Three credentialed professors of psychiatry wonder about Trump’s mental health.
They wrote a letter to President Obama during the transition.
Nothing was done. Nothing in our Constitution prepared us for this bizarre situation.
The authors of the letter are:
Judith Herman, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Nanette Gartrell, M.D.
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
University of California, San Francisco (1988-2011)
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School (1983-87)
Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Community Health Systems
University of California, San Francisco (2005-2013)
They wrote:
“The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM – 5, Cluster B) for “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” by The American Psychiatric Association (APA)
“Here, according to The APA, are the 9 criteria for “Narcissistic Personality Disorder”. If an individual has 5 out of the 9 they have a confirmed diagnosis of this illness. Many individuals have “traits” of narcissism but only about 1% of the population has clinical NPD.
“Summary : A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
1. Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
2. Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
3. Believe that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with other special or high-status people (or institutions)
4. Requires excessive admiration
5. Has a sense of entitlement
6. Is interpersonally exploitative
7. Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her.
9. Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.”
I am not a credentialed psychiatrist. The definition that sounded best to me was “malignant narcissism.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
First of all, there are ethics rules against diagnosing people one has never met, as well as ethics rules about confidentiality, and I’m very troubled by the number of psychologists and psychiatrists willing to shuck those rules out the window because, well, Trump.
Second, any number of business and political leaders meet the criteria for NPD. So long as society is based on competition not cooperation, those traits are and will be what make people “successful”.
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Yes, Jon Ronson said, ” the incidence of psychopathy among CEOs is about 4 percent, four times what it is in the population at large”
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A society based on competition with no cooperation loses. Narcissistic billionaires and politicians have become cheaters and ball hogs. Don’t cheat. Pass the ball. Teamwork wins the competition.
Dienne, you’re right about the American Psychological Association’s ethics rules. But, to be honest, we don’t need the DSM7 to identify The Donald Prissydent as a narcissist. I half expect him to be impeached, and half expect him to die of starvation from staring at his own image in a reflecting pool shown to him by Nemesis. Narcissus needs to pass the ball.
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Left Coast “Teamwork wins the competition.”
As Darwin said
In however complex a manner this feeling [of empathy] may have originated, as it is one of high importance to all those animals which aid and defend one another, it will have been increased through natural selection; for those communities, which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members, would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.
So our team will win, no doubt. We my not live to see it, though, since evolution, unfortunately, works its magic very slowly,
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Dienne Psychologists are working under the “duty to warn” principle.
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Yes, he’s psycho.
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And as Poe has said, “Can’t talk to a Psycho like a normal human being.”
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Stop slandering psycho’s
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Trump tweeted that psychology is a fake discipline with democrats and left-wing media disguised as scientists sitting by phony futons in white lab coats. His supporters agree. And they are holding massive rallies chanting “Put Freud in Jail.”
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Freud was a Coke head and not the drinking kind of Coke.
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It’s a great comfort to know that when we get this nut job out of the White House, the government will be run by the people who invaded Iraq and want to start a war with Russia.
Finally, sanity!
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Good one, Michael…our reality.
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Better than invading Los Angeles or Chicago .
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By looking at the list, #45 has ten of them.
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Though the 25th Amendment provides for the removal of a president due to illness, Trumpt would have to agree to a psychiatric evaluation, which will never happen.
Trump, alone, is far from the whole problem, however, and focusing on him all the time allows more crucial problems to be ignored by both major political parties and most corporate media:
the two existential threats to life on earth, nuclear weapons and accelerating climate change;
the corrupt political/economic system propped up by both major political parties (because it benefits them) which has caused the worst inequality here since the Gilded Age;
the creeping, increasing elements of fascism which have, over the last 70 years, brought us to a fascist National Security/Surveillance/Police State, as shown by how all of the 14 criteria for fascism stated by Umberto Eco years ago have been fulfilled here (note that this list was compiled about the George W. Bush administration):
14 Points of Fascism: The Warning Signs
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm
1.) Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2.) Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights: Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3.) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause: The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4.) Supremacy of the Military: Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5.) Rampant Sexism: The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
6.) Controlled Mass Media: Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7.) Obsession with National Security: Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses
8.) Religion and Government are Intertwined: Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
9.) Corporate Power is Protected: The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10.) Labor Power is Suppressed: Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11.) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts: Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
12.) Obsession with Crime and Punishment: Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations
13.) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption: Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14.) Fraudulent Elections: Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
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“Fascist” is enough for me. It implies sociopathy and mental illness. Or can anyone out there set me straight and name a sane fascist in history?
