http://www.halbrown.org/2016/12/december-2016.html
Pre-Trump Presidential Era
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017
What do Trump and I have in common? We both have Twitter accounts… so I Tweeted this.
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I recently became acquainted with the articles in Psychology today by Jeremy Sherman. Since then I have been communicating with him on a daily basis via a therapist “Trumpology" blog. In this Psychology Today article he provides an insight to one of the most common questions Democrats have been asking.
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Trump employed a formula for giving the impression of absolute invincibility. It’s not a complicated formula. It simply requires an unfailing ability to treat truth and reality as trivial, an ability to play presiding judge over every decision, and a handful of rhetorical tricks for turning the tables on everything and everyone in his way, retaliating against all challenges with counterchallenges tenfold.
Voters were split in response. To those of us who value reasons, respectful engagement and debate grounded in evidence, his formula made him seem ridiculous, dumb, psychopathic, immoral and criminal. We focused on reasoning with voters to get them to see that supporting him was all of those things.
Consciously or unconsciously, half of the voters fell for his formula. They faced a choice. Either heed our warnings and doubt about his character and theirs for being drawn to him, or just go with the candidate who acted convincingly invincible. The solution for many was to act as if they doubted his character (distorting poll results) and still vote for him. Read entire article
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Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017
The foiled Project Veritas plot to pay to have the inauguration disrupted
So you don’t have to:
Leave it to Trump to insult not just the director of the CIA, but the entire agency who will soon be working for him.
“Tell the families of those 117 CIA officers who are forever memorialized on our wall of honor that their loved ones who gave their lives were akin to Nazis. Tell the CIA officers who are serving in harm’s way right now and their families who are worried about them that they are akin to Nazi Germany. I found that to be very repugnant.” John Brennan, current CIA director
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| This morning I had a fasting cholesterol blood test so I had to go without my first thing in the morning cup of coffee. Hot water just doesn’t do it. I could feel my brains cells slowing down until I had that first swallow of the magic elixir. |
Monday, Jan. 16, 2017
Evening break from politics, this is really BIG:
This is for you Chris Mathews and Chuck Todd.
Can anybody remember a president about which the following would be written?
- Or Trump’s statements could mean that he has no idea what he’s talking about.
- Making sense of Trump’s comments on policy is never easy, and in this case the comments are more confusing than usual.
- But it’s not at all clear whether Trump’s comments should be taken at face value.
Nobody will accuse Andy Borowitz of being gutless:
Borowitz neglected to included this quote (bottom of illustration) from Trump’s 15 year old National Anthem signed. Hmmmm… he’s taking advantage of a naive 15 year old. What a surprise…
Morning quote:
...Trump and his co-partisans in Congress (are) essentially hostage to events. The first time anything goes wrong, Trump will be facing a public that’s primed to believe the president is ill-tempered, dishonest, unqualified, and already doing a bad job — and he has no media magic that can help him cover that up. From Vox “Trump is Remarkably Unpopular.”
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| from a Chicago Tribune article |
Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017
By my psychoanalytic Trumpology comrade:
Friday the Thirteenth - 2017
This hopefully really unlucky day for Trump ends. And I didn’t even mention what Rep. John Lewis said, and the fact that neither Trump (not yet at least) nor his surrogates dared challenge his somber heartfelt words. I have one final thought about the sex allegations.
This would make a riveting true-life spy story assuming the allegations are true. It would have an amazing story arc, like “All the President’s Men” starting in this case with Steele being hired by a Republican against Trump campaign or group to do op research, and him stumbling on something far greater than he expected. There probably is at least one version of Deep Throat involved. For the story to go past the suspense building intrigue to the satisfying denouement. Of course it would have to end, as it did with Nixon, with Trump taking off in a helicopter.
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| The District of Columbia National Guard head is appoint by the president. I think this idea cam from the paranoid Gen. Michael Flynn. He’ll be relieved in the middle of the operation where he has 5,000 troop protecting the inauguration. |
From Politico:
More from the CAN IT GET ANY MORE SURREAL DEPARTMENT?
