Donald John Trump surrendered to Iran and maga cult knows he is incompetent including Senator Susan Collins

Trump’s Iran deal looks like surrender

Echo editorial board published in the Boston Globe

Donald John Trump's new (former President Obama) agreement with Iran bears striking similarities to the Obama-era accord he famously abandoned.

The reviews of Donald John Trump’s MOU surrender deal with Iran are in, and they aren’t pretty.

On the right, the National Review said Doanld Trump committed the United States to “humiliations,” while The Wall Street Journal editorial board called the deal a “retreat.” 

On the left, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser under former president Joe Biden, said the deal indicated that “the United States basically lost this war.”

From the center right, Andrew Sullivan called it “surrender.” 

And this from the center left, economics blogger Noah Smith described the deal as a Katrina moment when even many of Trump’s defenders “will be forced to admit, in private if not in public, that the man and his administration are grossly, pathetically incompetent.”

If very few across the political spectrum can see value in the deal, the reason should be patently clear: It is a hollow promise, a deal to make a deal that is sounding suspiciously like the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA), the Iran nuclear pact negotiated by then-President Barack Obama in 2015, that Trump tore up in 2018.

The new surrender document, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) calls on Iran to dilute, or “downblend,” ❓-whaaa- its enriched uranium under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency. So did the JCPOA (which also called for removing some of that uranium to other countries). In the MOU, Iran “reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.” 

But Iran has always maintained that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.

Details for a final deal will be negotiated in the coming two months — an absurdly short time frame for incredibly complex issues. In the meantime, the United States will release billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets. The United States pledges to lift all sanctions if and when a final deal is signed. 

Oddly, all this must be endorsed by the United Nations, a body Trump has long mocked as useless. And by unfreezing Iranian assets before a final nuclear deal is struck, Trump is effectively agreeing to pay Iran to return things to the way they were before February 28, 2026.

Nowhere does the surrender MOU address Iran’s mass manufacturing of ballistic missiles and weaponized drones, or its subsidizing of military proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis in Yemen. Iran pledges to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for commercial shipping — but the MOU seems to leave open the possibility that in 60 days Iran can start taxing tankers to transit the waterway, something it was not doing before.

So, in many ways, Trump’s deal will return the Persian Gulf to the status quo ante — only arguably worse, because Iran now understands that the mighty US military cannot prevent it from strangling the world’s economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply flows.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, admittedly no friend of Trump’s, summed it up fairly when he wrote on X: “Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped. This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”

Cassidy’s assessment touches on the cost of this underwhelming settlement. The approximately 15-week campaign left 13 American service members and more than 3,500 Iranians dead. It cost the US military more than $32 billion and nearly drained the nation’s storehouse of missile and drone interceptors.

And the threat the war posed for the global economy was enormous. The sharp reduction in tanker traffic through the strait caused possibly the biggest disruption in oil supply in history, driving the price to above 💲120 a barrel and forcing countries to dip deeply into their reserves.

Before the first US and Israel bombs fell on Iran, gas in the United States was selling on average for less than $3 per gallon at the pump. By early June, the average nationwide price had risen to more than $4 a gallon. All told, according to Moody’s Analytics, the war cost the United States a total of $132 billion in both military spending and higher consumer costs — nearly $1,000 per American household.

Amid the disruptions in oil, natural gas, and fertilizer supplies, the World Bank lowered its forecast for global economic growth to 2.5 percent — the lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic.

No wonder Trump told reporters in Europe after signing the surrender MOU that he was worried that the war was about to trigger a global economic downturn rivaling the Great Depression of 1929 — an outcome that would have made him look as bad as Herbert Hoover. “I didn’t want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have ​happened,” the president said.

It was boldly honest of the president to admit that he was so worried about his image for history. But surely the Iranians were pleased to hear that their ability to create global economic havoc has become their superpower against this superpower.

Sending the country into war is a president’s most somber and significant power, and Trump, true to form, has used it rashly in this war. It took a primary loss against a Trump-supported rival for Cassidy to speak honestly about the emperor’s new clothes. Might this be the moment when other Republican members of Congress remove the veil from their eyes and rein in his recklessness before he overreaches again❓

One could be forgiven for not betting on that possibility. But there are midterm elections this fall, and chances are higher that voters will use their ballots to hold the Donald Trump accountable. Trump pledged in 2024, to end military missions overseas and to focus American resources on America’s working people. This war did neither.

Donald John Trump's blundering, costly, and pointless use of the American military has damaged the US economy and its international standing — and it should be beyond the pale for anyone who truly puts America first.

Maine Writer post script- Senator Susan Collins where are you❓

Republicans and Democrats and Independents must call for Donald Trump to be impeached after evil racist social media pictures

The Los Angeles Times echo to the editor: Enough❗💢 Last week, the Donald Trump shared the most disgraceful, racist post possible (“Trump refuses to apologize after sharing racist image of the Obamas: ‘I didn’t make a mistake,’” 🤥😔Feb. 6). It was not a misunderstood joke. It was overt, ugly and rooted in the same kind of dehumanization that has fueled violence and division in this country for generations.

Beautiful President Obama and his wife Michelle

When someone with national power displays this kind of racism, it does real harm. It signals permission to demean, exclude and scapegoat entire communities. It tells people of color that their dignity is conditional and their safety negotiable.

