Home Blog Page 762

Puck drop: Congressional hockey match Wednesday will raise funds for charity

Suzanne Downing
-
4
Puck drop: Congressional hockey match Wednesday will raise funds for charity

It’s the Lobbyists vs. the Lawmakers on Wednesday, as the Congressional Hockey Challenge takes to the ice in Arlington, Virginia.

The match, which is a benefit event for charity, is in its 13th year. One team comes from the lobbyist world, representing a spectrum of interests, this year mainly in the private sector. The other team is made up of lawmakers, congressional staffers, and members of the Biden Administration. Each team has 20 players.

Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota will be on the congressional team, as will Alaskan Truman Reed, former staffer to Congressman Don Young, and now an aide to Rep. Monica de la Cruz of Texas. Emmers played in college for the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Reed played NCAA hockey for Providence College.

A reception on Tuesday night will feature the Stanley Cup, a few players from the NHL, and Must Read Alaska has learned that Willie O’Ree (the Jackie Robinson of hockey), will be playing a role on game night. Will he drop the puck? The Congressional Hockey Challenge puck drops at 7 pm, March 1 at the Medstar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia.

The hockey match has raised over $1 million for charities since the tradition started in 2008. This year’s charity recipient is the Tampa Warriors, a group of disabled and wounded war veterans who play hockey.

Tickets can be purchased at this link.

The roster for the Lawmakers team, so far:

Hon. Mike QuigleyIL-05
Hon. Tom EmmerMN-06
Hon. Larry BucshonIN-08
Garett DonovanRep. Keating
Rob WagenerRep. Fitzgerald
Amber MooreSen. Durbin
Nick LunnenborgRep. Fischbach
Will BensurSen. Marshall
Will NeitzelCommittee on House Administration
Rob MacGregorCommittee on Natural Resources
Tim ReganClerk of the House
Joe GollingerRep. Harshbarger
Ian BennittCommittee on Armed Services
Joel BrubakerSen. Capito
Kevin RodgersRep. Malliotakis
Austin YagerRep. Vasquez
Truman ReedRep. de la Cruz

For the Lobbyists, the team includes:

Trevor HangerForbes Tate
Max FenkellJoby Aviation
Nick LewisUPS
Brian CohenCohen Strategic Alliances
Andrew MillsAudubon
Matt MikaTysons
Michelle MacGregorOrrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
Justin WoormesterBNSF
Jon JukuriNCSL
George LoweAmerican Gas Association
Dan MartiniBank of America
Tory MazollaOrsted
Robert LandJet Blue
Chris GullotBridgestone
Matthew FlynnBradley
Ben MarterAPI
Andy EmersonCorvias
Matt SatterleyNACTA
Matt GehlmanMicrosoft
Rick MurphyForbes Tate
Jeff BurtonBurton Strategies
Air LiquideJoe Fawell
Patrick OttenhoffVISA

Who has Don Young’s old office in the Rayburn Building?

Suzanne Downing
-
26
Who has Don Young’s old office in the Rayburn Building?

For over a decade, the late Alaska Congressman Don Young held the spacious Room 2314 in the Rayburn House Office Building, a short distance from the Capitol, accessible by the Capitol subway.

After the death of the Dean of the House on March 18, 2022, the office remained assigned to Alaska’s at-large seat, which was then vacant, except for orphaned staff, until September, when Rep. Mary Peltola was sworn in to complete Young’s term, and then she was able to remain in that office for the remaining months.

Then came the new term in January, and Peltola was assigned to Room 153 in the Cannon Office Building, where she has the House minimum of three rooms and a storage room, all of about 800 feet, and a shared bathroom down the hall.

Young’s office, 1,800 square feet with a much-coveted conference room and its own bathroom, has been turned over to Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, one of the most ardent gun-rights opponents in the House. Jackson Lee, who has served since 1995, has proposed a gun control bills that would create a national firearm registry, and set a minimum gun purchase age of 21. She has an 8% rating from the National Rifle Association.

