Garrison Keillor | Suddenly, Once Again, Good Lord, It's Christmas

25 December 19

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So This Is Christmas and What Have You Done?

Christmas Day, 1971 - 2019

Yoko Ono and John Lennon

(Happy Christmas Kyoko)
(Happy Christmas Julian)

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas And a happy new year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now

Happy Xmas

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25 December 19

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Garrison Keillor | Suddenly, Once Again, Good Lord, It's Christmas

Garrison Keillor, Garrison Keillor's Website
Keillor writes: "Coming through airports this week it struck me how kind everyone was, ticket agents, TSA people, cab starters, and then light dawned: it's Christmas."
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A CCTV camera linked into the Baltimore Police CitiWatch program is shown at Gilmor Homes in West Baltimore in this file photo. (photo: Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

Baltimore Police Back Pilot Program for Surveillance Planes, Reviving Controversial Program
Justin Fenton and Talia Richman, The Baltimore Sun
Excerpt: "Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said Friday he now supports a pilot program to fly three private surveillance planes over the city."
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Christmas time. (photo: JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images)

Jessica Valenti | Having a Good Holiday Season? Thank a Woman!
Jessica Valenti, Medium
Excerpt: "Holiday cheer is almost exclusively manufactured by women, often at a cost to our own happiness."
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Jane Fonda. (photo: Marvin Joseph/WP)

Jane Fonda Arrested: We Are in a Climate Emergency. I Have No Choice but to Put My Body on the Line
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "Last Friday, a day before Jane Fonda’s 82nd birthday, the two-time Academy Award-winning actress and longtime political activist was arrested for the fifth time, as she has been nearly every Friday in Washington, D.C., since she started Fire Drill Fridays in October."
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People stand in line at the entrance to the Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallee in August 2015. French workers, unlike Americans, have guaranteed time off. (photo: Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)

Why the US Is One of Only a Few Countries With No Paid Time Off
Brigid Schulte, Vox
Schulte writes: "If Araceli Torres worked anywhere in

EXCERPT:

The United States is one of just a handful of countries — others include India, Pakistan, Suriname, and Papua New Guinea — that have no national policy guaranteeing workers paid annual leave. (It’s also among the few with no federal laws guaranteeing paid parental leave or paid sick days.) Any benefit offered to workers, like paid time off, is entirely up to the discretion of private employers.

US employers who offer time off give about two weeks on average — which is on the low end globally for industrialized nations. Close to one in four workers in the United States have no time off at all. Most of them are low-wage, hourly, or service workers like Torres.

In New York, this could soon change. Torres and about 800 other members of the New York Nail Salon Workers Association are lobbying for a bill before the New York City Council that would be one of the first legal guarantees of paid time off in the United States. The bill, which has been pushed by local politician Jumaane D. Williams since 2014, would guarantee workers at establishments with more than five employees 10 days of paid time off every year “for any purpose,” including vacation.

Under the legislation, an estimated 800,000 workers, including part-time and domestic workers who historically have been excluded from labor legislation, would accrue one hour of paid time off accrued for every 30 worked, up to a maximum of 10 days per year.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has been aggressively promoting the bill since January 2019, as he sought to position himself as a champion of workers’ rights in his failed presidential bid. He calls paid vacation the “sensible next step” for workers now that the city has passed paid sick and safe leave legislation guaranteeing paid time off for workers to recover from an illness or domestic violence or abuse, and raised the minimum wage to $15.

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Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul in an undated handout picture. (photo: Marieke Wijntjes/Reuters)

Don’t Forget That Saudi Arabia Is Imprisoning and Torturing Women’s Rights Activist Loujain al-Hathloul
Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept
Hasan writes: "I do not know her and have never met her. Yet, for some reason, every time I see her photo — every single time — my heart breaks."
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A new interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 2017 means that as of now, companies are no longer subject to prosecution or fines even after a disaster like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 that destroyed or injured about one million birds and for which BP paid $100 million in fines. (photo: Lee Celano/Reuters)

Trump’s Relaxed Environmental Rules Allow Industry to Kill Birds With Impunity
Trump’s Relaxed Environmental Rules Allow Industry to Kill Birds With Impunity
Lisa Friedman, The New York Times

EXCERPTS:

And when a homeowners’ association in Arizona complained that a developer had refused to safely remove nesting burrowing owls from a nearby lot, Fish and Wildlife said that, because of the new legal interpretation, it could not compel the developer to act.

