As you enter the conference room you are given a set of noise canceling headphones and told that Lethal’s opening remarks will be broadcast through them and that you should keep them on throughout the issue to avoid hearing problems from the predicted load noises.

Morning Folks!

I hope everyone took the hint and donned his headphones? Good! No I’m not going to waste time explaining why I thought they were a wise precaution, the logic should become self evident as we move on.

First I want to give Impish kudos and a large round of applause for his most excellent issue last Saturday. It was hands down one of his best in quite some time. Which makes me suspicious.

See he’s hit his deadlines for the last two weeks running. Has finally stopped clogging my Vmail with whiney implorements to be allowed to come to Leprechonia (and presumably run amuck as only a dragon whom I recently found out majored in Hedonistic Pleasure and minored in Plundering at Whelpling University could.) He’s even up to date on his paperwork and his diplomatic duties. Most disturbing of all? He’s voluntarily hitting the gym!

Now he CLAIMS this is in preparation for his recertification as and the return of his pilots license to get his legs and wings back up where they should be after not launching flying or landing for so long. However I’m still suspicious that he’s going to attempt to rush the rift I return in from Leprechonia. Impish ahs never been a fan of the word ‘No’ and is even less of a fan of being denied something someone else has, particularly when frolic and females are involved. He has a reputation in certain circles of going to any extreme to obtain these things for himself as well. usually at the other individuals expense and chagrin.

Anyway I promised this week I’d give you a nickel tour of Leprechonia, or at least the parts we have up and running the way we want and some of my key staff. AH! See? Now the reasoning behind the headphones dawns!

So before we start. let me quickly call your attention to our opening banner which depicts some of our more ruggedly beautiful coastline and my chair of state made by a local craftsman entirely of drift wood found washed up on the island.

Ok so in keeping with my promise to show you around my island a bit, here is my private kitchen and automated coffee dispenser that serves me the perfect cup every time and is even capable of properly decoding my Neanderthal like pre-coffee grunting attempts at communication. (Remember your hearing protection!)

[You distantly hear anguished screams that sound faintly like Impish as the china on the Kraft table clatters and shakes] Yup it’s a one off system and it’s a beauty isn’t it?

Care to guess which one I am?  Then guess which one Molly is?

Paul B., Paul K9, K-squared we’re talking to you!

Kid hits a dinger, dog makes a better play

We’ve tried to be as low impact on the island as possible, keeping things looking as under developed and “native” as possible while raising the overall infrastructure and amenities level both for guests and for the native population.  (See next Photo for proof) This is a view of the ‘Government and International Business area on the most developed of the islands. That’s Government House, our Military Barracks, Armory and Command centers at the top of the photo.

Despite the ‘native appearance’ this guest accommodation is 5 star and even has fiber optic Internet and Television. We’ll take a break for a few until Impish can compose himself.

Thomas Rhett – Die A Happy Man

EpiPen price hike has parents of kids with allergies scrambling

The cost of saving your child’s life has gotten a lot more expensive.

Parents getting ready for back-to-school season have another item to toss in the basket along with Trapper Keepers and boxes of pencils — and they’re facing sticker shock at the latest price increase.

Doctors and patients say the Mylan pharmaceutical company has jacked up the prices for an EpiPen — the portable device that can stop a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction — from around $100 in 2008 to $500 and up today.

That’s a hike of over 400 percent.

Now former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli has weighed in, calling the Mylan company “vultures.”

Connecticut Senator Richard Bluemnthal, who pushed for emergency epinephrine to be stocked in public schools, pledged to investigate the “shocking increase.”

“Patients are calling and saying they can’t afford it,” said Dr. Douglas McMahon, an allergy specialist in Maplewood, Minnesota. “They’re between a rock and a hard place.”

Following a recall by Mylan’s chief competitor last year, the company now enjoys a near monopoly. Because of aggressive marketing and branding campaigns, and lobbying for legislation that requires the product to be stocked in schools, they have a brand dominance equal to that of Kleenex, doctors say.

About the size of a fat marker, they are carried by many parents of kids with severe allergies wherever they go — ready to jam the gizmo into their child’s thigh to deliver epinephrine and stop anaphylactic shock from a potentially fatal bee sting or bit of peanut.

And because they have a stated expiration date of one year, parents refill them annually, incurring an additional co-pay each time.

Read full article here: http://www.today.com/health/epipen-price-hike-has-parents-kids-allergies-scrambling-t102080

Congress Presses Pharmaceutical Company to Explain Surge in Cost of EpiPen

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/24/us/politics/epipen-mylan-congress.html

It’s back-to-school time — as well as campaign season — and lawmakers are becoming increasingly focused on the growing cost of pens: EpiPens, that is.

Members of Congress are expressing rising alarm about the increasing costs of the lifesaving injection device for people with severe allergies, and they are hearing from anxious parents.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who leads the Judiciary Committee, was the latest to weigh in on Monday, sending a letter to the head of the pharmaceutical company Mylan, which produces EpiPens. Mr. Grassley demanded an explanation for the 400 percent price increase — to as much as $600 — since the company acquired the product in 2007.

