January 16, 2018


News and Views


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/16/trump-administration-ask-supreme-court-reverse-daca-ruling/1037459001/?csp=chromepush
Trump administration will ask Supreme Court to reverse DACA ruling
Richard Wolf, USA TODAY Published 3:05 p.m. ET Jan. 16, 2018

The Trump administration will seek the Supreme Court's intervention in order to end the DACA program. (Photo: ROBYN BECK, AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is seeking a fast track to the Supreme Court in hopes of reversing a federal judge's order that it restart a popular program that has enabled young, undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States.

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will appeal U.S District Judge William Alsup's decision both to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and to the Supreme Court — an unusual move.

The strategy appears aimed both at a speedy resolution to the legal battle over DACA — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — and a friendlier court. The high court has upheld other Trump administration policies, most notably his immigration travel ban, over federal appeals court rejections.

“It defies both law and common sense for DACA ... to somehow be mandated nationwide by a single district court in San Francisco,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said.

Faced with last week's decision, the administration on Saturday announced that it would resume accepting renewal applications from immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Trump announced last September that the program would end unless it was renewed by Congress within six months. Negotiations have been tied up with the federal budget and other issues — most recently Trump's description of some Third World countries as "shitholes."


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kirstjen-nielsen-dhs-secretary-terror-charges-report-us-citizens/
HOMELAND SECURITY – DHS SECRETARY NIELSEN
CBS NEWS January 16, 2018, 8:08 AM
DHS report: 73 percent of terrorism-related offenders over last 15 years were foreign-born

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testifies Tuesday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a new DHS study, which found U.S. federal courts convicted at least 549 people with international terrorism-related charges between Sept. 11, 2001 and Dec. 31, 2016. Seventy-three percent of them were foreign-born, and 148 of those convicted had become naturalized U.S. citizens.

In an interview with "CBS This Morning" co-host John Dickerson, Nielsen said the country needs "to continue to enhance our screening and vetting," but also "continually vet" some legal residents.

John Dickerson: Secretary Nielsen, you have a new report that has been created by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. What does the report say?

Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen: Well, I'll just start by telling you it's very concerning. I think what it underlines is that we need to be very clear who's coming into our country, make sure they're not a terrorist. The most important figure I think from the report is that 73 percent of all those convicted of international-related offenses, terrorism-related offenses over the last 15 years were foreign born. So that's quite a substantial percentage.

Dickerson: So if you're concerned, is this a clear and present danger?

Nielsen: Of course. Absolutely. I think the president's been very clear. I think this underscores the need to not only implement the executive orders that he's issued over the past year, but I feel very strongly about going to Congress today during a hearing and work with them to close the loopholes that prevent us from removing known, suspected terrorists and other criminals in the United States.

Dickerson: So what policy rises up out of these numbers?

Nielsen: I think what we take directly away from the report is we need to continue to enhance our screening and vetting. But it also tells us we need to continually vet those who are here. We have examples unfortunately over the last decades of terrorist attacks from legal permanent residents and others who were naturalized. So we need to be able to continue up until the point they become a U.S. citizen, to continue to vet them to ensure they haven't become radicalized.

Dickerson: What does that mean, to continue to vet them? How frequent? What do they have to do to prove that they're not up to no good?

Nielsen: Well, it's constantly checking against intelligence that we gather.

Dickerson: So should these people assume that they're under permanent surveillance?

Nielsen: I wouldn't say surveillance. It's just – it would be – it's a very natural part of becoming a citizen. Up until the point that you're a citizen, we wanna continue to make sure we understand who you are and why you're here.

Dickerson: But say of foreign nationals who are responsible for murders during the time period you've looked at here, how many foreign born nationals are responsible for terrorism deaths in America?

Nielsen: Terrorism deaths? I would have to get back to you. I think the number that we're looking at, what we've used is a number that's related to international terrorism-related charges. That could be a death abroad, that could be a death here, that could be an attack on a U.S. interest, abroad or here. But they're all prosecuted in federal court. So that's that 73 percent number that's foreign born.

Dickerson: In the history of America in this period, what's caused more mayhem, more deaths? People who are U.S. citizens who've been radicalized, or foreign-borns who've been radicalized?

Nielsen: I don't believe I can give you that in an unclass level. But I would say we're worried about both.

Dickerson: But isn't it – isn't it widely the case if it's more U.S. citizens when you think of the Pulse nightclub shooting and San Bernardino and some of these other – these were U.S. citizens.

Nielsen: Some of them were naturalized, yes. Some of them were legal, permanent residents, yes.

Dickerson: Well, some were born in America.

Nielsen: And some were born in America.

