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Category Archives: Political

Trump “Economic Vision”

September 13

To continue my theme of decoding Trump, I am going through his meager 7 Positions on his website. These positions were copied on September 13, 2016, and I assume they are the final positions, with less than 2 months to go until the election.
Strikethrough for comments that are empty platitudes or attacks on his opponent. It is surprising to see so many personal attacks in a policy statement.

Bold and Italics for actual policy, not repeated.  Repeated and redundant statements will also be strikethrough.

My comments are in blockquotes.

ECONOMIC VISION: WINNING THE GLOBAL COMPETITION

Last week’s GDP report showed that the economy grew a mere 1.2% in the second quarter and 1.2% over the last year. It’s the weakest recovery since the Great Depression – the predictable consequence of massive taxation, regulation, one-side trade deals and onerous energy restrictions.

This slow-growth low-jobs future doesn’t have to be. While Hillary Clinton promises more of the same failed economy agenda that have pushed another 14 million out of the workforce in the last 7 years – and that has placed forty percent of Detroit in poverty – Donald Trump is outlining a new economic vision based on a simple premise: all economic policy must be geared towards making it easier to hire, invest, build, grow and produce in America – creating a level playing field for our workers and businesses in global competition, and creating jobs here, not overseas.

High taxes and excessive regulation push jobs overseas, reduce wages, and create a smaller economy for everyone. Obama-Clinton have created a built-in advantage for our foreign competitors.

Reducing the burdens on the American economy, and creating fair trade deals, will lead to an explosion of new jobs, wealth and opportunity. That’s what America First economics is all about – making America the best place in the world to do business, and the best place in the world to get a job, raise and rising standard of living.

Here is how we can accomplish that goal, and win the global competition for America:

1. Tax reform—

  • Simplify taxes for everyone and streamline deductions. Biggest tax reform since Reagan.
  • Lower taxes for everyone, making raising a family more affordable for working families.
  • Reduce dramatically the income tax.
  • We will simplify the income tax from 7 brackets to 3 brackets.
  • Exclude childcare expenses from taxation.
  • Limit taxation of business income to 15% for every business.
  • Make our corporate tax globally competitive and the United States the most attractive place to invest in the world.
  • End the death tax.

What I find interesting is how business friendly and wealthy friendly these proposals are.  Let’s go down the list:

  • Streamline deductions, for many Americans, this would increase the tax burden.
  • Lower taxes for everyone, this really helps the rich.  Most lower income people pay no income tax anyway, so this is just a gimme to the very rich.
  • Simplify the income tax from 7 to 3.  This only helps accountants, and would increase taxes for a big chunk on the middle class, since deductions are also simplified.  No mention of what the marginal tax rates will be, or what the brackets would be to really analyze this statement.
  • Exclude childcare expenses, again, most low income Americans pay no income tax, so this kind of exemption would make no difference.  Again, it only applies to upper income taxpayers.
  • Limit taxation to 15%.  This would create HUGE shortfalls in tax revenue.  No mention of how this will be made up.  Borrowing?
  • End the death tax, again, only the very wealthiest of taxpayers worry about this, less than 0.5%.

For every one percentage point of slower growth in a given year, that’s one million fewer jobs for American workers. Reducing taxes on our workers and businesses, means that our workers can sell their products more cheaply here and around the world – meaning more factories, more hiring, and higher wages. It’s time to stop punishing people for doing business in America.

This statement is false.  Reducing taxes does not bring back industries, or eliminate automation.

President Obama has already increased taxes by $1.7 trillion during his administration. Hillary Clinton would raise taxes by an additional $1.3 trillion over the next 10 years. According to the Tax Policy Center’s analysis of Hillary Clinton’s tax plan: “Marginal tax rates would increase, reducing incentives to work, save, and invest, and the tax code would become more complex.” In addition, Hillary would tax some small businesses by as much as nearly fifty percent; the Trump plan would limit taxes on all businesses to 15 percent of business income.

The child care exclusion will be an above-the-line deduction. Capped at the amount of average care costs in state of residence for age of child. Low-income taxpayers able to take deduction against payroll tax. The plan is structured to benefit working and middle class families, and more detail will be rolled out soon after the plans other elements.

We are two months out…and there is still no more detail.

2. Regulatory reform—

  • A temporary pause on new regulations and a review of previous regulations to see which need to be scrapped.
  • Require each federal agency to prepare a list of all of the regulations they impose on American business, and rank them from most critical to health and safety to least critical. Least critical regulations will receive priority consideration for repeal.
  • Remove bureaucrats who only know how to kill jobs; replace them with experts who know how to create jobs.
  • Targeted review for regulations that inhibit hiring. These include:
  • The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which forces investment in renewable energy at the expense of coal and natural gas, raising electricity rates;
  • The EPA’s Waters of the United States rule, which gives the EPA the ability to regulate the smallest streams on private land, limiting land use; and
  • The Department of Interior’s moratorium on coal mining permits, which put tens of thousands of coal miners out of work.
  • Excessive regulation is costing our country as much as 2 trillion dollars a year, and we will end it.

Anyone who reads this should be terrified.  He basically wants to eliminate the EPA!!!  Are you insane???  I know he yearns to make American great again, but turning back a century of regulations is just insane.

Regulations may have cost us 600,000 small businesses since the start of the recent recession—largely because of new regulations on financing—and some 6 million fewer jobs. The Heritage Foundation has found that the Obama administration has imposed 229 major regulations (those with a cost of $100 million or more) at a cost of $108 billion annually.

