Keep it Simple Stupid (KISS)

The Wall St Journal floated a trial balloon today.  The plan would have Uncle Sam calculate a "fair" price for drugs, based on overseas drug prices, and then tell Medicare, Medicaid, and the rest of 'em to only pay the drug companies the computed fair price.
   The price of American made drugs sold overseas is a lot lower, like half the price, of the same drug sold in the US.  This happens because  the US health agencies are forbidden to bargain over drug prices.  Overseas the health agencies do bargain over prices and generally get a price one half the US price, or better.  
   I have a better fix for the problem.  America passes a law permitting duty free drug imports from all reasonable first world countries (Canada, Britain, the EU, Japan, maybe a few more).  This is a free market fix, no bureau crats computing prices, Health agencies just go out for bids and buy from the lowest bidder.  No flimflam over "list" prices, discount prices, special prices, what ever.  Lowest bidder gets the sale. 
   This would have to be a federal government fix, the state of New Hampshire doesn't get to set US import duties. Peaking as a candidate for the NH legislature I won't have much to say about this issue, other than to root for it, should I be elected.

They caught them alive. They are both nutcases

And the evidence against them looks strong from here.  The Florida mail bomber left a fingerprint on one of the bombs which is pretty solid evidence against him.  The synagogue shooter was taken alive, gun in hand, at the scene of the crime. From what I see on TV (highly reliable source that) both criminals are nut cases, with social media postings and vehicle stickers to prove it.  Various TV newsies have blamed President Trump or Democrat politicians for inciting them to violence.  I don't buy that.  These two guys are nutcases.  We allow nutcases to run around loose until they kill someone.  We ought to change that policy.
  Let's hope our legal profession has the stones to convict and execute these two murderers, and do it within a year. 

Driving people out of restaurants is disgusting

And trying to kill them with pipe bombs in the mail is worse.  I hope law enforcement will catch the bombers and do it quickly. 

Canceling nuclear disarmament treaties

Trump and John Bolton are talking about doing it.  I don't remember just what the Intermediate Range Forces agreement called for.  There has been some vague talk on TV about restrictions on short range nuclear missiles.  Consider the fact that long range missiles can hit short range targets.  About all I can think of is that short range missiles are small enough to be road mobile, which makes it easier to disperse them and make it hard for counterforce strikes to take them out.
   There hasn't been much talk about disarmament treaties in many years, actually since the Soviet Union collapsed in way back in 1989.  And, what's in it for us?  Do we, owners of the largest air force in the world, really want or need yet another nuclear missile system?  Especially one that has to be based in the EU in order to hit the Russians?  Do we believe that the Russians really want to nuke the EU?  As opposed to taking it over piece by piece?
   And, just what have the dead broke Russians been doing that we think is against the treaty?
   In short, I don't understand why the Trump administration is threatening to pull out of an international treaty that has been around for like 30 years, and doesn't seem to be doing any harm.  Unless they think they can browbeat the Russians into signing a better (in our view) treaty, just to keep the disarmament thing running. 

Bye Bye local politics

Every day this election season I get mail from congressmen and governors from all the 50 states, you know the usual "dear voter please make a campaign contribution" sort of letter.  Also robo calls.  For me, I will support my local NH candidates, my state wide NH candidates, and presidential candidates.  I don't have either the money or the inclination to support candidates running for office in the Carolina's, California, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Montana, or any other state.  But I still get the out of state letters.  Many of them franked (send for free by congressmen who enjoy free mailing privileges). 
   How do the rest of you feel?

The Saudi's are an important American ally

Saudi Arabia is Sunni, contains the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, has the respect of its Arab neighbors, has a working relationship (abet under the table) with Israel, and has both oil and oil money running out its ears.  All good Moslems are supposed to make a journey to Mecca (the Hadj) in Saudi at least once in a lifetime.  All in all, having the Saudi's on our side helps us dealing with all the other players in the middle east. 
   The disappearance, most likely murder, of Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey, may well break up our good relations with Saudi.  The TV news is saying that Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate at Istanbul.  I'm never all the sure that the TV news has it right, but today it's all I have to go on.  If the TV newsies have it right, we have a problem.  Much as we might like to continue our good relationships with the Saudi's, it will become politically difficult-to-impossible to ignore the outrage among the American electorate and Congressmen.  This outrage will likely force us to take action against the Saudi's.  And things will go down hill from there. 
  I have to think that the Saudi's have really botched this one.  Offing a political enemy, on foreign soil, is so provocative as to make me wonder it the Saudi's have there heads screwed on right.

Inferno, World at War 1939-1945, Max Hastings 2011

A worm's eye view of WWII.  It's 700 pages.  It covers the European War and the far eastern war.  It dwells on killings, casualties, cruelties, concentration camps, civilian hardships, prisoners of war, Gestapo atrocities, anti semetism,  ship sinkings, the holocaust, and every other horrible event the occured in the period.  Little discussion of the causes of the war, the failing of the west to stand up to Hitler, the reasons for the astonishing German victories of 1940, the means the allies used to finally crush Hitler.  In short, a lot of colorful, if miserable, stories of little people getting stomped on, little discussion of how the war was fought and won, little discussion of the future effects of WWII.
   The author, Max Hastings, has written a fair number of other books on politics and military history.  Some of them are less down beat than this one.