Authored by Scott Farmer via RealClear Politics,

As the 2024 election heats up, now is the time for campaigns to invest wisely. Questions abound: Do you invest in cable news advertising? Door-to-door canvassing? Social media? Something else?

For answers, I look back to the past. In 2000, I oversaw the South Carolina Republican Party’s history-making effort to post real-time presidential primary results online. The election night vote-counting for the epic Bush vs. McCain battle played out on screens across the world – not just in the South Carolina GOP’s vote tabulation center. On that night, the ground shifted beneath our feet.

Over more than two decades of working on Senator Lindsey Graham’s campaigns, first as his finance director and then as his campaign manager for multiple elections, I watched digital operations transform from a backwater oddity to the beating heart of modern campaigns. To outsiders, this revolution seemed obvious, given the meteoric rise of social media, data collection, and mobile devices. However, for an industry steeped in “retail politics” that values handshakes, parades, and stump speeches, embracing the Internet’s intangible nature was a massive culture shock.

Many candidates didn’t understand the social media platforms that can decide elections, and many still don’t. But the digitization of politics is now undeniable, with digital ad spending alone expected to increase by about 30% in 2024. Billions of political dollars are now spent on digital ads without even taking into account the organic reach of a given candidate.

The tide turned when digital proved it could raise money. In the early 2000s, campaigns dabbled with websites and a few email donations. Digital was seen as a minor complement to traditional fundraising, not a replacement. Today, large grassroots-fueled campaigns often generate a majority of their funding from small-dollar donors. In fact, we raised a whopping 84% of Senator Graham’s record-breaking $110 million in 2020 from generous digital and direct mail donors. Again, we felt the ground shift beneath our feet.

But fundraising is only the tip of the iceberg. The Obama campaign’s pioneering use of technology in 2008 opened the floodgates, reaching more voters, organizing more efficiently, and raising more money thanks to an unmatched digital operation. Fast forward to 2024, and digital is intertwined with every aspect of a political campaign.

Want to recruit volunteers or distribute yard signs? Utilize your website and social media. Need to map out the most effective door-knocking routes? There’s an app for that. Want to encourage donations during a debate? Send out a text. Looking to target voters on social media and streaming TV? Digital advertising has it covered. “Retail politics” still happens in person, but campaigns are now powered by data and analytics. Digital rules behind the scenes.

The central role of digital highlights one of its most critical values: Real-time metrics. Digital is the canary in the coal mine, detecting a message’s effectiveness long before polls or pundits reflect it. If a strategy shows early success, data quantifies and scales it. If you’re falling behind the metrics, your campaign is doomed. We saw this real-time impact in 2020 when Senator Graham raised over $5 million in only 24 hours due, in part, to standing up for then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. On that day, the ground again shifted beneath our feet.

In 2024 and beyond, the digital team can no longer be siloed off. It must be fully integrated into every aspect of a winning campaign, so digital should be part of every strategic decision through constant collaboration. Future campaigns will be won or lost based on which candidates have digital in their DNA – and invest in it. Leaders who fail to embrace this truth do so at their own peril.

Scott Farmer serves as chief operating officer at Push Digital Group.

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

U.S. cases of tuberculosis, a deadly infectious disease that typically strikes the lungs, have soared to their highest level in a decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the largest relative increase among children.

After 27 years of declining tuberculosis rates in the United States, cases of the disease started to climb again in 2020—and they’ve continued to rise every year since, the CDC said in a March 28 report.

In 2023, tuberculosis case counts jumped by 1,295 from the prior year to 9,615, the agency said. This represents an increase of 16 percent and is the highest level since 2013.

While the CDC expected cases to rise, the extent of the increase came as somewhat of a surprise to the agency.

Dr. Philip LoBue, director of the CDC’s Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, told The Associated Press that the 2023 case count was “a little more” than expected.

Tuberculosis incidences increased in every age group in 2023 compared to the year prior, but for reasons unknown children aged 5–14 experienced the largest relative increase—42 percent.