Dickerson: So in those cases, when you're born in America, that's the – those are the people killing just more Americans than foreign born.

Nielsen: I'm not ready to commit to that – again, because we have a lot of ongoing investigations and a lot of plots that we've disrupted. But your point is right. We need to do more to prevent radicalization, the inspiration of terrorism in this country.

Nielsen didn't answer whether American-born or foreign-born terrorists have caused more deaths. A report from the Cato Institute looks at the period between the 9/11 attacks and the end of 2015. It estimates that more than three times as many people were killed in terrorist attacks by native-born Americans than foreign-born individuals.

See what Nielsen had to say about Mr. Trump's reported vulgar comments and DACA policy.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



“DEEPLY RELIGIOUS PEOPLE WHO FELT CALLED BY GOD TO HAVE SO MANY CHILDREN ....” THEY WERE ALL HOME SCHOOLED AT “SANDCASTLE DAY SCHOOL.” WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I BELIEVED THAT “COMPLETE FREEDOM” OF SPEECH, RELIGION, POLITICAL PERSUASION WAS GOOD. NOW WE HAVE SIZEABLE NUMBERS OF MENTALLY ILL RADICALS OF ALL KINDS, AND I NO LONGER BELIEVE THAT. WE SHOULD AT LEAST IDENTIFY THE DANGEROUS GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS AND PUT THEM IN MANDATORY PSYCHOTHERAPY, WITH INCARCERATION IF THEY HAVE COMMITTED CRIMES, INCLUDING THINGS THAT ARE DEFINED AS MISDEMEANORS. HERE, I AM THINKING OF HATE GROUPS OF ALL KINDS, AND CARRIER OF GENERALLY BIZARRE BELIEFS, SUCH AS THAT THE BIBLE INSISTS ON BRUTALLY BEATING CHILDREN OR FOR A COUPLE TO HAVE AS MANY CHILDREN AS THEY ARE ABLE TO BRING FORTH. WHAT COULD THE PURPOSE OF THAT BE? HAVE NO MORE THAN YOU CAN FEED AND TALK TO ON THE HUMAN LEVEL, WITH A WARM HUG FOR EACH EVERY MORNING AND EVERY NIGHT. THE WORST THING THAT WE DO IN THE USA, IN MY VIEW, IS TO FOSTER UNLOVING ENVIRONMENTS. IF HALF OF THESE CHILDREN AREN’T SERIOUSLY MENTALLY DISTURBED, IT WILL BE A MIRACLE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/perris-california-neighbors-home-chained-kids-describe-shock/
CBS NEWS January 16, 2018, 7:10 AM
Neighbors describe shock of learning 13 siblings allegedly held captive by parents

A married couple near Los Angeles is accused of holding their 13 children captive in their home and are facing charges of torture and child endangerment. Police say they were tipped off by a teenage daughter after she escaped from her parents, David and Louise Turpin, who are in jail being held on $9 million bail each.

Their children range in age from 2 to 29 and officials say some of them were found chained to their beds. The parents of the male suspect have expressed shock at the news and reportedly said the family was deeply religious and the parents felt called by God to have so many children.

Perris is a community of about 75,000 people roughly 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles, reports CBS News' David Begnaud. The houses are well-kept and neighbors tell us they look out for each other -- which is why, for them, what's alleged to have happened behind the walls of one of the houses there is all the more shocking.

"I can't believe this. I can't believe this. It's so sad," said neighbor Jennifer Luna.

People living near the home of the Turpin's say they had no idea what was allegedly happening behind closed doors. Many were even unaware the couple had 13 children living there – seven of them adults over the age of 18.

"The older kids, I thought they were, like, 12, because they looked so malnourished, so pale," Kimberly Milligan said.

They say the children rarely ventured outside but on Sunday morning police say a 17-year-old daughter left, or as authorities say, escaped.

ctm-011618-chainedkids.jpg
The home of David and Louise Turpin where police say they held their 13 kids captive. CBS NEWS
Authorities said they claimed to be "starving" and described the surroundings as "dark" and "foul-smelling." The youngest child is 2 years old. Police say they initially thought all 13 were minors, but were shocked to discover seven of them were adults, with the oldest being 29. The six minors were admitted to Riverside University Hospital and the adults are being treated at Corona Regional Medical Center.

"They're all in very stable condition and they're all doing very well considering the magnitude of what's been described," said Mark Uffer, CEO of Corona Regional Medical Center.

The children were homeschooled with the father listed in state records as the principal of Sandcastle Day School, located at the home's address.

"It's just crazy to think something like that could happen, next door," Robert Gomez, Jr.

Gomez has been a "backyard" neighbor of the Turpins for three years. From his perspective, the Turpin home was unkempt but quiet.

