined the Trump administration after serving as a U.S Republican Congressman. He served as Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, then added to his resume the title of Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Mulvaney then became Trump’s Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing embattled and disgraced John Kelly – while giving up his CFPB job but still retaining the role of Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Fast forward to Friday evening.
President Trump has just announced his latest nominee to become Ambassador […]
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Sunday, February 24th, 2019
E.A. CRUNDEN, - Think Progress
Stephan: Example 2. Nothing like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Don't you feel better that a lobbyist for a major polluter is now in charge of the EPA? You and your children should feel much safer.
Andrew Wheeler, nominee to be Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) admistrator, testifies before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019.
Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP/Getty
Amid a sharp decline in coal jobs, President Donald Trump on Monday pushed for a federal entity to keep open a coal fired power plant supplied by Murray Energy, a company with strong ties to the administration including Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
“Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix and [the Tennessee Valley Authority] should give serious consideration to all factors before voting to close viable power plants, like Paradise #3 in Kentucky!” Trump wrote in a Feb. 11 tweet.
The TVA is a federally-owned generator that doesn’t receive taxpayer money and is funded through electricity sales instead. Paradise Unit 3, which is almost 50 years old, has been deemed too expensive to continue operating, and the TVA board is set to vote as early as Thursday […]
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Sunday, February 24th, 2019
Ross Barkan, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: Example no. 3
‘Under Bernhardt, the interior department has become an embodiment of Donald Trump’s id, and is arguably where the administration is doing most of its damage.’
Credit : Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Lost in the noise of another meaningless State of the Union address, Beto O’Rourke’s Oprah musings and the starting engines of an endless presidential race was the news that David Bernhardt might be getting a promotion.
Most Americans have no idea who Bernhardt is. He was an oil lobbyist, a very good one, who became the deputy chief of the Department of the Interior under the hapless Ryan Zinke. While the former congressman became entangled in numerous ethics investigations and eventually resigned, it was Bernhardt, conflicts of interest and all, who was pulling the strings of the overlooked but vital department, which oversees most federally owned land and natural resources. Now Trump has nominated him to take over the department.
Under Bernhardt, the interior department has become an embodiment of Donald Trump’s id, and is arguably where the administration is doing […]
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