Gleichschaltung!
Dec 18, 2017 23:40:12 #
AUGUST
North Korea: In August, the U.S. initiated a resolution in the U.N. Security Council establishing sanctions that would cut North Korea’s export revenue by a third. Another resolution passed Sept. 11 with new sanctions.
North Korea: The U.S. implemented its own sanctions in August on 16 Chinese and Russian individuals and entities for conducting business with North Korea.
Business optimism: In August, the National Federation of Independent Business said its Small-Business Optimism Index reached 105.3, the highest since 2006 and an 11 percent jump since the week before Trump was elected. The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index said small business owners are the most optimistic since July 2007. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort measure reached a 16-year high, with current views of the economy also reaching a 16-year high. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose in July to near a 16 year high, with consumers short-term outlook improving.
Job growth: While the new administration certainly can’t take all of the credit – and the government itself doesn’t create jobs – employers make hiring decisions based on the long-term economic outlook, and the president has a great deal to do with that. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported nearly 1.3 million new jobs were created during Trump’s first 200 days. Meanwhile, Obama, in his first six months, saw the loss of more than 4.1 million jobs in his first 200 days. The bureau said 6,000 construction jobs were added in July for a total of 82,000 since January. In addition, 16,000 manufacturing jobs were added in July, a total of 70,000 since January. The labor-force participation rate increased to 62.9 percent in July. In June, there were 6 million job openings in the U.S., one of the highest levels recorded.
U.S. manufacturing: During Trump’s first six months, the manufacturing index was the highest it had been since 1983 under President Reagan. The National Association of Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey showed the highest two-quarter average, of 91.4 percent, for manufacturing optimism in the survey’s 20-year history. The Institute for Supply Management reported its June barometer of manufacturing rose to 57.8, the fastest pace in three years.
China trade: The president signed an order in August to investigate Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property. The IP Commission Report estimates that the annual cost to the United States economy from IP theft could be as high as $600 billion, with China as the major contributor.
Infrastructure: The Trump administration aims to dramatically reduce permitting time for projects from 10 years to two years, spurring investment and job creation.
Argentina trade: The U.S. struck a deal in August to export pork to Argentina that will allow U.S. pork to enter the Argentine market for the first time since 1992, a potential $10 million a year market for American producers.
Trade: More than $2 billion in fines were assessed to China and Canada in August for illegal trade practices.
Immigration: DHS in August ended the Central American Minors Parole Program that had allowed certain minors from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to enter the U.S.
Immigration: A report in August said that due to reforms and additional hirings of immigration judges, the number of deportation orders increased by nearly 28 percent compared to the same period of time in 2016.
Immigration: In August, the government also said that of the 42,000 illegal immigrants in federal prisons, nearly all of them either had deportation orders or were being investigated for possible deportation.
Immigration: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in August denied requests from employers to import cheap foreign labor into the U.S. for high-skilled jobs if the employers could not explain why they wanted to pay a lower wage for such work.
Military: Trump elevated the Department of Defense’s Cyber Command to the status of Unified Combatant Command in August, demonstrating an increased focus on cyber security.
Military: In August, Trump directed the military not to move forward with a controversial Obama-era mandate to allow, for the first time, transgender individuals to be recruited into the armed forces.
Islamic jihad: In August, Trump presented in an address to the nation a new military strategy that put Pakistan on notice for supporting jihadists and warned Kabul it would no longer receive a “blank check,” moving the U.S. away from the Bush-era policy of “nation-building” and focusing on “killing terrorists.”
Veterans Administration reform: President Trump signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act in August, streamlining the lengthy process that veterans undergo when appealing disability benefits claims with the VA. More than 470,000 veterans are awaiting decisions regarding their appeals. The Veterans Affairs administration is the first agency to post information on employee disciplinary action online.
Veterans Administration reform: The president signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act in August, which provides educational benefits to veterans, service members and their family members, including tuition, fees, books, housing and other additional costs.
Government reform: The president signed an executive order in August projected to save billions of dollars by streamlining and expediting the permitting process for infrastructure projects. The order establishes a two-year goal for the federal government to process all of the actions required by federal law for the environmental reviews and permits of major infrastructure projects.
Welfare reform: In August, the Department of Health and Human Services rescinded an Obama-era directive that had allowed states to request a waiver to ignore work requirements for the poor in order to receive welfare.
Welfare reform: In August, more than 1.1 million fewer Americans were on food stamps under President Trump, compared to the Obama administration.
Law enforcement: In August, the DOJ launched an opioid fraud and abuse unit to fight opioid prescription abuses.
Second Amendment: In August, the Justice Department terminated Operation Choke Point, an Obama program encouraging banks not to do business with “high risk” businesses, which was used to target gun dealers.
JULY
Gross Domestic Product: GDP in the second quarter of the year increased by 2.6 percent, more than doubling the first quarter performance.
Unemployment: The jobless rate decreased from 4.8 percent to 4.4 percent from January through June 2017. In contrast, during the first six months of 2009, Obama’s first year in office, the rate increased from 7.8 percent to 9.5 percent.
Oil drilling on federal lands: In July, Trump signed an order boosting oil and gas development on federal lands.
Coal power: In July, President Trump kept his campaign promise to coal miners and rolled back the previous administration’s “Stream Protection Rule,” which targeted the industry with estimated costs of at least $81 million a year.
Made in USA: Trump has convinced companies such as Ford, Chrysler and Carrier Air Conditioners to manufacture and build plants in the United States. At the White House, Corning announced with the president it was investing $500 million in new U.S. production, creating 1,000 new jobs. Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, which makes the iPhone, announced in July it was investing $10 billion in Wisconsin to build a factory that will employ 3,000 workers directly and up to 22,000 workers indirectly.
Disarming jihad: In July, the Trump administration ended a CIA program to arm “moderate” Syrian rebels after previous efforts of its kind were shown to have aided Islamic jihadists, including the terrorists who carried out the disastrous Benghazi attack in which four Americans, including the ambassador, were killed.
Islamic jihad: After months of heavy fighting, Iraqi coalition forces finally pushed ISIS fighters out of Mosul in early July. The U.S. is also supporting efforts to rid the Philippines of ISIS cells.
Government reform: Trump created the Office of American Innovation in July to streamline and improve the government for future generations.
Government reform: Trump signed an executive order in July implementing tough new lobbying standards for political appointees, including a five-year ban on lobbying and a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign countries.
Law enforcement: In July, federal gun-crime prosecutions by the DOJ in the preceding three months increased 23 percent over the same period in 2016.
Law enforcement: In what Attorney General Jeff Sessions described as the “largest health-care fraud takedown operation in American history,” the DOJ in July charged more than 400 people, including doctors and medical facilities, who it said were prescribing unnecessary opioids to addicts and fueling the current drug crisis.
Law enforcement: Sessions and the DOJ cracked down on illegal leaks of classified information from within the government, pursuing three times more investigations in the first six months of the Trump administration than had been open at the end of the Obama administration. The administration created a counterintelligence unit within the FBI for the investigations.
North Korea: In August, the U.S. initiated a resolution in the U.N. Security Council establishing sanctions that would cut North Korea’s export revenue by a third. Another resolution passed Sept. 11 with new sanctions.
North Korea: The U.S. implemented its own sanctions in August on 16 Chinese and Russian individuals and entities for conducting business with North Korea.
