President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

HW admitted to the hospital with a blood infection.

 

We're doing correlation and regression in my undergrad classes right now, and yesterday I made it clear that the example I was going to use was controversial, would likely make many of them uncomfortable, and might, in fact, land me in the crosshairs of the Twitter mob. I said it likely wouldn't jeopardize my job, but I was willing to risk it to get at the truth.

I then proceeded to discuss a hypothetical study regarding the health benefits of "essential" oils.

That was a fun day.

 

The look of relief in my students' eyes (well, the ones who were doing something other than fucking around on their phones) was priceless.

 

Mrs. Whitman sent me to Whole Foods one day to buy some "essential oils." The first one on the list - Frankincense, I believe - was like $50 for a tiny vial! I called her and said, "Yeah, it's me. Um, I'm not buying this."

The entire "health" aisle at Whole Foods is fucking snake oil.

 

Governments have gone to court when patents have denied medical treatment to their children for religious reasons. Courts have ruled that freedom of religion is not a justification to endanger the health of a child. The legal reasoning can be applied to vaccinations. The threat to public health is such that governments can compel vaccination.

 

Mitt Romney - he's just like us!
https://www.mediaite.com/online/wat...e-utah-jazz-game-and-twitter-had-a-field-day/

 

Every White House has it's problem nominees, but the Trump WH is remarkably clueless or careless when it comes to vetting it's candidates. You'd think that an administration which invented "extreme vetting" of immigration candidates could make that a policy for the highest positions in the Federal government.

From today's WaPo 202 - This article starts by talking about the allegations with regard to Adm. Jackson, which are causing a "hostile work environment, excessive drinking on the job, and improperly dispensing medication". It goes on:


"-- The aforementioned allegations, which are apparently coming at least partly from people who literally work at the White House, would normally come out as part of routine vetting for any Cabinet secretary. But this has been a constant struggle since Trump took office. Recall Andy Puzder’s failed nomination to be secretary of labor. Several Trump nominees who couldn’t get through the Republican-controlled Senate still work in government because they were shifted into jobs that don’t require confirmation.

In his rush to remake the courts, Trump has put up many people for judgeships who would have been very unlikely to get nominated if they went through a more rigorous vetting process. There was the guy in Alabama who had defended the Ku Klux Klan, the guy in Texas who said transgender children are proof that “Satan’s plan is working,” and the nominee for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims who called Justice Anthony Kennedy “a judicial prostitute.”

-- The Presidential Personnel Office, the White House office responsible for vetting political appointees, has suffered from chaos, dysfunction and nepotism under the leadership of young and inexperienced Trump loyalists who seem to enjoy partying more than working. Investigative reporters Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg wrote about what’s happening three weeks ago: “[T]wo office leaders have spotty records themselves: a college dropout with arrests for drunken driving and bad checks and a Marine Corps reservist with arrests for assault, disorderly conduct, fleeing an officer and underage drinking. … Under President Trump, the office was launched with far fewer people than in prior administrations. It has served as a refuge for young campaign workers, a stopover for senior officials on their way to other posts and a source of jobs for friends and family … One senior staffer has had four relatives receive appointments through the office.

“From the start, the office struggled to keep pace with its enormous responsibilities, with only about 30 employees on hand, less than a third of the staffing in prior administrations … Since the inauguration, most of the staffers in the PPO have been in their 20s, some with little professional experience apart from their work on Trump’s campaign … Even as the demands to fill government mounted, the PPO offices on the first floor of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building became something of a social hub, where young staffers from throughout the administration stopped by to hang out on couches and smoke electronic cigarettes, known as vaping, current and former White House officials said.

“PPO leaders hosted happy hours last year in their offices that included beer, wine and snacks … In January, they played a drinking game in the office called ‘Icing’ to celebrate the deputy director’s 30th birthday. Icing involves hiding a bottle of Smirnoff Ice, a flavored malt liquor, and demanding that the person who discovers it, in this case the deputy director, guzzle it.”

-- The disregard for serious vetting can be traced back to the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election. When Trump fired Chris Christie as the head of his transition team on Nov. 11, after the then-New Jersey governor expressed opposition to hiring Michael Flynn as national security adviser, Flynn and Steve Bannon, who would be White House chief strategist, celebrated by tossing binders full of potential personnel picks into the trash, according to a Politico report last year.

Christie lamented earlier this month that people like Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator now embroiled in controversies over his spending and management practices, would never have gotten tapped if he had stuck around.

“This was a brutally unprofessional transition,” Christie said. “This was a transition that didn’t vet people for this type of judgment issues. … If Mr. Pruitt’s going to go, it’s because he never should’ve been there in the first place.”

 

Can't wait till we start celebrating in Tehran before the end of 2019.

 

From what I saw last night, there were several things the family didn't want him to participate in or only do part of during his wife's funeral but he felt like he owed it to her and everyone who attended to be there for every part of it. He was fine throughout, but when he woke up Sunday it was first day without her since before Pearl Harbor. All the events had taken his strength, although what I've seen today says he seems to be getting better.

 

The chart is going to look like shit below, but the link is here. We are going to have to define "under scrutiny" because the overwhelming majority since Carter have been confirmed uncontested.

It’s Really Hard To Block A Cabinet Nominee

CONFIRMED
PRESIDENT UNCONTESTED CONTESTED WITHDRAWN REJECTED
Jimmy Carter 13 2 0 0
Ronald Reagan 16 2 0 0
George H.W. Bush 14 0 0 1
Bill Clinton 19 0 1 0
George W. Bush 16 2 1 0
Barack Obama 15 4 3 0

 

It IS on the government. He can be kept alive indefinitely, and by most accounts, with little to no pain and suffering. He has periodically responded to treatment. He is not a strain on public resources - or at very least, there’s a hospital willing to treat him so he doesn’t become such.

He very well may die, and die soon. But there is no overwhelming reason for the government to supersede the parents’ guardianship.

The government owns this.