The irony in that is Congressman Young was on the board of the NRA and in 2014 earned the organization’s highest rating — A+, for protecting Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

While Congressman Young was known for his bipartisanship in the House, Rep. Jackson Lee votes with the Democrat Party, as does Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska. Peltola and Jackson share almost identical voting records.

Before Young had decorated the Rayburn office with all kinds of Alaskana, including the heads of animals he had killed and a brown bear hide, 2314 was the place to find Wisconsin Democrat Rep. David Obey, who served 40 years in the House, from 1969 to 2011.

The current Dean of the House, Congressman Hal Rogers, a Republican from Kentucky, has served in the House since 1981. His office is 2406 Rayburn House Office Building, just down the hall from 2314.

Alaska went from having one of the largest offices in capitol complex, to a diminutive office on the main hallway of a building that is undergoing a massive renovation. But everyone in Washington, D.C. has to start somewhere, and Peltola, starting as a freshman Democrat lawmaker in a Republican-run House, is starting at the bottom.

Ground Zero: Energy Department changes mind, says Covid-19 was probably from a China lab leak

Suzanne Downing
-
29
Ground Zero: Energy Department changes mind, says Covid-19 was probably from a China lab leak

You can call it a Chinese spy balloon, but for years, the American public was discouraged from calling Covid-19 the China Virus. That was racist, the elites said.

But the federal government is coming around. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that another agency has changed its position on the origin of Covid-19, which was probably starting to spread in China as early as November of 2019. A new classified report provided to the White House and key members of Congress says the virus was a leak from a research lab.

The Department of Energy had earlier labeled its position on the Wuhan lab theory as “undecided.” Now, both the Energy Department and the FBI conclude the lab leak from a Chinese research facility is most likely the correct theory. Four other agencies are still saying that the virus was the result of natural transmission, and another two agencies are still in the “undecided” category, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“The Energy Department’s conclusion is the result of new intelligence and is significant because the agency has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research,” the newspaper wrote.

“The Energy Department made its judgment with ‘low confidence,’ according to people who have read the classified report.

“The FBI previously came to the conclusion that the pandemic was likely the result of a lab leak in 2021 with ‘moderate confidence’ and still holds to this view.

“The FBI employs a cadre of microbiologists, immunologists and other scientists and is supported by the National Bioforensic Analysis Center, which was established at Fort Detrick, Md., in 2004 to analyze anthrax and other possible biological threats.”

The FBI, which came to the conclusion a year earlier, has a wide network of microbiologists, immunologists, and scientists on its staff, and is also sharing information with the National Bioforensic Analysis Center, established in 2004 to research anthrax and other possible biological threats, the Journal reported.

Over the past three years, social media, academicians and others have said the theory that Covid was leaked from a lab in China constituted misinformation, disinformation, xenophobia, and yes, racism.

The Yale University School of Medicine even published a list of do’s and don’ts for people, which encouraged professionals to not have honest conversations about Covid. The list included:

“DO: Talk about the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19)”
“DO NOT: Attach locations or ethnicity to the disease; this is not a “Wuhan Virus,” “Chinese Virus,” or “Asian Virus.” The official name for the disease was deliberately chosen to avoid stigmatization.”

By warning people from even referring to it as the Wuhan Virus, the academic and government ruling class put its stamp of disapproval on legitimate inquiry as to the origins. Those who called it the Wuhan Virus or China Virus were routinely shamed by the Left and called, at a minimum, racist.

NPR, where much of the ruling class of America get its news, said it was virtually impossible for the virus to have been leaked from a lab. In NPR’s report in 2020, the government-sponsored news organization wrote:

“Virus researchers say there is virtually no chance that the new coronavirus was released as result of a laboratory accident in China or anywhere else.

“The assessment, made by more than half-a-dozen scientists familiar with lab accidents and how research on coronaviruses is conducted, casts doubt on recent claims that a mistake may have unleashed the coronavirus on the world,” NPR reported. Then it said that President Trump was peddling a false theory.

“The accident theory has been advanced by the Trump administration in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a set of State Department cables leaked to The Washington Post pointed to U.S. safety concerns at labs in Wuhan, the city where the virus emerged. Intelligence agencies are currently assessing the possibility of an accident, and last Wednesday, President Trump promised “a very thorough examination” of events.

