Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post Reply
fountainhall

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by fountainhall »

I have to admire Coulter for turning up for Maher's show. She seems almost human. Unlike the even more ghastly Kelly Ann Conway who is an interrupting parroting robot of the worst sort.

But as for her comments that she is for the working man and woman - and yet she's happy to put up with Trump's lies (about 8,000 to date and counting) and there were no howls ar all about Trump's massive tax reductions for the mega-rich? Well, that shows who she really cares about.
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:she's happy to put up with Trump's lies
Trump lies? Surely you jest. Trump always tells the truth and he knows better than anyone else on any subject you can think of. Didn't you know that?

Just ask him. He'll tell you . . .
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

Now that Trump will reopen the government, the article below addresses what's going to happen.

What the article does not address is even though government workers are going to get their back pay, which could take several days, can they go back to living normal lives? If I were a government worker my answer would be no. Trump is threatening to shut down the government again if he doesn't get his way by February 15. These people will still have to live with uncertainty because Trump is far too unpredictable to be sure he won't do the same thing again. And if he does, who knows how long the shutdown would last this time? Who knows whether Trump will shut down the government any time he doesn't get his way when inevitably other issues pop up?

If I were a government worker I would still find it necessary to scrimp and save every penny so at least I might have something to fall back on if Trump shuts down the government yet again. And I would find it necessary to continue doing that until after Trump is no longer in office.

But don't worry. Let's be fair. Here's my list of all the beneficial accomplishments the greatest president the USA has ever had - you know, the one who is going to make America great again - has made since he first took office:

*
*
*
*
end of list
_________________________________________________________________

'Can I visit the Smithsonian now? When will federal workers get paid?' Questions about the government shutdown -- answered

By Harmeet Kaur, CNN

January 26, 2019

(CNN) - The government is finally open -- at least for now.

On the same day major airports experienced significant flight delays and hundreds of thousands of federal workers missed their second paycheck, President Donald Trump on Friday announced a deal to reopen parts of the government temporarily.

So, what happens next? We've got some answers.

How long is the government opening for?

Three weeks.

The President announced the White House had reached an agreement with lawmakers to fund the affected government agencies -- about 25% of federal operations -- through February 15. Congress approved the deal, and Trump on Friday signed the short-term spending bill into law. (Lawmakers already had separately funded the other three-quarters of the federal government through September.)

The latest deal includes no money for a wall along the US-Mexico border, meaning it's the same agreement Trump could have inked more than a month ago.

What happens after three weeks?

Democrats and Republicans will continue to discuss border security, and lawmakers have three weeks to reach an agreement that satisfies Trump's request for funding a border wall.

If that doesn't happen, the President could declare a national emergency along the southern border and direct the Defense Department to construct a wall, possibly using $7 billion identified for this purpose by his aides.

Or, the government will shut down again on February 16 -- taking us right back to where we started.

"Let me be very clear," Trump said in a speech Friday. "We really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier."

When are employees expected back at work?

Given that the government reopened Friday evening, most furloughed employees are expected to report back to work on their next scheduled work day. Workers should refer to their own agencies for more information.

What's happening at the airports?

Flight delays at airports on Friday played an important role in Trump's decision to back down, at least for now, from his demand for wall funding and to reopen the government, a White House official said.

Now that the government is fully open, delays that cropped up throughout the 35-day shutdown may ease up a bit. Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees know they'll get paid soon, so there will likely be a lot fewer unscheduled absences.

But don't expect everything to get back to normal just yet. For starters, it'll likely be a few days before air traffic controllers, who work for the Federal Aviation Administration, and TSA employees are paid, meaning many may still be feeling financial strain.

Also, the Oklahoma City training academy for air traffic controllers was closed during the shutdown, meaning chronic understaffing of employees who do routine tasks didn't ease at all during that time.

And because the spending bill only offers a temporary solution, there's a chance that employees might be sick of the uncertainty and decide to find other jobs.

What's the situation with weather forecasting?

The government shutdown made the US more vulnerable to the upcoming hurricane season.

Forecasters and researchers use the off-season to refine and improve storm-predicting models, methods and techniques. But during the shutdown, much of that work came to a halt.

Even though the government is open again, the shutdown set forecasters back
.
"This is lost time that cannot be made up," Suru Saha, a computer modeler who was furloughed, told CNN. "It's gone, and it will affect future operations."

Can I finally plan that family trip to visit the Smithsonian museums?

Yes. The Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo will reopen starting Tuesday at their regularly scheduled times.

But the shutdown hit the 173-year-old institution hard. The Smithsonian lost about $1 million each week of the partial government shutdown.

Are the national parks open?

It depends.

