This is Omarosa Manigault Newman’s autobiographical account of her time with Trump and his organizations from her time on his show “The Apprentice” through her time as a high-level aide to President Trump.

As I never watched “The Apprentice” (reality TV is not “my thing”) and although I had heard her name mentioned frequently in the news during the Trump campaign and presidency, I really didn’t know anything about her.

After she was fired from her position in the white house and Trump changed his high praise of her to severe criticism and started calling her pejorative names my antennas went up.  This is one of Trump’s tactics to conceal the truth.  What truths were so important that Trump felt is so necessary to go out of his way to cover them up?  I had to get the book and find out.

One criticism of Omarosa was stating that she was just lying to get back at Trump for firing her.  If she really believed the things she stated in the book then why did she work for him all those years and support him and the things he did until she got fired?  I thought;  “good point”.

I watched her during a couple of interviews preceding the release of her book.  She seemed sincere and articulate.  Yet, I still could not reconcile how someone could be so blind to what was so obvious to myself and many others.

Omaraso narrates the book.  She is an excellent narrator. Her speech is clear, articulate, and she is very skillful in imitating the voices of Trump and others when quoting them.   I get the impression that her story is a factual representation of events, clearly from her point of view, but I never got the impression the facts were distorted or exaggerated for a personal agenda. (I get that impression with Trump almost every time I hear him speak, but with Trump, the word “facts” has no meaning).

One of the questions I frequently ask myself is “How can so many otherwise seemingly intelligent people believe the constant lies and bullshit, ignore the blatant racism, xenophobia, and misogyny of Trump?  How can intelligent people vote for a person who is uninformed, unprepared, and rejects the council of experts?  How can a black woman in the middle of all this be unaware of it?

This book gives a look at an explanation of how it happened for at least one person.  A word used in explaining it was “cult”.  I still have a hard time understanding it when I see it, but this is a real phenomenon.  A weakness of human behavior.  This book provides a window through which to glimpse how one person became a Trump “Believer/Follower”, and how long and difficult it was to escape the “spell”.

I give the book 5/5 stars.

The book on Audible

Arnold Solof

The post Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House – Review appeared first on Arnold Solof.

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: William Collins (April 24, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007575637
• ISBN-13: 978-0007575633

This book describes the dismantling of the Department of State and the transfer of its power to the White House (and now Donald Trump) and the military.  This did not start with Donald Trump, but the process was dramatically accelerated by him.  It shows how people with decades of experience in diplomacy are being replaced with relative amateurs.  Mr. Farrow points out how the wave of nationalism sweeping our country has left a void in world leadership which is being willingly filled by China, which is in the process of replacing the USA as the world leader in diplomatic influence.

I recently spent a month in Costa Rica during which time I learned that the major soccer stadium of San Jose, Costa Rica “El Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica” was a gift from China (Cost of construction = $110 Million).

At that time I wondered, “Why would China do that?”.  Now I know.

I remember asking myself, why did the USA spend so much money on foreign aid to so many other countries.  We did it because by being friendly and engaged with the world not only promoted goodwill but also facilitated our ability to affect our agenda.

In a time of America retreating from the world stage, multiply what happened in Costa Rica by the number of countries in the world and you can see how China will be able to rapidly replace us in that role.

So step aside USA, make room for China.

The Iran nuclear deal is discussed and it is pointed out how although far from perfect, in a complex world, that is the way deals/compromises look. The alternative, armed conflict/war is so costly in terms of money, lives, suffering, that one must endeavor to prevent it whenever possible.

About Ronan Farrow

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The Premise

Yesterday my son and I were discussing the topic of gun control.  His position is somewhat more pro-arms than mine.  In trying to explain my position I thought of using the analogy of immunizations to explain my point of view.  At first, I hesitated thinking the 2 topics were so unrelated it would be silly to proceed.  But I decided to try it anyway.  As I proceeded, I was struck by the similarities of the 2, at first, seemingly unrelated topics.

