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The Supreme Court's ruling against Wyeth knocks down a 2006 Bush administration regulation which declared that permitting product-liability law suits conflicted with "FDA's role "as the expert federal agency responsible for evaluating and regulating drugs." Justice Paul Stevens writing the majority opinion said the Bush position is "entitled to no weight, and was "inherently suspect because no evidence was given in support of its position and the states and the public did not get an opportunity to comment before it was issued. Wyeth had argued that it met FDA guidelines in the label for its antinausea drug Phenergan, and wasn't liable when a 63 year old guitar player lost her arm after receiving the drug.

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This editorial Board opinion piece in the WSJ gives exceptional insights into major issues facing Germany, the cost of electricity generated from renewables, failure to meet climate change emissions targets set by the government, and the difficulty of forming a new coalition government with conflicting goals of the Greens vs the CDU and the FDP.  By one estimate it cost households and business about $125 billion extra in higher electricity bills for 2000-2015 to subsidize renewable energy from solar and wind. Utilities are required to buy renewable at above market rates, especially since the energy revolution called Energiewende was launched by chancellor Merkel in 2010. German electricity prices are about 36 cents per kilowatt hour compared to 13 cents in America. The 2011 decision following the Fukushima disaster to phase out nuclear power by 2022 made the effort to meet renewables targets of 40% by 2020 compared to 1990 -exceeding the 20% for the EU- even harder. Germany sees a 30% target for 2020 as reachable.   Even though renewables can generate 50% of required energy supplies, only 30% of the supplies are utilized as the renewables are generated mostly in the north of the country and there is a lack of transmission lines to bring it to the industrial south. The dirty secret says the WSJ editorial board for the renewable story in Germany is that a lot of coal is used in dirty coal plants to meet electricity needs when wind and solar energy are not available. Cheaper coal not natural gas is preferred for such generation as daytime peak use that recoups more expensive gas cost is managed with renewables. Leading to the situation that Germany generates only 9% of energy from natural gas compared to 30% in the U.S.. The further Germany has gone in renewables has also led to the paradox of increased dependence on coal. Getting to the new Jamaica coalition being planned between the CDU and the FDP and the Greens. The problem is that the Greens want to see the 20 most polluting coal plants closed, the CDU and the FDP are willing to close only ten coal polluting plants. The WSJ's opinion is that voters chose the AfD right wing party with 13% of the vote because of the platform promise to shut down Merkel's Energiewende policy.   ...

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In this interview with Herndon of the NYT Bernie Sanders refutes the labels "progressive" or "left" and says it is simply about policy that benefits the workers and families that make up the vast majority of this Nation. Sanders says 60% of workers are living from paycheck to paycheck. The vast majority of people 60-70% support Medicare for All, improvements in Social Security, cutting pharmaceutical costs, and tution support to make higher education accessible to all. Why he asks do workers support Trump? He says it is because the truth is that the Democratic party has abandoned its roots. He does not go into this, yet it can be said that the rise of the Tech industry in the last two decades has led to tech billionaires and business people coopting the Democratic party for their agenda. In the last year of the Obama administration it was evident that Rural America and people who represent rural America such as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack of Iowa felt ignored while Obama spent more time with tech and internet business people. Former president Trump simply stepped into this void as Democrats failed to turn up for rural America. President Biden has turned things around by making Tom Vilsack an important part of his administrations with the president listening to  him and others speaking for rural America. The passion with which Senator Pat Schumer talked recently on CBS Face the Nation about bringing broadband to rural America shows how Biden and Harris, Harris and Walz see Rural America. This Democratic ticket is fighting for Rural America every step of the way to bring hope and a better life to Rural America. Sanders reminds people of FDR in 1936 after four years of fighting the Depression and improving lives there was so much that needed to be done. It is the same today and Sanders is wading into this fight with Harris and Walz in the same way as FDR did in 1936. ...