How short is Trump’s and America’s attention span?  The lack of banking regulations caused the Great Depression, the Saving and Loan debacle of the late 80’s and 90’s, AND the Great Recession of 2008, with the lax lending rules.  We need more financial regulation, not less.

3. Trade reform—

  • Appoint trade negotiators whose goal will be to win for America: narrowing our trade deficit, increasing domestic production, and getting a fair deal for our workers.
  • Renegotiate NAFTA.
  • Withdraw from the TPP.
  • Bring trade relief cases to the world trade organization.
  • Label China a currency manipulator.
  • Apply tariffs and duties to countries that cheat.
  • Direct the Commerce Department to use all legal tools to respond to trade violations.

Tariffs are a really bad idea and anti global trade does not work in 2016.  You can tell he has no real economists on this advisory board.

Our trade deficit in goods is almost $800 billion on an annual basis. The trade deficit subtracts from growth and costs the US jobs. This has hurt working Americans because good-paying manufacturing jobs are hard to find. Less than half of the population 25 and older without a high school diploma is in the workforce; the unemployment rate of those who are in the almost 30 percent higher than the overall unemployment rate. This leads to poverty and an increase in demands on the nation’s social service network. Better trade policies can reverse this outcome dramatically.

Hillary Clinton has supported every major trade deal responsible for job losses in the United States, and will enact the TPP if given the chance.

Empty statistics and a personal attack.

TPP will hammer the car industry because it does not resolve, among other things, the substantial non-tariff barriers to U.S. cars being sold in Japan and other countries — including currency manipulation, excess supply and closed dealerships. According to the Peterson Institute, TPP would increase the automobile trading deficit by $23 billion by 2025.

4. Energy reform—

  • Rescind all the job-destroying Obama executive actions including the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.
  • Save the coal industry and other industries threatened by Hillary Clinton’s extremist agenda.
  • Ask Trans Canada to renew its permit application for the Keystone Pipeline.
  • Make land in the Outer Continental Shelf available to produce oil and natural gas.
  • Cancel the Paris Climate Agreement (limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius) and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.
  • Lift restrictions on American energy to increase:
  • Economic output by $700 billion annually over the next 30 years,
  • Wages by $30 billion annually over the next 7 years,
  • GDP by more than $20 trillion over the next four decades, and
  • Tax revenues by an additional $6 trillion over 40 years.

 

Energy costs the average American households $5,000 per year. As a percentage of income, the cost is greater for lower-income families. An America First Energy Plan will bring down residential and transportation energy costs, leaving more money in for American families as they pay less each month on power bills and gasoline for cars. This will also make electricity more affordable for U.S. manufacturers, which will help our companies create jobs and compete on the world stage.

Just a bunch of climate change denial and wrecking the environment.

President Obama sought to raise the price of energy for America’s families and businesses. He’s put much of Alaska’s reserves off limits, decreased production on federal lands by 10 percent, put 87 percent of Outer Continental Shelf reserves out of service, and shut down Atlantic lease sales costing nearly 300,00 jobs. Hillary Clinton has pledged to protect and expand these job-killing policies.

What a horrible policy…protecting the environment.

Donald Trump is committed to clean air and water, without increasing the cost of electricity. Hillary Clinton will continue President Obama’s goals of reducing methane emissions by 40-45 percent through standards for both new and existing sources, which will drastically increase the cost of natural gas; Donald Trump is committed to an “all of the above” energy plan that would encourage, not discourage, the use of natural gas and other American energy resources that will both reduce emissions but also reduce the price of energy and increase our economic output.

The first sentence of this paragraph has nothing to do the rest of the paragraph.  Gibberish.

5. Other reforms, to be rolled out in the near future —

  • Obamacare repeal and replacement—Obamacare will cost the economy 2 million full time jobs over the next decade. Hillary Clinton would expand Obamacare and create fully government-run socialized medicine.
  • Infrastructure—28 percent of our roads are in substandard condition and 24 percent of bridges are structurally deficient or worse. Trump’s plan will provide the growth to boost our infrastructure, Hillary Clinton’s will not.
  • Childcare— Childcare is now the single greatest expense for most American families — even exceeding the cost of housing in much of the country. Trump will allow families to exclude childcare costs from income, benefitting every family. Hillary will not.
  • Crime— Homicides last year increased by 17 percent in America’s fifty largest cities. That’s the largest increase in 25 years. More than 2,000 have been shot in Chicago since January of this year alone. Donald Trump is the law and order candidate in this Presidential race.

There are linterally no details here.  How will you replace the Affordable Care Act?  How will you improve infrastructure?  How will you pay for it?  How will you reduce crime?  How will you pay for it?  Single word talking to points to important issues.


Contrast with Hillary Clinton:

  • Hillary Clinton accepts the CBO and Fed projections that the U.S. will grow only 2 percent per year. She doesn’t believe in a better future for America – only Venezuela-style redistribution of a stagnant economy.
  • Hillary Clinton will raise taxes by $1.3 trillion, leading to 300,000 lost jobs and lower wages.
  • Hillary Clinton will increase spending by a minimum of $3.5 trillion.
  • Hillary Clinton wants to increase regulations.
  • Hillary Clinton is a globalist, supporting almost every major job-killing trade deal.
  • Hillary Clinton wants to shut down American energy production, a tax on the poor.


Summary:

Trump is the candidate of the future. Hillary Clinton is the candidate of the past.

The irony is, the policies of Trump are the policies of the past.  Reduce taxes, eliminate the EPA, let banks have free reign.  All of these have been proven not to work.  A very poorly written policy, with no details.