Leadership requires judgment, restraint and a basic respect for humanity. Anyone who chooses to post racist rhetoric has demonstrated that they lack those qualities. That alone should disqualify them from holding public office or wielding authority over others. If he were the CEO of a major corporation, he would have been fired.

I am calling on everyone — Republicans, independents and Democrats — to denounce this immediately and call for President Trump’s resignation or impeachment and removal. This behavior should not be normalized or tolerated.

Silence is complicity. This moment demands clarity.

From Marilyn J. Green, in Malibu, California

Echo from the Indianapolis Star- Donald Trump's wrong Jerusalem action

It's stunning to find these opinion articles in randomly selected national newspapers. I'm amazed by the insightful levels of thought put into letters to the editor by well meaning people, who are challenging the Republican points of view on nearly every issue.

In this "Echo" series, I re-blog letters of particular interest.  

Indianapolis point of view- Jerusalem

Following is an intelligent response published in the Indianapolis Star, the hometown newspaper to Vice President Mike Pence. 

In the letter, an academic contributor named "Atlas" responds to the irresponsible action Donald Trump took in overriding the international community to declare he is moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem. Not only is this action abrasive to everybody in the Middle East except for Israel, but Pope Francis spoke out against this unwarranted action. Moreover, nobody seems to be concerned about the cost of this action but surely it will be expensive, because land in Jerusalem is scarce (maybe Donald Trump intends to attach the embassy to a Trump Tower - ugh!)


With a brief (slurred*) speech and the stroke (scribble**) of a pen, Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his promise to relocate the U.S. embassy radically altered 70 years of bipartisan policy in the Middle East. 

Despite the naïve optimism he expressed on Wednesday, no one will be the better for this move, not the United States and not even Israel.

Let’s be clear: the functional capital of Israel — the seat of its parliament (the Knesset), the prime minister’s residence and government ministries — is Jerusalem. 

But like most things in the Middle East, reality is not so simple. Perhaps no city in the world carries more symbolic weight than the City of Peace, where any change to the status quo can cause an international incident.

The 1947 United Nations resolution that partitioned British Mandate Palestine into Jewish and Arab states (which the United States endorsed) defined Jerusalem as an international city to be under United Nations, not Jewish or Arab control. 

Moreover, the Jews accepted partition and the Arabs rejected it, and when the ensuing war ended in 1949, Jerusalem was divided for the first time in its 3,000 year history. Like Berlin in 1945, Jerusalem’s boundaries were defined by where the fighting stopped. 

Jordan captured and annexed the eastern half, which included the Old City’s Abrahamic holy sites (Western Wall, Al-Aksa Mosque and Church of the Holy Sepulcher). The new Jewish state included the city’s modern, western half, and Israel established its capital there. The United States set up its embassy in Tel Aviv. 

Jerusalem remained divided until the Six Day War of June 1967, when Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan and declared the reunified city to be Israel’s eternal capital. Israel kept its parliament and other administrative functions in pre-1967 West Jerusalem, and the U.S. and other countries kept their embassies in Tel Aviv. No country today has its embassy in Jerusalem. 

At any time since Israel’s founding in 1948, an American president could have recognized Jerusalem as its capital and relocated the U.S. embassy to the western half. None did. Jerusalem may be the millennia-old spiritual center of the Jewish people and the functional capital of Israel, but not granting that city official U.S. recognition as such has been the political decision of every Democratic and Republican administration since Truman’s. 

Following the 1993 Oslo peace accords, Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama all declared that Jerusalem’s final status must be determined via Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. 

This was the official U.S. policy, until Wednesday. Trump’s policy shift will likely diminish, not enhance, Israel’s physical security. It will undermine U.S. relations with key Arab and Muslim allies, many of whom are fighting ISIS, and also threaten our own security by enhancing terrorist recruitment. Trump is dispatching Vice President Mike Pence to work with Arab allies “to defeat radicalism.” But coming in the wake of Trump’s unapologetic retweeting of anti-Muslim videos and his renewed Muslim travel ban, the timing of the Jerusalem announcement could not be worse. 

(By the way- Mike Pence will not be welcomed for this purpose as already announced by various spokespersons in the region.)

It will feed into jihadist claims that the new president is waging a war on Islam.  Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital without giving anything to the Palestinians will not jumpstart the stalled peace process, as Trump seems to suggest. It will inflame tensions between Israel and the Palestinians and alienate Arab states at a time when, ironically, a de facto anti-Iran alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia was beginning to flourish. Trump’s Jerusalem policy is also a propaganda coup for Sunni jihadists like Al-Qaeda and ISIS as well as Shiite Hezbollah, all of whom oppose our Arab allies as well as Israel. For someone who claims to be a great deal-maker, Trump blew an opportunity. Instead of handing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a gift of historic magnitude with no strings attached, he could have held back the embassy move to incentivize Israeli concessions toward peace. And if he really wanted to energize negotiations between the two parties, he could have announced that the United States is willing to locate a second embassy in Jerusalem -- for a future state of Palestine. Instead, we will now face the global blowback of Trump’s ill-timed and reckless policy shift. Atlas is professor of political science and director of The Richard G. Lugar Franciscan Center for Global Studies at Marian University. Follow him @PierreAtlas       

*MaineWriter insert

** MaineWriter insert

Donald Trump and Paranoid Personality Disorder

*Paranoid Personality Disorder:  
1.The person with PPD will believe others are using, lying to, or harming them, without apparent evidence thereof.

