Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Jerry Lewis On ISIS, Refugees, Trump And Reagan



HT to Nick at WZ and Young Cons

Planned Parenthood Says It Performed 323,999 Abortions In 2014

weaselzippers
Along with $553.7 million in taxpayer dollars courtesy of the Dems.
Via The Blaze:
Planned Parenthood has released its 2014-2015 annual report at the conclusion of a year marked by controversy for the organization.
“There never has been a more important time to stand for and with Planned Parenthood,” Jill Lafer, the chair of Planned Parenthood, and Cecile Richards the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, wrote in an opening letter. “We are at a crit

ical moment in our history. Over the past several months, we have been tested in every way imaginable — and have emerged stronger than ever.”
The report states that “In the pages that follow, we present highlights from a year filled with achievements and breakthroughs.”
“Abortion” is listed in the report as one of the organization’s “Top Achievements” in 2014.
According to the report, Planned Parenthood affiliates performed 323,999 abortions in 2014, a slight decrease from 2013. The organization claims that abortion services constitute three percent of their services. […]
Planned Parenthood accepted 553.7 million dollars in taxpayer funds, an increase of over $25 million dollars from 2013. The organization states that government health services, grants and reimbursements constitute 43 percent of their revenue.

Thank You The Blaze and Zip. 

Drug Resistant Form Of Gonorrhea Coming To United States

weaselzippers
Bill Clinton is doomed now.
Here’s the good news about gonorrhea: It’s still a treatable sexually transmitted infection.
The bad news: It may not be for much longer.
Cases of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea have been found in other parts of the world, including the UK, where the country’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies warned about the rise of “super gonorrhea” in a recent letter to physicians and pharmacies.
The highly adaptable disease, which has been around for more than 2,000 years, once responded to a range of antibiotics.
Now the options are far slimmer: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a dual treatment of two antibiotics, ceftriaxone and azithromycin as the only viable cure.


Thank You Marketwatch and Bill.

Which reminds us:

What happened to that rush of Ebola patients who had to be brought back here Stateside for treatment?

IF, we were given to ruminating on unsubstantiated conspiracy theorizing, we might suspect our friends in Govt were only interested in dragging the patients back here long enough to collect a full course of Ebola specimens, in order to weaponize the disease.

Trump Defends Criticizing Islam: "They're Chopping Off Christian's Heads In Syria And They Want Me To Have A Nice Tone?"

weaselzippers
And yet pundits are baffled by Trump’s appeal.


Thank You Ms Flitter, Zip, and The Donald.


Tuesday, December 29, 2015

California Law Allowing Seizure Of Guns If "Potential For Violence" Exists Starts January 2016

Excuse us, but isn't this the same crowd who've prevented all those school shootings by decreeing that schools are "Gun Free Zones"?

But don't worry, Somebody will get this straightened out in a California Court. 

House Investigates Claims That IRS Seized (60) Millions 

Of Medical Records

 (Including those of every State Judge in California) 


weaselzippers
Constitutionally dubious.
Gun-safety legislation going into effect in California next week will allow authorities to seize a person’s weapons for 21 days if a judge determines there’s potential for violence.
Proposed in the wake of a deadly May 2014 shooting rampage by Elliot Rodger, the bill provides family members with a means of having an emergency “gun violence restraining order” imposed against a loved one if they can convince a judge that allowing that person to possess a firearm “poses an immediate and present danger of causing personal injury to himself, herself or another by having in his or her custody or control.”
Thank You Wash Times and Nick. 