Business optimism: In August, the National Federation of Independent Business said its Small-Business Optimism Index reached 105.3, the highest since 2006 and an 11 percent jump since the week before Trump was elected. The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index said small business owners are the most optimistic since July 2007. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort measure reached a 16-year high, with current views of the economy also reaching a 16-year high. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose in July to near a 16 year high, with consumers short-term outlook improving.
Job growth: While the new administration certainly can’t take all of the credit – and the government itself doesn’t create jobs – employers make hiring decisions based on the long-term economic outlook, and the president has a great deal to do with that. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported nearly 1.3 million new jobs were created during Trump’s first 200 days. Meanwhile, Obama, in his first six months, saw the loss of more than 4.1 million jobs in his first 200 days. The bureau said 6,000 construction jobs were added in July for a total of 82,000 since January. In addition, 16,000 manufacturing jobs were added in July, a total of 70,000 since January. The labor-force participation rate increased to 62.9 percent in July. In June, there were 6 million job openings in the U.S., one of the highest levels recorded.
U.S. manufacturing: During Trump’s first six months, the manufacturing index was the highest it had been since 1983 under President Reagan. The National Association of Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey showed the highest two-quarter average, of 91.4 percent, for manufacturing optimism in the survey’s 20-year history. The Institute for Supply Management reported its June barometer of manufacturing rose to 57.8, the fastest pace in three years.
China trade: The president signed an order in August to investigate Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property. The IP Commission Report estimates that the annual cost to the United States economy from IP theft could be as high as $600 billion, with China as the major contributor.
Infrastructure: The Trump administration aims to dramatically reduce permitting time for projects from 10 years to two years, spurring investment and job creation.
Argentina trade: The U.S. struck a deal in August to export pork to Argentina that will allow U.S. pork to enter the Argentine market for the first time since 1992, a potential $10 million a year market for American producers.
Trade: More than $2 billion in fines were assessed to China and Canada in August for illegal trade practices.
Immigration: DHS in August ended the Central American Minors Parole Program that had allowed certain minors from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to enter the U.S.
Immigration: A report in August said that due to reforms and additional hirings of immigration judges, the number of deportation orders increased by nearly 28 percent compared to the same period of time in 2016.
Immigration: In August, the government also said that of the 42,000 illegal immigrants in federal prisons, nearly all of them either had deportation orders or were being investigated for possible deportation.
Immigration: The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in August denied requests from employers to import cheap foreign labor into the U.S. for high-skilled jobs if the employers could not explain why they wanted to pay a lower wage for such work.
Military: Trump elevated the Department of Defense’s Cyber Command to the status of Unified Combatant Command in August, demonstrating an increased focus on cyber security.
Military: In August, Trump directed the military not to move forward with a controversial Obama-era mandate to allow, for the first time, transgender individuals to be recruited into the armed forces.
Islamic jihad: In August, Trump presented in an address to the nation a new military strategy that put Pakistan on notice for supporting jihadists and warned Kabul it would no longer receive a “blank check,” moving the U.S. away from the Bush-era policy of “nation-building” and focusing on “killing terrorists.”
Veterans Administration reform: President Trump signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act in August, streamlining the lengthy process that veterans undergo when appealing disability benefits claims with the VA. More than 470,000 veterans are awaiting decisions regarding their appeals. The Veterans Affairs administration is the first agency to post information on employee disciplinary action online.
Veterans Administration reform: The president signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act in August, which provides educational benefits to veterans, service members and their family members, including tuition, fees, books, housing and other additional costs.
Government reform: The president signed an executive order in August projected to save billions of dollars by streamlining and expediting the permitting process for infrastructure projects. The order establishes a two-year goal for the federal government to process all of the actions required by federal law for the environmental reviews and permits of major infrastructure projects.
Welfare reform: In August, the Department of Health and Human Services rescinded an Obama-era directive that had allowed states to request a waiver to ignore work requirements for the poor in order to receive welfare.
Welfare reform: In August, more than 1.1 million fewer Americans were on food stamps under President Trump, compared to the Obama administration.
Law enforcement: In August, the DOJ launched an opioid fraud and abuse unit to fight opioid prescription abuses.
Second Amendment: In August, the Justice Department terminated Operation Choke Point, an Obama program encouraging banks not to do business with “high risk” businesses, which was used to target gun dealers.
JULY
Gross Domestic Product: GDP in the second quarter of the year increased by 2.6 percent, more than doubling the first quarter performance.
Unemployment: The jobless rate decreased from 4.8 percent to 4.4 percent from January through June 2017. In contrast, during the first six months of 2009, Obama’s first year in office, the rate increased from 7.8 percent to 9.5 percent.
Oil drilling on federal lands: In July, Trump signed an order boosting oil and gas development on federal lands.
Coal power: In July, President Trump kept his campaign promise to coal miners and rolled back the previous administration’s “Stream Protection Rule,” which targeted the industry with estimated costs of at least $81 million a year.
Made in USA: Trump has convinced companies such as Ford, Chrysler and Carrier Air Conditioners to manufacture and build plants in the United States. At the White House, Corning announced with the president it was investing $500 million in new U.S. production, creating 1,000 new jobs. Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, which makes the iPhone, announced in July it was investing $10 billion in Wisconsin to build a factory that will employ 3,000 workers directly and up to 22,000 workers indirectly.
Disarming jihad: In July, the Trump administration ended a CIA program to arm “moderate” Syrian rebels after previous efforts of its kind were shown to have aided Islamic jihadists, including the terrorists who carried out the disastrous Benghazi attack in which four Americans, including the ambassador, were killed.
Islamic jihad: After months of heavy fighting, Iraqi coalition forces finally pushed ISIS fighters out of Mosul in early July. The U.S. is also supporting efforts to rid the Philippines of ISIS cells.
Government reform: Trump created the Office of American Innovation in July to streamline and improve the government for future generations.
Government reform: Trump signed an executive order in July implementing tough new lobbying standards for political appointees, including a five-year ban on lobbying and a lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign countries.
Law enforcement: In July, federal gun-crime prosecutions by the DOJ in the preceding three months increased 23 percent over the same period in 2016.
Law enforcement: In what Attorney General Jeff Sessions described as the “largest health-care fraud takedown operation in American history,” the DOJ in July charged more than 400 people, including doctors and medical facilities, who it said were prescribing unnecessary opioids to addicts and fueling the current drug crisis.
Law enforcement: Sessions and the DOJ cracked down on illegal leaks of classified information from within the government, pursuing three times more investigations in the first six months of the Trump administration than had been open at the end of the Obama administration. The administration created a counterintelligence unit within the FBI for the investigations.
Dec 18, 2017 23:42:30 #
JUNE
Oil pipelines: Trump approved the Dakota Access Pipeline project and the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, which are expected to create more than 42,000 jobs and $2 billion in earnings. The Dakota Access Pipeline, which is transporting 500,000 barrels of oil a day, has reinvigorated the North Dakota economy. In June, Trump approved production of the New Burgos Pipeline to Mexico.
Inflation: The rate decreased to an eight-month low in June to 1.6 percent.
China trade: For the first time since 2003, American beef imports have returned to China, opening up a $2.5 billion market to American ranchers and producers.
Cuba relations: Trump in June delivered on his campaign promise to roll back the Obama administration’s agreement with Cuba, which Trump contends benefitted the Cuban regime at the expense of the Cuban people.
