Category Archives: Ron Paul

4 PM production / Shutterstock.com

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on ChamberOfCommerce.org.

Marriage and divorce in the U.S. today are starkly different than in earlier eras of the countrys history.

A series of economic, legal, and social shifts reshaped marriage in the second half of the 20th century. More women began working outside of the home in the post-World War II era, which provided avenues to financial security and independence outside of marriage. Greater emphasis on postsecondary educational attainment and career development have led young people to wait longer to enter marriage.

States began to adopt no-fault divorce laws throughout the 1960s and 1970s that made it easier to end a marriage. Meanwhile, changing social and cultural attitudes have made it more common for couples to cohabitate, combine finances, and raise children prior to getting married or without getting married at all.

These trends have contributed to a decline in the overall number of marriages and to delays in when people get married for the first time. In the U.S., there are currently only 6.5 marriages per 1,000 people each year, compared with 10.9 five decades ago.

These shifts have also affected how likely married couples are to stay together. As women entered the workforce in the mid-20th century and feminism and the sexual revolution took hold, rates of divorce rose quickly throughout the 1960s and 1970s. From 1960 to 1980, the divorce rate per 1,000 people in the U.S. more than doubled from 2.2 to 5.2. But the rate began to fall steadily after 1980, and as of 2018, the rate of divorce had dropped to 2.9 per 1,000 people.

To determine the most divorced locations, researchers at ChamberOfCommerce.org calculated the percentage of adults currently divorced. The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureaus 2020 American Community Survey.

Here are the most-divorced cities in the U.S.

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 12.7%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.0%

Percentage of adults currently married: 46.1%

Percentage of adults never married: 34.9%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 12.8%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.7%

Percentage of adults currently married: 28.5%

Percentage of adults never married: 50.3%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 12.9%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.3%

Percentage of adults currently married: 45.1%

Percentage of adults never married: 34.2%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.0%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 1.5%

Percentage of adults currently married: 49.9%

Percentage of adults never married: 31.1%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.0%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.0%

Percentage of adults currently married: 41.9%

Percentage of adults never married: 36.6%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.3%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.2%

Percentage of adults currently married: 39.7%

Percentage of adults never married: 39.7%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.5%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 1.9%

Percentage of adults currently married: 45.9%

Percentage of adults never married: 33.4%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.5%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.4%

Percentage of adults currently married: 38.5%

Percentage of adults never married: 40.5%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.5%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 3.4%

Percentage of adults currently married: 24.7%

Percentage of adults never married: 52.3%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.5%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 3.5%

Percentage of adults currently married: 36.8%

Percentage of adults never married: 39.8%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 13.8%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.0%

Percentage of adults currently married: 43.8%

Percentage of adults never married: 35.3%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 14.0%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.2%

Percentage of adults currently married: 42.3%

Percentage of adults never married: 35.8%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 14.3%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.3%

Percentage of adults currently married: 35.7%

Percentage of adults never married: 42.5%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 14.6%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 2.5%

Percentage of adults currently married: 42.2%

Percentage of adults never married: 34.7%

Percentage of adults currently divorced: 15.1%

Percentage of adults currently separated: 1.4%

Percentage of adults currently married: 39.8%

Percentage of adults never married: 38.2%

The data used in this analysis is from the U.S. Census Bureaus 2020 American Community Survey. To determine the most-divorced locations, researchers calculated the percentage of adults currently divorced.

In the event of a tie, the location with the higher percentage of adults currently separated was ranked higher. It is important to note that the category currently married excludes those married but currently separated, and that the percentages dont sum to 100% because the currently widowed percentage is omitted. To improve relevance, only cities with at least 100,000 residents were included.

Disclosure: The information you read here is always objective. However, we sometimes receive compensation when you click links within our stories.

See the original post:
The 15 Most-Divorced Cities in the US - Money Talks News

MoviesByMichelle Hannett|June 28, 2022

Prime Video has released the trailer for Ron Howards upcoming film THIRTEEN LIVES. The film hits select theaters exclusively for one week on July 29, Launching globally on Prime Video on August 5.

The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Tom Bateman, Paul Gleeson, Pattrakorn Tungsupakul, Tui Thiraphat Sajakul, James Teeradon Supapunpinyo, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Weir Sukollawat Kanaros.

Thirteen Livesrecounts the incredible true story of the tremendous global effort to rescue a Thai soccer team who become trapped in the Tham Luang cave during an unexpected rainstorm. Faced with insurmountable odds, a team of the worlds most skilled and experienced divers uniquely able to navigate the maze of flooded, narrow cave tunnels join with Thai forces and more than 10,000 volunteers to attempt a harrowing rescue of the twelve boys and their coach. With impossibly high stakes and the entire world watching, the group embarks on their most challenging dive yet, showcasing the limitlessness of the human spirit in the process.

THIRTEEN LIVES screenplay is from William Nicholson with a story by Don Macpherson and William Nicholson. Nicholson has been nominated twice for an Oscar GLADIATOR (Best Original Screenplay) and SHADOWLANDS (Best Adapted Screenplay).

See more here:
See Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell And Joel Edgerton In The Trailer For Ron Howard's THIRTEEN LIVES - On Prime Video August 5 - We Are Movie Geeks

Beacon Hill Roll Call records representatives votes on a roll call from the week of June 20 to June 24. There were no roll calls in the Senate last week.

The House, 155 to 0, approved and sent to the Senate a nearly $11 billion transportation and infrastructure package that includes $400 million for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to address safety problems identified by the Federal Transit Administrations Safety Management Inspection and $250 million for initial steps toward a western Massachusetts rail extension.

Other provisions include $2.8 billion for projects on the interstate and non-interstate federal highway system, $82 million for rail improvements, $1 billion for transit system modernization and rail improvements, and $114 million for the Airport Improvement Program. Theres also $200 million to create an extensive electric vehicle charging infrastructure; fund programs that promote e-bikes, public transportation and car sharing; replace high-emissions vehicles; and acquire electric school buses.

House members filed more than 300 amendments, many dealing with local projects in legislators home districts, but there was little debate and not a single roll call vote on any individual amendment. Instead, members made their cases behind closed doors to the leadership and all the amendments that were given the green light ended up in one consolidated mega-amendment with a price tag estimated at $500 million.

Ensuring that the commonwealths transportation infrastructure is adequately funded is a top priority for the House, which is why Im proud of the legislation passed today, said House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-Quincy. In addition to significant funding for roadway and bridge projects, this bill also recognizes the importance of providing further support for the MBTA in their ongoing effort to address safety concerns and for the ever-important east-west rail project.

This legislation sets the table for the next administration to take full advantage of the additional billions of dollars, both state and federal, for critical transportation projects throughout the state, said Rep. Bill Straus, D-Mattapoisett, House chair of the Committee on Transportation. The House has wisely used the bill as an opportunity to again demonstrate its commitment to roads, bridges and public transit.

A Yes vote is for the package.

Rep. Natalie Blais Yes

Rep. Paul Mark Yes

Rep. Susannah Whipps Yes

Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law the bill making permanent the mail-in and early voting options used in Massachusetts in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. This version of the bill did not include the controversial section allowing same-day voter registration.