Bakery Pays $135,000 For Refusing To Bake Cake For Gay Wedding

weaselzippers
Because not getting a cake entitles you to $135,000 in damages?
The owners of the now-closed Sweet Cakes Bakery in Gresham, Oregon have paid out more than $135,000 in damages for refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding.
Klein turned in a check for $136,927.07, which included interest on the July 2015 state-ordered judgment, to the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries in Portland after violating the Laurel and Rachel Bowman-Cryer’s civil rights, according to OregonLive.com.
“My clients are happy the Kleins paid the fine and are moving forward,” the Bowman-Cryer’s lawyer Paul Thompson told the Oregon paper. “I hope to see the ruling upheld on appeal.”
The incident took place back in 2013, when Laurel Bowman-Cryer went to the bakery for a wedding cake tasting. She was told the bakery could not make the cake for religious reasons. Bowman-Cryer filed a complaint with the State of Oregon and the labor commissioner awarded the damages, claiming it was a violation of state law to discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Thank You PJ Media and Nick. 

It's nice to see our Courts have their priorities centered in the really important issues facing America.

At these rates, what's attempted murder worth?

Mental Health: Comes With FREE Homicide

Policies On Brain Death Vary Significantly By Hospital

The United States Senate is almost certain to confirm Robert Califf as FDA Commissioner. Do we need to post pictures of these Senators for Hospitals to consult as examples of Brain Dead?

fiercehealthcare
JAMA Neurology study finds practices are inconsistent and don't follow national guidelines

A new study in JAMA Neurology finds that policies to determine brain death vary significantly among hospitals in the United States and most don't fully follow national guidelines.
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) issued new guidelines in 2010 that every hospital should follow when declaring patients brain-dead. The guidelines are extensive and include a detailed checklist as well as step-by-step instructions.
But researchers who examined 492 unique hospital policies found that the policies are inconsistent and many organizations have not fully implemented the guidelines.
For example, more than 20 percent of hospitals don't require clinicians to check a patient's temperature; 56 percent don't assess a patient's blood pressure; and only 33 percent require an expert in neurology or neurosurgery to determine brain death. In addition, 150 policies fail to mention who could determine brain death.
The danger is that without a standard policy, hospital staff--especially a less-experienced clinicians--could mistakenly mispronounce someone brain dead.
"This is truly one of those matters of life and death, and we want to make sure this is done right every single time," lead author David Greer, M.D., a neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine, told NPR.
Greer helped write the 2010 guidelines and told the publication that the danger is if a hospital declared someone brain dead who later recovered some neurological function. "That would be horrific if that were the case," he said.
In an interview with U.S. News & World Report, Greer said it may be time for the Joint Commission to make it part of the hospital accreditation process to ensure that hospitals uniformly update their policies and follow the AAN guidelines.
To learn more:
- here's the study abstract
- read the NPR report
- check out the U.S. News & World Report story

Thank You Ms McDonald and FH.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Robert Spitzer, Mr DSM, Dead At 83

Washington Post

Use the link if you want to munch (kin) through the WaPo's lipstick on a pig eulogy.



Think we're over the top?

Watching The Wizard of Oz: Today's Bio-Psychiatric Science


Here's to you, Doc.

For all the unbridled, unending misery you and yours have rained down upon humanity:

Burn 

In 

Hell.

Music III: Symphonies 1 - 5 of Howard Hanson, Mosaics & Lament For Beowulf






Symphony #4 is supposed to be a playlist, so don't just catch the 1st Movement and move on.




Sunday, December 27, 2015

Atlas Shrugged-er: Government Now Preying On High School Graduates

zerohedge
Tyler Durden's picture



A friend sent me a news item from U.S. News and World Report which reported that Louisiana’s board of education is going to implement a new policy which requires all students to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid in order to receive a high school diploma.
Think about that for a moment.  In order to receive a high diploma, the State of Louisiana is requiring that high school seniors fill out an application which would enable them to go into debt the moment they receive their diploma.
This is a mind-blowing event.  Most jobs available to high school grads do not require a college degree.  But some might require a high school diploma.  I have to wonder what the motive is behind this.  A significant portion of student debt is now being used for corporate-owned “universities” which are largely worthless to everyone except the entities who own the schools.  Goldman Sachs is a big player in this space.   Student debt, backed by the Taxpayer, is just another form of wealth transfer from the public to the banks and big corporations.


