US Keeps China, Puts Canada on IP Priority Watch List (reuters.com) 183
The Trump administration on Friday labeled 36 countries as inadequately protecting U.S. intellectual property rights, keeping China on a priority watch list and adding Canada over concerns about its border controls and pharmaceutical practices. From a report: The U.S. Trade Representative's annual report on global IP concerns is separate from the "Section 301" report on Chinese technology transfer practices that has led the world's two largest economies to threaten each other with tariffs. The so-called "Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Rights" calls out China for its "coercive technology transfer practices" and "trade secret theft, rampant online piracy, and counterfeit manufacturing." It was the 14th straight year that China was placed on the "Priority Watch List." U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is due to travel to China next week along with other senior Trump administration officials for talks on U.S. demands for changes in Beijing's trade and intellectual property policies.
That's OK ... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's, OK, you're on our "assholes to try to stop doing business with" list.
So sorry we won't put our national sovereignty and our own legally enshrined rights behind those of asshole corporations -- as much as that's what they've paid your leaders to try to do.
It won't be long before the US shoots themselves in the foot and starts losing trade as other countries decide putting up with your bullshit isn't worth the effort.
But keep on trying to act like we all need you and are willing to sign terrible deals to have the privilege of trading with you.
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Funny words from a citizen of a has-been country that is trying desperately to preserver its former wealth.
Re:That's OK ... (Score:5, Insightful)
[MIB 'Bug' voice]
"Your proposal is acceptable."
[/MIB 'Bug' voice]
Just remember who the nations are that own all the US debt. If enough nations call a sufficient amount of those securities etc in, the US is in very serious trouble. There's already a strong push on to switch to the Chinese Yuan as the international currency of trade as well. The US needs to be very careful right now. The US Dollar, the economy, stocks & bonds, etc...are all built on fiction.
Reality must and will come one way or another in the not-too-distant future. It's going to be messy, as at this point it's nearly certain, and in addition, even if those in power cared and tried to do something, the best they could do at this point is soften things a tiny bit.
Strat
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Foreign nations don't own all the US debt. Most of the debt is actually borrowed against the future value of social security, or some such financial nonsense.
Honestly I don't understand how it works but as of February [treasury.gov] only $6trillion or so is owed to foreign countries.
Re:That's OK ... (Score:4, Informative)
Foreign nations don't own all the US debt. Most of the debt is actually borrowed against the future value of social security, or some such financial nonsense.
Honestly I don't understand how it works but as of February [treasury.gov] only $6trillion or so is owed to foreign countries.
Considering that the 2017 annual US tax revenue is $1.9 trillion [usgovernmentrevenue.com], calling 6 trillion dollars of debt means big problems for the US.
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Considering that the 2017 annual US tax revenue is $1.9 trillion [usgovernmentrevenue.com], calling 6 trillion dollars of debt means big problems for the US.
According to that link annual US tax revenue is $3,340.4 trillion. Income tax is not the only Federal tax revenue as that table makes painfully obvious.
But your point is well taken, it is a good thing that the Republicans cut tax revenue further in December so that debt well pile up even faster. MAGA!
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But your point is well taken, it is a good thing that the Republicans cut tax revenue further in December so that debt well pile up even faster. MAGA!
Exactly. People keep blaming Presidents for the debt, even though it has pretty steadily increased under 3 different administrations with 3 fairly different economic policies.
The one constant throughout most of that time is Congress. They are to blame for the debt, plain and simple. Until we get a Congress that begins to pass surplus budgets, the debt will continue to increase. It's basic math.
Congress constantly deflects that responsibility to the Presidency, and because many people don't understand how th
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Buy a little red cap and all will be clear.
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I was merely contesting BlueStrat's use of the word "all". It's a common piece of misinformation that many people believe and is simply not true.
Frankly, to me it is FAR more worrisome that we are somehow able to owe most of our national debt to ourselves. That. Is. Fucked.
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Obviously I meant all the foreign debt, other nations being...uh...foreign, and all.
Strat
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No, it's not obvious. OK so you knew, and a possible interpretation of what you said is correct.
But most people actually believe we owe $20 trillion to China. I have had this conversation many times with people I consider to be very intelligent and well informed.
It is a rampant misconception, and one that I myself held until someone else corrected it for me.
