Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse

[Michael Scally MD]

Trump on Twitter quoting US Secretary of State Pompeo, “It is the assessment of the U.S. government that Iran is responsible for today's attacks in the Gulf of Oman...."

The government.

It is the assessment of the US government.

Not the US intelligence community, the US government.

You want to pay attention to the weasel words.

[Edit: Moments ago, Pompeo blamed Iran for the attacks, “citing evidence from US intelligence” instead of just saying “US government. He did not, however, present any of this alleged evidence.]

Two tankers were attacked this morning in the Gulf of Oman near the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz.

Japan's Trade Ministry said the two vessels were carrying "Japan-related” cargo.

Four tankers were attacked last month in the same region.

Two more today and it’s starting to look like a trend.

Naturally prices surged on international markets as investors panicked at this sudden threat to the oil supply.

US officials are – predictably – blaming Iran for the attacks.

The general consensus in the press and world opinion is that Iran must be behind these attacks.

Must be.

There’s no evidence yet, at least none that any nation is willing to make public. No one actually witnessed Iran carrying out these attacks. It’s the assessment of our government, but not of the professionals – at least, not yet.

Still, perhaps conveniently, there really isn’t another obvious candidate.


But, as a retired US Navy Intelligence officer who spent significant time in that part of the world, I've got to say this assumption doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense. Not to me anyway.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Tensions between Iran and the United States are at their highest point in years. The 2015 Iran nuclear agreement is teetering. The Trump administration is using sanctions to strangle the Iranian economy and in May deployed an aircraft carrier, a missile defense battery, and four bombers to the Middle East. Washington has evacuated nonessential personnel from its embassy in Baghdad, citing intelligence suggesting that Iran is increasingly willing to hit U.S. targets through its military proxies abroad.

The United States also stated that Iran almost certainly perpetrated the recent damage to oil tankers flagged by Saudi Arabia, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and claimed that Iran had temporarily loaded missiles onto small boats in the Persian Gulf. In early May, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton publicly threatened a response to any Iranian attacks, “whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards [sic] Corps or regular Iranian forces.”

The good news is that the situation is not as bad as it appears. None of the players—with the possible exception of Bolton—seem to really want a war. Iran’s military strategy is to keep tensions at a low boil and avoid a direct confrontation with the United States. Washington struck a tough public posture with its recent troop deployment, but the move was neither consequential nor terribly unusual. If the United States were truly preparing for a war, the flow of military assets into the region would be much more dramatic.

The bad news is that a war could still happen. ...

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

A Trump administration national security official has sought help from advisers to a think tank that disavows climate change to challenge widely accepted scientific findings on global warming, according to his emails.

The request from William Happer, a member of the National Security Council, is included in emails from 2018 and 2019 that were obtained by the Environmental Defense Fund under the federal Freedom of Information Act and provided to The Associated Press. That request was made this past March to policy advisers with the Heartland Institute, one of the most vocal challengers of mainstream scientific findings that emissions from burning coal, oil and gas are damaging the Earth's atmosphere.

...

President Donald Trump in November rejected the warnings of a national climate change assessment by more than a dozen government agencies.

"I don't believe it," he said.

Happer, a physicist who previously taught at Princeton University, has claimed that carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas from the burning of coal, oil and gas, is good for humans and that carbon emissions have been demonized like "the poor Jews under Hitler." Trump appointed him in late 2018 to the National Security Council, which advises the president on security and foreign policy issues.

The emails show Happer expressing surprise that NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, a former Oklahoma congressman who once questioned mainstream climate science, has come round to accepting that science.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

By the tail end of the Obama administration, the culture war seemed lost. The religious right sued for détente, having been swept up in one of the most rapid cultural shifts in generations. Gone were the decades of being able to count on attacking its traditional targets for political advantage. In 2013, Chuck Cooper, the attorney defending California’s ban on same-sex marriage, begged the justices to allow same-sex-marriage opponents to lose at the ballot box rather than in court. Conservatives such as George Will and Rod Drehergriped that LGBTQ activists were “sore winners,” intent on imposing their beliefs on prostrate Christians, who, after all, had already been defeated.

The rapidity of that cultural shift, though, should not obscure the contours of the society that the religious right still aspires to preserve: a world where women have no control over whether to carry a pregnancy to term, same-sex marriage is illegal, and gays and lesbians can be arrested and incarcerated for having sex in their own homes and be barred from raising children. The religious right showed no mercy and no charity toward these groups when it had the power to impose its will, but when it lost that power, it turned to invoking the importance of religious tolerance and pluralism in a democratic society.

That was then. The tide of illiberalism sweeping over Western countries and the election of Donald Trump have since renewed hope among some on the religious right that it might revive its cultural control through the power of the state. ...

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

GOODBYE, SCHMOOPIE
Goodbye, Schmoopie

I don’t understand why everyone is celebrating and optimistic about the resignation of Sarah Huckabee Sanders as White House spokesperson.

Do you remember who Sanders replaced? Sean Spicer started his very first press briefing without taking questions and lying about crowd sizes. In fact, his very first briefing was solely about the size of the crowd for Trump’s inauguration. Afterward, Spicer said, “Sometimes, we can disagree on facts.” Thus, the setting for the Trump era began. It began with lies, it’s been nothing but lies since, and it will end with lies.