The measure requires the secretary of state to send out mail-in ballot applications, with return postage, to registered voters before each presidential primary, state primary and biennial state election. It also allows registered voters to request a mail-in ballot for all elections in a single calendar year.

Other provisions include reducing the registration blackout period from 20 days prior to an election to 10 days; electronic voting options for voters with disabilities and military service members; allowing a voter with disabilities to request accommodations including an accessible electronic ballot application, ballot and voter affidavit that can be submitted electronically; ensuring that non-felons who are incarcerated who are eligible to vote are provided with voting information and materials to exercise their right to vote; and requiring the secretary of state to conduct a comprehensive public awareness campaign to publicize the new voting and registration options.

My office has anticipated this new law and preparations are already well underway for the Sept. 6 state primaries, commented Secretary of State William Galvin. Every voter in Massachusetts can expect to receive a pre-addressed, postage pre-paid vote by mail application in just a few weeks. Voters who prefer to vote in person will be able to take advantage of expanded in-person early voting or vote at their polling place on election day.

This landmark election reform bill will empower voters and strengthen our democracy, said Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, Senate chair of the Committee on Election Laws and co-sponsor of the measure. In 2020, mail-in and early voting options helped generate record-breaking turnout. (The new law) builds upon this progress and will help ensure that every voter can exercise their fundamental right to vote.

The most secure way to vote is in person and on election day, said Paul Craney, spokesperson for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. Handing over your ballot to the United States Postal Service does not guarantee your vote will count. Its rather disappointing the governor and Democratic lawmakers are pursuing this new law (that) is less secure.

In the meantime, Massachusetts Republican Party Chair Jim Lyons filed a lawsuit aimed at overturning the Legislatures passage of the part of the new law that codifies universal no-fault mail-in voting. He said the Massachusetts Constitution lists only three instances whereby citizens can vote absentee during elections: If theyre out of town, physically disabled or have a religious-based conflict with election day.

Theres a reason why we have three branches of government, and were confident that the Supreme Judicial Court will strike down and expose the Democrats unconstitutional permanent expansion of mail-in voting, Lyons said.

The House gave initial approval to legislation that would change a current law that imposes a fine of between $500 and $1,000 on any all-terrain vehicle (ATV) or other recreational vehicle driver who leaves the scene, without giving information to the driver of the other vehicle, of a hit and run accident that does not result in death. The bill would impose the same fine but would also add the possibility of a one-year prison sentence. The bill also creates a new crime of leaving the scene of an accident that results in a death and imposes up to a $5,000 fine and/or 2.5 years in prison for that new crime.

The bill, dubbed the James Ward Act, was filed in response to the tragic death of a young man in the district of sponsor Rep. Kathy LaNatra, R-Kingston. According to LaNatras office, James Ward was riding ATVs with his father and his brother. He collided with another driver, who told James father that he would go get help, but he never returned to the scene. The young man later succumbed to his injuries.

I filed this legislation to prevent ATV riders from fleeing the scene of an accident and ensure that they are held accountable for their actions, LaNatra said. I want to ensure that what the Ward family went through on that tragic day doesnt happen again.

The House approved and sent to the Senate a bill that would expand current law and make more farmers eligible for a favorable valuation of property process that results in a tax break. Under current law, to be eligible for the favorable valuation and the resulting tax break, a farmer must own and be farming a minimum of five contiguous acres of land. The bill would reduce the required number to two and not require the acres to be contiguous.

Supporters said that farming practices have been modernized and farmers no longer need vast contiguous acreage to grow crops and manage their livestock. They noted that in eastern Massachusetts, contiguous land is getting harder to acquire.

Farming is changing and it is growing exceedingly difficult for new farmers to find land and for existing farmers to keep the land they have, said the measures sponsor, Rep. Paul Schmid, D-Westport. This bill would extend the benefits of a favorable valuation to small plots, effectively preserving farmland in Massachusetts.

See more here:
The Recorder - Beacon Hill Roll Call: June 20 to June 24, 2022 - The Recorder

President Joe Biden has unveiled a three-part plan to fight inflation or at least make people think he is fighting inflation. One part of the plan involves having government agencies fix the supply chain problems that have led to shortages of numerous products. Of course, any attempt by the government to solve the supply chain problems (which were caused by prior government interventions such as shutting down the economy for over a year) will not just fail to solve the supply shortages but will create new problems.

Deficit reduction is another part of Bidens anti-inflation plan. However, Biden is not proposing cutting welfare or warfare spending. Instead, his deficit reduction plan consists of tax reforms to increase revenue, which is DC-speak for tax increases. History shows that tax increases unaccompanied by spending cuts end up increasing the deficit.

The last and most important part of Bidens inflation plan is recognizing that the Federal Reserve has the primary responsibility to control inflation. President Biden has pledged to respect the Feds independence, unlike former President Trump, who Biden accused of demeaning the Fed by subjecting the central bank to mean Tweets.

It is hard to believe that someone who has been in DC as long as Joe Biden really thinks Donald Trump was the first President to try to influence the Feds conduct of monetary policy. Since the Feds creation, Presidents have used public and private pressure to convince the Fed to tailor monetary policy to advance their policy and political goals. When it comes to demeaning the Fed, Trump has nothing on Lyndon Johnson, who, frustrated over the Feds refusal to tailor monetary policy to finance the Great Society and Vietnam war, threw the Fed chairman against a wall.

By passing the buck on inflation, Biden no doubt hopes to deflect blame from himself and his party before the midterm elections. Unlike Bidens previous inflation scapegoats greedy corporations and Vladimir Putin the Fed actually is responsible for creating and controlling inflation.

Price increases in specific sectors of the economy may be caused by a variety of factors, but economy-wide price increases are always the result of the Federal Reserves easy money policies. Inflation is actually the act of money-creation by the central bank. Widespread price increases are a symptom, not a cause, of inflation.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell remains committed to more rate increases this year. However, even if the Fed follows through on all its projected rate increases, rates will still be at historic lows. While there are those on the Fed board who want more and bigger rate increases, others worry that going too far too fast in increasing rates will cause a recession. Already many economic experts are saying America should be prepared for increase in unemployment caused by the Feds efforts to vanquish inflation. This tradeoff between high prices and high unemployment illustrates the insanity for our monetary policy.

Treasury Secretary and former Fed Chair Janet Yellen and Chairman Powell have both admitted they were wrong to publicly dismiss inflation as transitory. The fact that the two most recent Fed chairs made such a huge blunder (or purposely refused to admit what was clear to many people for over a year), shows the folly of relying on a secretive central bank to manage monetary policy. Instead of respecting the Feds independence, President Biden should work with Congress to audit, then end the Fed.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

View post:
Ron Paul: Respect The Fed? No, End The Fed OpEd - Eurasia Review

WASHINGTON Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) joined Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and 24 Senatecolleagues in urging Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) SecretaryXavier Becerra to provide Congress, patients and providers with additionalinsight on the Departments plans for transitioning out of the COVID-19 publichealth emergency.