"I never knew that there were any kids living in that house. Especially not 13," he said.

The Turpins renewed their wedding vows at least three times in recent years at the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas. The last time was in October 2015 and all 13 children attended that ceremony. The chapel's Elvis impersonator, Kent Ripley, remembers the family and told CBS News the parents genuinely appeared to care for the family's well-being.

"The way the kids looked physically? Thin, but not excessively thin. I thought they were very active as a family. ... I didn't think that they didn't eat or there was punishment or anything like that," Ripley said. "They were just well behaved. They smiled a lot."

"It's hard to believe that the people that I performed for and entertained and sat and talked before and after entertaining them that this could happen. It's just, it's disturbing, it really is," he said.

The father of the family worked for Lockheed Martin but left the company in 2010.The couple filed for bankruptcy twice, having trouble paying for their expenses with so many children.

Most horrific crimes
61 Photos
Most horrific crimes
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



“VERY IMPASSIONED ... NOT A PHRASE THAT I REMEMBER HEARING .... NORWAY ACCEPTS IMMIGRANTS “IN PART BASED ON MERIT” ....

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kirstjen-nielsen-dhs-secretary-trump-reported-shithole-comments-daca/
CBS NEWS January 16, 2018, 7:16 AM
DHS Secretary on Trump's reported vulgar comments, DACA policy

Kirstjen Nielsen, President Trump's Homeland Security secretary, tells CBS News that immigrants in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, need to follow the law. She was in the Oval Office during last week's "impassioned" White House meeting on DACA where Mr. Trump reportedly described African nations as "sh*thole countries." "CBS This Morning" co-host John Dickerson asked Nielsen about the meeting and the president's views on immigration.

John Dickerson: The president made a broad characterization when he talked about people who came from Haiti and African countries versus people from Norway. So why is he making broad characterizations about people who come from those countries, when you're saying U.S. policy's trying to move away from broad characterizations and move towards people?

Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen: I think the context of that conversation – there was so much covered in that meeting. But part of the conversation was really focused on this merit-based concept. So he had just met with the prime minister of Norway – was very impressed with what she told him about successes that Norway has experienced. So he was just using that as an example of a place that accepts immigrants in part based on merit.

Dickerson: Let me ask you about your testimony on Tuesday. Senator Durbin, who was in this Oval Office meeting about which there has been so much discussion, is going to be there. What if he asks you whether you agree with his representation of the meeting?

Nielsen: I have no problem repeating what I've said. I just don't – I don't – that's – I don't – that's not a word that I remember being used. It was very impassioned. People on all sides feel very strongly about this issue, frankly, as well as they should. There were a lot of conversations happening at the same time. It's not a particular phrase that I heard.

Dickerson: Let me ask you about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. There is a chance that that might not get worked out based on the way things seem to be going.

Nielsen: I hope it will.

Dickerson: If it's not, what does the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agency do with these kids who are here?

Nielsen: It's not gonna be a priority of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to prioritize their removal. I've said that before. That's not the – that's not the policy of DHS.

Dickerson: So, if this doesn't get worked out and I am a Dreamer, the way I'm supposed to read what you just said is this is not going to be a priority of ICE?

Nielsen: If you are a DACA that's compliant with your registration, meaning you haven't committed a crime, and you in fact are registered, you're not priority of enforcement for ICE should the program end.

Dickerson: And is that in perpetuity?

Nielsen: That'd be in perpetuity. That, of course, that means you can't commit a crime.

Dickerson: Sure.

Nielsen: And we will enforce the law.

See what Nielsen had to say about a new DHS report on terrorism-related offenders and why she thinks the U.S. needs to "continually vet" some legal residents.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


TRUMP'S FIRST YEAR APPROVAL RATING

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-ends-1st-lowest-average-approval-rating-162101984.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=433beca8-469f-3942-9fad-a13615dd8aa8&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Trump ends 1st year with lowest average approval rating
Associated Press
Emily Swanson, Associated Press
January 16, 2018

WASHINGTON (AP) -- This is a record not to be coveted: Donald Trump is wrapping up a year in office with the lowest average approval rating of any elected president in his first term.

That's according to polling by Gallup, which shows that Trump has averaged just a 39 percent approval rating since his inauguration. The previous low was held by Bill Clinton, whose first-year average stood 10 points higher than Trump's, at 49 percent.

Recent surveys show most Americans view Trump as a divisive figure and even question his fitness for office. One relative bright spot for Trump is his handling of the economy, though even there his ratings are not as high as might be expected given a relatively strong economy.

What the polls show about how Americans view their president a year into his term:

UNUSUAL UNPOPULARITY

Trump's current approval rating in Gallup's weekly poll is comparable to his average rating, standing at just 38 percent, with 57 percent saying they disapprove.

