We only have Netflix. They have more good movies and shows than we could ever watch. Truly this is a Golden Age of film. Not everything is perfect, but there is so many films that offer something worth watching - whether it's great cinematography, great story telling, great acting, great writing, or ideas worth considering.
And there are lots of ways to find the good stuff, For instance someone tweeted a link to this list of art related documentaries. Fortunately, only a few are on Netflix.
Various sites tell you what's new or what's best or what's leaving Netflix 'this month'. Just google. I'm finding lots of great foreign films (an ethnocentric way of saying made by someone other than a US citizen). Some show up in Netflix's lists for me, though Netflix seems to think that no one wants to watch non-English films so they never say in their descriptions "Danish language." I'm sure I've missed shows I would have watched because I didn't realize it was not made in the US.
Here are some really stellar shows and movies I can think of off the top of my head:
Occupied - this is a truly gripping tv show from Norway. The Norwegians have discovered an alternative source of energy and have told the European Union they are shutting down their oil production. The Russians send troops in to occupy Norway and the EU, concerned about their energy source, doesn't object too seriously. Tense!
Babylon Berlin - a German tv show that takes place in pre-Hitler Berlin. Great characters, stories, and history.
Fauda - an Israeli tv show about a counter terror unit that doesn't glorify the Israelis and doesn't paint the Palestinians just negatively. Though it's told from the Israeli perspective and I suspect most viewers will be rooting for them. But they will see the cruelty and humanity on both sides.
The Good Place - A US show that features a lot of philosophy, humor, and thoughts about the meaning of heaven and hell and being a good person. Very well done, very funny.
Mr. Sunshine - Not quite as high quality as some of the others, but this Korean series offers a look at a period of history I knew nothing about - as the Japanese and US spar over Korea. A little more romantic, but interesting characters and a different world view. And a very good story.
Atypical - The world as seen by a high school kid on the Autistic Spectrum. Well worth watching this US show. Funny and enlightening.
Hannah Gadsby - Nanette - This Australian comedian starts out telling jokes like any other stand-up and then somewhere along the way it all changes and becomes one of the most powerful standup act I've ever seen. This is just a single show, won't take up that much of your time and it will suck you into something you didn't expect.
Sense8 - This show has about eight people living in different parts of the world - US, Mexico, Iceland, India, Germany, Korea, Kenya - who are all connected in a bizarre way. This series follows how they discover each other and help each other. Well made and worth watching because the concept is so unique and you connect with people in a variety of countries and sexual orientations.
13 Reasons Why - I decided to try out the first episode because there were stories that Netflix was going to take it down. I'd thought it was a documentary about teen suicide, but it isn't. It's a fictional story about a high school girl who leaves a set of 13 tapes and instructions for who should listen to them in what order. As I recall, each episode is a different tape as we find out what was happening in her life and the complex lives of the kids and parents in her world. Gripping and original story telling. And enlightening.
Dear White People - We see the world through the eyes of the black students at a predominantly white college. Dear White People is a radio show one of he black students airs that talks about things that normally don't get talked about across races.
Gracie and Frankie - Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin are friends only because their husbands Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston have been good friends. In the first episode, the men take the women to dinner to tell them they want divorces because they are lovers and have been for 30 years and now they want to get married. The two women, who never liked each other much, now have to learn to share the two families' joint beach house. This is a funny show, with characters in their 70s, and was a great way to dispel the tension after watching an episode of Occupied or Babylon Berlin. The characters are NOT poor people.
All but the Hannah Gadsby comedy special are series. I suspect they stick in my mind more because I saw a lot of episodes over a period of time. Enjoy this feast of great film. This is just 2018. A good year. Not sure all of these are still available, but enough are.
Merry Christmas.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Monday, December 24, 2018
A Stroll On Venice Pier
It was a hazy day. People were in shorts and t-shirts. People had sweatshirts and winter coats.
Below us the surfers were catching waves.
There were lots of birds on the pier hoping for handouts from the humans.
Or posing for the photographers.
Then we made some sand castles on the beach. A good day to be out and about with the family.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
About Pulling Out Of Syria
[I'm thinking out loud here, trying to bring disparate thoughts together. Bear with me.]
It's not at all clear to me the costs and benefits of the US having troops in Syria. I think finding ways to pull out of places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and ending support of the Saudi war in Yemen are important goals.
Ro Khanna, a Democratic member of congress from California, in this Washington Post piece, supports President Trump's instinct to pull out of Syria, though he argues we need to do it in a way better coordinated with our allies, and in a way that uses leverage over Turkey's Erdogan that keeps him from massacring Kurds in the area.
He also mentions,
Imagine $40 billion a year. What could the US have spent that money on? Helping with education and economic development in Central America so that the people there could make a living and build safe lives, so they wouldn't feel the need to flee over the US border.
Think of the US veterans who wouldn't be suffering from PTSD and other serious ailments, not to mention missing body parts. War is only good for people who make money selling guns, planes, tanks, technology, and all the support items needed for soldiers to live and fight and die.
