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When Democrats passed Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act last year, one of the provisions was that Medicare, for the first time in its history, would be able to start negotiating drug prices directly with the manufacturers. The drug companies have to sign agreements by October 1 to join the negotiations, or else pay a fine. Yesterday, the Biden administration announced the first 10 drugs that are up for negotiation:

Eliquis, made by Bristol-Myers Squibb, is used to prevent blood clotting, to reduce the risk of stroke.

Jardiance, made by Boehringer Ingelheim, is used to lower blood sugar for people with Type 2 diabetes.

Xarelto, made by Johnson & Johnson, is used to prevent blood clotting, to reduce the risk of stroke.

Januvia, made by Merck, is used to lower blood sugar for people with Type 2 diabetes.

Farxiga, made by AstraZeneca, is used to treat Type 2 diabetes.

Entresto, made by Novartis, is used to treat certain types of heart failure.

Enbrel, made by Amgen, is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Imbruvica, made by AbbVie, is used to treat different types of blood cancers.

Stelara, made by Janssen, is used to treat Crohn’s disease.

Fiasp and NovoLog, insulins made by Novo Nordisk.

CNBC broke down more details on the numbers, dates, and lawsuits involved with the new Medicare vs Big Pharma wars negotiations:

A new deal: “Today is the start of a new deal for patients, so big pharma doesn’t just get a blank check at your expense – at the expense of the American people,” Biden said in a speech at the White House on Tuesday. “On my watch, health care should be a right, not a privilege, in this country.”… The drugs listed Tuesday are among the top 50 with the highest spending for Medicare Part D, which covers prescription medications that seniors fill at retail pharmacies. The 10 medicines accounted for $50.5 billion, or about 20% of total Part D prescription drug costs from June 1, 2022, to May 31, 2023, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS… In 2022 alone, 9 million seniors spent $3.4 billion out-of-pocket on the 10 drugs, a senior Biden administration official told reporters Tuesday during a call.

Rules of the game: Drugmakers have to sign agreements to join the negotiations by Oct. 1. CMS will then make an initial price offer to manufacturers in February 2024, and those companies have a month to accept or make a counteroffer. The negotiations will end in August 2024, with agreed-upon prices published on Sept. 1, 2024. The reduced prices won’t go into effect until January 2026. If a drugmaker declines to negotiate, it must either pay an excise tax of up to 95% of its medication’s U.S. sales or pull all of its products from the Medicare and Medicaid markets. The pharmaceutical industry contends that the penalty can be as high as 1,900% of a drug’s daily revenues. After the initial round of talks, CMS can negotiate prices for another 15 drugs for 2027 and an additional 15 in 2028. The number rises to 20 negotiated medications a year starting in 2029 and beyond.

The empires strike back: Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Astellas Pharma are among the companies suing to halt the negotiation process. The industry’s biggest lobbying group, PhRMA, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have filed their own lawsuits. The suits make similar and overlapping claims that Medicare negotiations are unconstitutional. The companies argue that the talks would force drugmakers to sell their medicines at huge discounts, below market rates. They assert this violates the Fifth Amendment, which requires the government to pay reasonable compensation for private property taken for public use. The suits also argue that the process violates drugmakers’ free speech rights under the First Amendment, essentially forcing companies to agree that Medicare is negotiating a fair price. They also contend that the talks violate the Eighth Amendment by levying an excessive fine if drugmakers refuse to engage in the process.

Big pharma wants to take this to the Supreme Court: The suits are scattered in federal courts around the U.S. Legal experts say the pharmaceutical industry hopes to obtain conflicting rulings from federal appellate courts, which could fast-track the issue to the Supreme Court. Some drugmakers have confirmed their intention to bring their legal battle to the nation’s highest court. “As we look forward, we’re going to take this to the fullest, which means we’ll take it through District Court and, if need be, into Circuit Court and ultimately to the Supreme Court,” Merck CEO Robert Davis said during an earnings call earlier this month. “So, really that’s the strategy.”

