Sharyl Attkisson

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Sharyl Attkisson

5,500 illegal immigrants faked relations to children in 8 weeks, say U.S. officials

U.S. officials are finding an increasing number of fraudulent asylum claims in which foreigners are faking relationships with children to get admission to the U.S.

That's according to an article in the Daily Mail.

The article profiles the case of a 51-year old Honduran man who allegedly purchased a baby for $80 in Guatemala. He reportedly confessed to the scheme after entering the U.S. on May 7 when he learned U.S. immigration authorities would require him to undergo a DNA test to prove his relation to the six-month-old boy.

U.S. agents have flagged 5,500 fraudulent "families" in the past eight weeks, according to the Daily Mail.

Under current U.S. policy, illegal immigrants who enter with a child are typically not detained. As the word has gotten out, it has created a black market for children being stolen, purchased or rented for use to cross the border.

The typical going rate for foreign children used by illegal immigrants is said to be between $100 and $1000.

Read more in the Daily Mail by clicking the link below.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7311477/Honduran-migrant-51-bought-baby-80-Guatemala-seek-asylum-U-S-border.html

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Wild West oddity

This has to be one of the odder things I've run across.

I was with my Full Measure crew shooting new stories out west for our upcoming Season 5.

Smack dab in the middle of nowhere-- and I do mean nowhere-- we came across this roadside attraction:

Closer inspection revealed a fairly professional looking sign offering "pony rides" on a child's worn plastic pony. Twenty-five cents buys you a five minute ride.

Of course, nobody is there to hold you to the five minutes... or make sure you leave your coins. (We did.) Yes, there was money in the pot from others who stopped by.

A second sign at the site advertised "bull rides." The bull toy had apparently been removed, but there was money remaining in that bin, too!

You never know what you'll find.

Watch Full Measure every Sunday. Starting Sept. 8 we begin Season 5! Watch to see what we found in our reporting along the U.S. Mexico border.

How to watch Full Measure

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Live from The Border!

What's changing along our southern border?

We report from the field as we shoot new, upcoming stories for Full Measure Season 5 beginning Sept. 8.

Sharyl and cameraman Bryan Barr at the border with Jake and Mike of the Cochise County, Arizona Sheriff's Department

Unscientific poll: Have you decided on 2020?

At SharylAttkisson.com, we always want to know what you think. That's why we asked if you've decided who you'll be voting for in 2020!

A whopping 94% of you said yes, you know exactly who you'll vote for.

The full results are below:

Do you know who you'll vote for in 2020?

Yes! (94%)

No way. (3%)

I'm not sure. (3%)

Be sure and vote now in our new poll! See the black box in the right sidebar on our home page or scroll down on the mobile site.

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School laptops: waste of money or classroom necessity?

A fourth grader using a Chromebook laptop - photo by Kevin Jarrett

Many believe technology in schools has revolutionized the way children learn in and out of the classroom.

However, it appears that when students are provided with individual laptops, many become distracted from their school work. That's according to a recent Real Clear investigation into Google Chromebooks in schools.

In this digital age where children have access to all sorts of electronics in and out of school, it makes sense to bring laptops into the classroom - but they don't come without some consequences, according to Real Clear.

Some educators reportedly say providing laptops to kids in public schools hasn't done anything positive for the kids:

Students who use computers very frequently at school do a lot worse in most learning outcomes, even after accounting for social background and student demographics... The results show no appreciable improvements in student achievement in reading, mathematics or science in the countries that had invested heavily in information and communications technologies for education.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development study conclusions

But on the other hand, some insist that computers provide benefits to the students, and should be used when appropriate:

If the computer is the right tool for a lesson, the student should be on the computer... If it’s not the right tool for that lesson, the student shouldn’t be on the computer. An iPad or Chromebook takes the place of a number of really heavy textbooks.

Valerie Truesdale, assistant executive director of American Association of School Administrators to Real Clear Investigations

Find out more about Real Clear's look into the classroom Chromebooks here: Classroom Chromebooks.

