Thursday, January 10th, 2019
Eugene Kiely, Lori Robertson, Robert Farley, Brooks Jackson and D'Angelo Gore, - FactCheck.org
Stephan: Tuesday night perhaps, like me, you watched the appalling Oval Office speech to the nation made by Trump. It was a chain of lies and fear engendering distortions; a black mold on the office of the Presidency. How bad was it? Well, here are the facts.
Oh, and did you know that the whole event was actually a campaign fundraiser for Trump's reelection? He sent out two letters to his "base" trying to wring money out of them on false pretenses.
Everything with Trump is a grift, from steaks, to universities, to the Oval office.
President Donald Trump speaks from the Oval Office of the White House as he gives a prime-time address about border security Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2018, in Washington.
Credit: Carlos Barria/Pool Photo/AP
In a national address, President Donald Trump called on Congress to provide $5.7 billion for a border wall to address what he called a “crisis” on the border. The president made some false and misleading claims, and provided some facts without context:
- Despite the president’s claims of a “crisis,” the number of apprehensions at the Southwest border remains historically low.
- Trump made the misleading claim that Customs and Border Protection agents “encounter thousands of illegal immigrants” every day trying to enter the U.S. The average number of apprehensions at the border is less than 2,000 a day.
- Trump suggested that 20,000 children were illegally brought into the country last month by “vicious coyotes and ruthless gangs,” but there’s no evidence of that in the available statistics.
- The president falsely claimed “the border wall would very quickly pay for itself” by stopping the flow of illegal drugs. But the majority […]
No Comments
Thursday, January 10th, 2019
, - EurekaAlert/University at Buffalo
Stephan: Here is the latest on the psychophysiology of politics.
Trump supporter gives the finger to media.
Credit: Reuters/Bryan Woolston TEMPLATE OUT
BUFFALO, NEW YORK — Fear and anger related to the 2016 presidential election and climate change, one of the campaign’s major issues, had different effects on the way conservatives and liberals processed information about the two topics, according to the results of a study by a University at Buffalo communication researcher.
The findings, published in the journal Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, suggest that certain emotional underpinnings of political ideology motived how the electorate sought and processed information about the race itself and global warming.
“This has important implications for how political dialogue is shaped,” said Janet Yang, the paper’s lead author and an expert in the communication of risk information related to science, health and the environment. “It’s not just what the candidates are saying; it’s also how we communicate with one another.” One point to consider is how political speech evokes intentional and unintentional reactions.
“The more we think about political speech, the more we need to study and monitor the emotions related […]
No Comments
Thursday, January 10th, 2019
Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer - Live Science
Stephan: Here is some just published research showing, "people who were obese and had a high waist-to-hip ratio (a measure of
belly fat) had slightly lower brain volumes, on average, compared with people who were a healthy weight. Specifically, belly fat was linked with lower volumes of
gray matter, the brain tissue that contains nerve cells."
I'll just leave it at that.
Shutterstock image
Belly fat has long been thought to be particularly bad for your heart, but now, a new study adds more evidence to the idea that it may also be bad for your brain.
The study, from the United Kingdom, found that people who were obese and had a high waist-to-hip ratio (a measure of belly fat) had slightly lower brain volumes, on average, compared with people who were a healthy weight. Specifically, belly fat was linked with lower volumes of gray matter, the brain tissue that contains nerve cells. (emphasis added)
“Our research looked at a large group of people and found obesity, specifically around the middle, may be linked with brain shrinkage,” lead study author Mark Hamer, a professor at Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences in Leicestershire, England, said in a statement.
Lower brain volume, or brain shrinkage, has been linked with an increased risk […]
No Comments
Thursday, January 10th, 2019
Kevin Liptak and Maeve Reston, - CNN
Stephan: Because Republican governance is so incompetent, malicious, and corrupt, with Trump leading the parade, I take this story about Trump, California, and FEMA as a wake-up call to local governments. You cannot depend on the federal government adequately helping you in a catastrophe if Republicans are in control.
Trump’s threat to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency funds from recent wildfire survivors drew a swift rebuke from California Sen. Kamala Harris, a potential Democratic challenger to Trump for the White House in 2020, as well as the state’s other top Democrats, newly elected Gov. Gavin Newsom and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents the Bay Area.
When Trump has made that argument in the past, firefighters across the nation chided him for misunderstanding the issue and fire experts in the state have deemed his claims false. State officials have also pointed out that more than half of the California’s forests are owned and managed by federal agencies.
Still, Trump has not backed off, and on Wednesday appeared to escalate his threats to withhold federal dollars if unspecified programs are not reformed.