[From CNBC]

“But your honor, this policy violates my client’s right to make a fortune off the sickness of seniors!” Which amendment is it again that protects businesses against any ethics or morals? The eleventy-first? None of the drug companies’ retaliation strategy is surprising, but the depth of their Scrooge McDuckiness is still always startling. And I’m very concerned about what will happen when these cases reach the hands of the current Supreme Court. I mean, can you imagine what Clarence Thomas’ response to Medicare will be? “Bitch, I haven’t paid out-of-pocket for anything in thirty years. Not my fault that you have!”

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Dalton Gomez got dumped by his wife Ariana Grande and then, just days later, he had to watch as she rolled out her relationship with Ethan Slater. Ethan and Ariana’s affair broke up two marriages, with Ethan’s estranged wife Lilly Jay going public with exactly what she thinks of Ariana. Dalton has not done the same, and I even halfway believe that Ariana dumped him weeks before anything was announced in July. Dalton is apparently doing the sad-sack thing, moping around for the paparazzi and leaking these kinds of stories to Us Weekly:

Dalton Gomez is navigating a new chapter in his life after his split from estranged wife Ariana Grande.

“It’s been a little while since Ariana and Dalton split, but he’s been adjusting to his new normal and learning to accept it for what it is,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly. “It’s certainly not how he expected things to play out because he obviously assumed they would be together forever.”

The insider notes that for Gomez, 28, the experience of being married to a pop star was new. The realtor was used to “living a private life” prior to the twosome sparking a romance in 2020 and finds that having his personal life play out in the spotlight can be a challenge. He never imagined he would be going through a divorce in the public eye,” the source explains. “But he’s hanging in there and is grateful for his friends and family who have been really supportive.”

[From Us Magazine]

This actually sounds mature and reasonable. No wonder he didn’t fit in with Ariana’s melodramatic world. I mean, Dalton could be doing the same thing Lilly Jay is doing – he could bash Ethan and give quotes about how Ariana broke his heart and cheated on him. Instead, he’s just sort of moving on with his life. I hope Ariana gives him a nice divorce settlement and they just forget about each other completely. Meanwhile, we haven’t heard much of anything about Ethan and Ariana for weeks now. I wonder if they’re even still together, don’t you?

Note by CB: Get the Top 8 stories about Ariana’s Grande’s messy affair when you sign up for our mailing list! I only send one email a day on weekdays.

Ariana Grande’s estranged husband, Dalton Gomez, ditches wedding ring after split https://t.co/NJorXpwD2e pic.twitter.com/hDYzOKxSRQ

— Page Six (@PageSix) August 29, 2023

Photos courtesy of Instagram.

Eminem sent a cease-and-desist to Vivek Ramaswarmy after Ramaswarmy rapped “Lose Yourself” at the Iowa State Fair. Marshall is so anti-Republican. [Jezebel]
Irina Shayk is on vacation (with Bradley Cooper). [Egotastic]
Henry Cavill will star in a Highlander reboot? [JustJared]
Margot Robbie was almost in American Horror Story: Asylum. [OMG Blog]
Bad Bunny did a photo dump & maybe Kris Jenner is behind it. [LaineyGossip]
I actually love this Oscar de la Renta coat but not the trousers. [Tom & Lorenzo]
Pajiba did some royal coverage of the Prince Andrew situation. [Pajiba]
These vacation/travel fails are infuriating. [Buzzfeed]
Kendall Jenner wore Shang Xia last week. [RCFA]
What’s your “holy grail tote bag”? Mine is from Coach. [GFY]
Adele was so real for this. [Socialite Life]

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It honestly took me a good ten minutes to figure out what the hell was happening here. At first, I thought Hailey Bieber was being paid to shill Krispy Kreme donuts and I was like “I would do that for free.” Then I thought Hailey was launching her new Rhode products AT Krispy Kreme, and I was like “you can rent out a Krispy Kreme for product launches??? OMG!” But now I get it – Hailey has done a “collaboration” with Krispy Kreme and her Rhode label. Basically, Hailey is offering Rhode peptide lip treatments in Krispy Kreme flavors, and Krispy Kreme is bringing back Strawberry Glazed Donuts in association with their Rhode collab. Truly, we all win here.

