Home · News · News Oct 2015 · Oct 01 2015
Thursday October 01, 2015
News Articles

Secret Service Wanted To Leak 'Embarrassing' Info On Congressman
HP | Ryan J. Reilly | 09/30/15

Dozens of Secret Service personnel inappropriately accessed private information on a member of Congress who was conducting oversight of the agency, in a pattern the Department of Homeland Security's watchdog called "deeply disturbing."

The DHS Inspector General on Wednesday released the results of an investigation into who leaked information about how Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who conducts oversight of the Secret Service, had been rejected for a position in the agency years ago. The report found that 45 different Secret Service employees in a variety of different locations accessed the record, but only four of them may have had a legitimate reason to do so. ... Read more
RachellMaddow | Planned Parenthood president stands up to House GOP grilling (09/29/15) [9:37]

We're Surrounded by Way More Chemicals Than We Thought, and These Doctors Say We're Screwed
MotherJones Magazine | Gabrielle Canon | 10/01/15

The International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), a group representing OB-GYNs from 125 countries, released a report detailing the detrimental health effects caused by even small exposure to common chemicals like the ones found in pesticides, plastics, and air pollution. The health problems are even greater for babies exposed in the womb, who face increased risks of cancer, reduced cognitive function, and even miscarriage or stillbirth.

The organization cited concerns about the sharp increase over the past four decades in chemical manufacturing, which continues to grow by more than 3 percent every year. Some 30,000 pounds of chemicals were manufactured or imported for every person in the United States in 2012 alone--a whopping 9.5 trillion pounds in total. Annually, the FIGO authors write, chemical manufacturing leads to 7 million deaths and billions in health care costs. ... Read more

Hepatitis C drugs cost more than $1,000 a pill in the U.S. Curiously, the same pills cost as little as $10 a pill in emerging countries. A National Institutes of Health analysis that stated that drug prices "simply reflect what the market will bear."

The 9 Most Expensive Medicines in the World -- Courtesy of Big Pharma
AlterNet | Larry Schwartz | 09/29/15

Hedge funder Martin Shkreli reminded everyone of the sky-high -- and seemingly arbitrary -- costs of prescription medicines in this country when he bought and immediately increased the price of an established drug used to fight a parasitic infection. The price hike was eye-popping, from $13.50 a pill to $750 per pill, prompting Dr. Judith Aberg of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to ask, "What is it that they are doing differently that has led to this dramatic increase?" Shkreli's answer was similar to what Big Pharma trots out all the time -- the extra money will help them to make better drugs.

The business of developing and selling prescription drugs is not just big. It's huge. Sales for prescription meds in the world are expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2018. That equates to 1.3% of the world's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To put it another way, Big Pharma's sales are bigger than the annual GDP of all but 15 countries on the planet. In the United States alone, seven out of 10 Americans are taking prescription medications. Almost 4 billion prescriptions were written in the U.S. last year. And for the unluckiest of us, those prescriptions cost dearly. Six-figure dearly. ... Read more