Theletter specifically requests information on how changes in temporary,pandemic-related policies will affect Medicare, Medicaid and Childrens HealthInsurance Program (CHIP) patients and providers in the coming months.

Asthe American people return to normalcy, workers, families, frontline healthcare providers, and a range of other stakeholders need transparency andcertainty regarding the path forward, theSenators wrote. This unpredictable patchwork of mandates and questionableauthorities will continue to erode the publics confidence in government healthagencies. For frontline health care providers and patients, theadministrations erratic approach to transitioning beyond a perpetual state ofpandemic emergency could prove particularly problematic.

Inaddition to Grassley and Barrasso, the letter was signed by Sens. John Boozman(R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.),Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines(R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), JamesLankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), RonPaul (R-Ky.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.),Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Dan Sullivan(R-Alaska), John Thune (R-S.D.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).

Read more from the original source:
Grassley Joins Barrasso on Letter to HHS Secretary Becerra on Transitioning from the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency - Senator Chuck Grassley

AP Jun 11, 2022 3 hours ago

Cleveland Guardians' Oscar Gonzalez, center, celebrates with Jos Ramrez, left, and Andrs Gimenez, right, after scoring the winning run against the Oakland Athletics during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Paul Blackburn applauds a defensive play by Elvis Andrus against the Cleveland Guardians during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Cleveland Guardians' Jos Ramrez hits a double against the Oakland Athletics during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Cleveland Guardians' Jos Ramrez fields the ball and throws out Oakland Athletics' Elvis Andrus at first base during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Cleveland Guardians' Oscar Gonzalez celebrates after scoring the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Luke Maile during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Cleveland Guardians' Luke Maile hits a winning sacrifice fly during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Cleveland Guardians' Oscar Mercado scores on a sacrifice fly by Owen Miller against the Oakland Athletics during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Dany Jimnez reacts after giving up a solo home run to Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramrez during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramrez celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run against the Oakland Athletics during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Oakland Athletics' Seth Brown (15)

Oakland Athletics' Kevin Smith throws out Cleveland Guardians' Amed Rosario at first base during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Anthony Gose throws against the Oakland Athletics during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Ron Schwane)

CLEVELAND (AP) Jos Ramrez doubled twice, then homered to begin a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Cleveland Guardians sent Oakland to its 10th straight loss, beating the Athletics 3-2 on Friday night.

The As are stuck in their first double-digit skid since 2011 and have been outscored 60-20 during the streak. Oakland has the worst record in the American League at 20-40 and has not won since May 29 against Texas.

Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.

Every time you think youre going to get a break, they generally dont go your way, As manager Mark Kotsay said. Its never easy getting out of these situations. You have to earn them yourself.

Ramrez, who leads the majors with 56 RBIs, hit his 16th homer to lead off the ninth against Dany Jimnez (2-4). Cleveland then loaded the bases with no outs and Owen Miller delivered the tying sacrifice fly.

Sam Moll relieved and gave up an infield single to Steven Kwan that again loaded the bases. Luke Maile followed with a sacrifice fly that scored rookie Oscar Gonzalez, setting off a celebration in the rain that unexpectedly arrived during the inning.

Jos is the best player in baseball, Ive said it 50 times, Guardians designated hitter Josh Naylor said. Hes incredibly clutch. When he comes up in a close game, you know something is going to go down. Hes incredible.

Ramrez was the only baserunner to get past second until the ninth for the young Guardians, who have won nine of 11 and moved two games above .500.

Gonzalez went 1 for 4, giving him hits in 13 of his first 14 career games. Roger Maris held the previous Cleveland franchise mark with 12.

Sometimes you just get out of their way because you dont want to make them nervous, Guardians manager Terry Francona said. Were going up against some men and weve got some kids, and theyre doing OK.

Oakland right-hander Paul Blackburn pitched eight shutout innings in the longest outing of his career, allowing four hits and striking out three to lower his road ERA to 0.93.

Converted outfielder Anthony Gose (2-0) struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth. Cleveland starter Triston McKenzie worked six innings, allowing solo homers by Seth Brown and Sean Murphy.

Article continues after sponsor message

Brown homered in the first and Murphy went deep in the second. The A's have 37 home runs -- the second fewest in baseball -- and only managed five hits to drop their league-low batting average to .209.

Thats a good team and theyre hot right now, Blackburn said. Times like this are tough for anybody, but you try to come in every day with a clear mind and not look at any streak.

DOWNWARD SPIRAL

Athletics RHP Lou Trivino, who posted a team-high 22 saves in 2021, is tied for the most losses by a reliever in the American League with five. The deposed closer has a 9.20 ERA in 21 appearances this season, allowing 15 earned runs in 14 2/3 innings. Lou is one of the guys in the bullpen that we need to have success, Kotsay said. And hes had it here before.

TRAINERS ROOM

Athletics: 2B Jed Lowrie (wrist, shoulder soreness) was not in the lineup after being involved in an collision on the bases Thursday. Kotsay said Lowrie is pretty sore and has been in for treatment, but there is no guarantee hell be available off the bench. Lowrie has gone hitless in nine straight at-bats as part of a 5-for-42 slump.

Guardians: RHP Aaron Civale (left gluteal soreness), who was injured May 20 against Detroit, will make a second rehab start for Triple-A Columbus. Civale threw 50 pitches in two innings Thursday, allowing two runs at Indianapolis. By his account, Aaron was a little rusty, so hell pitch again in five days, manager Terry Francona said.

UP NEXT

Athletics: RHP Frankie Montas (2-6, 3.06 ERA) seeks to stop his career-long losing streak at five. Montas has a 2.87 ERA and is holding opponents to a .214 average over his past nine starts, but has not earned a win.

Guardians: RHP Zach Plesac (2-4, 4.72 ERA) has one win in his last seven starts, striking out eight over six innings in a 3-2 victory at Baltimore on June 5. Plesac has a 1-3 record with a 6.21 ERA during the timeframe.

___

More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

See the original post:
Guardians rally for 3 in 9th, send A's to 10th straight loss - RiverBender.com

WASHINGTON On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) joined U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and other Republican members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) in a letter to Acting Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Lawrence Tabak, requesting information on disclosures of royalty payments made by third-party providers to NIH employees.

This letter comes after the nonprofit organization Open the Books submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to disclose royalty payments made between 2009 and 2020. The agency only provided the names of the employees receiving the payments and the number of payments they received between 2009 and 2014; the amounts of the individual payments, the innovation in question, and the names of the third-party payers were redacted by NIH. These FOIA redactions contradict a previous NIH statement claiming an entity would have to make a request via the Freedom of Information Act to find out royalty payments to individual researchers.

In 2005, the NIH implemented a policy requiring its employees to disclose royalty payments on the consent forms for clinical trial participants; however, the agency has taken no action to disclose such payments to the public at large. Nevertheless, we believe that the American taxpayer deserves to know the degree to which government doctors and researchers have a financial interest in drugs and products they support, and whether any relationship exists between federal grants awarded by NIH and royalty payments received by NIH personnel. Additionally, Americans deserve greater transparency in how the hundreds of millions in royalty payments NIH receives are distributed, and the degree to which NIHs leadership- already among the highest-paid individuals in the federal bureaucracy has benefited from this hidden revenue stream,the senators wrote.

