Thursday, January 18, 2018
Dr. Manny Alvarez: FDA makes incredible progress under Trump administration, approving new life-saving drugs
Without great fanfare and out of the glare of the
media spotlight, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is making
enormous progress under the Trump administration in approving new
medications to help us live healthier and longer.
In fact, the FDA today is operating
more efficiently and effectively than it has in the past 20 years. This
is good news for us all, because undoubtedly some of us will benefit
from the new drugs being approved more rapidly than before.
Among its many duties, the FDA regulates medical
innovation and the creation of new therapies in the biotech sector.
Remarkably, the agency increased the number of new drugs it allowed on
the market by 20 percent in 2017 – an unprecedented increase.Take, for example, Roche’s new multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease that disturbs communication between the brain and the rest of the body, affecting 2.5 million Americans. The approval of Ocrevus in March provided great hope for those suffering from the most debilitating forms of the disease.
We’ve also seen an influx of cancer immunotherapy drugs to stimulate the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells. These drugs are used in place of classic chemotherapy and radiation cocktails that can have unwanted and lasting side effects. Many of the world’s leading cancer doctors consider immunotherapy to be the future of cancer treatment, and there is a lot of research now to backup those theories.As a practicing doctor for over 30 years, I have witnessed firsthand the speed and intensity with which other countries – especially in Europe – were outpacing the United States when it came to making often life-saving drugs available to patients.
As a practicing doctor for over 30 years, I have witnessed firsthand the speed and intensity with which other countries – especially in Europe – were outpacing the United States when it came to making often life-saving drugs available to patients. Plagued by a lack of leadership and an embedded bureaucracy that did not allow for expedited reviews, the FDA has for decades been lagging.
That’s why I think President Trump’s appointment of Scott Gottlieb as commissioner of the FDA was quite brilliant, paving the way for progress.
Under Gottlieb, we are beginning to see an increase in competition that is expected to drive down drug prices, just as President Trump promised on the campaign trail. In addition, this new approach is creating incentives for researchers in the private sector to bring new therapies and improved therapies to the market.
And that’s something we can all get behind.
Dr. Manny Alvarez serves as Fox News Channel's senior managing health editor. He also serves as chairman of the department of obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. For more information on Dr. Manny's work, visit AskDrManny.com.
CNN star Jim Acosta should be kicked out of the White House press corps
CNN, the most profane name in news, sank to a new
low after an ugly Oval Office encounter involving President Trump and
the networks’ senior White House correspondent.
Jim (Little Jimmy) Acosta badgered
the president with a series of racially-charged questions during a
photo-op with the president of Kazakhstan.
“Did you say that you want more people to come in from Norway? Did
you say that you wanted more people from Norway? Is that true Mr.
President?” Acosta hysterically shouted.“I want them to come in from everywhere… everywhere. Thank you very much everybody,” Trump responded as Acosta continued hollering.
“Just Caucasian or white countries, sir? Or do you want people to come in from other parts of the world… people of color,” Acosta shouted.Little Jimmy brought great shame upon himself and his network. And he embarrassed our president and the nation. He owes President Trump and the president of Kazakhstan an apology for his disrespectful behavior.
Trump then pointed directly at Acosta and simply said, “Out!”
CNN is known for hiring journalists and broadcasters lacking in social graces. In recent days, the network has allowed reporters to use the word “s---hole” uncensored on-air.
The Media Research Center reports that CNN anchors and guests uttered the profanity at least 195 times in one day.
Little Jimmy is not exactly a fair and impartial White House correspondent. He recently told Anderson “Giggles” Cooper that “deep down this president may just be a racist.”
Honestly, I’m surprised President Trump did not grab Little Jimmy by the ear and personally toss him out of the Oval Office.
Little Jimmy brought great shame upon himself and his network. And he embarrassed our president and the nation. He owes President Trump and the president of Kazakhstan an apology for his disrespectful behavior.
Beyond that – the White House Correspondents Association should sanction Little Jimmy by either revoking his press credentials or at the very least issue a public censure.
Just because you happen to be a professional journalist gives you no right to be a loud-mouthed jerk.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.
Judge Andrew Napolitano: Did Trump change his mind on domestic spying?
Late last week, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.,
chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
repeated his public observations that members of the intelligence
community -- particularly the CIA, the NSA and the intelligence division
of the FBI -- are not trustworthy with the nation’s intelligence
secrets. Because he has a security clearance at the "top secret" level
and knows how others who have access to secrets have used and abused
them, his allegations are extraordinary.
He pointed to the high-ranking
members of the Obama administration who engaged in unmasking the names
of some people whose communications had been captured by the country’s
domestic spies and the revelation of those names for political purposes.
The most notable victim of this lawlessness is retired Lt. Gen. Michael
Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, a
transcript of whose surveilled conversation with then-Russian Ambassador
to the United States Sergey Kislyak found its way into print in The
Washington Post.
During the George W. Bush and Barack Obama years,
captured communications -- digital recordings of telephone conversations
and copies of emails and text messages -- did not bear the names of
those who sent or received them. Those names were stored in a secret
file. The revelation of those names is called unmasking.Nunes also condemned the overt pro-Hillary Clinton bias and anti-Trump prejudice manifested by former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey and their agents in the field, some of whose texts and emails we have seen. The secrets that he argued were used for political purposes had been obtained by the National Security Agency pursuant to warrants issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Yet Nunes voted to enhance federal bulk surveillance powers.