“‘I will tell you, more and more, we’re hearing the story,”‘ Trump said on April 15 [2020] of the theory that the virus came from labs in Wuhan.”

But Trump Derangement Syndrome had set in in newsrooms across America and NPR was no exception:

“But after corresponding with 10 leading scientists who collect samples of viruses from animals in the wild, study virus genomes and understand how lab accidents canhappen, NPR found that an accidental release would have required a remarkable series of coincidences and deviations from well-established experimental protocols,” NPR wrote.

NPR receives less that 1% of its funding directly from the federal government, but about 10% of its funding from federal, state, and local governments indirectly, according to InfluenceWatch.org.

Facebook, one of the largest distributors of current event news, removed or edited millions of comments that linked the virus to Wuhan, China. Finally, in 2021, the company changed its policy:

“In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured from our apps,” a spokesman for Facebook said. Just a year earlier the company bragged that it put warnings on 50 million “pieces of content related to Covid-19.” The damage had already been done, with millions of users in the shadow-ban category, without even knowing their posts were not being seen on Facebook. Twitter had similar policies for sharing information.

“When people saw those warning labels, 95% of the time they did not go on to view the original content,” Facebook reported, explaining its successes in censorship. Whenever Facebook labels an article false by its company or its independent “fact checkers,” the social media platform will hide the content from everyone, without the author of that consent even being aware that no one is seeing their post.

Read how Facebook suppresses points of view at the company’s own explainer page.

Read the Director of National Intelligence unclassified report on Covid origins from August, 2022, at this government link.

Read the 2020 report from NPR that debunked the China lab leak theory.

Read MedPageToday’s 2021 editorial discrediting of former CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield’s theory that the virus was the result of gain-of-function research in China.

Read the summary of the research commissioned by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., released in October by the minority oversight staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, which concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic was “more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.”

Anchorage’s Identity Inc. is engaged in puberty blocker treatments, but a Senate bill may put group in legal peril

Suzanne Downing
-
41
Anchorage’s Identity Inc. is engaged in puberty blocker treatments, but a Senate bill may put group in legal peril

In Anchorage, Identity Inc. is leading the charge to convince children to transition from one gender identity to another.

In material published on its own website, the gender identity group says that although hormone treatments are “off label” for gender transition purposes, they have been used safely for years, a claim that is disputed by some who have gone through the treatments and suffered long-term consequences.

Identity Inc. is an Alaska nonprofit community center and health clinic that provides resources, programs, and health care for the LGBTQIA2S+ and allied community, according to its website.

Identity Inc. recently posted consent forms for various chemical treatments for gender dysphoria.

But its hormone treatments for youth may put the group in legal jeopardy.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley has introduced a Senate bill that would allow people who were harmed by gender-transition procedures as minors to bring lawsuits against the participating individuals and entities.

The bill, “Protecting Our Kids from Child Abuse Act,” holds medical professionals and clinics liable for damages until 30 years after a patient turns 18.

“”What the American people are seeing take place at pediatric gender clinics in St. Louis and across the nation is appalling. Children who are harmed by these dangerous procedures, which are often irreversible and sterilizing, will now be able to fight back against those who perpetrated their abuse. And federal taxpayers will no longer be forced to foot the bill for abusive treatment,” Hawley said in a press release.

Identity Inc, has published consent form on its website to assist pre-teens in their gender identity change, starting with hormone treatments. The consent form presents itself as an authoritative document that has several places for youth and guardians to sign.

The consent form asks youthful patients to acknowledge that “using this medication to block puberty in transgender youth is an off-label use. This means it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this specific use. However it has been used for many years to block puberty in children who started puberty earlier than is healthy. I know that using a puberty blocker is based on the judgment and experience of our health care provider and is supported by the Society of Pediatric Endocrinology.”

The Identity Inc group also asks youthful patients to sign that they understand that, “I know that the side effects and the safety of these medicines are not completely understood. There may be long-term risks that are not yet known.”

View the consent forms at this Identity Inc. link.