 

Posted by on September 13, 2016 in Political

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Commander in Chief Forum – Trump

September 09

As a running theme, I guess, I would like to break down the recent Commander-in-Chief forum.  The Secretary Clinton section was dominated by the endless questions about e-mails.  It was off topic and off putting.  I know has served our country well and would be a fine commander-in-chief.  Trump, however…

My markups will be strikethrough for personal attacks and platitudes and repeating the question back to LAUER.

Bold for actual answers to questions.

 

My comments in block quotes.

LAUER: You heard me say to Mrs. Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and it didn’t completely work out toward the end there, as much as possible I’d like you to tell our veterans and our people at home why you are prepared for the role of commander-in-chief and try to keep the attacks to a minimum. We’ve had a year of that and maybe 60 more days of it.

TRUMP: To a minimum, absolutely.

LAUER: OK, perfect. To a minimum. I guess that’s a question of definition.

TRUMP: I guess.

LAUER: Any time you interview a president, sitting or past president, they will tell you that the most daunting…

TRUMP: Was I supposed to answer this question?

LAUER: No, no, no, I mean just keep the attacks to a minimum. Any time you talk to a president, they’ll tell you the most daunting part of the job is the role of commander-in-chief.

TRUMP: Right. LAUER: What have you experienced in your personal life or your professional life that you believe prepares you to make the decisions that a commander-in-chief has to make?

TRUMP: Well, I’ve built a great company. I’ve been all over the world. I’ve dealt with foreign countries. I’ve done very well, as an example, tremendously well dealing with China and dealing with so many of the countries that are just ripping this country. They are just taking advantage of us like nobody’s ever seen before.

And I’ve had great experience dealing on an international basis. I look today and I see Russian planes circling our planes. They’re taunting us. I see in Iran, I see the boats taunting our ships, our destroyers, and I think…

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: But what have you done in your life that prepares you to send men and women of the United States into harm’s way?

TRUMP: Well, I think the main thing is I have great judgment. I have good judgment. I know what’s going on. I’ve called so many of the shots. And I happened to hear Hillary Clinton say that I was not against the war in Iraq. I was totally against the war in Iraq. From a — you can look at Esquire magazine from ’04. You can look at before that.

And I was against the war in Iraq because I said it’s going to totally destabilize the Middle East, which it has. It has absolutely been a disastrous war, and by the way, perhaps almost as bad was the way Barack Obama got out. That was a disaster.

The statement that he always opposed the war is a lie.

LAUER: People talk about you and commander-in-chief, and not just Secretary Clinton, but some of your Republican opponents in the primary season, and they wonder about your temperament. They say, does Donald Trump have the temperament to be commander-in-chief?

You said something recently that I found interesting. You admitted that sometimes in the heat of a debate or when you’re talking about a lot of issues you say things that you later regret. So can we afford that with a commander-in-chief — to have a commander-in-chief who says things that he later regrets?

TRUMP: Well, when you say regret, yeah, sure, I regret. But in the meantime, I beat 16 people and here I am. So, you know, to a certain extent there is a regret. I would have liked to have done it in a nicer manner. But I had 16 very talented people that I had to go through. And that was a lot of people.

LAUER: But when you say…

TRUMP: That was a record, Matt. That was a record in the history of Republican politics. I was able to get more votes than anybody ever has gotten in the history of Republican politics.

LAUER: But when you say inflammatory things… (CROSSTALK)

LAUER: … in a presidential campaign, it’s different than saying them when you’re commander-in-chief. If you say things you regret…

TRUMP: I agree with you.

LAUER: … when you’re commander-in-chief, you can spark a conflict, you can destabilize a region, you can put American lives at risk. Can we afford to take that risk with you?

TRUMP: Well, I think absolutely. I think if you saw what happened in Mexico the other day, where I went there, I had great relationships, everything else. I let them know where the United States stands. I mean, we’ve been badly hurt by Mexico, both on the border and with taking all of our jobs or a big percentage of our jobs.

And if you look at what happened, look at the aftermath today where the people that arranged the trip in Mexico have been forced out of government. That’s how well we did.

I, honestly, could not think of a worse example than this one.  You are proud the people who arranged the meeting were forced out of government???  That’s insane.

LAUER: Back in August…

TRUMP: And that’s how well we’re going to have to do, Matt.

LAUER: Back in August, when you admitted that you regret some of the things you said, you also said this. “I can promise you this: I will always tell you the truth.”

TRUMP: It’s true.

That is a lie.

LAUER: So let me read some of the things you’ve said. “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.” Was that the truth?

TRUMP: Well, the generals under Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have not been successful. ISIS…

LAUER: Do you know more about ISIS than they do?

TRUMP: I think under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble. They have been reduced to a point where it’s embarrassing for our country. You have a force of 30,000 or so people. Nobody really knows. But probably 30,000 people. And I can just see the great — as an example- General George Patton spinning in his grave as ISIS we can’t beat. We had the greatest…

What the fuck?

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: Yeah, you’ve said if we had MacArthur today or if we had Patton today, we would not have ISIS, that the rise of these military commanders that we have today, they come up the chain of command, and by the time they get to the top, they’re too politically correct. And we know that’s not a compliment coming from you. Have you lost faith in the military commanders?

TRUMP: I have great faith in the military. I have great faith in certain of the commanders, certainly. But I have no faith in Hillary Clinton or the leadership. You look at what’s happened. And, you know, when she comes in and starts saying, oh, I would have done this, I would have — she’s been there for 30 years. I mean, we need change, Matt. We have to have it, and we have to have it fast.

LAUER: Let’s go to Hallie Jackson in our crowd. Hallie?

