I never noticed the high prices of pharmaceuticals (medicines) in the United States either because I was too young (a kid) or older, living in a U.S. military family, serving in the U.S. military, and then a U.S. veteran who now leaves abroad in another country as an adult... The high cost of living...I'm shielded from most of it. Yet, I began to pay attention to a story about someone (a CEO) who was arrested for either outrageous high prices maybe for cancer drugs, diabetes drugs or something...he was a young guy but that seemed disconnected in court... He always had this smug face as if he didn't give a damn and those are the prices he set for his company and if people didn't like it...they can go elsewhere to get their medicines. I don't remember the court case too well but he was convicted and went to prison but maybe for something else associated with the medicine. Also, I've discussed this before early in the Pandemic when there were a group of dickhead idiots bitching and complaining about Canada's social healthcare system while just months earlier bitching and complaining about the ACA healthcare. They classified it all as "social assistance" will doom economies... Naively forgetting that Canada, France, and many countries have had a social healthcare system...maybe like forever...before I was even born. Also forgetting the biggest social assistance in the United States is arguably the Veterans Administration. These countries understand that the cost of healthcare minimizes your quality of life, negatively impacts your finances, adds to consumer debt, prevents people from homeownership, prevents people from sending their kids to college, and many other things. The above like ACA, low cost of medicine may not be important to these idiots but it becomes a big issue when the economy begins to have an INFLATION problem. Suddenly, the majority of people want affordable healthcare, low medicine costs, low dental costs, bigger pensions, bigger social security, and free college education... It's a big fucking deal and I could never bitch about the Inflation Reduction Act like some dickhead without understanding...it's all connected and each person has a specific issue that impacts their quality of life. The following drugs Zokinvy, Myalept, and Mavenclad — all cost over $60,000 for a typical monthly supply. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with America. Pharmaceutical companies have always abused the cost system especially if they have a patent on a medicine that doesn't have a generic brand of something. By the way, my medical bills in the fall of 2016...2 month coma, medivac, life-support machines in two different countries, medicines, one year of rehab, and many follow-up medical tests after release from the hospital/rehab... Would have cost me over a million dollars in the United States and the costs do not included the cost to my family members that needed to take a leave of absence from their jobs to fly to another country to help care for my children while I was hospitalized for those many months. It didn't cost me a penny in France or Canada...not one penny. Today, years later, and fully recovered as if nothing ever happened as my teens would say...I know I'm lucky because I'm a citizen of three countries and live in all three depending upon the time of the year...most Americans are not as fortunate. I will say it again, next year in 2024 will be a shit-show Presidential Election...many will be bitching and complaining about one thing without realizing...the high outrageous cost, for one thing, is connected to other things. In France, they almost burned down a city because prices were increasing for eggs. wrbtrader
ridin w/biden Las Vegas — President Biden on Friday is announcing $8.2 billion in new funding for 10 passenger rail projects nationwide, representing the largest federal investment in passenger rail transportation since Amtrak was created in 1971.
You only posted an image announcement with a quick summary. Yet, I was curious about another detail of the story and needed to go look for the entire news story. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-administration-passenger-rail-investment/ That detail I found is... The $3 billion in new federal funding for the Las Vegas-Los Angeles rail line is about a third of the total projected cost of the new Brightline West train line, which is projected to be finished before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The company touts the train on its website as the "first true high-speed passenger rail system in the nation." The link in the above detail is https://www.brightlinewest.com/ The website states...Brightline West is connecting Southern California and Las Vegas with the nation’s first true high-speed, electric passenger rail system. Brightline West’s $12 billion investment will support over 10,000 union jobs during construction and about 900 permanent union jobs. Brightline West’s fully electric, emission-free trains will be the greenest trains in America. The point I'm making is that there's a messaging problem with the White House. They were prepared to announce ALL the details under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law news but again...like the +100 other prior news...they held back because of the timing...the bigger headline story in Las Vegas was the mass shooting. They've been holding back like this also with the Inflation Reduction Act. The messaging problem is that these projects are not scheduled for completion near 2030. The Democrats need someone else (not Biden, not Harris, not the press secretary) to pound these economic investments into the American people because the benefits are for the American people... Talking to my Republican and Democratic friends, they have an illusion these two laws are from Trump or the GOP. Today, the reality, the Build Back