1.) The State lost a good Senator today – by Chris Stafford
SUMMARY AND THOUGHTS: For those of you who just want the cliff-notes, the Kangaroo Court (accurately termed because I have it on good authority the outcome was predetermined at least a week ago) of today's senate hearing ousting Senator Alan Clark from the Senate can be succinctly summarized as follows: SENATE: We think you (Clark) should have divined the that good Senator Flowers had no ill intent, and if you didn't divine it, we told you so. After we told you so, we also told you to drop the complaint against her. You didn't listen to us and do what we told you, so under the guise that we're a body concerned about ethics, we're going to smack you and effectively toss you from the Senate, disenfranchising voters state-wide and leaving your district constituents without representation. To add insult to injury in todays proceedings, while the Senate went about the formality of the dog-pony show, a few made it a point to call Senator Clark their "friend" and mumble how much they cared and how difficult this was (yes stabbing your friends in the back probably is "difficult" unless one is a psychopath). Alas, the majority openly bemoaned how much time the kangaroo court was taking and urged haste and speed so they could get back to their tractors and other "important" things. My favorite quote of the day goes to Senator Blake Johnson: "I don't want to hear anything about due process" (isn't that a great quote from a lawmaker). As to the penalty (stripping Senator Clark of all senate duties/responsibility, banning him from the building, taking his senate phone, computer and even license plate and parking)..... such is unprecedented for the degree of "offense" allegedly committed. No crimes, no theft, no immoral actions, no stepping on puppies or running over nuns in crosswalks - filing an ethics complaint over apparent fraud. Let that sink in. Filing an ethics complaint. One that the establishment Senate later divines that Clark had retaliatory intent in filing. We should all be comforted that so many in the Senate have the infallible ability to divine the INTENT of others, and are so certain of it that by a 90+ percent majority are happy to toss one sitting senior Senator - a white male one not favored by the liberal press - out of the body, while having the clarity to clear another senior senator - a black female one with the press on speed dial- after divining her (innocent) intent (never mind it had all the optics of misappropriation of several thousand in travel $). "Travesty of justice" doesn't begin to touch on what was done today, just as "childish" and "retributional" barely begins to describe the motivational intent that was present for all but the blind to see. They tossed a Senator who fought harder for the people than about any other in the State, over "retaliatory intent", ironically while their own actions as a body exemplified "retaliatory intent" 10-fold. Chris Stafford
2.) FDA updates COVID-19 test policy to cut emergency use requests
Revising its COVID-19 test policy, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Tuesday that the agency would review only a small number of new emergency use authorization (EUA) requests for diagnostic tests.
Instead, the FDA urges developers seeking authorizations for their tests to pursue the traditional pathways for approval through the de novo classification or 510(k) clearance. However, the agency will continue to review the currently pending EUA requests.
Noting that the agency has issued EUAs for 430 COVID-19 tests so far, the FDA said that these tests provide adequate testing capacity throughout the U.S.
Given the current level of the production capacity and consumer access to tests, “shifting to traditional premarket review would best meet the public health needs at the current stage of the COVID-19 public health emergency,” said Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
The revised policy marks a shift in the FDA’s priorities as the COVID-19 impact wanes. Last month, the Biden administration announced plans to transition the government-led procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics to the commercial market.