192
   

monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

 
 
blatham
 
  4  
Sat 6 Jan, 2018 04:55 pm
@Sturgis,
Quote:
Then again, when dealing with the current alleged leader, there might not be any reason other than he was bored.
If he was bored, he'd find a younger wife.

Voter suppression is a necessary tool for Republicans to win many elections at state and federal levels. They've put a lot of work and money into 1) a decades long campaign to foster the belief that voter fraud is real and into 2) crafting and spreading ready-made legislation (within or via ALEC) that will aid Republican electioneering through suppressing minorities and young people.

None of this is accidental. They know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it.
Quote:
"Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania: done," - Mike Turzai (R) Pennsylvania
They aren't going to drop this.
0 Replies
 
BillW
 
  2  
Sat 6 Jan, 2018 05:01 pm
@blatham,
blatham wrote:

You may be right. I still don't have a clear picture on this one.


Other reasons, tRump never intends for anything to be bipartisan, nor McConnel/Ryan for that matter either. This is just a committee and they don't want to divulge anything to the Dems. On the other hand, that's the Judges decision also - hhhhhmmmmmm..........

Also, the Dem (I think there was just 1) on the committee has also not been invited to a single meeting for a long time even though there has been many.

blatham wrote:
None of this is accidental. They know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it.


Yes, since civil rights outlawed most remaining Jim Crow laws. Started in the south and has been picked up in earnest in all other north and west states controlled by Repukes.

blatham wrote:
If he was bored, he'd find a younger wife.


I heard from a very close WH insider that this was one of Ms Hicks outlined duties. She doesn't have to do much or for very long - it is a small, minor task!
layman
 
  -2  
Sat 6 Jan, 2018 07:05 pm
Quote:
Record-low unemployment among African Americans

The unemployment rate for African-Americans fell to 6.8 percent in December, the lowest level since the government began tracking such data in 1972.

Robust job creation has lowered unemployment for all Americans. U.S. employers added nearly 2.1 million jobs in 2017.


So Trump has done in one year what Obama (or any other president for that matter) couldn't do in eight, eh? Too much of this and the cheese-eaters may lose their grip on the black vote which they have gained through cheap propaganda, eh?
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Lash
 
  -1  
Sat 6 Jan, 2018 07:37 pm
@layman,
The Dems are in pretty deep **** with a growing segment of black voters per observation and conversation on Twitter.

******* Hillary crony Weinstein told the Clinton campaign they needed to silence Garner and BLM because Sanders was actually speaking to their issues, and the Dems would be forced to at least pay black issues lip service to keep Sanders from cutting into their black votes.

This would wreck the Dem’s strategy to attract moderate republicans...

I don’t know how the Dems are going to cobble a national win again.

I think the Rust Belt is lost to them for several cycles. Michigan, Wisconsin...
wmwcjr
 
  1  
Sat 6 Jan, 2018 07:49 pm
@BillW,
BillW wrote:
Yes, since civil rights outlawed most remaining Jim Crow laws.


I fear that within the next 15 years, conservatives appointed to the federal bench by Republican Presidents will overturn civil rights laws, making racial discrimination against minorities legal again. (I guess this is what is meant by "Make America Great Again.") After all, anti-discrimination rulings by Federal judges and civil rights legislation during the 1950s and the '60s were opposed by many conservatives -- activists as well as leaders.
BillW
 
  4  
Sat 6 Jan, 2018 07:57 pm
@wmwcjr,
wmwcjr wrote:

BillW wrote:
Yes, since civil rights outlawed most remaining Jim Crow laws.


I fear that within the next 15 years, conservatives appointed to the federal bench by Republican Presidents will overturn civil rights laws, making racial discrimination against minorities legal again. (I guess this is what is meant by "Make America Great Again.") After all, anti-discrimination rulings by Federal judges and civil rights legislation during the 1950s and the '60s were opposed by the conservative movement.


Exactly, last chance for Republicans is now. One brief example William, you live in Texas, it is suppose to become purple in 4-6 years and blue in another 4-6 years. They know they have to end "Democracy" now and obtain White man rule now.
0 Replies
 
Builder
 
  -2  
Sat 6 Jan, 2018 10:00 pm
@Lash,
Quote:
I don’t know how the Dems are going to cobble a national win again.


Have they sorted out the financial probs that landed them in such a predicament as the last election fiasco?

I'd like to see the contract that HRC had them sign.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  4  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 12:06 am

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DS6MeARWAAIUMy2.jpg

h/t Amy Siskind
MontereyJack
 
  4  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 12:11 am
@layman,
More bullshit from layman. In actual fact jopb creation under Trump in 2017 lagged Obama's job creation in 2016. 2.1 million for Trump, 2.2 million for Obama
.https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/ceshighlights.pdf

After the catastrophic Republicnomics of theW. Bush years, which led to the Great Recession, there were seven straight years of steady job growth under Obama. He left Trump az strong economy with, once again, nearly full employment. Trump did not improve on the economy '''''''Obama left him, his job creation, for which he has bragged repeatedly, ws virtually identical to w wwhat Obama had left him. He certainly deserves no particular credit for the high point in African-Amwrican job, since that awas simply a continuation of the growth Obama spurred.. Trump of course is only too glad to claim undeserved credit for the things other people actually did. He is, as always, a poseur.
MontereyJack
 
  2  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 12:23 am
@blatham,
xdoofus Donald deep in thought in vain.
0 Replies
 
Builder
 
  -3  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 12:27 am
@MontereyJack,
Quote:
After the catastrophic Republicnomics of theW. Bush years, which led to the Great Recession


You're saying what, exactly?