Thursday, Jan. 12, 2017
Carl Bernstein on CNN (The network Trump accused of being fake news): “Let's talk about what reporting is. It's the best obtainable version of the truth. That's what that story is — the best obtainable version of the truth is that the chief intelligence officials of the United States of America saw this material, thought that it deserved investigation, thought that it ought to be brought to the attention of the President of the United States, and to the president-elect. That is the best obtainable version of the truth.
And another thing about anonymous sources, one of the great anonymous sources of our era his Kellyanne Conway. She does it every day. She has been an anonymous source for the last 10 months, particularly during this campaign when it suits her. And it's time to talk about what we do as journalists and what propaganda ministers do. And that is what she is is a propaganda minister, and what we've seen here tonight is a deconstruction of the journalistic process. And we did our work.
And you can deconstruct it and it comes down to, ‘Look the chief officials of the United States intelligence community believed they had something urgent enough to bring to the attention of the president and the president-elect of the United States. ‘That is a story.’”
Two very different reads from:
Excerpt: The flaws we see in Breishis' characters, in our forebears, I would suggest, are likely offered in the spirit of Baruch Spinoza's claim that "all definition is negation." Breishis tells us about the consequences of the deadly sins (those, curiously, perpetrated by at least one recent politician) … Envy and revenge … preferential treatment … self-importance … cavalier disregard of others … gratuitous enmity (שנאת חינם) … sibling rivalry … and that inability — so obvious in Yoseph's behavior and in his dreams — to privilege the relationships and uniqueness of others, especially those who are close to each of us.
Question for my readers in Russia - and yes I know you are there as Google blogspot sites track URL sources — are you spies or just curious ?
Breaking News: It just got better:
Tool Trump Tweets the story away! SAD!
Click image to follow his Twitter feed.
For the espionage buffs, from VOX:
"The report says that Trump had prostitutes defile a bed where President Obama slept at the Ritz Carlton Moscow."
Now being called potentially the biggest political story in the history of the United States.
11:30 AM Sessions trying unsuccessfully to keep from smiling as another protestor is shown out of the hearing:
Watching the Jeff Sessions hearing where a yelling Code Pink member just got forcibly ejected. The gist so far from Republicans: Sessions is a demigod. From Democrats, he’s a demon. As usual with MSNBC in the background, I see what’s else being reported online usually starting with Huffington Post.
Considering that the original brand of sriracha from Huy Fong Foods is ubiquitous in the three dining venues where I live, this headline caught my eye:
Meanwhile the drama goes on with Jeff Sessions enjoying the protests, so far three, with four people thrown out.
Monday, Jan. 9, 2017
Meryl Streep, Trump’s Tweets, catch up here:
"Trump had used a 2001 story by Kovaleski as proof of his fictitious claim that thousands of Muslims celebrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on rooftops in New Jersey. Trump insisted he had seen video of the incident, although none has ever been uncovered, and Kovaleski disputed Trump’s understanding of the event."
Conway’s deflection:
On “Fox & Friends,” Conway wondered aloud why Streep had used her time on stage to attack Trump’s supposed mockery of a disabled individual and not to call attention to the more recent case from Chicago, where four people were arrested last week for allegedly torturing a teenager with special needs and streaming the episode live on Facebook. Conway noted the races of those involved, four African-American suspects and a white victim, and said if Streep is truly concerned about the disabled community, she should speak out about the incident in Chicago.
“I'm glad that Meryl Streep has such a passion for the disabled because I didn't hear her weigh in and I didn’t hear her even use her platform last night, Ainsley, to give a shoutout to the mentally challenged boy who last week was tortured live on Facebook for half an hour, by four young African-American adults who were screaming racial and anti-Trump expletives and forcing him to put his head in toilet water,” Conway told Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt. “So I’d like to hear from her today, if she wants to come to come and continue platform on behalf of the disabled.”
