Free Republic

“Trial should have been wrapped up within 3 weeks. How can this be considered “justice?””

In the 1800’s the trial would have been held within days of the accused being arrested and he would likely have died by hanging within a week of the completion of the trial.

The Constitution guarantees the right of a speedy trial. Perhaps the convicted murderer will appeal on the grounds his right to a speedy trial was denied.

“Drugs should be considered a critical resource where the US has the right to demand domestic manufacturing.”

Before the globalists opened up trade with China in the 1990’s many US pharmaceutical companies manufactured in Puerto Rico where labor rates were lower than in the US and there were significant government incentives to locate in Puerto Rico. Many apparel companies also had their high labor content sewing operations in Puerto Rico. Since Puerto Rico was a territory of the United States, goods made in Puerto Rico could be labeled “Made in USA”.

“I can’t believe Ohio elected DeWhine. He is completely worthless.”

So was his predecessor, John Kasich, the mailman’s son.

“The people want a government. The GOP cannot provide it.”

Agree. GOP has no core political philosophy, poor leadership, and is not unified. Most GOP legislators are content with capitulation and serving big donors. The nation is heading toward one party rule by socialists/communists.

Chuck

“Conservatives may need a new party”

Straight from the mouth of a globalist progressive.

My concern relates to the heavy federal funding of pharmaceutical company R&D, the exemptions from litigation, and the resulting enormous profits. To the degree Big Pharma is subsidized and protected from litigation by the government, perhaps some patents should be owned fully or partially by the United States, Here’s a link to an article about the enormity of federal funding of pharmaceutical development: https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/us-tax-dollars-funded-every-new-pharmaceutical-in-the-last-decade

Here’s a linke to an article explaining how Big Pharma avoids paying US taxes, even though pharmaceutical prices in the US are the highest in the world: https://freerepublic.com/perl/post

If pharmaceuticals corporations are paying for 100% of their R&D costs, and bear the liability of litigation when they fail to properly test new products or warn the public of known dangers using its products, then they should have complete patent protection and enjoy the profits the patented product generate. If their R&D is paid for by the taxpayer, and taxpayers injured by using the products are prevented from suing for redress, then pharmaceutical companies shouldn’t have patent protection and their profits should be heavily taxed.

Conservatives complain about welfare queens cheating the federal government of thousands and millions of dollars. We should be equally vocal in opposing corporate grift.

Remember the US consumer pays the highest prices in the world for pharmaceutical products. In addition we pay for pharmaceutical R&D with our tax money and the beneficiaries of these subsidies are Big Pharma and the government bureaucrats who administer the funding and share the patents. Why doesn’t the US government own the patents resulting from the R&D paid for by the taxpayer?

The rest of the world enjoys low costs for pharmaceutical products developed in the US because Big Pharma uses its US patent protection to charge huge premiums to US citizens while selling the same products abroad at much lower profit margins. Harris’s plan to appropriate patents may seen wrong but the current situation is untenable for US citizens and the remedy does lie with the federal government who created this mess.

Where are the Republicans on this issue? The Trump administration gave billions to Big Pharma for vaccine development and Congress gave Big Pharma total immunity from litigation during Covid. Big Pharma made record profits during the Covid period. Look at how much your Republican Congressman and Senator are receiving from the pharmaceutical industry to understand why they are complicit in rigging the system to permit Big Pharma to extract huge profits and subsidies from the taxpayer.

In a true free market, with many competitors, prices are low for consumers and companies do not earn obscene profit margins. The potential for litigation in a free market also provides an economic incentive for companies to fully test product before bringing them to market and maintain high quality in the manufacturing process.

The US pharmaceutical market has been corrupted by subsides, special provisions and cozy, profitable relations between regulators and the regulated. End the tax loopholes and R&D subsidies. Break up the big pharmaceutical companies into many smaller competing firms. End the industry payoffs to government bureaucrats. End the exemptions from litigation. End campaign contributions by pharmaceutical companies. End advertising of prescription drugs which funds the biased mainstream media. Then let them have their patents, they will have earned the patent protection in a free and competitive market.

No matter how many times parents tell a child not to touch a hot stove, for some children the message isn’t real until they’ve been burned. The consequences of offshoring our industrial base, funding an obscenely bloated unaffordable welfare system, wasting trillions on foreign wars, inviting millions of the world’s poorest people to enter the country and provide them a free standard of living far beyond what they have in their home countries, half a century of dumbing down the education system , and profligate deficit spending are going to cause an economic crisis that will make the widespread suffering during the Great Depression of the 1930’s seem mild in comparison. It will tear what little remains of our social fabric apart, impoverish most citizens, cause governments to fall and may end with dictatorship, the splintering of one nation into several, or the country being conquered by a foreign power.

Those who survive the hard times will learn hard lessons including how to make decisions base on reality, not emotion.

“Polls show Stein leading by substantial margins.”

Robinson is too conservative for moderate urban whites and many college educated urban Republican women.

The Stein campaign is much better financed than Robinson and the press in the state is behind Stein.

The current Democrat Governor Roy Cooper is popular and won the governorship twice in years Trump was running for POTUS. In both 2016 and 2020 Cooper received more votes than Trump. Stein is closely aligned with Cooper.

NC blacks are very loyal to the Democrat party. Blacks will not vote for Republican Robinson solely because he is black.

If Robinson’s problems negatively affect turnout for Trump, or cause some moderates to vote Democrat, Trump could lose NC. Without North Carolina’s electoral votes Trumps path to the White House becomes extremely difficult. NC has 16 electoral votes.

