Trump Distracting Bullshit (DBS)

Trump Distracting Bullshit (DBS)

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-to-do-in-his-first-100-days

By: Vatic Clerk
Date: 2016-11-10

Trump provided his action plan for the first 100-days. I'll start by mocking his preamble that say [his plan] "begins with restoring honesty, accountability and change to Washington."

Trump was dishonest about so many things on the campaign trial -- simple shit that was easy to expose --, so that one is out the window. He hasn't held himself accountable for his treatment of women, employees, or contractors. If his plans benefit the oligarchy, then it is hardly a change to Washington.

Of his six measures to "clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC":

"* FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;"

The president doesn't have a constitutional role in the amendment process. Amendments require 2/3 super majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives before it goes to the States that require ratification by three-fourths of them. It is hardly in the best interests of individual Congress members, therefore making this first item "distracting bull shit" (DBS) to appease the masses.

"* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);"

Why would the military be exempt from reduction by attrition? The US spends more on the military than the next eight (8) nations combined. The military industrial complex (MIC) is the largest single budget item and is greater than all other expenditures. So all other non-MIC agencies that provide needed services at a fraction of the expense take a hit, while the MIC keeps its status quo.

"* THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;"

So when Moses was presenting the commandments one at a time, he gets to number 9 when the trumpity masses balk and say "for every new commandment, two existing commandments must be eliminated."

Regulations are established, remain, or are eliminated on their own merits, and shouldn't be arbitrarily tied to one another. It effectively states that a new regulation must justify not only its own existence but also the killing of two other regulations: three hurdles to cross just to get one beneficial piece of legislation passed.

"* FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;"

Of course, nothing is mentioned about lobbyists entering government service. Nothing is mentioned about the revolving door between industry and government. DBS.

"* FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;"

The AIPIC and the Israeli lobby won't let this fly. What about all of the dual Israeli citizens in government already?

"* SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections."

More DBS.

"On the same day, I will begin taking the following 7 actions to protect American workers:"

"* FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205"

Renegotiated or withdraw, other countries in NAFTA get screwed and won't be too happy about. The Mexicans won't be able to pay for the fucking wall.

"* SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership"

Probably a good thing.

"* THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator"

Unnecessary sabor-rattling that just might piss them off.

"* FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately"

Wars are not governed by international law, otherwise we wouldn't have them. War is the tool of American commerce.

"* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars' worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal."

The public doesn't need pesky restrictions that keep our drinking water clean, our air breathable, our land fertile, or our food healthy. The public will be happy drinking, eating, and breathing tiny profit-sharing bonuses from those industries.

"* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward"

Trump is notorious for his asides that are spoken as if they are truths accepted by all. The Keystone Pipeline is not vital.

"* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure"

Why not cancel billions in payments to the MIC? To Israel? Why does fixing water and environmental infrastructure have to be tied to UN efforts to study and propose solutions to climate change?

"Additionally, on the first day, I will take the following five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law:"

"* FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama"

DBS. If the executive action was unconstitutional, the SCOTUS will take care of it. Just to label something "unconstitutional" does not make it so.

"* SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States"

With no fear of the Republicans blocking or stonewalling the nominating process... How clever.

"* THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities"

According to Wikipedia: A sanctuary city is a city in the United States or Canada that adopts local policies designed to not prosecute people solely for being an undocumented individual in the country in which they are currently living.

Trump's proposal is such a great way to show how "Christian" our nation is (not). How is federal funding to a city related?

"* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won't take them back"

Because there is no comma between "criminal" and "illegal", this doesn't mean that immigrants who committed crimes (other than being undocumented) are deported. It means the fact that they are undocumented makes them criminals subject to deportation. And when their countries won't take them back, we punish those from those countries who do try to go through the proper channels with visa (and might be highly qualified) etc. by arbitrarily saying nobody from that country is welcome.

DBS red meat. Unconstitutional as well.

"* FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting."

DBS. If the US wasn't bombing the shit out of those regions and creating the terror mentioned, it wouldn't be generating as many terrorists. Regardless, terrorists aren't going to go through the arduous vetting process already in place to come to our country.

"Next, I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration:"

"Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate."

Reduction in tax brackets from 7 to 3 does not benefit the middle class unless the 2 and 3 brackets are set at really high limits.

The 35% tax cut is DBS and blinding people with math. The effective taxes for each tax bracket (TB) become:

25% TB => [25%(1-35%)]=16.25%
28% TB => [25%(1-35%)]=18.2%
33% TB => [25%(1-35%)]=21.45%

In other words, families would have a higher effective tax rate than businesses.

Legislation that is so pro-business is hardly a change in Washington.

"End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free."

Of course, there is always the trick for global companies to lay off just enough workers to keep their US employee numbers at a level to qualify them as being a US corporation, while relocating work and employing people in other countries, all under the same global company name.

"American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral."

DBS.

"School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable."

And thus, the public school system dies.

2 and 4-year college becomes more affordable because it is vocational and creates more workers for the machinery.

"Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications."

The Affordable Care Act is more about getting insurance rather than being denied for pre-existing conditions. A Health Savings account is something that workers pay into, but doesn't protect someone with pre-existing conditions. They'd end up paying full price.

Pharmaceutical companies who answer to majority shareholders who are motivated by quarterly profits are going to make sure their new drugs are safe once the FDA is out of their hair in making them prove they are safe.

"Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families."

"End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first."

The wall is a jobs creation program for all of the new students at vocational schools from above.

As if our prisons aren't over-populated (with small-time, non-violent drug offenders) already.

The reality is that the Constitution outlaws slavery except for criminals, hence the for-profit prison system. Now that cannabis is becoming legal, many of the for-profit prision "slaves" get released, but will be replaced by immigrants.

"Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars."

Does that include dismantling criminal gangs known as "police officers" who brutalize citizens? Does it include investigating the police and putting behind bars?

"Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values"

What exactly in our military needs to be re-built? Trump must be talking about re-stocking the bombs and drones we're expending in fighting multiple wars in foreign countries that create terrorists.

If Trump can explain what our values are (without using the word "Christian" and "unregulated capitalism"), shouldn't be an issue with anyone seeking entry into the US. However, he'll have to explain how drone bombings, torture, rendition, indefinite detention, prison slavery (soon of non-citizens), etc. fits into our values.

"Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics."

DBS. Trump might have a case if he talked specifically about repealing Citizens United, if he talked about publicly funded elections, instant-run-off (or voter preference) elections, ...

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