Sides of the Argument

The controversy exists because each side of the gun control argument has its pros and cons.  This applies similarly when you are deciding whether or not a vaccine should be given.  

Benefits vs. Risks Analysis

When the CDC advisory panel on Immunization Practices meets to write the recommendations on vaccines, they analyze the data from both an individual’s perspective and a public health point of view.  The severity, frequency, mortality, and morbidity of the target disease are measured.  Then the same analysis is done with the vaccine.  The vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing and or reducing the severity of the disease and reducing its morbidity and mortality is measured.  Then the frequency and severity of the vaccine’s side effects along with the morbidity, mortality, and cost of the vaccine are measured.

When all is said and done, the questions to be answered are:

1. Will the health of the public be improved significantly if the vaccine is given to the target population?
2. Will the health of the individual people be statistically improved by receiving the vaccine?

Note the term “statistically improved”.  An individual may be not helped, may be injured, or even killed by the vaccine.  But, if statistically speaking, he is more likely to be injured or killed if he doesn’t get the vaccine and the vaccine is cost-effective, it will be recommended.  There are no guarantees for the individual in this scenario.  There is no risk-free choice.  You either get or you do not get the vaccine.  The goal is the reduction/minimization of risk.

How Does This Relate to Guns?

People arguing against gun control have stated that they need guns for their protection. They want to improve their safety.  They say, for example, that in the case of the school mass shootings, the teachers should have guns to protect the students.  So, what results is an arms race.  Both criminals and law-abiding citizens compete to out-arm the other in a never-ending vicious cycle.  This situation is not limited to school shootings, but gun violence in general.  Does this arms race leave us safer, less likely to be the victims of gun violence?

A comparison of the United States with other countries around the world consistently demonstrates the likelihood of being a victim of gun violence is proportional the prevalence of guns within the society.

Adverse Side Effects of Gun Control

Clearly, there are problems with gun control. A few examples are:

• If someone attacks you with a gun and you don’t have one on you how can you defend yourself?
• If you follow the law, but the criminals don’t, then they have an access advantage to guns.
• How do you control guns without violating our constitutional right to bear arms?

Comorbidities

Injuries and deaths from gun violence are not only related to the prevalence of guns in our society.  Mental illness, crime, suicide, among other things also play a role.  That other factors are involved in no way negates the role of gun prevalence and the usefulness of its reduction in arriving at a solution to the problem.

Hygiene and sanitation may prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Medications may be available in some cases to treat them.  This, however, doesn’t make immunization any less useful.

Final Analysis 

There is no risk/problem free choice here.  However, if you analyze the problem like you would when coming up with vaccine recommendations, you would choose the option which resulted in the best statistical health of the individual and the population as a whole.  Done that way, you would work to reduce the number of guns in our society.  In spite of the numerous problems involved in doing so, everyone would be statistically safer. 

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Arnold Solof, MD

I was listening to a politician commenting on the recent mass shooting in  Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  He stated that we are medicating our children too much with drugs for ADHD and depression, implying that is was an underlying cause of the outbreak of mass shootings.

I’m thinking, “what planet does he live on?” Unless you are a recluse living away from civilization, deep in the woods, or up in a mountainous, snowy wasteland, you are living with people.  There is no shortage of “messed up” people on our planet.  I sometimes wonder whether overpopulation is underlying what seems to be a progressive underlying erosion of the moral fabric of our society.

Nikolas Jacob Cruz, was a 19-year-old former student at the school.  State investigators reported Cruz had depression, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

As a pediatrician, I take care of children of all ages.  Many of them exhibit “issues”/”problems” right from birth.  Sometimes they become apparent later in infancy or early childhood.  But, I can assure you there is a significant proportion of our population which has problems with mental issues.  The common ones are ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and Mood Disorders such as Depression and Anxiety.  There is a smaller group who suffer from even more severe problems such as Conduct Disorder & Psychosis (eg. Schizophrenia).