Infections Most Common Among Non-US-Born Individuals

The vast majority—76 percent—of tuberculosis cases in the United States in 2023 were in non-U.S.-born persons.

Among 9,573 tuberculosis cases in persons for whom birth origin was known, 7,259 occurred among those who were born outside the United States, the CDC said. This represents an 18 percent increase compared to 2022.

Tuberculosis, which is caused by a bacteria that typically attacks the lungs, is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world.

Nearly 4,400 people globally die each day from tuberculosis, which is spread through the air when someone is infected with the disease sneezes or coughs.

The United States has one of the lowest rates of tuberculosis in the world, but the CDC said in its report that the uptick in cases means that capacity should be strengthened in public health programs to carry out “critical disease control and prevention strategies.”

California With Highest Number of Cases

As was the case in 2022, California reported the highest number of tuberculosis cases in 2023, with 2,113 infections.

Alaska reported the highest infection rate, at 10.6 per 100,000 people.

An estimated 85 percent of the people counted in 2023 were infected at least a year or two earlier and had what’s known as latent tuberculosis. This is when the bacteria enters the body and hibernates in the lungs or other parts of the body, and then becomes reactivated.

Health experts estimate as many as 13 million Americans have latent tuberculosis. People with latent tuberculosis don’t feel sick or have any symptoms, nor can they spread the bacteria to others.

The CDC says that, in order to prevent transmission and reduce fatalities, the disease must be detected quickly and treatment must be initated promptly.

Last November, California health officials said that at least 10 cases of tuberculosis were linked to a casino in Contra Costa County.

“TB can live inside someone for years without showing signs of its presence,” Dr. Meera Sreenivasan said of the disease, according to an earlier report from The Epoch Times.

“That is why it’s important to take a test, even if you do not feel sick. TB can cause serious illness, but it is treatable and curable with medicine, especially when caught early,” he added.

In another widely reported incident, an outbreak of tuberculosis cases at a migrant shelter on Cape Cod was the subject of an alleged coverup.

Types of Tuberculosis And Symptoms

Tuberculosis can be categorized into different types based on its stage (active versus latent) and the part of the body it affects (lungs or outside the lungs), with the two main categories being pulmonary and extrapulmonary.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is an infection involving the lungs, though this form of the disease can also spread to other organs.

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis originates in organs outside the lungs and never enters the lungs. This type often arises from the spread of infection through the bloodstream or directly from other organs. Unlike the type that involves the lungs, extrapulmonary tuberculosis is generally not contagious.

While latent tuberculosis is asymptomatic, people with the active form of the disease typically have symptoms that include chills, fever, profuse night sweats, weight loss, general malaise, loss of appetite, weakness, and fatigue.

Pulmonary tuberculosis also often involves difficulty breathing, chest pain, persistent cough lasting over three weeks, swollen glands, and sore throat.

A YouTube and Twitch star known as “YourFellowArab” was reportedly kidnapped by a ruthless Haitian gang. The Gen-Zer attempted to interview gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier earlier this month amid the Caribbean nation’s descent into civil war. 

Local media outlet Haiti24 reports Addison Pierre Maalouf traveled from his home in Atlanta to interview Barbecue, the leader of the G9 Family and Allies, abbreviated as “G9” or “FRG9”, a coalition of over a dozen Haitian gangs based in Port-au-Prince. 

But on March 14, the YouTuber was kidnapped by a group of armed men from the “400 Mawozo” gang. 

Haiti24 reports: 

The incident took place when he was returning from Cap-Haïtien, accompanied by his Haitian colleague, Sacra Sean. Adisson Pierre Maalouf went to Delmas 6 to do an interview with Jimmy Cerisier, aka “Barbecue,” a spokesperson for Viv Ansanm.

The outlet continued: 

According to information, the kidnappers, acting under the orders of the fearsome gang leader “Lanmò 100 jou”, member of the “Viv Ansanm” coalition, demanded an exorbitant ransom of $600,000 for the journalist’s release. Despite the payment of an initial tranche of $40,000, the kidnappers demanded a much larger sum for his complete release.