So, these photos are of Hailey and Justin Bieber going into a Krispy Kreme in New York and just… talking with staff and posing for photos. Hailey was all dolled up in a great red (“strawberry”) minidress, while Justin wore Crocs, shorts, a hoodie and a baseball cap. He really made a point of not dressing up for her event, although he did promote her sh-t on his Instagram. Are you getting some kind of vibe from them? The vibe I get from her is that she’s increasingly embarrassed to be seen with her perpetually underdressed husband. After the trip to Krispy Kreme, they went to lunch at Bar Pitti. She booked it out of the restaurant too, like they had a fight.

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Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.

The Venice International Film Festival begins this week, although it’s happening in a somewhat different form. There will still be premieres and events, but the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes rage on, which means that most SAG-card-carrying union members are not going to show up to promote jacksh-t. Still, many non-American actors will show up and promote their work, although I do wonder how many. A few films have already canceled their premieres and promotions because no one will show up.

So, against that backdrop, I was surprised to see George and Amal Clooney arrive in Venice. It’s been almost nine years exactly since their Venetian wedding, and they usually spend their summers at George’s Lake Como estate, so it’s not weird to see them out and about in Italy in general. But they are in Venice for the film festival, just not to promote a film. According to People, Amal is being honored at Diane von Furstenberg’s 14th Annual DVF Awards on Thursday. DVF is hosting the awards AT the film festival for the first time. So, that’s why they’re there. Amal will receive the DVF leadership award “for her global work for victims of human rights abuse.”

Will they also attend premieres at the festival? Would that be considered scabbing for George? It depends on whether SAG-AFTRA issued any waivers specific to the festival or certain films, I think. Hm.

Amal’s ensemble is cute – I appreciate that she wears low heels and she’s not towering over her husband. She loves a short skirt, always has. Amal and I have similar taste in sunglasses too – the bigger, the better. George looks really nice as well. Well-rested. Ah, to spend the summer in Como every year.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

One of the Windsors’ biggest mistakes of the past thirty years was the decision to shrug off Prince Harry and Meghan’s offer to be “half-in” the institution. The Sussexes came up with an elegant solution to everyone’s problems: Harry and Meghan would still have royal protection, they would still represent the crown, they would still work for the crown, but they would be able to live in Canada or America and build their lives away from the toxicity of Britain. We were told that QEII hated the idea. In retrospect, I think that William, Charles and the courtiers hated the idea. The Windsors bet big on the idea that Harry would come crawling back if only they dealt with him with all-stick and no carrot. All of those decisions made in January 2020 have blown up in the Windsors’ faces for years now. They know it too. Which is why they keep trying to relitigate it in their favor and justify their boneheaded decision. Speaking of:

Prince Harry won’t be accepted as a “part-time royal” by King Charles or Prince William, a royal expert has warned. Both the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle decided to sensationally quit royal duties in 2020 and have since moved to the United States to carve out a new life. It had been reported that Harry and Meghan previously wanted a “half in, half out” role with the royals, but this was vetoed by the late Queen.

And according to royal author Tom Quinn, the new monarch Charles and heir to the throne and Harry’s older brother Prince William will also not tolerate a “part-time” role for the Sussexes.

