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  • Feeble Trump appears to be psychotic as pressure overwhelms him: psychi

    From Henry Carver@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jan 14 02:06:24 2025
    XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.immigration XPost: alt.politics.nationalism.white

    Trump is mentally ill.


    NewsWorldAmericasUS politics
    Mental health experts sound the alarm on Trump’s potential ‘cognitive
    decline’ as he’s ‘lost touch with reality’

    Exclusive: After President Biden’s cognitive decline was heavily
    scrutinized, mental health experts tell The Independent they have similar concerns about Trump
    Rhian Lubin
    Wednesday 25 September 2024 14:24 BST
    Comments
    Three times Trump veered wildly from one random topic to another
    Inside Washington
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    Leading mental health experts, including a former White House doctor, have expressed alarm over Donald Trump’s mental faculties, suggesting he’s
    showing signs of “cognitive decline.”

    Several experts told The Independent their concerns about the Republican presidential nominee are similar to those they had about President Joe
    Biden before he dropped out of the race, warning Trump appears to “have
    lost touch with reality,” as exhibited by the 78-year-old’s “rambling”
    speeches and “erratic” debate performance.

    They join a growing number of mental health professionals calling for independent and objective cognitive testing as November’s election edges closer.

    Biden, 81, faced a deluge of questions about his mental fitness for another four years in office following his disastrous debate against Trump in June
    when he repeatedly stumbled over his words and trailed off. Now, all eyes
    are on Trump, who is prone to incoherent tangents and bizarre musings.

    That was on full display at Monday night’s rally in Pennsylvania, where
    Trump was mocked for his “word salads.”He said of Kamala Harris: “She had
    the other interview with the other guy who was a nice guy I think from Philadelphia from Pennsylvania, he was a nice guy, he was asking her all
    these [inaudible] — the daily take — they don’t take like I do! Anybody
    wants to go, go what the hell differences they make — they have — and how dishonest was ABC...”

    But Trump insists he is “cognitively very strong.”
    On the campaign trail in Potterville, Michigan, Trump leapfrogged from one random topic to another
    On the campaign trail in Potterville, Michigan, Trump leapfrogged from one random topic to another (Getty Images)

    Earlier this month a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical
    College, Richard A. Friedman, said he was “alarmed” by what he witnessed
    during Trump’s debate performance on September 10. In an op-ed for The Atlantic, he said Trump “displayed some striking, if familiar, patterns
    that are commonly seen among people in cognitive decline.”

    Dr. Ben Michaelis, a clinical psychologist who has previously carried out cognitive assessments for the New York Supreme Court, agrees. He told The Independent that Trump is “really not in a strong cognitive place.”

    Michaelis — who stressed he has not examined Trump in person and could not offer any formal diagnosis — watched the former president’s debate against Kamala Harris earlier this month, noting that it started at 9 p.m.

    “There’s a term when you’re talking about people with dementia called sundowning, it’s a lot harder for them as the day goes on,” he said,
    suggesting it appeared Trump could have been experiencing those symptoms.

    “It’s very difficult for them to maintain focus on a topic,” he continued.
    “The idea of being able to maintain that level of focus for that amount of time, that late in the day…you wouldn’t think twice about it if that was
    your grandfather. It’s just he happens to be running for president.”

    When it comes to Trump’s rambling speeches, where he has often veered from
    one unrelated topic to another, Michaelis said it struck him as
    “logorrhoea” — the Greek word meaning excessive talking — which can be associated with dementia.

    An example of this was at a speech in Potterville, Michigan, where Trump leapfrogged from talking about how he lost billions of dollars in San
    Francisco to where he ranks in a list of “horribly” treated presidents. In another speech, he began talking about bacon and within a minute had moved
    on to wind turbines.

    Trump has addressed his tendency to venture off topic, bragging about what
    he calls “the weave.”
    Psychiatrists observed Trump in the debate and said he displayed patterns
    seen in people in cognitive decline
    Psychiatrists observed Trump in the debate and said he displayed patterns
    seen in people in cognitive decline (AP)

    “When I do the weave...I’ll talk about nine different things and they all
    come back brilliantly together,” he said. “Friends of mine that are English professors, they say: ‘It’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen.’”

    But the experts don’t agree. “It’s excessive incoherent talking,” Michaelis said.

    “Again, I am not diagnosing him with anything, but it can be a symptom of significant mental illness or dementia. [It is] that inability to maintain focus and to move in a sort of tangential way from topic to topic.

    “If you’re observing him, [the topics] don’t seem at all connected but they
    may have some random connection in his mind, that’s what seems to be happening.”

    Allen Frances is a professor and the chair emeritus of psychiatry at the
    Duke School of Medicine as well as the architect of the DSM-IV — the manual
    for diagnostic criteria of a range of mental disorders.

