Gallup: Most Admired Man and Woman

Christmas Eve we learned that President Trump is eliminating fines for nursing homes that abuse and neglect their patients. They call this "deregulating," and to Trump and his supporters it is obvious why this sort of thing is good for the country. America is just getting better and better.

Why did America make this terrible choice for President? The answer seems to have to do with racism, mainly, or what they like to call "identity politics," since that sounds nicer and you can blame "both sides" for it, which is important these days. Apparently most white people were freaked out by having a black President, and wanted to un-do all the things the previous administration had accomplished, like preventing nursing homes from abusing patients. And minorities did not turn out to vote in sufficient numbers to refute them. And so now we have world-class laziness in the White House, sexual harassment and hypocrisy, nepotism, a ring of criminals, a family profiting like crazy on the back of the US government, the one percent rewarding themselves freely at the treasury, never mind treason and subservience to Russia. The President is inarticulate, poorly-informed, illiterate, boorish.

People, it's depressing, am I right?

Will America make this kind of stupid choice again? This is a harder question. The Trump administration is undermining American education and Republicans are implementing voter-suppression laws wherever they can to make sure their stupid people get elected again. The Republican party is lining up behind Trump's authoritarian positions and the news media are still afraid to call a lie a lie. Lying about everything and calling the media "fake news" is The American Way of Life now, and the longer it goes on, the longer people hear it, the less they feel the will to fight it. Kids are growing up in this climate, thinking this is normal, and they are reaching voting age.

So it was heartening to get some good news this week from Gallup:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans once again are most likely to name Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the man and woman living anywhere in the world they admire most, as they have for the past 10 years. The pair retain their titles this year, although by much narrower margins than in the past. Obama edges out Donald Trump, 17% to 14%, while Clinton edges out Michelle Obama, 9% to 7%. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Retain Most Admired Titles

This isn't good news because I agree with Obama and Clinton politically. Actually, I barely do. They are much more centrist and accommodating than I would prefer.

It makes me happy to know that Americans still overall admire somebody who can behave with dignity, who can express a complex thought with humor and clarity, somebody who can consider the other person's point of view as well as their own. Americans actually still appreciate somebody who is informed with facts and surrounded by experts, who can make tough decisions and then hold the line, somebody who has a set of principles that guide their decision-making process and can also negotiate and compromise to get their principles implemented in policy.

Gallup says:

Trump's unpopularity is holding him back from winning the most admired distinction. The incumbent president is the usual winner, since he is arguably the most prominent figure in the country -- but when the president is unpopular, other well-known and well-liked men have been able to finish first.

Maybe next time we choose leaders we will elect someone we actually admire. Let's elect better people next time, okay?

Trump Administration Censors Government Medical Researchers

I sometimes wonder what it is that Trump and his followers want. They want to get rid of anything that reminds them of Obama, of course, and they want to "lock her up." But besides that, is there something they stand for?

Now we know.

The Trump administration has issued a list of banned terms for the Centers for Disease Control, which makes it clear what they want. The Post:

The Trump administration is prohibiting officials at the nation’s top public health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases — including “fetus” and “transgender” — in any official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.

Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden words are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.” CDC gets list of forbidden words: fetus, transgender, diversity

Naturally, the Post reporter jumps on the "hot" news words -- fetus, transgender -- we are not surprised to see a retreat to the Dark Ages there, but it is beyond comprehension to see that "evidence-based" and "science-based" are verboten. Oh, fine, I see "magic" and "potion" are still okay. Can you imagine the executive committee that decided the CDC's research should not be evidence-based or science-based? What a bunch of geniuses that must have been.

In some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases. Instead of “science-based” or ­“evidence-based,” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes,” the person said. In other cases, no replacement words were immediately offered.

There's your conservative philosophy in a nutshell. It doesn't much matter what science finds, what matters is what your ordinary person thinks or wishes were true. Never mind all that algebra and all that college education, anybody can see what's going on. Everybody knows how they wish it was, and that is how it shall be.

"Vulnerable?" Can you imagine studying disease and epidemics without consideration of who is vulnerable?

And I'm sorry, but if you're looking at an epidemic, diversity is a major factor, diversity among the vulnerable population as well as genetic diversity in a pathogen. Any statistical prediction needs to account for variance, which is just another word for diversity -- that is how statisticians are able to assess the certainty of a prediction.

According to the article, the rank-and-file scientists at the CDC have not learned of these changes yet. But as one analyst said, “Our subject matter experts will not lay down quietly."

This sort of enforced ignorance has become a hallmark of the Trump administration. Still, it is jaw-dropping to see the list, to see that someone thought it was a good idea to dumb down the CDC and turn medical research into something that conforms with community wishes.

Lock Him Up

Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has turned himself in to the FBI and is expected to plead guilty to lying to them.

Just to remind you how we got where we are today:



They are having so much fun in this video, reveling in the idea that Hillary Clinton is an evil cartoon character. Note: Clinton has never been charged with a crime.

Flynn lied to the FBI about deals he made with the Russians as US National Security Adviser. If you think this Russian investigation is not going to go right through the heart of the Presidency, think again. There is a big plea deal in action here, and Flynn is obviously talking.

Note that President Trump has still not implemented the Russian sanctions, as Flynn promised them.