He told the Express: “The whole emphasis between King Charles and Prince William is that you cannot go against the late Queen’s firm belief that you can’t be a part-time royal. You can’t hobnob with celebrities in America for six months and then come back here and pick and choose which events you want to be part of. I don’t think Charles and William will agree to that simply because Elizabeth hated the idea.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

Gotta love the rewrite on this narrative, because it wasn’t so long ago that the grey-beard courtiers were telling Charles that he could and should change “the Queen’s ruling” on the half-in situation. Of course, that’s partly the Windsors’ obsession with control – they want to believe that if THEY decide to change course, Harry will come to heel and accept their ruling. While QEII and the courtiers had their own punitive, unhinged reasons for rejecting the half-in solution, it turned out to be the best thing for Harry and Meghan. Harry broke free of his abusive family, he’s rich, happy, thriving and living the life he always wanted. If the half-in solution had been accepted, God knows what kind of control the Windsors would still be trying to exert over Harry and Meghan’s lives.

Anyway, there’s another reason why the media and the Windsors continue to relitigate the Sussexit – it’s because there’s a huge division in “what the family wants” versus “what the media wants.” Charles, Camilla, Kate and William are so petty and insecure, they are genuinely happy that they don’t have to compete with the Sussexes on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the media is starving for anything related to the Sussexes and they’d do anything to bring them back (anything other than “be nice to them and treat them fairly”).

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.

I adore Martha Stewart as much as the next person, but even I have to admit that Martha comes across like a cartoon villain a lot of the time. Martha truly wants her friends to die so she can date their husbands. She also wants people to go back to the office and never work from home, even though she has literally worked from home during her entire career. Well, there more cartoon villainy from Martha: she’s taking a cruise around Greenland and Iceland, and the cruise people let her grab some ice from the melting icebergs. She put the ice in her cocktail.

Martha Stewart’s followers got a little heated about how she chilled her drink. While on a Swan Hellenic cruise traveling from Iceland to Greenland, Stewart revealed that “we actually captured a small iceberg for our cocktails tonight,” she wrote on Instagram.

In a collection of several photos, Stewart shared images of an expedition guests took to check out glaciers. Some shots show the icebergs in their natural state and others show chunks of ice on a bar cart, ready to be made into cocktails. Stewart also posed for a picture enjoying her beverage.

“End of the first zodiac cruise from @swanhelleniccruises into a very beautiful fjord on the east coast of greenland,” Stewart wrote in the caption. “We actually captured a small iceberg for our cocktails tonight.”

Soon after posting, fans were quick to comment on the unusual ingredient. One follower said “drinking their iceberg cocktails while the planet is in flames is a bit tone deaf.” Another said, “Martha the ice caps are melting don’t put them in your drink.”

A representative for Swan Hellenic did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. The company notes on their website that they adhere to “sustainability policies” required by local authorities where they travel.

[From People]

It’s not illegal (as far as I know) to grab some ice from a melting iceberg and put it in your drink. But it is a cartoonish example of the out-of-touch elite. The world is truly on fire, July was the hottest year (globally) since they started recording temperatures, 2023 is on track to be the hottest year of all time, and Martha is cruising along amid the wreckage of our planet and getting drunk on iceberg cocktails. There’s a Titanic joke in this situation.

PS… Is she drinking a White Russian?

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Photos courtesy of Martha’s Instagram.

Something I think about a lot is how Kensington Palace had a staff of (easily) 40 to 50 people in 2017-18, and they ALL threw tantrums for years about the Duchess of Sussex’s preparedness and work ethic. KP is clearly staffed by clowns, morons and lazy, well-connected aristo-adjacents. Is it the same in other palace offices? We know King Charles was grossly over-staffed as Prince of Wales, and Prince William certainly inherited some of his father’s staff. We also know that QEII was a terrible manager and she really never bothered to improve the royal-office situation whatsoever. All of which means that one year into King Charles’s reign, he’s still dealing with his mother’s old staff, his old staff, the KP clownery and too few “royals” for it to make any sense. King Charles has new plans to cut royal household staff by 20%.