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When polls are used to shape rather than measure public opinion

The following is an excerpt of my latest article in The Hill.

From what I can tell, pollsters are generally fairly stick-to-the-facts folks. They deal in facts and statistics. But there’s something important to remember. They have clients. Their clients are often news organizations. These news organizations, not polling experts, are the ones that come up with their own takeaways, headlines, analyses and context — or lack thereof — for the polls they commission. And, as we have seen, they may have their own idea of how they want things to come out.

That’s where I think polls have now become thought of as tools to shape opinion, rather than to measure it.

While looking into this phenomenon in 2016, I contacted a number of polling groups. I knew that they “weight” and adjust their samples to make them reflect certain demographics of the U.S. population. In simple terms, if their sample ends up with too many young people, they assign greater weight to responses from older people. The methods they use to do so vary and are arcane, to say the least. For example, ABC states that it “adopted iterative weighting, also known as raking or rim weighting, in which the sample is weighted sequentially to Census targets one variable at a time, continuing until the optimum distribution is achieved.”

But one of the most interesting things I learned had to do with one big factor for which they typically don’t “weight” or adjust. It’s one that I think is arguably among the most important when it comes to polls measuring political issues: political affiliation. In other words, the national pollsters I spoke with told me that if they end up interviewing significantly more Democrats than Republicans — which is often the case — they don’t necessarily adjust the results to try to make the sample reflective of the U.S. voting population.

When I dug into a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll,
I found some interesting nuggets that went unreported. 
As usual, the sample was Democrat-heavy: 29 percent of respondents who gave their affiliation were Democrat, compared to 23 percent Republican and 37 percent independent.

Sharyl Attkisson in The Hill

(Continued...)

Read the entire story at The Hill by clicking the link below.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/455133-when-polls-shape-opinion-rather-than-measure-it

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Alleged California shooter is mentioned in earlier newspaper feature about boxing

The father of the deceased 19-year old alleged shooter at the California garlic festival was featured in a local newspaper article two years ago. That's according to the New York Post.

The 2017 article in the Gilroy Dispatch described how the father of Santino LeGan had "started a grassroots campaign at his school (Santa Clara University in California] to fight back against the costs of a college education, which buries millions of students under a mountain of debt."

As for Santino, according to the Post:

An Instagram account holder using the same name and age [as Santino LeGan], calling himself “Italian Iranian,” had just three posts and went offline soon after he was first identified as the killer. It featured a picture from the garlic festival before the carnage — as well as praise for what has been called “one of the most incendiary works ever to be published anywhere.” “Read Might Is Right by Ragnar Redbeard,” the account wrote next to a photo of a Smokey the Bear sign warning, “Fire danger high tonight.” He was referring to a much-hated 1890 book embraced by white supremacists that was banned for years after being condemned as sexist, racist and anti-Semitic.

New York Post

The Post published the following photo captured from Instagram:

LeGan on Instagram, from New York Post

Read more in the New York Post by clicking the link below:

https://nypost.com/2019/07/29/festival-shooter-santino-william-legan-used-legal-ak-47-style-rifle/

Read the article about the Legal family by clicking the link below:

Knocking down tuition

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What many diabetics don't know: you can buy inexpensive, over-the-counter insulin in U.S.

A trip to Canada [to buy cheaper insulin] celebrates the achievement of Dr. Banting and his colleagues who discovered insulin nearly a hundred years ago. But for most patients with diabetes, a trip to Walmart is a better way to save money.

Dr. Robert Misbin, retired FDA scientist, to SharylAttkisson.com

Important information about insulin cost and availability comes from a retired FDA scientist who reviewed several modern insulin treatments for diabetes.

Inexpensive, safe and effective insulin is available for purchase in the U.S. over the counter without a prescription.

Insulin prices have been skyrocketing, and diabetic patients are said to sometimes ration their prescription insulin as a result.

A recent tweet from presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) raised concerns about the health impact of high cost insulin. "Americans are dying because drugmakers like Eli Lilly charge $300 for a vial of insulin," wrote Sanders. The following day, Sanders traveled to Canada to purchase insulin at a lower cost to try to demonstrate the need for price reforms in the U.S.