Think about all the fossil fuel that would not have been used. And how global warming would have been a little bit slower. The Union of Concerned Scientists write:
You get the point. If the Soviet Union, which borders Afghanistan could take control, how can the US do it from half-way around the world away?
Unfortunately, few people, and I know this includes many members of congress, don't have a comprehensive understanding of the factors involved in wars like the ones we're involved in. We originally went to Afghanistan to punish those who killed 2,955 people on 9/11, 2605 of whom were American citizens.
Brown University's Cost of War study offers this summary of what we've unleashed* in return:
Saddam Hussein was a ruthless leader. Getting actual figures of the number of people his regime killed - civilians and and conscripted soldiers - is not easy. As I look, numbers range in the hundreds of thousands - at least 300,000 and probably significantly more than that. Some sources:
Surely, there are people alive who wouldn't be if we hadn't invaded Iraq. But there are also people who are dead, who wouldn't be if we hadn't invaded Iraq.
I'd note this Brookings Institute (a liberal leaning think tank) prediction from 2002 about the costs of getting into a war with Iraq which I found while getting data for this post:
My point is, again, that the number of people who actually have looked closely at all the costs and benefits - economic, human, political, opportunity costs - is relatively few. I'm not in that group.
It's clear to me though, that the money spent "fighting terrorism" could have been better spent creating opportunities for human beings - education, health care, economic development. These kinds of initiatives would have created positive changes in people's lives and put the United States and the world in a much better place than it is now.
It's time people went back and read some of the old stories we were supposed to learn simple truths from. For instance the story of B'rer Rabbit and the Tar Baby might be an apt story for the United States' war on terrorism.
I'd note that many such old stories are seen today as sexist or racist. I suspected people hadfound reason to question the Uncle Remus stories. So I checked and they have. But it's hard not to be racist if you grow up in the United States even today. Joel Chandler Harris was born just before the Civil War in the South, so surely he had lots of racist tendencies. But all that considering, it seems he was pretty progressive for his times, and the Uncle Remus stories seem to be a tribute to an old black slave Harris looked up to. See this Pittsburgh Gazette article on Harris' life.
In The Unbelievably Racist World of Classic Children's Lit, Malcolm Jones writes:
None of this changes my belief that the sooner we get Trump out of the presidency the better for the world and the United States. And the Republicans who have had control of both houses of Congress since Trump became president, share the blame, because they haven't done their job as a check on the criminal* who is in the White House.
*I think that anyone who looks at the Trump organization and Trump objectively has to acknowledge that he has abused our laws repeatedly.
It's not at all clear to me the costs and benefits of the US having troops in Syria. I think finding ways to pull out of places like Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and ending support of the Saudi war in Yemen are important goals.
Ro Khanna, a Democratic member of congress from California, in this Washington Post piece, supports President Trump's instinct to pull out of Syria, though he argues we need to do it in a way better coordinated with our allies, and in a way that uses leverage over Turkey's Erdogan that keeps him from massacring Kurds in the area.
He also mentions,
"We have spent more money in Afghanistan than we did in the Marshall Plan and continue to spend more than $40 billion each year."The Marshall Plan helped Western Europe rebuild after the destruction of WW II. It help lift their economy so Western Europe could help us defend against the Soviet Union as the Cold War ramped up and so they could buy American products, which helped repay what we spent.
Imagine $40 billion a year. What could the US have spent that money on? Helping with education and economic development in Central America so that the people there could make a living and build safe lives, so they wouldn't feel the need to flee over the US border.
Think of the US veterans who wouldn't be suffering from PTSD and other serious ailments, not to mention missing body parts. War is only good for people who make money selling guns, planes, tanks, technology, and all the support items needed for soldiers to live and fight and die.
Think about all the fossil fuel that would not have been used. And how global warming would have been a little bit slower. The Union of Concerned Scientists write:
"The U.S. military is the largest institutional consumer of oil in the world. Every year, our armed forces consume more than 100 million barrels of oil to power ships, vehicles, aircraft, and ground operations—enough for over 4 million trips around the Earth, assuming 25 mpg."According to Wired, $40 billion a year is only 2/3 of what's needed to rebuild our infrastructure.
" $1 trillion sounds great, but it ain't enough, not if the country wants to keeping fixing roads ten years down the line. According a US Department of Transportation report, just maintaining current highways and bridges through 2030 will cost a cool $65.3 billion—per year. That’s being conservative."
You get the point. If the Soviet Union, which borders Afghanistan could take control, how can the US do it from half-way around the world away?
Unfortunately, few people, and I know this includes many members of congress, don't have a comprehensive understanding of the factors involved in wars like the ones we're involved in. We originally went to Afghanistan to punish those who killed 2,955 people on 9/11, 2605 of whom were American citizens.
Brown University's Cost of War study offers this summary of what we've unleashed* in return:
SUMMARY*I say 'unleashed' because the US forces didn't kill all these civilians, but the wars we've engaged in have.