“Of course, we just got sued over that interpretation, so we’ll see how it ends up,” the enforcement officer wrote.

The revised policy — part of the administration’s broader effort to encourage business activity — has been a particular favorite of President Trump’s, whose selective view of avian welfare has ranged from complaining that wind energy “kills all the birds” to asserting that the oil industry has been subject to “totalitarian tactics” under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

If landowners destroy a barn knowing it is filled with baby owls, they would not be liable, as long as the intent was not to kill owls, the opinion said. The illegal spraying of a banned pesticide would not be a legal liability either as long as the birds were not the “intended target.”

The loss of the Hampton Roads nesting area will devastate some bird species because it was the last they had. Other sites in the Chesapeake Bay have been lost to sea level rise and erosion.

The loss of the Hampton Roads nesting area will devastate some bird species because it was the last they had. Other sites in the Chesapeake Bay have been lost to sea level rise and erosion.

In Albuquerque, N.M., Alan Edmonds, an animal cruelty case manager with New Mexico’s animal protection agency, pushed back after the Fish and Wildlife Service gave only a verbal warning to a company that had trapped and killed a Cooper’s hawk. The agency replied that, without proof that the company wanted to kill the hawk, “we can’t do anything.”
“We don’t lose them a billion at a time,” she said. “We lose them from small incidents happening repeatedly over the vast geography of our country.”

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RSN: 'Horrified': Seymour Hersh Reacts to Obama's Plan to Send 250 More US Special Ops Troops to Syria, New Uncovered Documents Show Exxon Knew About Climate Change Much Earlier Than Previously Reported,

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'Horrified': Seymour Hersh Reacts to Obama's Plan to Send 250 More US Special Ops Troops to Syria 
 
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! 
Excerpt: "Look, I can't begin to tell you what's in his mind. It's a little amazing at this stage he's putting more forces in, but that's - you know, that's his prerogative, I guess, as president. Always makes good news. Nobody seems in this country ever to object too much when we put more people on the ground." 
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Baltimore Police Officer Shot and Injured 13-Year-Old Carrying Fake Gun 
USA Today 
Excerpt: "Baltimore police are investigating the shooting of a 13-year-old boy who they say ran from them after they spotted him carrying what appeared to be a gun Wednesday afternoon, Commissioner Kevin Davis told reporters." 
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Fallout From North Carolina LGBT Law Worries Small Business 
Joyce M. Rosenberg, Associated Press 
Rosenberg writes: "Small businesses in North Carolina are already losing valuable business because of the new state law limiting protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people." 
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Las Vegas Columnist Quits After Ban on Writing About Adelson 
David Folkenflik, NPR 
Folkenflik writes: "A prominent columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the largest news organization in Nevada, resigned after being told he could no longer write about two of the state's biggest players, including his newspaper's new owner, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson." 
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Sheldon Adelson, the new owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. (photo: David Becker/ZUMA Press/Corbi)

 prominent columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the largest news organization in Nevada, resigned after being told he could no longer write about two of the state's biggest players, including his newspaper's new owner, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

"If I can't do my job, if I can't hold the heavyweights in the community to account, then I'm just treading water," the columnist, John L. Smith, told NPR in an interview. "It wasn't an easy decision to make, but there was no other decision to make — at least in my mind."

Smith had written columns for the Review-Journal for nearly three decades, with a frequent focus on Adelson, one of the most powerful figures in Nevada gambling and national Republican politics. The billionaire sued Smith for libel over a passage in a 2005 book about power players of Las Vegas.

Smith prevailed in court, but paying the fees helped bankrupt him. (NPR told that remarkable story, including a rabbi's offer of a secret $200,000 payoff from Adelson for Smith to admit libel, earlier this year.) Years later, the case has helped trigger the end of Smith's career at the Review-Journal, as his new bosses cited it as a conflict of interest.

