Tuesday Bernie Group Toons

University of Oregon investigating 'disgraceful' trashing of Lake Shasta campsite

By Andrew Theen |

on May 23, 2016


Park rangers on a routine patrol Sunday discovered an "incredible amount of trash" left at a popular Lake Shasta island campsite that included a number of University of Oregon-related items.

Photos of the trash left on Slaughterhouse Island at the popular Northern California lake went viral Monday — and work crews are still cleaning up the remnants.

Phyllis Swanson, a spokeswoman for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest said about 60 houseboats were docked at the popular site this weekend. It's an annual, and unsanctioned trip for fraternity and sorority members along the West Coast. It's not out of the norm to have upwards of 1,000 college students on the lake, she said.

"What was different about this one," Swanson said, "is they left behind an incredible amount of trash."

more
http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2016/05/university_of_oregon_investiga.html

Looks like they were copying the Bundy clan

Ancient pottery harbors 5,000-year-old beer recipe

Fermented beverages have long been a part of social and religious rituals. Now, researchers have identified a beer-making toolkit at an archaeological site in northern China with a 5,000-year-old recipe for beer.

Ancient pottery vessels, dating to 3400-2900 BC, contained a fermented mixture of barley, broomcorn millets, and other starchy plants. It is the earliest direct evidence of beer brewing in ancient China, the authors say.

“Beer was probably an important part of ritual feasting in ancient China,” says study author Jiajing Wang of Stanford University. “So it’s possible that this finding of beer is associated with increased social complexity and changing events of the time.” The discovery is described today in PNAS.

Technicians excavated the artifacts in 2004-2006 from two pits at the Mijiaya archaeological site in northern China. The pits also contained stoves, likely used to heat the grains for mashing. Stanford professor Li Liu became aware of the pottery shards while reviewing a report from the excavation, and immediately noticed a vessel shaped like a funnel, which would have been used to pour a newly made beverage into a storage container.

- See more at: http://blog.pnas.org/2016/05/journal-club-ancient-pottery-harbors-5000-year-old-beer-recipe/

Bernie Is Building an Army of Primary Challengers

By Jim Newell

Tim Canova is not Dave Brat.

Sure, Canova, who’s waging a primary challenge against Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida’s 23rd congressional district, is an underdog from the academic world taking on an entrenched opponent who raises obscene sums of cash for her party, just as Brat was in his 2014 challenge against then–House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. And yes, in both cases, it’s that very fundraising ability that made Wasserman Schultz and Cantor powerful within their own party structures but also targets for their party bases, who have viewed them as subservient to their respective donor classes.

The difference is that Canova, unlike Brat, is a fundraising powerhouse himself—and that was even true before Sen. Bernie Sanders, in an aggro move for someone trying to become leader of the Democratic Party, endorsed Canova’s bid to topple the current chair of the Democratic National Committee. Whereas Brat’s challenge to Cantor slipped under the radar, Canova’s bid against Wasserman Schultz is now assured to be one of the most closely watched primary contests of the cycle. If there is to be a concrete Sanders legacy, it will be measured by the ability of those whom we’ll uncleverly dub “Bernie Democrats” to mimic his campaign model against members of the Democratic establishment—but win. No pressure, Tim.

And Canova is a Bernie Democrat right out of central casting. When news first broke over the weekend that Sanders was endorsing him, it may have seemed like a spite play against Wasserman Schultz, who Sanders has attacked over a litany of perceived botched calls this cycle. But Canova is more than just the random name Sanders found while Googling to see if there was a vehicle through which to troll Wasserman Schultz. The two have a professional history: Canova advised Sanders on Federal Reserve reform as part of a 2011 panel organized by the senator. Canova, a law professor at Florida’s Nova Southeastern University, positions criticism of monetary policy higher than your average politician, and he lines up similarly well with Sanders on trade, campaign finance, and Wall Street regulation.

more
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/05/bernie_is_building_an_army_of_democratic_primary_challengers.html

Civil Antitrust Lawsuits Reinstated Against 16 Banks in Libor Case

Sixteen of the world’s largest banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. must face antitrust lawsuits accusing them of hurting investors who bought securities tied to Libor by rigging an interest-rate benchmark, a ruling that an appeals court warned could devastate them.

The appellate judges reversed a lower-court ruling on one issue -- whether the investors had adequately claimed in their complaint to have been harmed -- while sending the case back to consider another issue: whether the plaintiffs are the proper parties to sue, in part because their claim if successful provides for triple damages that could overwhelm the banks.

"Requiring the banks to pay treble damages to every plaintiff who ended up on the wrong side of an independent Libor‐denominated derivative swap would, if appellants’ allegations were proved at trial, not only bankrupt 16 of the world’s most important financial institutions, but also vastly extend the potential scope of antitrust liability in myriad markets where derivative instruments have proliferated," the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York said in the ruling.