With Spicer’s resignation came Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Sanders picked up where Spicer left off, lying and having total disdain and disregard for the truth and the responsibility of her position.

Sanders lied about several members of the FBI being happy over the firing of James Comey. She referred to the media as “fake news” while encouraging everyone to look at a video created by James O’Keefe, a guy famous for manipulating right-wing videos to suit his agenda. Sanders has claimed that Trump has never encouraged violence. All this was before she replaced Spicer. Then the fun began.

She claimed Trump didn’t dictate a statement from Trump Jr. about meeting with the Russians. That was a lie. Later, she admitted to Special Counsel Robert Mueller that she lied.

She claimed that the background check for Rob Porter, who was dismissed for domestic abuse accusations, was ongoing. The FBI later confirmed the check was complete and had been submitted to the White House. Once again, Sanders lied.

About Trump paying off Stormy Daniels, Sanders said, “there was no knowledge of any payments from the president.” Of course, that was a lie. She later explained the lie by saying her earlier statement was based on the “best information” she had at the time. You know, bullshit the president gave her. If this is true, she lied based on Trump’s info, looked like a fool, and continued to serve and lie for him. This is a person without any personal ethics or dignity.

Regarding the policy of separating migrant children from their parents, Sanders said it’s “very biblical to enforce the law.” Oh yeah? How biblical is it to lie on a daily basis? I do believe there’s something in the Bible regarding that.

She used the spokesperson Twitter account to publish the phone numbers of The New York Times opinion desk and to call out a restaurant that refused to serve her, which former White House ethics officials said was illegal and an abuse of her position.

When a White House intern attempted to take a microphone away from CNN’s Jim Acosta, Sanders released a manipulated video created by an InfoWars conspiracy theorist making Acosta appear to have abused the intern. Acosta’s press credentials were suspended.

While arguing that a border wall was necessary, Sanders claimed that the CBP stopped nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists when they crossed the Mexico border in 2018. It was soon revealed the actual numbers was six. Not 6,000. Not 600. Not 60 or even 16. SIX. And, they weren’t at the border.

When pressed to say the media are not the “enemy of the people,” Sanders flatly refused.

It has been over 90 days since the last press briefing from the White House. I’m not sure why she’s resigning since she hasn’t been doing her job anyway. Sanders used her position to lie to the American people, the same people who paid her salary.

There’s speculation that Sanders is planning to run for her dad’s old job, the governorship of Arkansas. How likely is it that a bunch of red-state voters will elect a person with zero experience who lies constantly? Oh yeah.

Sanders said she hopes her legacy is one of “honesty and integrity.” She also claims Trump’s administration has been the most transparent in American history. Quite frankly, her legacy will be the same as Baghdad Bob. Much like Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the punchline to a bad joke.

I think she should ride off into the sunset with Baghdad Bob. They can make beautiful, lying little children together.

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

 

[Michael Scally MD]

Beyond the particulars of Trump's likely illegal behavior, the Mueller report is also a compendium of Donald Trump's state of mind.

Dr. Bandy Lee, who is a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and editor of the bestselling book "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" convened a panel comprised of leading mental health experts to evaluate Donald Trump based upon his behavior as detailed in the Mueller report.

Their definitive conclusion: Trump is mentally unfit, a threat to the United States and the world, and as such should have his powers severely restricted while he is put under a doctor's care. At the invitation of several Democratic members of Congress, Lee and other mental health professionals will present their findings about Donald Trump's mental health in a public meeting in Washington next month.

Does Donald Trump pose a significant threat to both American society and the world? By what standards is he mentally unfit to serve as president? Should a person with Trump's apparent mental health issues and other behavioral problems be allowed to command the United States military and order the use of force — up to and including nuclear weapons? Why are more Americans not actively resisting Donald Trump's regime and movement? Have Trump and his movement broken the will of the American people by creating a state of malignant normality?

To seek answers to these and other questions, I recently interviewed Dr. Lee, whom I have interviewed on several previous occasions. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length. You can hear our full conversation on my podcast, "The Chauncey DeVega Show."

 

[Michael Scally MD]

By the tail end of the Obama administration, the culture war seemed lost. The religious right sued for détente, having been swept up in one of the most rapid cultural shifts in generations. Gone were the decades of being able to count on attacking its traditional targets for political advantage. In 2013, Chuck Cooper, the attorney defending California’s ban on same-sex marriage, begged the justices to allow same-sex-marriage opponents to lose at the ballot box rather than in court. Conservatives such as George Will and Rod Drehergriped that LGBTQ activists were “sore winners,” intent on imposing their beliefs on prostrate Christians, who, after all, had already been defeated.

The rapidity of that cultural shift, though, should not obscure the contours of the society that the religious right still aspires to preserve: a world where women have no control over whether to carry a pregnancy to term, same-sex marriage is illegal, and gays and lesbians can be arrested and incarcerated for having sex in their own homes and be barred from raising children. The religious right showed no mercy and no charity toward these groups when it had the power to impose its will, but when it lost that power, it turned to invoking the importance of religious tolerance and pluralism in a democratic society.

That was then. The tide of illiberalism sweeping over Western countries and the election of Donald Trump have since renewed hope among some on the religious right that it might revive its cultural control through the power of the state. ...