donald trump – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

Measles Epidemic

David Posnett — Mon, 20 May 2019 15:00:14 +0000

As of April 29, 2019,

CDC (Centers for Disease Control) officials say measles cases have broken a 25-year-old record, with at least 704 sickened by the highly contagious disease

More than 500 of the people infected with the measles virus were not vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Sixty-six people have been hospitalized, and one-third of the cases are children under 5.

This year’s outbreak represents a huge setback for public health after measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000.

Think about this: “more than 500 (of 704) were not vaccinated”.

Think about the risk this represents to your children and grand children. Unvaccinated individuals represent a potential public health hazard no different than people infected with scary bugs like Ebola, or Marburg virus, or HIV, etc. When I was a kid in the 1950s our parents were scared of polio and small pox. They were more than eager to get everyone in the family vaccinated. They stood in long lines to get a polio vaccine.

Now we have an organized anti-vaccine campaign #anti-vax. It latches on to scary reports such as the myth that vaccines cause autism, a multiply debunked theory based on a fraudulent British report.

My ire is reserved for those that try to gain political followers/clout by gaming the anti-vaccine movement. Donald Trump is at the head of this list. Just follow his tweets on the subject, or watch this

“Trump claims vaccines and autism are linked but his own experts vehemently disagree”

Ofcourse he has modified his position most recently for political expediency.

Now, he claims, he is all for vaccinating kids, but not in a “single massive dose”…? When was the last time DT went to see a pediatrician? It is many visits, all spaced out to maximize the effect for each vaccine: the protection, and the safety to the patient. Donald should keep his ignorant mouth closed. I don’t tell my car mechanic how to fix my car and Donald should not tell an army of federally funded experts how best to immunize the population.

As an immunologist (with 40+ years of professional experience) I can attest that vaccines have arguably saved more lives than any other medical intervention in the history of medicine! Just think about eradicated scary diseases like polio and small pox. And, yes, measles too was declared “eradicated” untill the likes of DT and his #antivax friends. Their irresponsible tweets and messages are in part the reason why measles has made a comeback. Let them go live on an quarantined island far away, together with small pox, and polio, and measles and every other nasty bug.

The science of vaccines is best left to the experts. The pathogens are always evolving and changing. Take influenza for example, for which we get a new vaccine every year. Vaccine recommendations for children and adults are also constantly modified and it is challengeing for health care providers to keep updated. Politicians and political advocates such as #antivax ‘ers, have no role in this process.

Trump is Frustrated Right Now

David Posnett — Fri, 02 Jun 2017 12:16:12 +0000

By Amber Phillips May 31 in WaPo

President Trump has been in office for four months, and according to one of the best indicators of what he’s thinking — his Twitter account — he seems pretty frustrated about it.

Which makes sense. Trump has hardly any legislative victories to tweet about but lots of news about his campaign’s ties to Russia to defend.

Congress hasn’t accomplished much, and it may not: Lawmakers have only seven weeks of work left before their five-week break in August.

What Trump has tried to do alone has been stopped by the courts. Then there’s the near-ceaseless news about the investigation into Russia meddling in the election and Trump’s ties to it.

Let’s take a moment to put all of that in context by looking what, exactly, is frustrating Trump

Republicans in Congress have a long to-do list — and not a lot done

1) They want to roll back the Affordable Care Act

The hold up: Republicans are trying to do this without Democratic votes, but divisions in their own party aren’t much easier.

2) Reform the tax code for the first time in decades

The hold up: Republicans are trying to do this without Democrats, but see above.

3) Pass a budget to keep the federal government open by Oct. 1

The holdup: Republicans will probably need Democrats’ support.

4) Raise the debt ceiling, which the Treasury Department wants done by August

The holdup: Republicans probably need Democrats’ support for this, too.

What Republicans in Congress have done is limited

1) They’ve put Judge Neil M. Gorsuch on the Supreme Court (after blowing up the 60-vote filibuster for Supreme Court nominations).

2) They’ve repealed more than a dozen Affordable Care Act regulations (but the obscure law they were using to do this over Democrats’ heads has expired).

What Trump has done without Congress is also limited

1) He tried to temporarily ban travelers from several majority-Muslim countries

But that got held up: Federal courts have paused both his travel bans.

2) He tried to force sanctuary cities to hand over illegal immigrants when asked

But a federal judge said Trump’s method of doing this isn’t legal.

3) He rolled back President Barack Obama’s greenhouse gas limits

This will be caught up in courts, too.

4) He fired his FBI director because of “this Russia thing” (he has yet to name a replacement).

Speaking of Russia, a lot has happened on that front

1) The FBI confirmed to Congress that it is investigating whether the Trump campaign helped Russia meddle in the U.S. election.

2) The FBI’s investigation isn’t just looking at former Trump campaign aides; it’s looking at Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner.

3) The Justice Department appointed a special counsel to have wide latitude to investigate Russia and Trump.