“Just call it a “cheap fake” and demand that his opponent prove its authenticity or face a defamation lawsuit.”

The accusation is from CNN, not his opponent.

Liming Salvino, the co author with Pines, appears to be Asian on her Linked In page. Her native language is listed as “Chinese”. She worked for 8 years in the Department of the Navy’s Office of Naval Research.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/liming-salvino-ph-d-1a0b7662/

“2 months is a long time to try this game. World events tend to come up that force responses.”

The same strategy, combined with aggressive ballot harvesting, worked extremely well for Biden in 2020.

“Juicing the economy to help Kamala?”

Interest payments on the total federal debt are now over $1 trillion per year. The federal government is borrowing money in order to make interest payments on the existing debt. This is not an economically sustainable proposition. Since the president and Congress have no appetite for reducing spending, the Federal Reserve is using its power to control interest rates to lower rates and thereby help the government by lowering the cost of new debt being used to pay interest on the existing debt.

“40% of teamsters are morons?”

Teamsters represent many professional and non profession workers in industries other than trucking. The membership as a whole is representative of much of the population demographically. Likely a high percentage black, hispanic and Asian Teamsters reflexively vote Democratic just as other non-union members of their race. Females in the general population tend to favor Democrats and it is reasonable to assume female members of the Teamsters union also favor Democrats.

While the Teamsters membership has spoken, it appears the Teamsters leadership, like the DNC, does not really support “our democracy” when the people make choices the leadership does not like. Hence the decision by the leadership not to endorse any candidate, even though the membership strongly favors Trump.

“So how many of the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights are we now considering relics of the 18th century at this point? Four? Five?”

In the present time all of them are being infringed on by the federal government daily. The left considers the entire Constitution to be immoral and invalid because slave holders were involved in its creation.

When the power to “interpret” the Constitution was seized by the Judiciary branch, without pushback from the Executive and Legislative branches, the nation started down the road to the Constitution’s demise. Today the courts, and the regulatory bureaucracy of the Executive branch, not only interpret the Constitution, they effectively amend it by decree. Hence the left marches from victory to victory without even considering going through the amendment process.

Unfortunately courts have watered down the 4th Amendment to the point it is nearly toothless and Congress has failed to protect citizens against the tyranny of the courts.

Under the strict wording of the 4th amendment many of the routine searches in daily life are prohibited without a search warrant yet they occur every day. Examples: TSA searches of luggage and bodies, police searches of stopped motor vehicles, government requests for information on private citizens from social media companies, utilities, communications companies or other businesses.

Blanket search warrants are frequently issued by judges with little probably cause shown. Courts allow police to seize personal property not listed in warrants during a legal search if they perceive it might have been used in a crime. During search warrants police intentional damage personal property and carry off computers, filing cabinets, safes and other material that “might” be relevant and for which there has been no description in the warrant of the specific thing being seized. Hence Melania Trump’s lingerie drawer was fair game for the FBI to search at Mar a Lago.

Then there is the problem of civil asset forfeiture where the police seize personal property for public use without due process, and refuse to return it once the judicial process has run its course.

Essentially the courts have determined than any search an unelected judge authorizes is “reasonable” under the Constitution. It will not be long before the concept of “private” property will be eviscerated from our society. All property will belong to the state and its use be subject to the whim of bureaucrats and judges.

“just wait till kamala orders doctors and nurses to work 12 hour days”

In my area hospital nurses already work 12 hour shifts.

State universities are established, funded, and sustained through the appropriations of the state legislature. Professors and administrators at state colleges are state employees. State legislatures can require state institutions to guarantee free speech and have diversity of ideas. It is time for the taxpayer voters to hold their state legislators accountable.

“I’d rather hear from the Republicans who keep approving these debates. The RNC. The president’s campaign team. Who are they? What are their names?”

Donald Trump is the name. He agreed to the debate, the network, the moderator, and the rules. He is also responsible for his own performance at the debate.

Trump appointed his advisors and campaign team. He approved the current RNC chair and his daughter in law Laura is heavily involved in the RNC. Trump has gone through two presidential campaigns and spent four years as POTUS. He knew what he was dealing with and made the decision to debate.

In the immortal words of Harry Truman, “The buck stops here.” If Trump can’t take responsibility for the consequences of his decisions he is the wrong person for the job. If he can’t find and appoint good people to work for him, he is the wrong person for the job. Real leaders make decisions in an imperfect world and take ownership of the consequences resulting from those decisions.

Michigan is a must win for Harris, North Carolina is a must win for Trump. He won NC in 2016 and 2020 by small margins. Harris is spending time in NC which must indicate Democrats believe they can turn the state. Polls show the Democrat candidate for governor is leading conservative Republican Mark Robinson in the race for governor. Millions of out of state money is being spent in NC by the Democrats to defeat Robinson and Trump. The state ‘s population has grown dramatically in the liberal urban cites over the last 8 years. If NC goes for Harris, along with Georgia, Trump’s route to an electoral college victory is nearly impossible.

“And media love reporting this s**t”

Which is exactly why Graham keeps doing it. A real supporter and friend would call Trump on the phone, give his point of view, and remain quiet. In the Senate Graham was the protege of the serial backstabber John McCain who delighted in being a “maverick”, frequently voting with the Dems on key issues in order to get favorable press and constant invitations to the Sunday morning mainstream media talk shows. Lindsay is a favorite “go to” Republican for the press because he will often backstab a fellow Republican or side with the Dems on a particular issue.