Category Archives: Banana republic

The FTC Is Attacking Drugmakers’ ‘Patent Thickets’

The FTC is scoring some early wins in challenging drug company overreach via using patents on delivery methods to extend drug patent life.

World Bank Enables Foreign Aid Theft

The World Bank encourages governments to reduce capital controls, draining precious foreign exchange and government resources.

The Law Firm Helping Big Oil Weaponize the First Amendment

Gibson Dunn is “playing both sides” of free speech, using it to defend Big Oil and silence the industry’s critics.

Russian Asset Seizure Scheming: EU and Euro as US War Proxies Would Take Most Risk; USD Assets Only $4.6 Billion

Addressing wide-of-the-mark commentary on the latest too-clever Western idea. of stealing the $300 billion in Russian central bank assets.

‘This Should Be a National Scandal’: Medicare Advantage Plans Using AI for Denials

Medicare Advantage is neither Medicare nor an advantage.

As Foundation for ‘Excited Delirium’ Testimony by Police Cracks, Fallout Spreads

Rooting out the concept of “excited delirium” will take time in a country where law enforcement is spread across roughly 18,000 agencies governed by independent police chiefs or sheriffs.

Myanmar’s Instability Deepens as the World Watches Silently

Militants threaten Myanmar’s military government. But other non-state actors, as well as China, are vying for influence.

Texas v. Pfizer Alleges Extensive Misrepresentations About Covid Vaccine Efficacy, Censorship of Critics

The State of Texas sent a major shot across Pfizer’s bow via a suit alleging widespread misrepresentaitons about Covid vaccine effectiveness

Patents and Intellectual Property in Biomedical Science: A History in Two Tales

How the US licensing of NIH and other government funded drug and biomedical research became a grift for Big Pharma.

Elections Won’t Fix What Ails the West

e body politic in the West is not at all healthy. Why is there so much denial about that?

Feds Need to Enlist Consumers to Police Eyepoppingly High Level of Medicare Advantage Ad/Marketing Fraud

Yet another reason to be leery of Medicare Advantage…..widespread deceptive marketing.

Why Did Argentina Elect a Right-Wing Non-Establishment Extremist?

More on the truly wacky new president of Argentina, Javier Milei who nevertheless may get some of his bad ideas implemented.

Biden Administration’s Limit on Drug Industry Middlemen Backfires, Pharmacists Say

“Biden Administration initiative backfires” is almost a default title. But here, the consequences for pharmacies and patients are significant

Jim Chanos: “The Crypto Ecosystem Is Well-Suited for the Dark Side of Finance.”

The famed short-seller talks Sam Bankman-Fried, why Wall Street is still so keen on crypto, and how technology is making us dumber