Untitled
The amount of student debt issued and outstanding is now over $1.3 trillion. Obama pats himself on the back because student loan delinquency rates are falling a bit.  But this is because he has made it easier to defer payment. While 11.5% – roughly $150 billion – is in delinquency, about 50% of this debt is in some form of grace period, deferment or forebearance.  Loans in deferment are not part of the delinquency rate calculation.  The true level of delinquency and technical default is probably somewhere in the 35-45% range.
I have to believe that the requirement being implemented in Louisiana is violating some part of the Constitution.  Of course, with the simple stroke of a pen, Obama can override the Constitution with yet another Executive Order upholding this requirement.
This requirement in Louisiana is exactly the type insane laws which were imposed by the Government as described in the narrative laid out in “Atlas Shrugged.”  Acts of mandate which enabled the Government and the corporate friends of the Government to suck wealth from the populace and from productive workers and redistribute the largesse amongst themselves.
We know how the story unfolds in “Atlas Shrugged.”  Unfortunately, I see the same type of story unfolding in the United States.
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered…I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies… The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.  – Thomas Jefferson

Drug That Causes Patients To Bleed To Death Was Approved Under Questionable Circumstances By Obama FDA Nominee

If a rat gulps down a dinner of d-CON and then crawls off in between the walls and dies in there, and a week or so passes, is there anything Questionable about what's in there?

It's J&J. The guy took their Money.

naturalnews
Monday, December 21, 2015 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: Robert CaliffXareltofalse test results


(NaturalNews) Meet Robert Califf. He was recently appointed as Deputy Commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco at the FDA, by the Obama administration. This is the same guy who worked at the Duke Institute for Clinical Research, where he co-chaired the executive committee for the clinical trials of the pharmaceutical blood-thinning drug, Xarelto.

Xarelto is an FDA-approved drug that has caused numerous heart patients to bleed to death. A staggering 2,000 lawsuits have now been filed in the US because the drug is causing people to bleed profusely. However, drugs just like these continue to be accepted as medicine under the careful watch of the FDA's Robert Califf.

European investigators are now finding out that Califf's clinical trials to approve Xarelto took advantage of recalled devices that produce misleading test results.

Since 2011, Xarelto has been marketed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Interestingly enough, the FDA's Robert Califf, who set up the clinical trial to approve Xarelto, also received an $87,500 payment from Johnson & Johnson in 2012. The conflict of interest is apparent.

Pharmaceuticals not based on sound science

Most pharmaceutical drugs aren't validated and approved based on sound science. They are often approved because drug companies pay the approval process off, using large sums of cash to directly influence how these dangerous drugs come to market. Drug companies infiltrate the government regulatory agencies and basically become the government, getting their way even when their products cause people to bleed to death. 

It's how medical science works in the USA, and hardly anyone is held accountable for the lives that are taken due to "medicine." Drug company insiders are instead given top positions in the government. That's exactly what President Obama did, nominating Califf to a top FDA position, even after he helped to "design and oversee" the clinical trial used to unsafely fast-track Xarelto to market, using recalled testing equipment.

Xarelto comes under investigation as patients bleed to death

The clinical trial and approval process Califf designed for Xarelto is now under investigation by European regulators. The drug is supposed to thin the blood of heart patients, but it's also putting them "at greater risk of harm from stroke and/or bleeding," as reported by The Washington Free Beacon.

Many scientists rebuked its approval in 2011, and the FDA official who gave it the green light even then had concerns over the drug's safety. In a November 2011 memo, FDA Deputy Division Director Stephen M. Grant said, "The decision [to approve the drug] was made difficult by the limitations in the design and conduct," referring to the clinical trial set up by Robert Califf. [Emphasis added]

The Project on Government Oversight reports, "The FDA approved Xarelto in 2011 over the objections of the primary FDA scientists assigned to study its safety and effectiveness. The report by the reviewers argued that patients could be 'at greater risk of harm from stroke and/or bleeding' if they took Xarelto than if they were treated skillfully with Warfarin, a blood thinner that has been on the market since the 1950s."