  1. Myozyme | Cost: $100,000 to $300,000 per year | Myozyme is a medication used to treat a rare but debilitating disease called Pompe. Pompe attacks the skeletal muscles and the heart of the patient.
  2. Acthar | Cost: $300,000 per year | Acthar is a medication used to treat seizures in infants under the age of two.
  3. Folotyn | Cost: $320,000 a year | Manufactured by Allos Therapeutics, Folotyn is used to fight a rare and aggressive cancer, T-cell lymphoma.
  4. Cinryze | Cost: $350,000 a year | Cinryze is used to treat angioedema, a hereditary disease affecting as few as 1 in 50,000 people in the U.S. Angioedema causes swelling of the hands, throat and abdomen.
  5. Naglazyme | Cost: $365,000 a year | Naglazyme is used to treat a children's disease known as Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, which affects connective tissue. Sufferers of the syndrome have improperly developed muscles, joints and tissues, often resulting in dwarfism. Children with the disease also suffer from heart disease and sometimes neurological damage, eye damage, deafness and brain damage.
  6. Elaprase | Cost: $375,000 a year | At a price that exceeds most houses, Elaprase treats Hunter syndrome, a rare condition affecting approximately 500 people in the U.S. An inherited disease, it inhibits physical growth and brain development.
  7. Vimizim | Cost: $380,000 a year | Vimizim is an enzyme replace treatment used to treat Morquio A syndrome, a disease affecting only about 800 people in the U.S. The syndrome prevents the sufferer's body from breaking down long-chain sugar molecules, resulting in abnormal heart and skeletal development, dwarfism and other serious defects.
  8. Soliris | Cost: $440,000 a year | Soliris wins the prize as the most expensive drug in the United States. Unlike many of the drugs on this list, at least Soliris can claim to be a very effective drug, treating paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a disorder affecting about 8,000 Americans. The disease destroys red blood cells, making the patient susceptible to infection, anemia and blood clots.
  9. Glybera | Cost: $1.21 million a year | And the title of "Most Expensive Drug in the Entire World" goes to Glybera, a drug so far not approved in the U.S. but recently approved in the European Union. Glybera is a gene therapy used to treat a condition called familial lipoprotein lipase deficiency, a disease affecting only about one in 1 million people. In the EU, fewer than 200 people are affected by it. The deficiency causes extremely painful swelling of the pancreas.
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, October 01 [9:48]
DN | "The Jury Never Heard It": Richard Glossip to Be Executed In Oklahoma Today Despite New Evidence (09/30/15) [20:53]
Stephen Colbert - The Late Show
SC | Elizabeth Warren Is Fighting To Fix The Government (09/24/15) [2:03]
SC | Ellen Page Talks "Freeheld" And LGBT Progress (09/30/15) [6:34]
Ellen Page stopped by to talk about her latest film "Freeheld," and give some insight into how hearts and minds have changed regarding the LGBT community.
Diane Rehm Show
DR | The Debate Over Drug Pricing (10/01/15) [1hr]
Reaganomics
MSNBC RachelMaddow | How Reaganomics Destroyed The Middle Class...And Maybe America (12/04/10) [8:26]
Click to see additional charts
TRNN | Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, says: Abbas UN Speech: "Bombshell" or Wet Firecracker? (09/30/15) [9:55]
TRNN | Journalist Andrea Ixchiu and Alex Main of the Center for Economic and Policy Research: Latin American Leaders Demand UN Reforms (10/01/15) [22:37]
TYT | Republican Admits Benghazi "Scandal" Manufactured To Hurt Hillary Clinton (10/01/15) [6:03]
TYT | Congressman: I've Never Used Planned Parenthood And I'm Just Fine! (10/01/15) [5:49]
RT | Keiser Report: Market Wasteland (E817) (10/01/15) [25:45]
RT | CrossTalk: Putin's United Nations (09/30/15) [24:02]
RoF | Elizabeth Warren Slams Trickle Down Myth (09/30/15) [2:10]
Thom Hartmann - www.thomhartmann.com/
ThomHartmann | Politics Panel: Trump Has a Great Tax Plan for the 1% (10/01/15) [4:36]

10.01.2015. 12:41



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Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg and Paul Jay explore Ellsberg's latest book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. In the introduction to the book, Ellsberg writes: "No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral or insane. The story of how this calamitous predicament came about and how and why it has persisted over a half a century is a chronicle of human madness".

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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

Kuznick Interviews

Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

China Valley of Tunnels

A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick's ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides--Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations.

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? VICE News' "Trump Talk" mashup series tries to answer that. And, we're happy to say, it was just nominated for two Webby Awards. Now you can watch all the nominated videos.

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
Juliet Huddy (2005 or 2006)
Jessica Drake (2006)
Ninni Laaksonen (2006)
Cassandra Searles (2013)
Allegations of pageant dressing room visits(1997)
Mariah Billado,
Victoria Hughes,
and three other Miss Teen USA contestants
Bridget Sullivan (2000)
Tasha Dixon (2001)
Unnamed contestants (2001)
Samantha Holvey (2006)

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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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