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[RedKing]

Don't buy (additional) "I voted!" badges, but instead get "I voted! With this!!!" pens... Offset the costs with the savings.

In fact, how about ones with one of those "disappearing bikini" floaty-things, featuring Trump on one side and Biden on the other. Make everyone happy!

(Is it too late to tender this suggestion, find a local pen-customising company, ship to all 50 states across the ocean (at least one, maybe 1.5), sell at just 1% above cost and still make a tidy profit? It is? Darn!)

Thanks, now I have the mental image of Trump in a disappearing bikini stuck in my head. You monster.


In not-exactly-political-but-still-kinda-political news, Purdue Pharma, the company who made Oxycontin a household name and a household drug, has reached a deal with the US government wherein they will plead guilty to three Federal charges of violating anti-kickback laws, pay $8 billion in fines and punitive damages (most of which is earmarked to go to opioid response programs) and essentially nationalize the company -- they'll close down, the government will seize the assets and then reopen it as a government-controlled entity which will continue to manufacture oxycontin along with drugs used in the treatment of opioid addiction.

That's an.....interesting solution. And not one I'd have expected from a Trump administration. If this was a Democrat, the Right would already be howling on their leashes about communism and government control of drugs.


EDIT: Well, based on the comment section at FOX News, they are kinda howling, but less about the nationalization and more about:
1. How dare they attack a private business!
2. People need to take responsibility for their own actions, don't punish the dealer because you're a junkie.
3. WHERE WILL I GET MY PILLS NOW?

[scriver]

That seems like... a surprisingly great news?

[bloop_bleep]

Yeah, that's... wow. When was the last time the US nationalized something big like that?

[Egan_BW]

Well, Trump did originally run on a platform of "the government should be run like a business (which is totally a thing I'm good at)", so I guess we can expect the newly nationalized company to double down on screwing people over for profit. After all, what better way to lower taxes than to supplement that income by getting people addicted to drugs which are patented by the state?

[scriver]

That would be a terrible turn of events and I'm so naively stuck in my "government should be for the people" that I didn't even consider it.

[JoshuaFH]

I suppose it depends on how good the intentions are:

Good intentions: "The political control of big pharma can be lessened, and Oxy can be made and distributed without a profit motive."

Bad intentions: "We can take a lesson from our Best Friend Russia who has historically held a government monopoly on Vodka in order to keep the angry populace drunk, disorganized, and addicted. We do that with Oxy by cranking the opioid crisis to fucking ELEVEN and make money that the vodka barons couldn't even dream of!"

[Dostoevsky]

Worth noting that it's doubtful the $8B will actually get extracted from Purdue, as the company already owes lots of other states, communities, etc. for various other opium-related lawsuits. If I recall the Sacklers et al. made sure to leave the company minimally financially able to clean its mess up as part of normal corporate practice.

[RedKing]

Admittedly, if Trump wins re-election, the thought of cheap, readily available narcotics is a welcome one.

We Happy Few: Murrica Edition

[wierd]

Will they rebrand it as Soma, or would that be too overt?

[Zangi]

I am assuming this doesn’t include jail time?

[RedKing]

I am assuming this doesn’t include jail time?

Of course not. You can't jail a corporation.
(The lawsuit is specifically against the Purdue Pharma corp, not the Sackler family.)

The whole point of a corporation is to shield the folks at the top from seizure, bankruptcy and criminal charges.

[scriver]

A corporation should require a corpus to punish!

[nenjin]

IIRC, Opiate Addiction was actually part of Trump's 2016 campaign platform. Kinda shocked they actually followed through with it.

Then again, I'm not. Trump probably saw how much money Oxycotin sales brings in, and will promptly appoint one of his cronies to oversee the new entity then quietly get vested interests in it.

[RedKing]

IIRC, Opiate Addiction was actually part of Trump's 2016 campaign platform. Kinda shocked they actually followed through with it.

Then again, I'm not. Trump probably saw how much money Oxycotin sales brings in, and will promptly appoint one of his cronies to oversee the new entity then quietly get vested interests in it.

In not-shocking news, Trump to pardon Martin Shkreli and appoint him opioid czar. [/s]

EDIT: Actually, I'd halfway expect him to appoint Rush Limbaugh, given his long history and extensive knowledge of opioid abuse. But then it wouldn't be a very long appointment.

DOUBLE-EDIT: Not strictly Ameripol, but the Pope has endorsed same-sex civil unions. 

[Rolan7]

the government will seize the assets and then reopen it as a government-controlled entity which will continue to manufacture oxycontin along with drugs used in the treatment of opioid addiction.

DOUBLE-EDIT: Not strictly Ameripol, but the Pope has endorsed same-sex civil unions. 

am I high right now
(I'm so sleep deprived today that I'm a little suspicious)

Like, it's not exactly folding the failed banking institutions back into the Post Office (one can dream), but I'm still legit happy about it.  What a strange feeling to get from Ameripol!

I probably shouldn't get into the Pope thing.  I guess it's technically a nice gesture, which would be more meaningful if he had any authority over civil unions.  If only there was some similar arrangement he *did* have authority over.

It really is a nice gesture though and maybe that means a lot from the head of a religion.  It's a good direction for his moral guidance to be shifting.