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We are each entitled to our own definition of sane. In the new normal.
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Joel Herman: Sanity is AT LEAST to be able to recognize when you have been in error, which means to understand and embrace the difference between truth and fantasy–or from what is merely in your mind from what is actually factual.
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Try telling that to Trumpster no less Trump
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a Trumpster
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Agreed.
DSM describes behavior out of the norm. So he isn’t “normal” perhaps. That does not mean he is incompetent at getting what he wants.
Deal with the impact of his behavior. Talk back. Ignore, The press should report on what is actually happening to laws & regulations and the effect on population.
People should show up at their legislators’ meetings over the recess. Put pressure on those who can–or can be pushed–to govern.
He may or may not be on the autism spectrum.
He may or may not be a sociopath.
He probably was raised to be this way (from what I have read) in order to be successful in his chosen field, real estate development.
Psychotherapy might serve him, but people who behave like this will not see a need to change, and he has no reason to change. (Unless being ignored by the press could have some effect. A strategy teachers use, enlisting the class to ignore someone acting out for attention.)
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The present administration is an odd admixture of rampant nationalism COMBINED with a total lack of patriotism. Go figure?
But I sent that original DSM letter to two friends (to remain unnamed) who are Trump supporters. I thought it might make them budge off their support, maybe just a little? I want to share with you here their response to that letter–just to give you some idea of what kind of “thinking” is going on out there. They replied,
“As for the article written by those doctors, it is only their opinion about someone they do not like. They are hardly unbiased. I understand from where they are coming. Those points they brought out about Trump fit Obama as well but that is another topic.”
Sigh . . . .
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Obama does evince high self-regard, but not, to me, a personality disorder. He’s not delusional.
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ponderosa nothing they said made any sense or showed any interest in understanding. They didn’t even know that these were professionals or that the DSM was a long-term, well-documented, professional reference manual that was developed long before Trump came on the scene. Nor did they care to understand. They just don’t want to know.
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The link has two videos with a specialist, Dr. Lynne Meyer, that are worth listenting to because she has specific indicators, like why Trump has no interest in daily briefings on national security.
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A political opinion, clearly not a professional one.
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JB2: I hope you are kidding when you say: “A political opinion, clearly not a professional one.”
If not, then (1) I might point to the history of the DSM in the professional fields; AND (2) I might mention to you AND to Mr. Trump, that, EVERYTHING has political import and, if so, then SOMEONE or group is going to like it. However, NOT everything is motivated merely by political intent.
It is from the reality of that distinction that we can ask Republicans to rise above their politics and consider the clear and present danger from both internal and external foes to our constitutional democracy that is embodied in Trump and his collaborators. The fox is actually in the hen house.
I do hope you were kidding, though.
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Excuse me, but I said that he was unstable when he ran for President and loomed over Hillary, slyly suggested she be assinated, ridiculed that palsied reporter, told his followers to fight aND lied with every breath. He defined UNSTABLE!
I said he was senile weeks ago, when the only thing he could talk about –no matter what the subject, was how many electoral votes he had, AND HOW THE LYING MEDIA AND Fake nNews DID NOT GIVE HIM THE VICOTRY OR CROWDS THAT HE MADE UPIN HIS OWN MIND.
I said there was something wrong with the man whose job it was to uphold the law, and who took every opportunity to break it, and then howl in dismay when his skullduggery was uncovered.
I knew he was unbalanced when IN THIS DEMOCRACY… he did everything opposed to the tenants: made immigrants unwelcome, decried a free press, and intentionally eradicated the laws, rules and regulations that other presidents had put in place WHICH TOLD OTHER NATIONS THAT WE WERE UNRELIABLE, AND THAT WE BREAK TREATIES.
IT IS TIME THAT THE PROFESSIONAL MENTAL EVALUATORS SAID: HEY, THE EMPEROR IS NAKED!
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Susan, it would not surprise me at all if he is descending into senile dementia, with the overlay of his previously existing narcissism.