Apprenticeships: Trump signed an executive order in June making it easier for businesses to start and expand apprenticeship programs.
Property rights: Trump issued an executive order in June to begin the process of rescinding the 2015 Waters of the United States rule, which has been used to expand federal control over private land. Under the Obama administration, the broadly crafted rule was applied to “navigable waters” such as man-made ditches and water that accumulated after heavy rain.
Homeland security: On June 19, DHS announced it had implemented a method of tracking whether or not visitors leave the United States. Twenty years ago, Congress ordered the installation of an entry-exit tracking system, but the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations never took action, allowing millions of people to remain on temporary visas. Approximately 416,500 people overstayed their visas in 2015 alone.
Paris Climate Accord: Trump, in June, pulled the U.S. out of the global agreement, which, according to a study by NERA Consulting, could have cost the United States economy nearly $3 trillion. According to the same study, by 2040, 6.5 million industrial sector jobs could have been lost, including 3.1 million manufacturing sector jobs.
NATO: Trump’s urging of NATO members to pay their fair share of financial support for the military alliance has resulted in an increasing of allied contributions of $10 billion, according to NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg.
Russia: The administration in June implemented the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which blacklisted certain Russian citizens for human rights violations.
Russia: In June, on the same day President Trump met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and entities involved in the conflict with Ukraine.
Immigration: ICE arrested an average of 13,085 people each month from February through June, whereas the average during the last three months of the Obama administration was 9,134 arrests per month.
Immigration: Trump’s Department of Homeland Security canceled in June the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program created by the Obama administration in November 2014 that would have given amnesty to about 4 million illegal immigrants.
Military: In June, the Trump administration authorized the Defense Department to set troop levels in Afghanistan. The expanded authority given to the military could also be seen in U.S. operations in Somalia.
Veterans Administration reform: Trump signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act in June to allow senior officials in the VA to fire failing employees and to establish safeguards to protect whistleblowers. The department reported it had fired more than 500 employees since January 2017 and suspended nearly 200 as part of the president’s efforts to restore integrity and accountability.
Veterans Administration reform: In June, the VA announced the adoption of a medical records system successfully used by the Defense Department, ending a decades-old problematic rift in sharing information between the two agencies.
Veterans Administration reform: A new White House VA Hotline to help veterans, fully staffed by veterans, went live in June.
Education: Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, in June appointed Adam Kissel, a noted critic of the Obama administration’s implementation of Title IX – the much-abused 1972 federal law that bars discrimination in education “on the basis of sex” – and a strong supporter of free speech, as deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs. The staff of the Title IX enforcement office was reduced in the 2018 budget.
MAY
Middle East: Trump strengthened traditional alliances with Israel and the Arab nations, which had deteriorated badly under President Obama.
Middle East: During a visit to Saudi Arabia in May, his first foreign trip as president, he announced the signing of a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, with another $350 billion of arms for the following 10 years. American and Saudi businesses signed similar agreements on the same day, with billions of dollars to be invested in the U.S. Trump also gave a major speech to leaders of 50 Islamic nations, challenging them to fight Islamic terror.
Personal income: According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. personal income rose 0.4 percent in May, while a 0.3 increase was expected.
Housing: The U.S. Census Bureau found housing sales recently have doubled compared to the same period under President Obama. The annualized housing sales rate for May 2017 was 610,000, compared to just 376,000 in 2009. New home prices hit a record high in May, according to the Commerce Department. In 2011, houses for sale were on the market an average 84 days. This year, it’s just 45 days.
Mexico trade: Mexico agreed in June to curb its exporting of raw and refined sugar to the U.S, benefitting the American industry.
Trade: Trump announced in May that he intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, to better reflect the modern economy while benefitting every party to the pact.
Syria: After the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against civilians, President Trump authorized strikes in May against the airbase that launched the chemical attacks, destroying 20 percent of Syria’s operational aircraft.
Immigration: In May, the administration said the number of child illegal immigrants entering the nation monthly had fallen below 1,000 for the first time in several years.
Voter fraud: In May, Trump created a commission to investigate voter fraud chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and vice-chaired by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Education: In May, the administration announced it will create a school choice plan and give states the option of implementing it, rather than making it a federal program.
Religious liberty: On the annual National Day of Prayer in May, Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty that included a loosening of IRS restrictions, known as the Johnson Amendment, against political activities by tax-exempt religious organizations. The order also attempted to make it easier for employers not to provide contraceptives if they had religious objections and gave Attorney General Jeff Sessions greater authority regarding religious liberty policy.
Abortion: In May, the administration broadened the scope of the Mexico City Policy to restrict funding to any international health organization that performs or gives information about abortions, expanding the amount of money affected from $600,000 to nearly $9 billion.
APRIL
U.S. Supreme Court: Keeping a major campaign promise, President Trump nominated to the highest court a strict constructionist and originalist in the mold of Antonin Scalia, Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as an associate justice in April. In his first term, in June, Gorsuch voted in every case with the justice generally regarded as the most conservative, Clarence Thomas. The conservative Committee for Justice said in a report that Gorsuch’s early performance says a lot about both what he will be like as a Supreme Court justice “and what the president can be counted on to do as more high court vacancies occur. Conservatives hoping for a solid conservative majority on the court in the near future had good reason to cheer.”
Immigration: The administration announced illegal border crossings had decreased by 40 percent in the first month of Trump’s presidency. By Trump’s 100th day in office, crossings had decreased by 73 percent, thanks to the president’s policies deterring people from attempting to enter the country.
Offshore oil drilling: In April, Trump signed an executive order to extend offshore oil and gas drilling and reissue a leasing program to develop offshore resources. The order reversed Obama’s December ban on drilling in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic Ocean.
China trade: Trump initiated an investigation in April into whether or not Chinese and other foreign-made steel and aluminum threaten U.S. national security. China has 26 percent of the steel market in the U.S., and Chinese steel imports are up nearly 20 percent over the last year.
Made in the USA: President Trump signed the “Buy American and Hire American” executive order in April, prioritizing the interests of American businesses and workers. “Buy American” protects American industry from unfair competition by targeting the abusive use of waivers and exceptions to laws on the books. Trump’s “Hire American” effort calls for the reform of visa programs, ensuring that they no longer displace American workers, while fully enforcing laws governing the entry of foreign workers.
Agriculture regulations: In April, in an effort to help farmers affected by NAFTA and the trade imbalance with Canada, Trump signed an executive order ordering the Department of Agriculture to find and eliminate unnecessary regulations.
G-7: In April, the administration refused to sign the G-7 joint statement because the other nations could not agree to include support for nuclear and fossil fuels without support for the Paris climate agreement. The G-7, consequently, did not issue a joint statement.
Russia: In April, the administration refused to issue waivers to any companies that wanted to do business with Russia, which was under economic sanctions, including ExxonMobil, which had applied for a waiver.
Immigration: In March and April, the DOJ announced plans to speed up the deportation of imprisoned illegal aliens, instructing U.S. attorneys to employ stricter guidelines in the prosecution of immigration crimes while seeking to hire 125 immigration judges in the next two years.
Immigration: Trump signed an executive order in April cutting funding for sanctuary cities, and despite encountering opposition from city officials, ICE agents have been enforcing U.S. immigration laws in those cities.