Under 5 U.S.C. 2954, [a]n Executive agency, on request of the Committee on [Oversight and Reform] of the House of Representatives, or of any seven members thereof, or on request of the Committee on [Homeland Security and] Governmental Affairs of the Senate, or any five members thereof, shall submit any information requested of it relating to any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee.

In order to fulfill this oversight mandate, the Senators asked that the NIH respond and provide the requested information no later than 5:00PM on Friday, June 17, 2022.

Sen. Johnson and Sen. Paul were joined on the letter by Senators Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and James Lankford (R-Okla.).

The full text of the letter can be foundhereand below.

The Honorable Lawrence A. Tabak

Acting Director of the National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health

Dear Acting Director Tabak:

As members of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 2954 as detailed below, we the undersigned write today to request information from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) regarding the disclosure of royalty payments made by third-party providers to NIH employees.

Each year, NIH awards tens of billions of dollars in the form of federal grants, and under 401.10 of the Patent and Trademark Law Amendments (Bayh-Dole) Act, federal agencies and employees may receive royalty payments for products and inventions when listed as an inventor or co-inventor on a products patent. A 2020 studyconducted by the Government Accountability Office showed that, in total, 93 NIH patents contributed to 34 FDA-approved prescription drugs, generating roughly $2 billion in royalty payments to the agency between 1991-2019. In 2004 alone, some 900 NIH scientists earned approximately $8.9 million in royalties for drugs and inventions they discovered while working for the government.

In 2005, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) implemented a policyrequiring its employees to disclose these royalty payments on the consent forms for clinical trial participants; however, the agency has taken no action to disclose such payments to the public at large. In fact, even after the nonprofit organization Open the Books submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to disclose royalty payments made between 2009 and 2020, the agency only provided the names of the employees receiving the payments and the number of payments they received between 2009 and 2014; the amounts of the individual payments, the innovation in question, and the names of the third-party payers were redacted by NIH. These FOIA redactions contradict a 2005 statement by an NIH spokesman that an entity would have to make a request via the Freedom of Information Act to find out royalty payments to individual researchers.

Nevertheless, we believe that the American taxpayer deserves to know 1) the degree to which government doctors and researchers have a financial interest in drugs and products they support, and 2) whether any relationship exists between federal grants awarded by NIH and royalty payments received by NIH personnel. Additionally, Americans deserve greater transparency in how the hundreds of millions in royalty payments NIH receives are distributed, and the degree to which NIHs leadership already among the highest-paid individuals in the federal bureaucracy has benefited from this hidden revenue stream.

The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is charged with studying:

The efficiency and economy of operations of all branches of the Government including the possible existence of fraud, misfeasance, malfeasance, collusion, mismanagement, incompetence, corruption or unethical practices, waste, extravagance, conflicts of interest, and the improper expenditure of Government funds in transactions, contracts, and activities of the Government or of Government officials and employees and any and all such improper practices between Government personnel and corporations, individuals, companies, or persons afflicted therewith, doing business with the Government, and the compliance or noncompliance of such corporations, companies, or individuals or other entities with the rules, regulations, and laws governing the various governmental agencies and the Governments relationship with the public.

Accordingly, as members of that committee, and in order to fulfill this oversight mandate, we request the following information:

1.Regarding royalty payments made by third parties to employees of the National Institutes of Health between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2021, please provide an itemized list detailing:

a.The amount and date of each individual royalty payment made by third-party payers to employees and administrators of the National Institutes of Health.

i. Please include the names, official employment titles, and pay grades of the recipients, as well as the names of the third-party payers.

b.The aggregate amount each NIH employee or administrator received in royalty payments.

2.Regarding royalty payments made by pharmaceutical companies to employees of the National Institutes of Health between January 1, 2018, to March 1, 2022, please provide a line-item list of the following:

a.The dollar amount and date of each individual royalty payment made by pharmaceutical companies to employees and administrators of the National Institutes of Health.

i. Please include the names, official employment titles, and pay grades of the recipients, as well as the names of the pharmaceutical companies that made the payments.

b.The total number of employees and administrators at NIH that received royalty payments from pharmaceutical companies between January 1, 2018, and March 1, 2022.

3.Between January 1, 2020, and March 1, 2022,what is the aggregate amount of dollars the National Institutes of Health or its employees have received related to COVID-19 testing, research, treatment and vaccination efforts?

4.As required by the criminal conflicts of interest law at 18 U.S.C. 208(a), Federal employees may not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter in which they know they have a financial interest unless they first obtain a written waiveror qualify for a regulatory exemption.

a.Have all NIH employees receiving royalty payments by pharmaceutical companies completed this written waiver or qualified for regulatory exemption? If not, please explain why.

5.How much did the National Institutes of Health directly receive in royalties between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2021?

a.Please explain, in detail, how the National Institutes of Health uses these royalty payments made to the agency.

Under 5 U.S.C. 2954, [a]n Executive agency, on request of the Committee on [Oversight and Reform] of the House of Representatives, or of any seven members thereof, or on request of the Committee on [Homeland Security and] Governmental Affairs of the Senate, or any five members thereof, shall submit any information requested of it relating to any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee.

Our expectation is that NIH will honor this statutory obligation, and we ask that NIH please respond and provide the requested information no later than Friday, June 17, 2022.

Sincerely,

See the rest here:
U.S. Sen. Johnson: Joins Sen. Paul, colleagues in letter to acting director of NIH requesting information on the disclosure of royalty payments to NIH...

Good Sunday morning, and welcome back to Brunch, a pop-up email about Florida politics.

I hope you are enjoying this extended weekend. As much as youre probably enjoying BBQ, boating, and baseball, please dont forget the true meaning of Memorial Day.

As a reminder, just read this tweet from veteran Mac Stipanovich:

Remember them. Now, lets have Brunch.

Supreme Court: Now hiring

Applications roll in: The Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission has received 17 applications from individuals hoping to become a Justice on the Florida Supreme Court.

The pool: The applicants include Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Renatha Francis, who Gov. Ron DeSantis tried to appoint to the Supreme Court in 2020. Theres also 1st District Court of Appeal judges Adam Tanenbaum and Thomas Winokur, and 4th District Court of Appeal Judges Jeffrey Kuntz and Edward Artau. Two more Appeals Court judges also applied, including Eric Eisnaugle II and Meredith Sasso. A slew of Circuit Court judges also sent in applications, including Robert Long, Stephen Everett, Steve Berlin, Tarlika Nunez Navarro, Hunter Carroll, Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe and Cymonie Rowe. The remaining three applicants include former Circuit Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan, Golden Scaz Gagain firm lawyer Jeffrey Albinson and Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer Denise Harle.

Vacancy: The applicants are seeking to fill a vacancy on the court created by the retirement of Justice Alan Lawson, who announced his decision in April. Former Gov. Rick Scott appointed Lawson, and his retirement is effective Aug. 31.