Not at all a good combination for the POTUS.
{{Sigh}}
And his supporters either refuse to recognize this, or just do not care.
I particularly blame the Congressional Republicans, who are looking the other way as long as he can ram through their favorite planks, such as removing government regulations, having a much smaller government (except for Defense and Homeland Security) and privatizing everything else, letting the corporations run wild and reducing their taxes, getting rid of the ACA, privatizing Medicare and Social Security, etcetera, etcetera, and so forth.
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The man is boldly, baldy unhinged and proudly so. You don’t need to be a psychiatrist to be appalled at his performances at the press conferences, his off the wall comments and wacko non sequiturs that have jaws dropping all across the universe. Hopefully someone will put a net over this crackpot and escort him to the nearest padded cell.
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This is a classic example of the old saying, “If it walks like duck” etc., etc.
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I was thinking gallows. And a hood over his head.
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AAARRRGGGHHH!
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If someone observes that Trump is a lot like JFK, and claims “we wrote our annual letter to reflect on how the world can continue to improve the human condition…” and it has 10 angrys and 447 likes…..is there any possibility that he might need….some sort of counseling?
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Congressman Ted Lieu of from Los Angeles is introducing two legislative bills re Trump’s mental state.
To have a permanent psychiatrist in residence in the WH as partner to the physician who follows the President’s physical health…
With Rep. Markey,Lieu is presenting the legislator a bill changing the nuclear rule that the President alone can start a nuclear war and set off nukes. This has only been the law the past few decades…but Congress is the only branch of govt. that can vote to go to war. Under this Lieu legislation, it would be ONLY Congress who could allow nuclear confrontation.
This is all online…google it.
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Here’s some advice from a Zen Master teaching us to be mindful and how to avoid allowing the Trump administration ‘s stress to drive us crazy while still being a non-violent activist. We need to channel our inner “hippie.”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zen-and-the-art-of-activism_us_58a118b6e4b094a129ec59af
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All this stuff is going to do is help Trump win a huge reelection. The Democrats and the left wing in general has to stop all the nonsense about Trump being insane, being a Manchurian candidate, being corrupt, etc and start talking about issues. Win the war of ideas. Stop all the personal attacks and downright nastiness.
I’m also sick of always hearing about how whoever is the Democratic Party darling of the moment is so smart, so sophisticated, so suave, so becoming. If Abe Lincoln ran as a Republican today the left wing would be saying all the same stuff about him that it said about Reagan, Bush and Trump. It’s all politics. No matter who leads the Republicans in Congress or who the Republican president happens to be it’s always the same story: They are dopes.
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Bush was a dope, but he seems adorable in contrast to Trump. Narcissistic Trump is the absolute antithesis of Abe Lincoln, an eminently service-oriented and decent human being.
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Fed Up Teacher: If that’s all you are hearing, you are not hearing much.
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Catherine, you are correct. It does seem as though Fed Up Teacher has an agenda, and has not been paying any attention to all the criticisms of the issues that have been made, here and elsewhere.
Nor all the criticisms that Hillary Clinton and Obama other Democrats received.
As for me, I am getting sick and tired of my right wing friends continually telling me “Give Trump a chance! He’s our President now!:”
They certainly didn’t say that with Obama- they attempted to obstruct him every single step of the way.
And if Fed Up Teacher doesn’t see this, then she/he needs to pull the blinders from her/his eyes.
Probably not much chance of that happening, though.
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Zorba My two friends are totally and deliberately blind to ANY criticism of Trump. And to drop to their own level of critique, such as it is, I have always been critical of both Hilary and Obama on specific issues, as well as supportive.
The only thing I can find to say that is legitimately supportive of Trump is that, though luck favors the prepared mind, and though there is NO preparation on Trump’s side of things, still luck does occur sometimes on the side of good, regardless. That’s all I can say. I should ask my two friends if there is anything they can say about him that is legitimately favorable and doesn’t reek of their voting against their own interests.
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Catherine, good luck with that.
Those three of my close friends who are huge Trump fans did, in fact, vote against their own self interests, and that, I cannot understand. They do not see, or they refuse to see.
Like you, I was always willing to criticize Obama and Hillary and other Democrats when I felt it was warranted, but my friends will brook no criticism or even mild questioning of Trump.