Immigration: In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, arrests and deportations of criminal aliens such as MS-13 members were up 38 percent compared with the last year of the Obama administration. ICE conducted a crackdown on the gangs that resulted in the arrests of nearly 1,400 people. The Trump administration also cooperated with Central American countries to combat MS-13 recruitment in the region. An estimated 6,000 MS-13 gang members were arrested during the president’s first five months.
Military: In April, Trump gave Defense Secretary James Mattis authority to set troop levels in Iraq and Syria for the fight against ISIS. And military commanders were granted authority to perform military actions without approval from Washington. As a direct result, this newly autonomous U.S. military made large advances against ISIS.
Islamic jihad: Under the increased autonomy Trump gave the Defense Department, the U.S. dealt a heavy blow to ISIS in Afghanistan in April, dropping a GBU-43B – known as MOAB or the “Mother Of All bombs” – the largest non-nuclear bomb in existence, on a complex of ISIS tunnels. At least 94 ISIS fighters were killed, including four commanders, and tunnels and weapon stockpiles were destroyed.
Veterans Administration reform: In April, Trump signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds enabling veterans who live more than 40 miles from the closest eligible VA medical facility, experience wait times of more than 30 days to schedule an appointment, or meet other special criteria to be treated outside the VA system.
Law enforcement: In April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in an effort to give back local control to police departments, ordered the Department of Justice to review Obama’s agreements with local police departments.
Education: In April, Trump signed an executive order requiring Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to review department regulations with the intent of returning power to the states and local governments.
Abortion: In what was regarded as the first major national pro-life bill in more than a decade, Trump signed in April a Congressional Review bill into law annulling a recent Obama administration regulation that would have prohibited states from discriminating in awarding Title X family planning funds based on whether a local clinic also performs abortions.
Abortion: The Trump administration in April cut off U.S. funding of the United Nations Population Fund, which has links to inhumane abortion programs such as China’s one-child policy (which became a two-child policy in 2015). More than $32 million was instead shifted to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Abortion: In April, Trump appointed pro-life advocate Dr. Charmaine Yoest, the former president of Americans United for Life, as assistant secretary of public affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services, replacing a strong Planned Parenthood supporter. Later, two pro-life advocates who had worked for the Family Research Council were appointed to key positions. And Valerie Huber, an abstinence education advocate, was appointed in June as chief of staff to the assistant secretary for health at the HHS.
Oil pipelines: Trump approved the Dakota Access Pipeline project and the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, which are expected to create more than 42,000 jobs and $2 billion in earnings. The Dakota Access Pipeline, which is transporting 500,000 barrels of oil a day, has reinvigorated the North Dakota economy. In June, Trump approved production of the New Burgos Pipeline to Mexico.
Inflation: The rate decreased to an eight-month low in June to 1.6 percent.
China trade: For the first time since 2003, American beef imports have returned to China, opening up a $2.5 billion market to American ranchers and producers.
Cuba relations: Trump in June delivered on his campaign promise to roll back the Obama administration’s agreement with Cuba, which Trump contends benefitted the Cuban regime at the expense of the Cuban people.
Apprenticeships: Trump signed an executive order in June making it easier for businesses to start and expand apprenticeship programs.
Property rights: Trump issued an executive order in June to begin the process of rescinding the 2015 Waters of the United States rule, which has been used to expand federal control over private land. Under the Obama administration, the broadly crafted rule was applied to “navigable waters” such as man-made ditches and water that accumulated after heavy rain.
Homeland security: On June 19, DHS announced it had implemented a method of tracking whether or not visitors leave the United States. Twenty years ago, Congress ordered the installation of an entry-exit tracking system, but the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations never took action, allowing millions of people to remain on temporary visas. Approximately 416,500 people overstayed their visas in 2015 alone.
Paris Climate Accord: Trump, in June, pulled the U.S. out of the global agreement, which, according to a study by NERA Consulting, could have cost the United States economy nearly $3 trillion. According to the same study, by 2040, 6.5 million industrial sector jobs could have been lost, including 3.1 million manufacturing sector jobs.
NATO: Trump’s urging of NATO members to pay their fair share of financial support for the military alliance has resulted in an increasing of allied contributions of $10 billion, according to NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg.
Russia: The administration in June implemented the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which blacklisted certain Russian citizens for human rights violations.
Russia: In June, on the same day President Trump met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 38 Russian individuals and entities involved in the conflict with Ukraine.
Immigration: ICE arrested an average of 13,085 people each month from February through June, whereas the average during the last three months of the Obama administration was 9,134 arrests per month.
Immigration: Trump’s Department of Homeland Security canceled in June the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program created by the Obama administration in November 2014 that would have given amnesty to about 4 million illegal immigrants.
Military: In June, the Trump administration authorized the Defense Department to set troop levels in Afghanistan. The expanded authority given to the military could also be seen in U.S. operations in Somalia.
Veterans Administration reform: Trump signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act in June to allow senior officials in the VA to fire failing employees and to establish safeguards to protect whistleblowers. The department reported it had fired more than 500 employees since January 2017 and suspended nearly 200 as part of the president’s efforts to restore integrity and accountability.
Veterans Administration reform: In June, the VA announced the adoption of a medical records system successfully used by the Defense Department, ending a decades-old problematic rift in sharing information between the two agencies.
Veterans Administration reform: A new White House VA Hotline to help veterans, fully staffed by veterans, went live in June.
Education: Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, in June appointed Adam Kissel, a noted critic of the Obama administration’s implementation of Title IX – the much-abused 1972 federal law that bars discrimination in education “on the basis of sex” – and a strong supporter of free speech, as deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs. The staff of the Title IX enforcement office was reduced in the 2018 budget.
MAY
Middle East: Trump strengthened traditional alliances with Israel and the Arab nations, which had deteriorated badly under President Obama.
Middle East: During a visit to Saudi Arabia in May, his first foreign trip as president, he announced the signing of a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, with another $350 billion of arms for the following 10 years. American and Saudi businesses signed similar agreements on the same day, with billions of dollars to be invested in the U.S. Trump also gave a major speech to leaders of 50 Islamic nations, challenging them to fight Islamic terror.
Personal income: According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. personal income rose 0.4 percent in May, while a 0.3 increase was expected.
Housing: The U.S. Census Bureau found housing sales recently have doubled compared to the same period under President Obama. The annualized housing sales rate for May 2017 was 610,000, compared to just 376,000 in 2009. New home prices hit a record high in May, according to the Commerce Department. In 2011, houses for sale were on the market an average 84 days. This year, it’s just 45 days.
Mexico trade: Mexico agreed in June to curb its exporting of raw and refined sugar to the U.S, benefitting the American industry.
Trade: Trump announced in May that he intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, to better reflect the modern economy while benefitting every party to the pact.
Syria: After the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against civilians, President Trump authorized strikes in May against the airbase that launched the chemical attacks, destroying 20 percent of Syria’s operational aircraft.
Immigration: In May, the administration said the number of child illegal immigrants entering the nation monthly had fallen below 1,000 for the first time in several years.
Voter fraud: In May, Trump created a commission to investigate voter fraud chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and vice-chaired by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Education: In May, the administration announced it will create a school choice plan and give states the option of implementing it, rather than making it a federal program.