JACKSON: I’m with Phillip Clay (ph), who was a public affairs officer in the Marine Corps. He spent a year in Anbar province in Iraq. He left the military with the rank of captain, service that inspired him to write a book. He’s a Democrat, and he has this question for you, Mr. Trump.

QUESTION: Mr. Trump, over the past 15 years, a lot of U.S. troops have bled and died securing towns and provinces from Iraq to Afghanistan, only to have insurgent groups like ISIS spring back the moment we leave. Now, you’ve claimed to have a secret plan to defeat ISIS. But you’re hardly the first politician to promise a quick victory and a speedy homecoming. So assuming we do defeat ISIS, what next? What is your plan for the region to ensure that a group like them doesn’t just come back?

TRUMP: Sure. I mean, part of the problem that we’ve had is we go in, we defeat somebody, and then we don’t know what we’re doing after that. We lose it, like as an example, you look at Iraq, what happened, how badly that was handled. And then when President Obama took over, likewise, it was a disaster. It was actually somewhat stable. I don’t think could ever be very stable to where we should have never gone into in the first place.

But he came in. He said when we go out — and he took everybody out. And really, ISIS was formed. This was a terrible decision. And frankly, we never even got a shot. And if you really look at the aftermath of Iraq, Iran is going to be taking over Iraq. They’ve been doing it. And it’s not a pretty picture.

The — and I think you know — because you’ve been watching me I think for a long time — I’ve always said, shouldn’t be there, but if we’re going to get out, take the oil. If we would have taken the oil, you wouldn’t have ISIS, because ISIS formed with the power and the wealth of that oil.

Did you notice how Trump totally ignored the question?

LAUER: How were we going to take the oil? How were we going to do that?

TRUMP: Just we would leave a certain group behind and you would take various sections where they have the oil. They have — people don’t know this about Iraq, but they have among the largest oil reserves in the world, in the entire world.

And we’re the only ones, we go in, we spend $3 trillion, we lose thousands and thousands of lives, and then, Matt, what happens is, we get nothing. You know, it used to be to the victor belong the spoils. Now, there was no victor there, believe me. There was no victor. But I always said: Take the oil.

One of the benefits we would have had if we took the oil is ISIS would not have been able to take oil and use that oil…

LAUER: Let me stay on ISIS…

TRUMP: … to fuel themselves.

LAUER: Let me stay on ISIS. When we’ve met in the past and we’ve talked, you say things like I’m going to bomb the expletive out of them very quickly. And when people like me press you for details like that gentleman just said on what your plan is, you very often say, I’m not going to give you the details because I want to be unpredictable.

TRUMP: Absolutely. The word is unpredictable.

LAUER: But yesterday, you actually told us a little bit about your plan in your speech. You said this. Quote, “We’re going to convene my top generals and they will have 30 days to submit a plan for soundly and quickly defeating ISIS.” So is the plan you’ve been hiding this whole time asking someone else for their plan?

TRUMP: No. But when I do come up with a plan that I like and that perhaps agrees with mine, or maybe doesn’t — I may love what the generals come back with. I will convene…

LAUER: But you have your own plan?

TRUMP: I have a plan. But I want to be — I don’t want to — look. I have a very substantial chance of winning. Make America great again. We’re going to make America great again. I have a substantial chance of winning. If I win, I don’t want to broadcast to the enemy exactly what my plan is.

LAUER: But you’re going to…

TRUMP: And let me tell you, if I like maybe a combination of my plan and the generals’ plan, or the generals’ plan, if I like their plan, Matt, I’m not going to call you up and say, “Matt, we have a great plan.” This is what Obama does. “We’re going to leave Iraq on a certain day.”

LAUER: But you’re going to convene a panel of generals, and you’ve already said you know more about ISIS than those generals do.

TRUMP: Well, they’ll probably be different generals, to be honest with you. I mean, I’m looking at the generals, today, you probably saw, I have a piece of paper here, I could show it, 88 generals and admirals endorsed me today.

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: It’s a numbers game. Hillary Clinton claims more numbers.

TRUMP: Well, it’s not really — it’s not — yeah, numbers. People that have been losing for us for a long period of time. I mean, the fact is, we have had the worst and you could even say the dumbest foreign policy. Our results are so bad. We would have been better off had we never, ever spent $2 in that part of the world.

LAUER: You recently — you recently received two intelligence briefings.

TRUMP: Yes, I did.

LAUER: Did anything in that briefing, without going into specifics, shock or alarm you?

TRUMP: Yes. Very much so.

LAUER: Did you learn new things in that briefing?

TRUMP: First of all, I have great respect for the people that gave us the briefings. We — they were terrific people. They were experts on Iraq and Iran and different parts of — and Russia. But, yes, there was one thing that shocked me. And it just seems to me that what they said President Obama and Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, who is another total disaster, did exactly the opposite.

LAUER: Did you learn anything in that briefing — again, not going into specifics — that makes you reconsider some of the things you say you can accomplish, like defeating ISIS quickly?

TRUMP: No, I didn’t learn anything from that standpoint. What I did learn is that our leadership, Barack Obama, did not follow what our experts and our truly — when they call it intelligence, it’s there for a reason — what our experts said to do. LAUER: Hallie?

TRUMP: And I was very, very surprised. In almost every instance. And I could tell you. I have pretty good with the body language. I could tell they were not happy. Our leaders did not follow what they were recommending.

LAUER: Hallie?

JACKSON: I’m with former Army Captain Sue Fulton, who was a member of the First West Point class to include women. She served as a signal corps officer in Germany.

(APPLAUSE)

She’s a Democrat, and she has this question for you, Mr. Trump.

QUESTION: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Hi, thank you very much.