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No, it's not obvious. OK so you knew, and a possible interpretation of what you said is correct.
Now that you point it out, I can see where somebody might misinterpret.
A good portion of US debt is money "borrowed" from things like Social Security, the Federal Reserve, and other federal programs and funds, etc, effectively leaving them with just an IOU.
Strat
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Most of the debt is actually borrowed against the future value of social security, or some such financial nonsense.
Honestly I don't understand how it works
They print some documents essentially stating they're borrowing money from one pocket to put in the other and then saying they're now that much richer. It works the same as suddenly adding a bunch of new coins to a fixed-coin-number cryptocurrency after people have bought in.
It essentially robs everyone holding that currency of some amount of it's actual value. The beauty for governments is they can create money like this and use it for whatever, and they don't have to pass a tax increase and the people are
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The name... Is Doomasss
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If enough nations call a sufficient amount of those securities etc in, the US is in very serious trouble.
If the US simply refuses to pay, who is gonna force them?
There's already a strong push on to switch to the Chinese Yuan as the international currency of trade as well.
Unlikely, first of all the Yuan is bound to the dollar. Secondly Euro is the second biggest trade currency.
However you are right, the US is going downhill since 50 years or longer, but they are to stupid to realize it. On the other hand "
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The whole financial system is based on the concept of US Federal debt being 'risk free'. I wonder what will happen if that is no longer the case.
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There's already a strong push on to switch to the Chinese Yuan as the international currency of trade as well.
Thanks for saying that. I haven't had that good a laugh in a long time.
The US needs to be very careful right now. The US Dollar, the economy, stocks & bonds, etc...are all built on fiction.
And the Chinese economy is build on badly written, self published fan fiction. Which we can shorten to "house of cards." That's why Trump scares them so much they're bullying North Korea into behaving. A trade war between the US and China will hurt both countries. But the US will recover, while China has food riots.
Re: That's OK ... (Score:1)
Enjoy getting your lumber from Mexican deserts.
Cheap drugs, expensive country. (Score:1)
"Pharmaceutical practices"? As in cheap drugs crossing border into profitstan.
Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm going to assume this has something to do with generic drugs? I guess drug companies in the US are more concerned about making a buck than actually helping people. In Canada, most essential drugs have a generic or no-name equivalent which is often cheaper than the brand name drug and works just as well. I sure hope that isn't their complaint because that particular law makes drugs cheaper for the folks who need it.
Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually when it comes to downloaded pirated videos, there's almost no way for content providers to come after you in Canada. In Canada, content providers are never provided the address or personal information of a subscriber because doing so would be a breach of Privacy. They actually need to be granted a search warrant first which is expensive and time consuming. All ISP's do is forward any warning messages from Content Providers to subscribers but there's no real obligation for a subscriber to do anything other than to toss it in the trash.
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I printed one out and put it in my bbq.
still use a vpn though
Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:4, Informative)
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All ISP's do is forward any warning messages from Content Providers to subscribers but there's no real obligation for a subscriber to do anything other than to toss it in the trash.
Recurrence rates are claimed to be low, so just forwarding warnings "seem to be helping", so I'm hoping that's enough to keep content providers at bay. Some try to add shady text and links to their notices, to trick people to identify themselves.
HBO seems to be the most active, and target Torrents, so I just make sure I download their shows from streaming services, or through a VPN.
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I read that Star Trek TOS is public domain in Canada, some execs in USA must fumes!
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It's complicated (Score:3)
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Continued extensions are no longer necessary for that now that Disney has finally gotten around to trademarking the Mouse and its image. Trademarks do not have an expiry, and last for as long as the company is willing to protect them.
This doesn't technically stop people from freely copying old works whose copyright has expired, even if they feature the trademarked character, but it does stop anyone from being able to utilize the character in their own work, even if that work was derived from one that wa
Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:2)
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Walt Disney is dead (or at least frozen). It's time to let the 1928 copyright on an 8 minute short expire. This doesn't mean they've lost copyright on every Mickey Mouse cartoon. They've got enough newer movies and cartoons that they won't become bankrupt. It's idiocy to keep going on this way.
