turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalSupreme Court considers whether drug companies can poison patients and get away with it
The country is in rough shape.
IAN MILLHISER
JAN 4, 2019, 9:25 AM
Almost two decades ago, a professional guitarist named Diana Levine received an injection of a drug called Phenergan. It was supposed to relieve nausea from a migraine. Instead, it triggered irreversible gangrene.
Levine lost her right forearm and her livelihood. With just one hand, she could no longer play the guitar.
Levine’s lawsuit against the drug’s manufacture, Wyeth v. Levine, triggered a minor panic in the consumer rights community when it reached the Supreme Court a decade ago. The business-friendly Roberts Court seemed likely to absolve Wyeth of liability and leave Levine with nothing.
Instead, the Court broke 6-3 in Levine’s favor, with Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas crossing over to vote with the Court’s liberal bloc.
Ten years later, a similar case involving closely related legal questions is before the Supreme Court in Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Albrecht, which will be argued on Monday. But the Court itself looks very different. Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and most significantly Kennedy, are all retired — and all of them were in the majority in Levine. Kennedy’s replacement is a hardline conservative likely to join the dissenters from Levine.
https://thinkprogress.org/clarence-thomas-poison-drug-merck-624b1ce0ed43/
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The question in cases like Merck and Levine is whether someone in her unfortunate position should have to bear this burden alone. Or whether it is fair to ask a company that has profited handsomely off a particular drug to give up some small portion of those profits to ensure that someone injured by that drug should not be left destitute.
As the California Supreme Court explained in a famous and more rudimentary case, in an ideal world, “the costs of injuries resulting from defective products are borne by the manufacturers that put such products on the market rather than by the injured persons who are powerless to protect themselves.”
Justice Thomas, for his part, was not moved by these humanitarian arguments. His separate opinion in Levine was rooted largely in states’ rights. State governments, he reasoned, should not have to set aside their own tort law lightly because of a perceived conflict with federal law.
In Merck, we are likely to discover whether that esoteric objection to an aggressive preemption doctrine will be enough to save the Diane Levines of the future.
I am not going to hold my collective breath with this right wing Federalist Society court of these 5 people being on there, after all there is one justice that it was just fine and dandy that employee should have frozen to death while sitting in the company truck with frozen brakes.....................
.....................and he shouldn't even be on the court..................
Failed GOP governor embarrasses himself by attacking Elizabeth Warren as 'out of touch'
On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) announced that she is running for president in 2020, formally throwing her hat into a ring that political observers predict will be crowded. A progressive firebrand who helped design the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and has a sweeping proposal to reform corporate governance laws, Warren is likely to be very influential in policy debates during the Democratic primary regardless of whether she can clinch the nomination.
There is one person, however, who finds the whole idea of Warren’s candidacy a joke: outgoing Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI).
Walker’s criticism of Warren as “out-of-touch” is more than a little rich given that Warren just won re-election by 24 points, whereas Walker lost his bid for a third term to superintendent of public instruction Tony Evers.
If any politician could be characterized as “out-of-touch,” it would be a politician like Walker, who runs on a conservative agenda, loses, and then on his way out the door signs a bunch of lame-duck bills stripping his incoming, liberal successor of several executive powers. Or maybe it’s one of the large number of Republicans, including Walker, who tried and failed to convince their party in the 2016 presidential primary that they were a better choice than Donald Trump. It’s not Warren, a senator who has spent her career advocating for working people over Wall Street, and who helped design a pro-consumer federal agency that 74 percent of voters support.
It is impossible to say who will win the Democratic nomination for president. But at this point, the odds that Warren’s views will drive public policy are far greater than the odds that Walker’s will.
https://www.alternet.org/2018/12/failed-gop-governor-embarrasses-himself-by-attacking-elizabeth-warren-as-out-of-touch/amp/
This the same asshole, that signed legislation to strip voters there due process................when they elected a new governor, this libertarian fucking hack.................he really can go fuck himself...............
Dems Broaden Title Of Oversight Cmte. To Include Private Sector Before Probes
Source: Talking Points Memo
by Kate Riga
January 2, 2019 12:56 pm
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) is broadening the title of the committee he will soon chair from the “Committee on Oversight and Government Reform” to the “Committee on Oversight and Reform” to better encompass the private sector before launching investigations into President Donald Trump’s businesses.