According to the current European investigation, Robert Califf set up the clinical trial using blood testing devices from the INRatio product line that were under FDA recall notice at the time. The investigation determined that the faulty devices used in the approval process delivered false test results. An FDA warning letter cautioned that the devices may produce misleading test results that "cause severe or life-threatening injuries, including death." [Emphasis added]

Sources include:

Freebeacon.com

Thank You Natural News

J&J Blood Thinner Under Review For Trial Overseen By FDA Nominee Califf

Statnews/Ed Silverman's Pharmalot

A key clinical trial used to win regulatory approval for the best-selling Xarelto blood thinner is being reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration over concerns that a device used to test patients was faulty and may have skewed results. The European Medicines Agency is also reviewing the trial data.
The reviews are gaining attention, in part, because the trial was overseen by Dr. Robert Califf, who was nominated to head the FDA. At the time the trial was conducted, Califf headed the Duke Clinical Research Institute, which is also undertaking its own analysis, and he was one of the principal investigators running the trial.

Read more: Califf says he’ll never lower FDA’s approval standards

Known as ROCKET-AF, the trial results convinced the FDA four years ago to approve Xarelto for preventing strokes in people with atrial fibrillation, or abnormal heart rhythms. That was the second agency endorsement that year. Marketed by Johnson & Johnson and Bayer, the drug has since become the leading seller among a new type of blood thinners, generating nearly $3.7 billion in sales in 2014.
The trial compared Xarelto with warfarin, a decades-old standard of care, and relied on a device known as INRatio to measure the effect that warfarin had on clotting. Such devices are used by physicians and patients because the amount of warfarin needed must be closely tracked.
However, the FDA had sent two warning letters to the device maker about erroneous readings in 2005 and late 2006, just as the trial got under way. But the problem was not mentioned during a 2011 FDA advisory committee meeting, according to the meeting transcript and one committee member who asked not be named. And a recall occurred last year.
The issue, which was first reported by the Project on Government Oversight, is renewing controversy over the drug. At the time of the 2011 FDA advisory committee meeting, FDA medical staff recommended that Xarelto not be approved after determining the drug was not as effective as warfarin in preventing major bleeding.
Both J&J and Bayer wrote us saying they are “aware of this matter. We have conducted a number of sensitivity analyses,” which “confirm the results of the Rocket study and the positive benefit-risk profile of Xarelto.”
However, an EMA spokeswoman wrote us that “the manufacturer of Xarelto has recently informed the agency that the defect in the device could have an impact on the study results … Due to the defect, it is now thought that the [INRatio] device has impacted the clotting results measured for the warfarin [portion of the study], which might affect the overall results for Xarelto as compared with warfarin.”
The EMA review is expected to be completed in early 2016.
An FDA spokeswoman would only say that the agency “is aware of concerns regarding the INRatio device and its use in the ROCKET-AF trial and is reviewing relevant data.” She added that she it is not known when the review will be completed.
Similarly, a spokeswoman for the Duke Clinical Research Institute said an “independent analysis” is being conducted but did not indicate when it may be completed. [UPDATE: The DCRI just issued a statement saying a new analysis validated the findings of the trial].
To what, if any, extent the regulatory look backs will have an effect on Califf’s nomination is unclear. Despite his ties to industry — the DCRI runs numerous trials for drug and device makers — Califf has bipartisan support in Congress. Although two US senators recently placed a hold on his nomination, these were done for reasons unrelated to his work for the pharmaceutical industry.
A spokesman for the US Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about whether Califf was aware of the warning letters or why the FDA did not provide that information to the advisory committee.
Given ongoing chatter about Califf’s ties to industry, the nomination might be delayed, but is unlikely to be derailed, according to Daniel Carpenter, a Harvard University political scientist who has studied the FDA but has not taken a position on Califf.
Another expert agreed.
“It’s difficult to know what, if anything, Califf knew about the device,” said Ira Loss, who tracks the FDA for Washington Analysis, a consulting firm. “He’s overseeing a trial but is not in the field with patients. It could be an issue if it had a significant effect on altering the results of the trial, but every major multinational clinical has issues. It’s hard to know how serious this is. But why didn’t somebody notice it five years ago?”
Ed Silverman can be reached at ed.silverman@statnews.com
Follow Ed on Twitter @Pharmalot 
Thank You Statnews and Mr Silverman

