Under MFN, U.S. drug prices would be tied to the lowest amount paid by any OECD country with at least 60 percent of our GDP per capita. That includes many countries where government-run health systems routinely undervalue breakthrough medicines and decide which treatments patients can access — and when.
That’s not competition. That’s central planning. A market price originates from voluntary exchange, not foreign bureaucrats operating under fixed budgets and political incentives.
We know where that road leads. In countries using arbitrary price-setting benchmarks, patients are routinely denied or delayed access to new medicines. By late 2022, just 34 percent of new drugs launched globally were available in France, 37 percent in Italy, and 52 percent in Germany. Compare that to nearly 75 percent in the United States. Import their pricing models, and we’ll import their rationing — and avoidable suffering. //
Strong trade pressure best confronts these abuses. Other wealthy countries should be required to meet minimum spending targets on new medicines — benchmarked to what the United States invests relative to GDP. Those spending expectations should be written into binding agreements with clear enforcement mechanisms and consequences for noncompliance.
But overseas is not the only issue; we also need to fix what’s distorting prices at home.
Begin with the supply chain middlemen. The three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) now control more than 80 percent of the prescription drug market, acting as gatekeepers between manufacturers and patients. These entities, which play no role in innovation, dictate which drugs are covered, how much patients pay, and who profits. /
In 2023 alone, the “gross-to-net bubble” — the gap between the list prices of branded drugs and net prices after rebates and other discounts — was $334 billion. In an ideal market, those savings would dramatically lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.
Instead, the system is cloaked in secrecy. Most patients are unaware of the discounts that PBMs negotiate, and they don’t see a dime of those discounts when they pick up their prescriptions. Patient cost-sharing is still based on the inflated, publicly disclosed list price — not the much lower negotiated price. //
We also need to crack down on hospital conglomerates that abuse the federal 340B program. Initially created to support low-income and rural hospitals, 340B has ballooned into a multibillion-dollar loophole.
These hospitals purchase medicines at heavily discounted prices and resell them at a steep markup — up to five times their acquisition cost — with no obligation to deliver additional care or pass savings to patients. Most 340B hospitals provide less charity care than the national average.
Bret Baier @BretBaier
·
Israeli Prime Minister @netanyahu on intel of Iranian attempts to assassinate President @realDonaldTrump-- "he's enemy number one.." and on when he let President Trump know of the plans for launching the strikes #FoxNews #SpecialReport #Israel
12:17 PM · Jun 15, 2025. //
Netanyahu said his country was facing an "imminent threat" of nuclear destruction and was left with no choice but to act aggressively in the "12th hour."
"We were facing an imminent threat, a dual existential threat," he said.
"One, the threat of Iran rushing to weaponize their enriched uranium to make atomic bombs with a specific and declared intent to destroy us. Second, a rush to increase their ballistic missile arsenal to the capacity that they would have 3,600 weapons a year…. Within three years, 10,000 ballistic missiles, each one weighing a ton, coming in at mach 6, right into our cities, as you saw today… and then in 26 years, 20,000 [missiles]. No country can sustain that, and certainly not a country the size of Israel, so we had to act."
All indications are that the Democrat Party is in big trouble.
Let’s look back at American political history. This country has had a tradition of having two broad and ideologically fluid coalition parties that contest with each other across the nation. Over our history, two of these American parties have disappeared from existence – the Federalists and the Whigs.
How and why did this happen?
We were lying in bed with our newborn, and my wife said, "We are starting to accumulate a lot of photos and videos of our baby, and I don't want to pay for App-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named anymore. You always want to build something for me, so why don't you build me an app which can do that?"
That was how the idea started to grow in my head. After that, I began to find existing solutions in the self-hosting space with similar backup functionality and the performance level of the App-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named. I found that the current solutions mainly focus on the gallery-type application. However, I want a simple-to-use backup tool with a native mobile app that can view photos and videos efficiently. So I set sail on this journey as a hungry engineer on the hunt.
An alternative to the immich-CLI command that doesn't depend on nodejs installation. It tries its best for importing google photos takeout archives.