“Access to epinephrine can mean the difference between life and death, especially for children,” Mr. Grassley wrote, noting that many of the children who need EpiPens are enrolled in government health care programs. “It follows that many of the children who are prescribed EpiPens are covered by Medicaid, and therefore, the taxpayers are picking up the tab for this medication.”

Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, called earlier for a Judiciary Committee inquiry into the pricing and an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

“Many Americans, including my own daughter, rely on this lifesaving product to treat severe allergic reactions,” she wrote to the head of the commission.

In explaining the increase, Mylan has noted that product improvements have driven up the costs of the devices, that most EpiPens are covered by insurance and that the company also provides discounts. But company executives should prepare to answer many more questions from Capitol Hill in the weeks ahead.

And if they don’t then Congress needs to answer some hard questions from voters come the elections.

Oh and FYI: Epinephrine cost approximately SIX CENTS A DOSE to make and the cost of the ENTIRE EpiPen is estimated to be someplace in the mid $6 range according to my reading on the issue.

But hey, it’s ok because the insurance companies are paying for it not you! Another prime example of why medical insurance costs are so unaffordable- shameless unapologetic price gouging because of a fortuitously cornered market.

Main down stairs area of my personal residence

Well at least they aren’t hunting Pokémon.

“The [Five] Basic Laws of Human Stupidity” by Carlo M. Cipolla

An Italian, Cipolla taught economic history at the University of California at Berkeley. He died in 2000, at 78.

1. Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a certain person will be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

The fifth law has a corollary: A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit. (Because a thief at least has motives, even if you don’t agree with them.)

“Our daily life is mostly made of cases in which we lose money and/or time and/or energy and/or appetite, cheerfulness and good health because of the improbable action of some preposterous creature who has nothing to gain and indeed gains nothing from causing us embarrassment, difficulties or harm,” Cipolla wrote in the explanation of the 3rd law.

“Nobody knows, understands or can possibly explain why that preposterous creature does what he does what he does*. In fact there is no explanation — or better, there is only one explanation: the person in question is stupid.”

It’s all spelled out in his short paper: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.

* I’m unsure whether that’s emphasis or an error, but it is a direct quote.

Biggest damned Ninja throwing star I ever saw! I’ve got to find and hire that guy!

I fear Impish may be unable to contain himself for this next part so please be sure your hearing protection is being worn properly and the electronic noise canceling is set to ‘On’. The hearing (and possibly the sanity) you save will be your own!

L to R & Top to Bottom:

Brooke– in charge of Public Beaches, Alexi– my Personal Assistant, Erika– Media & Public Relations, Shelagh– Head of my Protective Detail, Brianne– Head of Leprechonian Immigration, Ciara– Chief of Staff to Himself the Green One.

A distant moaning and whimpering can be heard if you listen hard despite your head phones.

Whoops! Almost forgot Aubrey– Head of Grounds and Gardens!

Faint screams and bellows can be heard along with a PA message calling for both Bruits and a Sedation Team to Impish’s office. Suddenly a deep gravely voice can be heard over the PA, “Cancel Sedation Team. I’ve got his sedation right here.” followed by the sound of a revolvers cylinder spinning then snapping shut.

Ahem. Ladies and Gentleman there will be a brief pause until the noise abates once Impish is ah… issued a grip on his emotions again. Why don’t you use this time as an opportunity to refill your mugs before proceeding.

Lethal came to Impish with a sales case in hand.

“Dude I’ve got just the thing to get you out of that slump you’ve been in with your virgins. It’s the latest in Male “Enhancement” Vitamins- ‘Nutbuster 5000’.”

“Hello! Dragon here! I do just fine in both the size and action category, thank you very much, I don’t need any male enhancement snake oil in pill form.” Impish responded indignantly. “Wait! Is uhh somebody saying I do? Maybe you’ve heard something like a complaint?”

“Let me put it this way Impish,” said Lethal neatly sidestepping the question. “Did you know that every condom has a serial number imprinted on the band at the bottom so that they are completely back traceable in the event of a failure?”

“No I never heard that before, how did you find out, doesn’t sound like something they’d make general knowledge.” queried our favorite gullible dragon.

Smiling as he set the hook deep in Impish’s wallet Lethal responded, “I’ve seem it many times because unlike someone in this room I have to roll my Larges all the way down.”

Knowing when he was beaten, Impish sighed, reached for his checkbook and said “You win. Better give me a years supply of extra strength.”

The Council area where I meet with my council of advisors and those subcontractors helping with the infrastructure. Being a young and growing country we find it necessary to meet here often.

This is where I meet and entertain Dignitaries and the Rich/Powerful/Famous at my private residence.

Here’s my sailboat the LLS Grace O’Malley at anchor in the bay off the residents only island. She’s all lit up because we’re partaking in our nightly Residents  Only Nude Swim.

(Moan again can be faintly heard through your headsets, this time accompanied by a low level thudding vibration felt through the soles of your feet.)

Well I think I’d better wrap up this tour, it seems to have become just too much for poor Impish to handle. We don’t want him doing permanent damage to the building or himself after all. I mean he has so few brain cells as it is that are still working after the 70s and  80s took their toll on him.

OH- This is Melody. She doesn’t actually do anything, she just sort of lays around as scenery because with a view that spectacular who wouldn’t want as much scenery as possible!