The orchestrated bankster heist was something GW had a hand in?

We all know his VP was calling the shots, but the GFC wasn't their puppy.

Hard to fathom how you could even equate that with the shrub, really.

0 Replies
 
izzythepush
 
  3  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 02:11 am
Quote:
Trump's mental health and why people are discussing it

It is a question that has dogged Donald Trump - fairly or otherwise - since he was elected president: is he mentally fit for office?

The question has been raised again by the release of a new book by New York journalist Michael Wolff, which chronicles the first year of the Trump White House.

The book - the accuracy of which has been disputed by the White House and queried by others - paints the president as impatient and unable to focus, prone to rambling and repeating himself.

Mr Trump has hit back against Mr Wolff's account, claiming on Twitter to be a "very stable genius" whose "two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart".

But the president's manner and speaking style have led to armchair diagnoses of a host of ailments, from Alzheimer's to narcissistic personality disorder - a controversial practice that has divided the medical profession.

What are people saying?

The current flurry of speculation has been triggered by the book Fire and Fury, in which Mr Wolff writes that during the course of his access to the White House preparing the book, he witnessed people around President Trump become aware that "his mental powers were slipping".

Mr Wolff said - during the marketing campaign for the book's sale - that Mr Trump, 71, repeated himself often. Repetition can be caused by poor short-term memory, as well as by other factors. It can be a sign of dementia, which affects 5-8% of people aged 60 and over worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

"Everybody was painfully aware of the increasing pace of his repetitions," wrote Wolff. "It used to be inside of 30 minutes he'd repeat, word-for-word and expression-for-expression, the same three stories - now it was within 10 minutes."

Mr Wolff did not give any other context for the alleged repetitions. Mr Trump has blasted the book, calling it "phony" and "full of lies" and saying he did not authorise any access to the White House for Mr Wolff.

Critics of the book have also questioned its sourcing. They have asked whether Wolff himself witnessed the events he describes, and called some of its content gossip.

What have they said before?

Psychologists had previously speculated about symptoms they purported to see in Mr Trump's behaviour.

Several books came out on the topic within months of the Trump inauguration: The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump by Bandy X Lee, Twilight of American Sanity by Allen Frances and Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen.

Dr Lee, who is a psychiatry professor at Yale, told a group of mostly-Democrat senators last month that Mr Trump was "going to unravel, and we are seeing the signs". But it's worth remembering that none of these people have treated Mr Trump, nor do they have close-up information on his state of mind.

Anyone who has treated him would be going against ethics standards and, in most cases, federal law if they disclosed any details.

Why would it matter?

In theory it could cost Mr Trump his job.

Under the 25th amendment to the US Constitution, if the president is deemed to be "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office", the vice-president takes over. His cabinet and the vice-president together would need to kick-start the process, so it's unlikely to happen, however many voices call for it.

Has mental health been an issue for previous presidents?

Yes - presidents have suffered from mental ill health going right back to Abraham Lincoln, whose clinical depression prompted several breakdowns.

More recently Ronald Reagan, who was president from 1981 to 1989, suffered confusion and seemed unsure of where he was at times - he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's five years after he left office.

The 25th amendment has never been used to depose a sitting president.

So what's the evidence with Mr Trump?

It is worth reiterating, there is no real evidence as nobody speaking publicly has examined the president.

But some have suggested that Mr Trump may have symptoms which would point to Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).

People with this condition often show some of the following characteristics, according to Psychology Today:

Grandiosity, a lack of empathy for other people and a need for admiration
They believe they are superior or may deserve special treatment
They seek excessive admiration and attention, and struggle with criticism or defeat
But the man who wrote the diagnostic criteria for NPD, Allen Frances, said a lack of obvious distress stopped him from saying Mr Trump had the condition.

"Mr Trump causes severe distress rather than experiencing it and has been richly rewarded, rather than punished, for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy," he wrote.


Wolff's book has prompted some to ask if Mr Trump might be suffering from cognitive decline.

Repetition of stories and the way Mr Trump speaks have been put forward to back up the claims.

When neurological experts compared clips of Mr Trump in the past with more recent footage, they found his manner of speaking had totally changed. In the past he spoke in long and complicated sentences, following thoughts through and using long adjectives while in more recent clips, he used fewer and shorter words, missed words out, rambled, and was more likely to use superlatives like "the best".

This could be due to a neurological condition like Alzheimer's, some experts said, or it could be a symptom of nothing more sinister than age.

Those who say the president is concealing cognitive decline point to a few other incidences where he seemed not to have full control over his own movements.

There was one instance in December where he was giving a speech and lifted a glass awkwardly, with both hands.