Addison makes videos about his experiences with gangsters all over the world. In one recent video, he lived with the Mexican cartel for days. He’s hunted pirates in the Red Sea and toured the favelas in Rio de Janeiro. 

Earlier this month, the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince urged all American citizens still in the country to “leave as soon as possible” while other embassies restricted services. The US State Department placed the nation on the “Do not travel” list for Americans. 

Another Twitch streamer, Lalem, said on X, “Tried keeping it [kidnapping] private for 2 weeks, but it’s getting out everywhere now. Yes Arab has been kidnapped in Haiti, and we’re working on getting him out. Love ya’ll, he’ll be out soon.”

Here are some of the YouTuber’s last posts on X:

Going on another one of those trips 🤫

If I die, thanks for watching what I’ve put out. If I live, all glory to God.

— Arab (@YourFellowArab) March 11, 2024

My taxi just got in an accident in the middle of the Dominican while I was asleep.

Everything good, just another sign that God is watching over 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/NeQAQNryqY

— Arab (@YourFellowArab) March 12, 2024

Dominican Republicans are by far the worst drivers in the entire world.

Worse than Indians, worse than Asians, worst in the world 🇩🇴

— Arab (@YourFellowArab) March 12, 2024

Imagine all the shit I’ve done that should’ve killed me & I die to a car accident 😂

I’d be the biggest pussy of all time. Light scratches keep moving.

— Arab (@YourFellowArab) March 12, 2024

Youngsters will do anything for those clicks… 

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Stripe, the only payment processor Substack writers can use, has backed off a demand that Dr. Robert Malone link his bank account, according to the law firm Dr. Malone retained.

Stripe earlier in March asked Dr. Malone, who has an EpochTV show, to “link the primary bank account for your business to your Stripe account,” which would enable Stripe to review the account’s “current account balance and transactions, as well as historical transactions,” according to emails reviewed by The Epoch Times.

The request was part of “a routine credit review” of Dr. Malone’s Substack, one email stated.

Stripe said that if the bank account was not linked, then it might block Dr. Malone from being paid.

The request “which deviated from Stripe’s standard operating procedures, would have compelled Dr. Malone to provide extensive financial information from his business banking activities, including transactions and account balances spanning the entire history of his business bank account,” Dhillon Law Group, which Dr. Malone hired to represent him in the matter, said in a statement.

After the legal firm reached out to Stripe, the company rescinded the demand, the law firm said.

“Financial service providers must tread carefully when requesting client data. It is critical to uphold the delicate balance between regulatory requirements and an individual’s right to financial privacy,” Mark Meuser, an attorney with the group, said in a statement. “We are satisfied with Stripe’s decision to withdraw its request, allowing Dr. Malone to continue his valuable work without unnecessary intrusion into his business affairs.”

Stripe has not responded to requests for comment. A Stripe spokesperson told The Federalist, “Stripe may, in certain instances, request users to link their bank account to assess businesses’ liquidity as part of the underwriting process, but also allows businesses to submit a form with relevant information in lieu of linking their bank account.”

That alternative was not presented to Dr. Malone, according to his lawyers.

Dr. Malone said retaining lawyers was expensive but a move he felt he had to make after neither Stripe nor Substack provided any options other than linking his account.

“It was a hard and costly decision to justify this level of cost and risk, but the risk of losing a business that had been developed over years of careful, daily customer service was too high to not take this seriously,” he wrote on his Substack.

The result was the disclosure that, instead of linking his account, Dr. Malone could provide certain information on a form. The form requested information on which services Dr. Malone is selling through Stripe, and whether Dr. Malone accepts payments from customers before the customers receive the services, according to a screenshot of the document.

“In my opinion, it is very unfortunate that Stripe and Substack are pursuing these policies, which are absolutely contrary to the principles of support of free speech upon which Substack was founded. Stripe has apparently modified those web-based resources in which they has [sic] previously indicated that this policy was being implemented in response to Federal US Government pressure to delete any reference to Federal US Government actions prompting these policies,” Dr. Malone wrote.