Check it out (#CIO)

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to standardize psychiatric and psychological disorders

Although "no drama Obama", in retrospect, was remarkably controlled during his 8 years of Presidential leadership, the gloves are now, understandably, off. This change was caused by the felonious wire tap accusations, made by a mistaken belief, by Donald Trump, who said Donald Trump illegally wiretapped his palatial residence in Trump Towers, New York City. 

Well, when your successor accuses you of a felony....HELLO? 

Enough is enough! Nevertheless, President Obama doesn't go far enough in just disclosing his anger about this false accusation.  As the credible and legally elected President of the United States, Mr. Obama can call a news conference and explain to the American people just how wrong minded Donald Trump is about the wiretap accusation.  Moreover, Mr. Obama should explain how such an overt violation of the law can be immediately disavowed.  In other words, Donald Trump owes the American people an apology and he must recall what he wrongly stated about Mr. Obama - ie, "how low can....?" OMG. It's Donald Trump who is tanking American credibility, while discrediting the integrity of America's leadership at home and abroad. (Suggestion- Mr. Obama might even, legitimately and with some evidence, call into question, Donald Trump's capacity to govern.)

Report: Obama was furious after Trump accused him of wiretapping- The Hill reports by Paulina Firozi

President Obama was furious after President Trump fired off tweets accusing him of wiretapping Trump Tower before the presidential election, according to a new report.

An aide to Obama told the Wall Street Journal the former president had decided he would not respond to every one of the his successor's tweets. But people familiar with Obama's thinking told the WSJ he was livid after Trump posted several tweets early Saturday morning making serious accusations.

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump first tweeted on Saturday, without evidence.

An Obama spokesman later responded:

“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” said Kevin Lewis. 

“As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

Trump's allegations have widened a rift between Trump and his predecessor, according to the report, who made an effort to be cordial during the transition.

Trump also reportedly believes that officials loyal to Obama have been behind the leaks coming out of the administration.

Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax Media and a friend of the president, told the Wall Street Journal that “Trump’s people think Obama is at war with them.” (Paranoid Personality Disorder)
(..assigned to individuals who have a pervasive, persistent, and enduring mistrust of others, and a profoundly cynical view of others and the world -American Psychiatric Association, 2013)

He reiterated the idea that allies of president Obama were behind “a lot of the problems.”

“This president has been under siege since Day One from both the press and Obama loyalists and he’s reacting to it,” Ruddy said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that Obama loyalists inside the administration and outside are giving Donald Trump a lot of grief and a lot of problems.”

*History: According to the criteria set forth in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), an individual with paranoid personality disorder has a pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others, interpreting their motives as malevolent. The disorder begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts. 

To justify the diagnosis, individuals must demonstrate at least 4 of the following 7 behaviors, or personality traits: suspicion without enough basis that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her; preoccupation with unjustified doubts regarding the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates; reluctance to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her; reading hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events; persistently bearing grudges, or refusing to forgive insults, injuries, or slights; perceiving attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others, and being quick to react angrily or to counterattack; or having recurrent unjustified suspicions regarding the fidelity of their spouse or sexual partner (DSM-IV-TR).

Swamp gas and swamp crazies equal Trump trash

What do Donald Trump, his followers and swamp gas have in common?  Swamp gas- In some cases there is sufficient heat, fuel and oxygen to allow spontaneous combustion and underground fires to smolder for some considerable time as occurred at a natural reserve in Spain. Such fires can cause surface subsidence presenting an unpredictable physical hazard and as well as environmental changes or damage to the local environment and the ecosystem it supports.

COLUMBUS, D.C. (UPI) — President Barack Obama blamed the rise of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Republicans who have been “feeding their base all kinds of crazy for years.”

Obama, speaking at an Ohio Democratic Party fundraiser Thursday night, said messages through conservatives that include Fox News and Rush Limbaugh (bimbaugh!) built divisiveness and anger, creating an atmosphere that has allowed Trump to prosper.

“This is in the swamp of crazy that has been fed over and over and over and over again,” he said. “If I watched Fox news I wouldn’t vote for me, I understand. If I was listening to Rush Limbaugh (bimbaugh!), I’d say, man this is terrible.”

Obama also had tough words for Republicans who have been pulling back support for Trump after a video surfaced showing Trump using vulgar language and sexual references in a conversation with former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush.

“They don’t get credit for at the very last minute when finally the guy that they nominated and they endorsed and they supported is caught on tape saying things that no decent person would even think, much less say, much less brag about, much less laugh about or joke about, much less act on,” Obama said. “You can’t wait till that happens then say it’s too much.”

We don't have to be environmental scientists to realize the toxicity of swamp gas.  It doesn't take a chemical engineer to balance the equation between swamp gas and swamp crazies.  In fact, swamp gas + swamp crazies = Trump trash.  Let's clean up the political environment and vote to remove the right wing toxins from our nation.  Vote progress.  Support and vote for Democrats led by Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.

Republicans must stop their obstructive ways - vote Democratic in 2016!