"I was sorry to see him resign and I wish him the very best," the paper's editor-in-chief, J. Keith Moyer, wrote in an email to NPR. "I decided that the strongest measure was best for the Review-Journal. John had thousands of other people, things and news events from which to choose to write about."

Late last year, Adelson and his family bought the Review-Journal in a transaction that was initially intended to keep the new owners' identity secret from the public and the newsroom itself. The paper's reporters covered the mystery and subsequently identified the Adelsons despite the efforts of the paper's publisher to delay and soften the coverage. The paper's editor was among those who subsequently left. Promises of scrupulous disclosure of the Adelsons' interests were scaled back.

Smith says new management implemented a new policy earlier this year: He could not cover anything to do with Adelson. The then-acting editor, Glenn Cook, regretfully conveyed the decision from publisher Craig Moon. Smith says he took issue: "I said, 'He's the one who sued me, he lost, and I'm conflicted?' "

Smith says Cook told him: "You can't do it or you'll be fired."

Soon after, the Adelson family announced its intent to build a football stadium to try to lure an NFL team to Las Vegas. That deal would rely on public tax dollars in a public-private partnership that Smith calls "a boondoggle ... that always seems to work for the private partners but not the public."

Smith says although the stadium was a subject ripe for coverage, he didn't challenge his new restrictions and left it alone. At a journalism conference last weekend, however, Moyer, the new editor, publicly acknowledged that Smith was barred from writing about the Adelsons and their interests. Attendees tweeted out those remarks. One person present asked Moyer whether Smith could write about Steve Wynn, another billionaire casino magnate who had also sued the columnist in the 1990s. Smith was dismissed as a party from that lawsuit, which was unsuccessful.

On Monday, Moyer told Smith he couldn't write about Wynn, either.

Moyer arrived in Las Vegas after the decision was made by the new publisher, Moon, on coverage of Adelson. Moyer says he was simply affirming the policy that he fundamentally agreed with and extending it to Wynn.

"I never suggested or believed John would use his column to settle a personal score, but if his writing on Adelson and Wynn created even a perception of score settling in the minds of readers, then it would have reflected on the credibility of the institution," Moyer told NPR. "Invoking 'conflict of interest' restrictions might not be common in Nevada, but they are elsewhere."

Publicity around both the policy and Smith's decision to resign has triggered a new round of criticism aimed at the paper. Moyer argues that the criticism misses the point.

"The real question reporters should be asking is: 'Did Sheldon Adelson order the ban?' But I suspect they're not asking that because they've already made up their minds that he did. Shame on them," Moyer says.

He says he only took the job after Adelson promised him, in person, that neither he nor his family would ever interfere in newsroom matters. He says that promise has been kept. In addition, he says, the Adelsons have provided new resources to rebuild the newsroom that had been cut back significantly under previous owners.

Other reporters and columnists for the paper will scrutinize Adelson, Wynn and other powerful players, Moyer says.

Smith is 56 and says his financial circumstances mean he cannot yet afford to retire. He says he hopes to find a new home to report and write.

"In many areas we will be as tough or tougher than we ever were," Smith says, speaking as though he were still part of the Review-Journal's staff. "The question is whether we'll be able to carry on in some of the most important areas.

"I believe they show, day after day, that management is not mature enough or professional enough to let the reporters do their job, to let the columnists have their say, and put it in the public eye," Smith says.

This week, a team of Review-Journal reporters is in Oregon to receive a prominent prize in media ethics for coverage of the paper's secretive sale last year and for uncovering the Adelsons as the new owners. Smith is among them.