Read the full statement here:
“I am pleased that the House of Representatives will be changing the name of our Committee to better reflect our true jurisdiction, which covers both government and the private sector. In the upcoming session of Congress, we will investigate waste, fraud, and abuse in the Trump Administration, and we will also examine many other issues that affect the American people every day, such as the escalating prices of prescription drugs that are negatively impacting families across the country and the opioid crisis that is devastating our communities. I am also heartened that our new acronym will now reflect the fact that oversight is one of Congress’ core responsibilities under the Constitution.”
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dems-broaden-title-oversight-committee
Filing In Patten Case Deepens Mystery About His Cooperation With The Feds
Source: Talking Points Memo
By Josh Kovensky
January 2, 2019 10:21 am
A mystery filing in the case of W. Sam Patten, the D.C. lobbyist who pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent in August, adds a curious wrinkle to what has generally been regarded as a relatively minor case.
On New Year’s Eve, prosecutors moved to keep a routine status update in Patten’s case entirely under wraps. The joint status reports filed after plea agreements but before sentencing have typically included a broad reference to the defendant’s ongoing cooperation.
The fact that Patten’s status report is entirely under seal could suggest that Patten, who has been seen as a more marginal figure in the foreign lobbying world, may in fact have more value to prosecutors, including special counsel Robert Mueller, than previously realized — or that a problem has developed with his cooperation.
In pleading guilty, Patten admitted that he helped a Ukrainian oligarch attend the Trump inauguration by illegally using a straw donor to purchase a $50,000 ticket to the event. The plea agreement required Patten to cooperate with the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office, Mueller’s office, and other law enforcement agencies.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/filing-in-patten-case-deepens-mystery-about-his-cooperation-with-the-feds
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D.C. federal prosecutors charged Patten with one count of lying to Congress and another count of failing to register as a foreign agent, after receiving a tip from the Senate Intelligence Committee. Patten’s case comes as investigations into the Trump inauguration heat up, amid allegations of pay-for-play that have swarmed the $107 million event.
Patten does not yet have a sentencing date. Prosecutors typically wait until they believe a cooperator has expended their usefulness before setting a sentencing date.
Speaker Robin Vos won't release $850,000 contract with law firm in Wisconsin gerrymandering case
Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 12:08 p.m. CT Dec. 31, 2018 | Updated 8:58 a.m. CT Jan. 2, 2019
MADISON - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos won't make public a legal contract that will cost taxpayers $850,000, despite a state law meant to ensure government records are widely available.
Advocates for open records say the Rochester Republican is in the wrong and must release a copy of the contract with the Chicago-based law firm Bartlit Beck.
Assembly Republicans recently retained the firm to help defend the state in a long-running lawsuit over legislative district lines they drew in 2011 that have helped them win elections. Taxpayers have already spent more than $2 million in legal fees to draw and defend those maps.
"They should just release the record. I mean, it's clearly a public record and it should be automatic," said Orville Seymer, field operations director of the conservative Citizens for Responsible Government and a member of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council's board.
"I think the denial of this contract is clearly illegal and clearly in bad faith," said Bill Lueders, editor of The Progressive magazine and president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council.
"If the public is being expected to pay this bill, it has every right to see the agreement."
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/12/31/vos-wont-release-850-000-contract-law-firm-redistricting-case/2448987002/
Obstruction is just plain obstruction.....................absolutely amazing................If I lived in Wisconsin I would be livid............................
Mark Harris Lawyer: No Need To Call Witnesses To NC Ballot Fraud Hearing
Source: Talking Points Memo
By EMERY P. DALESIO
January 2, 2019 11:57 am
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A lawyer for the Republican in the country’s last undecided congressional race said Monday the campaign doesn’t think a planned hearing aiming to root out evidence of alleged ballot fraud can happen.
An attorney for Republican Mark Harris said Monday there’s no need to call witnesses to an announced Jan. 11 hearing because there’s no elections board authorized to examine evidence or take action. Attorney David Freedman of Winston-Salem said that is why he didn’t seek to compel witnesses by a Sunday deadline.