Can Be Odd (Score:2)
I am fortunate to have a great physician. He works half-time at one of these private clinics, where he can spend the time to do medicine the way he thinks it should be done. I gather that he makes enough money
Re: Can Be Odd (Score:2)
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Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:5, Informative)
One thing Canada doesn't allow is direct-to-consumer drug advertising. US commercials are filled with "Are you feeling XXX? Perhaps you have condition YYYY. Consult your doctor and see if ZZZZ is right for you!". This is one way to bypass generic drugs - if you're asking for them by name, there's no option to buy the generic version of the same drug.
And pharmacists here are generally quick to ask if you'd want a generic or the branded stuff - it can affect things like extended health drug coverage -
Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:4, Informative)
One thing Canada doesn't allow is direct-to-consumer drug advertising. US commercials are filled with "Are you feeling XXX? Perhaps you have condition YYYY. Consult your doctor and see if ZZZZ is right for you!". This is one way to bypass generic drugs - if you're asking for them by name, there's no option to buy the generic version of the same drug.
Well, it's a little more complex in Canada. You're allowed to advertise a drug name, but not what it treats, or you can advertise a condition but not a drug to treat it. This is how you get some rather cheeky Viagra and Cialis advertisements, and a lot of advertisements on various conditions that just say "talk to your doctor if you feel this way".
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if you're asking for them by name, there's no option to buy the generic version of the same drug.
I don't know where you are getting that from. Your doctor can easily prescribe the generic even if you ask about a drug under its brand name. You can demand "no generics", but that doesn't mean you can't buy a generic if you prefer.
And pharmacists here are generally quick to ask if you'd want a generic or the branded stuff
Yep. So you can ask your doctor about Floqueezy all you want, but that won't prevent you from buying the cheaper generic.
Re: Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:2)
Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:5, Insightful)
foxalopex posited:
I'm going to assume this has something to do with generic drugs? I guess drug companies in the US are more concerned about making a buck than actually helping people. In Canada, most essential drugs have a generic or no-name equivalent which is often cheaper than the brand name drug and works just as well. I sure hope that isn't their complaint because that particular law makes drugs cheaper for the folks who need it.
That's certainly part of it. Their Supreme Court's intolerance of patent abuse [theglobeandmail.com], and its willingness to punish it appropriately [wikipedia.org] is, I suspect, also a non-trivial consideration ...
Re:Canadian Pharmaceutical Practices? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm going to assume this has something to do with generic drugs?
I doubt it, Canada has relatively high prices for generic drugs.
In most cases, the USA has far more companies competing for generic drugs, and you have many companies (Walmart, Target, Walgreens, etc.) selling common generics for $4.
Yes, $4 is the total cost.
You won't find a pharmacy in Ontario where the pharmacy's dispensing fee (let alone the cost of the medication) is less than $4.
I guess drug companies in the US are more concerned about mak
Canada's border controls? (Score:5, Insightful)
As for the "pharmaceutical practices" I don't know about IP issues, but I know the cost of drugs here isn't nearly as ridiculous as things are becoming in the U.S. Sorry we aren't letting drug companies rip off people as badly as they do in your country, Mr. President.
Re:Canada's border controls? (Score:4, Funny)
Canada should build a wall and send the bill to Trump.
Re:Canada's border controls? (Score:5, Funny)
Nice try, but we'll wait until you elect someone who actually pays his bills.
Simply perfect! (Score:2)
That Sir, was simply perfect!
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Any deal where we have to pay what we owe is a bad deal!
Illegal immigrants to Canada? (Score:2)
Which country is letting large numbers of immigrants illegally cross the border into Quebec and Manitoba the past few years? President Trump doesn't seem to concerned about stopping that from happening. Our current government is also part of the problem.
How is this even happening? Manitoba and Quebec share a border with one nation - the USA. Is this a bunch of hyperbole? Is your country letting questionable people in on tourist visas who aren't leaving and for some reason are finding Manitoba and Quebec to be extra welcoming?
Re:Illegal immigrants to Canada? (Score:5, Informative)
"Roughly 75 per cent of the 25,000 asylum seekers who crossed into Quebec last year did so illegally and the government is anticipating a surge in migrants arriving again this year."
https://globalnews.ca/news/415... [globalnews.ca]
"Officials said Monday it is expecting about 400 people to cross the border through forests and wooded areas every day this summer — up from 250 each day last year."
https://globalnews.ca/news/414... [globalnews.ca]
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The cost is the thing that got Canada on the watch list. The price disparity is so great that people are smuggling drugs across the border. Cheaper to pay a shady black market dealer to buy your life-saving medication as a generic in Canada and sneak it through the post than to buy exactly the same substance as a brand-name drug in the US.