The Senate bill, Protecting Our Kids from Child Abuse Act may put groups like Identity Inc. out of the gender-affirming business. The bill would allow a person to sue a gender-transition procedure performed on them when they were minors. The bill also would prohibit federal funding to any pediatric gender clinic, to any university or hospital that is affiliated with a pediatric gender clinic, and for any gender-transition procedure performed on minors.

Already, one well-known young person who went through a gender transition has “de-transitioned,” and is now suing the medical providers who did the procedure on her when she was younger.

Chloe Cole, 18, calls herself a “former trans kid” who de-transitioned after undergoing years of puberty blockers and a double mastectomy at age 15. She now travels the country on a mission to stop the transitioning of kids, a practice that Identity Inc. is now assisting in.

“I’m planning to keep doing this until it stops,” Cole told Catholic News Service.

Earlier this month, Sen. Hawley announced an investigation into whistleblower allegations of child abuse and potential malpractice at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

View the full bill text here.

Pentagon suicide panel recommends no gun sales to young military members, warnings on energy drinks sold on base

Suzanne Downing
-
62
Pentagon suicide panel recommends no gun sales to young military members, warnings on energy drinks sold on base

A military panel studying how to slow down the rate of service members who kill themselves is recommending, among dozens of other offerings, that firearms not be sold by military exchanges to any service member under the age of 25. The committee also recommends waiting periods on both firearms and ammunitions sales at military stores, and some warnings about energy drinks.

The Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee released its report on Friday. It focuses on four main area, including restructuring suicide prevention training, providing more resources to help service members access existing support services, promoting lethal means safety, and emphasizing leader stewardship in addressing service member needs, according to the Pentagon’s summary.

The report acknowledges that a large percentage of suicides among service members are by those members who are under investigation for something.

“In 2021, 23% of service members who died by suicide were experiencing or had experienced legal or administrative challenges during the preceding year. Over half of these service members were under investigation (DSPO, 2021). Being the focus of an ongoing investigation creates a combination of individual and occupational stressors that can increase risk for suicide compounded by poor handling by investigators or command,” the report noted.

The recommendation to stop selling private firearms at base exchanges to young warriors is given the highest urgency rating by the committee. The committee also is recommending severely curtailing the Second Amendment rights of troops, such as universal gun registration and a database of firearms purchased on Department of Defense property. Recommendations include:

“Repeal Public Law 112-239 Section 1057 and replace with procedural due process regarding the collection and recording of information relating to the lawful acquisition, possession, ownership, carrying, or other use of a privately owned firearm or weapon by military personnel and civilian employees of the DoD.”

That public law was created to prevent the unconstitutional infringement of service members’ rights to acquire, possess, and use firearms when not on Defense property.

“Implement a 7-day waiting period for any firearm purchased on DoD property.”

“Require DoD-approved firearm safety training, including refresher and sustainment training every five years.”

“Develop a national database for recording serial numbers of firearms purchased on DoD property.”

“Implement a 4-day waiting period for ammunition purchases on DoD property to follow purchases and receipt of firearms purchased on DoD property.”

“On DoD property, raise the minimum age for purchasing firearms and ammunition to 25 years.”

“Incentivize the acquisition and use of firearm locking devices by providing discounts for firearm locking devices purchased at a Military Exchange.”

“Establish command notification procedures when a service member or family member who lives on DoD property purchases a firearm on DoD property.”

“Require anyone living on DoD property in military housing to register all privately owned firearms with the installation’s arming authority and to securely store all privately owned firearms in a locked safe or with another locking device.”

“Establish DoD policy restricting the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dormitories.”

“Prohibit the possession of privately owned firearms that are not related to the performance of official duties on DoD property by anyone who does not live on DoD property.”

Explaining why firearms need to be curtailed, the committee said Defense data indicate approximately 66% of active-duty suicides, 72% of Reserve suicides, and 78% of National Guard suicides involve firearms.

“Several lines of evidence suggest that limiting or reducing firearm availability could dramatically reduce the military’s suicide rate. For example, a simple policy change requiring Israeli military personnel to store their military-issued weapons in armories over the weekend led to a 40% reduction in the Israeli military’s suicide rate,” the report said on Page 57.