Nextcloud Hub has grown into a leading open-source platform for collaboration, thanks to our tireless efforts to excel in privacy while bringing new cutting-edge features to the table with each release. Today, we launch Nextcloud Hub 9, a new iteration of our platform that pioneers automation tools, empowers teams, and drives digital transformation.
Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 @MarinaMedvin
·
Axios is reporting that Netanyahu and Trump pulled off a great deception as part of Israel’s preparation to strike Iran. If true, this would go down in history books.
7:35 AM · Jun 13, 2025. //
That seemed to be confirmed when the president put out the following post, which mirrored a longer post that slammed Iran for not taking the deal he put on the table.
Note: This is not the troll I'm talking about in the headline. That's coming next.
TRUMP: Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We will see. There are several people in leadership that will not be coming back. //
Dallas
13 hours ago
Israel put the "dead" in deadline. Kudos //
TXavatar
13 hours ago
Reminds me of Bruce Willis’ great line in The 5th Element-
“Anybody else want to negotiate?”
This tool is useful to check if a given Network Time Protocol server is reachable over the internet using IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity.
It is also useful for knowing the resulting offset using the exact time of x1.ncomputers.org stratum 2 NTP public server.
AG
@AGHamilton29
Reminder that on April 12th, Trump publicly gave the Islamic Republic 60 days to seriously come to the table on dismantling their nuclear program or face military consequences.
Today was day 61….
Elon Musk reposted
Good Faith Energy
@GoodFaithEnergy
We just completed the largest solar + battery project in the Caribbean — on Jumby Bay Island, Antigua. 🇦🇬 🌎
A massive 233.28 kW
@teslaenergy
Solar Roof, powered by 9 inverters and 9
@SolArkSolar
L3-HV-40KWH battery stacks (that’s 72 battery modules!).
He dug a river to the ocean. Then this happened.
us.mirror.ionos.com
powered by IONOS Inc.
Hardware:
2x Intel Xeon Silver 4214R (2.4 GHz, 24 Cores, 48 Threads)
192 GByte RAM
246 TByte storage
20 GBit/sec network connectivity
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This server runs Debian GNU/Linux with:
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The Web Era arrives, the browser wars flare, and a bubble bursts.
Welcome to the second article in our three-part series on the history of the Internet. //
In 1965, Ted Nelson submitted a paper to the Association for Computing Machinery. He wrote: “Let me introduce the word ‘hypertext’ to mean a body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper.” The paper was part of a grand vision he called Xanadu, after the poem by Samuel Coleridge.
A decade later, in his book “Dream Machines/Computer Lib,” he described Xanadu thusly: “To give you a screen in your home from which you can see into the world’s hypertext libraries.” He admitted that the world didn’t have any hypertext libraries yet, but that wasn’t the point. One day, maybe soon, it would. And he was going to dedicate his life to making it happen.
Deploying the National Guard is not an overreach but a measured response to a crisis that local leaders have failed to address. //
Labeling riotous behavior as “peaceful protest” is a deliberate misrepresentation that erodes trust in governance. Protesters who attack federal agents, destroy property, and endanger lives are not champions of justice; they are obstructing the rule of law. To paint Trump as the villain for responding to this chaos is to invert reality and excuse lawlessness under the guise of political posturing. //
The rule of law is not negotiable, and no state can opt out of federal authority when it comes to immigration enforcement. Other communities across the country must take heed: excusing violence as protest and obstructing federal law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent. As a nation, we must stand united in supporting the lawful execution of federal duties and reject the narrative that casts law enforcement as the enemy. The safety of our communities and the integrity of our laws depend on it.
Companies today claim they are “designing for the environment.” What they often mean is: they’re doing what the Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR) tells them to do.
APR is not an environmental nonprofit, nor is it a scientific body. It is a trade association. Its purpose isn’t planetary stewardship or public benefit—it’s to protect the business model of mechanical recyclers. Across the country, retailers and consumer brands have allowed APR to shape packaging policy, effectively outsourcing key sustainability decisions to an organization with no accountability to the public.