If you’re a psychotherapist, or have been following my Daily Kos posts, you know what I think about the following:
Sat. Jan. 7, 2017
Watch this: "There is really, really something wrong with him.” Keith Olbermann
You may have missed this from hard right former NSA staffer and now national security columnist John Schindler offers one obvious clue:
Tummy problems? You may not know this…
Evening edition: It’s a surreal cluster-fuck, here’s what I wrote tonight.
From
It is getting worse and worse, if this is even possible. Trump is kicking a hornets nest and seems oblivious to the possible, if not likely consequences. He is demonstrating that he is unbalanced. He is recklessly and thoughtlessly pushing the boundaries of his propaganda successes by saying there is a witch hunt regarding the Russian hacking, and now wanting Congress to investigate NBC News. Can he become so unarguably unhinged before the 20th that something is done by Republicans to start the process of removing him from office? Stay tuned. See Article.
Earlier today:
Trump gets his intelligence briefing today. Last night he was busy Tweeting. This prompted me to write an article for Daily Kos.
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017
Evening Edition:
\The issue (was) addressed by Eisenhower—the problem of transferring power to a Vice-President if a President is incapacitated, and of the President taking it back when he feels ready—was spelled out in Section 4. The machinery moves slowly: a Vice-President, with a majority of either the Cabinet or of Congress, may inform the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the Senate, in writing, that the President “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” In that case, the Vice-President takes over as “Acting President.” But if the President objects—declaring in writing “that no inability exists”—it gets complicated: then the Vice-President and a majority of the Cabinet, or of Congress, have to tell the Speaker and the president pro tem that the President can’t do his job. Then it’s up to Congress, which would have forty-eight hours to meet, twenty-one days to decide, and then to vote, by a two-thirds majority, on whether to give the President’s powers to the Vice-President—hurdles that would protect the Presidency from a seizure of power but, in case of a Strangelovian emergency, would be unrealistic.
Weds., Jan. 4, 2017
Evening:
POLITICS
I think that all along that "Repeal Obama Care" was little more than a battle cry. Republicans convinced oters that it was hurting them even though by far it was helping the majorty of those who signed up. They found, as anyone can always do, a few examples of those who supposedly had their premiiums almost bankrupt them. Nobody ever fact checked these "testimonials.”
Repeal Obamacare started as the Conrgessional Repupublican main effort to obstruct everything President Obama tried to do. The Trump took it over and it was just like "Build the Wall, and who will pay for it ?" "MEXICO" as rally slogans signifying nothing. In fact the hyped up danger of rapist and murdering Mexicans was all just propaganda. It worked on the voters. No it's coming out that Trump really doesn't give a shit about his campaign promises because, well, because they were never promises they just were propaganda slogans that got cheers from his crowd. It will be a glorious spectacle when Republicans in Congress realize that Trump has no investment on following thriugh on much of anything she said during th campaign. He only wanted to be president, and here's a shocker, HE NEVER WANTED TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
I tried to resist altering this headline. I am disinclined to write satire about Trump. But I did, here. The danger of his presidency is far too real. However when I saw this story it occurred to me that someone else could write an “Onion” type report that Trump was attempting to prove how much empathy he had by granting clemency to Charles Manson. After all, Trump Tweeted "he never actually killed anybody, only evidence hearsay."
Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017
New of Note:
Trump Tweets, public outrage, Congress backs down on eliminating ethics office.
Megan Kelly leaves Fox News for NBC
Monday, Jan. 2, 2017
Sunday, January 1, 2017
A disturbing analysis of Trump-speak from the Daily Beast:
Sat. Dec. 31
~~ Quotes of the day:
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty…We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.” – Edward R. Murrow.
From conservative radio host Charlie Sykes “We’ve basically eliminated any of the referees…we have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media…But, at a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.” Both in Read Daily Beast story about how we need an Edward R. Murrow today.
A good news story for New Years Eve
From outer space to inner space, people to particles, there are likely to be advances in knowledge despite the impediments we can expect from Trump’s anti-science appointees.
My physicist friends will welcome the results of these ultra-cool experiments:
Here’s a bad one… click for story
Friday, Dec. 30, 2016
Back from trip to Fred Meyer’s, and the latest check-out aisle Enquirer Obama story - so you don’t have to embarrass yourself by look at it.
