Trump may see war as the only option he has left

Trump’s presidency is a mental crisis engulfing the nation: Yale psychiatrist

TANA GANEVA

On January 31, President Donald Trump declared that he was not concerned about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.

He claimed that departing Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein had told him he was not a person of interest in the investigation.

“He told the attorneys that I’m not a subject, I’m not a target,” Mr. Trump told the New York Times.

Nevertheless, the probe seems to be circling closer to the president and his family. The arrest of long-time Trump ally Roger Stone—and wording in his indictment that suggested he’d been directed to perform criminal acts by a more senior campaign official—spurred discussion that Donald Trump Jr. or even Trump himself would be implicated in Stone’s alleged crimes.

Trump also told the Times that he would build a wall along the Southwest border with Mexico regardless of Congress.

Raw Story spoke with Yale psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee about how the latest developments are likely to impact the president. Lee’s views are her own, not a reflection of Yale’s position.

Executive Time, the best part of the day

For more cartoons by Mike Luckovich, CLICK HERE.

Exactly

Feb 12: sign up for WIC

WIC enrollment and info session Feb. 12 at Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale

WIC (Women, Infants & Children) staff of Wood River Health Services will hold an Open Enrollment and Information session at the Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale on Tues., Feb. 12, from 9 – 11 am. All are welcome to come learn more about the program or register to participate.

WIC is a state supplemental nutrition program for pregnant, postpartum and breast feeding moms and children up to age 5. 

WIC offers financial support for the purchase of healthy foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support and classes, and healthcare referrals. Same-day appointments are available

Wood River Health Services has two WIC locations – at our Hope Valley health center (823 Main St.) on Thursdays and alternating Tuesdays, and at Tower Street Community Center in Westerly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and alternating Tuesdays.

Call (401) 387-9638 for more.

New research reaches a SHOCKING conclusion

Payments to physicians may increase opioid prescribing

Society for the Study of Addiction

US doctors who receive direct payments from opioid manufacturers tend to prescribe more opioids than doctors who receive no such payments, according to new research published by Addiction. 

The report found that the association between payments and prescribing is strongest for hydrocodone and oxycodone, the most frequently prescribed opioids among Medicare patients (Americans of 65+ years and some younger people with disabilities). 

The Medicare population is estimated to have the highest and fastest growing prevalence of opioid use disorder in the US.

Pharmaceutical companies can't pay doctors to prescribe their drugs; that sort of incentive is illegal. But they can pay doctors to talk about their drugs in speaking engagements, and pay for consulting work and conference attendance. 

They can also send 'detailers' (salespeople) to doctors' offices to promote their drugs, possibly paying for a meal or leaving drug samples behind. These types of incentives may make physicians consciously or unconsciously more inclined to prescribe a particular brand of drug, or prescribe it in greater quantities.

The data on direct payments to physicians came from the Open Payments website, which publishes data reported under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act (PPSA), the US healthcare law that requires medical product manufacturers to disclose payments and other transfers of value to physicians. 

The data on opioid prescriptions came from the Medicare Part D Prescriber Public Use File, which holds data on prescriptions provided to and filled by Medicare beneficiaries. Both datasets are available on data.cms.gov, a website maintained by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

CLICK HERE for a database from ProPublica that allows you to see what payments YOUR doctor has received from Big Pharma

Trump admits foreign leaders pay him money by renting out rooms in his hotels

"They’ll say that somebody from some country stayed at a hotel. And I’ll say 'Yeah.'"

ADRIENNE MAHSA VARKIANI

President Donald Trump acknowledges that foreign leaders sometimes rent out rooms in his hotels, but still thinks being president of the United States is “one of the great losers of all times” from a financial perspective.

Trump made the remarks in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, complaining that the job of being president does not boost his economic prospects.

“This job is from an economic — you know, I get a kick out of these people saying ‘Oh, a rich Arab stayed at his hotel,’ you know, I’ll bet you between opportunity cost and actual cost, you know but I lost massive amounts of money doing this job. This is not the money. This is, this is one of the great losers of all time. You know fortunately I don’t need money. This is one of the great losers of all time. But they’ll say that somebody from some country stayed at a hotel. And I’ll say ‘Yeah.’ But I lose, I mean, the numbers are incredible.”

Trump made the comments after complaining that he is treated badly by the press. In the excerpts released from the Times interview, Trump did not elaborate further on just how much money he believes he should make off the presidency.

Pot Calls Kettle Black

In Trump’s Racist America, There’s Plenty of Hypocrisy to Go Around  

By Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport New York Editor

You have to admit that this racial controversy involving Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, for dressing in blackface or a Ku Klux Klansman (he couldn’t remember?) in 1984, is a doozy.

It’s also one for the hypocrisy police.

For openers, the governor apologized in the first hours, then within a day said the medical school yearbook photos involved were not of him, but that he apologized again because he had dressed as Michael Jackson, darkening his face, to attend a different party, even offering to show off his moon dance moves. 

As an excuse, it was flimsy; as a statement of values, it was all just sad.

OK, then just in case we all could not understand the brouhaha—and a desire to see the governor bow out of public life—Trump stepped in with a tweet to say that this act—whichever one it was—was unforgivable. 

Other Republicans, including House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, who have managed for years now to avoid drawing any similar conclusion about Trump himself, piled on with scorn.