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Obama FDA Chief Nominee Robert Califf: Took $87,500 In JNJ Money: Responsible For Thousands Of Preventable Deaths Already

washingtonfreebeacon
Joe Shoffstall
December 4, 2015 4:58 pm
President Obama’s nominee to head the FDA helped “design and oversee” an approved drug whose clinical trial is now under investigation by European regulators.

Robert Califf, the deputy commissioner of the FDA, co-chaired the executive committee of the Xarelto clinical trial while at the Duke Institute for Clinical Research. Xarelto, a drug used to thin the blood in heart patients, could put patients “at greater risk of harm from stroke and/or bleeding.”
The drug’s trial came under criticism but was ultimately approved in 2011 despite concerns from some scientists. The official who issued the FDA’s approval of the drug expressed additionally concerns of his own, the Project on Government Oversight reports.
POGO writes:
The FDA approved Xarelto in 2011 over the objections of the primary FDA scientists assigned to study its safety and effectiveness. The report by the reviewers argued that patients could be “at greater risk of harm from stroke and/or bleeding” if they took Xarelto than if they were treated skillfully with warfarin, a blood thinner that has been on the market since the 1950s.
The official who issued the FDA’s decision to approve the drug expressed a series of misgivings about it.
“The decision was made difficult by the limitations in the design and conduct” of the clinical trial, FDA Deputy Division Director Stephen M. Grant said in a November 2011 memoexplaining the agency’s reasoning.
“Although ultimately coming to a different conclusion than some of the reviewers, both the Division Director and the Deputy shared the team’s concerns,” Grant wrote.
AllGov.org adds more detailing the European investigation:
The clinical trial relied on blood testing devices that were the subject of two FDA warning letters before the trial began and an FDA recall notice after the trial ended, according to the Project on Government Oversight (POGO). Certain devices in the INRatio product line, the warning notice read, could deliver false test results and that use of those devices may “cause severe or life-threatening injuries, including death.”
The EMA has said it “is currently investigating whether the data generated from the INRatio device could have had any impact on the trial results and the extent of this impact, if applicable.”
An FDA staff review of the trial showed that it was biased in favor of approving Xarelto, POGO reported last month. Patients using Xarelto were said to be “at greater risk of harm from stroke and/or bleeding” than if they were treated with warfarin, a blood thinner that has been on the market since the 1950s.
More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed around the United States alleging uncontrollable bleeding from patients taking Xarelto which in some cases led to death.
Xarelto is manufactured by Bayer and marketed in the United States by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Califf was a paid consultant for numerous companies while at the Duke Institute for Clinical Research, including Johnson & Johnson. In 2012, Califf received an $87,500 payment from the company.


Here's from the Forbes write up:
Califf obviously has many professional relationships with pharmaceutical companies, but his ProPublica “Dollars For Docs” profile is minimal for a physician of his stature, with most of funds for travel or consulting under $5,000. Merck, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, and Eli Lilly were the companies named as payors in his profile. Califf’s largest consulting payment of $87,500 was received from Johnson & Johnson in 2012.

Thank You Mr Shoffstall, and Forbes. 

And if you Still haven't reached for the Pepto, this next Confirmation Hearing writeup on Califf ought to do it.

Califf: I'll Never Lower FDA's Approval Standards

He's Already PWND by JNJ/Janssen for a lousy $87,500. 




Thousands of people Dead. 

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Kentucky AG Settles 2 Pharma Suits/Risperdal & Oxycontin/For $39.5 Million

SurfKY

And apparently SurfKY has a wild hair about fair use reposting, so use the link.