Getting to know you: The Judicial Nominating Commission will provide a list of nominees to DeSantis, who is expected to interview candidates on June 11 in Tampa.

Selection: This new appointment will give DeSantis four appointees on the Florida Supreme Court.

Read on redistricting

Times running out on any glimmer of hope plaintiffs have of tossing Floridas congressional map ahead of 2022.

Shot down: The 1st District Court of Appeal made clear a lower court should not have replaced the cartography with a new map entirely. Judge A.C. Tanenbaum said that didnt just undo DeSantis decision to sign a favored plan, but introduced a remedy from left field

What then? That begs the question, however, of what should have taken place after Leon Circuit Judge Layne Smith found the map unconstitutional. One intriguing suggestion: Hold the new map and run on Floridas old 27-district map, then hold a statewide election to fill Floridas new 28th Congressional District.

But really: Tanenbaum makes abundantly clear, though, that making such a determination before a full trial marked the true lapse. Throwing a map out after a three-hour hearing seemed a step too far.

Now what? There are still five days for more to be presented to the appellate court to sway minds. But now the question is whether the Florida Supreme Court will respond to a request from plaintiffs to step in. So far, theres only silence.

Condo associations gotta step up

Industry insiders are praising the Legislature for their work on the condominium inspection bill (SB 4D) last week.

Margaret Peggy Rolando is a real estate attorney at the Miami office of Shutts & Bowen LLP and a member of Florida Bar leadership when it comes to condos. She has over 40 years of experience in condo law and policy, meaning some condos that came up under her watch will be subject to the legislations inspection requirements.

Milestone inspections: With the new milestone requirements, older condos will have to start lining up structural health checks, or else theyll have to warn buyers that they havent completed the inspections. Rolando says that thats a good thing, but condo associations will have to be on the ball.

Free your calendars: Its really important for associations to understand they need to take care of this immediately and get busy, because theres a limited number of architects and engineers in their state, Rolando said. With the construction boom thats going on. Most of them are pretty busy.

Sticker shock: Condo associations will also have to keep certain levels of reserves to address structural maintenance. It will be easier for newer buildings to raise the cash because theyll have more time to do it. But residents of older condos might face a bit of sticker shock.

What the Legislature did is the right thing to do. Its the right policy, Rolando said. The only difficulty is it has a disproportionate impact on basically the working-class condo.

Renner endorses Leek

Now for an item youll see first in Brunch: Speaker-designate Paul Renner is officially backing Republican Rep. Tom Leek in his re-election bid.

Facing a Primary: Leek is running in the newly remapped House District 28 for his fourth and final term before facing term limits. Hes facing a GOP Primary challenge from Liberty Caucus member Alex Newman, endorsed by former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. Leek, however, has courted support already from DeSantis. Democrat John Navarra has also filed to run in HD 28.

Principled conservative: We need principled conservatives like Tom Leek in Tallahassee. I am proud to serve with Tom and honored to call him a friend and ally in the fight for making Florida the best state for children, families, and workers to succeed, Renner said. I stand with Gov. DeSantis in endorsing Tom Leek. Tom is the leader we need in the Florida House to fight alongside the Governor and advance our conservative agenda.

Parents and students first: I look forward to standing beside my friend, Speaker-designate Paul Renner, and am honored to receive his endorsement, Leek added. Together, we will continue to put parents and students first, protect small businesses, strengthen our elections, stand up for the unborn, back the blue, and take on the out-of-touch special interests to keep Florida open and free.

The new HD 28 covers parts of Volusia County. Leek served as Chair of the House Redistricting Committee during this years Regular Session.

Memorial Day roundup: Part 1

Memorial Day isnt just a time for barbecue, but a moment to honor the sacrifice of Americas fallen soldiers. Here are events throughout Florida on Monday honoring these men and women.

Boca Raton Memorial Day Concert: Music will be performed by the Fort Lauderdale Highlanders, Coastmen Chorus and Krescendo Brass. Doors open at Mizner Park Auditorium at 6 p.m., with the concert at 7 p.m.

Bushnell National Cemetery Memorial Service: The Veterans Affairs Department will host an event at 11 a.m., including wreath-laying, speeches and a rifle salute.

Clearwater Memorial Day Ceremony: The Tampa Bay Veterans Alliance will host its annual Memorial Day Ceremony from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Florida Veterans Memorial Plaza at Crest Lake Park. Author Gary King will speak.

Coconut Creek Memorial Day Ceremony: The American Legion Post 170 and the city host this event, which features the Coconut Creek Police Department Honor Guard and Monarch High School Junior ROTC, among dignitaries and other speakers. It starts at Veterans Park at 9 a.m.

Davie Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony: A parade featuring Boy Scout troops starts at the Davie Fire Station at 10 a.m.

Fort Lauderdale Memorial Day Ceremony: Held at the Lauderdale Memorial Ceremony, the event begins at 9 a.m. and features a laying of flowers on graves and a dove release.

Gotha Memorial Day Service: Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home will host a 72nd annual ceremony with veteran groups, Boy Scout troops and civic organizations. The event begins at 10 a.m.

Jacksonville Memorial Day Ceremony: An event at the landmark Veterans Memorial Wall will begin at 8 a.m. with performances by the Navy Band Southeast and Jacksonville Childrens Choir. The observance should conclude at 10 a.m.

Sarasota Memorial Day Parade: A parade will start at Main Street and Osprey Avenue and conclude at Chaplain J.D. Hamel Park, located at Main Street and Gulfstream Avenue, where the ceremony will begin at approximately 11 a.m.

Tallahassee Memorial Day Celebration: The Centre of Tallahassee will host a free celebration, with music provided by Brown Goose. It kicks off at the Pavilion at 5 p.m.

Tampa Memorial Day Service: Mayor Jane Castor and Central Command Vice Admiral James Malloy will speak at an event at 11 a.m. at MacDill Park downtown.

Orlando travel torrent

Orlando International Airport (MCO) expects nearly 800,000 passengers to fly within the six-day travel window for the Memorial Day holiday.

Plan accordingly: Traditionally, Memorial Day has not been the busiest travel period at Orlando International; however, we are staffing up and are prepared for more passengers this year than usual, said Kevin Thibault, CEO of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, in a statement. If you are planning to travel, please give yourself plenty of extra time to navigate through the parking, check-in and security processes.

Projections: MCO expects this years Memorial Day figures to be only 10,000 departures less than 2019 pre-pandemic numbers for the holiday. The numbers are also up 11% from 2021s Memorial Day weekend. The busiest travel day will be Friday, May 27, with 68,200 people departing, the airport said. Both Saturday, May 28, and Monday, May 30, more than 67,000 people are expected to depart the airport daily. Travelers should arrive inside the airport terminal at least two hours prior to flight departure time, according to an airport news release.

Still growing: With more than 40 million passengers in 2021, Orlandos airport was ranked one of the busiest in the country and No. 1 in the state. Capacity at the airport is only growing too. Orlando International Airport plans to open its new $2.75 billion Terminal C in September. International flights are scheduled to begin Sept. 19, with domestic operations starting Sept. 26, the airport announced last month.