Better Plan is from the Biden/Harrish administration. ..we have the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (aka Bipartisan Infrastructure Law 2021) and the Inflation Reduction Act (2022)... As stated, both not only have a messaging problem for Americans considering most Americans still do not know about these laws driving investment opportunities... There's growing misinformation about the positive/beneficial laws to Americans because the Biden/Harris Administration seems to continue providing excuses (e.g. Israel/Hamas War, Ukraine/Russia War) why positive news announcements have a "bad timing issue" because of immediate concern (e.g. Las Vegas mass shooting). Simply, it gives time for the misinformation & myths to grow. https://earthjustice.org/experts/ca...act-of-the-inflation-reduction-act-on-farmers https://www.uschamber.com/infrastructure/the-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-fact-vs-fallacy Seriously, this rail investment helps not just California and Nevada...it will also benefit Florida...a red state under DeSantis or Trump regardless if the GOP decides to go with Trump (assuming he has no criminal convictions by that time) or hold hands with DeSantis...both from Florida. In contrast, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg should be out spreading the news about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law along with its real name Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (2021) because he's the one in charge of it. https://www.transit.dot.gov/BIL It's as if the Democrats are waiting to use positive news from these laws involving the Build Back Better plan...they're waiting to weaponize the positive news for the 2024 Presidential election year when other Democrats that will challenge Biden should be doing what the Republicans are currently doing to Biden...the Tuberville Dance that highlights the positives news as benefits to their states. Heck, many Republicans (especially those on the far right) talk about the benefits of the laws for their state by using alternate names under the facade its their law while avoiding the actual names...Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act under the Build Back Better plan...clever. Simply, the Republicans are doing a better job in their Tuberville Dance messaging because of their bipartisan support. I expect 2024 to heat up fast after the Iowa caucus. Let the shit show politics begin in Iowa...more violence, more mass shootings, more chaos and more online dickhead idiots that think their political/geopolitical views are more important than yours as if their shit does not smell. ------- Las Vegas — President Biden on Friday is announcing $8.2 billion in new funding for 10 passenger rail projects nationwide, representing the largest federal investment in passenger rail transportation since Amtrak was created in 1971. Mr. Biden's trip to Nevada was originally planned to highlight the $3 billion federal investment in the high-speed rail line from Las Vegas to the greater Los Angeles area. But after the mass shooting Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, that resulted in the deaths of three people, his stop there will take a more somber note. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president will address the shooting in a speech to Las Vegas union members Friday, but it's not clear whether the president will visit the campus, which is just a few miles away. The $3 billion in new federal funding for the Las Vegas-Los Angeles rail line is about a third of the total projected cost of the new Brightline West train line, which is projected to be finished before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The company touts the train on its website as the "first true high-speed passenger rail system in the nation." Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters the rail line is expected to carry 11 million passengers at its peak, and the total trip will take about two hours — which is about half the time it takes to drive. Other passenger rail projects that will receive funding include a Los Angeles-San Francisco train that will reach 220 miles per hour, a rail expansion between Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Virginia, and other upgrades in Pennsylvania, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana and other states. There is a years-long lag time between the projects' funding and their completion. But Biden administration officials hope the president's spotlight — and resulting union jobs from the construction — will help boost public support for Mr. Biden's economic policies. A CBS News poll last month found Americans believe their finances would be better off if former President Trump were elected over Mr. Biden in 2024. Administration officials are hoping the funding for public transport upgrades will rub off on voters before next year's election. "If you've even seen the standard of passenger rail service in Japan, or Germany or for that matter Spain or Italy, and come home, and say, 'why can't we have these nice things,' this is the beginning of the answer to that," Buttigieg said. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-administration-passenger-rail-investment/
Jim Jordan To CIA: How Many Hunter Biden Laptop Letter Signatories Were On Your Payroll? After Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop surfaced during the 2020 election, more than 50 former intelligence officials signed a letter in Politico saying the computer “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.” In a letter to CIA Director William Burns on Monday, Jordan, who leads the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, demanded the CIA chief come clean about the agency’s alleged involvement in branding the laptop as Russian disinformation, which plainly amounted to election interference.