It’s actually quite alarming, because these are intelligent and educated women (or so I always thought) and I cannot understand this.
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I don’t know about the left wing before the civil war, but I think the Republican party was kind of that then. Political parties have changed since the 1860’s. So I don’t think the analogy works very well.
And no. There is no comparison between Presidents and how some of us react. I would have to put Trump in a category by himself. I can’t speak for others but plenty of us who contribute to this blog complained when Clinton began acting like a moderate Republican and again when Obama supported Duncan.
About Bush I can be specific. When he was fooled by Chalabi (through the Republican supporters of this politician) into going to war,I was dismayed.
About Reagan I can be specific. I foresaw the current economic divide, knowing Republicans in the middle class would soon see how much of their success was dependent on Federal largess.
About Trump, I can be specific. His obsession with being seen as a winner no matter what. His lack of empathy. His nastiness toward John McCain. His promotion of toxic waste dumping in the streams of the miners he wants to put back to work (I have seen no outcry about my being unable to follow in my family’s footsteps as a small farm owner). And of course, the ridiculous wall, which is great rhetoric but isn’t how most undocumented people get into the country. (They fly, drive, sail and tunnel in.) His absolute support for an industry that is on its way out. (He’s handing the future to China.) His undermining of NATO. (We pay for it because we see it as protection for us.) His selection of Vos, proving it’s not hard work and knowledge but who you know and how much money you inherited that really count.
I don’t have to make him a Manchurian candidate, I don’t have to read the DSM and find a match. I just think about ideas he has presented.
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Can we deport our fake President and his deplorables? This is an example of extreme hatred. The National Guard’s Principal responsibility is to help people in distress after natural disasters and respond to rare instances of domestic unrest. This looks like Donald’s attempt to bring us one step closer to having the military run the country.
……………
Headline: Trump Considers Calling Up 100,000 National Guard Troops to Round Up Illegal Immigrants
Garance Burke, Associated Press
The Trump administration considered a proposal to mobilize as many as 100,000 National Guard troops to round up unauthorized immigrants, including millions living nowhere near the Mexico border, according to a draft memo obtained by The Associated Press.
Staffers in the Department of Homeland Security said the proposal had been discussed as recently as Friday.
The 11-page document calls for the unprecedented militarization of immigration enforcement as far north as Portland, Oregon, and as far east as New Orleans, Louisiana.
Four states that border on Mexico were included in the proposal — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — but it also encompasses seven states contiguous to those four — Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Friday the document was ‘‘not a White House document.’’…
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Hopefully, the National Guard will be sent to California’s central valley. Then all the unemployed in Detroit and Flint can move there,
(hmmm, at government expense?) to work in the fields. If not, food prices could double or triple. I am not sure how this red area of California would react to Nat’l Guard raids.
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Well we tease him a lot, cause we got him on the spot, Donald Trump. Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump.
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Much simpler diagnosis: billionaire ergo psycho.
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No doubt, come April and Teenie Donnie sends his needy tweets from a mental institution. . The problem is, then comes Pence. I think we have to start preparing for that. Probably that was the plan all long. He is just too boring to win an election, but lethal like Cheney was.
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http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/lindsay_kalter/2017/02/psychiatrist_never_mind_the_donald_s_mental_state
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Interesting, JB2, thanks.
Quoting from your link
“Most amateur diagnosticians have mislabeled President Trump with the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder,” Frances said in his letter. “I wrote the criteria that define this disorder, and Mr. Trump doesn’t meet them.”
and
But chalking Trump’s shortcomings up to psychological problems minimizes the real issues, Frances told the Herald.
“Trump represents a political challenge to the American democracy,” Frances said. “To attribute this to his psychological quirks is to underestimate the danger.”
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Precisely: whatever his psychological make-up, he’s been misunderestimated time and again.
As awful as it is, he is a public figure effectively channeling currents in the society, and we underestimate him and them at our peril.
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You’re the president, and who’s to blame? You give the color orange, a bad name.
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How interesting that this news comes from a lawyer in Hong Kong. Good for Snowden. This article comes from the South China Morning Post.