World Cup coming?

Orlando and South Florida are among 17 locations still in the running to host games in 2026 when soccers biggest show, the World Cup, comes to the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Announcement soon: Soccers governing body, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), is expected to announce the winning cities on June 16. If chosen, games would be played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Sixty games are to be played in the U.S., including all after the quarterfinals. Canada and Mexico are to host 10 games each. Its the first time three nations will serve as co-hosts for the event.

Orlandos pitch: Orlando has already established itself as one of the premier sports destinations in North America and enhancing Camping World Stadium only adds to our ability to host premier events, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said. I am proud that weve achieved exceptional value throughout the entire reconstruction. Our strategy continues to be validated by the lineup of marquee sporting events that are being scheduled for the months and years ahead as Orlando thrives as the Soccer Capital of the South.

Ftbol en Miami? The Palm Beach Post reported that Miami Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel is pushing to host the World Cup championship game at Hard Rock Stadium. Garfinkel was instrumental in bringing the recent, widely successful Formula 1 race to Miami. Ive had a couple of meetings in the last week or so on World Cup 2026 with high-ranking officials from FIFA, and we certainly want the World Cup here in 26, Garfinkel told the Post. We told them we want the final here in 26. So thats what were trying to shoot for.

Can it happen? Probably everybody else wants it, too, Garfinkel said. But I think theyre impressed with the venue. They understand the importance of Miami as a global city and as a great soccer city and as a dynamic city.

Brunching out

Mass-produced bread lacks the aroma and homey goodness of fresh bread. Thats why its a treat to have breakfast or lunch, now available daily, at The Hawthorn Bistro & Bakery. The restaurant turns fresh brioche, sourdough, ciabatta, herb focaccia, and croissants. These delectable choices are a slice of home.

Backstory: The restaurant is owned by the Seven Hills Hospitality Group, founded by chef Jesse Edmunds, which also operates the local restaurants El Cocinero, Bar 1903, and the new Black Radish.

Setting: Its casual and contemporary, a good pick for an early morning meeting, lunch date, or a solo excursion. You order at the counter, and your food is brought to your table. Takeout and outdoor dining are available.

The menu: One of my favorite dishes is the French toast, which features two thick slices of brioche, nicely done and served with a scoop of honey mascarpone, syrup, fresh berries and either turkey sausage or bacon. Another hit was the Eggs in a Basket (there are dozens of names for this creation), which involves cracking the eggs into a circle carved in the bread. You can pick your choice of bread for this hearty dish plated with confit fingerling potatoes, fresh fruit and bacon or turkey sausage. Among other breakfast selections: steak and eggs, a breakfast burrito, tofu grill and avocado toast. Pair with a hearty brew from Grassroots Coffee Roasters located in Thomasville. If you want to grab a loaf of bread right from the oven, stop by daily after 4 p.m.

Details: The Hawthorn Bistro & Bakery, 1307 N. Monroe St., Unit 1; 850-354-8275. Breakfast is served from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and bakery counter service is available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

What else is going on?

Give a little, get a little: The Revenue Estimating Conference is set to hold an impact conference to provide estimates on potential costs of legislation. The docket includes specialty license plates, title fees and abatement measures for disaster victims. The meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Room 117 of the Knott Building.

Naranja Townhall: Homestead Democratic Rep. Kevin Chambliss will host a town hall meeting Tuesday in Naranja. Chambliss is running for a second term to represent House District 117. The town hall begins at 6 p.m. at Naranja Park, 14150 S.W. 264th St.

Raising funds: Sen. Jason Brodeur, a Sanford Republican, is hosting a fundraising reception this Wednesday in Heathrow to support his re-election campaign for Senate District 10. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. at Heathrow Country Club, 1200 Bridgewater Dr.

More raising funds: Fellow state Sen. Ray Rodrigues is also hosting a fundraiser this Wednesday at The Sidney and Davis Berne Art Center starting at 5:30 p.m. Rodrigues is running for Senate District 33. His host committee includes Senate President Wilton Simpson and Senate President-Designate Kathleen Passidomo.

Calm before the storm: The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season is set to start this Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts an above-normal season this year, with 14-21 named storms expected. The season will run through Nov. 30.

Post Views:0

Visit link:
Here's Brunch, a pop-up, weekend email during the 2022 Special Session 5.29.22 - Florida Politics

Ron Rice, a high school chemistry teacher who had been trained to explore for oil, but who instead made a fortune by concocting coconut-laced suntan lotion in a 20-gallon garbage can in his garage and seductively branding it Hawaiian Tropic, died on May 19 in Daytona Beach, Fla. He was 81.

His death, in a hospital, was announced by his family on Facebook. No cause was specified.

A dirt-poor boy from North Carolinas Blue Ridge Mountains, Mr. Rice became smitten with Floridas ocean shores while on a family vacation in the 1940s. Years later, after a visit to Hawaii, he was inspired to take on Coppertone, a leading brand of suntan lotion, which promised naturally pale sunbathers like himself that they would tan, not burn, if they slathered themselves with the products zinc oxide, alkyl benzoate, isopropyl palmitate and other ingredients.

After graduating from college in 1964, he transplanted himself to Florida, taught for eight years (in fleeting positions at seven schools, but long enough to acquire a draft deferment) and worked part time as a football coach and a lifeguard, positions well served by his 6-foot-3 height.

On the side, he blended myriad combinations of coconut oil, exotic fruits, aloe, avocado, kukui, mineral oil and cocoa butter until they combined into a lotion that a few 11-year-olds he enlisted from the neighborhood poured from that foundational garbage can into bottles labeled Hawaiian Tropic and sold for the first time on the beach on July 20, 1969. (Coconuts werent native to Hawaii and were probably originally cultivated on islands in Southeast Asia, but the name Tropic Tan was already trademarked.)

By 2006, after years of unabashed promotion through beauty pageants judged by celebrities (Donald J. Trump met his second wife, Marla Maples, when she was a Hawaiian Tropic pageant contestant), automobile races (the company name was on a Porsche driven by Paul Newman at Le Mans in 1979), and cunning and not-so-subtle placements in films and on television shows along with various other stunts sales of Hawaiian Tropic had topped $110 million, making it the second-largest sun-care product company in the world.

A year later, Mr. Rice sold it to Playtex Products for $83 million.

Suntan is sex, he once said. Thats what it all boils down to. Sex and vanity.

Ronald Joseph Rice was born on Sept. 1, 1940, in Asheville, N.C., to Clyde and Pauline (Crosby) Rice.

The family lived on a mountain. From the time Ron was 5, he would join his siblings at their roadside stand selling apples, cider, honey, grapes and Christmas wreaths to supplement their fathers income as a civil engineer.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where, according to several accounts, he was studying to explore for oil and uranium, and to be a teacher.

I used to teach school and I used to make $4,300 a year. Four thousand of that was the teaching part, $300 was the coaching part, he once told a TV interviewer. I did that for eight years. I could go back to that if I had to, but Im not saying I want to go back.