Chicago has already been replacing their lead pipelines. Lead in people's drinking water has been severely damaging the health of many people who live in Urban communities. In the state of Illinois...they're replacing lead pipelines in the entire state but are prioritizing Urban communities first before doing the same in suburban & rural communities in Illinois. https://www.leadsafechicago.org/lead-service-line-replacement They aren't the only ones, South Dakota, Kentucky, and many other states doing the same damn thing. The strange aspect, the Federal government BANNED the use of lead pipelines several decades ago but they didn't have the funding to remove the lead pipelines for several decades... https://www.blackhillsfox.com/2023/...ials-are-working-get-rid-hundreds-lead-pipes/ Now they have the funding after several decades of complaints by health officials about America's declining health. Simply, the country has been getting sicker and many believe it's due to the contamination of our drinking water. What Health Problems ? High blood pressure. Joint and muscle pain. Difficulties with memory or concentration. Headache. Abdominal pain. Mood disorders/Mental Illness. Reduced sperm count and abnormal sperm. Miscarriage, stillbirth, or premature birth in pregnant women. Learning disabilities Kidney problems/behavioural problems All of the above have been increasing health problems in America. Costing the government billions of dollars every year beyond just health problems. Every state has at least a few thousand lead pipes, but two states stand out for their estimated numbers. Florida leads the nation with an estimated 1.16 million lead pipes, accounting for 12.62% of the country's total makeup. Illinois ranks second, with a little over 1 million pipes. Lead pipes are known to pose a health hazard to those who rely on them for water, and are "typically the most significant source of lead in the water," according to the EPA... Children, babies and fetuses are most at risk of being impacted by lead exposure, with even low levels being linked to nervous system damage, learning disabilities, hearing impairment and other complications. Adults who are exposed could see cardiovascular, kidney and reproductive problems. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-more-than-9-million-lead-pipes-drinking-water-us/ If you're curious, the Republicans have been opposing the funding for lead pipeline replacement for several decades even when they know that Urban communities are hit the hardest with the above-mentioned health problems in comparison to suburban & rural communities... Lead is neurotoxic and will erode brain cells after it enters the body. As such, there is no safe level of exposure at any point in life, health experts say. Young children are especially vulnerable to lead's ability to impair brain development and lower cognitive ability. Impacting minorities the most. Democrats know and understand that one day these will be their voters many years from now because statistically...the Urban voter are the fastest growing voting group...protecting the help of their future voters. wrbtrader
As a kid...our family moved from a rural town in Kentucky to the north suburbs of Chicago. My old man noticed the increasing use of "water bottles" at businesses and corporate offices but not the same in homes and schools. As a shrewd investor...he saw an investment opportunity... Water Bottle Companies https://www.baytechlabel.com/blogs/news/reason-water-bottle-sales-increasing https://www.modernretail.co/retailers/the-resiliency-is-terrific-why-water-bottle-sales-are-on-fire/ Flint Michigan is not the only American city or state to have problems with clean tap water. Reno Nevada, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and Milwaukee are some of the morerecent cases of contaminated city drinking water. According to theCDC (Centers for Disease control), and theU.S. Environmental Protection agency, any levels of lead in drinking water is not acceptable. Unfortunately, the enormous growing success of Water Bottle companies comes at a huge environmental, climate, and social cost. https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/16/world/plastic-water-bottles-un-report-climate/index.html Read below the history of lead poison pipelines and what the Trump administration knew & understood...one of his last official acts as a U.S. President...the revision took place as he was going out the door. Seriously, why would a losing U.S. President be occupied (on his way out of the White House) with lead pipelines in America ??? Regardless, over 22 million Americans are poisoned by their water each day. ----- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lead and Copper Rule Improvements proposal, to be released in November 2023, is the culmination of a struggle that has lasted nearly 50 years to get the agency to meaningfully tackle the nation’s widespread lead in drinking water crisis. What follows is a summary of the decades of weak EPA rules and congressional efforts to force action to address the problem of millions of people drinking water contaminated with lead, a potent toxin unsafe for human health at any level of exposure. Early provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act and 1991 Lead and Copper Rule The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), originally enacted nearly a half century ago in 1974, required the EPA to set interim drinking water standards within six months and then to promptly update them with final standards. In 1975, the EPA set a 50 parts per billion (ppb) interim Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for lead. More than a decade later, Congress was frustrated by the EPA’s inadequate “interim” standards and amended the SDWA in 1986. Those amendments required the EPA to quickly issue additional standards and ordered the agency to review the adequacy of health protection provided by its interim standards, including the lead rule, and to strengthen them if feasible. The 1986 law also prohibited the new installation or sale of lead pipes for use in drinking water. In response, the EPA issued the now-infamous Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) in 1991 (the full rule as issued in 1991 can be found here; EPA’s summary as it has been revised over the years is here). The LCR was supposed to reduce the levels of lead in tap water, in part by requiring corrosion control treatment and the removal of some lead pipes that carry water from the water main in the street to homes called