Religious liberty: On the annual National Day of Prayer in May, Trump signed an executive order on religious liberty that included a loosening of IRS restrictions, known as the Johnson Amendment, against political activities by tax-exempt religious organizations. The order also attempted to make it easier for employers not to provide contraceptives if they had religious objections and gave Attorney General Jeff Sessions greater authority regarding religious liberty policy.
Abortion: In May, the administration broadened the scope of the Mexico City Policy to restrict funding to any international health organization that performs or gives information about abortions, expanding the amount of money affected from $600,000 to nearly $9 billion.
APRIL
U.S. Supreme Court: Keeping a major campaign promise, President Trump nominated to the highest court a strict constructionist and originalist in the mold of Antonin Scalia, Neil Gorsuch, who was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in as an associate justice in April. In his first term, in June, Gorsuch voted in every case with the justice generally regarded as the most conservative, Clarence Thomas. The conservative Committee for Justice said in a report that Gorsuch’s early performance says a lot about both what he will be like as a Supreme Court justice “and what the president can be counted on to do as more high court vacancies occur. Conservatives hoping for a solid conservative majority on the court in the near future had good reason to cheer.”
Immigration: The administration announced illegal border crossings had decreased by 40 percent in the first month of Trump’s presidency. By Trump’s 100th day in office, crossings had decreased by 73 percent, thanks to the president’s policies deterring people from attempting to enter the country.
Offshore oil drilling: In April, Trump signed an executive order to extend offshore oil and gas drilling and reissue a leasing program to develop offshore resources. The order reversed Obama’s December ban on drilling in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic Ocean.
China trade: Trump initiated an investigation in April into whether or not Chinese and other foreign-made steel and aluminum threaten U.S. national security. China has 26 percent of the steel market in the U.S., and Chinese steel imports are up nearly 20 percent over the last year.
Made in the USA: President Trump signed the “Buy American and Hire American” executive order in April, prioritizing the interests of American businesses and workers. “Buy American” protects American industry from unfair competition by targeting the abusive use of waivers and exceptions to laws on the books. Trump’s “Hire American” effort calls for the reform of visa programs, ensuring that they no longer displace American workers, while fully enforcing laws governing the entry of foreign workers.
Agriculture regulations: In April, in an effort to help farmers affected by NAFTA and the trade imbalance with Canada, Trump signed an executive order ordering the Department of Agriculture to find and eliminate unnecessary regulations.
G-7: In April, the administration refused to sign the G-7 joint statement because the other nations could not agree to include support for nuclear and fossil fuels without support for the Paris climate agreement. The G-7, consequently, did not issue a joint statement.
Russia: In April, the administration refused to issue waivers to any companies that wanted to do business with Russia, which was under economic sanctions, including ExxonMobil, which had applied for a waiver.
Immigration: In March and April, the DOJ announced plans to speed up the deportation of imprisoned illegal aliens, instructing U.S. attorneys to employ stricter guidelines in the prosecution of immigration crimes while seeking to hire 125 immigration judges in the next two years.
Immigration: Trump signed an executive order in April cutting funding for sanctuary cities, and despite encountering opposition from city officials, ICE agents have been enforcing U.S. immigration laws in those cities.
Immigration: In the first 100 days of the Trump administration, arrests and deportations of criminal aliens such as MS-13 members were up 38 percent compared with the last year of the Obama administration. ICE conducted a crackdown on the gangs that resulted in the arrests of nearly 1,400 people. The Trump administration also cooperated with Central American countries to combat MS-13 recruitment in the region. An estimated 6,000 MS-13 gang members were arrested during the president’s first five months.
Military: In April, Trump gave Defense Secretary James Mattis authority to set troop levels in Iraq and Syria for the fight against ISIS. And military commanders were granted authority to perform military actions without approval from Washington. As a direct result, this newly autonomous U.S. military made large advances against ISIS.
Islamic jihad: Under the increased autonomy Trump gave the Defense Department, the U.S. dealt a heavy blow to ISIS in Afghanistan in April, dropping a GBU-43B – known as MOAB or the “Mother Of All bombs” – the largest non-nuclear bomb in existence, on a complex of ISIS tunnels. At least 94 ISIS fighters were killed, including four commanders, and tunnels and weapon stockpiles were destroyed.
Veterans Administration reform: In April, Trump signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds enabling veterans who live more than 40 miles from the closest eligible VA medical facility, experience wait times of more than 30 days to schedule an appointment, or meet other special criteria to be treated outside the VA system.
Law enforcement: In April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in an effort to give back local control to police departments, ordered the Department of Justice to review Obama’s agreements with local police departments.
Education: In April, Trump signed an executive order requiring Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to review department regulations with the intent of returning power to the states and local governments.
Abortion: In what was regarded as the first major national pro-life bill in more than a decade, Trump signed in April a Congressional Review bill into law annulling a recent Obama administration regulation that would have prohibited states from discriminating in awarding Title X family planning funds based on whether a local clinic also performs abortions.
Abortion: The Trump administration in April cut off U.S. funding of the United Nations Population Fund, which has links to inhumane abortion programs such as China’s one-child policy (which became a two-child policy in 2015). More than $32 million was instead shifted to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Abortion: In April, Trump appointed pro-life advocate Dr. Charmaine Yoest, the former president of Americans United for Life, as assistant secretary of public affairs for the Department of Health and Human Services, replacing a strong Planned Parenthood supporter. Later, two pro-life advocates who had worked for the Family Research Council were appointed to key positions. And Valerie Huber, an abstinence education advocate, was appointed in June as chief of staff to the assistant secretary for health at the HHS.
Dec 18, 2017 23:43:37 #
MARCH
Trade deficit: Trump signed an executive order in March directing a review of and reporting on major U.S. trade deficits.
Middle East: In March, the administration, led by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, condemned a report against Israel by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia that was deemed anti-Semitic, prompting the resignation of the commission’s executive director.
Economy: U.S. homebuilder confidence rose to its strongest level in nearly 12 years, as strength in the jobs market and improving wages bolstered demand for homes.
Syria: In March, the Trump administration successfully forced the G-20 to remove its opposition to protectionism and temper its support for free trade. Any mention of climate change was eliminated from its joint statement.
Government reform: In March, Trump signed an executive order to perform an audit on every executive branch agency to reduce spending and waste and improve services.
FEBRUARY
Savings for oil companies: Trump signed a bill in February that eliminated a Dodd-Frank rule requiring oil companies such as Exxon Mobile to publicly disclose the taxes and fees they pay to foreign governments, which would have cost the industry as much as $385 million annually.
Finance reform: The administration ordered review of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law in February while urging Congress to remove the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s authority to supervise banks and financial companies, returning that power to other federal and state regulators.
Russia: The administration countered Russian propaganda by launching two government-run media outlets in February broadcasting in Russian.
Military: In February the administration reached a tentative deal with Lockheed Martin to purchase 90 F-35 jets at the lowest price in the program’s history. The first 90 planes were about $725 million below budget, with billions of dollars in additional savings expected. The deal saved at least one U.S. ally, Japan, $100 million.
Government reform: In February, the president announced he did not plan on filling numerous government positions he considered unnecessary.
Law enforcement: In February, President Trump signed three executive orders to strengthen law enforcement.The first strengthens the law against international crime organizations. The second combats anti-law-enforcement crimes. The third seeks a strategy for reducing crime in general, including, in particular, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and violent crime.
School bathrooms: Trump, in February, reversed Obama’s executive order requiring public schools to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms according to their preferred “gender identity.”
