Donald and Kanye
Question: what does Donald’s expression say about him? Is it something to do with Kanye West? Or is he having a bad day? He tweeted that he was too busy to hold his previously announced press conference today in which he was to explain how he was going to distance himself from his business ventures during his presidency. Instead, he announced that his son and son-in-law would be handling his businesses. Perhaps not a fully satisfactory explanation, but it allows him to avoid taking questions from the press (who are sure to be out to get him after the “secret” tongue-lashing he gave them the other day that they weren’t allowed to report on.)
I have been arguing with myself ( a sure sign of incipient schizophrenia ) as to whether every post from now on should be about the “orange jackal” or whether I should just ignore him altogether and return to just posting flower photographs. Any guidance from my three regular readers would be appreciated.
(photo credit: Getty Images)
One in Six Adults Takes Psychiatric Meds
The news: one in six adults in the United States filled at least one prescription for a psychiatric drug in the year 2013, according to LiveScience clickbait (those daily, or more frequent, stories with exciting titles– that turn out to be poor descriptors for the stories.)
The article continued:
Antidepressants were the most common type of psychiatric drug in the survey, with 12 percent of adults reporting that they filled prescriptions for these drugs, the study said. In addition, 8.3 percent of adults were prescribed drugs from a group that included sedatives, hypnotics and anti-anxiety drugs, and 1.6 percent of adults were given antipsychotics, the researchers found.
One reason for the predominance of antidepressants is that they are not “scheduled” drugs (that is, there are no restrictions on prescribing them other than the need to have an active medical license in the state.) The estimate that 6.9% of adults have had a depressive episode fits roughly with the 12 percent who filled prescriptions, when one accounts for the fact that antidepressants are not “scheduled.”
The point is that antidepressants can be readily prescribed with minimal restrictions, and depression is one of the most common symptoms or diagnoses that doctors encounter. Patients with difficult to diagnose symptoms are often suspected of harboring depression without being able to express it or not understanding its presence.
These figures on medication use are in good agreement with the estimates widely disseminated that one in five adults in America “experience mental illness” in the course of any year. About seven percent of adults suffer from depression, or to put it technically, “had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.” A “major depressive episode” is defined as:
“[P]rimarily depressed mood for two weeks or more, and a loss of interest or pleasure in everyday activities, accompanied by other symptoms such as feelings of emptiness, hopelessness, anxiety, worthlessness, guilt and/or irritability, changes in appetite, problems concentrating, remembering details or making decisions, and thoughts of or attempts at suicide.” (Wikipedia.)
Maybe you didn’t want to know that, but I’m including it because it is a very important problem to which enough attention is not paid. People tend to deny that they are depressed because they are ashamed of it and perceive it as a weakness. Someone who denies that they are depressed to others tends to become, and feel, more isolated; isolation is a major risk factor for attempted suicide.
The figures for antipsychotic prescriptions also agree with estimates of the prevalence of psychotic disorders (at least the well-known types like schizophrenia.) According to NAMI, about 1.1% of adults have schizophrenia, close to the scripts for antipsychotic drugs at 1.6%; of course, other types of psychotic disorder that are less-well characterized are not so well represented in prescription numbers.
The estimate that 18% of adults have had an anxiety disorder does not fit so well with the prescription numbers, possibly because anti-anxiety drugs are generally scheduled at least at the lowest level, Schedule Five, and frequently at Schedule Four or above (more restrictions are placed on older anxiety drugs like barbiturates, which are more dangerous and less well tolerated.)
Other estimates that make one pause to think include the following: one in 25 adults experience a serious mental disorder over the course of a year. Of the 20 million who use or abuse drugs (including prescribed drugs), roughly half suffer from a concomitant mental disorder. More importantly in relation to prescriptions, only about 41% of adults with mental disorders receive any kind of treatment during a typical year, and about 62% of those with serious mental illness are treated.