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David French in the NYT describes a moral center that is avoiding extremes on college campuses. French quotes from W.B. Yeats poem The Second Coming that was written in the period after the First World War during the Russian Civil War, when things appeared to be in disarray. "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold... The best lack all conviction/ while the worst are full of passionate intensity." The United States is built on a series of ideas from the Declaration of Independence, ideas that were revisited and relived at important times such as the Civil War with Lincoln and the Great Depression with FDR. It is that moral center that French speaks of when he cites Yeats and talks about it being challenged from extreme views on the right and the left in politics and in society.

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Under the new government of Chancellor Scholz in Germany, Robert Habeck of the Greens will head a new expanded Economy ministry that also covers climate and energy policy, his ally Annalena Baerbock will head the Foreign Ministry. FDP leader Christian Lindner will head the Finance Ministry. Mr Scholz favors closer fiscal support for Europe as he plans to modernize the German economy and continue major support to European economies.

A partner in his own law firm, Scholz was mayor of Hamburg between two jobs working as first minister of labor and social affairs in 2007-2009 and vice chancellor, finance minister in 2018. It is as finance minister that Scholz pioneered the new approach of Germany to help massively other countries in the European Union in facing the pandemic with shared debt and public finances.

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DJT puts a 50% tariff on Brazil on JUly 9, 2025 following the trial of former president Bolsonaro's. In a long letter DJT says the trial of Bolsonaro was similar to the trial he Trump faced in the US in 2024 by zealous prosecutors. Da Silva is president of Brazil and says Brazil is a sovereign country. He was briefly jailed during the Bolsonaro government but won the election in Brazil in 2022.

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Keir Starmer of Britain joins president Joe Biden as two leaders pursuing similar goals to rebuild their countries after the pandemic, and tackle climate change, and build infrastructure and public services. Labour and FDR inspired Biden Democrats have much in common.

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US president Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure spending plan is being compared to the New Deal infrastructure plans of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930's. FDR was preceded by Republican administrations under Hoover and other presidents who followed policies that can be compared to the Reagan administration policies when public sector spending was not seen to be as efficient as private sector spending. By the time of the economic collapse in the 1930's it had become clear that only the federal government could save the country in the depression. During the pandemic and collapse of the health systems it was clear that only the federal government could save the country. It is now also evident that infrastructure building led by the government can rebuild America. In the 1930's and during other periods in American history such as the building of the Erie Canal and other public sector infrastructure projects in the 19th century it was the federal government that led the way to building America. ...

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The reasons Exubera was conceived by Pfizer, the events leading to the persistance with backing Exubera with large investments in manufacturing and marketing and buying out Sanofi's stake in the face of repeated setbacks, the difficulties posed by a insulin inhaler from the very beginning. Bulkiness the size of a flashlight this inhaler was embarrassing to use in public, it required regular lung exams because the FDA placed a warning on theproduct because only 10% of the product went where it was intended and 90% was inhaled into the lungs and who knows what that could do especially for asthmatics but also for others. It cost twice as much instead of $2 or 3 it cost $5 per day. And the 3 milligram packet had to be loaded into the inhaler which required instructions on how to use, one doctor saying it woul take an hour to educate a patient compared to 5 minutes for an insulin pen. Abbott and Lilly have insulin inhalers that they are bringing to market in 2009. Abbott's uses aerosol insulin instead of powder, Lilly's is the size of a cellphone. Will they work for customers? Pfizer attributed as key cause of the failure to the need for regular lung exams because of the regulator's warnings for insulin inhaled into the lungs. Are Lilly and Abbott taking this problem seriously?...

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The name on the bill says it all -The Bipartisan Debt Agreement 2023. As Budget Director Shalanda Young says if you look at it as Democratic or Republican, you have lost already. It is truly bipartisan with the support of the Minority Leader of the Senate, Republican Mitch McConnell, and the Speaker, House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy. Strange as it may sound it sets the stage for other wins as the President in the end stakes his legislative achievements, a strong economy, and a renewing America in the world, for a national bipartisan win for the presidency against his challenger Mr. Trump's purportedly national yet deeply personal agenda. It shows traces of the fights in the past of TR, of FDR, of Lincoln, and Washington, alternately Republican and Democratic but truly American in imagination and foresight.