Republican obstruction of progressive policies supported by President Obama have (a) repressed the poor (b) prevented health care for many who can't access Medicaid (c) prevented cost of living increases for Social Security (d) blocked dangerous Zika virus prevention and (e) held back improved retirement benefits for military retirees, and (f) did not support increase in the national minimum wage. Americans can't support Republican obstructionism anymore, because the backward policies are preventing the middle class from growing their retirement security and short changing military retirees.  Plus, stopped other initiatives.

The human cost of GOP obstructionism
By Melissa McEwan 
Republicans have worked to obstruct President Obama's agenda at every turn, and this has had devastating consequences for people across America.

Senator Mitch McConnell R-Kenntucky is the grumpy leader of Senate obstructionists

The GOP’s refusal to budge on Judge Merrick Garland is but one brick in a wall of legislative obstruction.

All these things left undone translate into millions of people whose lives have been negatively affected because of the GOP’s intransigence.

In a statement, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) spokesperson Sam Lau made clear the cost to people who depend on their government to get things done:

“It’s simply unconscionable that with Zika infections growing by the day, Republicans insist on playing politics with a public health crisis and will once again support legislation that restricts vital women’s health funding.”

When even a public health crisis cannot move Republicans to act, we are in dangerous times. Prioritizing partisan gamesmanship over the public good is anathema to good governance.

Even when issues have support from a majority of American voters, Republicans won’t budge. They long ago abandoned the idea of doing the will of the people, if that would require cooperation with President Obama and Democrats. (And please inlcude prevention of gun violence!)

Meredith Kelly of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wonders: “After repeated failures to deal with the Zika crisis, close the terror loophole, update the Voting Rights Act or pass a budget, what exactly do Republicans think makes their record so attractive to voters?”

Especially when that record doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Failing for 197 days and counting to approve emergency funding to fight Zika isn’t just a line item on an elected official’s record. It’s now more than 2,700 confirmed cases of Zika in the U.S.—2,700 people with Zika.

Failing to even consider The Families of Flint Act, despite the fact that “before Congress went on recess in July, nearly 70 Members of Congress spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives about the need to stay in Washington and pass legislation to help Flint,” isn’t just another line item. It’s leaving an entire city of people without access to clean water from their taps.

Failing to raise the federal minimum wage isn’t just another line item either. It’s leaving 3 million workers, who are working for the current federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour or less, in the untenable situation in which they cannot support themselves doing full time work.

Behind each of these issues are real people who are suffering the very real consequences of the GOP’s refusal to act.

This is obstructionism for obstructionism’s sake, with people getting badly hurt in the process.

It doesn’t need to be this way. Americans can fix the US Congress and prevent obstructionism. We must vote in 2016 to put all  Republicans out of office!

April is alcohol awareness month - prevention, treatment and recovery

Advocacy Groups, Lawmakers Redouble Efforts to Make Drug Abuse a Key Campaign 2016 Campaign Issue

It's April, and time to recongize Alcohol Awareness Month.

Communities are taking on important prevention initiatives
like National Alcohol Screening Day.

President Obama discusses the ugency of druge and alcohol prevention, treatment and recovery

In 2016, it's important that addiction prevention, treatment and recovery are on the top of the minds of the presidential candidates - throughout the political campaigns and into the next presidency.

How will we keep the discussion going? In fact, the Wall Street Journal wrote about advocacy and why it's so important for addiction treatment providers speak to the candidates wherever they are about the issues that matter most.

While not all of us might have the opportunity to sit face-to-face with the political candidates, we do have an opportunity to sit down with the decision makers for our states and districts whenever we meet them in our state capitals or in Washington DC. This year Congress will review a number of appropriations and bills that may affect addictions work and how agencies are paid for prevention, treatment and recovery services.

ATLANTA—New Hampshire is a state devastated by heroin and painkiller overdose deaths. Political candidates of both parties spoke regularly about addiction during the presidential primary election, offering policy proposals and telling personal stories of how drug abuse touched their lives. But, after the balloting on Feb. 9, the issue began to recede from the campaign trail.

Now, elected officials and advocacy groups are redoubling efforts to make substance abuse a key topic for the duration of the 2016 race. They received a boost from President Barack Obama’s appearance at the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta, on Tuesday, when he detailed the administration’s new steps to combat the opioid epidemic and called on lawmakers to do more.

“The breadth of the problem is so demanding that candidates for president have put the issue on their front burner,” said Republican Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky, who launched Operation Unite, the group that organizes the summit. “We need a national program, a campaign if you will, that comprehensively deals with the problem.”

A recent nationwide poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 62% of respondents said drug use is a serious problem in their community and 68% said not enough was being done to improve substance-abuse treatment. 

Around one-third said prescription painkillers and heroin—which caused more than 28,000 overdose deaths in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—are an extremely or very serious problem in their community.

Groups around the U.S. that work on addiction-related issues are arranging forums in primary and battleground states to press candidates to back up their expressions of compassion with specific policy recommendations. Such events have taken place in states including Iowa, New Hampshire, Kentucky and West Virginia, said Carol McDaid, principal at Capitol Decisions, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., that works on addiction and mental health issues.