4) The House and Senate intelligence committees are also conducting their own investigations of Trump and Russia.

[The three most damning paragraphs from the revelation about Trump pushing back against the FBI]

On top of all this, Trump is also one of the most unpopular presidents in modern history and inexperienced in politics. Which means that even if Republicans in Congress were free of family problems, Trump isn’t in a position of strength to negotiate with them.

Call it a slow start for a newbie president, call it a Republican Party getting used to governing. Call it a witch hunt, if you want. But it’s clear that these first four months of Trump’s presidency are not playing out how Trump envisioned.

Preet Bharara, Sally Yates & James Comey: “You are Fired!”

David Posnett — Thu, 11 May 2017 14:46:00 +0000

It is “Apprentice” live!

FBI Director Comey is the latest official to fall foul of Trump mid-investigation. Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates and US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara had previously been dismissed

As reported on CNN

After President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, questions immediately arose about the President’s motivations…

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Comey’s firing was part of a “deeply troubling pattern from the Trump administration,” that appears to be linked to two other high-profile dismissals:

“They fired Sally Yates. They fired Preet Bharara. And they fired James Comey, the very man leading the investigation. This does not seem to be a coincidence,” Schumer said shortly after the announcement, calling for a special independent prosecutor into the Trump campaign’s ties to the Kremlin.

“Any person who he appoints to lead the Russian investigation will be concerned that he or she will meet the same fate as Director Comey,” he said.

CNN’s senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was not buying the idea that Comey was sacked over the Clinton investigation, saying it was “absurd.”

Toobin branded the move a “grotesque abuse of power by the President of the United States,” comparing the sacking of Comey to President Richard Nixon’s firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal.

James Comey

Why was he fired?

The Trump administration attributed Comey’s dismissal to his handling of the investigation into Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. In a signed letter released by the White House, Trump informed Comey that he was “hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately,” explaining that he reached the conclusion that the erstwhile director was “not able to effectively lead the bureau.”

What was he investigating?

As head of the FBI, he was overseeing the investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to the Kremlin. Democrats have ridiculed the notion that the Clinton issue is what truly prompted Comey’s dismissal, drawing parallels to Watergate-era firings and suggesting Comey was getting too close to the White House with the Russia probe.

Where is the investigation now?

At a hearing last week, Comey confirmed that the FBI’s investigation into accusations of coordination between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials was continuing. It’s not clear if the incoming FBI director will pick up where Comey left off.

Opinion: In firing Comey, Trump is playing with fire

Sally Yates

Why was she fired?

Ostensibly for her refusal to implement the first iteration of Trump’s ban on travelers from a number of Muslim-majority countries.

“The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement at the time, explaining the President’s actions.

What was she investigating?

As part of the probe into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump administration, then-acting Attorney General Yates met with White House counsel to inform them that then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn wasn’t telling the truth about his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and, as a result, represented a blackmail risk.

“We believed that General Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians,” Yates said in a Senate subcommittee hearing aimed at gathering details of the Russian hacking of the 2016 election on Monday in Washington.

“Logic would tell you that you don’t want the national security adviser to be in a position where the Russians have leverage over him,” she added.

Where is the investigation now?

Yates said last Monday that she warned the White House earlier this year that former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn could be “essentially blackmailed by the Russians.”

What to know about Sally Yates

Preet Bharara

Preet Bharara, former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, was known as one of Wall Street’s fiercest watchdogs and a widely respected prosecutor.

Why was he fired?

Bharara first refused to resign along with 46 US attorneys across the country. Although it is common for incoming administrations to replace US attorneys when transitioning to power, Trump had previously assured Bharara that he’d keep his job.

Sources told CNN that Bharara had been told after a meeting with Trump in November that he could stay on, and that he felt blindsided by the request. He was fired after refusing to comply.

At the time, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren posted a series of tweets suggesting Bharara was removed in part because he “had authority over Trump Tower.”

Bharara suggested that this was indeed the case. “I wanted it to be on record that there was a deliberate decision to change (his) mind and fire me, particularly given what my office’s jurisdiction is,” he said.

What was he investigating?

Bharara’s office had many investigations ongoing at the time of his firing, including one involving Trump favorite Fox News. And then there’s the President’s claim that he was wiretapped in Trump Tower on orders of then-President Obama, whose investigation led back to the Southern District of New York. “Trump has undoubtedly decided that he wants his own pick rather than the choice of Senate adversary (and minority leader) Chuck Schumer in place as the top federal prosecutor in New York,” CNN legal analyst Paul Callan wrote in March.

Where is the investigation now?

Members of both parties have said they have seen no evidence to back up Trump’s allegations about Obama, and, addressing a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee, Comey said that he had “no information” to support claims by the President that he was wiretapped on the orders of his predecessor.

CNN’s Laura Jarrett, Jake Tapper, Stephen Collinson, Jeff Zeleny and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.