Second Amendment: President Trump signed a bill into law in February repealing an Obama-era Social Security Administration rule adding mental disability determinations to the background check registry. The Obama regulation potentially allowed the denial of Second Amendment rights to many competent, mentally healthy citizens.
JANUARY
Trans Pacific Partnership: Trump signed an executive order in January removing the U.S. from the international pact, which critics charged was a monumental compromise to American sovereignty and would take millions of jobs away from American workers.
Persecuted Christians: Reversing Obama administration policy, Trump pledged in January that Christian refugees suffering persecution in Muslim countries would be given priority over other refugees seeking to enter the United States.
Homeland security: Trump signed an executive order in January banning people from seven countries regarded by the Obama administration as havens for terrorism from entering the U.S. for 90 days and blocked all refugees for 120 days while the administration assessed its security process. After legal challenges, the administration issued a revised order in March, and in June the U.S. Supreme Court decided a version of the ban could go into effect until the court addresses its constitutionality in October.
Immigration: The DOJ resumed the criminal prosecution of first-time illegal border crossers after it had been stopped by the Obama administration.
Government reform: Trump signed an executive order in January to expedite environmental reviews of infrastructure projects, to jumpstart industry spending and investment.
Manufacturing regulations: Trump signed an executive order in January reducing regulations on manufacturers.
Abortion: In January, Trump expressed strong support for the annual pro-life March for Life. Vice President Mike Pence became the first vice president to speak at the event, and White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway also spoke.
Regulatory reform: Trump set up task forces in every agency to remove “job killing regulations” and increase “economic opportunity.” The Trump administration is on track to finish the first phase of its regulatory reform program with $645 million in net annual regulatory savings, according to an analysis by the American Action Forum. By comparison, during President Obama’s years in office, more than 22,700 regulations were imposed on Americans at a cost to American consumers, businesses and workers of more than $120 billion each year. AAF called Trump’s order reducing regulation and controlling regulatory costs “one of the most significant developments in regulatory policy in decades,” noting it was the first time in U.S. history that the executive branch has established a regulatory budget.
Women in business: Trump launched the United States-Canada Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February.
Immigration: Trump expanded deportation priorities, signing an executive order in January that includes people who “have committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense,” which could include anyone who entered the country illegally, leading to a significant increase in arrests.
Military: In January, Trump signed a memorandum to begin the expansion and rebuilding of the U.S. military.
Government reform: Trump signed an executive order Jan. 23 placing a hiring freeze on federal employees.
Regulatory reform: Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order mandating that for every new regulation, two regulations must be revoked. In practice, the administration has exceeded that mark, rescinding or delaying more than 860 regulations, or 16 regulations for every new one implemented.
Abortion: In January, Trump signed an order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which defunded the International Planned Parenthood Federation and other organizations that promote foreign abortions.
President’s salary: President Trump, as promised during his election campaign, has donated his salary.
Technology: After his election, Trump met with top tech leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Bill Gates of Microsoft and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. According to Gates, it was “a good conversation about innovation, how it can help in health, education, the impact of foreign aid and energy, and a wide-ranging conversation about power of innovation.”
Trade deficit: Trump signed an executive order in March directing a review of and reporting on major U.S. trade deficits.
Middle East: In March, the administration, led by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, condemned a report against Israel by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia that was deemed anti-Semitic, prompting the resignation of the commission’s executive director.
Economy: U.S. homebuilder confidence rose to its strongest level in nearly 12 years, as strength in the jobs market and improving wages bolstered demand for homes.
Syria: In March, the Trump administration successfully forced the G-20 to remove its opposition to protectionism and temper its support for free trade. Any mention of climate change was eliminated from its joint statement.
Government reform: In March, Trump signed an executive order to perform an audit on every executive branch agency to reduce spending and waste and improve services.
FEBRUARY
Savings for oil companies: Trump signed a bill in February that eliminated a Dodd-Frank rule requiring oil companies such as Exxon Mobile to publicly disclose the taxes and fees they pay to foreign governments, which would have cost the industry as much as $385 million annually.
Finance reform: The administration ordered review of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law in February while urging Congress to remove the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s authority to supervise banks and financial companies, returning that power to other federal and state regulators.
Russia: The administration countered Russian propaganda by launching two government-run media outlets in February broadcasting in Russian.
Military: In February the administration reached a tentative deal with Lockheed Martin to purchase 90 F-35 jets at the lowest price in the program’s history. The first 90 planes were about $725 million below budget, with billions of dollars in additional savings expected. The deal saved at least one U.S. ally, Japan, $100 million.
Government reform: In February, the president announced he did not plan on filling numerous government positions he considered unnecessary.
Law enforcement: In February, President Trump signed three executive orders to strengthen law enforcement.The first strengthens the law against international crime organizations. The second combats anti-law-enforcement crimes. The third seeks a strategy for reducing crime in general, including, in particular, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and violent crime.
School bathrooms: Trump, in February, reversed Obama’s executive order requiring public schools to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms according to their preferred “gender identity.”
Second Amendment: President Trump signed a bill into law in February repealing an Obama-era Social Security Administration rule adding mental disability determinations to the background check registry. The Obama regulation potentially allowed the denial of Second Amendment rights to many competent, mentally healthy citizens.
JANUARY
Trans Pacific Partnership: Trump signed an executive order in January removing the U.S. from the international pact, which critics charged was a monumental compromise to American sovereignty and would take millions of jobs away from American workers.
Persecuted Christians: Reversing Obama administration policy, Trump pledged in January that Christian refugees suffering persecution in Muslim countries would be given priority over other refugees seeking to enter the United States.
Homeland security: Trump signed an executive order in January banning people from seven countries regarded by the Obama administration as havens for terrorism from entering the U.S. for 90 days and blocked all refugees for 120 days while the administration assessed its security process. After legal challenges, the administration issued a revised order in March, and in June the U.S. Supreme Court decided a version of the ban could go into effect until the court addresses its constitutionality in October.
Immigration: The DOJ resumed the criminal prosecution of first-time illegal border crossers after it had been stopped by the Obama administration.
Government reform: Trump signed an executive order in January to expedite environmental reviews of infrastructure projects, to jumpstart industry spending and investment.
Manufacturing regulations: Trump signed an executive order in January reducing regulations on manufacturers.
Abortion: In January, Trump expressed strong support for the annual pro-life March for Life. Vice President Mike Pence became the first vice president to speak at the event, and White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway also spoke.
Regulatory reform: Trump set up task forces in every agency to remove “job killing regulations” and increase “economic opportunity.” The Trump administration is on track to finish the first phase of its regulatory reform program with $645 million in net annual regulatory savings, according to an analysis by the American Action Forum. By comparison, during President Obama’s years in office, more than 22,700 regulations were imposed on Americans at a cost to American consumers, businesses and workers of more than $120 billion each year. AAF called Trump’s order reducing regulation and controlling regulatory costs “one of the most significant developments in regulatory policy in decades,” noting it was the first time in U.S. history that the executive branch has established a regulatory budget.
Women in business: Trump launched the United States-Canada Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February.
Immigration: Trump expanded deportation priorities, signing an executive order in January that includes people who “have committed acts that constitute a chargeable criminal offense,” which could include anyone who entered the country illegally, leading to a significant increase in arrests.