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/36572-las-vegas-columnist-quits-after-ban-on-writing-about-adelson

Valeant CEO to Tell Senate He's Really, Really Sorry for Raising the Price of Life-Saving Heart Drugs 700 Percent 
Claire Landsbaum, New York Magazine 
Landsbaum writes: "J. Michael Pearson, ex-CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, would like the Senate to know he has made some mistakes." 
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The Battle for Truth Over Saudi Arabia's Ties to 9/11 
Andrew Bacevich, The Los Angeles Times 
Bacevich writes: "From the outset, they treated the national identity of the terrorists as incidental, connoting nothing of importance. It was as if the 15 murderers just happened to smoke the same brand of cigarettes or wear the same after-shave. Had they come from somewhere other than Saudi Arabia, a different attitude would surely have prevailed." 
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New Uncovered Documents Show Exxon Knew About Climate Change Much Earlier Than Previously Reported 
Brendan DeMelle and Kevin Grandia, DeSmogBlog 
Excerpt: "DeSmog has uncovered Exxon corporate documents from the late 1970s stating unequivocally 'there is no doubt' that CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels was a growing 'problem' well understood within the company." 
READ MORE

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RSN: Shaun King | Why Bernie Sanders Is the Best Candidate in the Running for the White House, Timber Oligarchs Transform Into Beef Barons in Harney County and the Oregon High Desert, The Obama Administration Is Continuing a Failed Strategy of Building Military Bases Around the World

It's Live on the HomePage Now: 
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Paul Krugman | The Onion Predicted Ted Cruz 
 
Paul Krugman, The New York Times 
Krugman writes: "Does anyone remember the classic first post-9/11 issue, which declared 'Rest of Country Temporarily Feels Deep Affection for New York?'" 
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Shaun King | Why Bernie Sanders Is the Best Candidate in the Running for the White House 
Shaun King, New York Daily News 
King writes: "Today - on what happens to be Dr. King's birthday - I am proud to endorse the presidential candidate who I believe most embodies the values and ideals of the man who scared the hell out of the American government and was assassinated in 1968 after so bravely fighting against the Vietnam War and for income equality." 
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Bernie Sanders shakes hands with supporters during a rally at Hec Ed Pavilion that drew an 

estimated 15,000 people to the University of Washington. The rally filled the arena and 

left thousands outside. (photo: Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com)

oday — on what happens to be Dr. King's birthday — I am proud to endorse the presidential candidate who I believe most embodies the values and ideals of the man who scared the hell out of the American government and was assassinated in 1968 after so bravely fighting against the Vietnam War and for income equality.

As a general rule, I don't trust many politicians, but I trust Bernie Sanders — the man walks the walk and talks the talk. He is, without a doubt, the most consistent politician in America and has been fighting for universal health care, access to education, equal pay, equal rights and the complete overhaul of how we do justice in this country for his entire career. I dig it.

Twelve months ago, I'll be honest with you, I could fit all I knew about Sanders into a few sentences. It went something like this:

“Hey Shaun, what do you know about Bernie Sanders?”

"The senator in Vermont? The disheveled dude? He's the real deal. Not in it for the money. Heard him on TV a few times kicking knowledge about income inequality and he was the truth. I keep hearing that he's a socialist."

That's it. That's pretty much everything I knew about the man.

I didn't know he was born and raised in Brooklyn.

I didn't know anything about his volunteer work in the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement.

I didn't know he was one of only two current senators to attend the March on Washington.

I didn't know anything about his eight years as mayor of Burlington.

I didn't know that he went against the Democratic establishment and endorsed Jesse Jackson for President in 1984 and 1988.

Jackson actually won Vermont in ’88 with Bernie's help.

I didn't know he is the longest serving Independent congressman in American history.

I didn't know he bravely voted against the Defense of Marriage Act when such a thing was actually controversial.

I didn't know he voted against both wars in Iraq.

Now I know.

But even more than who he has been over the past few decades, it's who Sanders is right now, at this pivotal moment in our country, that hooked me. It wasn't love at first sight, either.

When women from the Black Lives Matter movement interrupted his campaign speeches and demanded he not only acknowledge state violence against black bodies, but that he also needed to have strong policy positions on the issue, I was all for it. At the time, thousands of liberal white folks were irritated to no end when they saw the demonstration.

Looking back on it, I truly think it was the most important moment of his campaign. He took the brave interruption to heart. Instead of simply saying "Black Lives Matter" here and there, he released the most comprehensive, thorough, specific plan of any candidate on either side to address police brutality, economic inequality, voting rights, education, health care, gun safety and more.

