Every once in a while we hear and read about an individual who just needs to be ‘bitch-slapped,’ and each of us would like a turn. In my life it has happened several times; David Duke, Leona Helmsley, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Bernie Madoff, and Dick Cheney all come to mind. But no one deserves it more than a young punk by the name of Martin Shkreli.

This useless 32-year-old will forever live in infamy when his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of 62-year-old Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent to $750 a pill. He not only proved that he is not human, by this action revealed that he was homophobic by making this HIV drug unavailable to those who desperately need it. At one time this drug sold for as little as one-dollar per pill.

Shkreli was forced to appear before a Congressional Oversight Committee. During the questioning, he invoked the fifth amendment each time. After it ended Shkreli tweeted the following:

“Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.”

His lawyer claimed that Shkreli’s impudence was the result of nervous energy.

This is what happens when parents spoil their children and refuse to discipline them. I’d like to have a chance right now!

U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat from Maryland, learned of the tweet while questioning other employees of Turing. He had a document that revealed one employee joking about the price increase. Cummings pounded his fist on the dais, and said the following:
“You all spent all of your time strategizing about how to hide your price increase … and coming up with stupid jokes while other people were sitting there trying to figure out how they were going to survive,” Cummings said.

Shkreli is under indictment for operating a Ponzi scheme. He resigned from Turing, and was subsequently fired by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Given the opportunity, there would be a very long line of individuals waiting to slap the smirk off of his face.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

Source

Photo Courtesy of Peter Stevens

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