    Frances is “very much opposed to the misuse of the diagnostic system,” and
    in 2016 he did not believe Trump displayed symptoms of a mental health disorder.

    But, from what he has observed from afar, Frances told The Independent he believes the dial has now shifted, and it is likely Trump “has deteriorated
    a great deal” since he was in office.

    “First off, he seems pretty incoherent,” he said. “It’s hard for him not to
    be tangential, circumstantial, not to stay on message. He’s all over the place.”

    Frances cited examples of unfounded claims Trump made in the debate: that babies are “being executed” after birth, schools are performing surgery on children, and Haitian immigrants are eating pets. “The things he’s saying suggest he’s really lost touch with reality,” he said. “It seems to me
    likely — although we can’t be definitive about saying anything about anyone
    at a distance — it seems likely he has deteriorated a great deal.”

    The psychiatrist, who conceded there is a possibility Trump’s behavior can
    also be explained as a deliberate attempt to appeal to specific voters,
    argued there should be “an upper age limit” for candidates running for the presidency.
    A number of experts believe there should be an age limit on candidates
    running for president
    A number of experts believe there should be an age limit on candidates
    running for president (Getty Images)

    Former White House physician Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who has cared for
    Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton, agrees there should be a cap on the
    age of presidential candidates if they will not agree to undergo objective cognitive assessments.

    “We don’t let you be an airline pilot because of public safety past the age
    of 65, we don’t let you be an FBI agent past the age of 57,” he told The Independent. “[The President] has the most powerful position in the free world.”

    Kuhlman, who has never medically examined Trump, said independent cognitive testing would provide a “much better objective picture” of whether a
    candidate has some cognitive decline — which he added everybody has to some degree after the age of 60 — or if there is a presence of progressive
    dementia.

    Dementia is more common for those in their eighties, “which Donald Trump
    will be in about a year and a half,” Kuhlman notes.

    A cognitive assessment tests a person’s vocabulary, spatial visualization, reasoning, memory and speed. “So we know the vocabulary usually stays about
    the same, but those other four drastically start falling off past the age
    of 70,” Kuhlman explains.

    Kuhlman — whose bookTransforming Presidential Healthcare: Ensuring Comprehensive Care for the Commander in Chief Amid 21st Century Threats is
    out now — concurs with the observations of his peers.

    “If you listen to the debate, or if you listen to his speech every day,
    what’s missing is reasoning or that critical decision making,” he said.

    The Independent has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.

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  • From The Disappearing Karen Bass@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jan 17 03:46:39 2025
    XPost: oc.general, talk.politics.misc, alt.abortion
    XPost: sac.politics, alt.war.civil.usa

    https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/mBQfL_D3jG72aWZx9irL9w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02OTk-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/ktla_articles_362/34725180d0b3b114527023d08e1107fd
    California DA blasts court for releasing convicted child rapist 34 years early

    In 2013, Frank Duane Brown, 72, pleaded guilty to six felony counts and admitted to raping a child. Now, 11 years later, he’s about to be released from prison 34 years before the end of his sentence, and the Riverside County District Attorney had harsh
    words for the judge who decided to allow it.

    Brown was sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2013 after guilty pleas to forced lewd and
    lascivious sexual acts on a child under the age of 14 years old.

    Brown’s release was granted Thursday by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Scott P. Williams under the state of California’s “Compassionate Release” law. Compassionate release grants medical parole to inmates with less than six months to live.
    Brown was diagnosed with metastatic liver cancer in July.

    He’ll be a free man within 30 days.

    “While early release has become increasingly common, it is appalling that this release was even
    being considered given the offender’s violent crime against a child,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. “Once again, the state places the victim in a traumatic situation, forcing her to fight to keep her perpetrator in prison
    for the sentence handed down by a court of law. By doing so, victims must relive their devastating experiences. How is this justice?”

    On Friday, the DA’s Office released a harrowing video of Brown’s victim speaking with anonymity about the abuse he levied on her when she was less than 14 years old.

    “They’ve done some terrible things to me,” the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, said. “I lived with this man, and he raped me almost every single day.”

    The woman said Brown lied, saying he “didn’t know her.”

    The DA’s Office says it opposes Brown’s release not only on a moral basis and the risk he could pose to public safety but also because of a “lack of reliable evidence supporting Brown’s
    medical condition and outlook.”

    “Our office remains steadfast in opposing the early release of felons to protect victims and ensure public safety,” Hestrin said. “It is outrageous that we must constantly advocate to keep a clearly dangerous sexual predator behind bars for their
    full sentence. This is a battle we are committed to fighting every single day until this practice is put to an end.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/justice-convicted-southern-california-child-180817733.html

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