- Over 480,000 have died due to direct war violence, and several times as many indirectly
- Over 244,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the fighting
- 21 million — the number of war refugees and displaced persons
- The US federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over $5.9 trillion dollars
- The US government is conducting counterterror activities in 76 countries
READ ALL FINDINGS
- The wars have been accompanied by violations of human rights and civil liberties, in the US and abroad
Saddam Hussein was a ruthless leader. Getting actual figures of the number of people his regime killed - civilians and and conscripted soldiers - is not easy. As I look, numbers range in the hundreds of thousands - at least 300,000 and probably significantly more than that. Some sources:
Surely, there are people alive who wouldn't be if we hadn't invaded Iraq. But there are also people who are dead, who wouldn't be if we hadn't invaded Iraq.
I'd note this Brookings Institute (a liberal leaning think tank) prediction from 2002 about the costs of getting into a war with Iraq which I found while getting data for this post:
An invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein would likely cost the United States about $50 billion, though it could plausibly range from $25 billion to $75 billion or so, with likely annual U.S. costs of maintaining order in Iraq ranging from $5 billion to $20 billion for a number of years thereafter. The latter costs of winning the peace, and associated wear and tear on American military personnel, may actually turn out to be a greater concern than the one-time cost of winning the war.If only it had been so 'cheap.'
My point is, again, that the number of people who actually have looked closely at all the costs and benefits - economic, human, political, opportunity costs - is relatively few. I'm not in that group.
It's clear to me though, that the money spent "fighting terrorism" could have been better spent creating opportunities for human beings - education, health care, economic development. These kinds of initiatives would have created positive changes in people's lives and put the United States and the world in a much better place than it is now.
It's time people went back and read some of the old stories we were supposed to learn simple truths from. For instance the story of B'rer Rabbit and the Tar Baby might be an apt story for the United States' war on terrorism.
I'd note that many such old stories are seen today as sexist or racist. I suspected people hadfound reason to question the Uncle Remus stories. So I checked and they have. But it's hard not to be racist if you grow up in the United States even today. Joel Chandler Harris was born just before the Civil War in the South, so surely he had lots of racist tendencies. But all that considering, it seems he was pretty progressive for his times, and the Uncle Remus stories seem to be a tribute to an old black slave Harris looked up to. See this Pittsburgh Gazette article on Harris' life.
In The Unbelievably Racist World of Classic Children's Lit, Malcolm Jones writes:
"The case of Joel Chandler Harris is particularly relevant in this regard. A lifelong southerner and an Atlanta newspaper editor (and incidentally a friend of Twain’s), Harris was probably as enlightened as a white person could be in his time and place. If you read his Uncle Remus stories, you’ll see that to Harris, Uncle Remus was a hero. He’s certainly the smartest and kindest person, black or white, in the narrative that frames the folk tales collected by the author from former slaves.He's not as kind to Disney's Song of the South, from which this clip was taken.
More important, had Harris not collected those folktales, we almost surely would have missed much of a vast trove of oral storytelling (“our most precious piece of stolen goods,” Twain called them—so that’s what we were getting away with!), because before Harris, no one else had the sense to realize how wonderful those stories were, much less that they should be recorded for posterity. Whatever sins he may have been guilty of, Harris knew at least that much. James Weldon Johnson called the 185 stories published by Harris 'the greatest body of folklore America has produced.'”
None of this changes my belief that the sooner we get Trump out of the presidency the better for the world and the United States. And the Republicans who have had control of both houses of Congress since Trump became president, share the blame, because they haven't done their job as a check on the criminal* who is in the White House.
*I think that anyone who looks at the Trump organization and Trump objectively has to acknowledge that he has abused our laws repeatedly.
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Scooter & Bike Shares And Other Transportation Around Venice And Santa Monica - Updated
Over the last couple of years when we visited LA, I've notice the scooter thing. First it was my bewilderment at seeing scooters just sitting, seemingly abandoned, on the bike trail along the beach.
The bikes had stations like this one, where you could use your phone to rent a bike and you had to return it to another station.
But the electric scooters had gps and could be left anywhere and rented anywhere you found one.
This didn't go without controversy. People complained about scooters menacing pedestrians or being abandoned where they block sidewalks. There have been reports of vandalism against the abandoned scooters. The picture shows two Jump scooters (Uber) and a Bird scooter. I've seen Lyme and Lyft scooters as well.
When the bike trail along the beach goes from Venice (a neighborhood that is actually in Los Angeles) to Santa Monica (a separate city), there's the sign banning scooters.
I've seen some scooters left there at the border,like this Bird and the others in the background just before this sign.
But I also see a lot of folks riding their electric scooters along the Santa Monica beach bike trail.
Two riders on this scooter.
An electric skateboard.
Selfie bikers
A speed biker overtakes someone just cruising along.
Non-motorized tricycles.
and this guy who was swinging so high and for so long that I was wondering if he was chemically high as well.
And a non-motorized race to the top.