That means that roughly 38% of adults (more than a third) in the United States who suffer from a serious mental illness receive no treatment. Some of this may be blamed on the lack of medical “insurance” or on the lack of specific mental health coverage in typical “insurance” packages. Another large factor is the stigma associated with recognition and therapy and the aversive nature of severe mental illness which makes victims avoid psychiatrists and drug treatment.
This post is not intended to present suggested treatment options or ways to improve this situation. It is intended to draw attention to the situation and allow readers to think about options. In future posts, potential methods of improving the situation will be presented.
The US intelligence services have come out with a firm charge that the Russian intelligence services hacked into both the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, as well as important persons involved in both campaigns. More importantly, our intelligence people have concluded that Russia tried to interfere in our presidential election in favor of the Republican presidential candidate. In other words, the Russians helped Donald get elected.
The orange jackal had a bizarre response to this charge: he completely denied it, and claimed that it was purely politically motivated sour grapes. In other words, he denied that our intelligence services know what they are doing, and claimed that they are biased in favor of the Democratic Party. What is worse is that he has stated that he does not need the daily intelligence briefings that presidents normally get, and that he will have his vice president receive the routine briefings. He has said that he will only accept briefings when the intelligence community has something really new to tell him. He said that the briefings are repetitive, or in other words, boring.
He even equated the information about Russia’s hacking to the erroneous claims made about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, saying that they came from the same people– which is absurd. In fact, the claims about weapons of mass destruction were made by a few operators who were especially implanted in our intelligence services by Dick Cheney; they were not the professionals who normally perform our secret investigative work.
The arrogance and vanity of these statements is truly shocking and bizarre coming from a president-elect who has never had any experience with classified information nor any prior knowledge of how our intelligence services operate, nor what secret information to which they are privy. Even the Republican senators have found his statements shocking. If this is any indication of how the orange one is going to operate in relation to the secret intelligence services that we have used successfully for years, we are in for some serious problems in the near future.
An unusual choice for Secretary of State: Rex Tillerson, a man with no experience in government but an extensive corporate history. More interesting than just his nominal position as CEO of Exxon-Mobil is the fact that he was assigned a supervisory role over Exxon’s holdings in Russia in 1998 as Vice President of Exxon Ventures and President of Exxon Neftigas Limited. In 2001, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Exxon Mobil Corporation; in 2006, he became CEO. ABC News summarized the recent history of Exxon’s relationship with Russia:
In 2011, Exxon Mobil forged a deal with Russian oil company Rosneft, which, at that time, was 75% owned by the Russian government. The deal gave Exxon Mobil access to arctic oil deposits, and Putin attended the signing ceremony. In 2013, the two companies expandedtheir partnership. That same year, Tillerson received the Order of Friendship award from Vladimir Putin.
The relationship was impaired in 2014, when the US placed sanctions on Rosneft because Russia invaded and annexed Crimea. Tillerson was quoted as saying that the sanctions were ineffective at Exxon’s 2014 shareholder’s meeting. Tillerson’s relationship with Russia will raise questions at his confirmation hearings, according to Senator John McCain.
The odd relationship of Rex Tillerson to government service in the role of Secretary of State raises questions about the orange jackal’s intentions and understanding. Why does he consider Rex Tillerson to be an appropriate choice for Secretary of State? What role will Mr. Tillerson’s prior experience with Exxon and with Russia play in his work as Secretary of State? What about the Secretary’s work with the rest of the world?
Equally important is the role of the confirmation hearings. What does the orange one expect from the hearings? Does he expect probing questions to be asked of Mr. Tillerson at the hearings? Or does he expect the Senate to rubber-stamp his choices?
photo credit: LM Otero, AP
Self Portrait in a Rest Area
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Baby on a Bottle
Vista From 1-5 Rest Area
Realistic Picture of Election Results
This picture shows the election results in shades of red, blue, and purple to indicate relative percentages of votes; more importantly, it shows relative population figures instead of coloring states all one color based on their areas. This picture is far more realistic than the one usually shown, which exaggerates the relative size of rural areas with small populations, making it look as if most of the country voted for the orange person instead of the old lady, when in fact most of the population actually voted for the old lady, just the rural states with tiny populations in huge areas voted for the orange person.