It shocked me, actually. I had grown used to politicians shrugging off the pain and pleas of black folks and just assuming we'd vote for them anyway. Bernie didn't do anything like that.

Here hired Symone Sanders, a black woman who has fought for juvenile justice issues her whole life, not as his juvenile justice liaison, but as his national press secretary.

He hired one of the most respected immigration activists in the country, Erika Andiola, to not only connect with Latino voters, but to also shape his campaign on immigration issues.

Those two moves meant everything to me, but three separate moments hooked me once and for all, and got me feeling the Bern.

1. Police and political corruption in Chicago is a horrific mess. With both Hillary (and Obama) having deep ties to the city and its mayor, Rahm Emanuel, they have both been rather mum about it. Bernie, on the other hand, came out strong on how leaders at the highest level need to be held accountable there. This is what it's going to take to address police violence in America.


2. No presidential candidate has been as clear on what happened to Sandra Bland as Bernie. In addition to meeting with her mother, he came out in December and flat out said “Sandra Bland should not have died while in police custody. There's no doubt in my mind that she, like too many African-Americans who die in police custody, would be alive today if she were a white woman.” He gets it. Race is not a coincidental factor in police violence, but is a central, determining factor in much of the brutality. This must be acknowledged and Bernie has done so repeatedly.


3. Killer Mike endorsing and campaigning for Bernie actually really matters to me. Hip hop is my heart. I grew up as a hip hop DJ, my best friend is a popular rapper, and I'm a Killer Mike fan. I'm also a Jay-Z and Kanye fan as well, but Killer Mike is more like an activist who raps than a rapper who cares about the world on the side. He's not even the type of dude to endorse politicians.

Killer Mike may be the most anti-authority rapper in the game. When he endorsed Bernie with such passion and clarity, I listened and believed him.

To be clear, I'm in this to win and Bernie Sanders can win this race.

He is leading in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. That's not a fluke. He worked for that. People in those states believe in Bernie.

He is beating every single Republican candidate in head-to-head polls, often at margins even wider than Hillary, and he has the most enthusiastic base of any candidate on either side. He has the biggest crowds, the most love online AND the most support of any candidate from voters (of all races) under 45.

He's raising more small donations from regular people than anybody in the race. He hasn't been bought by corporate interests and never will be.

While he campaigns against for-profit prisons, Hillary Clinton received money from their lobbyists. She didn't stop taking their money until October.

We live in a time when we don't need marginal improvements, we need big changes. Bernie is the right candidate at the right time to bring them.

I believe in him, I believe in his team and I believe he can win.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/34640-why-bernie-sanders-is-the-best-candidate-in-the-running-for-the-white-house

Immigration Officials Could Soon Knock on the Doors of 18,000 Central American Women and Kids
Esther Yu-Hsi Lee, ThinkProgress 
Lee writes: "Beyond the wave of immigration raids targeting 121 individuals for potential deportation proceedings earlier this month by the Obama administration, there may be thousands more Central American women and children who remain at risk for being rounded up and deported." 
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The Obama Administration Is Continuing a Failed Strategy of Building Military Bases Around the World 
David Vine, In These Times 
Excerpt: "Amid the distractions of the holiday season, the New York Times revealed that the Obama administration is considering a Pentagon proposal to create a 'new' and 'enduring' system of military bases around the Middle East." 
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Attorney Says Video Disputes Official Account of Baltimore Police Shooting 
Justin Fenton, Baltimore Sun 
Fenton writes: "The lawyer for a man shot by Baltimore police three years ago is claiming a new video shows that officers lied about the circumstances that led up to the shooting of Shuan Mouzon in January of 2013." 
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Mexico Violence Never Ends, 5 More Disappeared by Police 
teleSUR 
Excerpt: "Four police officers were detained in Mexico's violence-ridden state of Veracruz Thursday for suspected involvement in the forced disappearance of five youth. A father and relative of one of the five said 'Imagine the hell' when you find out your loved ones have been disappeared by the authorities." 
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Timber Oligarchs Transform Into Beef Barons in Harney County and the Oregon High Desert 
Katie Fite, CounterPunch 
Fite writes: "Throughout the Ammon Bundy and militia thug seizure of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the media has not reported on the modern day filthy rich cattle barons of Harney County and beyond." 
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Good Cop! Bad Cop!