There is a severe shortage of quality, available resources to treat people with these problems.  There are just too many people affected, overwhelming the system.  So, as a pediatrician, all but the most severe cases tend to get left to me.

So, what do I do?  Do I say “It’s out of my area of expertise” and refuse to treat them?  Or, do I learn the basics and offer the standard available treatments within the scope of my practice in a “best effort” to help them with their problems.

If you look at the available treatment options, by far the most effective and the ones with the “most bang for the buck” are medications.  Commonly stimulants (eg. methamphetamine/amphetamine) for ADHD and SSRIs (eg. Prozac, Zoloft, etc.) for depression).

When I think of the quantity of psychoactive drugs I prescribe I feel like a drug pusher.  I hate it when I look at it globally.  But, when I am treating an individual child or adolescent and I consider his/her options, I frequently come to a different conclusion.  If, by treating with meds, I can greatly improve the child’s learning and success in school and life; if I can improve his/her mood so as to not feel chronically depressed and suicidal; if I can improve his/her ability to interact socially with other people and successfully integrate into society, should I decline to do so because I am contributing to the proportion of children who are medicated?

Now repeat this situation patient after patient, day by day, year after year, and what have I done.  So, yes, I am guilty.  Guilty of having contributed to the number of children medicated.

These children are not medicated (or at least should not be) for frivolous reasons.  The fact that such a high proportion of our population have issues/problems that can benefit from the use of mental health treatments does in no way imply that those treatments are the cause the children’s problems or are responsible for the acts of dysfunctional people.

What to do?

Instead of blaming people attempting to do something about the lack of available mental health resources in our country we should be figuring out ways to make those resources better and more available.

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During my lifetime of investing, I experimented with multiple types of investments and strategies.  But, when you near or enter retirement, your perspective changes.  Its like riding a motorcycle.  You need to assume you won’t get a second chance.  You can’t make a serious mistake.  No mulligans.

I am normally not very skittish with the day to day market trends and the disaster du jour.  But this business with Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump going on about annihilating each other has me worried.

I  feel like the South Korean gentleman that was interviewed on the news.  He felt most South Koreans could pretty much ignore Kim Jong-un because he is constantly crying wolf, making threats that don’t materialize.  They are not so confident / complacent about Donald Trump.  That does have them worried.

The 2 of them going at each other, having a pissing contest, trying to prove which one has the longest body parts by saber rattling is disquieting.  They do have access to the nuclear triggers.

Now assuming we don’t have World War III tomorrow, the stock market has had a prolonged bull run and is due, at the very least, for a correction.  Although it is a good rule not to try and predict the market, I can easily foresee how a tweet could spark a chain of events leading to a significant reversal of the market.

I can’t predict what will happen, but I am re-positioning a portion of my portfolio to hedge against the upcoming bullshit, whatever it may be.  Will that take a couple of weeks until Kim Jong-un’s mid August threat expires, or will that have to wait (3.5 or 7.5 years) until sanity is restored to the White House?

Time will tell.

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Is it just me, or when watching or reading Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, did you think you were watching the evening news?  Have we become “The 4th Reich”?  Why do we just sit back and let ourselves be dictated to by tweet?   When did we cease to be a democracy?  When did common sense and morality take a back seat to party loyalty;  to parties that have long since lost their souls and prior identities.  When did truth become reduced to an inconvenience to be ignored or denied?   When did conflicts of interest matter only when they pertain to the other guy?   When did working together to find solutions to difficult problems cease to be an option?

“US Joint Chiefs blindsided by Trump’s transgender ban” is the latest in a long list of these recent events.  Independently of whether or not one thinks there is any validity to what appears to be a xenophobic policy, decree by Tweet should be something experienced for comedy relief on “Saturday Night Live”, not on the evening news.  I feel like I am in an episode of “The Twilight Zone”, living in an alternate reality.   When will we come to our senses and say “No More!”

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