During another speech, he slurred through some of his words, which the White House blamed on a dry throat but some said could be a sign of something more serious.

Motor function is driven by the brain's frontal lobe, which loses volume with age but also gets affected by a specific, relatively rare, type of dementia.

According to the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, frontotemporal dementia has symptoms including "acting inappropriately or impulsively", "appearing selfish or unsympathetic", "overeating", "getting distracted easily" and "struggling to make the right sounds when saying a word".

Next week the president will undergo his first medical examination - a physical - since taking office.

Is this debate fair?

Well, there's the question.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press spokeswoman, said: "It's disgraceful and laughable.

"If he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there, wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates the Republican Party has ever seen."

Some Republican lawmakers have dismissed the concerns as a partisan attack.

Representatives Duncan Hunter of California and Mike Simpson of Idaho were said to have "burst out laughing" in February last year when told by news website The Hill that the Democrats were raising such questions. (Mr Simpson did say it was fair to question the president's "judgment" however.)

But others have been more scathing.

Following in the footsteps of Jeb Bush's assertion during the race for the presidency that "the guy needs therapy", Tennessee senator Bob Corker said in August that Mr Trump had not demonstrated the "stability" he needed for the role.

Dr Frances previously said the debate was unfair - but to people suffering from mental illnesses. "Bad behaviour is rarely a sign of mental illness, and the mentally ill behave badly only rarely," he said.

"It is a stigmatising insult to the mentally ill (who are mostly well behaved and well meaning) to be lumped with Mr Trump (who is neither)."

Others have echoed this, with one columnist saying the debate would "make people with mental-health needs more likely to stay closeted".

But professionals who have given their opinion on Mr Trump's psychological state say they have done so in order to warn the nation.

Breaking the Goldwater rule

In speaking out they have in fact broken their industry's own ethics - the decades-old Goldwater Rule prohibits psychiatrists from giving diagnosis about someone they have not personally evaluated.

It was instated after a magazine asked thousands of experts in 1964 whether Republican nominee Barry Goldwater was psychologically fit to be president. He successfully sued the magazine's editor for libel after the results were published.

The APA warned during the campaign that breaking the rule in trying to analyse the candidates in the presidential election was "irresponsible, potentially stigmatising, and definitely unethical".

Given the rule against diagnosing from afar, some argue that there should be a system in place for diagnosing Mr Trump up close.

"A president could be actively hallucinating," writes the Atlantic, "threatening to launch a nuclear attack based on intelligence he had just obtained from David Bowie, and the medical community could be relegated to speculation from afar."

In fact there is a law in the works for a committee to be required to assess the president's health - the Oversight Commission on Presidential Capacity (OCPC) Act.

And despite the amount of space given to the topic of the president's mental health, many commentators recoil from it. Carlos Lozada writes in the Washington Post: "There is something too simple about dismissing his misdeeds as signs of mental illness; it almost exonerates him, and us."

"If we don't like someone's politics we rail against him, we campaign against him, we don't use the psychiatric system against him," writes former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, saying that is "just dangerous".

He said that people who thought the 25th Amendment would end the Trump presidency were putting "hope over reality".

Only a "major psychotic break" would result in that, he said.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42580762
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layman
 
  -4  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 06:39 am
@izzythepush,
Nice try, cheese-eaters:
Quote:

He said that people who thought the 25th Amendment would end the Trump presidency were putting "hope over reality".

Only a "major psychotic break" would result in that, he said.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  4  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 07:09 am
Quote:
The American Civil Liberties Union, rarely an active player in national campaigns, is jumping into the 2018 midterms with plans to spend upward of $25 million promoting ballot initiatives and issues in contested races across the country.

Soaring after a banner year — the ACLU raised $93 million online in the 12 months after Donald Trump was elected president, up from $5.5 million the year before, and its membership quadrupled to 1.6 million — the civil rights group is in the midst of a dramatic makeover. The group aims to rival the National Rifle Association as a force on the left and become a hub of the anti-Trump movement.

“It’s clear that a larger portion of the American public is deeply engaged in politics in a way they’ve never been before,” said Executive Director Anthony Romero — and the ACLU aims to be a hub of liberal political activism.

Politico

Hell of a fine idea. Thanks, Donald.

This won't always work the way Dems might hope but in most cases, it will. The NRA has the advantage of being a single-issue organization (though to achieve its aims it will support Republicans more broadly) while the ACLU's interests are much more diverse.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  4  
Sun 7 Jan, 2018 07:22 am
Something to watch.
Quote:
After months of criticism over their refusal to share data on whether efforts to halt the spread of false news are working, Facebook officials told POLITICO this week that they may be ready to slowly open up.

...While Facebook is unlikely to fully throw open the vault, the meeting could help thaw what has been, at times, a tense relationship with the fact-checking groups—FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, Snopes, The Weekly Standard, ABC News, and the AP —which it began enlisting shortly after the 2016 election to sweep the platform for misinformation.
Politico

If there is anything the last decade has taught us it is that - somehow - US culture must move to curtail the spread of false information.
0 Replies
 
 

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