lead service lines. Removal of these lead pipes is only required when 10 percent of tested taps in a water system exceed the “lead action level” of 15 ppb. This EPA-invented action level is not an enforceable standard like an MCL. Rather, it is only supposed to trigger certain additional steps, such as improved corrosion control and removal of lead service lines, until the action level is no longer exceeded. In the same rule, the EPA also set an MCL goal of zero, acknowledging that there is no safe level of lead in drinking water. In 1991, NRDC sued to challenge that rule as failing to adequately protect the public. The water utility trade association, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) also sued, challenging the rule as burdensome. The court mostly upheld the rule, though it told the EPA that it had failed to adequately address one of NRDC’s many concerns: the exemption of some noncommunity water systems (like motels, gas stations, restaurants, and parks that have their own water system). The court also went along with AWWA’s argument that the EPA did not provide the industry with sufficient opportunity to comment on its requirement to replace full lead service lines in some circumstances, including in cases where the utility controls but doesn’t fully own a lead pipe. Responding to the court’s decision, the EPA later caved to AWWA’s pressure and issued a rule saying utilities only needed to pay for replacing the portion of lead service lines that they owned. The EPA made that decision even though these same utilities often required or encouraged and approved the use of lead pipes, frequently without the property owners’ knowledge. As a result of this fateful EPA decision, water utilities have only been required to conduct partial lead service line replacements, where they only replace the portion of a lead pipe that they own, even when lead levels at the taps they serve are extremely high. These partial lead service line replacements can increase lead levels for a time by dislodging lead particles from the remaining lead pipe and causing galvanic corrosion that can result when two different metals such as lead and copper touch (see my colleague Cyndi Roper’s excellent blog discussing the risks posed by partial replacements). Because of the weak LCR, AWWA’s pressure, and the agency’s regrettable decision allowing water utilities to dump much of the cost for lead service line removals on homeowners and landlords, few of these lead pipes have been fully replaced. A worker shows the cross section of an original lead residential water service line (left), and the replacement copper line (right) outside a home in Providence, Rhode Island. Credit: Charles Krupa/Associated Press Lead crises highlight inadequate protection against lead, prompting congressional action Congress has repeatedly updated the SDWA to tighten requirements for lead. The 1996 SDWA Amendments required new plumbing fittings and fixtures to comply with previously voluntary lead-leaching standards and prohibited sales of any of these items that failed to meet the law’s definition of “lead free.” In 2011, Congress passed another law that tightened the definition of “lead free,” lowering the maximum lead content of the wetted surfaces of pipes, fittings, and fixtures from 8 percent down to a weighted average of 0.25 percent. Despite these laws, it became clear that the public was not being protected from lead in drinking water after numerous crises occurred, including in Washington, D.C., in the early 2000s and later in Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey. Even when there are supposedly no lead service lines, water that is inadequately treated for corrosion can cause serious lead contamination, as it does in Portland, Oregon, where it is an ongoing problem. As the EPA’s former head of enforcement has said, the LCR is difficult to enforce, and its implementation has long been “broken.” Indeed, NRDC’s analysis has found that tens of millions of Americans continue to be served by water systems that are significantly contaminated with lead, and according to the EPA’s latest estimate, 9.2 million homes are served by lead service lines. In recognition of the continuing lead in drinking water problem, Congress again revised the SDWA in 2016, adding a grant program for the replacement of lead service lines, especially targeting disadvantaged households. Soon thereafter, seeing that this was still insufficient, and with strong support from the Biden administration, Congress amended the law yet again in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021 to strengthen the lead service line replacement grant program and provide an unprecedented $15 billion exclusively for replacement of lead pipes. Thus, Congress has repeatedly sought to strengthen protections of the public from lead in tap water, and specifically from lead pipes, but with only modest success—primarily due to the woefully inadequate LCR. Recent history: Updating the Lead and Copper Rule On January 15, 2021, in one of its last official actions, the Trump administration issued a revision to the LCR that would allow continued widespread use of lead service lines and lead contamination of tap water (summary of the Trump administration’s rule can be found here; the full rule text, here). The EPA asserted at the time that the rule would modestly increase lead service line replacements, though its analysis showed that most would remain in use. NRDC, the NAACP, frontline community groups represented by Earthjustice, and 10 states challenged what NRDC called the “weak and illegal” Trump administration rule. Ultimately, the EPA decided in December 2022 to no longer defend the Trump administration rule in court and promised a strengthened LCR by October 2024. We hope that the EPA will at last meaningfully tackle the lead in drinking water problem when it finalizes an overhauled LCR in 2024. The health of tens of millions of people living in America depends on it. https://www.nrdc.org/bio/erik-d-ols...one-americas-worst-water-contamination-crises ----- The Trump virus knows & understands the increasing health problems in the urban communities...the growing health problems of individuals who can vote against him. Trump wants the Democratic voters in Urban communities to continue to be poisoned by the lead pipelines in their communities... Simply, the Trump virus is not protecting the health of America as a whole. In contrast, he's protecting a certain group of voters by getting rid of another group of voters. wrbtrader