Besides the beach, there are lots and lots of people riding around the streets of Venice and Santa Monica on these scooters and bikes. I think it's a great idea whose time hasn't actually come yet. That is - the streets, bike trails, and sidewalks aren't geared for all these different vehicles going at different speeds. The idea that you can pick up an easy means of short transport - say two or three miles or less - and just leave it where you end up, is a great alternative to the car. And a great connector from buses to your final destination.
People are working out how to do this without endangering pedestrians or blocking people's way.
Here are some Jump scooters that found a good spot to park, not far from my Mom's house.
I think this could be a big part of everyone's future. We just need to redesign streets to accommodate these slower options. I'm a bit concerned by the lack of helmets among riders. I haven't seen anyone crash yet, but I've seen a few people looking scared as they come around a curve faster than they were ready for.
And I'm not sure what the City of Santa Monica intends to do about motorized scooters on the beach bike trails. There sure doesn't seem to be any enforcement at the moment. When rules are not enforced and then suddenly enforced or selectively enforced, they're a lot easier to challenge.
I don't know what's happening in the rest of the LA area. I suspect because of the beach, Venice and Santa Monica have more scooters, but I'm not sure. I haven't noticed them much when we've been out of the area.
[UPDATE Dec 22, 2018 7:50 pm - well, it seems the scooters are doing well in the Westwood area where we had a Persian dinner tonight.
It turns out there's a company doing the same thing with electric cars. My granddaughter and I passed this place this morning near the Santa Monica Saturday market.
I looked up Ioniq and got this website for Waive cars. It says you get the app, locate a car nearby, book it, and drive it for two hours FREE! They say they make their money from advertising. After two hours it costs $5.99 per hour.] There were six or seven more in this lot.]
Thursday, December 20, 2018
Old Music - German Swing In My Mom's Garage
Going through my mother's garage, I came across this case that contains old 78 records. I've seen it before, and put away for another time. Well, it's another time. I've taken it out again.
I knew that these were basically German records that my step father must have brought with him when his family fled Nazi Germany. So they would have been late 1920s and early 1930s. But I didn't know what they sounded like. I have a turntable, but it doesn't play 78s. I did ask a few people about what I should do with them, but got vague responses.
So I did what everyone does these days. Google.
And I found some of the records that I have on Youtube.
Here are a few:
Telefunken Musikus M 6359 Truxa-Fox.
Telefunken R 1910 Links sitzt das Herz (Left sits the heart)
There's even Frank Sinatra and Doris Day - Let's Take An Old-Fashioned Walk. It says "Berlin" on the label - but I think that's for Irving Berlin who wore the song. Did this get added to the collection later?
Here's one more - Richard Tauber and Dajos Bela - Ich Küsse Ihre Hand, Madame (I kiss your hand, Ma'am)
And there were others I couldn't find online.
Thank you to the YouTube folks who have put this music online.
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
State of Alaska vs. Purdue Pharma, Attorney Resignations, Evolution Of A Blog Post
[NOTE: My original title was, "Might Dunleavy's Purging of Alaska State Attorneys Be Prelude To Drop Lawsuits Against Supporters?" This blog post starts with a chance discovery of DocumentCloud. A quick search for Alaska came up with a few pages from a state lawsuit against Purdue Pharma. Then I connected this case with another event - Dunleavy's call for exempt employee resignations. I get more info about the original discovery. Then more information from someone involved, and finally conclude that while the original idea might be valid, theoretically, in this particular case, it's probably not. I'll let you go through this process with me. It's sort of like the scientific process - you make a hypothesis, then do the research, then conclude. In this case the hypothesis isn't confirmed. But the info collected is interesting. I'll start with the original draft of the postand comment on it in [brackets]. The original draft was written Dec. 17. I'm now calling that PART I. Then PART II is my follow up today.]
[PART I:] This is just a thought, but worth pursuing. [In hindsight, could have been titled "the hypothesis"]
The incoming Dunleavy administration has called for the resignation of all exempt employees - including those in the Department of Law. Many of these attorneys, one would assume, are in the middle of ongoing lawsuits. It would be useful to get a list of the current ongoing lawsuits the State of Alaska has filed, so we can see what happens to them under the Dunleavy administration.
For instance, I serendipitously came across a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma [makers of Oxycontin] claiming their misleading marketing and other actions helped lead to, or at least exacerbate, the opioid crisis in Alaska. [This was the original discovery - Alaska's lawsuit against Purdue Pharma - which is something everyone should know about.]
It would be useful to check out whether Purdue, and other organizations being sued by Alaska, had any role in Outside, campaign funds that supported Dunleavy. This will probably be tricky since the point of some of those funds is to keep the donors anonymous.
DocumentCloud search for 'Alaska' came up with the state's complaint against Purdue. Here's a summary of the complaints - they are explained in more detail in the document. [It was the discovery of DocumentCloud that led to my discovering the Purdue Pharma case.]
As alleged in this Complaint, Purdue engaged in false representation and concealment of material facts about the use of opioids to treat chronic pain.
(This complaint is dated October 30, 2017. A Department of Law Press Release dated July 13, 2018 links to a judge's order that denies the defendant's attempts to dismiss most of the charges. So I'm assuming this case is on-going. ) [I confirm this later.]