Military: In January, Trump signed a memorandum to begin the expansion and rebuilding of the U.S. military.
Government reform: Trump signed an executive order Jan. 23 placing a hiring freeze on federal employees.
Regulatory reform: Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order mandating that for every new regulation, two regulations must be revoked. In practice, the administration has exceeded that mark, rescinding or delaying more than 860 regulations, or 16 regulations for every new one implemented.
Abortion: In January, Trump signed an order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which defunded the International Planned Parenthood Federation and other organizations that promote foreign abortions.
President’s salary: President Trump, as promised during his election campaign, has donated his salary.
Technology: After his election, Trump met with top tech leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Bill Gates of Microsoft and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. According to Gates, it was “a good conversation about innovation, how it can help in health, education, the impact of foreign aid and energy, and a wide-ranging conversation about power of innovation.”
Dec 19, 2017 00:19:42 #
Loki wrote:
Unlike Hillary's whose ratings are somewhere south of a cockroach with AIDS.
And if Hillary were president you would have a point. Trumps president though and there's not a president in the history or our country who's had as low an approval rating at this point into his first term. If Trump wants a second term the question begged is can he do it if he can't garner more than 40% of the population?
Keep trying to deflect Loki. That way you won't have to ever talk about how incredibly flawed Trump is as a president.
Dec 19, 2017 00:25:21 #
straightUp wrote:
Aw... is someone not happy with how I consistently prove my points? You folks can always improve your arguments... Just do more research and develop your sense of logic.
A You first.You have to be a teacher.
Dec 19, 2017 00:41:46 #
Dec 19, 2017 01:21:18 #
Blade_Runner wrote:
b u AUGUST /u /b br br Job growth: While the ... (show quote)
While I appreciate your need to pat your president on the back and exclaim from the heavens his successes a couple three points to make here:
1) In Obama's first year he was dealing with the deepest recession since the great depression. Is Trump dealing with the greatest recession since the great depression? If not then don't make the comparison between the first year of your new lord and savior and the first year of Obama. If you are going to compare anything compare 2016 to 2017. There you have similar economies to measure.
2007 240 89 190 80 143 75 -34 -20 88 84 114 98 1147
2008 17 -84 -78 -210 -186 -162 -213 -267 -450 -474 -766 -694 -3567
2009 -793 -702 -823 -687 -349 -471 -329 -213 -220 -204 -2 -275 -5068
2010 23 -68 164 243 524 -137 -68 -36 -52 262 119 87 1061
2011 43 189 225 346 77 225 69 110 248 209 141 209 2091
2012 358 237 233 78 115 76 143 177 203 146 132 244 2142
2013 211 286 130 197 226 162 122 261 190 212 258 47 2302
2014 190 151 272 329 246 304 202 230 280 227 312 255 2998
2015 234 238 86 262 344 206 254 157 100 321 272 239 2713
2016 126 237 225 153 43 297 291 176 249 124 164 155 2240
2017 216 232 50 207 145 210 138 208 38 244 228 1916
The above are the monthly jobs reports. Note that we lost 8.6 million jobs in 08 and 09. So what would make you think Obamas first year and Trumps first year are valid comparisons? From the looks of it, we are going to add about as many jobs in 2017 as we did in 2016--maybe a little less....
https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0000000001?output_view=net_1mth
2) While LFP will increase as the labor force becomes more inelastic the principle reason it has declined was due to the retirement of the baby boomers and their withdrawal from the work force. For that reason we will never again see LFP ratings of just a decade ago. The boomers can be enticed back into the labor force but wages will have to increase significantly as will labor scarcity. If that can happen before the next recession one can only guess...
3)As for your 6 million job openings. You do understand that's a bad thing not a good thing because those are jobs that remained unfilled because employers can't find employees qualified to fill them. What that 6 million is telling us is that we need to ramp-up our job training, help connect employees to employers, and bring in qualified immigrants to help fill those jobs. Has Trump said one word about doing any one of those three things? If not then you should take that 6 off your board of accomplishments because it actually represents one of his biggest failures--we have 6 million jobs out there and he hasn't lifted a finger to see that they are filled. And one more point on this--how many billions in lost economic activity does those 6 million jobs represent? Do you see why that's a number we want to see go down not up!!!
Have fun with your little game of butt slapping. If the remainder of your talking points are as full of BS as this one was you should be down right proud of all the fake accomplishments you new savior has made.
Check out topic: Iran's New Proxy: American Universities
Dec 19, 2017 03:01:01 #
PeterS wrote:
And if Hillary were president you would have a point. Trumps president though and there's not a president in the history or our country who's had as low an approval rating at this point into his first term. If Trump wants a second term the question begged is can he do it if he can't garner more than 40% of the population?
Keep trying to deflect Loki. That way you won't have to ever talk about how incredibly flawed Trump is as a president.
Keep trying to deflect Loki. That way you won't have to ever talk about how incredibly flawed Trump is as a president.
I don' know how to explain this so you'll understand. I'm not sure if I can make it simple enough. I am not deflecting. No matter how much you wish it were so. The polls you use to show Trump's unpopularity showed him losing the election in a landslide.
You seem to think that because you and other Liberal Hobbit Dancers don't approve of President Trump, it follows that no one else approves of him, either. It does not work that way.
Dec 19, 2017 03:24:21 #
PeterS wrote:
Good Lord, such self-righteous psychobabble. Who the fuk was comparing Trump to Obama? Nothing more offensive than a brainwashed liberal with his panties in a twist.While I appreciate your need to pat your president... (show quote)
"A nation that does not protect its prosperity at home cannot protect its interests abroad; a nation that is not prepared for war is a nation not capable of preventing a war; a nation that is not proud of its history cannot be confident in its future; and a nation not certain of its values cannot summon the will to defend them......"
President Donald Trump
Dec 19, 2017 03:36:06 #
PeterS wrote:
While I appreciate your need to pat your president... (show quote)
Speaking of fake accomplishments; the Obama Administration created lots of part time jobs. Many full time jobs became part time to get around Obamacare. In Obamaspeak, if you stopped receiving unemployment payments for any reason, or if you never got them for some reason, you were employed. People who received disability checks were deemed employed and the vast number of part timers were counted exactly the same as full time.
Dec 19, 2017 04:01:06 #
pafret wrote:
Straight up wrote: br Communism is indeed socialis... (show quote)
No, it's not.
pafret wrote:
Totalitarianism in simple terms is “of, relating to, being, or imposing - a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed: “A totalitarian regime crushes all autonomous activity on the part of its citizens.
Totalitarianism in simple terms is “of, relating to, being, or imposing - a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed: “A totalitarian regime crushes all autonomous activity on the part of its citizens.
Yes, I know what totalitarianism is.
pafret wrote:
Some Totalitarian Leaders:
Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Abraham Lincoln, Benito Mussolini, Hideki Tojo, Ataturk, Genghis Khan, Timur-i Leng (Tammerlane)[/I]
Some Totalitarian Leaders:
Joseph Stalin, Adolph Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Abraham Lincoln, Benito Mussolini, Hideki Tojo, Ataturk, Genghis Khan, Timur-i Leng (Tammerlane)[/I]
So out of the ten totalitarian leaders you list, only two of them are in anyway associated with communism.
So, you find the goals of communism and you find a definition of totalitarianism, but you make no connection between the two. THEN you list ten totalitarian leaders, of which only two were socialst, as if that's supposed to prove something. Where's the connection pafret?