Bank of America Corp., HSBC Holdings Plc, Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, Royal Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc are also among the defendants sued in Manhattan.

more
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-23/banks-are-ordered-by-court-to-defend-libor-antitrust-lawsuit

USDA Issues Historic Fine Against Biotech Company in Animal Welfare Settlement

Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. has agreed to pay a $3.5 million fine, and revoke its research registration and dealer license in accordance with terms of a legal settlement with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

The fine is the largest ever issued by the USDA for Animal Welfare Act violations. The largest previous fine imposed for animal-welfare complaints was a $270,000 penalty in 2011 against Feld Entertainment, the operators of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Baily Circus, according to a report by Nature.

Santa Cruz Biotech was ranked the second largest antibody supplier in the U.S. in 2012, according to an international survey by The Scientist. The firm harvests antibodies from the blood of thousands of goats and rabbits, and sells the molecules to public and private research groups. The antibodies are mainly used in biology labs to deliver treatments to cells.

The settlement, which was announced May 20, was the final resolution of ongoing citations and complaints between the USDA and Santa Cruz Biotech over the course of the last few years.

“On this 50th anniversary of the Animal Welfare Act, the USDA has at long last secured a penalty that is commensurate with the allegations,” said Cathy Liss, president of the Animal Welfare Institute, which brought media attention to the complaints and reports against Santa Cruz Biotech for years.



more
http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2016/05/usda-issues-historic-fine-against-biotech-company-animal-welfare-settlement

Peanut Death Restaurateur Jailed For Six Years

Source: Sky News

The owner of a curry house where a customer died eating food containing peanuts has been setenced to six years in jail for causing the man's death.

Mohammed Zaman was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence when a customer with a severe peanut allergy died after eating a takeaway - even though the diner had insisted his meal must be nut-free.

Paul Wilson suffered a severe anaphylactic shock after ordering the meal from the Indian Garden restaurant in North Yorkshire.

Teesside Crown Court was told that Zaman "put profit before safety" by failing to warn customers with allergies that he was using peanut ingredients.

Read more: http://news.sky.com/story/1700833/peanut-death-restaurateur-jailed-for-six-years

Genentech accused again of cheating health care providers

By ED SILVERMAN


Yet another health care provider is accusing Genentech of fudging the amount of the Herceptin medicine that the company provides in each vial, causing the facility and many other hospitals to overpay for the pricey treatment.

In the latest instance, the Comanche County Memorial Hospital filed a lawsuit alleging that Genentech, which is a unit of Roche, shortchanges hospitals by placing less of the breast cancer medication in vials, or alternatively, misrepresenting the amount of the drug that must be mixed in a solution. Under either scenario, the lawsuit contends providers would unnecessarily be forced to purchase additional vials.

Given that the drug has a limited shelf life, this can have an even greater financial impact on smaller hospitals or clinics that do not treat a large number of cancer patients, according to the lawsuit, which the Oklahoma hospital filed last week in federal court in San Francisco. Herceptin costs about $70,000 for a full year of weekly infusions, the hospital noted.

At least a dozen such lawsuits have been filed over the past year by hospitals and physician practices around the country. Each one noted that Genentech maintains that its medicine comes in vials as a freeze-dried powder, which must be mixed with a liquid. But the hospitals and health care providers contend that the resulting solution yields less than the amount claimed by the drug maker. An email filed as an exhibit in one of the lawsuits supports this contention, according to Robert Glass, who represents several of the health care providers.

more
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2016/05/20/genentech-herceptin-prices/

The Latest from Big Pharma- Gummy Drugs

By MEGHANA KESHAVAN @megkesh
MAY 23, 2016
There’s a new, candy-flavored amphetamine on the market.

Adzenys, as the chewable, fruity medication is called, packs the punch of Adderall and is geared toward children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The drug hit the market last week and is already stirring controversy: Some psychiatrists worry that Adzenys will accelerate a trend toward overmedicating kids — and could be yet another gateway into ADHD drug abuse.

Presenting amphetamines in a tasty, convenient package is “a recipe for people to request it and then sell it,” said Dr. Mukund Gnanadesikan, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Napa, Calif.

more

https://www.statnews.com/2016/05/23/adhd-drug-concerns/

The U.S. is 'basically at full employment'

Source: CNN

America's job crisis is over, says one of the nation's top economists.

"We're basically at full employment," said San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams on Monday. "That's very good news."

Williams believes the U.S. economy is "back on track," and the Fed deserves a lot of the credit for the dramatic turnaround. (President Obama too has been trying to take a "victory lap" on the economy).

Unlike presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, Williams sees a lot to be happy about. He points to "good" growth of about 2% a year, and an unemployment rate that went from 10% at the worst of the Great Recession back down to just 5% now.

Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/23/news/economy/us-full-employment-williams/index.html