How many other cases are there like this that some large corporation might like to have dropped?
Am I being alarmist here? I don't have any evidence that any wrong doing has taken place or will in Alaska regarding well funded defendants. However, defendants have made large contributions to defeat judges in states with partisan judgeships.
It's not hard to imagine a wealthy defendant making contributions anonymously to a PAC that would support a gubernatorial candidate who could end a state's lawsuit. And given that our new governor has asked for the resignations of all exempt employees - which includes a lot of prosecutors - I don't think it's unreasonable to raise this question.
Given the high visibility of the opioid crisis in Alaska, dropping this case would probably get a lot of blowback. So I just want to make sure people are paying attention to this case and others that potentially could be dropped under Dunleavy.
An article in the Knox News about Tennessee's lawsuit against Purdue mentions Alaska's lawsuit several times.
PART II Dec 19, 2018 I'm abandoning the [brackets] since this is the new update.
I talked to an Alaska state attorney yesterday. Given the headlines about the governor asking for resignations, I wasn't sure if the email addresses would still be valid. But I got an email back quickly, which told me that the Purdue Pharma case was, indeed, still ongoing. The judge had set a March 23, 2020 trial date.
What about the resignations of the attorneys?
The line attorneys had been assured by the new Attorney General that their jobs are safe. Only management are on the line.
What about a list of all the cases?
There are so many cases it would be hard to list. But that includes many that are just in the investigatory stage - that can't be made public at this point - plus there are different departments pursuing different cases. Actual, ongoing cases? Not so many.
And the Purdue Pharma case?
This is such a high profile case, it would be hard to shut down. There are cases all over the country on this. Essentially three major groups.
There's a Reuters article that gives an overview of the lawsuits around the country over Oxytocin.
Another Reason Purdue Pharma (and other cases) won't be dropped - money
Cases like these bring revenue to the state. When I asked for a ballpark, my contact wouldn't make a guess. But when I asked "Say $5 million?" my contact said more than that and likened this case to the the tobacco lawsuits which are still bringing in revenue, even as cigaret sales have declined.
My Hypothesis Not Confirmed
Did Purdue Pharma or the Sackler family that privately owns Purdue make contributions to the Dunleavy campaign in order to get the new governor to drop this case?
I couldn't find anything about Purdue Pharma in the Alaska Public Offices Commission searches (though I don't use them that often so I might have missed something.)
Open Secrets reports show fairly low expenditures by Purdue Pharma and nothing Alaska related. Nor could I find anything of interest for members of the Sackler family who privately own Purdue Pharma. That doesn't mean there's nothing there, but it would take more sophisticated sleuthing. And given the number of suits around the country against Purdue Pharma, Alaska's probably has to be one of the smaller ones, simply because of our low population.
And the report from the state attorney I talked to indicates the attorneys have gotten no reason to believe the case won't continue, and the potential revenue to be gained is a good reason to continue.
What's next?
It probably wouldn't hurt to monitor state law suits against corporations. People should know what the state is doing, especially, in this case where the state stands to recoup some of the costs of dealing with the opioid crisis.
I didn't know anything about the suit against Purdue Pharma and so I will do another post on this topic. For those who can't wait, I suggest you read this (long, but chilling) New Yorker article - The Family That Built An Empire of Pain - about the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma and how this company contributed to the current opioid crisis because of how profitable it is.
I'd note that the Anchorage Daily News has reported on this case:
October 2017 - Alaska sues drugmaker Purdue Pharma, saying its OxyContin stoked opioid crisis
December 2017 - Alaska hires Outside law firm to investigate potential opioid lawsuit
July 2018 - Judge allows Alaska’s lawsuit against opioid manufacturer to proceed
And another case where five Alaska Native tribes joined a nationwide suit by Native American tribes against opioid makers and sellers:
November 2018 Alaska Native tribes sue drug companies over cost of opioid epidemic
And they've republished Washington Post stories on suits against Purdue Pharma, like this one on the Ohio case I mentioned above in this post:
April 7, 2018 An epic battle over the opioid crisis moves to an Ohio courtroom
And this one:
Sept 7, 2018 Man who made billions from OxyContin is pushing drug to wean addicts off opioids
[PART I:] This is just a thought, but worth pursuing. [In hindsight, could have been titled "the hypothesis"]
The incoming Dunleavy administration has called for the resignation of all exempt employees - including those in the Department of Law. Many of these attorneys, one would assume, are in the middle of ongoing lawsuits. It would be useful to get a list of the current ongoing lawsuits the State of Alaska has filed, so we can see what happens to them under the Dunleavy administration.
For instance, I serendipitously came across a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma [makers of Oxycontin] claiming their misleading marketing and other actions helped lead to, or at least exacerbate, the opioid crisis in Alaska. [This was the original discovery - Alaska's lawsuit against Purdue Pharma - which is something everyone should know about.]
