SOCIAL DISTANCING: SIX FEET APART IS BETTER THAN SIX FEET UNDER!
THE PRC CORONAVIRUS FLAG IS A REMINDER OF THE PRC GOVERNMENT WHO UNLEASHED THIS PANDEMIC ON THE REST OF THE WORLD
CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD
THIS update from SumOfUs, theey are raising money to hire a pilot to fly a banner over San Francisco and the Bay area calling on epically greedy pharma company gilead not to hold a possible cure for the coronavirus hostage from most of the world. Because gilead is PR sensative feel free to go to their facebook page and post demands gilead share the formula with other pharmaceutical companies and make the affordable for everyone, PANDEMIC SHOULD NOT RESULT IN OBSCENE PROFITS. I just copied and posted this post on gilead's facebook page in the comments sections of a couple of their propaganda post (see the bottom of this posting) BUT your own words are always more meaningful. If you need more inspiration that we, the people, have the power to force gilead do the right thing check out this video of Patti Smith & Michael Stipe from DemocracyNow!.....
We could be close to a breakthrough in the search for a cure for the coronavirus. The most likely candidate: Gilead’s drug Remdesivir.
But Gilead wants to keep exclusive control over the drug’s patent.
And that’s bad news because Gilead is notorious for price gouging. It charges $1000 for a single pill of its hepatitis C drug!
But here’s the good news: right now all eyes are on Gilead -- the company is extremely sensitive to public pressure. We’ll charter a plane to fly over Gilead's headquarters and the whole of San Francisco to send a strong message to Gilead’s bosses: “Stop trying to make a profit from the coronavirus!” And this won’t just get the attention of Gilead: it will be splashed all over the news, including all the big financial newspapers -- and Gilead’s bosses and shareholders will be freaked out by this negative publicity.
f we don’t win this and Gilead keeps exclusive rights to its drug, the treatment will be extremely expensive and out of reach for many people and countries around the world.
And just as important: there won’t be enough of it for everyone. Experts say Gilead would not be able to produce the huge quantities of the drug that we need to meet global demand.
The only solution is for Gilead to share its data and let other countries and manufacturers develop generic versions of the drug -- this will make it cheap and widely available. And that’s exactly what we need to save lives and beat this global pandemic.
The only solution is for Gilead to share its data and let other countries and manufacturers develop generic versions of the drug -- this will make it cheap and widely available. And that’s exactly what we need to save lives and beat this global pandemic.
I don’t have to tell you how important this is.
If Gilead keeps a monopoly, it would mean it could block generic development of the drug until 2031.
2031!
More information:
Gilead criticised over ‘orphan status’ for potential virus treatment. The Financial Times. 24 March 2020.
Hopes rise over experimental drug's effectiveness against coronavirus. The Guardian. 16 March 2020.
Patti Smith & Michael Stipe Perform at Democracy Now!'s 20th Anniversary
The legendary singer, poet and author Patti Smith performed two songs Monday night at Riverside Church celebrating Democracy Now!'s 20th anniversary. Smith opened with “Peaceable Kingdom,” a song she wrote for Rachel Corrie, the American activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza in 2003. Smith dedicated the song to the young artists who died in Friday's fire in Oakland, as well as young journalists and activists who have lost their lives. Michael Stipe of R.E.M. then joined Smith on stage to perform “People Have the Power.”
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We end today’s broadcast with the legendary singer, poet, author Patti Smith performing Monday night at Riverside Church, celebrating Democracy Now!’s 20 anniversary.
PATTI SMITH: I’m with Tony Shanahan and my daughter, Jesse Paris Smith. This first song Tony and I wrote in memory of Rachel Corrie, who died on a peacekeeping mission in the Gaza Strip. Such a young girl. And we’d like to do this song for all the young people that we have lost globally—young reporters, activists, photographers, just all the—all the young people who have put themselves out in the front lines, who have—who want—as the young man said, all they want is change. All they want is peace. And we also would like to remember all the young people who lost their lives in the Oakland fire. And when you look at the pictures of them, all of them brimming with such hope, we need our young people. We pin our faith on them. They are going to make the most revolutionary changes in human history. They will continue to build peace movements, to protect our environment. And so we sing this little song for them.
[singing] Yesterday I saw you standing there
With your hand against the pane
Looking out the window
At the rain
And I wanted to tell you
All your tears were not in vain
But I guess we both knew
We’d never be the same
Never be the same
Why must we hide all these feelings inside?
Lions and lambs shall abide
Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Back again
Build it back again
Why must we hide all these feelings inside?
Lions and lambs shall abide
Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough
To build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Back again
Build it back again
Build the peaceable kingdom
Build it back again
I was dreamin’ in my dreamin’
Of an aspect bright and fair
And my sleepin’ it was broken
But my dream it lingered near
In the form of shinin’ valleys
Where the pure air rarefied
And my senses newly opened
And I awakened to the cry
That the people have the power
To redeem the work of fools
Upon the meek the graces shower
It’s decreed the people rule
Thank you. So, we’d like to do a song for all of you, to all of our speakers, to everyone who’s here, and send also a salute to our brothers and sisters in Standing Rock.
[singing] I was dreamin’ in my dreamin’
Well, of an aspect bright and fair
And my sleepin’ it was broken
But my dream it lingered near
In the form of shinin’ valleys
Where the pure air rarefied
And my senses newly opened
I awakened to the cry
That the people have the power
To redeem the work of fools
Upon the meek the graces shower
It’s decreed the people rule
People have the power
People have the power
People have the power, come on!
People have the power, believe it!
Vengeful aspects became suspect
And bending low as if to hear
And the armies ceased advancin’
Because the people had their ear
And the shepherds and the soldiers
Well, they lay beneath the stars
Exchanging visions, layin’ arms
To waste in the dust
In the form of shinin’ valleys
Where the pure air rarefied
And my senses newly opened
I awakened to the cry
People have the power
People have the power
People have the power
People have the power
Make it so!
Where there were deserts, I saw fountains
And like cream the waters rise
And we strolled there together
With none to laugh or criticize
Well, the leopard and the lamb
Lay together truly bound
Well, I was hopin’ in my hopin’
To recall what I had found
I was dreamin’ in my dreamin’
God knows a pure view
As I surrender into my sleepin’
I commit my dream with you
People have the power to dream
People have the power to vote
People have the power to strike
People have the power to live
The power to dream, to rule
To wrestle the world from fools
It’s decreed the people rule
Well, it’s decreed the people rule
Listen, I believe everythin’ we dream
Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around
We can turn the earth’s revolution
People have the power
People have the power
The people have the power
People have the power
Don’t forget it! Use your voice! Democracy now!
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.
We have accelerated and expanded production of our investigational COVID-19 treatment and continue to increase supply. Hear from our Chairman & CEO on our manufacturing progress and intent to donate supply following potential regulatory authorizations: https://bit.ly/39JiUTI.
Gilead has been working at unprecedented speed to enroll patients in clinical trials of our investigational treatment for COVID-19. Multiple studies are ongoing, and we are on track to have initial data in the coming weeks. Read more from our Chairman & CEO: https://bit.ly/2wC3yD8.