The persistence of Trump's first-year blues is unprecedented for a president so early in his term. Americans usually give their new presidents the benefit of the doubt, but Trump's "honeymoon period," to the extent he had one, saw his approval rating only as high as 45 percent.

Since then, Trump has spent more time under 40 percent than any other first-year president.

Presidents have recovered from periods of low popularity before. For example, Clinton's rating fell to just 37 percent in June 1993 before quickly regaining ground, and he went on to win re-election. Harry S. Truman held the approval of less than 40 percent of Americans for significant chunks of his first term and was also re-elected. He went on to set Gallup's lowest-ever approval mark, at just 22 percent in 1952.

Trump's lowest point in Gallup's weekly polling — 35 percent — remains higher than those of several earlier presidents. Truman, Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter all had their ratings dip under 30 percent.

STRONG SUITS

There aren't many bright spots for Trump, but there are some. For one, most Republicans continue to approve of him — 83 percent of registered voters who identify as Republicans, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.

The same poll found that most voters overall find Trump to be intelligent and a strong person.

And positive ratings for Trump's handling of the economy have tended to run higher than his overall job ratings.

In a December poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, Trump's rating on handling the economy was 8 percentage points higher than his overall approval, though even that stood at just 40 percent in the survey, which was a particularly negative one for Trump.

In the Quinnipiac poll, voters were more likely to say Trump is helping the economy than hurting it, 37 percent to 29 percent. On the other hand, more said President Barack Obama deserves the credit than Trump does, 49 percent to 40 percent.

ON THE ISSUES

Aside from the economy, surveys have suggested few policy bright spots for Trump.

Health care has been a consistent low point. Seven in 10 Americans in the December AP-NORC poll said they disapproved of Trump's handling of the issue, even as 85 percent called the issue very important to them personally.

In another AP-NORC poll conducted late in 2017, just 23 percent of Americans said he has kept the promises he made while running for president, while 30 percent said he's tried and failed and 45 percent said he has not done so at all. More than half said the country is worse off since Trump became president.

That poll was conducted before the passage of a tax bill that Trump signed into law in late December, but there's little sign that the law will have an immediate positive impact. A Gallup poll conducted in January found that just 33 percent of Americans approved of the legislation.

CHARACTER CONCERNS

But it may be character more than policy that's driving negative opinions of Trump. In the January poll by Quinnipiac University, most voters said Trump is not level-headed, honest or even fit to serve as president.

And the AP-NORC poll conducted in December found that two-thirds of Americans thought the country has become even more divided as a result of Trump's presidency.

In a July Gallup poll that asked those who disapproved of Trump for their reasons why, most cited his personality or character over issues, policies or overall job performance. That stood in stark contrast to Gallup's polling on Obama in 2009 and George W. Bush in 2001, when far fewer cited such concerns about personality or character as reasons for their negative opinions.


WIKIPEDIA ON POLLING

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating
United States presidential approval rating
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the United States, presidential job approval ratings were introduced by George Gallup in the late 1930s (probably 1937) to gauge public support for the President of the United States during his term. An approval rating is a percentage determined by a polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an opinion poll who approve of a particular person or program. Typically, an approval rating is given to a political figure based on responses to a poll in which a sample of people are asked whether they approve or disapprove of that particular political figure. A typical question might ask:

"Do you approve or disapprove of the way [insert president] is handling his job as president?"[1]

Like most surveys that predict public opinion, the approval rating is subjective. Many unscientific approval rating systems exist that skew popular opinion. However, the approval rating is generally accepted as a statistically valid indicator of the comparative changes in the popular United States mood regarding a president.


TRUMP’S CONFESSOR TELLS ALL

BANNON TESTIFIES BEFORE THE HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE ON RUSSIA SCANDAL

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-bannon-russia-testimony-20180116-story.html
Bannon testifies in House Russia probe after relationship with Trump unravels
Chris Megerian Contact Reporter
January 16, 2018 7:40 AM

Photograph -- Former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon arrives on Capitol Hill to testify behind closed doors to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

Stephen K. Bannon helped guide Donald Trump to his upset victory in 2016, then became the president’s chief strategist to help remake American politics from inside the White House.

Now, in the wake of an acrimonious falling out with Trump, Bannon will testify for the first time Tuesday to the House Intelligence Committee as it probes Russian interference in the U.S. presidential campaign, an investigation that has cast a long shadow on Trump’s tenure.

Bannon’s testimony, which he is delivering behind closed doors, has been hotly anticipated since this month’s publication of “Fire and Fury,” a book by Michael Wolff about Trump’s first year in the White House.