The National Council for Behavioral Health, which represents addiction-treatment providers, is urging candidates to address four points, including expanded access to treatment programs and passage of an opioid-addiction bill that has cleared the Senate and is awaiting action in the House. “We encouraged our members to talk to candidates wherever they might be,” said Becky Vaughn, vice president of addictions for the organization.

The substance-abuse issue is drawing attention in numerous Senate and House races around the country as well, including in states where the GOP seat is seen as vulnerable. In Ohio, which also has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman and Democrat Ted Strickland, the former governor, have highlighted the subject. So, too, have Sen. Pat Toomey, the Republican incumbent in Pennsylvania, and his potential opponent, Democrat Joe Sestak.

In New Hampshire, a political nonprofit, One Nation, has sought to bolster Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s* re-election bid in part by running an ad highlighting her work on legislation to fight the opioid problem.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would expand availability of the opioid-reversal drug naloxone and strengthen databases used to track prescriptions, among other things. It passed with near-unanimous support, including that of Ms. Ayotte and Mr. Portman, who sponsored the measure. Presidential candidates Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) missed the vote.

Rep. Frank Guinta, a New Hampshire Republican and member of the House congressional caucus on prescription drug abuse, said addiction continually comes up in stops around the state. Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, he called on the presidential candidates to propose specific plans to take on the heroin and painkiller problem. 

He later wrote an editorial for a South Carolina paper urging voters there to continue imploring candidates on the subject.

“This has now become the single most-important issue for me,” Mr. Guinta said. “We need to continue that pressure.”

Substance abuse could also figure prominently in battleground states grappling with serious opioid-addiction problems once the contest moves to the general-election phase. Chief among them is Ohio, where 1,988 people died of opioid-related overdoses in 2014. Not only is the state closely contested in presidential elections, but it also is hosting the GOP convention in July.

In Arizona, another potential battleground, Republican Rep. Paul Gosar said the drug issue comes up frequently in discussions of border security—since so much heroin is trafficked through the state from Mexico—and veteran affairs, because many former military personnel wind up hooked on prescription drugs. “Overdoses are a critical issue in my district,” he said.

Ms. McDaid, of Capitol Decisions, said much of the discussion in the addiction-treatment community at the moment centers on how to capitalize on the attention Mr. Obama has focused on the opioid epidemic. “It’s the shot in the arm that we needed,” she said. “We don’t want to have this as a one-off—the president comes and there’s media coverage for three days, and then everybody goes away.”

62% of respondents who responded to a recent nationwide poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that drug use is a serious problem in their community and 68% said not enough was being done to improve substance-abuse treatment. 

Around one-third said prescription painkillers and heroin—which caused more than 28,000 overdose deaths in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—are an extremely or very serious problem in their community.

Groups around the U.S. that work on addiction-related issues are arranging forums in primary and battleground states to press candidates to back up their expressions of compassion with specific policy recommendations. Such events have taken place in states including Iowa, New Hampshire, Kentucky and West Virginia, said Carol McDaid, principal at Capitol Decisions, a lobbying firm in Washington, D.C., that works on addiction and mental health issues.

The National Council for Behavioral Health, which represents addiction-treatment providers, is urging candidates to address four points, including expanded access to treatment programs and passage of an opioid-addiction bill that has cleared the Senate and is awaiting action in the House. “We encouraged our members to talk to candidates wherever they might be,” said Becky Vaughn, vice president of addictions for the organization.

The substance-abuse issue is drawing attention in numerous Senate and House races around the country as well, including in states where the GOP seat is seen as vulnerable. In Ohio, which also has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman and Democrat Ted Strickland, the former governor, have highlighted the subject. So, too, have Sen. Pat Toomey, the Republican incumbent in Pennsylvania, and his potential opponent, Democrat Joe Sestak.

In New Hampshire, a political nonprofit, One Nation, has sought to bolster Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s re-election bid in part by running an ad highlighting her work on legislation to fight the opioid problem.

The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act would expand availability of the opioid-reversal drug naloxone and strengthen databases used to track prescriptions, among other things. It passed with near-unanimous support, including that of Ms. Ayotte and Mr. Portman, who sponsored the measure. Presidential candidates Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) missed the vote.

Rep. Frank Guinta, a New Hampshire Republican and member of the House congressional caucus on prescription drug abuse, said addiction continually comes up in stops around the state. Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, he called on the presidential candidates to propose specific plans to take on the heroin and painkiller problem. He later wrote an editorial for a South Carolina paper urging voters there to continue imploring candidates on the subject.

“This has now become the single most-important issue for me,” Mr. Guinta said. “We need to continue that pressure.”

Substance abuse could also figure prominently in battleground states grappling with serious opioid-addiction problems once the contest moves to the general-election phase. Chief among them is Ohio, where 1,988 people died of opioid-related overdoses in 2014. Not only is the state closely contested in presidential elections, but it also is hosting the GOP convention in July.

In Arizona, another potential battleground, Republican Rep. Paul Gosar said the drug issue comes up frequently in discussions of border security—since so much heroin is trafficked through the state from Mexico—and veteran affairs, because many former military personnel wind up hooked on prescription drugs. “Overdoses are a critical issue in my district,” he said.

Ms. McDaid, of Capitol Decisions, said much of the discussion in the addiction-treatment community at the moment centers on how to capitalize on the attention Mr. Obama has focused on the opioid epidemic. “It’s the shot in the arm that we needed,” she said. “We don’t want to have this as a one-off—the president comes and there’s media coverage for three days, and then everybody goes away.”

