California may soon drive a hole through Washington’s tolerance for — and protection of — price gouging on drugs. A measure on the November ballot, Proposition 61, would bar state agencies from paying more for prescription drugs than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does. Congress generally prohibits the U.S. government from negotiating prescription drug […]
Froma Harrop
Posted inOp-Eds
New York nonplused by bomb threats
The explosives going off in the dumpster in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea was not a major terrorist event — except on the TV news channels. No one was killed, fortunately. And thanks to superb police work, a suspect was captured within 48 hours. On the night after, Sunday, trains from the northern suburbs were […]
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Choice of vice president makes a difference
A friend 15 years older than Hillary Clinton recently came down with a mild pneumonia that sounds just like hers. Five days later, he was on a ladder pruning trees. The doctor wanted more rest, but he’s fine. And so will Clinton be. I will dispense with the interminable chitchat of whether she should have […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Main Street shopping competes with Internet
Wal-Mart is seeing the future, and the future isn’t more shoppers driving through stop-and-go traffic to big boxes at the edge of town. It’s online shopping. The giant retailer plans to plunk down a princely $3.3 billion for Jet.com, an e-commerce company. Using the same crystal ball, Macy’s says it will close at least 100 […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Trump has no plans to help America’s poor
Some harsh truths: Years ago, blue-collar America suffered mightily in the loss of manufacturing jobs. Everyone knows that. Many new, high-paying factory jobs are today going unfilled because workers aren’t being trained for them. Some know that. Donald Trump has done about zero to offer these Americans a better tomorrow. Not nearly enough working white […]
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Proposed health care plans quite different
We may be getting ahead of ourselves assuming that Hillary Clinton will be next president, but let’s proceed on that (comforting) notion. Few are better prepared to preserve and improve upon the Affordable Care Act than Clinton, who has long immersed herself in health care policy. Obamacare is complicated — built that way to get […]
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Road to Donald Trump wasn’t built in a day
The implosion is so big it’s drowning out the “he said this monstrous thing” or “that easily caught lie.” Donald Trump has moved from the chaos candidate to the kamikaze candidate to the crazy-as-a-loon candidate. But none of his behavior is new. He’s been incoherent and ignorant — vulgar and indecent — since he started […]
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Bernie zealots disrespect their own candidate
One hesitates to discuss the small group of Bernie Sanders followers throwing tantrums at the Democratic convention. Some 90 percent of Sanders backers say they have already moved their support to Hillary Clinton. But when a tiny number — some with duct tape on their mouths saying “silenced” — marched out of the hall and […]
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Cure for some VA waits creates new problems
We who oppose calls to privatize the work of the Veterans Affairs Department are sorely tested at times. Complaints two years ago of unreasonably long waits for care at VA health facilities led to “reforms” in several VA programs. In 2013, applications for VA disability benefits were piling up, with some claims languishing for over […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Questions remain about Sept. 11 Saudi role
Formerly classified, 28 pages of a probe into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks are a mystery no longer. Their release 14 years after Congress made the rest of its report public was supposed to end suspicions of an official Saudi role in the horror. It did not. Nearly 15 years has passed since terrorists weaponized […]