This didn’t happen by accident. It was a calculated public affairs coup.
By presenting itself as a neutral authority on recycling, APR has become the de facto gatekeeper of “recyclable” packaging. Its “Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability” guidelines are treated by many brands as gospel. The result is a system in which APR’s preferences—many of which conveniently raise costs, entrench incumbents, and discourage alternatives—are adopted as moral imperatives rather than contested ideas. //
APR has pulled off something remarkable but all too common in today’s age. It has cloaked its trade priorities in the language of sustainability, allowing its design standards to spread across entire industries without serious scrutiny.
Brands that comply get to call their packaging “recyclable.” Lawmakers and regulators often codify APR’s framework into official policy. Environmental groups, eager to support anything labeled circular or zero-waste, rarely question the mechanics. But this is where the problem begins. //
A 2022 Greenpeace USA report found that less than six percent of plastic waste in the United States is recycled. That means more than 94 percent of plastic—much of it labeled recyclable—never completes the circular loop consumers are led to believe exists.
Meanwhile, the cost of playing by APR’s rules isn’t theoretical. Brands often must reengineer their packaging to meet APR’s specifications, which can involve switching to more expensive materials, altering shapes or adhesives, or redesigning entire product lines. These costs are passed directly to consumers—and they rarely result in actual environmental gains.
In fact, many APR-approved packages use more resources and energy to produce than their conventional counterparts. When those packages aren’t recycled, the net environmental impact is worse than if brands had used simpler, more efficient designs. Compliance becomes performance. And performance becomes policy. //
One of the clearest indicators of APR’s self-interest is its stance on chemical recycling. Unlike mechanical recycling, which is limited to certain polymers and degrades material quality, chemical recycling can break down a broader range of plastics into base feedstocks. It has real potential to scale down plastic recovery and reduce landfill dependency. For APR, chemical recycling threatens its existing model. The association has repeatedly warned that advanced recycling isn’t a “silver bullet,” advocating for limited definitions of the practice and cautioning against falling for marketing claims. //
msctex
an hour ago edited
Corruption can and nearly inevitably will evolve in what amounts to a natural fashion, whenever any organized group finds its goal or raison d'être has been met, but said group does not then immediately refocus its aim at another problem. Many Unions are the embodiment of this, as are countless Leftist social causes.
But then there is Corruption that was never anything but from the jump, examples we can always trace to the Left. Any solution to an imaginary problem falls under this inevitably taxpayer-funded umbrella.
Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Phelan cited the case of the USS Gerald R. Ford, America's largest and most expensive nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which carried a price tag of $13 billion. The ship was struggling to feed its crew of over 4,500 because six of its eight ovens were out of action, and sailors were barred by contract from fixing them themselves.
"I am a huge supporter of right to repair," Phelan told the politicians. "I went on the carrier; they had eight ovens — this is a ship that serves 15,300 meals a day. Only two were working. Six were out."
He pointed out the Navy personnel are capable of fixing their own gear but are blocked by contracts that reserve repairs for vendors, often due to IP restrictions. //
In a rare display of bipartisanship, both Democrats and Republicans agreed that the Army shouldn't be waiting on contractors to fix its kit and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo directing the service to add right-to-repair provisions to its contracts.
"On a go-forward basis, we have been directed to not sign any contracts that don't give us a right to repair," Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll told the House Armed Services Committee on June 4. "On a go-back basis, we have been directed to go and do what we can to go get that right to repair."
So please, when sending your protest message in the form of flames, please be sure to choose fuel consisting of a minimum of at least 30 percent bio-ethanol, and select only cars with standard power plants. This will also ensure that more EVs will remain on California roadways. Protest responsibly and govern yourselves accordingly. //
Granny Heartful
an hour ago
I might be a dumb blonde, but I gotta ask:
How do you burn cars in an environmentally responsible fashion?