* Senator Kelly Ayotte certainly has a compelling campaign issue when she talks about opioid abuse and related deaths, but she doesn't take a similar hard stand against the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the prevention of morbities and moratlities caused by gun violence.

April is the time of year when all of us must write to public policy leaders, to continue to put pressure on them, to pass legislation to prevent, treat and support recovery for substance abuse victims.

Republicans cut mental health programs then advocate against prescription drugs

It makes no sense for Republicans to advocate against prescription drugs to treat chronic pain conditions, just because they want to wage a war against addiction. Instead, Republicans should take a big picture approach and advocate for strong mental health care. to combat the root causes for addictionn and support substance abuse treatment.

Mental illness treatment continues to experience cuts to reimbursement, while addiction to prescription medications are being blamed on prescribers and patients, who need medication to treat chronic pain.  Republicans should take a big picture approach to mental illness and addiction disorders and stop blaming others for their failed social welfare policies.

The Hill reports:
Obama dares GOP for mental health reforms

President Obama is pressuring congressional Republicans to make good on their promise to fix the nation’s broken mental health system, which the GOP has frequently blamed for gun violence.

As part of his wide-reaching efforts to rein in gun violence, Obama on Tuesday called for a half-billion dollars in new mental health spending, taunting the GOP on their failure to pass a mental health reform bill since pledging to do so in 2013.

“For those in Congress who so often rush to blame mental illness for mass shootings as a way of avoiding action on guns, here’s your chance to support these efforts. Put your money where your mouth is,” Obama said during an emotional speech at the White House.

Unlike his other proposals, which will be made through executive actions, the $500 million allocation must come from Congress — something that Obama said Republicans should be feel obligated to support.

In a briefing after the speech, White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated that he doesn’t expect the GOP to support the funding request because the party is unwilling to support the president’s health efforts generally.

“It’s hard to take seriously [Republican] claims that they’re actually interested in ensuring that people have access to mental healthcare,” Earnest said.

“If they are actually willing to work seriously with the administration to invest $500 million in expanding access to mental healthcare, I’m happy to be proved wrong,” he said.

The remarks intend to push congressional Republicans who have pledged to strengthen the mental health system as an alternative to new restrictions on guns, but have been unable to coalesce around a plan.

GOP leaders first pledged to bolster the mental health system in 2013, shortly after the shooting in Newtown, Conn. Since then, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) has struggled to gain widespread support for his mental health bill, though it has gained momentum in recent months.

Murphy’s office delivered a sharp rebuke of Obama's funding proposal in a statement Tuesday.

"The federal government spends billions of dollars on mental health programs that are uncoordinated, lack oversight, and simply don’t work," Murphy's statement reads.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who leads the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also released a statement, disputing the Obama administration's claims that Republicans have ignored the issue.

“Mental health reform has been and continues to be a priority for 2016," Upton wrote in a statement. "We’ve been on the case to reform our mental health system, and we welcome the president to the discussion."

Oh paaaleeeze.....as America's embarrassing homeless problem persists and gun violence reoccurs with frightening regularity, it is evident that little is being accomplished to improve the plight of the mentally ill.  

Nevertheless, Republicans are now hypocritically waging a war on opioid addiction by blaming prescription drugs on the growing problem of dependency and substance abuse.  

Rather than blame people, like the prescribers and the patients, the Republicans should, instead, apply more energy, money  and public resources on fixing the nation's broken mental health system.  This fix would obviously include addiction disorders.

Patients and prescribers are not the root cause of mental illness.  Likewise, they  are not the cause of the addiction problems.

Rather, Republican irresponsible social welfare policies have failed the American people and, as a result, the mentally ill are suffering.

Republicans have no plan for America- they just whine

It's sad to read the daily political reports about how the Republicans are critical of everything, but unwilling to solve anything.  

Now, Republicans are complaining about President Obama being in Cuba, attending an international baseball game, when the American Tampa FL team was playing the Cubans. Instead, the Republicans, the wanna-be presidents, think President Obama should've returned to Washington DC. Yet, when Republicans complain about where President Obama was while Brussels was attacked, they have no idea about what President Obama would do if he returned to Washington DC? It's plainly stupid to criticize President Obama without offering any constructive advice. Ted Cruz whines, Rudy Guilini pontificates, but neither offers a plan for improving the Brussels crises.

In fact, President Obama was building an important relationship with our Cuban neighbors, a mere 90 miles from Key West, Florida. Besides, right wing Republicans go into seizures about the possibility of closing the Guantanamo prison where suspected terrorists are being held for years, without trials. Yet, Republicans are appalled because President Obama wants to build relationships with Cuba that will improve our potential to maintain the base located on Cuban property. 

Meanwhile, the terrible Brussels attacks were conducted by terrorists who were, apparently, hiding in plain view of their neighbors. Do Republicans think President Obama can fix the Belgian security system? It certainly makes more sense for President Obama to fix what he has the power to repair- meaning, the US-Cuban international relationship.  

Rudy Giuliani: Obama should have cut Cuba trip short because Brussels was his ‘Pearl Harbor’-OMG: Brussels was certainly not Pearl Harbor. Indeed, does Guiliani know Pearl Harbor is in Hawaii?