I was amused to read a commentary in The Washington Post by Tom Nichols, an author and professor at Harvard’s extension school, that nailed what he called the naked hypocrisy of it all.

In his view, Republican leaders who have been waiting for a race-related problem to hang on Democrats, are mistakenly stepping forth. “Republicans who continue to support a party dominated by Trump can’t be taken seriously on this point,” he said.

Except Brady will love it

News from the RI Community Food Bank

Donate Now

Need for Food Assistance
May Increase in February

Due to the government shutdown, the 157,000 Rhode Islanders receiving federal food assistance, or SNAP, received their support for February on January 20, nearly two weeks early. However, they will not receive the next round of benefits until March 1. As a result, many families may fall short of funds and seek food assistance from our network of pantries and meal sites. Please help us make sure that we are prepared to meet this need.

Donate Now

Our 2018 Annual Report is Here!

Take a moment to page through our recently released 2018 Annual Report. It highlights our community programs, the strong work of our network members, and the may ways donors like you have supported us.

Learn More

Stay Warm and Well:
Vegetarian Bean Soup Recipe

This delicious bean soup is not only healthy, it's low-cost and quick to make. Many of the ingredients are available at our food pantries and in your home. With snowy days likely in our future, it's the perfect time to give it a try.

Enjoy This Recipe

Donate Now

© 2019 Rhode Island Community Food Bank

200 Niantic Avenue

Providence, RI 02907

Phone: (401) 942‑MEAL (6325)

Email: [contactus@rifoodbank.org]

Bird Buffet

Hawks Increasingly Feed on Birds at Backyard Feeders

By TODD McLEISH/ecoRI News contributor

Watching my bird feeders, well, like a hawk. Photo by Will Collette

For at least two decades, many people who provide seed to feed the songbirds in their backyard have provided anecdotal evidence of an increase in the number of bird-eating hawks that visit their feeders. 

Now, an analysis of 21 years of data collected by Cornell University has confirmed those observations by noting that Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks, which prey primarily on songbirds, have been colonizing urban and suburban areas during winter because of the availability of prey at bird feeders.

According to Jennifer McCabe, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison whose study focused on birds in the Chicago area, many hawk species had declined significantly by the middle of the 20th century because of hunting and pesticide use. 

Populations of most hawks, including the Cooper’s and sharp-shinned, have rebounded since then — largely because of legal protections and the banning of particularly harmful pesticides — enabling the birds to colonize areas that they had previously ignored.

Bad cholesterol

'Slim down' fat-carrying particles to reduce its spread

University of Warwick

The enzyme that 'loads up' fat-carrying particles in the liver before they are transported around the body has been identified for the first time by scientists at the University of Warwick.

The discovery also reveals how to 'slim down' these particles to reduce the amount of the worst type of 'bad' cholesterol distributed throughout the body and could pave the way for new treatments to prevent heart disease and strokes.

Another reason why more HPV vaccination is needed

Planned Parenthood president reveals cervical cancer diagnosis, encourages 'silent killer' screening

Kelly Macias  Daily Kos Staff

January is Cervical Health Awareness month. 

In order to bring attention to the importance of cervical cancer screenings and access to reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood’s new president, Dr. Leana Wen, is sharing her own story of being diagnosed with early-stage cervical cancer for the first time.

In an article for Self, Wen explains that she was just 27 years old when she was diagnosed after a routine exam.

She credits “access to routine screening, safe and effective surgery, and close monitoring” as the reasons that she is healthy and cancer-free today, and the mother of a 17-month-old son.

As Wen reminds us, it is routine cervical cancer screenings that save the lives of thousands of women each year.

That’s why it is so vital that we have organizations like Planned Parenthood that provide access to a range of reproductive health services, including cervical cancer screenings, especially for those patients who need them at reduced cost.

A Peek At The Fantasy World In Donald J. Trump’s Brain

Where Down Is Up, Bad Is Good, ISIS Is Defeated, North Korea Behaves, Iran Acts Up and Roger Stone Is an Innocent Man

By Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport New York Editor

We’re watching a presidential movie in which what is presented as fantastic turns into fantasy right before our eyes. It is as if we must pinch ourselves to determine which is real.

The remarkable thing is that all this unraveling is happening virtually in real time, but surely in just the barest moments of political time.  

At this rate, President Trump’s State of the Union address may just turn to ash even before he finishes his speech.

The argument with his intelligence agency heads was cause for television split screens all day long. 

On one side, Trump is bragging that ISIS has been eliminated, while on the other, CIA head Gina Haspel was saying there are thousands of ISIS troops in the region and tons of metastasized terrorist cells in place globally. 

On the left, Trump is saying Iran is out of control militarily; on the right, Haspel is saying the Iranians are technically obeying international treaties. 

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coates fingered Russia as a bad actor just as Trump was offering statements that there is no collusion with Russia.  

The intelligence chiefs also contradicted Trump on North Korean intentions about denuclearization, right on the cusp of a second summit meeting in Vietnam between a Trump who wants to believe it’s true, and the North Korean leader.

That Trump tweeted that his own appointed intelligence heads were “naïve” and needed “to go back to school” was topped only by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen telling reporters that Trump doesn’t disagree or overrule his intelligence chiefs.

Who did it?

For more cartoons by Nick Anderson, CLICK HERE.

VIDEO: seven ways to survive Trump

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv9kyiDqMT8