Its fun, he said of his balmy lifestyle, lubricated with Hawaiian Tropic, and theres a lot of extra toys involved, and a lot of fun times, and I drink a little better-quality wine, of course, but Im still a country boy.

Information on survivors was not immediately available.

Mr. Rices 12,000-square-foot home in Ormond Beach, just north of Daytona Beach and not far from the lifeguard stand where he once worked, housed a disco and an indoor-outdoor pool. He owned an 80-foot yacht and a Lamborghini that he lent to Burt Reynolds for the film The Cannonball Run (1981).

As a reminder of his roots, and a testament to his success, Mr. Rice placed in his living room the garbage can in which he had perfected the formula for Hawaiian Tropic. He had it silver plated.

Read the original:
Ron Rice, Creator of Hawaiian Tropic Lotion, Is Dead at 81 - The New York Times

The United States, as the near-unanimous vote to provide nearly $40 billion in aid to Ukraine illustrates, is trapped in the death spiral of unchecked militarism. No high speed trains. No universal health care. No viable COVID relief program. No respite from 8.3% inflation. No infrastructure programs to repair decaying roads and bridges, which require $41.8 billion to fix the 43,586 structurally deficient bridges, on average 68 years old. No forgiveness of $1.7 trillion in student debt. No addressing income inequality. No program to feed the 17 million children who go to bed each night hungry. No rational gun control or curbing of the epidemic of nihilistic violence and mass shootings. No help for the 100,000 Americans who die each year of drug overdoses. No minimum wage of $15 an hour to counter 44 years of wage stagnation. No respite from gas prices that are projected to hit $6 a gallon.

The permanent war economy, implanted since the end of World War II, has destroyed the private economy, bankrupted the nation, and squandered trillions of dollars of taxpayer money. The monopolization of capital by the military has driven the US debt to $30 trillion, $6 trillion more than the US GDP of $24 trillion. Servicing this debt costs $300 billion a year. We spent more on the military, $813 billionfor fiscal year 2023, than the next nine countries, including China and Russia, combined.

We are paying a heavy social, political and economic cost for our militarism. Washington watches passively as the U.S. rots, morally, politically, economically and physically, while China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and other countries extract themselves from the tyranny of the U.S. dollar and the international Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a messaging network banks and other financial institutions use to send and receive information, such as money transfer instructions. Once the U.S. dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency, once there is an alternative to SWIFT, it will precipitate an internal economic collapse. It will force the immediate contraction of the U.S. empire shuttering most of its nearly 800 overseas military installations. It will signal the death of Pax Americana.

RELATED:Pimps of war: Neocons who fueled 20 years of carnage in the Middle East are back for more

Democrat or Republican. It does not matter. War is the raison d'tre of the state. Extravagant military expenditures are justified in the name of "national security." The nearly $40 billion allocated for Ukraine, most of it going into the hands of weapons manufacturers such as Raytheon Technologies, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, is only the beginning. Military strategists, who say the war will be long and protracted, are talking about infusions of $4 or $5 billion in military aid a month to Ukraine. We face existential threats. But these do not count. The proposed budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in fiscal year 2023 is $10.675 billion. The proposed budget for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is $11.881 billion. Ukraine alone gets more than double that amount. Pandemics and the climate emergency are afterthoughts. War is all that matters. This is a recipe for collective suicide.

War is the raison d'tre of the state. Extravagant military expenditures are justified for "national security." The $40 billion allocated for Ukraine mostly goes to weapons manufacturers. Strategists talk of sending $4 billion more every month.

There were three restraints to the avarice and bloodlust of the permanent war economy that no longer exist. The first was the old liberal wing of the Democratic Party, led by politicians such as Sen. George McGovern, Sen. Eugene McCarthy and Sen. J. William Fulbright, who wrote "The Pentagon Propaganda Machine." The self-identified progressives, a pitiful minority, in Congress today, from Rep. Barbara Lee who was the single vote in the House and the Senate opposing an open-ended authorization allowing the president to wage war in Afghanistan or anywhere else to Rep. Ilhan Omar are now dutifully lining up to fund the latest proxy war. The second restraint was an independent media and academia, including journalists such as I.F Stone and Neil Sheehan along with scholars such as Seymour Melman, author of "The Permanent War Economy"and "Pentagon Capitalism: The Political Economy of War." Third, and perhaps most important, was an organized antiwar movement led by religious leaders such as Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr. and Phil and Dan Berrigan, as well as groups such as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). They understood that unchecked militarism was a fatal disease.

None of these opposition forces, which did not reverse the permanent war economy but curbed its excesses, now exist. The two ruling parties have been bought by corporations, especially military contractors. The press is anemic and obsequious to the war industry. Propagandists for permanent war, largely from right-wing think tanks lavishly funded by the war industry, along with former military and intelligence officials, are exclusively quoted or interviewed as military experts. NBC's "Meet the Press" aired a segment May 13 where officials from Center for a New American Security (CNAS) simulated what a war with China over Taiwan might look like. The co-founder of CNAS, Michle Flournoy, who appeared in the "Meet the Press" war games segment and was considered by Biden to run the Pentagon, wrote in 2020 in Foreign Affairs that the U.S. needs to develop "the capability to credibly threaten to sink all of China's military vessels, submarines and merchant ships in the South China Sea within 72 hours."

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

The handful of anti-militarists and critics of empire from the left, such as Noam Chomsky, and the right, such as Ron Paul, have been declared persona non grata by a compliant media. The liberal class has retreated into boutique activism where issues of class, capitalism and militarism are jettisoned for "cancel culture," multiculturalism and identity politics. Liberals are cheerleading the war in Ukraine. At least the inception of the war with Iraq saw them join significant street protests. Ukraine is embraced as the latest crusade for freedom and democracy against the new Hitler. There is little hope, I fear, of rolling back or restraining the disasters being orchestrated on a national and global level. The neoconservatives and liberal interventionists chant in unison forwar.Joe Biden has appointed these warmongers, whose attitude to nuclear war is terrifyingly cavalier, to run the Pentagon, the National Security Council and the State Department.

Since all we do is war, all proposed solutions are military. War will cripple Russia. War will curb the growing power of China. These are demented and dangerous fantasies of a ruling class severed from reality.

Since all we do is war, all proposed solutions are military. This military adventurism accelerates the decline, as the defeat in Vietnam and the squandering of $8 trillionin the futile wars in the Middle East illustrate. War and sanctions, it is believed, will cripple Russia, rich in gas and natural resources. War, or the threat of war, will curb the growing economic andmilitary clout of China.

These are demented and dangerous fantasies, perpetrated by a ruling class that has severed itself from reality. No longer able to salvage their own society and economy, they seek to destroy those of their global competitors, especially Russia and China. Once the militarists cripple Russia, the plan goes, they will focus military aggression on the Indo-Pacific, dominating what Hillary Clinton as secretary of state,referringto the Pacific, called "the American Sea."