Click images to read my Daily Kos story.
Carl Bernstein on CNN (The network Trump accused of being fake news): “Let's talk about what reporting is. It's the best obtainable version of the truth. That's what that story is — the best obtainable version of the truth is that the chief intelligence officials of the United States of America saw this material, thought that it deserved investigation, thought that it ought to be brought to the attention of the President of the United States, and to the president-elect. That is the best obtainable version of the truth.
And another thing about anonymous sources, one of the great anonymous sources of our era his Kellyanne Conway. She does it every day. She has been an anonymous source for the last 10 months, particularly during this campaign when it suits her. And it's time to talk about what we do as journalists and what propaganda ministers do. And that is what she is is a propaganda minister, and what we've seen here tonight is a deconstruction of the journalistic process. And we did our work.
And you can deconstruct it and it comes down to, ‘Look the chief officials of the United States intelligence community believed they had something urgent enough to bring to the attention of the president and the president-elect of the United States. ‘That is a story.’”
Two very different reads from:
So, indeed, Shemos begins by telling us that the likes of Yoseph (and DJT, for that matter) are eventually forgotten … like a flash in the pan … ויקם מלך חדש על מצרים אשר לא ידע את יוסף and “eventually, a new Order arises and the preferenced ones are forgotten. Eventually they are replaced by leaders who are moved by the suffering of others and who seek to redeem them from their shackles … the likes of Moshe and Aharon, perhaps. While it doesn’t always seem that way, as we see in the Warum Krieg? correspondence between Freud and Einstein: civilization does move — if slowly — in the direction of a pacifistic love.
Alas, Ya'akov's blessings at the end of Va'y'chi sadly continue the saga of preferential treatment … of favoring this child or spouse over another. Sad, it is, that narcissistic folk rarely alter their life trajectories … Back to Freud as he bemoaned this stubbornly inpenetrable adherence to self-interest: the Stone Wall of Narcissism.
“Is there a blessing fit for the czar.” … “May God bless and keep all czars far away from us and our kids and grandkids.”
Amen and so, may it be …
אמן וכן יהי רצון.
Weds. Jan. 11, 2017Question for my readers in Russia - and yes I know you are there as Google blogspot sites track URL sources — are you spies or just curious ?
Breaking News: It just got better:
Tool Trump Tweets the story away! SAD!
Click image to follow his Twitter feed.
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President-elect Donald Trump’s “Nazi Germany” tweet went over about as well as you’d expect. Immediately after Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning, in which he likened the leak of an unverified opposition report to living in “Nazi Germany,” Holocaust educators and Twitter users displayed disgust at his bizarre analogy. “It is a despicable insult to Holocaust survivors around the world, and to the nation he is about to lead, that Donald Trump compares America to Nazi Germany,” Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, said in a statement. “The President-elect has denigrated our nation and its commitment to freedom on the eve of his inauguration. He must retract his tweet and apologize to survivors and to our entire nation.” continued NY Daily News
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My Daily Kos story this morning
With reports that the Russian government may have dirt that they are using to blackmail Donald Trump setting the political world ablaze, it’s worth being clear about two things. One is that the content of these reports is unverified and, likely, unverifiable. What’s more, to the extent that any of it could be verified, it’s inconceivable that the Intelligence Community would publicly reveal the kind of human or signals intelligence sources that could verify it. So as far as the public knows, we are never really going to know.
The other is that the Russian blackmail theory is composed of two sub-elements, both of which are clearly true based on publicly available information. One is that Donald Trump has a curious and wrongheaded affection for the present government of Russia and its foreign policy. The other is that Donald Trump has engaged in scandalous conduct, the public revelation of which would cause a rational person to reduce their opinion of him. CONTINUED
Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017"The report says that Trump had prostitutes defile a bed where President Obama slept at the Ritz Carlton Moscow."
Now being called potentially the biggest political story in the history of the United States.
