Tag: corruption

CDC Chief Agrees There’s ‘Perverse’ Economic ‘Incentive’ for Hospitals to Inflate Coronavirus Deaths

United States hospitals have a “perverse” monetary “incentive” to increase their count of coronavirus fatalities, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s director Robert Redfield indicated under questioning from a Republican lawmaker during a House panel hearing on Friday.

Asked to comment on what Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) described as the “perverse incentive” during a hearing by the House Oversight and Reform Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Dr. Redfield responded:

I think you’re correct in that we’ve seen this in other disease processes too, really in the HIV epidemic, somebody may have a heart attack, but also have HIV — the hospital would prefer the [classification] for HIV because there’s greater reimbursement.

So I do think there’s some reality to that. When it comes to death reporting, though, ultimately, it’s how the physician defines it in the death certificate and … we review all of those death certificates.

So I think, probably it is less operable in the cause of death, although I won’t say there are not some cases. I do think though [that] when it comes to hospital reimbursement issues or individuals that get discharged, there could be some play in that for sure.

According to Congressman Luetkemeyer, Adm. Brett Giroir from the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has conceded that there is an economic incentive for hospitals to inflate their coronavirus fatalities.

Giroir “acknowledged that the statistics he is getting from the states are over-inflated,” the Republican lawmakers said.

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Ilhan Omar’s grifty and sordid reelection campaign

Ilhan Omar has spent $2.97 million on her reelection this year. If you set aside refunds and transfers, her operating expenditures are $2.59 million. Only five members of Congress have spent more on operating expenditures so far this cycle.

Where is all that money going?

Much of it is going to her husband.

In March, the congresswoman (who perpetually scolded anyone who inquired about her multiple marriages) married her top campaign consultant, Tim Mynett. Mynett’s ex-wife alleged in divorce filings that her husband and Omar were carrying on an affair while both were married. Why does the congresswoman’s extramarital affair matter?

For starters, marital fidelity and sexual ethics reflect on character, which matters for elected officials.

But also, when Omar is funneling the lion’s share of her fundraising to her paramour-turned-husband, it’s a matter of public corruption.

As of June 30, according to her campaign’s latest filing, Mynett’s firm, the E Street Group, has pocketed $1.04 million of her $2.59 million in operating expenditures. That means that 40% of every dollar donated to reelect Omar lands in the bank account of her husband’s firm.

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No known case of teacher catching coronavirus from pupils, says scientist

There has been no recorded case of a teacher catching the coronavirus from a pupil anywhere in the world, according to one of the government’s leading scientific advisers.

Mark Woolhouse, a leading epidemiologist and member of the government’s Sage committee, told The Times that it may have been a mistake to close schools in March given the limited role children play in spreading the virus.

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Prince Andrew ‘put pressure on the US government to give Jeffrey Epstein a plea deal’ which saw the pedophile jailed for only 18 months in 2008, unsealed documents claim

Prince Andrew ‘lobbied the US government to help get a sweetheart plea-deal for pedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein‘ that saw him jailed for just 18 months in 2008, newly unsealed court documents claim.

The allegation is contained within a motion by lawyers for two anonymous Epstein accusers who were trying to get hold of documents which they claim showed Andrew’s lobbying efforts.

The motion forms part of a 2015 libel case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s alleged madam, which have been kept under lock and key until today – when they were released following her arrest on sex trafficking charges.

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AstraZeneca to be exempt from coronavirus vaccine liability claims in most countries

AstraZeneca has been granted protection from future product liability claims related to its COVID-19 vaccine hopeful by most of the countries with which it has struck supply agreements, a senior executive told Reuters.

With 25 companies testing their vaccine candidates on humans and getting ready to immunise hundred millions of people once the products are shown to work, the question of who pays for any claims for damages in case of side effects has been a tricky point in supply negotiations.

“This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the risk if in … four years the vaccine is showing side effects,” Ruud Dobber, a member of Astra’s senior executive team, told Reuters.

“In the contracts we have in place, we are asking for indemnification. For most countries it is acceptable to take that risk on their shoulders because it is in their national interest,” he said, adding that Astra and regulators were making safety and tolerability a top priority.

Dobber would not name the countries.

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