The King is planning to axe an estimated one in five of his middle-management staff to boost the Royal Household’s efficiency, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Charles and Camilla are said to be dismayed by what they believe are too many staff doing similar jobs. Nearly a year into his reign, the King is also weary of senior courtiers telling him: ‘But that’s how the Queen did it.’

The cuts will hit Buckingham Palace, Sandringham, Windsor Castle and Balmoral – which employ hundreds between them – and form part of the King’s long-held ambition to streamline and modernise the Monarchy. Dozens of workers could be affected. For years, a leaner Monarchy with fewer working Royals – potentially seven rather than 11 – has been a priority. But the King realises this involves staff reductions. He is said to be acutely conscious of the financial burden a vast household places on the taxpayer.

‘There is a real feeling that the staffing at all the palaces is too heavy,’ said one insider. ‘There are far too many assistants to assistants. The King and Queen would prefer to pay people proper wages top to bottom but have less people. For instance, there are chefs for them and chefs for the staff. Why, they ask, can’t there be one lot of kitchen staff for everyone?’

Camilla has made it clear that ‘a levelling-up of Royal staff’ is needed. She will have a key role in overseeing any changes. ‘Her Majesty cannot abide too many people doing the same jobs. Senior housekeeper, executive housekeepers and juniors,’ said a source. She has raised the matter with the Master of the Household, Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt.

Although Balmoral was his mother’s favourite residence, it does not find the same favour with Camilla. The Mail on Sunday has been told that she has made a conscious decision to stay at nearby Birkhall, the home she has shared with Charles for years in Scotland, because she cannot abide Balmoral’s ‘flummery’. A source said: ‘She is dipping in and dipping out while the King is staying at Balmoral. She is staying at Birkhall where she has a limited number of loyal staff – her people.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I… honestly don’t have a problem with this? Charles is actually right? How many royal household middle-managers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? How many royal-only chefs work in these palaces and castles full-time, when Charles and Camilla only spend a few weeks a year in some of them? Speaking of, that’s interesting about Camilla not wanting to spend time in Balmoral. It’s the same with Charles too – they’re in their 70s, they’re set in their ways, and they already had all of their homes set to their preferences. That’s why Camilla and Charles prefer Clarence House, Birkhall, Highgrove and Ray Mill. Anyway, while I think a culling of the royal household is a good idea, C&C are going to piss off a lot of those staffers and maybe those people will start spilling some real tea.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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Jennifer Love Hewitt has been relatively quiet for years now. She still works and she’s currently starring in 9-1-1. But I can’t remember the last time she was in the news – it’s been years since she was a tabloid queen, setting up pap strolls at Tiffany & Co and trying to be “America’s Sweetheart.” She’s been married to Brian Hallisay since 2013, and they have three children together. Which might explain JLH officially going for a “mom bob.”

The mom-bob took over from that wacky Kate Gosselin-esque choppy short haircut favored by moms. As you can see in JLH’s Instagram pics and video, she was had a longer hairstyle in a tawny/honey blonde, but now she’s got a brown-red mom-bob. The hair transformation was done by Nikki Lee at her salon. It really did transform JLH too – people don’t even recognize her in these photos. Which begs the question: what else has JLH done to transform herself? I actually don’t think it’s anything major – it looks like maybe she got some eye work at some point, plus lip fillers? She looks good though, and this hair style suits her so much more than the longer, lighter style. JLH’s hair should always be dark!

Baby this is Alyssa Milano, not MY Jennifer Love Hewitt https://t.co/lq0uKLyivJ

— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) August 29, 2023

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A post shared by Nikki Lee | Hairstylist (@nikkilee901)

This was JLH back in 2019:

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and JLH’s Instagram.