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Greens and SPD Social Democrat parties in Germany favor social spending, infrastructure spending, and climate change investments. Free Democrats party holding the Finance ministry supports  a brake on spending. There is no agreement on the budget in this coalition, says DW.com. SPD and FDP are not increasing in popularity and SPD could lose the chancellorship if there is a new election. The Greens and the CDU are increasing in popularity. For this reason the coalition is likely to continue even with this disagreement on spending.  SPD and Greens say higher taxes and elimination of some subsidies is one solution. The common platform has not resolved these differences. In the US president Biden has retained the support of voters in the midterm elections and has gained bipartisan support for building infrastructure and investing in renewable energy, cutting health care costs.

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Presidential centers reflecting 100 years of history echo Mr. Biden's call about the struggle for the soul of America that was made in Philadelphia at Independence Hall only recently. It includes the presidential centers of the following presidents

FDR and Truman, LBJ and Kennedy, Reagan, except for Eisenhower's all of the most respected presidents of this century. If there was a presidential center for Lincoln one would think it would have also made the call that Mr. Biden has made. Economic democracy has to be part of this which Mr. Biden is implementing with his programs and working for the dignity and respect for America's workers and their families. This is reshaping America in 2023 and into the future. Germany is also following the same path- "dignity" pf workers and families uppermost for president Scholz.

 

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Scholz called Lindner, the head of the  Free Democrats, who as Finance minister in the coalition with Greens and SPD, was instrumental in blocking much needed infrastructure and other investment in the German economy.  Scholz said of Lindner that his attitude was "disrespectful," "egoistic" and "small-minded." Lindner wrote a paper calling for cuts in investment, welfare cuts and reducing climate change action preparing to leave the coalition to join the opposition Christian Democrats. Yet Lindner's FDP has less than 4% popular support and the timing is poor for his actions. For once the SPD and the Greens decided to stand upto this kind of behaviour and Scholz fired Lindner.

Scholz called for a confidence vote in mid-January as both sides plan on taking it to the voters in an new election.

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The second time around European leaders are more adept at handling a new DJT administration in the US. Scholz meets with Orban in Budapest. All European leaders meet in Budapest to assert a combined approach to Ukraine, to the US tariffs plans. European Union leaders feel confident they can come up with solutions acceptable to Europe, and assert Europe's interests without being dependent on the US.

Even the collapse of the Scholz German coalition government with the FDP party and Lindner defecting is taken in stride by saying that a new coalition will take its place. The loss of the FDP is not seen as critical as it is down to less than 4% in popular support in Germany. Orban and Hungary are also brought into the discussion to present a united Europe.

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Mark Landler of the NYT looks at presidents TR, FDR, Reagan, Carter, and other presidents, and compares their moral leadership with the situation under president Trump after the Charlottesville car attack. Landler says of president Trump that his reluctance to pass moral judgement is a genuine part of president Trump's beliefs. This is also why Trump has not seen the actions of some world leaders in moral terms, including Putin in Syria. Yet as is seen from the time of Jefferson and Lincoln, U.S. presidents have adopted a moral tone. This has not changed since then. The presidency is seen as a place that puts forward the best ideals of the country. Even though leaders have not always lived up to these ideals-  Landler cites the internment of Japanese in World War II by FDR, the failure of Obama to set up humanitarian safe zones for refugees in Syria, Nixon's and Clinton's personal moral failures. Yet the idea always has remained that this was part of the president's moral role and duty- to set the tone for the whole country, not to reject the idea of moral judgement itself as immaterial and not relevant, as president Trump has done. It may be a time for the country as a whole to reflect and move back to where it was, recovering what it has lost by grasping the significance of this moral idea. To do this by building literacy, tolerance, and fairness into all its actions, making this a part of the foundation of national character.        ...

