Politics 2: Electric Boogaloo — Page 593

I found this interesting:

https://overcast.fm/+HIn0qOVYY/43:09

It’s basically a guy who’s an expert in game theory telling us that we should actually feel safer that Trump’s in control of the North Korea situation. It’s actually a bit more reasonable than it sounds.

yhwx said:

I found this interesting:

https://overcast.fm/+HIn0qOVYY/43:09

It’s basically a guy who’s an expert in game theory telling us that we should actually feel safer that Trump’s in control of the North Korea situation. It’s actually a bit more reasonable than it sounds.

Game theory explains Nixon. The Peter principle explains Trump.

Huh.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-did-exceedingly-well-on-a-cognitive-test-top-white-house-doctor-says/2018/01/16/e8af8b8a-fadb-11e7-a46b-a3614530bd87_story.html?utm_term=.9e833aecd33f

President Trump requested that his first formal medical exam include a cognitive test and “did exceedingly well,” receiving a score of 30 out of 30, the top White House doctor announced on Tuesday afternoon.

Navy Rear Adm. Ronny L. Jackson, who has been the lead White House doctor since 2013, said that he has interacted with the president several times a day for the past year and saw no need for a cognitive test. Jackson said that the president is “very sharp” in their conversations and does not repeat himself. He added that he has seen no evidence of any cognitive problems.

At the president’s request, Jackson said that he reviewed a number of cognitive tests and then administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment during Trump’s first presidential physical exam on Friday afternoon at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The 10-minute exam is designed to detect mild cognitive impairment, generally in older patients. Trump answered all 30 questions correctly, Jackson said.

Other bits on Trump’s health.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-health-excellent-doctor-weight-loss-goal/story?id=52387633

Jackson shared the outcomes of Trump’s exam with reporters at the White House press briefing, including his 75-inch height, 239-pound weight, total cholesterol of 223 and resting heart rate of 68 beats per minute.

Given his height and weight, the president’s body mass index falls just short of the defined threshold for obesity. According to a calculator provided by the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Trump’s BMI is 29.9. The marker for obesity is a BMI of 30, according to the institute.

Despite the number, Jackson said that Trump’s exercise stress echocardiogram was “above average based on age and sex,” but they did discuss "diet, exercise and weight loss.

“I think a reasonable goal over the next year or so would be [for Trump] to lose 10 to 15 pounds,” Jackson said. “We talked about diet and exercise a lot. He is more enthusiastic about the diet part than the exercise part but we’re going to do both.”

Questioned by the press for nearly an hour, Jackson additionally shared that the president takes aspirin for “cardiac health;” Propecia, a medication intended to prevent hair loss; Soolantra Cream, to combat the skin disease Rosacea; and Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering drug. Trump’s total cholesterol of 223 would be considered high under typical standards.

Jackson did admit that he thinks Trump “doesn’t sleep much.” The doctor said that he did not ask the president about his habits specifically, but guessed that he sleeps “four to five hours per night.”

Lots of hay being made over today’s special election result in Wisconsin. Special elections are special in many ways – because they are so few and they are not aligned with other elections, they should not be seen as representative of how other elections might go. Because turnout is typically much lower for special elections than even for off-year elections, they favor Republican candidates more than any other type of election. But still, here’s this result compared against the other three special elections with candidates from both parties that were decided today.

WI-SD10 27 pt swing to Democrats (D pickup)
IA-HD06 18 pt swing to Democrats (R hold)
SC-HD99 13 pt swing to Democrats (R hold)
WI-AD58 25 pt swing to Democrats (R hold)

Those numbers are so big, especially considering the general Republican advantage in special elections, that I’m having trouble following my own advice to ignore them. However, there’s one extra bit of doom and gloom in the data to consider–the biggest Democratic gains were in the reddest districts. In other words, swing districts swung less than safe ones. So theoretically, a national 12-point swing to the Democrats could result in no change, or even Republicans gaining seats, if most of that swing is absorbed in districts so red that it doesn’t change the outcome of the election.

So… government shutdown, anybody?

yhwx said:

So… government shutdown, anybody?

A government shutdown isn’t a very big deal. That’s why Democrats feel like risking it over one (non-budget) issue. I’m mostly put off by the media’s disparate treatment of Democrats threatening shutdown compared to the Republicans in 2013.

Mrebo said:

yhwx said:

So… government shutdown, anybody?

A government shutdown isn’t a very big deal. That’s why Democrats feel like risking it over one (non-budget) issue. I’m mostly put off by the media’s disparate treatment of Democrats threatening shutdown compared to the Republicans in 2013.

Very much agreed. In 2013, the Republicans held the House and the Democrats held the Senate (albeit with the Republicans having filibuster power, so some degree of Republican buy-in was needed there, too), so the 2013 shutdown could be fairly characterized as a failure of the parties to compromise (blame may not be apportioned equally, but still). The media gave all the blame to the Republicans.

But today, the Democrats don’t have the power to shut anything down (the filibuster is dead and gone), all they can do is not bail the Republicans out when the Republicans shut down the government, but the media is very much treating it like the Democratic Party has the final say in the matter. “Elections have consequences” cuts both ways, and doubly so after you throw out the filibuster – when you control every branch of the Federal government and a huge majority of the state governments as well, blaming the other party is never going to sound exactly credible. But the media’s still carrying that water.

Trump’s approval rating is the highest it’s been since October. For a brief amount of time yesterday, it reached above 40%.

TV’s Frink said:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/01/stormy-daniels-once-claimed-she-spanked-donald-trump-with-a-forbes-magazine/

You’re welcome.

You’re fired.

The United States government has now officially shut down!

Well that doesn’t feel like much.