QUESTION: Thank you. Do you believe that an undocumented person who serves — who wants to serve in the U.S. armed forces deserves to stay in this country legally?

TRUMP: I think that when you serve in the armed forces, that’s a very special situation, and I could see myself working that out, absolutely.

What does that mean?

LAUER: So she’s saying has already served in the armed forces or wants to serve, plans to serve?

QUESTION: Plans to serve. Plans to serve in the armed forces. As you know, under DACA, we already have people who are undocumented who are serving.

TRUMP: I think military is a very special thing. If they plan on serving, if they get in, I would absolutely hold those people — now, we have to be very careful. We have to vet very carefully. Everybody would agree with that. But the answer is, it would be a very special circumstance, yes. Thank you.

LAUER: Thank you very much for your question. Hallie, you have another one?

JACKSON: I do. Alex Gronkowski (ph) was an Army staff sergeant assigned in special operations. He was stationed at Fort Bragg and was deployed to Afghanistan and other places across the Middle East. He has not decided who he will vote for yet in November. And you have a question for Mr. Trump.

QUESTION: I do. Mr. Trump, as you know, tensions between the United States and Russia have been at the highest level since the Cold War. In your first 120 days of presidency, how would you de-escalate the tensions? And more importantly, what steps would you take to bring Mr. Putin and the Russian government back to negotiating table?

TRUMP: I think I would have a very good relationship with many foreign leaders. I think it’s very sad, when you look at Barack Obama, as an example, lands Air Force One in China, and they don’t want to put out stairs to get off the plane. And he has to use the stairs that mechanics use to get up and down to fix the plane. They wouldn’t give him stairs.

I think it’s very sad, when he lands in Saudi Arabia, and he lands in Cuba, and there aren’t high officials to even greet him. This is the first time in the history — the storied history of Air Force One.

I think I would have a very, very good relationship with Putin. And I think I would have a very, very good relationship with Russia.

As I said, take a look today. Take a look at what happened with their fighter jets circling one of our aircraft in a very dangerous manner. Somebody said less than 10 feet away. This is hostility.

And I saw, just two or three days ago, they looked like they were not exactly getting along, but I looked at President Obama and Putin staring at each other. These were not two people that were getting along.

And, you know, the beautiful part of getting along, Russia wants to defeat ISIS as badly as we do. If we had a relationship with Russia, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could work on it together and knock the hell out of ISIS? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?

All of those words had nothing to do with the very specific question; how would you improve relations with Russia and bring Putin to the table?

LAUER: Let me ask you about some of the things you’ve said about Vladimir Putin. You said, I will tell you, in terms of leadership, he’s getting an A, our president is not doing so well. And when referring to a comment that Putin made about you, I think he called you a brilliant leader, you said it’s always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his country and beyond.

TRUMP: Well, he does have an 82 percent approval rating, according to the different pollsters, who, by the way, some of them are based right here. Look, look…

LAUER: He’s also a guy who annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine, supports Assad in Syria, supports Iran, is trying to undermine our influence in key regions of the world, and according to our intelligence community, probably is the main suspect for the hacking of the DNC computers…

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, nobody knows that for a fact. But do you want me to start naming some of the things that President Obama does at the same time?

LAUER: But do you want to be complimented by that former KGB officer?

TRUMP: Well, I think when he calls me brilliant, I’ll take the compliment, OK? The fact is, look, it’s not going to get him anywhere. I’m a negotiator. We’re going to take back our country. You look at what’s happening to our country, you look at the depleted military. You look at the fact that we’ve lost our jobs. We’re losing our jobs like we’re a bunch of babies. We’re going to take back our country, Matt. The fact that he calls me brilliant or whatever he calls me is going to have zero impact.

LAUER: But the fact that you say you can get along with him, do you think the day…

TRUMP: I think I’d be able to get along with him.

LAUER: Do you think the day that you become president of the United States, he’s going to change his mind on some of these key issues?

TRUMP: Possibly. It’s possible. I don’t know, Matt. It’s possible. And it’s not going to have any impact. If he says great things about me, I’m going to say great things about him. I’ve already said, he is really very much of a leader. I mean, you can say, oh, isn’t that a terrible thing — the man has very strong control over a country.

Now, it’s a very different system, and I don’t happen to like the system. But certainly, in that system, he’s been a leader, far more than our president has been a leader. We have a divided country. We have a country where you have Hillary Clinton with her e-mails that nobody’s ever seen where she deletes 33,000 e-mails, and that’s after getting a subpoena from Congress. If you do that in private business, you get thrown in jail.

How can anyone support this ‘man’?  He just praised a DICTATOR, STRONGMAN and insulted our President.

LAUER: Hallie?

JACKSON: Steve Korea (ph), here with me, was in the Army Reserves and spent 10 months in Iraq right at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is a Republican and has this question for you.

QUESTION: Good evening, Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: Hi.

QUESTION: I like what you say about supporting veterans and how they’re important. But I haven’t heard what the actual plans are to continue that support beyond words. How do you translate those words to action after you take office?

TRUMP: Well, I love that question, because I’ve been very close to the vets. You see the relationship I have with the vets just by looking at the polls. In fact, today a poll came out. And my relationship has been very good.

I have a very, very powerful plan that’s on my website that you possibly saw. One of the big problems is the wait time. Vets are waiting six days, seven days, eight days. And by the way, Hillary Clinton six months ago said the vets are being treated essentially just fine, there’s no real problem, it’s over-exaggerated. She did say that.

LAUER: No, no, she went on after that and laid out a litany of problems within the V.A.

