Letters to the Editor

Dec. 12 letters to the editor

Just another day in
Trump’s administration
Just another day in the life of our president.
Another of Trump’s claims has been debunked: The Inspector General (IG) said the FBI investigation into a possible relationship between the Trump campaign and Russian meddling was proper. This result and those of previous investigations didn’t please Attorney General William Barr so he has started his own investigation. Regardless, Trump still is claiming “FBI spying” andit was a “Witch Hunt.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray accepted the IG’s findings. Will he be the next FBI director to be scratched from Trump’s enemies list.
Articles of impeachment are being written; only the third such occasion in our nation’s history. We know about that, but the “rush to impeachment” argument by Republicans is caused in part by White House “stone-walling,” but “the rush” is required to preserve the integrity of the 2020 election from meddling be it by the Russians and/or our own president.
Russians were again in the White House Oval Office (Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met with Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday). Of course there won’t be a transcript of what is discussed. Last time the Russians visited was the day after the FBI Director James Comey was fired to take “the pressure off.” That first cordial meeting resulted in the immediate extraction of America’s top spy in the Kremlin because of a Trump indiscretion.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, is back in Ukraine trying to dig up dirt on Joe Biden from corrupt officials of the prior government. Trump paved his way by asking the Ukrainians, Russians and Chinese to dig up dirt on Biden and his son.
To top the day off, candidate Trump called the men and women of the FBI (you know the people that put their lives on the line for you and me) “scum” at a political rally in Pennsylvania.
Yes, it’s just another day with Trump. Oh for peaceful silence from our president; better still, how about bragging about some imaginary new program to reduce prescription drug prices. Instead we see fellow Morgantown residents leaving for Canada to fill life-saving prescriptions.
Remember those early years of the Obama administration when Washington was debating such things as Obamacare? How things have changed!
Robert Shumaker
Morgantown


Time to use price caps
to rein in drug costs
The Trump administration is trying to lower prescription drug prices and one of the ways it is trying to accomplish this is by forcing drug companies to accept prices set by the secretary of the Department Health and Human Services. If they do not accept the price, then they will be taxed by 95% for their drugs. This will ensure companies lose money. Then the pharmaceutical companies can choose to not sell their drug in the United States.
If this becomes a reality many people could not even have access to their life-saving medications. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needs to stop this, or else companies could decide not to sell their drugs in America.
Already, patients are choosing not to take their medications. According to the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia), 25% of patients who are prescribed medication never get their prescriptions filled. Still another 50% do not take their medication as often prescribed. The government needs to focus on the pharmaceutical companies themselves, not just the prices.
The pharmaceutical companies have not been regulated and have been messing with many people lives for too long. It is time place price caps on them to avoid the constant price hikes. It is also time to let generics be produced faster by reducing the time that the name brand pharmaceutical companies have a patent. With all these efforts it will change how the pharmaceutical market works and lower prices.
This issue is affecting many families across the United States. Without laws in place soon, no one will be able to afford their life-saving medications.
Veronica Mann
Morgantown