About a third of the national parks, like Fort McHenry in Baltimore and the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site in Washington, were completely closed for the entire shutdown. Those parks will open as soon as they're told by Interior Department officials to do so, said Kristen Brengel of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Parks that stayed open but experienced significant damage, like California's Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley National Park, might leave some areas closed to the public for repair or cleanup.

Other parks, like Mount Rainier in Washington state, weren't maintained at all while the government was shut down. That means there's significant work to do before they're ready for public visitors again
.
In short, check the websites and social media accounts of the national parks before you plan a visit. Now that the government is open again, those accounts and websites are being actively maintained.

When will federal workers get paid?

Both chambers of Congress passed legislation to guarantee back pay for affected federal workers, and Trump signed it last week. But it will likely be at least several days before employees get paid.

Workers need to file time cards, agencies must sign off on them and payroll centers must process payments. The timing varies by agency.

US Coast Guard officials expect it to take three to five business days to process pay and benefits, a spokesperson said. But back pay may take as long as 10 days to land for employees in 31 departments who are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union, the group's president said.

Payment delays put further strain on federal workers, many of whom have dwindling funds in their bank accounts and are now expected back at work.

Are contractors getting back pay?

The government shutdown was particularly hard on contract employees, including many who work low-wage jobs, like janitors and cafeteria workers.
Contractors aren't guaranteed back pay, and whether they get paid for the past month is up to their employers.

Some Democratic senators have introduced legislation to ensure low-wage federal contractors get back pay. A similar House bill stalled in 2017.

Will charities that were aiding federal workers keep up the help?

Some will.

Renowned chef José Andrés and his nonprofit have served free meals to thousands of federal employees across the country. Though the government is open now, Andrés announced on Twitter that his team will continue to provide meals through next week since employees still haven't gotten paid.

Pop-up donation centers in New York City will stay open through February 7 for people to give food and other essentials to employees affected by the shutdown. The centers are run by Food Bank for New York City in partnership with three New York officials.

And a donation site for nonperishable food items for government workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport will stay open through Friday.

https://us.cnn.com/2019/01/26/politics/ ... index.html
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by fountainhall »

He has been able to fool some of the people all of this time. But many around the world are wondering when all those blindfolded folk will start to realise that Trump is a pathetic, ignorant, failed businessman whose stock in trade throughout his life has been lies, lies and more damn lies?

He has criticised his intelligence chiefs since the get-go. He fired them. Now his 'brightest and best' replacements have dared not just to criticise his policies but to tell the American public that he is a liar. Iran is not making a nuclear bomb, North Korea is not doing anything to get rid of its nuclear arsenal, climate change is real and ISIS is far from knocked off the face of our planet. So what does Trump do? As usual he whines and tells his chosen elected officials not just that they are wrong. They have to go back to school!

What of his few allies on his staff? The awful, lying Sarah Sanders now claims that God wanted Trump to become President? God what? God approves of a chronic liar, a chronic womaniser with endless affairs breaking his marriage vows? How utterly pathetic! As if God had anything whatever to do with it. But I suppose those wearing the blindfolds will lap it all up.
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:what does Trump do? As usual he whines and tells his chosen elected officials not just that they are wrong. They have to go back to school!
Trump simply can't handle it when anyone disagrees with him or contradicts him in any way. He wants literally everyone to be a yes man and an ass kisser and wants to get rid of anyone who isn't. Now it's Trump's intelligence staff, although the words Trump and intelligence constitute an oxymoron. It's as if Trump is saying, "How dare you confront me with that vicious pack of facts."

No matter what, Trump is always right and everybody else is always wrong. Someone else was like that in recent history. It even became a matter of law. It was called "Führerprinzip."

If Trump has his way, I wonder how long it will be before jackboots, death's head hats, and goosestepping will be back in style . . .
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

"When you combine ignorance with power, be assured sooner or later it will blow up in your face."
- Dr. Carl Sagan


President Donald Trump's 'duct' tales and more: Weekly Fact Check

By Justin Fishel

Feb 1, 2019

This may be known as the week President Donald Trump's own administration got involved in the fact-check game.

ABC News really didn't have to do much checking of its own. This week we leave it to officials in his own administration.

Welcome to Fact Check Friday.

Intelligence school

On Tuesday, the administration's intelligence chiefs challenged the president's beliefs that "tremendous progress" has been made defeating ISIS, that there is a "decent chance of denuclearization" in North Korea, and that Iran is "not living up to the spirit" of the nuclear deal, prompting the president to lash out over Twitter and suggest they "go back to school."

On Friday he said he disagrees with things they said, and that eventually "time will prove me right, probably."

Let’s pause a minute here to absorb that.