No answer here, again, and good for Lauer for calling him out on a lie.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Look, I mean, she made up half of the things she said about me. I’m telling you, this is — she said she was satisfied with what was going on in the Veterans Administration.

Now, under my plan, if you’ve got to wait — and, by the way, people are dying on line. They’re dying, waiting, waiting to get to see a doctor. They’re waiting five days and six days.

Under a part of my plan, if they have that long wait, they walk outside, they go to the local doctor, they choose the doctor, they choose the hospital, whether it’s public or private, they get themselves better. In many cases, it’s a minor procedure or a pill or just a prescription. And they end up dying because they can’t get to see the doctor. We will pay the bill. They go outside, they get a doctor, they get a prescription, they do what they have to do, and we pay the bill.

That is something that I have been praised — and, by the way, I never said take the V.A. — take the Veterans Administration private. I wouldn’t do that. Too much respect for our people. I would never do that.

Again, no real answer here.  Have doctor choice…that they already have, and not privatize the VA. Not much of a plan here.

LAUER: OK.

TRUMP: I heard it was said that I said that. I would not do that. But I do believe — I do believe, when you’re waiting in line for six, seven days, you should never be in a position like that. You go out, you see the doctor, you get yourself taken care of.

LAUER: Hallie, you’ve got another question.

JACKSON: I do. Rachel Fredericks (ph), who specialized in aviations operations in the Marine Corps, serving stateside, she lost two friends to suicide. And you now struggle yourself with PTSD. She’s a Republican, but leaning towards you, still undecided a little bit. Rachel, you have a question for Mr. Trump.

QUESTION: I do. Mr. Trump, I wanted to ask what your plan will be to stop 20 veterans a day from killing themselves.

TRUMP: And actually it’s 22. And it’s almost impossible to conceive that this is happening in our country, 20 to 22 people a day are killing themselves. A lot of it is they’re killing themselves over the fact that they can’t — they’re under tremendous pain and they can’t see a doctor.

It is 20 a day, 22 is an old number.

We’re going to speed up the process. We’re going to create a great mental health division. They need help. They need help. They need tremendous help. And we’re doing nothing for them.

The V.A. is really almost, you could say, a corrupt enterprise. If you look at what’s going on, as an example, Matt, in Arizona, where they caught people stealing, and they can’t even do anything about it, they can’t even fire the people. So we are going to make it efficient and good. And if it’s not good, you’re going out to private hospitals, public hospitals, and doctors. Thank you very much.

So little information here.

LAUER: Hallie, one more?

JACKSON: Donald Day (ph) here, who served as a radio operator in the Marine Corps in the Vietnam era. He had tours of duty in Southeast Asia and in Europe. He’s also a Democrat and has this question for you.

QUESTION: Mr. Trump, I have a daughter who is interested in joining the service, but when she researched the military, she saw the stats on sexual assault and decided not to go. I have a concern about the rape of women in our armed forces. As president, what specifically would you do to support all victims of sexual assault in the military?

TRUMP: It’s a great question. And it’s a massive problem. The numbers are staggering, hard to believe, even. But we’re going to have to run it very tight. I at the same time want to keep the court system within the military. I don’t think it should be outside of the military. But we have to come down very, very hard on that.

The court martial system is inside the military, now.  Even I know that.  Trump does not.

And your daughter is absolutely right, it is a massive problem. But we have to do something about that problem. And the best thing we can do is set up a court system within the military. Right now, the court system practically doesn’t exist. It takes too long.

The court martial system is inside the military, now.  Even I know that.  Trump does not.

LAUER: In 2013, on this subject, you tweeted this, quote, “26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military, only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men and women together?”

TRUMP: Well, it is — it is — it is a correct tweet. There are many people that think that that’s absolutely correct. And we need to have a…

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: So this should have been expected? And does that mean the only way to fix it is to take women out of the military?

TRUMP: Well, it’s happening, right? And, by the way, since then, it’s gotten worse. No, not to take them out, but something has to be happen. Right now, part of the problem is nobody gets prosecuted. You have reported and — the gentleman can tell you, you have the report of rape and nobody gets prosecuted. There are no consequence.

When you have somebody that does something so evil, so bad as that, there has to be consequence for that person. You have to go after that person. Right now, nobody’s doing anything. Look at the small number of results. I mean, that’s part of the problem.

LAUER: So many of the issues that we’ve talked about with you, Mr. Trump, tonight, and Secretary Clinton, are so complex that even career military people and career diplomats and politicians have trouble getting their arms around them.

TRUMP: Right.

LAUER: You’ve had a very different background, in business. So nobody would expect you to have taken over the last 20 years really deep dives into some of these issues. But I’m curious about what you’re doing now. What kind of research are you doing now? What kind of homework are you doing? What kind of things are you reading as you prepare for the day in two months where you might be elected the next president of the United States?

TRUMP: Sure. Well, in the front row, you have four generals. You have admirals. We have people all throughout the audience that I’m dealing with. Right here is a list that was just printed today of 88 admirals and generals that I meet with and I talk to.

So, he is not reading anything???

LAUER: How much time are you spending on this?

TRUMP: I’m also — a lot. A lot. And I’m doing a lot of different things. Don’t forget, we’re running a big campaign. We’re doing very well. I’m also, you know, and I’m very much giving it to my children and my executives to run, I’m also partially running a business. I’m campaigning, I’m running a business. I’ve got a lot of hats right now.

Why are you still running your business?  You do not seem to be very committed to this.

But we’re doing very well. But in the meantime, I am studying. And I’m meeting constantly — you see — you see General Flynn and you see some of the folks that we have, and they’re scattered throughout the audience. So we have admirals, we have generals, we have colonels. We have a lot of people that I respect.

