2016 August 24^thBottom of Form

Donald Trump’s physician has released a curious medical report on “The Donald.” The report is curious because the phrasing is not in the language normally used by physicians. Here is Doctor Sanjay Gupta’s deconstruction of this curiosity:

Gupta noted that the letter included things a doctor would never say; and it also used incorrect medical terminology. Whether you’re a doctor or not, that degree of hyperbole [claiming Trump would be the healthiest president ever] and these types of words being used is very unusual. People don’t write like that, that this is ‘the healthiest ever.’ First of all, they couldn’t substantiate. How do you know that someone is the healthiest ever? There’s all sorts of language with that: “strength and stamina are extraordinary.” What does that mean exactly?

“Astonishingly excellent” was another term that was used. These just aren’t terms that are used by the medical community. So I don’t know where they come from.

It says they showed only positive results. Now it’s funny in medicine, because when something is good we say it’s a negative result. Meaning, that it did not appear when we did an exam. Positive results actually means quite the opposite. Calling things “test scores” instead of results. His PSA “test score” was this, as if it was the SAT exam instead of a blood test. It’s a strange letter that’s absurd to look at it on face value.

Could Trump have written this himself? He risked trouble once before by speaking in a language with which he wasn’t familiar; remember “two” Corinthians?

Moving along to another con artist, we have Cal Thomas writing a column for the morning paper. Cal is trying to legitimize the right wing’s new assault on poor people’s franchise.  Why are we not surprised?

The ham-handed analogies Thomas tries to make are surprising. He tells us that the photo IDs now required to vote are also required for many other privileges. You need a photo ID to register in a hotel, buy alcohol if you are under age 25, open a bank account, buy a gun and on and on. His source, The Washington Examiner, lists all of 25 occasions for which a photo ID is presumably required.

There are two problems with the “Examiner’s” list: First, at least one purchase they claim requires a photo ID does not. In most states, buying a shotgun requires only money. If you want to buy a machine gun, that is a very different matter and you’ll need much more than a photo ID.

Nothing in the constitution guarantees your right to rent a hotel room or open a bank account, both of which need a photo ID, but the constitution does guarantee your right to vote. (With some restrictions imposed by the states on convicted felons.) Some states have been trying to get around the 15^th Amendment guaranteeing blacks the right to vote for years. There once was a poll tax; that was declared unconstitutional years ago and now some states have replaced it with the “photo ID” requirement. That won’t work either but will the right wing keep trying? You betcha.