Attorneys for Democrat Dan McCready, on the other hand, sought subpoenas that could force appearances by four dozen witnesses including Harris, his campaign staffers, state and local Republican Party officials, and a political operative named Leslie McCrae Dowless, whom witnesses allege collected incomplete and unsealed ballots from voters. All may have some knowledge about why Harris enjoyed an unusually large advantage in absentee ballots in two of the 9th congressional district’s rural counties, the Democrat’s attorneys said.
Dowless did not respond to a phone message Monday. He has not violated any state or federal campaign laws and ongoing investigations will prove him innocent, said his lawyer, Cynthia Adams Singletary, said in her only statement two weeks ago.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mark-harris-lawyer-no-basis-north-carolina-house-race-ballot-fraud-hearing
Countdown Clock of when the Democrats take Back the House of Representatives
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20190103T12&p0=263&msg=Democrats+take+Control+of+House+of+Representatives&font=sanserif
Pompeo attends the inauguration of Brazil's anti-migrant, homophobic president
Source: Think Progress
It appears to be the first inauguration attended by the secretary of state.
D. PARVAZ
JAN 2, 2019, 12:48 PM
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday attended the inauguration of Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. Pompeo joined other populist leaders, including Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, in optics that only further support the notion that the United States is running in the same circles as some of the world’s most hardline, anti-democratic circles.
Pompeo’s presence was no small thing to Boslonaro, who retweeted the secretary on Wednesday.
Pompeo and his Brazilian counterpart, Ernesto Araujo, held a press briefing on Wednesday, during which Reuters asked Pompeo about the concern among the Brazil’s civil society about “a possible loss of protection for human rights under this new government.”
Pompeo allowed Araujo to speak first — Araujo said there is “no reason at all” to fear an attack on human rights — and then added that the United States is committed to human rights.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/pompeo-attends-the-inauguration-of-brazils-anti-migrant-homophobic-president-b3be8fe38f0b/
Hey Araujo your as much as an ass has that doofus from the US, did he by some chance tell you what his fucking administration did at Standing Rock People...................FUCK YOU and FUCK HIM and FUCK the other assholes that attended this shit show...................human rights my ass, fucking propagandists ........................
Norway's electric cars zip to new record: almost a third of all sales
Source: Reuters
JANUARY 2, 2019 / 8:36 AM / UPDATED 32 MINUTES AGO
Camilla Knudsen, Alister Doyle
In a bid to cut carbon emissions and air pollution, Norway exempts battery-driven cars from most taxes and offers benefits such as free parking and charging points to hasten a shift from diesel and petrol engines.
The independent Norwegian Road Federation (NRF) said on Wednesday that electric cars rose to 31.2 percent of all sales last year, from 20.8 percent in 2017 and just 5.5 percent in 2013, while sales of petrol and diesel cars plunged.
“It was a small step closer to the 2025 goal,” by which time Norway’s parliament wants all new cars to be emissions-free, Oeyvind Solberg Thorsen, head of the NRF, told a conference.
Still, he cautioned that there was a long way to go since two-thirds of almost 148,000 cars sold in 2018 in Norway were powered by fossil fuel or were hybrids, which have both battery power and an internal combustion engine.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-autos/norways-electric-cars-zip-to-new-record-almost-a-third-of-all-sales-idUSKCN1OW0YP
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“We may be able to get to a 75 percent (market share), provided that the tax breaks are maintained,” he added.
The Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association (NEVA), a lobby group, predicted a 100 percent market share was feasible.
“We know that charging access is a real barrier ... and there’s also a risk that not enough cars become available,” NEVA head Christina Bu said, adding that some customers must wait for a year or more before their electric vehicle is delivered.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group predicted on Wednesday another year of tepid car sales growth in 2019 on the back of a slow 2018, saying trade protectionism adds uncertainty and major markets such as the United States and China remained sluggish. [nL3N1YV22K]
Reporting by Alister Doyle, editing by Terje Solsvik/Adrian Croft/Susan Fenton
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
While in this country, and I realize that Norway has less people, this country is doing what...................having a sexual predator attack green energy.............and trying to gut the tax incentive to buy full electric cars...............
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