Fault, Responsibility, and Justice

Being at loose ends, I made the mistake of reading the local news.  My sawbones recommends that I either stop reading crap like this, or start taking blood pressure medication - and he doesn't mean hundred proof gin.  I know, because I suggested it.

Keep reading for a rant and a question.

Cardinal Health is a local drug distributor here in Columbus (actually Dublin, but since no one knows that I'm not talking about Dublin, Ireland, I'm trying to be both accurate and... I don't know.  Whatever, okay?), so Cardinal Health got named by some genius in our government as being partially responsible for the worldwide opioid epidemic.  In case you don't remember, or aren't familiar with this, a large number of people are using opioid drugs for recreational purposes, and as a result these consumers end up measuring their length on the floor and shortly thereafter matching their body temperature with the immediate ambient temperature, which, by sheer coincidence, comes within a few points of their IQ.  But somehow, and we don't know quite how, this isn't their fault.

Now we see in the local birdcage liner, Cardinal Health to Payout Billions in Massive Opioid Lawsuit.  According to the article:

Johnson & Johnson and its three largest drug distributors will pay a combined $26 billion to communities affected by the opioid crisis.  Cardinal Health is one of four companies that will pay a combined $26 billion over 18 years to communities that claim they helped fuel the opioid crisis.

Dublin-based Cardinal Health is on the hook for $6 billion. Drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson is the fourth company involved and will contribute $5 billion.

So six billion simoleons over 18 years.  That's a lot of jack.  Where do you suppose Cardinal Health will get it?  You don't think they'll raise prices, do you?

Not that Cardinal Health is anything close to a squeaky clean corporation, because it isn't.  Check this one: Cardinal Health to Pay $13M to Settle Kickback Allegations.

From the article:

Federal authorities say pharmaceutical distributor Cardinal Health Inc. has agreed to pay more than $13 million to resolve allegations that it violated federal law by paying some doctors’ offices kickbacks.

Authorities said Monday that Cardinal Health induced physician practices to purchase medications from Cardinal rather than from competitors by paying those practices in advance of any drug purchases, and not in connection with any specific purchases.

So one hand is busy not watching the other.  Okay, the pay off scheme is against the law.  They got caught, they got fined, and that's that.

Now all that being the case, just how in the royal fuck did we the people get from drug manufacturers and drug distributors to being responsible in any way for this so-called opioid crises?  How?

I have no clue.

Then, stupid me, I keep reading.  This is a lot like putting together a home improvement project and doing yourself a mischief with the hammer - and you keep on hammering.

I discover that Remington paid off on a lawsuit for their responsibility in the infamous Sandy Hook Shooting.  Check this little gem: Message About Aggressive Masculinity is Key to Sandy Hook Lawsuit Against Remington.

From the article:

It was recently reported in the New York Times that a lawsuit filed by the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims against Remington, the maker of the weapon used in the massacre, was settled for $73 million, the largest payout ever by a gun manufacturer in a mass shooting case. The lawsuit contended that Remington promoted sales of the assault rifle by appealing to troubled men, like the one who committed the 2012 massacre.

Most boys grow up in environments where the worst insult is to suggest that they throw, talk or otherwise act like a girl or woman. Thus, mainstream masculinity is defined as the opposite of femininity. For a boy or man who buys into this cultural myth, being outperformed at work by a woman, being perceived as having feminine traits or having to tell someone that they feel hurt by what they said can pose a threat to his sense of self. In many domestic murders, it is his perceived lack of dominance in the relationship or feelings of dependence on his partner that leads the man to kill his female intimate partner.

This is written by a group of psychologists who likely have personal habits that the rest of the world anyone reading this hound doesn't even want to guess at.  Dispensing with any caustic remarks I'd like to make about this article and the normal process of growing up as a male, and not some fucking swish, I'd like to know just how in the bloody hell Remington is responsible for any of this.  They aren't; that's how.

I have questions but no answers.