This map was made by Mark Newman in the Physics department at the University of Michigan. This and other maps of the election are on the following web page: here. The adjustments used to make the maps more realistic are explained on the frequently-asked-questions page here.
Candidates for the Cabinet Next Year
These candidates were described in the Friday edition of the San Francisco Enquirer, under the title, “Trump fishing in ‘swamp’ “– the swamp referred to is the one in Washington that Donald vowed to drain in his speeches.
Attorney General: Jeffrey Sessions. Sessions has been Senator for Alabama since 1994. He was the first senator to support Donald. He has been an openly racist Senator and State Attorney General, which may explain his support for Donald.
Health and Human Services Secretary: Tom Price. Price has been in the House of Representatives since 2004, in a district in Georgia in which no Democrat even bothered to file to run for election. He was a State Senator from 1996 on. He happens to be an orthopedic surgeon, and is a potent opponent of Obamacare, with “alternative” plans for the administration of the medical insurance system.
Treasury Secretary: Steve Mnuchin. Mnuchin has been an executive for Goldman Sachs who went on to found a hedge fund. He bought a distressed California bank and changed its name to OneWest Bank. This bank is notorious for having foreclosed on 36,000 mortgages in California. Most of the foreclosures were in majority minority towns. Mnuchin was Donald’s campaign finance chief.
Chief of Staff: Reince Priebus. Priebus has been chairman of the Republican National Committee since 2010; previously he was general counsel to the committee and before that, chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Committee.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary: offered to Ben Carson. Carson is a retired neurosurgeon. He has not yet accepted the offer.
CIA Director: Mike Pompeo. Pompeo has been in the House of Representatives from Kansas for three terms. He is known for being one of the greatest accusers of wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton in the House.
Commerce Secretary: Wilbur Ross. Ross is a leveraged buyout specialist who has bought up numerous failing industries. He is 79, and his net worth is said to be $2.9 billion. He has been a strong back of Donald at least since June.
Education Secretary: Betsy DeVos. DeVos is a chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party, and is said to be a billionaire. In 2004, she blamed Michigan’s economic woes on “high wages and a tax and regulatory structure…” Her support for school vouchers appears to be what attracted Donald to her. She is likely to push unconstitutional support for religious schools.
Defense Secretary: Mike Mattis. Mattis is a retired general in the Marine Corps. He is said not to own a television. Unfortunately, he has only been retired for four years, and Congress requires seven years of retirement for military personnel to sit on the Cabinet. Fortunately, he has been strongly endorsed by John McCain, who sits on the Senate committee that would have to confirm him.
Transportation Secretary: Elaine Chao. Chao is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. She was also Secretary of Labor throughout George W. Bush’s presidency and served as Secretary of Transportation for a short time under George H.W. Bush. She sits on the board of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and has been a commentator on Fox News.
United Nations Ambassador: Nikki Haley. Haley is Governor of South Carolina. She criticized Donald during the campaign for contributing to “irresponsible talk” and for not denouncing the Ku Klux Klan more clearly. She gave Donald a weak endorsement at the convention. It appears that Donald is attempting to make his administration’s face at the UN look more diverse. Or else he is interested in the support she will give to his business ventures in India.
National Security Adviser: Michael T. Flynn. Flynn is a retired general who was forced out of the military for his disruptive behavior when he headed the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was an advisor to Donald’s campaign since February 2016.
These candidates for top-level positions in Donald’s administration are sure to push arch-conservative, “alt-right” political positions and programs to Donald. The only positive sign is that Secretary of Defense “Mad Dog” Mattis is unlikely to allow Donald to pursue his dreams of torturing captured Islamic terrorists. The rest of the team looks very bad for American constitutional protections and the lower middle class. Welfare and taxation policies are likely to be highly retrogressive and will aggravate the already serious wealth inequality that this country faces.
Conrad Theodore Seitz 