Tues Blogcast: Pharma pricing; Sub commander; Banning HS trans athletes

Start your day with a chuckle

An oldie but a goodie. (The original version didn't mention Colorado.)

.

Today's Guests

Michael Cannon is the Director of Health Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. We'll discuss President Trump's executive order that aims to reduce American (prescription) drug prices.

Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute

Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients – The White House

Trump executive order gives drugmakers 30-day deadline to lower drug costs | AP News

Trump's drug price plan: Why it may not amount to much change

Trump drug price order puts new pressure on pharma

It was interesting to hear RFK Jr praise Trump for implementing a Bernie Sanders policy proposal. Is that really what a Republican president, even a populist like Trump, wants to hear?

.

Commander Justin Reeves is Commanding Officer of the USS Colorado (SSN-788)

USS Colorado (SSN-788) - Wikipedia

Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet > SUBPAC Commands > Submarine Squadrons > Submarine Squadron 7 > Submarines > USS Colorado > About

USS Colorado (SSN 788) is a Virginia-class attack submarine.

Commissioned Mar. 17, 2018, Colorado is the 15th ship in the class and fifth in the redesigned Block III of the class. SSN 788 is the fourth U.S. Navy ship named for the Centennial State, and the first since the battleship USS Colorado was decommissioned in 1947. The submarine is more than 377 feet long and can displace nearly 7,900 tons.

.

Peter Hilts is the superintendent of Colorado Springs school district 49 aka D-49 which just banned biological males from competing in girls' sports.

Colorado Springs School District 49 passes new policy regarding gender and sports

D-49 sues AG Weiser, CHSAA, state civil rights division | Local News | gazette.com

DRAFT D49 RESOLUTION Protecting Safety and Privacy for Boys and Girls in All School Settings.pdf

I note that the vote was 3-2

Colorado Springs school district approves transgender athlete ban - Chalkbeat

What if a visiting team has a trans athlete on a girls’ team?

.

Other Stuff

I heard this on Fox including some audio from Trump and thought to myself, “How many minutes until left-wing media calls it racist and asks why Trump won’t do this for people from Central America, or even Ukraine?” A few minutes later I switched over to MSNBC just to see what those loons were talking about and sure enough, it was calling Trump racist for this: Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees | AP News

White South Africans arrive in US under Trump refugee plan

I don't think it's racist but I do think it's probably based on bad information. That said, it's not crazy for white farmers in RSA (Republic of South Africa) to be fearful. The history of Zimbabwe might be instructive.

.

Guess I won't be going here when I'm out in the mountains, not that I get there very often: Colorado sushi restaurant flagged in health inspections | Denver Metro News | denvergazette.com

.

Seems to me that this implies that Kalshi lost millions on this outcome but there’s probably some info that I’m missing: Online bettors spent over $40 million gambling on identity of next pope

The new pope was 100-to-1 odds. Yesterday there was another important win for a longshot, this time a sports team: 2025 NBA draft lottery results: Top takeaways and questions - ESPN

.

A few topics I didn't get to yesterday:

I hope the data is accurate: Denver sees homicide rates drop again - Axios Denver

And this data too (which is likely to be accurate): Denver rent is dropping for first time in 15 years. What does that actually mean for renters?

.

This probably won’t surprise you at all: Exclusive: NGOs Got Billions from the EPA Despite Internal Concerns

.

No thanks: Why men are shaving off their eyelashes | CNN

.

“Disparate impact” doctrine is evil, especially these days, and it’s used by evil people like Ibram X Kendi, a racist grifter now at Howard University. Do you remember the stories…during Obama I think…where schools were intentionally suspending white kids for minor infractions or not suspending black kids for major infractions just so the numbers (or percentages) of kids was more equal by race? 

The Consequential Trump Move No One’s Noticed

During the Biden administration in particular, the US didn’t feel much better than the UK. But imagine living in a place where you can be arrested for stuff like this: Police face lawsuit after retired officer arrested over ‘thought crime’ tweet

As bad as some things are here when it comes to speech, not only is it better now than during "cancel culture" but it's also WAY better than in the UK: The British state is crushing free speech

.

Anytime there's a way to sneak a moth into a story for Dragon's benefit, we have to do so: Why Is There A Worm In Tequila - Mezcal and Tequila Worm Effects

.

I have turned down every pitch from a publisher from the many authors who are looking back to write about Biden or about the 2024 campaign and election. I just don't think there's much to gain from all that even though I do think that generally it's good to know history (so as not to repeat it, as the maxim goes.) But every once in a while a story pops up that reminds me of just how egregious was the lying done to the American people by the last administration and the utter failure was of "journalists" who let them get away with it: Biden aides discussed requiring a wheelchair if re-elected: new book

.

The only time I’ve ever agreed with Loomer: Ben Shapiro, Laura Loomer lead rare MAGA backlash to Trump's Qatari jet

It's also worth noting that it will take so long to do the required security upgrades on a plane received from an outside donor that it likely wouldn't be ready before (or at least not much before) a plane directly from Boeing would be available.