Among other surprises, the book quotes Bannon denouncing a controversial meeting between a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer and three top campaign officials at Trump Tower in June 2016 as “treasonous.”

“Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad … , and I happen to think it’s all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately,” Bannon is quoted as saying.

Bannon later said he was not aiming his barb at Donald Trump Jr., who arranged the meeting because he expected the Russians to provide damaging material on Hillary Clinton. Trump’s son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, and his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, also attended.

But Bannon’s harsh comments destroyed what was left of his relationship with Trump, who said his former advisor “lost his mind” when he was forced out of the White House last August.

The fallout also cost Bannon his job running the right-wing website Breitbart News after his support from major political donors evaporated.

Rep. Schiff blasts Republicans for limiting Russia investigation in U.S. House
Given Bannon’s eye-popping description of the Trump Tower meeting, the House Intelligence Committee will probably be interested in any more information about it. The meeting was hosted by Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, after a Russian lawyer promised damaging information about Clinton.

Trump Jr. later told Congress that no incriminating information was provided, and the conversation shifted to other topics.

Bannon’s testimony also arrives at a contentious moment for the House Intelligence Committee. Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, the panel’s top Democrat, has repeatedly faulted his Republican colleagues for failing to allow a thorough investigation of the 2016 presidential campaign.

“We can’t do a thorough and credible investigation unless we talk to these witnesses and obtain these documents,” Schiff said.

Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, and Hope Hicks, the White House communications director, are also expected to testify in the coming days, according to a source who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican from Tulare, was forced to step back from the Russia case during a controversy last year over how he handled classified information.

However, he’s still aggressively pursued his own lines of inquiry examining whether the Department of Justice improperly investigated the Trump campaign.

Follow live coverage of the Trump administration on Essential Washington »
chris.megerian@latimes.com
Twitter: @chrismegerian

ALSO

Trump has given dozens of depositions in lawsuit-laden business career, but he could face tougher grilling in Russia inquiry

Feinstein releases Senate testimony from co-founder of research firm behind notorious Trump dossier



https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-trump-adviser-bannon-subpoenaed-special-counsel-russia-170414980.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=dbb2094c-7d9a-37c0-96b9-7f844af62e78&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Ex-Trump adviser Bannon subpoenaed in special counsel Russia probe
Reuters • January 16, 2018

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Steve Bannon, a former top adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury as part of a special counsel's probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Related Searches

Trump Russia ProbeSpecial Counsel

The New York Times, which cited a person with direct knowledge of the matter in its report, said it marked the first time Special Counsel Robert Mueller has used such a move against a member of Trump's inner circle.

A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment on the report.

Bannon, who recently had a public falling out with Trump over comments he made to an author of a controversial book, was meeting on Tuesday with the U.S. House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee as part of its own Russia investigation.


WISDOM/BEST GUESS OF THE CROWD --
REACTIONS 46 people reacting

Louis
Louis18 minutes ago
Bannon is not going to lie for Trump.
ReplyReplies (35)19122

Vulture Capitalist
Vulture Capitalist16 minutes ago
I guess in hind sight, Trump calling Bannon all of those names two weeks ago wasn't the best idea. Now Bannon will be compelled by law to tell the truth, or face perjury charges. Based on Trump's treatment of him, I am sure he knows a pardon is unlikely. Better off telling the truth than going to prison for the Trump's.
ReplyReplies (6)9412

Suspense
Suspense13 minutes ago
Mueller is almost at the last rung of the ladder, where Trump is sitting.
Reply361
Show More


HIS "INCREDIBLE GENES" -- SOUNDS LIKE TRUE ARYAN MATERIAL, DOESN’T IT?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-trump-medical-check-up-health-update-white-house-press-briefing-live-stream/
By BLAIR GUILD CBS NEWS January 16, 2018, 3:00 PM
White House doctor says President Trump is in "excellent" health

Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, M.D., the official physician to the president, gave President Trump a clean bill of health Tuesday afternoon during the White House press briefing.

Jackson declared that all clinical data indicates Mr. Trump is "absolutely" fit for duty based on his assessment and that he will likely remain so for the duration of his presidency. Jackson also predicted the president would be physically fit enough to serve another term in office, should he choose to run for re-election.

"Overall, he has very, very good health," Jackson said.

Jackson reported that Mr. Trump is in normal, healthy condition and even said that his health is "excellent" compared to other 71-year-old American men. However, at a height of six feet and three inches and weighing 239 pounds, he is borderline obese.

Mr. Trump's physical also included a cognitive portion, and the president completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is often referred to as "MoCA." He received a 30/30 on the test, which would have detected any serious mental impairments, such as Alzheimer's disease. Anything scored above 26 is considered to be healthy, according to Jackson.