It would be useful to check out whether Purdue, and other organizations being sued by Alaska, had any role in Outside, campaign funds that supported Dunleavy. This will probably be tricky since the point of some of those funds is to keep the donors anonymous.
DocumentCloud search for 'Alaska' came up with the state's complaint against Purdue. Here's a summary of the complaints - they are explained in more detail in the document. [It was the discovery of DocumentCloud that led to my discovering the Purdue Pharma case.]
As alleged in this Complaint, Purdue engaged in false representation and concealment of material facts about the use of opioids to treat chronic pain.
"Purdue knew, deliberately ignored, or recklessly disregarded, that:
- its statements about the risks and benefits of opioids to treat chronic pain were false or misleading;
- it failed to correct prior misrepresentations and omissions about the risks and benefits of opioids
- its statements made to promote the use of opioids to treat chronic pain omitted or concealed material facts; and
- for many patients the pain relief of "12-hour" OxyContin dosing lasts well short of 12 hours; and
- there is no evidence to support statements that abuse-deterrent formulations of Purdue's opioids make the drugs less likely to be abused or diverted or less addictive; and
- it lacked the commitment it professed to reducing or deterring abuse and to cooperating with law enforcement, as evidenced by its failure to report suspicious prescribers as required by law and its misrepresentations regarding the abuse-deterrent properties of is opioids."
How many other cases are there like this that some large corporation might like to have dropped?
Am I being alarmist here? I don't have any evidence that any wrong doing has taken place or will in Alaska regarding well funded defendants. However, defendants have made large contributions to defeat judges in states with partisan judgeships.
It's not hard to imagine a wealthy defendant making contributions anonymously to a PAC that would support a gubernatorial candidate who could end a state's lawsuit. And given that our new governor has asked for the resignations of all exempt employees - which includes a lot of prosecutors - I don't think it's unreasonable to raise this question.
Given the high visibility of the opioid crisis in Alaska, dropping this case would probably get a lot of blowback. So I just want to make sure people are paying attention to this case and others that potentially could be dropped under Dunleavy.
PART II Dec 19, 2018 I'm abandoning the [brackets] since this is the new update.
I talked to an Alaska state attorney yesterday. Given the headlines about the governor asking for resignations, I wasn't sure if the email addresses would still be valid. But I got an email back quickly, which told me that the Purdue Pharma case was, indeed, still ongoing. The judge had set a March 23, 2020 trial date.
What about the resignations of the attorneys?
The line attorneys had been assured by the new Attorney General that their jobs are safe. Only management are on the line.
What about a list of all the cases?
There are so many cases it would be hard to list. But that includes many that are just in the investigatory stage - that can't be made public at this point - plus there are different departments pursuing different cases. Actual, ongoing cases? Not so many.
And the Purdue Pharma case?
This is such a high profile case, it would be hard to shut down. There are cases all over the country on this. Essentially three major groups.
- Litigating states- almost 30 states who have filed suit in their own state courts and who are either litigating through their AG or through outside counsel such as Motley Rice (AK and 7 other states) or another firm
- MDL- Multi district litigation in Cleveland OH, multiple plaintiffs mostly cities, counties and tribes although one or two states have submitted themselves to the federal courts jurisdiction
- Multistate investigation- includes some litigating states (but not AK) and the remaining states that have not filed suit yet
There's a Reuters article that gives an overview of the lawsuits around the country over Oxytocin.
Another Reason Purdue Pharma (and other cases) won't be dropped - money
Cases like these bring revenue to the state. When I asked for a ballpark, my contact wouldn't make a guess. But when I asked "Say $5 million?" my contact said more than that and likened this case to the the tobacco lawsuits which are still bringing in revenue, even as cigaret sales have declined.
My Hypothesis Not Confirmed
Did Purdue Pharma or the Sackler family that privately owns Purdue make contributions to the Dunleavy campaign in order to get the new governor to drop this case?
I couldn't find anything about Purdue Pharma in the Alaska Public Offices Commission searches (though I don't use them that often so I might have missed something.)
Open Secrets reports show fairly low expenditures by Purdue Pharma and nothing Alaska related. Nor could I find anything of interest for members of the Sackler family who privately own Purdue Pharma. That doesn't mean there's nothing there, but it would take more sophisticated sleuthing. And given the number of suits around the country against Purdue Pharma, Alaska's probably has to be one of the smaller ones, simply because of our low population.
And the report from the state attorney I talked to indicates the attorneys have gotten no reason to believe the case won't continue, and the potential revenue to be gained is a good reason to continue.
What's next?
It probably wouldn't hurt to monitor state law suits against corporations. People should know what the state is doing, especially, in this case where the state stands to recoup some of the costs of dealing with the opioid crisis.
I didn't know anything about the suit against Purdue Pharma and so I will do another post on this topic. For those who can't wait, I suggest you read this (long, but chilling) New Yorker article - The Family That Built An Empire of Pain - about the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma and how this company contributed to the current opioid crisis because of how profitable it is.