Dr. Malone was referring to a recent U.S. House of Representatives report that detailed how the U.S. government is conducting surveillance of financial providers, although neither Stripe nor Substack were mentioned in the report.

Substack responded in an automatic message to an inquiry, stating, “If you’re a journalist reaching out with a press request, a member of our communications team will be in touch.” No Substack employees ever responded to the inquiry.

“In this case, we were able to obtain prompt revision of the Stripe/Substack action by spending considerable funds to obtain highly qualified legal representation,” Dr. Malone said. “But what of the average author who is either caught unaware by such policies or who cannot justify such legal costs? This appears to be a new normal, weaponization of finance and financial transactions to restrict and control free speech.”

The White House has released a statement celebrating “Transgender Day of Visibility,” which President Joe Biden ‘proclaimed‘ in 2021 as March 31 – and which has been celebrated by activists on this day since 2014 after this individual ‘founded and organized’ it.

According to the White House:

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility. I call upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity,” the statement read. 

And where Easter is typically held the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox, while “Transgender Day of Visibility” is on the same date each year, many have taken offense to the day’s proximity to the Christian holiday.

They hate us and our Christianity.

— UnipartyBomber (@magajcs) March 30, 2024

Declaring EASTER to be
‘Transgender Day of Visibility’

Translation:
They Hate You
They Hate Our Children
They Hate Christians …..
They Hate America !!!

We the People see you 🤛🏼

— Cyndexia America Truther 💯🥂 (@TrutherAmerica) March 30, 2024

They are mocking us

— Steve Ferguson (@lsferguson) March 30, 2024

Trending on X:

“The Submission must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes,” a flyer with instructions from the White House stated.

But, of course, the White House is fine with this… 

The demonic Biden White House is banning religious symbols from this year’s Easter egg hunt because they don’t want to offend anyone.
The same demonic Biden White House during a Pride Month celebration last summer 👇 pic.twitter.com/zyudS3sxGU

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) March 30, 2024

You know what should have been covered up is this …
Now this was pure trash at the White House … Easter twerking, topless trans thingy and whateve the fvck that was at Christmas … pic.twitter.com/eHwnssP50D

— The Ms Francesca (@TheMsFrancesca) March 25, 2024

145 calendar days celebrating LGBTQ+ pic.twitter.com/kxtGx9Scg1

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 30, 2024

The Bidens have stated that Decency is on the ballot .. last year we saw the Easter Rabbit “twerking” at the White House and a trans topless and fondling itself on the White House lawn. Ther was no decency, no dignity, no respect and no class … just a vile and disgusting… pic.twitter.com/AV8QllMd20

— The Ms Francesca (@TheMsFrancesca) March 29, 2024

But it’s ok to display the trans flying the prestigious white house‼️
We are the laughing stock of the world‼️ pic.twitter.com/CorAa7fH2a

— MnM13 (@mnmbes13) March 30, 2024

And Google… 

Easter/Good Friday: Pride Month: pic.twitter.com/m2N3TVa4Xm

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 29, 2024

Former President Trump wasn’t thrilled with the woke activism coming from the White House:

The radicals in the White House might have overplayed their hand in their crusade against Christianity, as even the most left-leaning centralists are appalled by Biden’s new declaration.

This seems to be a miscalculated move as blowback nears.

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

Oh Say Can You See?

“A modern nuc can fit in the trunk of a compact car. When millions of people can walk across our border with impunity what do you think the chances are we would catch something that size?”

– Sam Faddis, Retired CIA

Who was not impressed seeing the sudden and total collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after getting its pylon bonked by the container ship Dali a few hours before the dawn’s early light in Baltimore harbor? In America’s ongoing death-of-a-thousand-cuts, that one literally severed a major artery, but it may take a while to know how badly the wounded colossus known as the USA is bleeding out.