Somehow, the Belgians have to figure out how their security was unable to find known terrorists living right under their noses in downtown Brussels. President Obama cannot help them.

Terrorists intend for their horror to disrupt people's lives. Therefore, none of us can let them have their heinous way.  

President Obama made the perfect decision to stay in Cuba while his international team supports European efforts to destroy evil ISIS, the radical Islamic caliphate that's living in their midst, among the population, in plain site.

Flint Michigan - Governor Snyder inability to govern

Can't imagine this! Unbelievable, but Flint Michigan people are still being sent water bills, in spite of having been exposed to lead poisoning from polluted water pipes. There's no anecdote for lead poisoning!  In fact, the Flint Water Company (whatever its name is) should be paying reparations to the victims of the lead poisoning.Flint Michigan is evidence of how cost cutting to save on property taxes and reduce the expenses related to infrastructure mainetnance have dire consequences. As a result of Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder's action to appoint a municipal manager for Flint, Michigan, the cost cutting put in place by his appointee, via creating a cheaper water source for the city, caused irreversable damage to those exposed to lead pollution in corroded plumbing pipes, that were used to transport the water from the Flint River.  

In other words, all the children who drank the lead poisoned Flint River water in Michigan are now exposed to "lead poinsining" for which there are plenty of long term health consequences and no known anecdote.  

Rather than protect Flint Michigan from the growing lead poisoning problem, Repuublican Governor Snyder, isntead, called for a study of the issue. Even the Michigan Attorney General was just thinking about what to do. Moreover, it's being reported that Flint Michigan residents are receiving water shut off notices for not paying their bills, even when the source of the lead continues to poison the people!

Now, President Obama upstaged Governor Snyder's incompetence. President Obama declared the situation to be a disaster, in need of financial aid. Declaring the situation as elibible for federal disasster assistance also opens the door to reparations for lead poisoning victims. 

In the long run, Repbulican cost cutting is repsonsible for Flint's public health disaster. For some unknown reason, Republicans simply can't understand how cutting taxes leads to dire consequences. Of course, if the leaked lead in the Flint water supply could somehow be tied to homeland security, the issue would be a political disaster instead of a public health emergency. Rather than calling for a study of the issue, Govenror Snyder would be calling for a political uprising against the administraton for lack of dilignence against terrorism.  

Republcians are obviously incapable of governming. Sadly, the lead poisined residents of Flint Michigan will be the visual evidence of the Republican lack of compassion and the party's disregard for public safety, for the sake of saving on property taxes. In the long run, the people of Michigan will pay for this damage for many generations with both real money and their damaged public relations. 

Flint River in Michigan

Pretty pictures of the Flint River will be upstaged by negativity. Instead, the scenic water way the river once was will be a decades long visual reminder about Govern Snyder's inability to govern.

Iranian prisioners released "wheels up!" going home

Jason Rezaian
Amir Hekmati
Saeed Abeedini
Matthew Trevithick 
Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari
Released!

Ali Rezaian, brother of Washington Post Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian (shown in picture frame), talks about his brother's imprisonment in Iran while testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on June 2, 2015. Iranian media outlets are reporting that Rezaian has been released.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Republicans are waking up this Sunday morning in Janaury, without anything new to increase fear in their campaign to upstage the successful administration of President Barack Obama.  
Iran frees Post reporter, 4 other Americans, officials say, reports The Washington Post

After decades of animosity, international negotiations with the once dangerous Iranian nation have now been overcome and American prisioners are in the air, flying to their long prayed for freedom in Switerzerland. This is an historic juncture for Iran, for the US and for the future stabilityof the Middle East. "Wheel's up!" was the clarion call when the American prisioners were finally in flight.

Republicans should acknowledge this accomplishment! Their fear campaign to accumulate attention for their 2016 presidential campaign cannot continue.  

VIENNA (Austria- WP report) — The United States and Iran moved into a new era of international relations Saturday, with the implementation of a landmark agreement on Iran’s nuclear program on a drama-filled day that also saw the release of imprisoned Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and four other Americans.
(CNN- reports) Iran has freed four U.S. prisoners as part of a prisoner swap, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, senior U.S. administration officials said Saturday, confirming reports first published in Iranian media.

A fifth man -- described as a recently detained student named Matthew Trevithick -- was separately released, U.S. officials said.

The announcement comes on a day when the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, announced Iran is in compliance with a July deal to restrict its nuclear program. As a result, at least some international economic sanctions against Iran were lifted.

As part of the deal, Iran agreed to release of Rezaian, Hekmati, Abedini and a fourth detainee identified by U.S. officials as Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari in exchange for clemency for seven Iranians indicted or imprisoned in the United States for sanctions violations, the officials confirmed.  (6 of the 7 are dual citizens.)

It's impossible to understand how Republicans can continue to harp on negativity without offering their ideas for creating a more progressive Americaa. Rather, the grumpy Republicans (Grumpy Obstructionist Party) cotninues to stoke fear, rather than optimism.  

Congratulations to the successful presidential administrationof President Barack Obama #POTUS44

After seven successful years of President Obama's administration, where leadership has withstood overwhelming obstructioism, it's time for Republicans to stop running against him. Rather, Americans must demand for Republicans to explain how they can provide even better leadership for the future. If they can.