Royal commentator Jennie Bond is in the running for the Telegraph’s most delusional royal expert. I’m fully expecting lots of commemoration-columns for QEII as we come up on the first death-anniversary, but I truly didn’t expect it to be framed as “Prince Harry’s one year of estrangement.” The man has been living in North America for nearly four years, but sure. Bond questions, “Harry is continuing to maintain a distance from his father and brother – but what are the effects of ripping up family roots?” Like… anyone who read Spare can tell you exactly why Harry left Britain and why he’s trying to break the cycle of generational trauma. Neglected and abused after his mother’s death, he found ways to heal himself and he’s on his journey to find peace and happiness with the love of his life and their two beautiful children. His story is one of resilience and courage to break those toxic familial bonds. But of course, Jennie Bond quoted an “expert” at length to basically argue that Harry should “come back” pronto. Some highlights:

A complete estrangement: Almost one year on from the funeral of his grandmother, the late Queen, his estrangement from his entire UK family seems complete. He will be in London next month for a charity awards ceremony on the eve of the anniversary of her death, but it is understood he has no plans to see his father, the King, or his brother Prince William. Instead he will head straight off to Düsseldorf for the opening of the Invictus Games for wounded servicemen and women, which he founded nine years ago.

Bitter Meghan? He has planted his own sapling 5,000 miles away in California. His children, Archie and Lilibet, are putting down American roots and will be the first branches of a new tree. But with their mother, Meghan, bitterly estranged from almost the whole of her own family (except for her mother and a niece) that tree looks decidedly sparse.

No thriving unless it’s in the UK, apparently: In an interview which kicked off the whole saga of Harry and Meghan’s unhappiness in the royal fold, the Duchess said, “It’s not enough to just survive. You’ve got to thrive.” But can you easily thrive in self-imposed exile from all you have known since birth? And how much harder must it be when you are part of one of the most exclusive and mysterious tribes on earth: a royal family, steeped in a thousand years of history?

An expert: An expert in the field of human development, Professor Karl Pillemer, from Cornell University in New York, believes the emotional impact must be enormous. “Whether you have originated the estrangement, or you’re on the receiving end of it, people often feel betrayed, rejected, hurt, angry and resentful,” Professor Pillemer says. “They feel the pain of broken attachment. We have strong biologically-based attachment responses – those don’t just go away..Family events are a flashpoint for estrangement. They are filled with expectations of a happy family together, and that is entirely violated with estrangement. And if you don’t attend, there is a profound sense of loss.”

King Charles evicted his grandchildren, but whatever: How sad that little Archie and Lilibet have no prospect at present of getting to know their tribe… on either side of the Atlantic. And what a dreadful loss for King Charles. Bizarrely, Harry and Meghan have chosen to give their children their “tribal identity” insisting they be known as Prince and Princess – and, of course, Lilibet is named after her great grandmother Queen Elizabeth. Professor Pillemer believes it is the children who may prompt a reconciliation. “Many estranged people begin to open up the relationship again, because they want their own children to have relationships with the rest of the family. And Harry and Megan’s children are going to be reaching an age where they’re going to begin asking, ‘Why don’t we see our relatives? I’m certain, they [Harry and Megan] must be considering the impact on their own children.”

They’re saying Harry is headed for a breakdown: Professor Pillemer believes that fragile mental health can be made worse by estrangement. “There will likely be an array of emotional effects for Prince Harry and his family that include the pain of rejection, a sense of betrayal, a profound sense of loss, and most likely, a greater likelihood towards depression and anxiety as a result of this kind of relationship trauma.”

[From The Telegraph]

It feels so childish to argue that, because Harry adored and loved his grandmother, he’s supposed to be cool with being neglected and abused by his father and brother. That’s the argument here – you say you love one member of the family, so isn’t it hypocritical to remain estranged from other members of the family? Like… what is wrong with these people? It’s so silly and pathetic to argue that every family has to stay rooted in one place, forever, and that every family member has to be in each other’s lives and no one is ever allowed to disagree or move or break a toxic family cycle. What f–king world do these people live in? (Also: they truly have no idea about Meghan’s family, they only know the toxic Markles – Meghan has Ragland relatives who have never sold her out.)

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.