"I have no reason to think whatsoever that the president has any issues with his thought process," Jackson said.

Jackson explained that the MoCA cognitive screening is different from a psychiatric exam, but did not recommend any further testing of Mr. Trump's mental fitness based on his assessment.

Mr. Trump currently takes Crestor, for lowering cholesterol; Aspirin; Propecia, for hair loss; Soolantra Cream for rosacea; and a multivitamin.

While Jackson said that Mr. Trump's cardiac health stood out to him as particularly excellent, he advised that Mr. Trump lose 10-15 pounds and aim to lower his LDL cholesterol, which they are hoping to address with an increase in his Crestor medication.

Jackson said that despite Mr. Trump's lack of an exercise and his penchant for fast food, the president is in excellent health, perhaps because of his "incredible genes."

"That's just the way God made him," Jackson said.

Jackson did recommended that the president improve his diet and start an aerobic exercise regimen. He will invite nutritionists to the White House to work with the chefs in developing a diet plan for the president that is lower in calories, fat and carbohydrates.

Mr. Trump completed his physical on Friday, Jan. 12, 2018, marking his first medical check-up since becoming president. The exam lasted four hours and Jackson was assisted by 12 additional consultants.

Jackson spent nearly an hour taking questions from reporters on the status of Mr. Trump's health and said that the president was very comfortable with his medical information being shared with the public. He added that the president directed him to answer every inquiry and instructed White House Press Secretary not to disrupt the questioning.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


WAPO ON MOCA –

PHILIP BUMP’S ARTICLE, WHICH WAS PUBLISHED TWO HOURS EARLIER THAN THE OTHER, TOOK THE MEDICAL REPORT AT FACE VALUE, POSING NO QUESTIONS, SUFFICIENT EXPLANATION OR CRITIQUE. IT SEEMS THAT HE JUST REPORTED WHAT HE WAS GIVEN. JOHNSON AND BERNSTEIN RESEARCHED THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLNESSES AND THE TEST.

ACCORDING TO THE WRITEUP BY JOHNSON AND BERNSTEIN, PUBLISHED AT 7:30 PM, THE TEST THAT WAS USED MEASURES MUCH MORE BASIC FUNCTIONS THAT MAY BE DISRUPTED BY DEMENTIA, BUT NOT PSYCHOSIS SUCH AS PARANOIA OR A SOCIOPATHIC CONDITION. HE DOESN’T STRIKE ME AS BEING UNINTELLIGENT SO MUCH AS UNPRINCIPLED, SPOILED, TOTALLY UNTRUSTWORTHY, FOCUSED ONLY ON HIS FINANCIAL GAIN, AND OBSESSED WITH THAT SLIGHTLY DARKER SKIN COMING ACROSS THE BORDERS.

PERSONALLY, THAT IS MY MAIN WORRY ABOUT HIS UNFITNESS TO HEAD THE (SUPPOSEDLY) MOST POWERFUL AND ETHICALLY ADVANCED NATION ON EARTH. I WANT HIM TO TAKE A BROAD SCOPE PSYCHIATRIC EXAMINATION. I FEEL SURE THAT THERE ALSO IS AN ETHICAL EXAM. PSYCHOLOGISTS HAVE A TEST FOR EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN THESE DAYS. IT SEEMS TRUE TO ME THAT EVERY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SHOULD TAKE THOSE EVALUATIONS BEFORE THEY EVEN RUN. THE >POSITION OF THE PRESIDENCY IS TOO IMPORTANT A POST FOR DANGEROUSLY NEUROTIC OR DOWNRIGHT DERANGED PEOPLE TO END UP IN THAT JOB.


BY PHILIP BUMP

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2018/01/16/why-you-may-be-misunderstanding-the-mental-test-that-trump-passed-with-flying-colors/
Politics Analysis
Why you may be misunderstanding the mental test that Trump passed with flying colors
By Philip Bump January 16 at 5:32 PM

Photograph -- Ronny Jackson, physician for President Trump. (Al Drago/Bloomberg News)

On its surface, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test seems pretty easy. Can you draw a three-dimensional cube? Can you identify these various animals? Can you draw a clock? Can you repeat back the phrase, “The cat always hid under the couch when dogs were in the room”?

The test, which can be seen here, assigns a certain number of points to each of these tests and an overall score it tallies out of 30 possible points. On Tuesday, President Trump’s personal doctor reported that Trump had scored perfectly, 30 points out of 30, after asking for the annual exam to include some sort of test of mental function. (That request was pretty clearly a response to the torrent of questions about Trump’s mental acuity that were raised, in part, by anecdotes from Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury.”)