I wish it weren't so, but there's gotta be a punch line in there somewhere.
bk Granny Heartful
3 minutes ago
You give up smoking dope for a week and call it a carbon offset. /s
Townhall.com
@townhallcom
·
Follow
When cars are on fire and stores are looted, just remember:
“It may be the exuberance of the moment…” — Nancy Pelosi.
🤡🔥
12:54 PM · Jun 10, 2025.
Townhall.com
@townhallcom
·
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<-- PELOSI TODAY
"On January 6th... we begged the President of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it."
--> PELOSI ON J6
"Why weren't the National Guard there to begin with?.. I take responsibility."
Embedded video
Embedded video
1:08 PM · Jun 10, 2025
Chief Steven Sund
@ChiefSund
·
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FACT: I made 11 urgent calls requesting National Guard support on Jan 6, starting at 12:58 PM. Approval was withheld for 71 minutes by the House Sergeant at Arms, who reported directly to Speaker Pelosi. She caused critical delays, and now is shifting blame to @realDonaldTrump Show more
CSPAN
@cspan
.@SpeakerPelosi: "On January 6th...we begged the president of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it...And yet, in a contra-constitutional way, he has sent the National Guard into California. Something is very wrong with this picture."
Embedded video
6:25 PM · Jun 10, 2025
Chief Steven Sund
@ChiefSund
·
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FACT: On January 3, I made multiple requests for the assistance of the National Guard to help secure the Capitol on January 6 and was DENIED each time, leaving us underprepared for the attack. @realDonaldTrump @PressSec @bennyjohnson
6:41 PM · Jun 10, 2025
Silvio Costa
·
Jun 10, 2025
@SMCosta6
·
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Replying to @ChiefSund @realDonaldTrump and 2 others
Chief Steven Sund,
Who denied your requests for the assistance of the National Guard on January 3?
Chief Steven Sund
@ChiefSund
·
The House and Senate Sargeants at Arms.
7:07 PM · Jun 10, 2025
The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — which openly calls for revolution to bring down the current American system and which publicly sympathizes with murderous Communist regimes — has been a leader in organizing and fueling anti-ICE demonstrations in LA as well as in other cities nationwide. //
The leadership and activities of PSL are closely tied to far-left groups bolstered by the financial network of wealthy Marxist businessman Neville Roy Singham, who sold his ThoughtWorks tech company in 2017 and has used the money to fund openly Communist endeavors globally. //
On its social media accounts, PSL touted such anti-ICE demonstrations held in the Texas cities of Austin and Houston; in the Ohio cities of Cleveland and Columbus; in Providence, Rhode Island; in Chicago, Illinois; and in Washington, DC.
It was reported by Breitbart News that PSL organized an anti-ICE protest in San Antonio, Texas — and the outlet “noted the signs provided and carried by PSL members in San Antonio were identical to those held by PSL members in the Los Angeles demonstrations.”
“Immigrant voters, foreign-born voters, have gone tremendously to the right on this issue in 2024 and 2025 versus where they were in 2020,” CNN's Harry Enten explained. Back in 2020, Democrats enjoyed a comfortable 32-point lead among immigrant voters on the issue of immigration. But those days are gone. According to Enten, there has been “a 40-point shift to the right among immigrant voters,” and Republicans now lead Democrats by eight points on the issue, more than with any other demographic group.
This isn’t a marginal shift; it’s a political earthquake. And it’s not just about party preference; it’s also about attitudes toward Donald Trump himself.
Long dismissed as radioactive to immigrant voters, Trump is now seeing a surge in support that few thought possible. In 2016, he pulled 36% of the immigrant citizen vote. That ticked up to 39% in 2020. But in 2024, he’s jumped to 47% — and in some polls, he’s either tied or outright leading among immigrant voters. It’s a stunning political reversal that shatters the old assumptions.
That political shift mirrors a broader transformation in how immigrant citizens perceive illegal immigration. Back in 2020, illegal immigrants enjoyed a net favorable rating of +23 points among immigrant voters. By 2024, that number had plunged to -6. This dramatic drop completely undercuts the left’s go-to narrative that immigrant communities automatically align in solidarity with those here illegally.