Make “Enhanced” Vetting Great Again
ConclusionThe enhanced vetting procedures for refugees are modest extensions of current vetting procedures. Before President Trump took office, refugee vetting was already extreme and difficult to further enhance. The eleven countries singled out for intensive new refugee scrutiny make little sense from a national security perspective and even less sense if the goal is to secure the public safety of Americans. No refugee from any of those nations has murdered an American in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil and their incarceration rates, except for Somalis, are all well below those of native-born Americans. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 31, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
The Ultimate Version of Ill-Informed Health Care Leadership: Dumb, Incoherent, Confused, Perhaps Psychotic Things President Trump Says and Does About Health Care Policy
DiscussionWe have discussed the doctrine ofmanagerialism promoted in business schools that people trained in management should lead every type of human organization and endeavor. Management by people from the disciplines most relevant to the mission and nature of particular organizations should be eschewed. So managers, not physicians or other health care professionals, should lead health care organizations. Following that theme, managers, or those like them, rather than health care professionals and health policy experts should lead health policy. However, managers who run health care organizations,...
Source: Health Care Renewal - October 29, 2017 Category: Health Management Tags: Donald Trump health care reform ill-informed management Obamacare ppaca Source Type: blogs
Why the Iran Nuclear Deal Benefits the U.S.
The Iran deal has stretched the time needed to produce a nuclear weapon from three to at least 12 months and has established the strongest inspections system ever negotiated. Walking away from the agreement now will only isolate the U.S. and provide Iran an easy excuse to join North Korea on the road toward nuclear weapons. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - October 23, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: James Dobbins; Suzanne DiMaggio Source Type: blogs
Why Japan Needs Long-Range Strike Capabilities
Japan ' s pacifist constitution allows it to exercise force only when its survival is threatened and there are no other means to repel the attack. But North Korea ' s advancing military capabilities have drastically changed the threat environment. Japan no longer has the luxury to be complacent about its security threats. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - October 23, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Jeffrey W. Hornung Source Type: blogs
International Relations at China's 19th Party Congress
Discussion on the North Korea problem will probably happen during the Party Congress, but absent a significant escalation on the peninsula North Korea will likely not be featured prominently in the official documents produced by the congress. Instead, Xi and the Chinese leadership will likely wait untilTrump ’s visit to Asia in early November to issue any adjustments to China ’s policy toward North Korea. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 17, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Eric Gomez Source Type: blogs
Trump ’s Nicknames and the Psychology of Bullying
Conclusion
We have a president who seems to use derogatory nicknames as a cudgel against his perceived enemies — arguably, a form of bullying. As a society that aspires to civility and mutual respect, we ought to find this very troubling. Bullying tears at the fabric of civil society. It can be an important contributing factor in the victim’s eventual suicide. And when the most powerful man in the world provides an example of bullying by repeatedly deploying offensive nicknames, this ought to concern us all.
References:
Reijntjes, A., Vermande, M., Thomaes, S., Goossens, F., Olthof, T., Aleva, L., & Van der M...