“Joe Biden” emerged from his crypt pronto to state that the federal government would pony-up the cost of building the bridge back better, meant to reassure the public, you’d suppose. But perhaps the real reason was to obviate an otherwise requisite investigation of the crash by ship-owner Grace Ocean’s insurance company — since legal wrangling over responsibility would add more years to the already years-long estimated bridge replacement time-frame. And Gawd knows what else they might discover about how the darn thing came to pass. . . rumors of a Ukrainian captain at the Dali’s helm. . . stuff that the ruling intel blob might not want to get out there, especially given the still-murky role of the joint USA-UK black-op blobs in the Moscow Crocus Theater Massacre just a week earlier.

The Crocus op, you understand, was probably the worst clusterfuck qua Three Stooges blob operational procedure in memory, since four of the six surviving Tajiki shooters were nabbed in a car enroute to the Ukraine border (where they would’ve been whacked into silence, since they failed to martyr themselves at the scene-of-the-crime), and by now had surely sung their hearts out to persuasive interrogators of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — the take-away being that President VV Putin has got to be mighty pissed-off and itching for revenge. Was the FSK Bridge take-down the first repayment for that, lots of people inside and outside Blob Central were probably wondering?

You’d also have to wonder, qua the bridge disaster itself, about the implied reverberations through the insurance industry. Consider that the insurance industry is a major cog in the machinery of finance and banking, since insurance company reserves are traditionally allocated in supposedly safe sovereign treasury bonds. Liquidations anyone? Maritime insurance was already groaning under the burden of all that monkey-business in the Red Sea, thanks to Houthi rocket and drone attacks on the shipping of Western Civ. Are the banks quaking harder now? Many across Western Civ were already trembling before the FSK Bridge job.

While the awesome spectacle of the bridge collapse traumatized the country, it also brought to mind the fantastic flow of ten-thousand illegal border crossings a day, stage-managed by the “Joe Biden” Homeland Security team. Did you kind of wonder how many in that 10K-a-day flow might be the same species of Central Asian mutts who volunteered to slaughter over 150 (so far) Russian concert-goers? Nobody is checking who they are, you realize. They just step on US soil, get issued smartphones, loaded debit cards, walking-around cash money, airplane and bus tickets and, voila, there they are in your home town tomorrow, looking for something to occupy themselves. Thanks a bunch, Alejandro Mayorkas!

Are you wondering what sort of mayhem they might be capable of unleashing any place from Bangor to Burbank in the weeks and months ahead? (And, while you’re at it, think about all the food processing plant fires, train wrecks, and other mysterious tribulations around the country the past couple of years.) Consider that this very week alone, following the FSK Bridge disaster, absolutely nothing has been done by our government to stem that flow of countless potential saboteurs into the country. The news media isn’t even talking about it (of course).

The prospects might look a bit unnerving, wouldn’t you agree? Things catching fire, blowing up, and falling down here, there, and everywhere. . . more of those thousand cuts adding up. Just maybe, the dazed-and-confused (possibly hypnotized) American public, a.k.a., the “voters,” might put together that “Joe Biden” and the Party of Chaos that owns him, are actually responsible for the on-going take-down of our country. After a certain point — now apparently passed — sheer incompetence is no longer a plausible explanation for what you are seeing.

Oh, one other thing, look out for on-the-ground economic reverberations from the FSK Bridge disaster. For instance, Baltimore is the USA’s top port for importing and exporting automobiles. Also, earth-moving and large farm equipment, fertilizer, lumber, coal, and steel. Other arrangements must be made, for years ahead, considering the trucking links. It’s especially an interruption for trucking between the mid-Atlantic / New England states and much of Dixieland. It will affect the transport of fruits and vegetables to the Washington-Boston corridor. Things are going to cost more and we are already in an inflationary trouble-zone. How will this thunder elsewhere through an economy which, despite the japes of “Joe Biden’s” statisticians, is actively disintegrating? The fluttering wings of this black swan already throw a chill on spring’s incoming zephyrs.