However, Dr. Robert Misbin says it's not necessary to go to Canada, as Sanders suggests. Inexpensive options are available to any patient "over the counter" without a prescription in the U.S.

Dr. Misbin is a retired FDA scientist who conducted the original FDA medical review of the newer, synthetic "analog" insulins Humalog in 1996-97 and Lantus (glargine HOE 901) in 2000. He says they can be more convenient for patients than older, over the counter "human" insulin such as Humulin, but are also more expensive.

I do not accept the idea that people are dying for lack of expensive insulin analogs. Many patients get better control with the analogs but the older preparations work quite well. Humulin and Novolin are human insulin, identical to what comes from the pancreas. Before 1997, there were no analogs. According to Walmart's website, it sells a vial of Novolin for $25 without a prescription.

Dr. Robert Misbin, retired FDA scientist, to SharylAttkisson.com

The big escalation in price of insulin came after the introduction of synthetic or "analog" forms of insulin beginning in 1997. According to Dr. Misbin, the analogs are much more expensive and not that much better except for convenience.

Convenience factors in because some of the new analogs can be injected immediately before a meal, in contrast to regular human insulin  that should be injected 15 minutes in advance of a meal for best effect.

Also, long acting analogs can be given once a day. The older version of insulin is administered twice a day. Some patients and doctors also believe analogs are more predictable.

"Some patients claim the new insulins are better, but if one looks at the data--and I did that-- there was really no difference in effectiveness between the old and the new," says Dr. Misbin. "Of course, randomized trials do not allow for individual preferences."

And that's the important part amid the concern over cost: the "old" insulin is widely available over the counter for a fraction of the cost of the "newer" insulin.

Some patients already know this inside secret. Human insulin is available over the counter in every state except Indiana, according to Medscape.

Medscape notes Walmart sells its own brand of over the counter insulin, ReliOn (made by Novo Nordisk) for approximately $25 for a 10 mL vial.

Other over the counter human insulins, says Medscape, sold at other pharmacy chains, run approximately $152-$163 for a 10-mL vials [Novolin (Novo Nordisk) or Humulin (Eli Lilly).

That's considerably less expensive than newer, prescription insulin analogs such as lispro (Humalog, Eli Lilly), aspart (Novolog, Novo Nordisk), and glargine (Lantus, Sanofi), according to Medscape. The medical publication conducted a survey and estimates Walmart sells 18,000 vials of over the counter insulin daily.

Dr. Misbin says the FDA knew that approval of synthetic analogs of insulin would eventually lead to higher prices for patients. "We knew this would increase the cost of this form of treatment," he remarked. The FDA did not have the authority to take cost into account when determining whether a drug should be approved as safe and effective.

"I think there could be a lot of change if more people were aware" of the availability of the over the counter insulin," says Dr. Misbin.

Dr. Misbin says it is true that the inventors of insulin sold the patent to the University of Toronto for just $1 so that insulin would be available to all. He points to additional background as reported in "The history of Insulin" by Michael Bliss:

Indeed, Fred Banting refused to be on the original [insulin] patent feeling it was contrary to the Hippocratic oath he swore as a  physician. The original Canadian patent was taken out by the chemist James Collip and Charles Best (who was still only a medical student). The patent was taken on by the University of Toronto, which later entered into arrangements with Eli Lilly to manufacture and market insulin in the USA.  

Other findings from Medscape's Miraim Tucker:

  • Findings from surveys of nearly 600 US pharmacy chains in 2018 were published online February 18 in JAMA Internal Medicine by Jennifer N. Goldstein, MD, assistant program director of Internal Medicine at Christiana Care Health System, Newark, Delaware, and colleagues.
  • The results showed that OTC insulin is sold more commonly at Walmart than at other pharmacy chains and that inability to afford co-pays for prescription insulin was noted as a common reason for purchase, particularly at Walmart pharmacies.

In Medscape's article, experts caution use of over the counter insulin without medical supervision is "never recommended and could be very dangerous."

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