One complaint here. 

Nothing is going to change until that word Million get corrected to become Billion.



Monday, December 21, 2015

Musical Interlude: Steve Hackett: Metamorpheus, Or, Audio Brain Flush For Canned Christmas Carols

It's Christmas and everywhere you go every canned Christmas Carol that businesses could get, cheap, are invading your consciousness. We regard them as audio lint. Especially the ones trying to be cute.

"I want a hip-po-pot-tamus for Christmas" and so on.

So if you've got one of these puerile ditties circling round in your head, here's some brain flush to help clear it out.



And we'd like to wish one and all - no, not really - a Merry Christmas, . . . ESPECIALLY Eric Holder, Alex Gorsky, Bill Weldon, Dr FG 'Illuminati' Lu, and their entire army of empty suit, corrupt-o-cratic minions:


Eric Holder: The Culture of Corruption Enforcer | Frontpage ...

www.frontpagemag.com/.../eric-holder-culture-corr...

FrontPage Magazine
May 14, 2013 - Much more than that, it is a testament to the compromised state of today's Justice Department, which has been deeply corrupted by its leader, ...

Just How Corrupt Is the Obama Administration? | Frontpage ...

www.frontpagemag.com/.../just-how-corrupt-obama...

FrontPage Magazine
Aug 19, 2013 - It was subsequently revealed that an Obama appointee, Associate A.G. Thomas Perrelli, overruled a unanimous decision by DOJ attorneys ...

Eric Holder, A Legacy of Race-Based Radicalism ...

www.frontpagemag.com/.../eric-holder-legacy-race-...

FrontPage Magazine
Sep 25, 2014 - The DoJ, especially its rotten, totally corrupt Civil Rights Division, is a lawyerly commune for revolutionaries who oppose the very idea of the ...

Eric Holder's Corrupt Agenda | Frontpage Mag

www.frontpagemag.com/.../eric-holders-corrupt-age...

FrontPage Magazine
Jun 13, 2012 - While the corrupt practices of Holder's DOJ may finally be getting the attention they deserve, it is also becoming apparent that the department is ...

Goodbye, Eric Holder? | Frontpage Mag

www.frontpagemag.com/.../goodbye-eric-holder-ma...

FrontPage Magazine
Is the attorney general's reign of corruption coming to an end? ... In the Obama eraDoJ spokespersons aren't exactly known for their honesty. They openly ...

Attorney General Holder Who Conspired on Fugitive Pardon ...

www.frontpagemag.com/.../attorney-general-holder-...

FrontPage Magazine
Feb 5, 2015 - ... General Holder Who Conspired on Fugitive Pardon Accuses Bush ofCorruption ... “There's been no politicization of this Justice Department.”.

The Ferguson Fix Is In | Frontpage Mag

www.frontpagemag.com/.../ferguson-fix-matthew-v...

FrontPage Magazine
Aug 19, 2014 - When critics decry his Department of Justice for containing an “activist ... is the consigliere for today's Democrats and their culture of corruption.

FrontPageMag Claims Labor Secretary Tom Perez ...

www.rightwingwatch.org/.../frontpagemag-claims-labor-secretary-tom-p...

Oct 2, 2014 - FrontPageMag Claims Labor Secretary Tom Perez 'Supports ...Department of Justice to new lows of corruption and lawlessness. Perez, who previously ran the DoJ's civil rights branch, would likely be a Holder clone or worse.

FrontPageMag | Right Wing Watch

www.rightwingwatch.org/category/organizations/frontpagemag

Shortly after terrorist gunmen killed 12 people in an attack on the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris earlier this month, conservative commentator Steve Emerson ...

Public Corruption | USAO | Department of Justice

www.justice.gov/.../public-corruption

United States Department of Justice
Jul 8, 2015 - Vigorous prosecution of public corruption has always been vital to our country. Public corruption takes a heavy toll on our communities.
"Vigorous prosecution of public corruption has always been vital to our country"