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In other news... (Score:3, Insightful)
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https://www.washingtonpost.com... [washingtonpost.com]
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And long overdue.
Only Trump would put Canada on this list (Score:2)
In addition, neither of them deserve the treatment that Trump has given them.
I now know how an East Germany felt.
Re:Only Trump would put Canada on this list -WRONG (Score:2)
Seriously, Canada, along with the UK, are our closest allies.
In addition, neither of them deserve the treatment that Trump has given them.
I now know how an East Germany felt.
Canada has been on these U.S. lists for a LONG time. As to the treatment consider how post 9/11 Bush kept thanking the countries that helped and backed the U.S., the only time he mentioned Canada was when questioned by the press for his omission to which he responded "You don't thank family". How dysfunctional is the the Bush family? So yeah we have had this treatment by a lot more than just Trump.
It isn't even just the politicos like Bush and Trump but also can be the people as in the incident where 3
Re: Only Trump would put Canada on this list -WRON (Score:2)
pesky job killing regulations (Score:5, Informative)
A pain killer that as $138 in 2013 is now $2979 (http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/15/investing/drug-prices-vimovo-horizon-painkiller/index.html )
https://www.chausa.org/publica... [chausa.org]
This is how they (the GOP) will ultimately kill medicare.
If we ever want to bring health care costs, and being care to the masses, these companies must be broken. This is no longer about profit but gouging. The only way to get this country back is campaign finance reform.
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America should simply wake up. ....
One of the best health care on the planet you get in
CUBA!
Ah ... there are stupids laws that you may not fly as an american to Cuba ...
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First - it frees up cash to give back to the oligarchy,
Second - undermine education to remove critical thinking and reasoning skills which harbor the ability to challenge the oligarchy and implement positive change.
Need proof, just look at the US global rankings
http://hechingerreport.org/u-s... [hechingerreport.org]
http://www.pewresearch.org/fac... [pewresearch.org]
Copyright 17 years patent 17 years (Score:2)
Stick to the Constitutional requirement, not this insane LIFETIME plus 90 years fake US version of copyright and patent that includes "business processes".
Canada should put US on Data Security watchlist (Score:2)
Next time he holds up a paper ... (Score:2)
Show him a map. ...
I guess he believes Canada is a province of Syria or something
Most of us Canadians (Score:4, Insightful)
have just come to expect Mr Trump to be what could charitably be called erratic.
I'd think that is similar to the view from the rest of the world as well.
Good! (Score:2)
"over concerns about its border controls and pharmaceutical practices."
Exactly, we can't have those Canadian fuckers sell meemaw and peepaw their much needed drugs for a reasonable price.
"negotiate" away (Score:2)
"Special 301" is like "Special needs" (Score:2)
Re:Badge of Honour (Score:5, Insightful)
NAFTA (Score:5, Insightful)
A rule of thumb (Score:1)
The US isn't any better at economic output than any other developed nation -- what the US is better at is trapping, tricking, decieving, and wringing every last cent out of consumers. IP law is one big part of that.
Re:Badge of Honour (Score:5, Informative)
Ironically enough the countries on the list don't innovate anything, they just steal other's work. Developing drugs costs money. None of the breakthoughs would exists without a profit motive.
I call bullshit - many many breakthroughs were made by scientists doing 'pure' science. We would NEVER have had, for one random example, lasers, if there had been a profit requirement behind the scientists doing the fundamental science that made it possible.
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No one would have smelt a profit to be made from lasers?
Re:Badge of Honour (Score:5, Insightful)
Not at the time they were invented, no. Lasers were originally conceived and the foundation for them laid down in the 1920s. It took until the 1980s when they were actually something you could market.
You think any company invests into something with a 60 years development period?
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Corning.
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The difference maybe being that it's not a groundbreaking research endeavor to plant a tree. You know that it will grow and you know, barring disease or disaster, that you will eventually be able to monetize it. Research is a VERY different beast.
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I'm fairly sure they expect results from the current research in that field within the next decade. If that long.
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And you'll notice that only recently the research has become interesting for investors and to people outside of universities.