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Differences between the Christian Democrats and the CSU over immigration and Merkel's open door policy are only one of the issues for a new Merkel government. There are differences between the CDU and the Free Democrats. Add to this the difference between the Greens and the Free Democrats on environment and business policies.  As a result 2 months after the German election no clear agreement has been reached for a new government made up of the CDU, CSU, Free Democrats and the Greens.  It looks like a difficult coalition to form requiring all the skills of chancellor Merkel and her allies, and in uncharted territory. The FDP leader Lindner sees a 50-50 chance for the talks. The Greens do not want a new election. Merkel's CDU party won about 33% of the vote. To not form a minority government she needs the FDP and the Greens to get over 50% of voters represented in the new government.

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RFK Jr. is confirmed as Health Secretary by Senate vote 52 to 48. RFK Jr. now takes up the fight against obesity and poor health in America to Make America Healthy Again. He called for the banning of drug ads on television and said the health agencies were broken with FDA and other agencies too cosy with the drug industry and the food industry. He has also called for the banning of chemical additives including dyes in food.  There is nationwide support from Moms and parents who are concerned about the deterioration in health in America. Many see him as fighting entrenched interests in the food and drug industry on behalf of parents and children. During the Senate hearings it became apparent that only someone like RFK Jr. with decades of experience as environmental lawyer and fight with entrenched lobbies and industries could tackle the fight needed to get America Healthy Again. RFK reminded viewers about his father Robert Kennedy telling him as a boy of 13 years to keep a fierce skepticism. ...

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Seen in a larger context, the Biden tax pledge seen from the southern and midwestern and less well off states is not about taxes, it is about federal revenues that build the infrastructure and services in these states that increase the standard of living. This happened in the 1930's and 1940's under FDR and Truman, in the 1950's under Eisenhower, in the 1960's under Kennedy/LBJ. And is happening again under Biden today. Lets not forget that president John F. Kennedy says in his speeches that these regions in America in the 1860's under Lincoln were in development close to what prevailed in the 1960's in India, Ceylon, Chile, Turkey or China. The Biden pledge not to increase taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 is significant because it grasps the situation in America where extraordinary gains in wealth since 1980 have gone only some of it to the top 1-2% in midwestern states and southern states, and most of it to the top 3-5% in coastal states population in the east and west, New York and California, where the finance and tech industry are based. In Michigan and Wisconsin only 2% of households make more than $400,000, in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona and Florida 3%. WSJ shows a map of the US showing this for individual states. The core southern states have 2% of households with incomes over $400,000- including Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, with Mississippi less than 1%. It is only segregation in the late 1960's and culture issues such as abortion that have turned them from Democratic states to Republican states as they were the largest beneficiaries of taxes diverted into investment in these places since FDR/Truman and John Kennedy/LBJ. It was JFK who came up with the phrase "a rising tide lifts all boats" when he opened federally funded projects in Arkansas. Seen objectively the large investments made under Lincoln, FDR/Truman, Kennedy/LBJ from tax revenues are what changed this region from conditions that prevailed in less developed countries that John Kennedy points out in his speeches, true for the midwest, parts of the west, and the southern states alike.  President Kennedy said on Feb. 25, 1963 to the American Bankers Association Symposium on Economic Growth: "Today, many Americans tend to think of developing underdeveloped countries in terms only of faraway nations. But in 1863, even measured by 1963 dollars, our own per capita income--and this should be a source of encouragement to many who are laboring with the problem of underdevelopment in far-off countries--our own per capita income was less than $1 a day, approximately the same as Chile's. Nearly 60 percent of our labor force was engaged in agriculture, the same percentage as is today engaged in the Philippines. An estimated 20 percent of our population was illiterate, the same percentage of the population of Ceylon. Only one-fifth of our 34 million people lived in towns or cities of over 5,000 in population, as is roughly true now of Turkey. In 1863, this Nation had fewer railroad tracks laid than India has today, and its children had a shorter life expectancy than a child born this year in Thailand or Zanzibar."   ...