Bulk surveillance -- which is prohibited by the Constitution -- is the acquisition of digital versions of telephone, email and text communications based not on suspicion or probable cause but rather on geography or customer status. As I have written before, one publicly available bulk surveillance warrant was for all Verizon customers in the United States; that’s 115 million people, many of whom have more than one phone and at least one computer. And it is surveillance of Americans, not foreigners as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act contemplates.
How did this happen?
It happened in the dark. The NSA has persuaded the FISC, which meets in secret and only hears the government’s arguments, to permit it to spy on any American it wishes on the theory that all Americans know someone who knows someone else who knows someone who could have spoken to a foreign person working for a foreign government that could wish us ill.
This is the so-called judicial logic used to justify the search warrant on all of Verizon’s customers. This is what happens when judges hear only one side of a dispute and do so in secret.
The FISA amendments for which Nunes and other House members voted, which are likely to pass in the Senate, would purport to make bulk surveillance on all Americans lawful. At present, it is lawful only because the FISC has authorized it. The FISA amendments would write this into federal legislation for the next six years.
And these amendments would permit the FBI and any American prosecutor or law enforcement agency -- federal, state or local -- to sweep into the NSA’s databases, ostensibly looking for evidence of crime. If this were to become law, there would no longer be any unmasking scandals, because the stored data contains the names of the participants in the communications and would be readily available for harassment, blackmail or political use.
It would also mean that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution -- which guarantees privacy in our persons, houses, papers and effects -- would have been gutted by the very officeholders who swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend it.
Does the American public know this? Does the president?
Last week, I made an impassioned plea on Fox News Channel directly to the president. I reminded him that he personally has been victimized by unlawful surveillance and the political use of sensitive surveillance-captured data; that the Constitution requires warrants for surveillance and they must specifically describe the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized; that warrants must be based on probable cause of individual behavior, not an area code or customer list; that the purpose of these requirements is to preserve personal privacy and prohibit bulk surveillance; and that he took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
About an hour later, the president issued a tweet blasting bulk surveillance and unmasking. Two hours after that, he issued another tweet supporting the enactment of the FISA amendments.
What’s going on here?
I suspect that leaders in the intelligence community hurriedly convinced the president that if he sets aside his personal unhappy experiences with them and any constitutional qualms, they will use the carte blanche in the FISA amendments to keep us safe. This is a sad state of affairs. It means that Donald Trump changed his mind 180 degrees on the primacy of personal liberty in our once-free society.
The elites in the federal government and the deep state -- the parts of the government that are unauthorized by the Constitution and that operate in the dark, what candidate Trump called “the swamp” -- have formed a consensus that marches the might of the government toward total Orwellian surveillance.
This is a march that will be nearly impossible to stop. This is the permanent destruction of the right to privacy. This is the exaltation of safety over liberty, and it will lead to neither. This is the undoing of limited government, right before our eyes.
President Trump reveals winners of his ‘Fake News’ awards
President Trump revealed the winners
of his self-proclaimed ‘Fake News’ awards Wednesday night on Twitter --
with The New York Times topping the list.
CNN also came out as a “winner,” with the left-leaning news network making the list four times.
The list, published on GOP.com, noted
that “studies have shown that over 90% of the media’s coverage of
President Trump is negative.” It went on to call 2017 “a year of
unrelenting bias, unfair news coverage and even downright fake news.”Coming in first place was The New York Times’ Paul Krugman for his prediction that the stock markets would never recover from Trump’s election.
In a bit of irony, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 26,000 for the first time on Wednesday.
The Times was followed by ABC News’ Brian Ross for his botched report that Trump advised former National Security advisor Michael Flynn to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.
The list pointed to a false CNN report that Trump had early access to “hacked documents” from Wikileaks, a video that suggested Trump overfed fish in a visit with the Japanese prime minister and a report that former FBI Director James Comey would deny saying Trump was told he was not under investigation.
The Times appeared on the list again for a false report that the Trump administration hid a report on climate change.
Newsweek sent a tweet out Wednesday evening acknowledging its “award.”
The final “winner” on the list, as Trump described it: “And last, but not least: 'RUSSIA COLLUSION!' Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”
The website carrying the results of the “Fake News Awards” crashed because it was flooded with visitors after Trump tweeted out the link.
Without naming anyone, Trump also tweeted out his praise for the “many great reporters.”
He continued, “Despite some very corrupt and dishonest media coverage, there are many great reporters I respect and lots of GOOD NEWS for the American people to be proud of!”
Below is the full list of winners of the 2017 Fake News Awards.
1) The New York Times’ Paul Krugman claiming markets would ‘never’ recover from a Trump presidency
2) ABC News' Brian Ross’ bungled report on former national security adviser Michael Flynn
3) CNN falsely reporting the Trump campaign had early access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks
4) TIME report that Trump removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office
5) The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel tweeting that Trump’s December rally in Pensacola, Florida, wasn’t packed with supporters
6) CNN’s video suggesting Trump overfed fish during a visit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
7) CNN’s retracted report claiming Anthony Scaramucci-Russia ties
8) Newsweek report that Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda did not shake Trump’s hand
9) CNN report that former FBI Director James Comey would dispute President Trump’s claim he was told he was not under investigation
10) The New York Times report that the Trump administration had hidden a climate-change study
11) In Trump’s words, "‘RUSSIA COLLUSION!’ Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people. THERE IS NO COLLUSION!”
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