And I think I’ve learned a lot. But I think, also, I certainly — I really feel I have a common sense on the various issues that you’re talking about, Matt.

Long story short, no, he is not studying much.

LAUER: You said in the speech today, you said history shows that when America is not prepared is when the danger is the greatest.

TRUMP: And we’re not prepared.

LAUER: Will you be prepared on day one, if you’re elected president of the United States, to tackle these complex national security issues?

TRUMP: One hundred percent. Hey, Matt, again, she made a mistake on Libya. She made a terrible mistake on Libya. And the next thing, I mean, not only did she make the mistake, but then they complicated the mistake by having no management once they bombed you know what out of Gadhafi. I mean, she made a terrible mistake on Libya. And part of it was the management aftereffect. I think that we have great management talents, great management skills.

LAUER: But you are prepared?

Good for Lauer to call bullshit on this one, attacking your opponent does not answer the question.

TRUMP: And I have to tell you — totally prepared. But remember this. I found this subject and these subjects of interest all of my life, Matt. This hasn’t been over the last 14 months. I’ve found these substantiates of tremendous interest. That’s why they were asking me about Iraq 14 years ago. They were asking me these questions. They don’t ask businesspeople those questions.

I find these items interesting as well, http://www.cyberphreak.com/commentary-for-march-9th-2003/ and http://www.cyberphreak.com/no-war-yet/ 

At least I know, if I ever run, I really did speak against the war in Iraq, in writing, BEFORE the war.

LAUER: Let me end in kind of the same place I started. Have you given much thought, Mr. Trump, if you’re elected president and commander-in-chief, to that moment where you’re going to have to make that first decision that puts American men and women in harm’s way?

TRUMP: I think it’s the most difficult decision you can possibly ever make. You’re talking about death. And we’re talking death to not just our side. We’re talking death all over. I would be very, very cautious. I think I’d be a lot slower. She has a happy trigger. You look, she votes for the wars, she goes in Libya…

(CROSSTALK)

LAUER: Have you thought about personally the emotional burden of that moment?

TRUMP: I think it’s a tremendous burden. I think there is no greater burden that anybody could have. I’ve been preparing this for a long time. And, you know, my theme is make America great again. We’re going to make America great again. But, Matt, we’ve also got to make America strong again. And right now, we are not strong. Believe me. We have a depleted military. We have the greatest people in the world in our military. But it is very sadly depleted.

LAUER: The Republican nominee for president of the United States, Donald Trump.

TRUMP: Thank you, Matt.

LAUER: Thank you.

I am not longer shocked how little information Trump provides.  He reads like a highschooler that forgot to study for an exam.  By the way, here are some Trump word counts:

Very: 44 times.

Great: 24 times.

People: 21 times.

Well: 20 times.

Clinton: 13 times.

Obama: 10 times.

I wrote this article before I read the excellent commentary from Eugene Robinson, turns out we agree, and yes, I could not find anything meaningful in his answers.

 

Posted by on September 9, 2016 in Political

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Decoding another Trump speech

September 07

Here is another Trump speech to plow through, this one after a roaster in Iowa on August 28, 2016.  These are the prepared remarks, the actual speech had some other remarks, but I can’t stand listening to him,  His cadence and delivery are abysmal.

So, we have another 2,675 word speech, very similar in length to the last speech I dissected.

My styles are strikethrough anything that is a personal attack or empty platitude .

Bold any comments that are basic policy statement.

Bold and Italics for detailed policy information.

My comments will be in block quotes, like this.

 

Thank you. I am thrilled to be here in Iowa among so many good friends.


Iowa is fortunate to have some of the best and most dedicated public servants in the country – including Governor Terry Branstad, Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds, State GOP Chairman Jeff Kauffman, Senator Chuck Grassley and, of course, our great host, Senator Joni Ernst.

What an incredible roster.

I also want to take a moment to thank the Bikers who have been so good to me throughout this campaign. I can’t tell you how much it means to me. They are fantastic people who truly love our country.

More than anything, today, I want to express my gratitude to our amazing Veterans. We will not let you down.

Together, we are going to win this state in November – and we are going to win the White House for the American people.

The White House will become the People’s House. We will tackle and fix the problems that have gone unsolved for years: failing schools, crumbling infrastructure, broken borders, bloated bureaucracy, wasteful spending, and a government that just doesn’t work.


This is a campaign about big ideas designed to help everyday people. These are the people who work hard but who don’t have a voice.

It’s also a campaign about restoring honesty and accountability to government service.

The whole world has been shocked by the continuing revelations regarding Hillary Clinton and her pay-for-play State Department.

Now it was just announced that her important calendar records will not be released to the public until after the election – more protection from a corrupt government.

Kind of like your tax returns and medical records, Mr. Trump?

As I’ve said many times in recent days, it’s hard to tell where the Clinton Foundation ends, and where the State Department begins.

The Clinton Corruption scandals have been a sad time for America. The illegal server, the foreign hacking, the deleted emails, the secret schedules, the lying to Congress. It’s all just too much. How much more can voters take?

Hillary Clinton thinks she’s entitled to be President – she thinks that she’s above the law. But the truth is the opposite: her criminal conduct at home, and her failed interventions overseas, simply make her unfit to serve in the Oval Office.

I believe America is ready to turn the page on this sordid past. We don’t want another 4 years of Obama or Clinton Controversies: they’re not only dangerous but, frankly, exhausting to the people. How do you even keep up with them all?

Also, we are exhausted with your flip flopping and endless attacks with no real policy 2 months out.

The Clintons have had their time on the stage– but now it’s time to close that chapter in the history book and open a new one.