*  *  *

Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page or Substack

It looks like high interest rate market shocks and the commercial real estate dumpster fire have only just begun. The latest example of volatility comes from New Jersey hospital operator CarePoint Health.

The operator owns three hospitals, including the 261-bed Bayonne Medical Center, as well as Hoboken University Medical Center and Christ Hospital in Jersey City, according to Bloomberg/Yahoo Finance. 

Michigan-based Insight has stepped in to try and help financially stabilize the network and then rebrand under the Insight name. 

Dr. Achintya Moulick, CarePoint’s chief executive officer said last week: “Throughout these past challenging months, CarePoint Health has remained resolute and focused on its mission of providing excellent patient-centered care to the people of Hudson County, and our collaboration with the Insight team has been extraordinarily helpful.”

Moulick continued: “Ensuring that our system’s safety net hospitals receive the investment they need to operate sustainably both now and well into the future remains our top priority, and we are exploring various options to meet that goal.”

The report notes that hospitals continue to face high costs for staffing and supplies, impacting even renowned institutions. The financial strain is particularly acute for facilities like CarePoint, which serve a larger proportion of lower-income patients and consequently receive lower reimbursements from government programs compared to private insurers.

The challenges at CarePoint serve as a prime example, Yahoo writes. The New Jersey Department of Health has provided almost $8.4 million in support since mid-February to assist the hospital system with payroll needs and to appoint a chief restructuring officer to aid in its financial recovery.

Insight’s Chief Strategy Officer Atif Bawahab added: “We’ve been in this situation before and we do have a strong sense of optimism for these hospitals to continue to stay open. But at the same time, we do have to make changes, and those changes will take some time.”

Insight acquired Chicago’s oldest hospital, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, from bankruptcy in 2021, preventing its closure. This move by Insight, known for its focus on neurosurgery, orthopedics, and sports medicine, was followed by the purchase of a closed rural hospital in Iowa.

Concerned by CarePoint’s financial situation, the New Jersey Department of Health appointed a monitor in January and recently required CarePoint’s hospitals to develop emergency plans for potential closures or service halts. CarePoint reported a $68 million loss last year, and several vendors have sued for unpaid bills.

CarePoint has faced financial difficulties for some time. Attempts to sell its Jersey City and Hoboken hospitals to RWJ Barnabas Health fell through in 2019.

Authored by Bill Pan via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

It costs Novo Nordisk less than $5 per month to produce its top-selling diabetes injection, Ozempic, even as it charges nearly $1,000 for a month’s supply before insurance, according to a new study.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open, raises questions about the prohibitive cost of the popular diabetes treatment and other weight loss drugs that belong to a pricy class of medications based on GLP-1 technology.

Those medicines work by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which stimulates the pancreas to release insulin when blood sugar rises too high, slows down the emptying of the stomach, and targets brain receptors involved in reducing appetite. Over the past year, demand for GLP-1 agonists has exploded despite soaring costs and limited insurance coverage.

For their study, researchers at Yale University, King’s College Hospital in London, and the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders looked at the cost of manufacturing insulin and compared it with that of GLP-1 agonists. They estimated those prices by combining manufacturing costs for the weekly injection with costs of formulation and other operating expenses, plus a profit margin with an allowance for tax.

The foundational price for a weekly dose of injectable semaglutide—the generic name for Ozempic—ranges from $0.89 to $4.73 per month, the study found. By contrast, a vial of human insulin can be manufactured at a cost between $2.37 and $5.94 per month.

A month’s supply of Ozempic is $935.77 for those in the United States without health insurance, according to Novo’s website. The Danish company’s GLP-1 weight loss drug, Wegovy, is listed as $1,349 per month.

Wednesday’s study concluded that GLP-1s “can likely be manufactured for prices far below current prices, enabling wider access.”

“High prices limit access to newer diabetes medicines in many countries,” the researchers wrote. “The findings of this study suggest that robust generic and bio-similar competition could reduce prices to more affordable levels and enable expansion of diabetes treatment globally.”

