Top porn site: Shutdown triggers surge in viewing by federal workers with time on their hands

One of the country’s most-visited porn websites, Pornhub, said Thursday the partial government shutdown has prompted Web traffic to climax nationwide, as well as in D.C. Pornhub, which averages more than 100 billion video views annually, reported a swell in traffic during Jan. 7-11, the third week of the shutdown. Approximately 800,000 federal workers have not been earning paychecks since Dec. 22. "When compared to traffic levels prior to the shut-down, weekday visits across the United States were up 5.94% from January 7th to 11th,” the company said in a press release issued Thursday.

The bulge in traffic was most noticeable between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. But the biggest spikes of 10 percent to 14.2 percent took place between midnight and 5 a.m., possibly because some government workers did not have to wake up early the following day. The only time traffic was below normal rates was from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., but only by 1 percentage point. Pornhub also reported an upswing in traffic in the afternoons and evenings, while late morning figures declined. Washingtonians watched up to 12 percent more porn between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

In D.C., viewer interest in certain types of porn also surged. The porn site asked, "Are these the favorite categories of government workers?" Pornhub saw a 71 percent spike in “outdoor" videos, a 66 percent jump in “threesome" productions, and a 60 percent increase in its "old/young” category. The company’s insights team said it chose last week to look at data because the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Day might not have standard viewing patterns. In the past, some federal workers have not needed to be furloughed to watch large amounts of porn during daytime hours. In 2017, an NBC News4 I-Team investigation found that almost 100 federal government employees had admitted to or been caught viewing porn on the job in the previous five years. Those cases included workers who admitted spending up to six hours a day surfing for obscene material and downloading tens of thousands of adult images on their office computers.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/top-porn-site-shutdown-triggers-surge-in-viewing-by-federal-workers-with-time-on-their-hands

Oxford University Suspends Research Funding from China’s Huawei

LONDON—Oxford University says it is suspending research grants and funding donations from Huawei amid growing security concerns about the Chinese telecom giant. It’s another setback for Huawei’s image in Europe, an important market for the company, which has been effectively blocked in the U.S. over concerns its technology poses a cybersecurity risk. It’s now facing increasing scrutiny in Europe, where it is expected it to play a major role in building new fifth-generation mobile networks. The university decided on Jan. 8 that “it will not pursue new funding opportunities” with Huawei or related companies, it said in a statement on Jan. 17. The decision, which applies to both funding of research contracts and philanthropic donations, was made “in the light of public concerns raised in recent months” surrounding the company’s U.K. partnerships. Two existing research projects worth a combined 692,000 pounds ($895,000) will continue, it said. “We hope these matters can be resolved shortly and note Huawei’s own willingness to reassure governments about its role and activities,” the university said. Huawei said it was “not informed of this decision” and awaits the university’s full explanation.

Britain’s defense secretary and its intelligence chief both voiced concerns last month about Huawei’s involvement in the country’s rollout of 5G networks. Huawei’s troubles are expanding elsewhere in Europe. The company fired its sales director in Poland last week after authorities there arrested him on charges of spying for China. The Czech Republic has warned against using Huawei equipment because of security fears and Norway is rethinking the company’s role in its telecom networks.

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said in a rare interview that his company had never received a request from a government to transmit information in violation of any regulations. Ren, a former army engineer and current Communist Party member, said his company “would not answer to” requests from the Chinese regime to hand over information, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ren didn’t provide details about how the company would resist requests from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). But under China’s national security laws, all companies operating in the country are required to grant authorities control of its data if asked. The concept of national security is expansively defined to cover threats to the CCP’s authoritarian control, including opinions critical of the Party. Huawei financial chief Meng Wanchou, who is Ren’s daughter, is fighting a U.S. request that she be extradited from Canada on charges related to Iran sanctions violations.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/oxford-university-suspends-research-funding-from-chinas-huawei_2770788.html

Drug Companies Used Shortages, Recalls To Hike Prices As Much As 1,137 Percent, Report Finds

Drug companies raised prices on approximately one-third of the nearly 120 drugs classified as currently or recently in shortage after the shortages began, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Friday. Many of the drugs seeing big price hikes are low-cost prescription medicines that have been on the markets for years, like valsartan. It’s a blood pressure medication available through multiple sellers. After recalls of valsartan products from at least three companies this summer, other companies raised prices on their valsartan products by as much as 469 percent, according to The WSJ. Drug companies have already raised prices on hundreds of drugs in 2019, and high drug prices are a top concern for Americans. Average prices went up about 14 percent for drugs in shortages lasting more than 18 months and 6 percent during shortages lasting less than six months, according to a Value in Health study cited by The WSJ.

Indian drug company Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. raised prices on some of its valsartan-based products by 340 to 469 percent in July, according to The WSJ. An American company also raised prices after the recall. AmerisourceBergen Corp.’s American Health Packaging unit in Columbus, Ohio, jacked up prices by up to 63 percent in August. The price increases were passed down to individual pharmacies. The WSJ reported: But the average price that U.S. community retail pharmacies pay for valsartan tablets has also risen—to 31 cents a tablet from 10 cents in July, according to a Wall Street Journal review of data from a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services survey of pharmacies.

Alembic has defended its price increases. “One of our roles is to create a nimble supply chain that can react quickly to market opportunities,” Alembic managing director Pranav Amin said according to an October conference call transcript cited by The WSJ. “So we could respond very fast to the valsartan opportunity, and we could ramp up our supplies and we could get on the market at a high price.” “More limited supply meeting inelastic demand should give a producer pricing leverage should they choose to exert it,” Rena Conti, associate professor of markets, public policy and law at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, told The WSJ. These price hikes, like the 1,137 percent increase on muscle relaxant methocarbamol, happen even though buyers like pharmacies have also consolidated and gained negotiating power over companies manufacturing these less lucrative, older prescription drugs, according to The WSJ.

The WSJ’s review comes about a week after new Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley revealed his three-part initial plan to cut drug prices Jan. 9. The proposed legislation would aim to increase drug industry competition and include a ban on brand drugs engaging in “pay for delay.” It’s a tactic where a brand drug company pays a generic manufacturer to withhold a product that would compete with the brand drug for market share. The WSJ’s report was published about a week after a Jan. 7 study that undercut the drug industry’s claim that price increases are primarily due to medical innovation. The WSJ’s story also came about a month after a federal judge raised the stakes in an illegal price-fixing investigation of 16 drug companies making roughly 300 generic medications. The judge opened up more than one million emails, text messages and other communications to be shared among the plaintiffs in November. The WSJ based its analysis on pricing data provided by RELX Group’s Elsevier health-information unit.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/01/18/drug-companies-price-increases/

>>4807986

They sure have.