The MSNBC news is running late — early for me really in Oregon. To say this is a major story, is a gross understatement. However, most of the reporters and guests are handling it gingerly.. That is to be expected. Unless evidence at the level of the Access Hollywood tapes came out, everything so far is rumor, innuendo, hearsay, and unattributed reports from foreign intelligence.
What I find intriguing is the timing. It may be possible that at the highest levels the intelligence community it has been decided that it is too risky for Trump to be president. This would be for two reasons. One is that he has been compromised by Russian intelligence and they can blackmail him anytime. Two…does anybody think that they don’t have top psychologists analyzing him? Does anybody think that they don’t have a carefully thoroughly constructed predictive diagnosis of him?
Considering what I and other psychotherapists have put together based on publicly available information, imagine what CIA, NSA, and FBI psychologists have been able to use to profile him.
Listen to what intelligence expert Malcolm Nance has to say about what Russian intelligence certainly was able to gather on Trump when he was in Russia. Add in what I suggest in my story — and we have a compromised president, who also may be mentally unfit to be president.
We could be headed toward the most drastic political change story ever to occur that didn’t follow a presidential assassination or the threat of impeachment (Nixon) in our history — the resignation of a president elect days before he’s due to assume office.Breaking “fake” news - click below for my story:
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| Click above for story. |
Or perhaps not….
I wondered back in early November whether the Russians had sexually embarrassing videos of Trump… and I wrote an article about it. Now it turns out this may be true.
A salacious 35-page document, a summary of which was presented to President Barack Obama and President-elect Trump last week, included allegations that Russian operatives claim to possess “compromising personal and financial information” on Trump, CNN first reported, citing multiple U.S. officials.
The full document, which has been circulating in media and government circles for months, was published by BuzzFeed on Tuesday night. It claims that Russian authorities sought to “exploit Trump’s personal obsessions and sexual perversion” to gain compromising material on him.
The most explosive allegation from a source was that Trump employed a “number of prostitutes to perform a ‘golden showers’ [sic] (urination) show in front of him. The hotel was known to be under FSB [Russian intelligence] control with microphones and concealed cameras in all the main rooms to record anything they wanted to.” From Daily Beast
11:30 AM Sessions trying unsuccessfully to keep from smiling as another protestor is shown out of the hearing:
Watching the Jeff Sessions hearing where a yelling Code Pink member just got forcibly ejected. The gist so far from Republicans: Sessions is a demigod. From Democrats, he’s a demon. As usual with MSNBC in the background, I see what’s else being reported online usually starting with Huffington Post.
Considering that the original brand of sriracha from Huy Fong Foods is ubiquitous in the three dining venues where I live, this headline caught my eye:
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We hate to be the bearers of bad news. We know the world adores Sriracha. And not just any Sriracha, but the famous Huy Fong rooster sauce. It’s the kind of sauce that can transform three leftover ingredients in your fridge into a meal, with just a drizzle. It makes eggs feel special, pizza even more special, and basically lets us feel like we can make magic happen in the kitchen any night of the week. |
Monday, Jan. 9, 2017
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| From Google News |
Meryl Streep, Trump’s Tweets, catch up here:
How to make the Monday news cycle in every show?
- 1) Be Meryl Streep
- 2) Make a gently scathing speech about Trump at the Golden Globes
- 3) Have Trump Tweet an insult back at you
While anti-Trump comments at the Globes were relatively restrained, Ms. Streep, one of the most outspoken progressives in the film world, mounted a powerful critique of Mr. Trump’s abilities as a performer, complimenting in a backhanded way a style of showmanship that she all but called insidious.
“There was one performance this year that stunned me — it sank its hooks in my heart,” Ms. Streep said. “Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth.
“It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter,” she said, referring to a speech by Mr. Trump in 2015 when he shuddered and flailed his arms, seeming to mock a disabled reporter for The New York Times. “It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can’t get it out of my head, because it wasn’t in a movie. It was real life.”
Lest we forget why Trump mocked this reporter: "Trump had used a 2001 story by Kovaleski as proof of his fictitious claim that thousands of Muslims celebrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on rooftops in New Jersey. Trump insisted he had seen video of the incident, although none has ever been uncovered, and Kovaleski disputed Trump’s understanding of the event."