Citing the findings, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called on Novo to slash prices for both Ozempic and Wegovy, highlighting the price gap for the identical drugs sold in America and other developed countries.

“A new Yale study found that Ozempic costs less than $5 a month to manufacture. And yet, Novo Nordisk charges Americans nearly $1,000 a month for this drug, while the same exact product can be purchased for just $155 a month in Canada and just $59 in Germany,” the senator said in a statement.

“As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, I am calling on Novo Nordisk to lower the list price of Ozempic—and the related drug Wegovy—in America to no more than what they charge for this drug in Canada,” he continued. “The American people are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs while the pharmaceutical industry enjoys huge profits.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Novo declined to provide production costs for Ozempic and Wegovy. However, it emphasized that it invested almost $5 billion in research and development last year, and will be spending more than $6 billion to boost manufacturing to meet the soaring demand for GLP-1s.

The company also noted that the out-of-pocket costs for Ozempic depend on a patient’s insurance coverage, noting that there are different options on its website to help patients address their affordability concerns.

“Congress has been focused on the complexities of the U.S. healthcare system and the interplay of rebates, discounts, administrative fees, co-pays and deductibles–which all play a role in creating a situation where a majority of U.S. patients covered by commercial health plans pay as little as $25 a month for their prescriptions,” it said in a statement.

“Still, affordability challenges are real,” the company said, adding that it supports policy changes to “improve patient affordability and access for those living with chronic diseases.”

Authored by Joseph M. Hanneman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A Minnesota woman beaten by police in the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the U.S. Capitol has filed a $2 million civil suit for being repeatedly struck in the head and slammed into a concrete wall on Jan. 6, 2021.

Victoria Charity White, 42, of Rochester, Minnesota, alleges at least two Metropolitan Police Department officers unlawfully used “deadly force” by repeatedly striking her head and face with steel riot batons and fists at about 4 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.

The complaint—filed on March 27 by Washington attorney Paul Kamenar—names MPD Commander Jason Bagshaw and MPD Officer Neil McAllister, and alleges other unnamed officers took part in the beatings.

It alleges violations of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S. Code § 1983. It is an amended version of a suit Ms. White filed representing herself in January.

“The defendants willfully and unlawfully seized plaintiff by means of objectively unreasonable, excessive, and indeed, deadly force that shocks the conscience, thereby unreasonably restraining and depriving plaintiff of her freedom and inflicting physical and mental harm and anguish,” read the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

“Because of the senseless and unlawful beating she received at the hands of the defendants and the other MPD officers, Ms. White suffered great physical, traumatic, and emotional harm that day and continues to suffer to this day, particularly the traumatic and emotional harm,” Mr. Kamenar wrote in the lawsuit.

Mr. Bagshaw, the suit alleges: “Repeatedly struck an unarmed and defenseless White about her head, face, shoulders, and upper body with a metal baton and his fists.”

He is being sued in his professional and personal capacity, the lawsuit stated.

Mr. McAllister “along with defendant Bagshaw and other police officers, physically assaulted the plaintiff,” the suit said.

Mr. McAllister is also being sued in his professional and personal capacity.

According to the suit, video evidence shows Mr. McAllister “slamming Ms. White up against the concrete tunnel wall, whereupon, inexplicably, his bodycam is shut off for some 30 seconds.”

The department declined to comment on the suit.

Acceptable force with this type of subject would involve “low-level physical tactics to gain control and cooperation,” with techniques that could involve pain but would generally not inflect injury, the MPD policy cited in the suit states.

The suit outlines the beating first documented in The Epoch Times on Dec. 23, 2021, after Ms. White’s then-attorney Joseph McBride secured the release of previously sealed security video from the tunnel.

The newspaper’s analysis of the CCTV video showed Ms. White was struck by police 39 times in a little over four minutes.

A series of videos show Ms. White suffering rapid fire hits, punches to the head, a baton poked at her head, and being doused with pepper spray.

Bodycam video released in 2023 revealed more information on the beating, including a bystander in the tunnel who begged police to stop striking Ms. White.