The recommendations also take on other aspects of military quality of life, such as sleep cycles, pay scales, promotions, the management of millennials, ensuring that air conditioning is working inside of barracks, and even a limit on energy drinks and alcohol:

“Raise the minimum purchase price and ban price discounting of energy drinks sold on DoD property.”

“Ban the promotion of energy drinks on DoD property.”

“Display signs on vending machines and retail outlets where energy drinks are sold about responsible energy drink consumptions.”

“Ban the promotion of alcohol on DoD property.”

“Increase the purchase price of alcohol sold on DoD property”

“Limit when alcohol is sold on DoD property.”

The report tackles many other aspects of military life, and recommends that pay scales be reviewed to be more competitive with non-military jobs.

Read the report at this link.

Report: Suicides on Alaska military bases spiking in 2021

Alaska Republican Presidential Preference Poll: A year away

Suzanne Downing
-
19
Alaska Republican Presidential Preference Poll: A year away

The Republican Party will gather in Milwaukee, Wisc. from July 15-18, 2024, a time when delegates from all 50 states, District of Columbia, and territories such as American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, will formally select the GOP nominee for president at the Republican National Convention.

At the national convention, delegates from Alaska Republican district committees, chosen by their party peers at district and state conventions, will cast their votes on the national convention floor.

The Republican presidential choices for Alaska are chosen in a Presidential Preference Poll, to be held by the Alaska Republican Party around March 5, 2024, weeks before the July convention. The party will have to avoid the Anchorage municipal election, which will be taking place next mid-March to early April.

After the PPP, there is a state Republican convention.

The “PPP,” as it is known, is a caucus-by-ballot method of choosing the favored presidential candidate. It allows the participation of more people and saves voters the hassle of having to go to a gymnasium and stand around in a traditional caucus system.

Republicans in Alaska did not hold a PPP in 2020, because Donald Trump was a sitting Republican president who had the nomination sewed up, and because of the Covid pandemic making it more difficult for people to gather. The last PPP in Alaska was held March 1, 2016. Ted Cruz won the most votes that year in Alaska, among those who participated.

In 2016, Alaska Republicans taking part in the PPP cast their votes for:

  • Ted Cruz: 36.4 percent
  • Donald Trump: 33.5 percent
  • Marco Rubio: 15.1 percent
  • Ben Carson: 10.9 percent
  • John Kasich: 4.1 percent

Only Republicans can take part in the GOP’s PPP, yet voters can register as a Republican 90 days prior to the PPP in order to cast a preference ballot, indicating which of the leading candidates (those who register in Alaska as presidential candidates) they prefer. The PPP is not a ranked choice voting system, but an advisory vote to the party delegates. Currently, there are 145,390 registered Republican voters in Alaska.

However, it’s not until after the July national convention when Alaskans and the rest of the country will know who the Republican nominee will be for the November ballot.

The Alaska Republican Party is starting the initial discussions about how to conduct the PPP in 2024, an event that will require volunteer training, grassroots involvement, and lots of new twists for a party that will not have conducted its privately held presidential preference vote for eight years.

None of the presidential candidates — from parties or independents — will be on the Alaska open primary ballot on Aug. 20, 2024.

However, all of the presidential candidates who register as candidates with the Alaska Division of Elections, and who are legally registered with the Federal Election Commission, will appear on the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election ballot, which is not a ranked choice ballot in Alaska. Federal law does not permit the presidential election to be conducted via ranked choice.

Presidential Preference Poll: Will AK GOP conduct one, or wave it off this cycle?

Where will Democrats meet to nominate Biden?

Milwaukee was also the choice for the Democrat Party’s nominating convention in 2020, but that convention was scuttled and held virtually, due to the Covid pandemic.

This year, the Democrats have not yet chosen a venue for their nominating convention. Three cities remain on the list: New York City, Atlanta, and Chicago. At this writing, New York City has been all but eliminated, and President Joe Biden is pulling for Atlanta, because Georgia was good to him during the 2020 election.