The 'Code of Honor' does a great disservice to those who serve honorably when the level of police abuse reaches the depths exhibited in Baltimore and elsewhere.

Richland County SC Sr Dep Ben Fields who assaulted a teenager in a classroom is merely one egregious example. His previous abusive conduct was ignored.

Carl Younger

"Where are all the good cops?” Critics of police brutality and abuse of power often wonder this – sometimes aloud, often on social media. But there is an answer to that question – it’s not purely rhetorical – the “good cops” are driven out of work by the bad cops.
Far from being “a few bad apples,” Detective Joseph Crystal of the Baltimore Police Department says that he was targeted by other officers for trying to root out corruption."
“If you snitch, your career is done,” one officer told him. He eventually became public enemy No. 1 inside the Baltimore Police Department. But before that, he was considered a rising star in law enforcement."

Good Cop Files Lawsuit Against Corrupt Department That Told Him ‘If you snitch, your career is done’

“Where are all the good cops?” Critics of police brutality and abuse of power often wonder this – sometimes aloud, often on social media. But there is an answer…

COUNTERCURRENTNEWS.COM

RSN: Ignoring US Destabilization of Libya, GOP Benghazi Hearing Asks Clinton All the Wrong Questions, Tony Blair Says He's Sorry for Iraq War 'Mistakes'

It's Live on the HomePage Now: 
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Hollywood Diversity Is a Special Effect 
 
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, TIME 
Abdul-Jabbar writes: "Just because you think you are seeing more people of color, more women, more LGBT characters, it doesn't mean the industry is actually diversifying. When we pull back the curtain, the Great and Powerful Hollywood is mostly business as usual. White male business." 
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Tony Blair Says He's Sorry for Iraq War 'Mistakes' 
Jethro Mullen, CNN 
Mullen writes: "Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he's sorry for 'mistakes' made in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but he doesn't regret bringing down dictator Saddam Hussein." 
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Representative Keith Ellison Calls for More Oversight After Drone Papers Revelations 
Jenna McLaughlin, The Intercept 
McLaughlin writes: "Ellison has been a vocal critic of targeted killings for years, along with other members of his progressive caucus. Over the summer, with CPC co-chair Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, D- Ariz., Ellison tried and failed to attach an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act that would have mandated that the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community investigate civilian deaths from drone strikes and report back." 
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Ignoring US Destabilization of Libya, GOP Benghazi Hearing Asks Clinton All the Wrong Questions 
Democracy NOW! 
Excerpt: "Melvin Goodman, former CIA and State Department analyst, says the Benghazi hearing has ignored the real issue for Clinton to address: the U.S. bombing of Libya that destabilized the country and set the stage for the fatal 2012 attack. 'What was learned was irrelevant,' Goodman says. 'What was relevant wasn't discussed.'" 
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6 Ways to Fix Baltimore's Police Problem 
Ben Wrobel, ThinkProgress 
Wrobel writes: "A few 'bad apples' can change the culture of a whole police department. Honorable cops in Baltimore feel pressured to honor a 'code of silence' and protect fellow officers who are corrupt or abusive, according to former NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous." 
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Life-Saving Pill That Had Its Price Hiked to $750 Now Has a $1 Competitor 
Elahe Izadi, The Washington Post 
Izadi writes: "Turing Pharmaceuticals chief executive Martin Shkreli found himself in the middle of a media firestorm last month as he adamantly defended his company's 4,000 percent drug price hike as 'altruistic.' Now, another company will offer a Daraprim alternative, at just $1 a pill." 
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Ex-Executive Denies Flouting Rules in Deadly West Virginia Coal Mine Blast 
Alan Blinder, The New York Times 
Blinder writes: "A former coal company executive testified Friday that he and his boss, Donald L. Blankenship, the former chief executive of Massey Energy Company, had never conspired together to flout safety rules before 29 workers were killed after an explosion at the company's Upper Big Branch mine." 
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