At 4:09 p.m., the man said: “No, no, no, please! Please don’t beat her,” according to the video. Two minutes later, as police shouted at him to “move it, keep walking!” the man replied, “No! You’re going to kill her!”

At the time of the first lawsuit, Mr. McBride said a special prosecutor should be named to investigate the beating.

None of the officers allegedly involved in Ms. White’s case has been disciplined or faced criminal charges.

“That is somebody who’s not only acting with authority but is acting with license,” Mr. McBride said, referring to Mr. Bagshaw, then an MPD lieutenant.

“That is somebody who is acting because he has no fear that he’s going to be reprimanded for his actions. Do I think that’s criminal? There is no doubt in my mind that what that man did was criminal.”

Mr. McBride filed suit on Ms. White’s behalf on Jan. 5, 2022, but she withdrew the suit in November 2022 to concentrate on defending herself against criminal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice for her time at the U.S. Capitol.

That initial lawsuit identified seven police officers who allegedly took part in the beating.

Ms. White was indicted on Jan. 26, 2022, on four counts, including felony civil disorder.

She accepted a plea deal in August 2023 and was found guilty of the civil disorder charge.

Prosecutors sought a four-month jail term, but U.S. District Judge John D. Bates on Nov. 22, 2023, sentenced Ms. White to eight days of intermittent jail time.

Ms. White was featured in the July 2022 Epoch Times documentary, “The Real Story of Jan. 6.”

She said the beatings on Jan. 6 gave her flashbacks to a decade of domestic abuse.

“I’ve had those with my ex, where I’d be awake doing something as simple as laundry, and all of a sudden, I’m there, being choked to death and beat or punched,” she said.

“This was the feeling of all that. It was like those blows, but now in the tunnel.”

Israel’s official count for the number of people still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip remains at 134 mostly Israeli citizens as well as some foreigners, which includes possibly deceased victims. Amid stalled truce negotiations in Qatar, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has revealed that Israeli officials believe only 60 to 70 Israeli hostages in Gaza are still alive.

“According to the IDF, a total of 134 hostages and bodies are being held in Gaza,” Haaretz wrote Thursday. “Thirty-six of the people were confirmed by the army as killed – some on October 7, when their bodies were taken into the Strip. Of the 98 living hostages, 10 are foreigners (eight Thais, one Nepalese national, and one man with Mexican and French citizenship).”

What’s more is that a month ago some of the families of the hostages were informed that 20 captives were in life-threatening condition. An unnamed source close to the crisis told Haaretz, “I hope I’m mistaken, but the number may even be lower”—suggesting there may be even fewer that are alive.

Given the intense battles unfolding across most of the Gaza Strip, it is widely speculated that the hostages are being held somewhere within the miles of underground tunnels below, where Hamas also has command and control centers.

There’s a possibility that some of the hostages could have been killed by Israeli’s relentless bombing campaign which has decimated entire neighborhoods. A horrifically tragic incident last December saw three Israeli hostages shot dead by Israeli forces who mistook them for Palestinian militants.

Israeli leadership under Netanyahu has been accused by the hostages’ families of prioritizing the military operation to defeat Hamas far and above hostage recovery.

Some recent testimony of hostages freed in last year’s truce and exchange with Hamas said the following: 

Echoing this sense of an indiscriminate and haphazard policy, testimonies from newly freed Israeli hostages, who were released as part of exchange deals for Palestinian prisoners during a temporary ceasefire in late November, as well as from some of the hostages’ families, indicate that one of the main fears of those held captive in Gaza was the threat of being hit by Israeli airstrikes and shelling. Many of the hostages, according to these testimonies, were held above ground rather than in tunnels, and were therefore particularly vulnerable to such attacks.

Large-scale anti-Netanyahu protests led by victims’ families have persisted in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Pressure has also mounted on Washington to strike a ceasefire. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu is currently facing accusations from within his own government of ‘sabotaging’ the truce process with an aim to prolong the war, and also thus his political future in the top office.