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Karl Lauterbach, a popular physician, is the SPD's and Olaf Scholz's choice for Health Minister in Germany. Lauterbach says he will strengthen Germany's health care system and its vaccination drive. Klara Geywitz will head the new ministry of Construction and Housing setup by the SPD and Scholz, one of 2 East Germans in the new Cabinet. The new government plans to build 400,000 new apartments every year to ease a massive affordable housing shortage. Hubertus Heil will remain Labor and Social Affairs Minister to reorganize the unemployment benefits system and raise pay of care home workers. SPD will take 8 of 17 Cabinet positions, with the other nine going to Greens and FDP. There will be an equal number of male and female ministers- one of Scholz's promises. Germany moves in a new direction with new hope for the future.

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On foreign policy the new German government of Olaf Scholz seeks to build a stronger European Union. Scholz will also follow a policy of close ties with the US. On relations with China Scholz has not stated much. Greens party foreign minister Baerbock's views and Scholz's views suggest a close relationship with the US - a call with president Biden will follow visits to Paris and Brussels. Scholz says "It is now clear what binds us together," referring to democratic values.

Video of all members of the new German cabinet is shown in DW.com, individually with each minister's background, part of the new government of SPD's Olaf Scholz. Wolfgang Schmidt is Chief of Staff and Minister for Special Affairs for Mr. Scholz. Vice Chancellor and Economy+ Climate minister is Robert Habeck. Education, Digital and Transportation Infrastructure, Finance, went to the FDP. Other ministries were divided between the Greens and the SPD. 

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Jimmy Carter is collecting eulogies at 99 years. He has outlived all presidents. Carter lives with his wife Rosalynn in a two bedroom one story rambler in rural Georgia since 1961, in a house that is so plain and simple that it can only be compared to one that dates back to the mid fifties the simple house in Independence Missouri in which US President Harry Truman lived after leaving Washington in 1952. Both two of the most revered Democrats of this century. At a time when Mr. Reagan has a diminished reputation from all the wars in the Middle East that started from his policies and the failure of laissez faire in bringing fairness to working people and families in America, Truman, Carter and LBJ are seeing their reputations enhanced to a remarkable degree. Building on the work of FDR and Truman, LBJ helped to build Social Security and Medicare for a fairer, better America respecting the dignity of men and women.

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The WSJ first reported just days before the 2016 presidential election about National Enquirer suppressing a story relating to Karen McDougall and the former president. That story did not get much media coverage. In 2018 WSJ reported a similar story relating to Stormy Daniels and the former president. At the time not much attention was paid to these stories says WSJ and the legal consequences were not anticipated. Last week a NY jury made a conviction on 34 counts of the former president Trump on the Stormy Daniels hush money payment with testimony by the former president's lawyer David Cohen. During the history of the US since its founding in 1776 under men of courage and leadership qualities of George Washington, John Adams and Jefferson, to the recent presidents from Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy-LBJ, never faced a situation of this kind. 

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Rep Marie Perez 34 years, of Washington State, is one of the new members of Congress who feel there is a sense of disrespect for people without college degrees, that Democrats have to go back to the days of John Kennedy when a majority of voters without college degrees supported him. John Kennedy had more support from people without collrege degrees than with college degrees. In 1960 John Kennedy had 52% of people with high school education, 65 years later Biden had only 41%. The 11 percentage points gap is what is needed to be filled to bring the Democratic party back to what its core values are, core values lost after entry of Silicon Valley people and finance industry people into the Democratic party -muddying up the core principles of the Democrats since Woodrow Wilson and FDR from the 1900's to Kennedy in the 1960's, standing up for the rights and aspirations of workers and families.