EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: US drug shortages reach record high with 323 meds now in short supply. “There are myriad reasons for the hundreds of drug shortages now facing doctors and patients, many of which remain unclear. But, as Ars has reported before, the root cause of shortages of low-cost, off-patent generic drugs is well established. These drugs have razor-thin to non-existent profit margins, driven by middle managers who have, in recent years, pushed down wholesale prices to rock-bottom levels. In some cases, generic manufacturers lose money on the drugs, disincentivizing other players in the pharmaceutical industry from stepping in to bolster fragile supply chains. Several generic manufacturers have filed for bankruptcy recently.”

Left unsaid in the linked story: The US is relying more on China for pharmaceuticals — and vice versa.

TIME HAS COME TODAY: These two stories were published on the same day a few weeks ago.

I’m so old, I can remember when Oceania at least waited a few days in-between declaring it was always at war/never at war with East Asia.

WHY IS HIGHER EDUCATION SUCH A CESSPIT OF ANTI-SEMITISM? Former Cornell student pleads guilty to threatening to shoot Jewish students.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

Shot: Another Boeing whistleblower says he faced retaliation for reporting ‘shortcuts.’

—NPR, Friday.

Chaser: NPR suspends veteran editor Uri Berliner who called out left-wing bias.

NPR has suspended Uri Berliner, the senior editor who published a bombshell essay a week ago that claimed that the publicly funded outlet has “lost America’s trust” by approaching news stories with a left-wing bias.

NPR media writer David Folkenflik revealed on Tuesday that Berliner beginning on Friday was suspended for five days without pay. Folkenflik, who reviewed a copy of the letter from NPR brass, said that the company told the editor he had failed to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets — a requirement of NPR journalists.

NPR called the letter a “final warning,” saying Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR’s policy again.

Neither NPR nor Berliner immediately responded to requests for comment.

Curiously, beleaguered NPR CEO Katherine Maher hasn’t locked down her Twitter account or deleted her tweets yet: Christopher Rufo Goes Through New NPR CEO’s Amazingly Woke Twitter Timeline, which could well be driving Berliner’s suspension:

Gentlemen, start your screenshots; there’s a pretty good chance the treasure trove of hot takes from Maher that Rufo uncovered won’t be online much longer:

IT MIGHT NOT TASTE VERY GOOD BUT AT LEAST IT HAS STUPID AMOUNTS OF SODIUM: That’s Impossible! Vegan ‘Meat’ Not So Good for You After All.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: CUNY prof says O.J. Simpson was guilty, but his acquittal was ‘necessary’ in a ‘racist legal system.’

Lol, Marc Lamont Hill.

CHANGE: NASA to look for new options to carry out Mars Sample Return program.

NASA will seek “out of the box” ideas in a bid to reduce the costs and shorten the schedule for returning samples from Mars.

In an April 15 briefing, agency officials announced they would solicit proposals from NASA centers and from industry on “innovative designs” to reshape its Mars Sample Return (MSR) effort after an internal review confirmed the ballooning costs of the overall program.

That review found that the current program would cost between $8 billion and $11 billion, the same range offered by an independent assessment completed last September. To fit that into the overall planetary science budget without affecting other programs would delay the return of samples from the early 2030s to 2040.

“The bottom line is that $11 billion is too expensive and not returning samples until 2040 is unacceptably too long,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the briefing.

By 2040, some helpful resident of Elon City might mail back a sample via SpaceXpress.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Glocusent LED Neck Reading Light, Book Light for Reading in Bed. #CommissionEarned

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: While Biden’s World Burns, Dems Froth Over Trump’s Kangaroo Trials. “The rogue’s gallery of scofflaw prosecutors and judges they’ve put together have kept the fantasy alive for now. Legal precedent be damned, these commies are just making up the law as they go along.”

THREAD:

(Thread) In reaction to Florida’s DEI ban, FSU is renaming its DEI office the Office of Equal Opportunity Compliance and Engagement. That’s cute, but they gave me an idea. https://t.co/2mn4cDRYgR

— David Mastio (@DavidMastio) April 16, 2024

TYRANNY IN BELGIUM: Police Shut Down Nigel Farage Speech.

MY NEW YORK POST COLUMN: Biden’s Middle East policy is beyond parody. “Is this ineptitude, or is it corruption? As the girl in the taco commercials says, ‘Why not both?'”

GOODER AND HARDER, GERMANY: German minister threatens ‘indefinite driving bans’ on weekends.

The federal coalition government, made up of the center-left Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats, has been at odds for months over issues including a payment card for refugees, Germany’s debt brake and, lately, elephants.

The planned amendment to the emissions-reduction law allows climate goals to be reviewed for compliance by looking at all sectors together instead of individually. If the overall target is missed two years in a row, then the federal government is to decide in which sector and with which measures the permitted total amount of carbon dioxide emissions is to be achieved by 2030.

If the planned reforms are not passed through parliament by July 15, Wissing warned, the Ministry for Digital and Transport would be obliged to submit an “immediate action program that ensures compliance with the annual emission levels of the transport sector” until 2030 — which would include a driving ban on weekends.

Environmental organizations — including Greenpeace, the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation BUND, and Fridays for Future — criticize the planned abolition of individual sector targets. They fear that an overall calculation obscures the impact of certain sectors — especially the traffic sector, which frequently doesn’t meet targets.

“This claim is simply wrong,” Green parliamentary group leader Julia Verlinden told the German Press Agency, referring to Wissing’s threat of a weekend driving ban. She added that Wissing should not aggravate people unnecessarily because there are other ways to tackle climate issues, such as a speed limit.

It’s nice to see that there are lines that the German Green party won’t (yet?) cross, but I’m not sure they’ll find many friends on the country’s autobahns if they try to impose a speed limit.

SALENA ZITO: The politics of steel are center stage in Pennsylvania.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Switzerland Signs Artemis Accords.

IT’S ALMOST AS THOUGH ALL THESE RIDICULOUS CHARGES WERE JUST ANOTHER WAY FOR DEMOCRATS TO RIG THE ELECTION: Judge Merchan Threatens Trump With Arrest. “The judge is essentially preventing Trump from campaigning for president.”

THE ENEMY WITHIN: Ex-TikTok Employee Says He Was Ordered To Send US Data to China.

WHEN THE LAW NO LONGER DEFENDS PROPERTY, PEOPLE WILL: Real estate mogul concerned how Americans will deal with squatters: ‘Something really bad is going to happen.’

They bought a property. They believe in the American dream. They wanted to get ahead. And the American dream became the American nightmare because somebody took what was theirs and the law was on the criminal’s side. It’s a scary place to be,” Meaike said.

Meaike, who went on to build fruitful business in waste management and life insurance after thriving in real estate, said that he began investing rental properties in his early 20s as a way to add additional income. He eventually accumulated hundreds of properties, launching him into a successful career as a serial entrepreneur who has earned generational wealth. But nowadays, when people have the ability to break into a rental property and law enforcement isn’t able to help, it’s much more difficult to rely on an investment property.

“How many amazing Middle American families decided to pull together $40,000, put it as a down payment on two or three family home, and then somebody who doesn’t have any regard for any other human being breaks in and lives there,” Meaike said. “Now, what’s going to start happening?”

Nothing good but certainly inevitable.