The president is yet again undermining the assessments of his hand picked director of national intelligence and director of the Central Intelligence Agency, saying they don't know what they are talking about, and insulting them publicly.

Here are the facts:

When President Trump announced a sudden and complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria last month he declared "we have won against ISIS" and that "our boys, our young women, our men, they're all coming back and they're coming back now."

Over a month later not a single U.S. service member has returned from Iraq, his defense secretary resigned, and Congress passed a powerful rebuke of the president in an attempt to dissuade the him from engaging in a precipitous withdrawal.

Because as his intelligence chief Dan Coats put it Tuesday, "ISIS is intent on re-surging and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria."

Earlier this month ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack in Manbij, Syria that killed four Americans.

But the disagreements didn't stop in Syria.

His chiefs assessed that Iran is still in compliance with the Obama-era nuclear non-proliferation agreement despite president Trump's effort to derail the international accord by withdrawing U.S. involvement.

Trump called that position "wrong" in a Tweet on Wednesday and warned: "Be careful of Iran."

His chiefs also said plainly that North Korea remains a serious threat -- contradicting the president's assurance, after meeting with Kim Jong Un, when he tweeted that "there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea."

Now just weeks before the two leaders are set to meet again, CIA Director Gina Haspel told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that Kim's regime remains "committed to developing a long range armed missile that would pose a direct threat to the United States."

Trolling the climate

Weather or not it was intentional (they say it wasn't) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fact checked a Trump's climate tweet this week.

Trump, who claims to have a "natural instinct for science," took to Twitter this week to troll scientists and others who understand the earth's rising temperature is rising.

As much of North America faces a record cold-snap Trump tweeted in part, "What the hell is going on with Global Waming [sic]? Please come back fast, we need you!"

The next morning NOAA sent out a tweet of its own (complete with an instructional cartoon) declaring "Winter storms don't prove that global warming isn't happening." A spokesman denied the tweet was aimed at the president.

Image

The fact of the matter is that climate and weather are two separate things. In other words, just because it's cold in one place during one week, it doesn't mean the planet isn't warmer overall than it has been in the past.

Duct tales

Without citing any evidence President Trump is telling Americans his border wall is needed because human traffickers are binding and gagging women with "duct tape" and smuggling them into the United States.

Using graphic and specific detail, he's made the claim about duct taped victims no less than 14 times this month.

On occasion he also drops in a reference to Muslim "prayer rugs" found a the border - a false and xenophobic claim meant to further his erroneous assertion that terrorists are crossing into the U.S. from the southern border.

His most recent telling of the duct tape story came last Friday at the White House.

“Women are tied up, they're bound, duct tape put around their faces, around their mouths,” he told reporters. “In many cases, they can't even breathe. They're put in the backs of cars or vans or trucks."

But according to an administration official who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity, there is no evidence to back either claim about the tape or the prayer rugs.

What's more, media outlet Vox reported it had obtained a memo written by a top U.S. Border Patrol official asking agents to quickly supply "any information" they had on claims that traffickers "tie up and silence women with tape," an apparent effort to substantiate Trump's claim after the fact.

As for the prayer rugs, the president tweeted a dubious report from the Washington Examiner that failed to produce any physical or photographic evidence of any rugs.

Several news outlets have noted there is one place where both prayer rugs at a border and duct-taped women can be found: the 2015 fictional crime film "Sicario," in which FBI agents fight Mexican drug cartels.

The White House has not provided any information to back the president's claims. An article the president referenced includes a list from Arizona's Customs and Border Protection of the countries of origins of people arrested on the border. None of those countries are predominantly Muslim.

Tape or no tape, rugs or not, human trafficking and illegal migration are serious problem. Sadly, salacious and unverified claims from the White House distract from reality, rather than advance solutions.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fact-ch ... d=60735248
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

Trump's fabulous tax cut? Maybe people are beginning to see the truth and who really benefits from Trump's bullshit:
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tax code changes leave Americans asking, 'What happened to my refund?'

"If I were to estimate, two-thirds will pay more than they thought and one-third will get more than they thought,” said one tax preparer.

By Martha C. White, NBC

February 8, 2019

With filing season officially under way, a growing number of taxpayers are realizing that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act might be a double-edged sword.

The White House said in October 2017 that the average family “would get a $4,000 raise” when it was pushing for passage of the law. Now that the new filing season has begun, some taxpayers are finding out that the tax man giveth — but also taketh away, especially as it pertains to their annual refund.

“Americans are obsessed with their refunds. What really matters is whether your taxes went up or down, not whether your refund went down,” said Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban Brookings Tax Policy Center. “It’s really important that people don’t confuse their refund with the taxes they pay,” he said.