I can guess where the disconnect is... I think you're misunderstanding the Communist Manifesto. Let's look at the two points you bolded...
1. The last part of a sentence that starts with "However"... (so a fragment taken out of context). Here's the fragment. "...help them gain the weapons to eventually overthrow the bourgeoisie." Now, by itself this seems like a pretty threatening statement but if you read the context framed by the entire sentence and the one preceding it, you would know that the term "weapons" is a reference to legal procedings. The second point I should make here is that during the time Marx and Engles wrote this, the bourgeoisie WAS the tyranny. So if the communist revolution is prescribing a fight against tyranny not the establishment of tyranny.
2. This is typical rally stuff. Keep in mind what the Communist Manifesto is... It's not a text book. If you want sobre analysis read Das Kapital. The Communist Manifesto is basically a party brochure. The Communist Party actually asked Mark and Engles to write it. WORKING MEN OF ALL COUNTRIES UNITE... it's the same cheer as "YES WE CAN!" or "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" and the reference to ALL social conditions doesn't mean every aspect of human society either... Again, context is important... the Communists knew perfectly well, that the social orders being cited were specifically related to the orders of oppression and exploitation and the emphasis on ALL is a refererence to the social injustice in ALL nations.
So neither of these points nessesarily connect communism to totalitarianism. Even your summary fails to do so. A proletariat revolution just means an uprising of common workers. Sort of like what the Trump supporters imagine themselves to be. The abolition of private property is something I understand but I'm just not onboard with... This is why I could never actually be a communist. But that doesn't mean I'm going to get all confused about what it means. There is no coorelation between the abolition of private property and totalitarianism. If that was the case you would have to call the American Revolution an application of totalitarianism because one of the primary effects of the American Revolution was to replace the private ownership of the colonies with a republic which literally means public ownership. This is why Trump feels so uncomfortable in the White House, because the White House isn't his. It belongs to the people, unlike Buckingham Palace which is privately owned by the Royal Family.
I'm going to break it here for the sake of readability, otherwise the posts get too long and laborious. I'll respond to the rest of your nonesense in subsequent posts ;)
Check out topic: The Biden Trump Debate is Insulting.
Dec 19, 2017 05:17:04 #
pafret wrote:
br color=blue Straight up wrote: br On the other... (show quote)
So... EXCLUSSIVE to one party...
pafret wrote:
Fascists are against democracy.
Fascists are against democracy.
....because democracy INCLUDES the people.
pafret wrote:
They work for a totalitarian one-party state. Such a state is led by a strong leader — such as a dictator and a martial government. Fascism is radical authoritarian nationalism, characterized by forcible suppression of opposition and control of industry and commerce.
They work for a totalitarian one-party state. Such a state is led by a strong leader — such as a dictator and a martial government. Fascism is radical authoritarian nationalism, characterized by forcible suppression of opposition and control of industry and commerce.
I mean, I'm glad we're at least agreeing to the definitions but again you're not making any connections to the inclusive character of the left. Everything in this definition points to the exclusive character of the right.
pafret wrote:
br The only official definition of Fascism comes ... (show quote)
The reason why there is only one definition of Fascism is because there is only one Fascist party. The term "fascism", as in the lower-case, not a proper name descriptive, is a loose reference to any political movement with similar properties. Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state is an expression of monolithic control. This is the extreme right in the sense that a monolith excludes every alternative, like how the American right tries to exclude "alternate lifestyles" and "alternative religions".
pafret wrote:
The use of militarism was implied only as a means to accomplish one of the three above principles, mainly to keep the people and rest of the world in line. Fascist countries are known for their harmony and lack of internal strife. There are no conflicting parties or elections in fascist countries.
The use of militarism was implied only as a means to accomplish one of the three above principles, mainly to keep the people and rest of the world in line. Fascist countries are known for their harmony and lack of internal strife. There are no conflicting parties or elections in fascist countries.
It sounds like you're advocating fascism. Just because a country lacks internal strife doesn't mean the people are better off. North Korea is a good example of forced harmony.
pafret wrote:
Nazi Germany was extreme Fascism; better examples of fascist countries were Mussolini's Italy, Iraq, Iran, and most Middle Eastern countries.
So where in this credo is there any mention of suppression of Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals (who mostly remained in the closet in that era)
Nazi Germany was extreme Fascism; better examples of fascist countries were Mussolini's Italy, Iraq, Iran, and most Middle Eastern countries.
So where in this credo is there any mention of suppression of Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals (who mostly remained in the closet in that era)
What credo? You took a quote from Mussolini's 1928 speech to his Chamber of Deputies, you broke it down into parts to which you added your own interpretations and you're implying that it's some kind of constitutional foundation for fascism. His quote (without your interjections) is "All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state." He also said "Better to live a day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep." So, what's that..? Italy's 1st Amendment?
pafret wrote:
br and are you unaware the Italy had a thriving J... (show quote)
I already told you Hitler had a personal problem with Jews; one stated reason being their communist associations during WW1... I never said it was a tenent of fascism to persecute Jews. All I said is that fascism is exclusive, that doesn't mean every exclussive club serves the same patrons. Obviously, the fascists in Germany had a bigger issue with Jews than the fascists in Italy did.
pafret wrote:
br color=blue br Straightup wrote: br So you ma... (show quote)
Socialism is not a form of government. Drrrr.... ;)
breaking it here, before diving into your circus of left-right delusions.
Dec 19, 2017 05:31:13 #
straightUp wrote:
So out of the ten totalitarian leaders you list, o... (show quote)
You needn’t bother no one reads your BS.
Dec 19, 2017 06:06:48 #
pafret wrote:
It's a matter of convention pafret... What your teacher told you is the classic convention by which most people orient themselves. What you're calling "reality" is an obvious effort to redefine the right as everything good and the left as everything bad... it's a bit on the childish side but let's just say we switch to this other convention that associates tyranny with the left and freedom to the right. Now ask me which way I lean. Well, according to this convention I'll say right and so would every working class American including all the liberals. So now what are you going to do? Are you going to force the liberals to confess allegience to tyranny?
Also, the three graduations common to both graphs makes sense... "liberal, moderate, conservative" because they are political orientations. But slipping in "socialism" to the left of "liberal" and "libertarian" to the right of "conservative" screams of ignorance and hilariously exposes a crude attempt to demonize socialism. I suppose it works on people like you who have been so conditioned to the point of being ravenous for ANY chance of persecuting of socialism, but I think most people would see the absurdity of this "apples to oranges" comparison between political orientations and economic systems.
I also noticed you can't handle a two dimensional view. The quadrant I posted is gaining popularity among political analysts because the extra dimension provides triangulation for improved accuracy.
straightUp wrote:
But "Mr. Simple" wants to heave an entire circus of dissimilar comparisons on a single linear dimension... and that's why it's a meme, the new education system of the rabid-right. LOL
Dec 19, 2017 06:16:37 #
Hemiman wrote:
You needn’t bother no one reads your BS.
First of all, I know people bother to read my awesome stuff because they tell me they do. I even get private messages asking for my opinions. Secondly, It wouldn't matter if no one did because I enjoy the practice of doing it anyway. ;)
BTW, welcome to my topic :)
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
Check out topic: Alina Habba unleashed hell on Joe Biden with this bigtime warning