I'd note that the Anchorage Daily News has reported on this case:
October 2017 - Alaska sues drugmaker Purdue Pharma, saying its OxyContin stoked opioid crisis
December 2017 - Alaska hires Outside law firm to investigate potential opioid lawsuit
July 2018 - Judge allows Alaska’s lawsuit against opioid manufacturer to proceed
And another case where five Alaska Native tribes joined a nationwide suit by Native American tribes against opioid makers and sellers:
November 2018 Alaska Native tribes sue drug companies over cost of opioid epidemic
And they've republished Washington Post stories on suits against Purdue Pharma, like this one on the Ohio case I mentioned above in this post:
April 7, 2018 An epic battle over the opioid crisis moves to an Ohio courtroom
And this one:
Sept 7, 2018 Man who made billions from OxyContin is pushing drug to wean addicts off opioids
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Fight Citizens United - Call Your Assembly Members to Support Constitutional Amendment [UPDATE: It Passed]
There's a resolution before the Anchorage Assembly tonight. It would support a Constitutional amendment to counter Citizens United, the US Supreme Court decision which allowed for unlimited money in US elections from corporations.
There are conflicting views on the effectiveness (and unintended consequences) of this proposed Amendment, but it seems to be the leading contender to push back the effects of Citizens United.
Here's the FAQ page of the website of Move To Amend, the organization sponsoring this around the country.
The ACLU supported Citizens United in the Supreme Court. Here's what they say about it on their website.
HERE'S TONIGHT'S RESOLUTION: (I put the actual Amendment in red)
There are conflicting views on the effectiveness (and unintended consequences) of this proposed Amendment, but it seems to be the leading contender to push back the effects of Citizens United.
Here's the FAQ page of the website of Move To Amend, the organization sponsoring this around the country.
The ACLU supported Citizens United in the Supreme Court. Here's what they say about it on their website.
HERE'S TONIGHT'S RESOLUTION: (I put the actual Amendment in red)
- A RESOLUTION OF THE ANCHORAGE MUNICIPAL ASSEMBLY
- 2 SUPPORTING AND CALLING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION
- 3 OF THE UNITED STATES TO ADDRESS ISSUES THAT RESULTED FROM
- 4 COURT DECISIONS SUCH AS THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT’S
- 5 DECISION IN CITIZENS UNITED v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION.
- 8 WHEREAS the heart of democracy is the right of human beings to govern
- 9 themselves, and the United States is the first and foremost democracy since the days of
- 10 ancient Greece; and
- 12 WHEREAS the founding documents of the United States, the Declaration of
- 13 Independence and the Constitution, recognize that human beings have certain inalienable
- 14 rights; and
- 16 WHEREAS the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution
- 17 do not mention or grant any rights to corporations or to any artificial entities other than the
- 18 United States of America and its constituent States; and
- 20 WHEREAS corporations and other artificial entities are not and never have been
- 21 human beings, and are only entitled to the legal powers and protections that the People
- 22 grant to them; and
- 24 WHEREAS recent judicial decisions, including the United States Supreme Court
- 25 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 130 S.Ct. 876, 558 U.S. 310
- 26 (2010), have held that corporations and other artificial entities are “persons” under the
- 27 United States Constitution with a constitutional right to spend as much money as they wish
- 28 on political speech, thereby greatly expanding the power of corporations and other
- 29 artificial entities to influence elections and otherwise undermine the power of the People to
- 30 govern themselves; and
- 32 WHEREAS when freedom of speech is equated with freedom to spend money, the
- 33 free speech of 99 percent of the People is overwhelmed by the messages of the few who
- 34 are able to spend millions of dollars to influence the political process; and
- 36 WHEREAS respected national political polls show that large majorities of the
- 37 People from all parts of the political spectrum believe that corporations and other artificial
- 38 entities have too much power in our political system; and
- 40 WHEREAS we the People are supreme, and have the power to overrule the
- 41 Supreme Court through a constitutional amendment; and
AR supporting Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Page 2 of 2 to address effects of the Citizens United decision
WHEREAS over 800 municipalities and local governments, and 19 state governments, have already passed resolutions calling for an amendment to the United States Constitution to address the types of issues identified above;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Anchorage Assembly supports, and calls for, an amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing that:
Section 1. The United States Constitution does not create or grant or protect any constitutional rights for corporations or other artificial entities; and
Section 2. That money is not speech, and that the government has the right to enact statutes and regulations governing the expenditure of money to influence elections and political decision making, to the end that all voices and opinions of the People can be expressed and heard.
The Municipal Clerk is directed to deliver copies of this resolution to the Anchorage delegation to the Alaska Legislature and to Alaska’s delegation to the United States Congress.
PASSED AND APPROVED by the Anchorage Assembly this ____ day of ______________, 20____.
This is the most organized effort to blunt the effects of the Citizens United decision. While it won't solve the campaign finance problems completely, and it raises some free speech questions, I think it forces the debate to a higher profile. That's worth supporting this.
Here's a list of Assembly members' email addresses.
