Maybe so, Maybe no !

     I have had a recurrent nightmare over the past few months.  I dream that on the first day after Donald Trump is elected to a second term, he announces the opening of his presidential campaign for a third term. I wake up in a sweat, heart pounding believing that the era of the elected dictator is here-Democracy is dead!   But all of a sudden, I have been sleeping much better for the past week.  A new scenario is taking shape.  My meletonin level has shot back up to normal

     What if the House of Representatives impeaches the president and by constitutional directive, the senate must conduct a trial to determine if Trump is to be removed from office?  Up until this week, I have believed with the rest of the country, that our republican controlled senate would never vote the president out of office. But not so fast Kowalski! Maybe so. Maybe no.   Who could have imagined that Senate Majority leader  Mitch McConnell would lash out so vigorously at his president for his pig-ignorant foreign policy blunder in Syria? Or that former republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would lead a rebellion pronouncing his own vision of the Republican Party and blasting Trump's withdrawal of troops in Syria as a "bloodstain on the annals of American history".  Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, genetically an [RR] representing South Carolina tweeted, "Pray for our Kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the Trump Administration".  All of a sudden the party leadership sees a possibility to  recapture the leadership.  Who would of thuk it?

     With a two-thirds vote needed to convict and remove the president, it gets down to about 20 votes in the senate.  Are they there?  Maybe so, Maybe no.  But the question is now on the table and it may not go away.  The enormous collective embarrassment of true republicans, who believe in the integrity of the office, who believe in fiscal restraint, who believe in an intelligent and measured process of developing policy, who decry payoffs to prostitutes,  may prove to be a force yet to be unleashed.  Yes, the Republican Party may find an electorate that has been lied to every  day of the Trump Administration a mighty force. 

     The thought of coming to the 2020 election with a new ticket, with the possibility even of adding an electable women may be suddenly electrifying, particularly facing a Democratic candidate list that may not gel from their dissension and divisions.  Finally, the leadership of the Republican Party should look upon this opportunity as one that may not come around again. A third term by a sick narcissist will likely result in the destruction of whatever restraining  political institutions remain and whatever international alliances and common allegiances we have built over the past three-quarters of a century, including the UN. Throw in a global warming crisis and the extinction of global fisheries while you pray for your grandchildren.  

     Yes I am sleeping a lot better.  Will it continue?  Maybe so.  Maybe no.  Depending on a Republican Party solution is its own nightmare.     

The Case Against Legalizing Marijuana in the State of New York.

1. Legalizing marijuana will generate in new users an addiction rate or 7-8% in adults and 13-15% in teenagers.  A single most damaging argument is that fewer teens finish college.

2. Increased availability will affect the workplace by blunting cognitive abilities and produce negative effects on physical and mental health.

3. Studies have linked marijuana use to increased risk of psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, suicide and criminal behavior.

4. Arguing for legalizing leisure use of marijuana based on a medical argument is invalid since three cannabinoids are already approved by the FDA.

5.Pregnant women who use marijuana have 2.3 times greater risk of stillbirth.

6. The experiences of other states have not been sufficiently studied to determine the direction of any legalizing legislation.  This argument may be the most important. More research is needed before any further decisions are made.   The FDA has never done a study on leisure use of marijuana.

7. As pointed out in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). 2015 Jan 20; 313(3): 241–242.,

Edible products are responsible for the majority of health care visits due to marijuana intoxication for all ages. This is likely due to failure of adult users to appreciate the delayed effects of ingestion compared with inhalation. Prolonged absorption complicates dosing, manufacturing inconsistencies lead to dose variability, and the appealing product forms lead to unintentional ingestion by children.

     This is unconscionable. Furthermore,

Manufacturing practices for marijuana edible products are not standardized. This results in edible products with inconsistent THC concentrations, further complicating dosing for users. According to a report in the Denver Post, products described as containing 100 mg of THC actually contained from 0 to 146 mg of THC

8. There is an increase in collision claims in Colorado.

After retail marijuana sales began in Colorado, the increase in collision-claim frequency was 14 percent higher than in nearby Utah and Wyoming, according to the report. Washington’s estimated increase in claim frequency was 6 percent higher than in Montana and Idaho.

9. There aren't adequate parameters to police marijuana use.

10. There are long term effects of chronic use.  According to the British Journal of Psychiatry (2001-178:101-106),

There is considerable evidence that performance in heavy, chronic cannabis users remains impaired even when they are not actually intoxicated.  These impairments, especially of attention, memory and ability to process complex information, can last for many weeks, months or even years after cessation of cannabis.

11. The conclusion; “Cannabis is not, as widely perceived, a harmless drug but poses risks to the individual and to society.”

12. The argument that the majority of the public wants legalization should be re-framed to state what the majority of an informed public prefers. Certainly, the majority of the public wanted pain relief, but they did not bargain for an opioid epidemic.

13. Currently, the drive for legalization of marijuana is being driven by powerful Wall Street forces that do not have the health of the public as a prime objective.

Alternative plan to legalization:

1. Legislate monetary penalties rather than incarceration.

2. Use the funds for education on addiction.

3. Request the federal government to address the status of marijuana as a Schedule I drug in view of the three cannabinoids approved by the FDA.

4. Urge the funding of the FDA to do a long needed independent study.

5. Wait until we have more definitive information.

[This was submitted to the Democrat & Chronicle as an op-ed topic].

After Two Years of Trump Presidency--A Diagnosis

    

After Two Years of Trump Presidency—A Diagnosis

        According to the Mayo Clinic, a person who has an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for excessive attention, troubled relationships, fragile self-esteem, vulnerability to the slightest criticism, a lack of empathy for others, and a mask of extreme confidence, suffers from a mental condition known as narcissistic personality disorder [NPD]. Symptoms and signs of NPD may include:

1.     Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance.  Example, exaggerating the number of people at your inauguration or claiming you could be president of the US and run your business at the same time. (Recall that statement before the election in 2016).

2.     Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration. Example, claim that you, could pardon any number of people including yourself of any crime.

3.    Expect to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it. Example, claim that you are a multi-billionaire, but refuse to cough-up your tax returns.

4.     Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate.  Example, if president, claim a national emergency when one is not, claim that you know more than “the generals” in your military, sport an outrageous hair do, and accumulate trophy wives.

5.   Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior.  Example, govern by Twitter and label people who oppose you with degrading names.

6.   Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations. Example, walking out of summit meetings and downgrading NATO members for not paying their dues rather than working patiently with those struggling to comply.

7.   Take advantage of others to get what they want. Example, holding 800,000 of your own government workers hostage in uncompromising stand-off with Congress for a wall.

8.  Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and pretentious. Example, any signing of a Presidential Order or disparaging sport figures who kneel for the national anthem.

9.     Take advantage of others to get what they want.  Example, lying in public every single day you are in office.

10.   Become impatient or angry when they don’t receive special treatment.  Example.  Behavior when meeting in the Oval Office with congressional leaders, Pelosi and Schumer.

     Do you recognize any one that demonstrates those symptoms?  You got it, Donald Trump! Our president displays a mental disorder [NPD], and is getting worse every month.  He needs a doctor which is out of the question because any person with NPD, as part of the disorder, cannot think that anything is wrong. 

     Therefore, the only solution is an act of congress, which is politically unlikely (frequently followers of those with NPD also suffer from it), or patiently wait to vote him out of office in 2020 with the hope that he will not get us all killed in the meantime.  

     What is the lesson here?  Pay a little more attention to mental status of the people you elect to public office.