Source: World of Psychology - October 11, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ronald Pies, M.D. Tags: Anger Bullying Celebrities Minding the Media Relationships Research Self-Esteem belittling Donald Trump Humiliation Inferiority Insecurity Mockery name calling Nicknames President Trump Superiority Source Type: blogs
Travel Ban Is Based on Executive Whim, Not Objective Criteria
ConclusionFor countries on the list, and for any country wishing to remain off the list, it is vitally important that they understand which factors led to their inclusion or exclusion. If the United States is acting in good faith —seeking to change behavior as opposed to looking for an excuse to ban people—its criteria should be clearly explained and understood. The Iran nuclear deal, for example, hasvery precise requirements for Iran to avoid sanctions, down to the exact percentage of purity for its enriched uranium. This is very far from the case here.No consistent combination of factors or mitigating factors trigger...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 9, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: David Bier Source Type: blogs
There is No Public Safety Justification for the " Travel Ban "
The Trump administration ’snewest argument in favor of the travel ban is that foreigners from the eight banned countries are disproportionately crime prone. Indeed, the administration ’s new travel banproclamation references “criminal” risks or “public safety threats” from foreigners from those eight banned countries a total 34 times. However, the incarceration rate for people from the travel ban countries is below that of native-born Americans and foreign-born folks from countries that were not on the travel ba n list.The average incarceration rate for those born in the travel ban countries is 0.32 percent, al...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 7, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
The Rorschach Test of New Nuclear Powers: Analogies for North Korean Command and Control
Is Pyongyang more like modern Islamabad or Soviet Moscow? The answer must draw on the expertise of scholars of civil-military relations as well as nuclear strategy. Even then analogy is only a starting point — North Korea may be more or less like previous cases, but will certainly be unique. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - October 6, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Austin G. Long Source Type: blogs
On North Korea, Past Foreign Policy Fiascoes Show U.S. What Not to Do
Foreign policy disasters are often the sum of two basic errors: embracing exaggerated claims about the need to act, and inventing a conceptual magic wand to wish away potential consequences. Both are apparent in U.S. policy toward North Korea ' s nuclear aspirations. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - October 5, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Michael J. Mazarr Source Type: blogs
New Travel Ban Would Not Have Prevented the Entry of Any Terrorists Since 9/11
President Trump signed anew proclamation this weekend that bans or restricts the travel and immigration of nationals from eight countries. This order drops the pretext of being a temporary measure and includes no end date. Inour amicus brief for the Supreme Court case challenging his prior executive order banning travel from six countries, we criticized the ban as lacking a basis in the evidence regarding terrorism threats and terrorism vetting failures. This new order fares no better. It is even further divorced from threats of terrorism to the United States than the prior order.The new targets are the nationals of the fo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 25, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: David Bier Source Type: blogs
President Trump's New Travel Executive Order Has Little National Security Justification
President Trump issued anew proclamation that expanded a list of the so-called “travel ban” countries that were the subject of an executive order he issued early in his administration. His first order temporarily banned the entry of nationals from six countries fordubious national security reasons. His new order expands the list to eight countries (as Isomewhat predicted). They include Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. From the original six, he subtracted Sudan and added Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela. The new executive order is also not a complete ban for all of those countries. A...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 25, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Is the News Ruining Your Life?
With all the recent news stories about escalating tensions here, strife there, and severe weather all over the place it’s no wonder that we are all a bit more on edge than normal. It is easy to get caught up in the various news cycles and to become fixated on what is going on globally. Keeping up with current events is one thing, but allowing current events to affect your life is another.
If you have found yourself feeling more anxious than usual, or like there is something bugging you that you cannot put your finger on, it may be that you are being affected by today’s many world issues. It is hard to avoid all the va...
Source: World of Psychology - September 23, 2017 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Kurt Smith, Psy.D., LMFT, LPCC, AFC Tags: Habits Happiness Minding the Media Self-Help Stress 24 hour news cycle anxiety civil unrest Devastation Environmental Catastrophes Hurricanes Natural Disasters News Media Protests sensationalization Worry Source Type: blogs
Trump's Tough Talk at the United Nations
Trump ’s threat to “totally destroy North Korea” at the United Nations this week generated concern inmany corners but a round of applause from many hawks here in the United States. Former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, for example, called it “the best speech of the Trump Presidency, ” praising Trump for his tougher approach to North Korea’s nuclear program. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also voiced strong support for Trump’s approach. In aNew York Times oped, Abe wrote that, “I firmly support the United States position that all options are on the table.”Abe ’s choice of the phrase ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 21, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: A. Trevor Thrall Source Type: blogs
Overwhelming Resistance to Trump's Plan to Scuttle the Iran Deal
This has not been a good week for President Trump ’s Iran policy. As the president hasindicated, he plans in mid-October to decertify Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated and signed in 2015, which rolled back Iran ’s nuclear program, placed severe restrictions on it for the foreseeable future, and imposedthe world ’s most intrusive inspections regime on what remained.Leaving aside for now thevarious and profoundly negative ramifications of Trump ’s stated intention to declare Iran in violation of the agreement, the most immediate problem for the pre...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 21, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: John Glaser Source Type: blogs