If you don't know who your Assembly members are (most people have two), here's a map of the districts. For more precise maps you can click on each district: ( District 1) ( District 2) ( District 3) ( District 4) ( District 5) ( District 6)
Even if you don't want to call or attend the meeting tonight, you should at least know who your Assembly members are.
[UPDATE Dec 22, 2018: I'm told it passed with little or no comment.]
WHEREAS over 800 municipalities and local governments, and 19 state governments, have already passed resolutions calling for an amendment to the United States Constitution to address the types of issues identified above;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Anchorage Assembly supports, and calls for, an amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing that:
Section 1. The United States Constitution does not create or grant or protect any constitutional rights for corporations or other artificial entities; and
Section 2. That money is not speech, and that the government has the right to enact statutes and regulations governing the expenditure of money to influence elections and political decision making, to the end that all voices and opinions of the People can be expressed and heard.
The Municipal Clerk is directed to deliver copies of this resolution to the Anchorage delegation to the Alaska Legislature and to Alaska’s delegation to the United States Congress.
PASSED AND APPROVED by the Anchorage Assembly this ____ day of ______________, 20____.
This is the most organized effort to blunt the effects of the Citizens United decision. While it won't solve the campaign finance problems completely, and it raises some free speech questions, I think it forces the debate to a higher profile. That's worth supporting this.
Here's a list of Assembly members' email addresses.
If you don't know who your Assembly members are (most people have two), here's a map of the districts. For more precise maps you can click on each district: ( District 1) ( District 2) ( District 3) ( District 4) ( District 5) ( District 6)
Even if you don't want to call or attend the meeting tonight, you should at least know who your Assembly members are.
[UPDATE Dec 22, 2018: I'm told it passed with little or no comment.]
Monday, December 17, 2018
How And Why To Talk About Climate Change - Katharine Hayhoe
Katherine Hayhoe is a climate scientist and a Christian Fundamentalist.
In this Ted Talk, she talks about how to talk to others about Climate Change by sharing your values and why climate change matters to you.
Anchorage just got through a large earthquake, one of a magnitude that has killed hundreds and thousands in other locations. We got through it reasonably well, in part because after 1964 earthquake, geologists and engineers came up with building codes that protected most buildings.
In this Ted Talk, she talks about how to talk to others about Climate Change by sharing your values and why climate change matters to you.
Anchorage just got through a large earthquake, one of a magnitude that has killed hundreds and thousands in other locations. We got through it reasonably well, in part because after 1964 earthquake, geologists and engineers came up with building codes that protected most buildings.
We need to be looking ahead right now, to implement changes that will reduce our carbon usage before we heat the planet to the level that we won't be able to easily adapt to. And there are lots of ways to do this. She talks about some of these options in the talk too.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Nancy Wilson Was The Soundtrack Of My Life
I'm not sure exactly when Nancy Wilson came into my life. Maybe the end of high school or the beginning of college. I was even in an elevator with her before a concert at UCLA once. I couldn't say a word. Her albums lifted me out of whatever problems I was facing.
They still transport me to another world, even if I have to move the arm when the needle his a scratch in my 50 year old vinyls.
It's hard to believe that golden voice has been silenced. This is just a sampling of a few vocal jewels.
Here's more factual stuff from the LA Times.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Some Of The Best Things In Life Are Free
After a beautiful sunny Southern California day yesterday, it was grey most of the day today. But by 4:45pm as the sun was setting, it made a colorful appearance. It went from cheery glow to
dazzling in about 15 minutes. The fact that Night Market Sahm doesn't open until 5pm, meant we were out on the street to watch the show.
We ate here at the beginning of this year when we were working on my mom's house and it hadn't been open long. The laab was so hot I had to take breaks. But J, whose tongue is more sensitive than mine, also kept eating it because it was so good. This time, while it was still spicy, it wasn't nearly as hot and I don't think it was as addictively tasty either. But we did finish it. We ordered way too much, plus they gave us a complimentary salad. So we have snacks for the next few days.
[Laab is a northeastern Thai dish. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 60's, you could get laab, barbecued chicken, and somtam (very spicy green papaya salad) along with sticky rice (all northeastern dishes) in Bangkok if you went to a Thai boxing match. 'Sahm' means three in Thai. There's also a Night Market and Night Market Song in the LA area.]
dazzling in about 15 minutes. The fact that Night Market Sahm doesn't open until 5pm, meant we were out on the street to watch the show.
We ate here at the beginning of this year when we were working on my mom's house and it hadn't been open long. The laab was so hot I had to take breaks. But J, whose tongue is more sensitive than mine, also kept eating it because it was so good. This time, while it was still spicy, it wasn't nearly as hot and I don't think it was as addictively tasty either. But we did finish it. We ordered way too much, plus they gave us a complimentary salad. So we have snacks for the next few days.
[Laab is a northeastern Thai dish. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 60's, you could get laab, barbecued chicken, and somtam (very spicy green papaya salad) along with sticky rice (all northeastern dishes) in Bangkok if you went to a Thai boxing match. 'Sahm' means three in Thai. There's also a Night Market and Night Market Song in the LA area.]
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