Guns- Executive Action needed to protect Second Amendment for law abiding Americans

President Obama must act to prevent gun violence in America. To talk about gun violence but do nothing to end the public health dangers of the growing numbers of morbid incidents, is irresponsible leadership. Moreover, prevention measures at amy level of regulation will protect American from those who seek to abuse Second Amendment rights. In other words, if ordinary people can buy bigger guns than law enforcement personnel own, then terrorists and those intent on sedition can do likewise.

Many Americans become paraoid about loosing their Second Amendment rights to own guns, as though weapons are essential to their basic survival. Meanwhile, one gun doesn't satisfy those who make a point of having one to wear and others to display, like trophies. Regardless of how many guns a person owns, the physicial reality is that only one gun with one bullet is required to kill any target, be it human, or otherwise. 

On the other hand, if oridnary people are permitted to buy the same, or even more deadly kinds of armament, as the military or law enforcement (as is now the case), the reality is that people of evil intent will use Second Amerndment rights to destroy the very government that allows gun ownership, in the  first place.

Therefore, using public safety logic, it makes perfect sense to protect the rights of people to own guns by creating barriers against those who will misuse the privilege to create carnage. 

It's a counterintuitive argument, ie "protect Second Amerndment rights by regulating guns", but the logic is a win-win. Prevent terrorists, and those intent on murder or sedition from using guns to destroy our basiic right to life, liberty  and the pursuit of happiness.

It sounds counter intuitive but to protect 2nd Amendment rights to own guns means to regulate who is athorized to buy them. It's becoming a national security issue.

It certainly  makes sense to me. Hopefully, President Obama will take executive action to prevent the growth of gun violent carnage before his last State of the  Union address coming up in Janaury.

I suspect Americans will be pleased to learn about the President's intention to use Executive Action to prevent growing gun violence. After all, if guns were "germs", like influenza or ebola, even  the US Congress would demand a public health response. It's difficult to understand how Second Amendment zealots don't understand that guns kill,, just like untreated germs. Therefore, unregulated guns must be treated like a public health danger. Otherwise, as deaths by gun vilence grow, the ownership of deadly weapons could destroy the very "right" the Second Amendment advocates are trying to protect. 

CNN reprots By Jim Acosta and Kevin Liptak:

President Barack Obama is expected to announce in the coming days a new executive action with the goal of expanding background checks on gun sales, people familiar with White House planning said.

Described as "imminent," the set of executive actions would fulfill a promise by the President to take further unilateral steps the White House says could help curb gun deaths.

Plans for the action are not yet complete, and those familiar with the process warn that unforeseen circumstances could delay an announcement. But gun control advocates are expecting the new actions to be revealed next week, ahead of Obama's annual State of the Union address, set for January 12.

Although the White House wouldn't comment directly on the exact timing or content of Obama's executive orders, the spokesman Eric Schultz said that the President expected a set of recommendations on unilateral action to arrive at the beginning of the year.

He said Obama was "expressing urgency" for a list of steps he can take on his own after high-profile incidents of gun violence at the end of this year.

"It is complicated. That's why it's taken some time for our policy folks, our lawyers, and our expects to work through this and see what's possible," Schultz said.

A spokeswoman for the (politically powerful) National Rifle Association (NRA) said the group had no comment. Previously, the gun rights group told CNN that Obama's "gun control agenda was rejected by Congress. Now, he's doing what he always does when he doesn't get his way, defying the will of the people and using executive action." (Excuse me???? Listen up NRA! It's not the will of the American people to see mass killings on nearly a monthly basis, murders are consuming our national identity and allowing terrorists to buy guns!)

The group said at the time that Obama had his "wish list of gun control," in California but "it didn't prevent the San Bernardino attack."

"The fact is, the President's gun control agenda will only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their right to self-defense," NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker.

Gun control advocates and White House officials say the focus remains on the so-called "gun show loophole," which allows certain sellers of guns -- at gun shows and elsewhere -- to avoid conducting background checks before making sales.

Months after the Newtown, Connecticut elementary school massacre that claimed 26 victims, the then-Democratic majority Senate rejected a similar proposal.

Congress would still need to act in order to make background checks fully universal. But advocates and administration lawyers have struck upon a provision in the law that could allow for Obama to expand the background check requirement to additional sellers.

Federal law currently requires all individuals "engaged in the business" of selling guns to obtain a license and conduct background checks on buyers. But others who only make occasional sales or are selling firearms from a personal collection are exempted from the background check requirement.

Gun control advocates say Obama could take action himself by issuing a regulation that provides expanded guidance on who falls under the "in the business" standard.

One group, the Michael Bloomberg-helmed Everytown for Gun Safety, has provided recommendations to the White House that include creating a test for assessing who must become licensed to continue selling guns. Factors would include volume and speed of sales, and whether or not the seller relies on advertising to sell guns.

The group also recommended Obama define a gun in a "personal collection" as having been in the seller's possession for at least a year.

Before leaving for his winter vacation in Hawaii, Obama met with Bloomberg at the White House to discuss gun control.

Aside from the background check provision, people familiar with Obama's plans say his new gun control announcement will include new funding for government agencies to better enforce existing gun laws.

CNN's Chris Frates and Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.