CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: New research reports on financial entanglements between FDA chiefs and the drug industry.
Archive for 2024
May 9, 2024
THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE:
“Hey Google, How Many Jews Were Killed by Nazis?” vs. “Hey Google, what was the Nakba?”
There is something ROTTEN at Google.
🎥 @TZuckerbrot #AntizionismIsAntisemitism pic.twitter.com/H8mNNpOqNt
— The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) May 8, 2024
I WONDER WHERE IT CAME FROM: California city declares a public health emergency after tuberculosis sickens 14.
EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Gen-Zers Slide Deeper Into Debt As Bidenomics Failure Crushes America’s Future Leaders. “Besides the vast majority of the working poor slammed by Bidenomics, as noted by McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Tyson Foods executives in earnings calls in recent weeks, Gen-Zers have been very vocal about a shit economy they were given after taking out $100,000 in college loans.”
FASCISM, STRAIGHT UP: We’re Only Just Beginning to Understand the Extent of Biden’s Censorship Regime.
GET WOKE, GO BROKE: Harvard Bond Offering Raises Less Money Than Expected.
YOU AND I HAVE A RENDEZVOUS WITH SCARCITY: ‘The era of cheap food is over,’ says Waitrose chief.
Bailey will unveil the “Farming for Nature” scheme at Leckford, the Waitrose farm in Hampshire where they have been farming regeneratively since 2020. The supermarket wants to source “as much as possible” of its UK meat, milk, eggs, fruit and vegetables from farms that use regenerative practices, such as reducing pesticide use and ploughing and turning over field margins to pollinators. The aim is that by 2035, all of its UK supply chain for these items will be from regenerative farms. It is aware it will be a huge learning curve for Waitrose farmers and can’t predict how many will sign up, but Bailey is determined that the supermarket should lead the way.
“I think there was a point at which we realised we had to do something,” he says. It sounds very noble, but some would say supermarkets have a major part to play in getting where we are now, having engaged in a systematic price war that has pushed farmers into intensification. Does Bailey, who worked for Sainsbury’s for 18 years – starting in the fresh food department and working his way to become its grocery buying director, before he joined Waitrose in 2020 – feel guilty?
He laughs awkwardly. “I feel responsible,” he says. “I’m part of a generation of people who are in the right place at the right time to make a change. And I feel that burden.”
“I think we’re seeing the end of the era of cheap food, because of the impact of that cheap food – not just on people’s health but the external impact, the environmental impact, the societal impact of that cheap food. We need to witness the end of cheap food and a reversal of the value of the food people are eating.”
The ghost of FDR smiles; as Amity Shlaes wrote, in the 1930s, “Roosevelt led the country in passing the Agricultural Administration Act, which taxed middlemen in order to give a greater share of revenue to farmers. The Act also restricted production and sent subsidies to those on the farm. Six million young pigs were killed early to drive up pork prices; farmers were instructed to plow crops under.”
CHANGE: AstraZeneca pulls COVID-19 vaccine from global markets. “The company has admitted it could cause rare blood clots but said the vaccine was pulled for commercial reasons.”
THE US NAVY USED TO SELL ITS USED SHIPS TO THIRD-WORLD NATIONS: US Navy looks to buy foreign, used ships.
SPOILER: NOTHING WILL HAPPEN UNTIL IT’S A CRISIS, AND THEN IT WILL BE TOO LATE. Reforming Social Security Now, Before It’s Too Late.
MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: It’s Official: Rep. Jamaal Bowman Is an Even Bigger Loon Than You Thought. “Aside from CIA time travel, secret frequencies, and alien technology — plus his previously known predilection for terrorists, antisemites, and democratic socialism — Bowman seems like a perfectly reasonable fellow.”
READER FAVORITE: 10-Minute Strength Training Exercises for Seniors. #CommissionEarned
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER ONCE WROTE: “If lying about authorship is now a hanging offense, there are not enough lampposts in Washington to handle the volume.”
But maybe you should at least review the stuff that goes out in your name: Kristi Noem and the open secret about the political publishing industry: Nobody writes their own books.
Now, there has been a noticeable distinction between how “insiders” and “outsiders” have interpreted the flaming dumpster fire that is the publicity tour related to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s upcoming book. The general public seems confused about the idea that Noem seemingly didn’t know about so many things that were in *her own book*. . . .
The Kristi Noem saga has exposed an open secret about the political publishing industry: a tiny percentage of “authors” in the space write their own books. And those real authors are often smothered by fake authors with a machine in place to promote their fake autobiographies, which take time and opportunity away from those who have put in the work.
For politicians, I would estimate that maybe 1 percent write their own books. Some spend occasional time with their ghostwriter in order to best express their personality and ideas. Others, like Noem, just mail it in entirely, and have the ghostwriter rely upon public material from speeches and appearances.