Headline: No gift: Snowden lawyer in Hong Kong denies that Russia will hand over whistle-blower to Trump
Raquel Carvalho raquel.carvalho@scmp.com
Published on February 18, 2017, 6:45 pm
Hong Kong barrister Robert Tibbo says reports that Russia may hand over whistle-blower Edward Snowden to the United States as a gift to President Donald Trump are baseless.
Robert Tibbo notes that Moscow recently approved a three-year visa extension for Snowden, which means he will be able to stay in country until 2020
Read More: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2072049/no-gift-snowden-lawyer-hong-kong-denies-russia
Links
[1] http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2072049/no-gift-snowden-lawyer-hong-kong-denies-russia
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Headline: Americans are seriously stressed out about the future of the country, survey finds
…When the negative feelings didn’t ease up, APA did another survey in January to capture stress levels post-election. In August, 71 percent of Americans reported feeling a physical or emotional symptom of stress at least one day that month. In January, 80 percent had symptoms such as tension headaches or feeling overwhelmed or depressed.
The survey, conducted by Harris Poll, found 66 percent of Americans reported stress about the future of the country, 57 percent about the current political climate and 49 percent about the election outcome. Minority groups, millennials, those living in urban areas, and those with a college education had higher levels of stress about the election, which is unsurprising since those demographics tend to lean left politically.
“The fact that two-thirds of Americans are saying the future of the nation is causing them stress, it is a startling number,” Wright said. “It seems to suggest that what people thought would happen, that there would be relief [after the election] did not occur, and instead since the election, stress has increased. And not only did overall stress increase, what we found in January is the highest significant increase in stress in 10 years. That’s stunning.”
http://wapo.st/2ljt5cc?tid=ss_mail
………….
I can’t imagine what state most of us will be in if Trump continues his ‘alternative facts’ and ignorant Tweets. What a way to run a country! I’ve had enough of his destruction.
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As they say in baseball, “He’s battin’ 1.000!” He’s 9 for 9.
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One must understand where these Psychs come from. CA, CA and MA. Nothing but bastions from liberal la la land. They are the ones who are needing intervention and the DSM cannot help them.
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Lloyd Becker: The DSM didn’t come from CA and MA; and these are professional scientists and practitioners–not political hacks. Also, psychologists are also governed by the duty to warn when someone is raising all of the “danger” flags. And Trump IS.
Everything HAS political import, but everything is not driven nor governed merely by political intent.
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Saw this in the NYT and had to repeat it:
The comics are taking on the usual suspects, like the pope, the royal family and our president.
Here’s one from James Corden: “I bet it’s hard to play golf with Trump, because every time he misses a putt, Kellyanne Conway comes out and explains that he actually won that hole.”
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I have no problem figuring out who Robert Reich is talking about.
…………..
7 Signs of Tyranny
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Website
22 February 17
Published on Feb 13, 2017
What are the 7 signs of impending tyranny? Watch our latest video, and spread the alarm.
As tyrants take control of democracy, they typically do 7 things
They exaggerate their mandate to govern – claiming, for example, that they won an election by a “landslide” even after losing the popular vote. They criticize any finding that they or co-conspirators stole the election. And they repeatedly claim “massive voter fraud” in the absence of any evidence, in order to have an excuse to restrict voting by opponents in subsequent elections.
They turn the public against journalists or media outlets that criticize them, calling them “deceitful” and “scum,” and telling the public that the press is a “public enemy.” They hold few, if any, press conferences, and prefer to communicate with the public directly through mass rallies and unfiltered statements (or what we might now call “tweets”).
They repeatedly lie to the public, even when confronted with the facts. Repeated enough, these lies cause some of the public to doubt the truth, and to believe fictions that support the tyrants’ goals.
They blame economic stresses on immigrants or racial or religious minorities, and foment public bias or even violence against them. They threaten mass deportations, “registries” of religious minorities, and the banning of refugees.
They attack the motives of anyone who opposes them, including judges. They attribute acts of domestic violence to “enemies within,” and use such events as excuses to beef up internal security and limit civil liberties.
They appoint family members to high positions of authority. They ppoint their own personal security force rather than a security detail accountable to the public. And they put generals into top civilian posts.
7.They keep their personal finances secret, and draw no distinction between personal property and public property – profiteering from their public office.
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