Re:Badge of Honour (Score:4, Informative)
We would NEVER have had, for one random example, lasers, if there had been a profit requirement
Lasers were developed at Bell Labs and Hughes Research Lab, which were both operated by for-profit companies. They funded research labs in the expectation that the R&D would be profitable.
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An expectation that the department, as a whole, might produce something commercially successful is not the same thing as requiring that every individual experiment comes with a business plan.
I'd have thought a captain of industry like you would know that.
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I call bullshit - many many breakthroughs were made by scientists doing 'pure' science. We would NEVER have had, for one random example, lasers, if there had been a profit requirement behind the scientists doing the fundamental science that made it possible.
Yes, many breakthroughs happen with ah-ha moments and pure science happens at many non-profits. The problem is going from the fundamental science to something you can actually sell. Most of the cost in developing the drugs is not the pure science, it's the clinical trials, safety tests, etc... that have to be done before you can legally sell it. It's the same thing with programming or engineering. Creating a prototype usually takes less time than going from a prototype to a finished product. Drug test
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Ironically enough the countries on the list don't innovate anything, they just steal other's work. Developing drugs costs money. None of the breakthoughs would exists without a profit motive.
I call bullshit - many many breakthroughs were made by scientists doing 'pure' science. We would NEVER have had, for one random example, lasers, if there had been a profit requirement behind the scientists doing the fundamental science that made it possible.
No it is true. Life existed at only single cell level until Capitalism was invented. Now, there are no Barriers - except Canada. Sad.
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many many breakthroughs were made by scientists doing 'pure' science. We would NEVER have had, for one random example, lasers, if there had been a profit requirement behind the scientists doing the fundamental science that made it possible.
Sure (at least generally--I'm not sure about the history of lasers specifically). But someone still has to pay for it, assuming you want full-time scientists. Sometimes it's students paying tuition. Sometimes it's grants from government or nonprofits. But someone has to pay for it.
We could have a better system--one that prevents things like the epipen markup. But we still need to pay for the basic drug development and for the human trials, and for reasonable salaries and profits for everyone involved in or
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China is one of the leading investors in Hollywood films. It's why garbage like The Transformers movies keep getting made.
The lack of dialog makes them easier to internationalize.
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Like Star Wars, then?
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Nonsense. The "301 report" is, and always has been, crooked.
See: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2017/03/canadian-government-on-u-s-special-301-we-dont-recognize-validity-of-flawed-report/
(begin excerpt of Professor Michael Geist's excellent article)
The Canadian government stance is described thus:
[Author] recently obtained documents under the Access to Information Act that confirm the Canadian government’s rejection of the Special 301 process. Canada will not bother appearing today largely because it rej
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Banting made a fortune off of that invention. Thank you for pointing that out.
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This is an example of someone so trapped in an ideological bias that they insert things they imagine must be true into what they read.
Bantling did not get $1.00 per shot (which is what you presumably imagined), but $1.00 total, or the princely sum - accounting for inflation of $14.85 in 2018 money.
Re: Badge of Honour (Score:2)
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Ironically, you are full of it. You cannot just "steal" a drug. You basically have to invent it yourself, just a bit later. There is no rational reason to give all to the first to then rip everybody else off.
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Train0987, Not only do Canadians have a longer average lifespan and universal healthcare, they also have organizations like Toronto SickKids which is actually an international leader in the treatment of children with life threatening and/or rare conditions. SickKids is also a research institute that has developed many new and highly advanced treatments.
So when you say that none of those countries creates anything, you are clearly just talking out of your ass. Typical ignorant American prat that thinks Ame
Re: Badge of Honour (Score:2)
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Ironically enough the countries on the list don't innovate anything, they just steal other's work. Developing drugs costs money. None of the breakthoughs would exists without a profit motive.
Bullshit. Where do you think the U.S. gets their medical isotopes from? It happens to be Canada mostly. When NASA needed an "arm" for the Space Shuttle who do you think designed and built it? A Canadian Corporation. Know any diabetics taking insulin? Thank Canada for their being alive. How about babies eating Pablum? Invented at the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. And so on and so forth. I'm sure other countries on the list have their own discoveries.
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WOOSH https://xkcd.com/1627/ [xkcd.com]
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I saw article. Russian not use article, ever.
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+1 Funny
Moderator's sense of humor is busted and needs to have sarcasm explicitly spelt out.