If you look at the test, it’s pretty hard to see how you could not score a 30. You see a picture of a lion and have to identify it as a lion? That old joke about how the elderly and toddlers are subject to the same indignities seems pertinent here: Is this really the bar that needs to be met to demonstrate full mental capabilities?

Well, according to those who study dementia and other mental deterioration, yes.

In 2009, I spent six months serving on a jury in the state of New York that was asked to judge the guilt or innocence of a man named Anthony Marshall. Marshall was the son of Brooke Astor, a New York socialite and heiress to the much-diminished Astor fortune. If you’ve ever traveled to New York, you’ve encountered the name: Astor Place, the Waldorf-Astoria or the Astoria neighborhood in Queens. Marshall was accused of having taken advantage of Astor’s diminished mental state to change her will without her being aware of the changes made. Ultimately, the 12 members of the jury found Marshall guilty of several charges.

Over the course of that trial, we were presented with a great deal of information about how doctors assess the mental capabilities of a patient. This was critical to the prosecution; were they not able to prove that Astor’s mental state was diminished, it undercut their argument that Marshall had acted without his mother’s consent. As such, expert witnesses testified about their personal examinations of Astor and others spoke to the reliability of the tests.

Central to that case was one of the components of the MoCA test: drawing a clock. Astor was asked repeatedly to draw analog clocks as a test of her mental acuity. On more than one occasion, she was unable to do so properly.

Astor’s clock. (Pace University)

Consider how you draw a clock. You have to plan ahead to ensure that the numbers are all positioned properly: The 12 at the top, the 6 at the bottom. You need to position the hands correctly, depending on their size. In Astor’s clocks, she didn’t even get that far. On one, she started at 1 and worked her way around clockwise, but spaced the numbers incorrectly, with 5 landing at the bottom of the circle. The 10, lacking space, was placed outside the circle. In another test, she was simply unable to complete the clock after beginning to number it in the wrong direction.

Studies have shown that this test can be used to spot problems with the brain’s executive functioning even before other signs of mental decline are apparent. There are questions about the proper scoring method and about the extent to which educational differences may be apparent, but, generally, there’s a reason that the test is included.

Astor was also subjected to another mental test that shares characteristics with the MoCA: the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The MMSE includes tests such as counting backward from 100 by multiples of seven and asking the subject to recall words presented shortly beforehand. In one test, she scored a 21, proving unable to spell “world” backward or to follow simple commands. But still: Only 9 points off despite her diminished capacity.

The point is not that the test is easy. The point is that an inability to complete aspects of the test reveals different types of mental decline. The clock test is about executive brain function: memory, planning ahead. The different parts of the MoCA are labeled according to what they test, with the clock test falling under “visuospatial/executive.” Questions about the current year and date are under “orientation.” The request to identify a drawing of a camel is under “naming.” In the test’s scoring instructions, it explains what is covered: “attention and concentration, executive functions, memory, language, visuoconstructional skills, conceptual thinking, calculations and orientation.”

It is, as Trump’s doctor noted, a tool for identifying early signs of mental deterioration, like the mental version of a blood sample on which your doctor runs a battery of tests. It’s not the SAT; it’s a screening device. Imagine a disease in which you suddenly were unable to say the letter H. Singing the alphabet song is a trivial task that kindergartners do, but if you suddenly stumbled over the letter that follows G, your doctors might take that as a sign that the H illness was present. It might also be an error, of course, but that’s the point. It’s a test of a particular thing that for everyone else is easy.

Yes, Trump passed with flying colors, as any adult with normal cognitive function probably would. And that’s the point. There’s every indication from Tuesday’s report that Trump maintains normal cognitive function. That he passed the test is just like you successfully singing the alphabet song. Sure, it’s easy — unless you have that can’t-say-H disease. Here, the MoCA test is easy — unless you have the sort of impairment that Trump was said to have suffered by any number of public critics.

You’re supposed to get 30 out of 30 — and when you don’t, that’s when the doctors learn something.


ARTICLE BY JOHNSON AND BERNSTEIN

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
Politics
Trump did exceedingly well on a cognitive test, top White House doctor says
By Jenna Johnson and Lenny Bernstein January 16 at 7:38 PM

. . . . “There’s no indication whatsoever that he has any cognitive issues,” Jackson said. “I’ve found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought process.”

The assessment he took includes asking a patient to name several animals, draw a clock with the hands at a certain time, copy a cube and recall a shortlist of words. It is not a psychological exam.