Conway’s deflection:
On “Fox & Friends,” Conway wondered aloud why Streep had used her time on stage to attack Trump’s supposed mockery of a disabled individual and not to call attention to the more recent case from Chicago, where four people were arrested last week for allegedly torturing a teenager with special needs and streaming the episode live on Facebook. Conway noted the races of those involved, four African-American suspects and a white victim, and said if Streep is truly concerned about the disabled community, she should speak out about the incident in Chicago.
“I'm glad that Meryl Streep has such a passion for the disabled because I didn't hear her weigh in and I didn’t hear her even use her platform last night, Ainsley, to give a shoutout to the mentally challenged boy who last week was tortured live on Facebook for half an hour, by four young African-American adults who were screaming racial and anti-Trump expletives and forcing him to put his head in toilet water,” Conway told Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt. “So I’d like to hear from her today, if she wants to come to come and continue platform on behalf of the disabled.”
If you’re a psychotherapist, or have been following my Daily Kos posts, you know what I think about the following:
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| IMHO: Tarasoff trumps Goldwater |
Sat. Jan. 7, 2017
Watch this: "There is really, really something wrong with him.” Keith Olbermann
Trump's insane Russian tweets today confirm his psychological crisis looms. A video to send to his supporters: pic.twitter.com/8ADyBBuFi2— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 8, 2017
On Friday, Keith Olbermann posted a message online he aimed at those who support Donald Trump. He began by not being the least bit condescending, even though most Trumpkins are total morons:
“This is about him and you. So, let’s go in under the assumption that you’re smarter than I am, in which case you already know what my point is going to be.”Then Olbermann laid out his thesis statement regarding Trump:
“There is something really, really wrong with him.”Next, Olbermann put forth the evidence supporting his thesis:
“Who defends a Russian dictator ahead of an American president? Any American president?“There’s something wrong with him. To pretend that there isn’t something wrong with him, you have to pretend really hard.”Finally, there was a personal touch, an appeal to reason and self-interest:
“His illness — and it is an illness — is putting you at risk and your family at risk and your kids and my family and everybody we know, the ones we like and the ones we don’t. Something bad will happen and whatever he does will make it worse and it will all be clear that he’s not healthy enough to be the president and they will have to remove him.”Will Trump supporters listen to this sort of plea? Probably not, but at least they can’t say they weren’t warned. From The Mean Left Hook.
Katy Talento has pushed dubious claims about birth control, including the myth that hormonal contraceptives cause abortions, miscarriages, and decreased fertility.
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| "It’s war” barely rates on this cover. Of course, Russia always has missiles “aimed” at the United States. |
Studies have suggested that the use of acid-suppressing medications (proton pump inhibitors [PPIs like Nexium and Prilosec], although not H2 receptor antagonists [H2RAs include Zantac and Tagamet]) may increase the risk of developing gastroenteritis by reducing the acidic environment that serves as an initial defense against gastrointestinal infections. This effect has also been noted to be dose dependent (ie, an increased dose of PPI therapy is associated with an increased risk for infection).Freaky Friday? Jan. 6, 2017
Onset of symptoms within 6 hours indicates a preformed toxin (likely from Staphylococcus or Bacillus) From Medscape
Evening edition: It’s a surreal cluster-fuck, here’s what I wrote tonight.
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| I added the bottom quarter to the painting. |
"Trump keeps stiff upper lip as U.S. report details Russia hacking" in Politico
The president-elect insists the cyberattacks had ‘absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election.’
“It’s really remarkable to have someone who’s never been a consumer of intelligence products, who has no idea about the cycle of gathering intelligence, trying to claim with credibility he knows what’s going on. He doesn’t,” said Thomas Sanderson, the director of the transnational threats project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “It suggests ... he simply doesn’t want to agree with the finding that Russia was behind this because it delegitimizes his campaign win.”
="Did Clapper come out in early October and say we know it was Russia?" Cuomo asked Conway.Conway dodged the question and then asked, "And what did President Obama say in response?"Watch interview here.