Unions are pushing for Chicago because it’s a more union-friendly city than Atlanta. Some Democrats are fearful of Atlanta as a venue because Georgia is a constitutional carry state for firearms, which makes some feel unsafe.

On the other hand, Chicago has very strict gun laws but is a homicide capital, with 695 homicides in 2022, a drop from the 800 murders it had the year before but still leaving 2022 the fourth highest year for murders in the Windy City since 1999.

Publisher concedes, will print Roald Dahl’s original work, alongside censored editions of children’s classics

Suzanne Downing
-
15
Publisher concedes, will print Roald Dahl’s original work, alongside censored editions of children’s classics

After weeks of heated public condemnation over the censorship of a beloved children’s author, Penguin announced on Friday that it will release the original “Roald Dahl Classic Collection,” to keep the author’s classic texts in print in their original format, even while a subsidiary of the publisher is releasing “sanitized” versions of the popular children’s books in order to conform with the goals of “inclusivity, diversity, and equity.”

“These seventeen titles will be published under the Penguin logo, as individual titles in paperback, and will be available later this year. The books will include archive material relevant to each of the stories,” Penguin said in a press release.

Dahl’s books have sold more than 300 million copies and he is considered one of the greatest children’s authors of the 20th century. The British author’s books have been turned into at least 20 movies.

“The Roald Dahl Classic Collection will sit alongside the newly released Puffin Roald Dahl books for young readers, which are designed for children who may be navigating written content independently for the first time. Readers will be free to choose which version of Dahl’s stories they prefer,” the publisher said.

Over the past few months, Penguin has been rewriting hundreds of passages from Dahl’s books to make them more politically correct, removing words like “fat” from every Dahl book, and erasing perceived racial or cultural stereotypes.

The words “black” and “white” have been amputated from all of the new editions of Dahl books, regardless of the context.

Men are no longer “men.” Now they now “people.”

The words “crazy” and “mad” have been eliminated.

In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” written in 1964, the character of Augustus Gloop, is now described as “enormous” rather than “enormously fat,” as Dahl’s had written in the original edition.

In “James and the Giant Peach,” a section reads: “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that.” That was edited by the inclusivity editors to read, “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit.” 

Somehow it was decided by the editors that using “old” as a pejorative is fine, but describing someone as terrifically fat and flabby is not fine.

Then again, maybe “old” is not a good word in the newspeak of political correctness. In the Dahl book, “Witches,” an “old hag” has been revised to an “old crow.” A supernatural woman posing as normal woman is described by as being someone who is a “top scientist or running a business” rather than a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman,” as Dahl had originally written.

Also, the new inclusivity version puts a disclaimer on a passage that describes witches as secretly bald.

“There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that,” the disclaimer says.

“At Puffin we have proudly published Roald Dahl’s stories for more than forty years in partnership with the Roald Dahl Story Company.  Their mischievous spirit and his unique storytelling genius have delighted the imaginations of readers across many generations.  We’ve listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl’s books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation,” said Francesca Dow, of Penguin Random House Children’s Books.

Treg Taylor and 32 AGs urge Supreme Court to protect whistleblowers in pharmacy fraud lawsuits

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
14
Treg Taylor and 32 AGs urge Supreme Court to protect whistleblowers in pharmacy fraud lawsuits

By CHRISTIAN WADE | THE CENTER SQUARE

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is leading 33 states attorneys general, including Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a pair of lower court rulings that could have broad implications for whistleblowers, and the government’s ability to go after public fraud.

In a 15-page legal brief, Tong and the other AGs are calling on justices to uphold a pair of federal whistleblower lawsuits accusing pharmacy operators of over billing government health insurance programs for prescription drugs. 

At issue is whether private companies can shield themselves from fraud lawsuits by claiming an “objectively reasonable” interpretation of the federal False Claims Act, which allows citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government. 

Lawsuits filed by whistleblowers against Safeway Inc. and SuperValu Inc., accused the retail pharmacy chains of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid by billing them using “artificially high” pricing schemes, while charging most consumers lower prices for out-of-pocket costs through discount programs.