But even as Gleckman pointed out that some people’s overall tax burdens might be smaller this year, he acknowledged that many people come to expect and even rely on that refund.

“The people who file early are the people who generally count on these refunds. They may have an expectation of higher refunds,” he said. These taxpayers, especially those who hold down multiple jobs, could be in for a rude awakening.

This was what happened to Jason Marques, a postal worker, pizza delivery driver and student in Massachusetts who said that, since his income didn’t change, he was expecting a similar refund to the roughly $6,000 he got last year — money he said would go towards his student loans or paying off credit card debt.

Marques said he was hurt by the cap on student loan interest deduction and the elimination of non-reimbursed business expenses, which he used to deduct the out-of-pocket costs he incurred as a delivery driver. “My jaw hit the floor,” he said, when he learned his 2018 refund would be under $500.

“I just started paying back my student loans. If I’d gotten the $6,000, I’d have paid off all my credit cards,” he said. “I could’ve really used that money to eliminate it all.”

Marques is not alone in his frustration. Early filers have been taking to social media to express their ire at finding that their refunds were a fraction of what they anticipated or — worse yet — that they would owe an unexpected bill to the IRS.

“That campaign promise was one of the only two reasons I voted for you,” wrote Twitter user Dee Nelson. “Rethinking that decision now.”

@realDonaldTrump just did my taxes and thanks for increasing mine!! No change in income and got back $400 less than last year. That campaign promise was one of the only two reasons I voted for you. Rethinking that decision now.
— Dee Nelson (@deeebeeezz) January 27, 2019

Facebook user Erin Boyd told of a similar unpleasant surprise in a comment on the social media platform. “I got screwed. Widow with two young children and I try to owe $100 or less, because who likes loaning money to the government. And this year I owe $1,000,” she said.

A top culprit for the confusion is the fact that the IRS made changes to withholding tables about a year ago. “People have fewer withholdings in most cases than they did last year, and they don’t realize it,” said Bob Charron, partner and head of the tax department at Friedman LLP.

While some people likely noticed an uptick in their take-home pay, the amount might have been small enough that people didn’t notice, especially those who get direct deposit and might not look at their pay stubs. What’s more, workers who had an increase in their health insurance premiums or other paycheck deductions might have missed the bump entirely.

Postal worker Marques said he didn’t notice a change in his take-home pay after the new withholding rules took effect. “It looks like it was a bunch of gimmicking,” he said. “I didn’t know how badly it was actually going to hurt.”

It’s not yet clear how common experiences like Marques’ will be — or if that could impact consumer spending. Last year, the IRS issued nearly 111 million refunds out of roughly 153 million returns submitted, with an average amount of $2,825. A July report from the Government Accountability Office said more than 20 percent of taxpayers will owe the IRS come April, and due to the changes in the tax law, even the experts say it’s hard to guess who might wind up in the red to the taxman.

“It’s too soon to know what’s really going to happen,” Gleckman said. “Because there were so many changes, the law really did change the tax liability of almost every American.”

Taxpayers who live in states with high costs of living or who used to take a lot of real estate-, tax- or work-related deductions also should be prepared to have to break out their checkbooks come April, Charron said.

Since Charron is based in New York City, his clients tend to come from areas with high home prices and property taxes. “If I were to estimate, two-thirds will pay more than they thought and one-third will get more than they thought,” he said. “I had a call yesterday with a client and I had to tell him his withholdings were short by $16,000.”

This is the kind of outcome Marguerite Garcia is dreading. “We were warned by our tax accountant that we should brace ourselves for this year’s taxes, and that the approximately $3,200 refund we usually enjoy will most likely be obliterated,” she said.

Garcia’s husband is a sales consultant who travels frequently from the family’s home in Oregon, sometimes logging in excess of 20,000 miles on his personal vehicle in a single year. Under the new tax code, he will lose the ability to deduct that mileage along with other unreimbursed expenses.

“I imagine 50-somethings with grown children and similar work situations will be hit pretty hard,” she said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/taxes/ ... nd-n969366
User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

Probably no surprise to anyone, Trump declared the wall a national emergency. Meanwhile, yet another multi-victim shooting by a crazed man with a gun occurred only moments ago. See: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/he ... nt-n972226

Innocent people hurt and killed by nuts with guns occurs so often that when the news breaks it no longer even comes as much of a surprise or shock. But the wall is a national emergency, but bringing gun violence under control is not. What a great president . . .

User avatar
Gaybutton
Posts: 21458
Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:21 am
Location: Thailand
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 1306 times

Re: Consequences of Trump's Win - 5

Post by Gaybutton »

Post Reply