"Did he say it? That's the question," Cuomo said.
With the two talking over each other, Cuomo continued to insist she answer his question about whether Clapper said in early October that the intelligence community had determined Russia to be responsible for the hacks.
Conway responded: "But what is it, finish the sentence, what is it that we know? That Russia is trying to interfere with the election results? Do you really think that Russia wanted Donald Trump elected president when he's going to be tougher than Hillary Clinton?"
Cuomo, seemingly growing increasingly frustrated, repeated his question.
"Third time: Did Clapper come out in early October and say we know Russia is behind the hacks, period, full stop?" Cuomo said.
"Behind the hacks of the DNC? Is that what you mean?" Conway said.
"Let's complete the whole sentence so our viewers are not confused," Conway said, to which Cuomo responded, "Can you answer now?"
Conway tried to change the subject, but Cuomo pressed on.
"Why won't the president-elect acknowledge what is so clear to the intelligence community that Russia was involved in the hacks?" he asked.
Conway said she thought some people were trying to "delegitimize his presidency." She also accused Cuomo of just wanting to argue with her.
Cuomo then said he was "just trying to put the facts out there" because Conway was "ducking the obvious."
"I'm not ducking the obvious," she said. "Hey, Chris, by the way, I'm not ducking a thing. Not my style."
(CIA Director James) Clapper also said Trump’s rhetoric about intelligence agencies is alarming American allies. "I've received many expressions of concern from foreign counterparts about, you know, the disparagement of the U.S. intelligence community, or I should say what has been interpreted as disparagement of the intelligence community,” he said. He added about Trump: "I think there’s a difference between skepticism and disparagement.”
It is getting worse and worse, if this is even possible. Trump is kicking a hornets nest and seems oblivious to the possible, if not likely consequences. He is demonstrating that he is unbalanced. He is recklessly and thoughtlessly pushing the boundaries of his propaganda successes by saying there is a witch hunt regarding the Russian hacking, and now wanting Congress to investigate NBC News. Can he become so unarguably unhinged before the 20th that something is done by Republicans to start the process of removing him from office? Stay tuned. See Article.
Earlier today:
Trump gets his intelligence briefing today. Last night he was busy Tweeting. This prompted me to write an article for Daily Kos.
Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017
Evening Edition:
Click above for story
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| If incompetence or unfitness became a clear and present danger, it would take more than an inventive scriptwriter to head off disaster. |
That Eisenhower-to-Nixon memorandum, dated February 5, 1958, was shown to only a few people, but it was leaked. When Eisenhower, in March, was asked about it at a news conference, he said, “We are trying just to say that we are trying to carry out what normal humans of good faith having some confidence in each other would do in accordance with the language of the Constitution.” As to whether these transfers of power could lead to “a sort of musical chairs,” he replied, “I think it means when the inability is removed he resumes his duties,” although he saw the potential problem it posed. He said, “I admit this: if a man were so deranged that he thought he was able, and the consensus was that he couldn’t, there would have to be something else done, no question.”
The application of all of this to the present age may sound like a TV melodrama. But then the same might be said of what the nation has experienced during the past year or so. If Presidential incompetence, or unfitness—or, to use Ike’s word, derangement—ever became a clear and present danger, it would take more than an inventive scriptwriter to head off a disastrous turn of the heretofore fortunate American narrative.
Weds., Jan. 4, 2017
Evening:
POLITICS
Donald Trump Now Signaling Immediate Obamacare Repeal Might Not Be So Smart
“It will fall of its own weight - be careful!” Trump tweeted.
I think that all along that "Repeal Obama Care" was little more than a battle cry. Republicans convinced oters that it was hurting them even though by far it was helping the majorty of those who signed up. They found, as anyone can always do, a few examples of those who supposedly had their premiiums almost bankrupt them. Nobody ever fact checked these "testimonials.”