IT’S ALWAYS WONDERFUL TO SEE A STORY ABOUT A CHILD THAT IS RESCUED AND HIS LIFE SAVED AFTER A HORRIFYING TWO DAYS, RATHER THAN A CHILD THAT PERISHED. EVERY TIME I SEE A STORY LIKE THIS ONE I DO COLLECT IT. I JUST DON’T OFTEN FIND THEM. THANK HEAVEN FOR HIS FATHER’S “INTUITION.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-father-rents-helicopter-finds-missing-son-car-crash/
AP January 16, 2018, 9:01 AM
Aussie dad with hunch hires copter, finds injured son

Photograph -- A photo provided by Michael Lethbridge shows emergency services officers working to cut his nephew Samuel Lethbridge, 17, from the wreck of his car off the Pacific Highway south of Swansea in New South Wales state, Australia, Jan. 15, 2018. AP/MICHAEL LETHBRIDGE

CANBERRA, Australia -- The father of a teenager who spent 30 hours trapped in a car wreck in Australian woods said Tuesday he had followed his intuition by hiring the helicopter that found his seriously injured son.

Samuel Lethbridge, 17, remained in intensive care in a hospital with multiple fractures two days after the crash.

Tony Lethbridge said he suspected his son may have been in a car wreck when he did not return by Sunday morning to the family home at Lake Macquarie, after a Saturday night out with friends in the nearby city of Newcastle. The teen had dropped off a friend about 30 miles from home early Sunday morning before he vanished, the father said.

The 51-year-old father of three hired a helicopter on Monday morning and the car was spotted in scrub off a highway 12 miles from home.

Emergency services cut the boy from the wreck 30 hours after the accident, the father said.

"When I saw the police, they thought he'd run away. I said that's not Samuel. When he doesn't show up or phone, something's seriously wrong," Tony Lethbridge told the AP.

"I understand that they've got a lot to do and they hear this every day, but I took matters into my own hands and was thinking all night that tomorrow morning, I'm just going to get a helicopter and go looking for him because we're running out of time - it's been long enough," he added.

Australia Helicopter Rescue
This Monday, Jan. 15, 2018, photo taken and provided by Michael Lethbridge shows the helicopter used on the search of a teenager who spent 30 hours trapped in a car wreck in Australian woods, at Lake Macquarie airport, New South Wales state, Australia. AP/MICHAEL LETHBRIDGE

The father recalled that a victim of an earlier crash in the area had died after not being found for five days. "I wasn't going to let that happen," he said.

Lee Mitchell, pilot and part-owner of Skyline Aviation Group at Lake Macquarie, said he discounted his usual helicopter hire rate of 1,200 Australian dollars ($956) an hour when the father explained his plight.

"He came in looking anxious and somewhat fatigued and said he needed a helicopter bad," Mitchell said of meeting Tony Lethbridge midmorning on Monday at the Port Macquarie airport.

The father said he had reported his son as a missing person to police and explained his fears of a car accident near home.

"He just said: 'I've got A$1,000 ($797) on me, will that be enough?' and we said: 'Yes, it would,'" Mitchell said.

The helicopter took off soon after with the boy's uncle Michael Lethbridge aboard, because the father was prone to air sickness.

The car was spotted within 15 minutes of flight, about 20 yards off the road, Mitchell said.

"It was fairly easy to spot from the air. It would've been near impossible to see from the road because it was well below the road level," Mitchell said.

The uncle was the first to reach the car.

"I really didn't want to go. I was scared of what I'd find. As I got closer I seen Sam's head move," Michael Lethbridge said. "I went from being terrified to ecstatic in a couple of seconds."

Mitchell was hovering overhead when the uncle signaled that the boy was alive.

"We were overwhelmed. It was a great outcome. We've done a lot of search and rescue stuff in previous years and they don't always turn out so favorably," Mitchell said.

While Australians rarely pay for search and rescue operations, Tony Lethbridge, who works in a mail sorting room of the national postal service, has no complaints.

"It's priceless. If it's A$1000 I've got to pay to get his life, I'm OK with that," the father said.

© 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


MADDOW TODAY

OH HO HO! TRUMP SOHO!

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/15/18
Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings
Rachel Maddow reports on three stories from Kazakhstan where corrupt schemes took lots of money out of the country, with some of it ended up in Trump business circles. Duration: 20:00


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/15/18
Red flags seen in Trump real estate deals
Thomas Frank, FBI reporter for Buzzfeed, talks with Rachel Maddow about official warnings about shell companies and all-cash deals on luxury real estate, circumstances common in money laundering cases and common in Donald Trump deals. Duration: 6:26


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 1/15/18
MLK Day inspires Americans to service, remembrance; Trump golfs
Dan Rather, author of What Unites Us, talks with Rachel Maddow about the work and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and what it means that Donald Trump did not pay service to the holiday. Duration: 6:40