But in a 2-1 opinion, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago sided with the companies, saying they were acting under a “reasonable” interpretation of the law when they billed the government higher prices than those charged to uninsured consumers. 

In its April ruling, the appeals court agreed the companies had overcharged the government, but ruled they can’t be held responsible for fraud because their billing practices were supported by an “objectively reasonable” interpretation of the whistleblower law.

The whistleblowers appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which agreed to combine the cases and review the lower court rulings. 

In their legal brief, Tong and other AGs argue the Seventh Circuit’s ruling “turns the law on its head” and puts states at risk of losing Medicaid and Medicare funds to fraud if they don’t issue adequate guidance to companies operating under their jurisdiction. 

“Rather than encouraging providers to seek available clarification about the legality of their practices, the Seventh Circuit’s rule rewards providers that put on blinders, take the public’s money, and ask questions (or seek forgiveness) later,” the AGs wrote in the legal brief.

In a statement, Tong said the lower court’s rulings “gut the essence” of the False Claims Act and will “jeopardize the integrity of state Medicaid operations.” 

He said under the Connecticut False Claims Act — which was modeled on the federal law, the state has recovered over $181 million in misspent public healthcare dollars since 2009, when it went into effect. 

“Having a strong interpretation of the False Claims Act is vital for the protection of taxpayer dollars, which is why my fellow attorneys general and I are strongly urging the Supreme Court to right this wrong,” he said. 

Joining Tong are attorneys general from Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

Study shows vaccine mandates did not stop spread of Covid in nine cities that ordered the jab for workers

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
33
Study shows vaccine mandates did not stop spread of Covid in nine cities that ordered the jab for workers

By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

Researchers analyzed nine U.S. cities that implemented vaccine mandates during the pandemic and found that those mandates had no real effect on the spread of Covid-19.

Now, those cities’ leaders are not responding to questions about their mandates and the economic impact they had on residents.

Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. were part of the study conducted through George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.

Those cities announced some form of city-wide vaccine mandate in 2021, leading to economic hardship for local businesses and lost jobs for those who refused to comply.

“Our findings put into question the efficacy of city-level vaccine mandates,” the report said. “Indoor vaccine man-dates caused large disruptions for many individuals and businesses.

New York City, for example, fired 1,430 city workers for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate (Fitzsimmons, 2022). A survey found that over 90% of NYC restaurants reported having customer-related challenges, such as losing customers who objected to the mandate, and 75% having staff-related challenges (New York State Restaurant Association, 2021). Those are just a small fraction of the disruptions caused by the mandates.”

Despite the economic hardship they caused, the study found no noteworthy slow of Covid-19. Researchers said this was in part because residents could simply travel outside city limits to participate in any activities banned in the city.

“We find no evidence that the announcement or implementation of indoor vaccine mandates in the cities listed had any significant effect on vaccine uptake, Covid-19 cases, or Covid-19 deaths, and this is largely consistent for all US cities that implemented the mandate,” the report said.

The Center Square reached out to the mayor’s offices for all nine cities to present the findings and ask if their respective governments made a mistake but received no response.

“I think the more important thing is to find out what was in the minds of the people both at the federal level and at the state and local level who imposed these policies,” said Bob Moffit, an expert at the Heritage Foundation who served as a senior official of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Personnel Management during the Reagan administration.

“Because based on the data, these kind of comprehensive vaccine mandate policies, there is no other way to describe except as a stupid, ham-handed policy,” he added. “The economic consequences were awful.”

Vitor Melo, one of the researchers behind the report, told The Center Square his team was surprised by the results. They expected to find some benefit to the mandates.

“We were all surprised, and I think we were all surprised as we kept going with this how consistent the results were for all the cities,” Melo said.

The researchers hope this report impacts decision-making for these kinds of policies going forward.

“Public health restrictions and regulations were widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic, and so understanding their consequences is essential,” the report said. “The authors find that city-level mandates had smaller effect on vaccine uptake (and consequently on COVID-19 cases and deaths) than nationwide mandates – and thus failed to achieve their intended objectives.”

Casey Harper is a Senior Reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.

1...761762763...1,831Page 762 of 1,831