As for your favorite TV personality/social media influencer? It would be generous to say that 5 percent write their own books. It is very rare to hear about cable news talking heads with faces full of delicately applied makeup putting in that kind of hard work.
These tasks are usually delegated to an underpaid 20-something, who may or may not be in routine contact with the “author” during the writing process.
I write all of this to say that there is an incredible lack of authenticity amongst the political class, who attempt to give off the impression that they have the time, ability, intelligence, and fortitude to publish their own works. It goes without saying that their constituents deserve so much better than being suckered into financing this endless grift.
The fake authors acquire tons of money, a reputational boost, and sometimes, the prestige of being on the New York Times best selling author list. All for maybe doing a handful of phone calls with the real author, who usually receives a low-end five figure amount (think 10 to 20 grand) for six months of hard work.
The famed professional bodybuilder Ronnie Coleman famously commented that “everybody wants to be a bodybuilder, but nobody wants to lift no heavy-ass weights.” The same applies to publishing. Everybody wants to be an author, but very few in the political space want to put in the work to become one.
At least read the manuscript. Or at the very least, have a knowledgeable staffer do so.
THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO SHOW UP: East Asia’s Coming Population Collapse.
In the decades immediately ahead, East Asia will experience perhaps the modern world’s most dramatic demographic shift. All of the region’s main states—China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—are about to enter into an era of depopulation, in which they will age dramatically and lose millions of people. According to projections from the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic Social Affairs, China’s and Japan’s populations are set to fall by eight percent and 18 percent, respectively, between 2020 and 2050. South Korea’s population is poised to shrink by 12 percent. And Taiwan’s will go down by an estimated eight percent. The U.S. population, by contrast, is on track to increase by 12 percent.
People—human numbers and the potential they embody—are essential to state power. All else being equal, countries with more people have more workers, bigger economies, and a larger pool of potential soldiers. As a result, growing countries find it much easier to augment power and extend influence abroad. Shrinking ones, by contrast, struggle to maintain their sway.
Automation and AI will blunt the edge that sheer size usually provides but, by how much, no one knows.
COMPETITION: Applebee’s owner Dine Brands wants to steal fast-food customers with its deals.
As consumers pull back their restaurant spending, Applebee’s and IHOP are fighting against a larger group of rivals than usual for a smaller pool of customers. Dine Brands CEO John Peyton said full-service restaurants, fast-food chains and even eating at home are all competing for diners’ dollars.
To rise above the competition, Applebee’s has been leaning into value with a slate of promotions that includes the return of Dollaritas, which makes Peyton confident that it can beat out the fast-food chains vying for its customers.
“The Whole Lotta Burger for $9.99 — if you can have our burger for $10, which is great quality, abundant and eat in our restaurant, in our experience, why would you eat a $10 burger out of a paper bag in your car?” he told CNBC.
Unless time is an issue, it’s silly for me to do drive-thru when for just a few extra dollars, I can get a friendly waitress, a better burger, and a beer instead of a Coke.
GOOD, NOW REPLACE HER WITH SOMEBODY SENSIBLE: After increasing demands for her resignation, embattled president of Cornell announces retirement: Major policy reform can now begin at Cornell, alumni group says.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. Milei Is Absolutely Killing It in Argentina. “Milei’s results speak for themselves. There’s a lesson there for any Republican bold enough to learn it.”
SO MUCH FOR “DEFUND THE POLICE” AND “ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS,” I GUESS. Student complains that ‘anti-Jewish students’ didn’t get enough police protection.
DOUBLING DOWN ON STUPID: President Biden Is Ready to Use the SPR Again If Needed.
President Biden will use crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should the need arise, energy adviser Amos Hochstein has said, noting there was enough oil in the reserve.
“We have been replenishing into the SPR for the last several months. I think we have sufficient supply in the SPR to address any kind of concern in the economy if we need it,” Hochstein said, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, as quoted by Reuters.
The U.S. saw the stockpiles of crude oil in the SPR fall from 638 million barrels at President Joe Biden’s inauguration to just 347 million barrels by the summer of 2023 as the administration tried to bring down gasoline prices for consumers by releasing over 180 million barrels from the SPR.
Funny, but prices are still up since Biden was sworn in.
Also:
President Trump wanted to refill our Strategic Petroleum Reserve when oil was $24/barrel, but Democrats blocked him.
Now, taxpayers will be forced to refill it at nearly TRIPLE the cost.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) October 20, 2022
Fill’er up isn’t going to happen so long as Joe Biden is (ostensibly) in charge.
LIMITED TIME DEAL: DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Drill and Impact Driver. #CommissionEarned
KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Weird — I Did Have ‘RFK Jr Brain Worm’ on My Bingo Card. “Look, there are a zillion things from RFK Jr.’s past that could be dredged up for hit piece fodder. The guy is a bit of an oddball, even for a Kennedy. This is probably one of the milder stories that anybody doing oppo research on him could find.”