Repeal Obamacare started as the Conrgessional Repupublican main effort to obstruct everything President Obama tried to do. The Trump took it over and it was just like "Build the Wall, and who will pay for it ?" "MEXICO" as rally slogans signifying nothing. In fact the hyped up danger of rapist and murdering Mexicans was all just propaganda. It worked on the voters. No it's coming out that Trump really doesn't give a shit about his campaign promises because, well, because they were never promises they just were propaganda slogans that got cheers from his crowd. It will be a glorious spectacle when Republicans in Congress realize that Trump has no investment on following thriugh on much of anything she said during th campaign. He only wanted to be president, and here's a shocker, HE NEVER WANTED TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
My thoughts: Grounds for impeachment will exist from day one, and probably mount as weeks and months go by. However, any impeachment will depend on enough Republicans voters realizing that Trump is mentally unbalanced and members of Congress being inundated by phone calls from constituents. Some Republican members of Congress probably are starting to realize this but hoping for the best. They may be hoping Pence can counter those of Trump’s actions which are caused by mental illness. Psychotherapists like myself are already trying to understand the psychopathology of Trump, opening a new field of study: Trumpology (scroll down).
Congress will excuse conflicts of interest, will turn a blind eye to Trump’s flirtation with Putin, will pretend his lies and 2 AM Tweets are just Trump being Trump, and his imperial hedonistic lifestyle is best ignored. What they won’t tolerate is manifestly unhinged reckless thoughtless behaviors that can only be explained by mental illness.
Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017
New of Note:
Trump Tweets, public outrage, Congress backs down on eliminating ethics office.
Megan Kelly leaves Fox News for NBC
Monday, Jan. 2, 2017
Sunday, January 1, 2017
A disturbing analysis of Trump-speak from the Daily Beast:
EXCERPT: Every time he writes “very” or “very very,” one cannot help but be reminded that we are entering into an administration that privileges the volume of the song more than its melody. Like the word itself, the 45th president is an indiscriminate megaphone, adding fire- and horsepower to whosoever holds his attention.
But secondly, in the vast oil slick of words that flows from his mouth, “very” takes up space one might hope might be occupied by more substantial synonyms, plucked from the vast array of words available. For every “very nice,” a substantial, constructive, respectful or warm sits unused. For every “very strong on Israel,” a more precise policy statement, made with words that matter, wilts a little bit. For every “Merry Christmas and a very, very, very, very Happy New Year to everyone!,” an opportunity is lost to limn more accurately how exactly and what would make the new year happy.
Vain is the hope and foolish the desire that Mr. Trump should ever be a beacon of learning. And among the many things we can no longer look to the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (or more likely, 721 Fifth Avenue) for is linguistic inspiration. Trump uses language roughly, swings it like an axe with great force but not precision. And if there’s a word he doesn’t know or care to use, that’s okay by him. He just grabs it by the very and says it anyway.
Sat. Dec. 31
~~ Quotes of the day:
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty…We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.” – Edward R. Murrow.
From conservative radio host Charlie Sykes “We’ve basically eliminated any of the referees…we have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media…But, at a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.” Both in Read Daily Beast story about how we need an Edward R. Murrow today.
A good news story for New Years Eve
My physicist friends will welcome the results of these ultra-cool experiments:
As early as April, NASA will dispatch the Cold Atom Laboratory to the International Space Station. Once it’s operational, the lab will become one of the coldest places in the entire universe, with gases chilled to a mere billionth of a degree above absolute zero.
That’s the kind of temperature it takes to practically freeze elements like rubidium and potassium, giving scientists a better shot at studying how their atoms behave at a quantum level. The microgravity environment of the space station also will help because it will give scientists more time to observe these atoms in an exotic state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate.
The ultimate goal is to test the laws of quantum mechanics and gain insight into this mysterious branch of physics. The Cold Atom Lab was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.Here’s a link to an article explaining CRISPR, the research that may lead to the most life changing medical breakthroughs in 2017.
Here’s a bad one… click for story
Friday, Dec. 30, 2016
Back from trip to Fred Meyer’s, and the latest check-out aisle Enquirer Obama story - so you don’t have to embarrass yourself by look at it.
Click images to read my Daily Kos story.
