Two Hundred Day Night

          As previously stated, lunch meetings are not a lunch break. Also, why isn't election day a holiday? At least I was fully lucid through this one. I've been troubled by ethical and political issues lately and venting by sparring with people over the internet, which is an unending rabbit hole. While reading through the news, I came across a Forbes article titled, "Can Pharma Clean Up Its Act on Drug Pricing? Q&A With Alnylam CEO John Maraganore". Click here if you want to read the article. Naturally it should have been a trigger warning that I was about to read a piece on pharmaceutical industry ethics, formatted as a Q&A with an industry executive, republished by a news organization that's run by an old-money crustbucket who opposed gay marriage and pushed for a flat income tax. I'll sum up my beef here:

1. The "value vs. price" bullshit, constantly pushed by pharma, perpetuates the "pay or die" system. There is no way around this.
2. The continued reliance on private insurers, which is even taken for granted and seen as enduring indefinitely, as part of the business model of healthcare is sickening. Insurance is not healthcare, which is why Obamacare is less than a perfect endgame.
3. The constant allusions to a "few bad actors" that seem to crop up in every discussion of drug pricing are misleading. When we're discussing unexplained and repetitive increases in prices, every triple-A pharmaceutical company is one of these bad actors. See my next point.
4. Martin Shkreli is a dickbag, but he's open about what the rest of the industry always dresses up as innovation tax. PhRMA is desperately trying to cut its losses. The rest is smoke and it's on us to remember that.
5. Timmerman asked some incisive questions here, so all credit to him for a good interview. It's a well-crafted Q&A. But the defenses offered by the industry don't hold up ethically or practically.

          At home, I found Dylan in the kitchen. Together, we bitched about Republicans and Syria for at least an hour and a half. For example, Sen. Lindsey Graham today: "ISIL is a more credible threat to our homeland than al-Qaeda [...] We need to have an authorization of force that is not limited by geography, time or means." Reread the last seven words in that sentence, let it sink in. Scary, scary stuff. After talking to Dylan I felt like an abscess on my soul had been drained. He gets it, and I owe him my gratitude. I needed to calm down before broomball, too.
          We went into our last game ready to go. Defense flows from the goalie and Jake C was his usual competent self, stopping multiple penalty shots. Jennifer proved herself an adept defender; Nick S and I found a certain synergy and created chances. It was a fun game, though it ended in a scoreless tie. Among this polarized group of teams, we snuck into the playoffs with only 5 goals in 4 actual games. Later on I smoked and played more TF2 with Alaric, Jules and Nick S; I hit the hay late, around 4 a.m. The phrase "two hundred day night" had come unbidden into my thoughts and the idea of it kept cycling in my brain. It was like this for a long time before I could sleep.
          Quotes of the day:
"So, it was sort of an immaculate conception." - Craig
"Want to sign my change.org petition to outlaw the use of the word 'rockstar' to describe someone who's not a musician?" - me