You cannot talk about war without talking about markets. The U.S., whose growth rate has fallen to below2%, while China's is8.1%, has turned to military aggression to bolster its sagging economy. If the U.S. can sever Russian gas supplies to Europe, it will force Europeans to buy from the United States.U.S. firms,at the same time, would be happy to replace the Chinese Communist Party, even if they must do it through the threat of war, to open unfettered access to Chinese markets. War, if it did break out with China, would devastate the Chinese, American and global economies, destroying free trade between countries as in World War I. But that doesn't mean it won't happen.

Washington is desperately trying to build military and economic alliances to ward off a rising China, whose economy is expected by 2028 to overtake that of the United States,according tothe U.K.'s Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The White House has said that Biden's recent visit to Asia was aboutsendinga "powerful message" to Beijing and others about what the world could look like if democracies "stand together to shape the rules of the road." The Biden administration has invited South Korea and Japan to attend the NATO summit in Madrid.

But fewer and fewer nations, even among European allies, are willing to be dominated by the United States. Washington's veneer of democracy and supposed respect for human rights and civil liberties is so badly tarnished as to be irrecoverable. Its economic decline, with China's manufacturing 70% higher than that of the U.S., is irreversible. War is a desperate Hail Mary, one employed by dying empires throughout history with catastrophic consequences. "It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable," Thucydides noted in "The History of the Peloponnesian War."

A key component to the sustenance of the permanent war state was the creation of the all-volunteer force. Without conscripts, the burden of fighting wars falls to the poor, the working class and military families. This allows the children of the middle class, who led the Vietnam antiwar movement, to avoid service. It protects the military from internal revolts, carried out by troops during the Vietnam War, which jeopardized the cohesion of the armed forces.

The all-volunteer force, by limiting the pool of available troops, also makes the global ambitions of the militarists impossible. Desperate to maintain or increase troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military instituted the "stop-loss"policy that arbitrarily extended active-duty contracts. Its slang term was the "backdoor draft." The effort to bolster the number of troops by hiring private military contractors as well has had a negligible effect. Increased troop levels would not have won the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the tiny percentage of those willing to serve in the military (only7%of the U.S. population are veterans) is an unacknowledged Achilles heel for the militarists.

"As a consequence, the problem of too much war and too few soldiers eludes serious scrutiny," writes historian and retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevichin "After the Apocalypse: America's Role in a World Transformed":

Expectations of technology bridging that gap provide an excuse to avoid asking the most fundamental questions: Does the United States possess the military wherewithal to oblige adversaries to endorse its claim of being history's indispensable nation? And if the answer is no, as the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq suggest, wouldn't it make sense for Washington to temper its ambitions accordingly?

This question, as Bacevich points out, is "anathema." The military strategists work from the supposition that the coming wars won't look anything like past wars. They invest in imaginary theories of future wars that ignore the lessons of the past, ensuring more fiascos.

The political class is as self-deluded as the generals. It refuses to accept the emergence of a multipolar world and the palpable decline of American power. It speaks in the outdated language of American exceptionalism and triumphalism, believing it has the right to impose its will as the leader of the "free world." In his 1992 Defense Planning Guidance memorandum, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz argued that the U.S. must ensure no rival superpower again arises. The U.S. should project its military strength to dominate a unipolar world in perpetuity. On Feb. 19, 1998, on NBC's "Today," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright gave the Democratic version of this doctrine of unipolarity. "If we have to use force it is because we are Americans; we are the indispensable nation," shesaid. "We stand tall, and we see further than other countries into the future."

This demented vision of unrivaled U.S. global supremacy, not to mention unrivaled goodness and virtue, blinds the establishment Republicans and Democrats. The military strikes they casually used to assert the doctrine of unipolarity, especially in the Middle East, swiftly spawned jihadist terror and prolonged warfare. None of them saw it coming until the hijacked jets slammed into the World Trade Center twin towers. That they cling to this absurd hallucination is the triumph of hope over experience.

There is a deep loathing among the public for these elitist Ivy League architects of American imperialism. Imperialism was tolerated when it was able to project power abroad and produce rising living standards at home. It was tolerated when it restrained itself to covert interventions in countries such as Iran, Guatemala and Indonesia. It went off the rails in Vietnam. The military defeats that followed accompanied a steady decline in living standards, wage stagnation, a crumbling infrastructure and eventually a series of economic policies and trade deals, orchestrated by the same ruling class, which deindustrialized and impoverished the country.

Donald Trump committed the heresy of questioning the sanctity of American empire, calling the invasion of Iraq a "big, fat mistake." Told that Putin was "a killer," he retorted, "You think our country's so innocent?"

The establishment oligarchs, now united in the Democratic Party, distrust Donald Trump. He commits the heresy of questioning the sanctity of the American empire. Trump derided the invasion of Iraq as a "big, fat mistake." He promised "to keep us out of endless war." Trump was repeatedly questioned about his relationship with Vladimir Putin. Putin was "a killer," one interviewer told him. "There are a lot of killers," Trumpretorted. "You think our country's so innocent?" Trump dared to speak a truth that was to be forever unspoken, that the militarists had sold out the American people.

Noam Chomsky took some heat forpointing out, correctly, that Trumpis the "one statesman" who has laid out a "sensible" proposition to resolve the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The proposed solution included "facilitating negotiations instead of undermining them and moving toward establishing some kind of accommodation in Europe in which there are no military alliances but just mutual accommodation."

Trump is too unfocused and mercurial to offer serious policy solutions. He did set a timetable to withdraw from Afghanistan, but he also ratcheted up the economic war against Venezuela and reinstituted crushing sanctions against Cuba and Iran, which the Obama administration had ended. He increased the military budget. He apparentlyflirtedwith carrying out a missile strike on Mexico to "destroy the drug labs." But he acknowledges a distaste for imperial mismanagement that resonates with the public, one that has every right to loath the smug mandarins that plunge us into one war after another. Trump lies like he breathes. But so do they.

The 57 Republicans who refused to support the $40 billion aid package to Ukraine, along with many of the 19 bills that included an earlier $13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine, come out of the kooky conspiratorial world of Trump. They, like Trump, repeat this heresy. They too are attacked and censored. But the longer Biden and the ruling class continue to pour resources into war at our expense, the more these proto-fascists, already set to wipe out Democratic gains in the House and Senate this fall, will be ascendant. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, during the debate on the aid package to Ukraine, which most members were not given time to closely examine,said: "$40 billion but there's no baby formula for American mothers and babies."

"An unknown amount of money to the CIA and Ukraine supplemental bill but there's no formula for American babies," she added. "Stop funding regime change and money laundering scams. A U.S. politician covers up their crimes in countries like Ukraine."

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin immediately attacked Greene for parroting the propaganda of Vladimir Putin.

Greene, like Trump, spoke a truth that resonates with a beleaguered public. The opposition to permanent war should have come from the tiny progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which unfortunately sold out to the craven Democratic leadership to save their political careers. Greene is demented, but Raskin and the Democrats peddle their own brand of lunacy. We are going to pay a very steep price for this burlesque.

Read more on the Ukraine war and its contradictions:

Read more:
A return to permanent war is here: First it will bankrupt America, then destroy it - Salon