That is why this is such an exciting year to be a Republican, and to vote Republican.

This year, the GOP is offering the voters a chance to break-up the corrupt establishment and to create a New American Future.

This chance will never come again.

The Big Banks and Wall Street donors who want nothing to change are throwing millions and millions at my opponent. These are the same people who paid Bill and Hillary Clinton $150 million for speeches.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is all about protecting the powerful.

Our campaign is about protecting those who have no power.

Together, we are going to give working people a voice for the first time in a very, very long time.

The working people do have a voice, they are called unions, which Republican’s hate.

Let’s talk about what that means.

For our Veterans, it means a guarantee that they can seek medical care at either a VA facility or at a private medical doctor.

With reforms, passed last year, this was already corrected.

Never again will we allow a Veteran to die waiting for the care they need. We will protect those who protect us.

At the center of our change agenda is also a plan to fix our rigged economy.

The government just revised the growth numbers for last quarter down again – it’s now only 1.1 percent. That’s not just bad, it’s catastrophic. We’re going to Make America Grow Again.

That begins with supporting our family farms right here in Iowa.

Family farms are the backbone of this country. We are going to end the EPA intrusion into your family homes and your family farms.

Really???  Really?   You want to end EPA regulation?  You have to be fucking kidding me.  Fuck it, let them rape the land, poison the environment, have another dust bowl.  Who cares if it means ‘more jobs’.

We are going to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard, eliminate job-killing regulations like the Waters of the U.S. rule, and provide desperately-needed tax relief.

Why, oh why, does he place jobs over the environments.  The Waters of the United States Rule, is there to protect our already ravaged wetlands.  You want to avoid another Katrina, we need to protect our wetlands.

Almost 97% of farms in this country are family-owned and family-managed. It’s not only a great American tradition, but a vital component of America’s economic and national security.

Yet, Hillary Clinton wants to shut down family farms just like she wants to shut down the mines and the steelworkers. She will do this not only through radical regulation, but also by raising taxes on family farms – and all businesses – to rates as high as nearly 50 percent. Adding to the pain, she will tax family farms again at death by as much as 45 percent.

On top of that, her anti-energy agenda will drive up the cost of energy – another attack on agriculture.

We are going to end this war on the American farmer.

Bunch of lies here, not going to bother.

That includes our plan to lower the tax rate on family farms down to 15 percent, and to stop the double-taxation of family farms at death – helping to ensure that the family farm tradition in Iowa continues to thrive and flourish.

Farmers do get subsidies, and I really don’t think too many small farmers worry about the death tax.

My economic agenda can be summed up in three words: jobs, jobs, jobs.

I am asking for the support of all Americans who want more opportunity, higher wages, safe communities, competent leadership, and honest government.

We are going to send the special interests packing, and we are going to once again have a government of, by, and for the people.

Republicans are the Party of Lincoln.

Which brings me to a subject that is so important and personal for me. Nothing means more to me than working to make our party the home of the African-American vote once again.

There are millions of African-Americans in this country who have succeeded so greatly and who deserve a government that protects and honors their incredible contribution.

But we also have to talk about the millions of African-Americans who remain trapped in poverty and failing schools.

I’ve spoken a lot in recent days about the deplorable conditions in many of our inner cities. As a father, as a builder, as an American, it offends my sense of right and wrong to see anyone living in such conditions.

Almost 40 percent of African-American children are living in poverty – including 45 percent of children under the age of six.

In Detroit, half of its residents do not work. In Milwaukee, almost 4 in 10 African-American men between the age of 24-54 are not employed.

More than 6,000 African-Americans are the victims of murder every year.

Just yesterday, the cousin of NBA star Dwayne Wade was the victim of a tragic shooting in Chicago. She was the mother of 4, and was killed while pushing her infant child in a stroller.

You are using a death as a campaign point!?!

It breaks our hearts. This shouldn’t happen in America. We send our thoughts and our prayers to the family, and we also promise to fight for a better tomorrow.

Across Chicago, more than 2,700 have been shooting victims since January of this year.

I grew up in Chicago, and live in an inner ring suburb of Chicago; it is a shame, but what we really need it to enable some real gun control and end the silly war on drugs.  That is what is funding this machine of death.

We cannot, as a society, tolerate this level of violence and suffering in our own cities. Those who would deny that this is a national crisis – a crisis requiring urgent action – have no business running for elected office.

Is he suggesting a police state?  If not, what else is he suggesting?

Failed Democratic policies – the policies of Hillary Clinton – have created this high crime and crushing poverty.

In so many communities under Democratic control, we have bad schools, no jobs, high crime, and no hope. It can’t get any worse. To those suffering, I say: vote for Donald Trump and I will fix it. What do you have to lose?

Let me also tell you what you have to gain: millions of jobs, better schools and safe communities.

By the way, how quickly people have forgotten that Hillary Clinton called black youth “super-predators,” and how insulted they were.

I am running to offer a better future – to the citizens of Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago, and all across this great land.

African-Americans have given so much to this country. They’ve fought and died in every war since the Revolution. They’ve lifted up the conscience of our nation in the Civil Rights movement. They’ve sacrificed so much for the national good.

Now is the time to put a new agenda into action that expands opportunity, ensures equality, and that protects the rights of each and every citizen.

This includes one of the most important rights of all: the right to live in safety. I will work with communities, with police, and with federal law enforcement, to make communities safe and secure for all of our people.

We are also going to end the discrimination that traps parents and kids in failing government schools. The Republican Party is the Party of School Choice.

What does that mean?  School choice is a bad idea and generally considered unconstitutional.

There is another civil rights issue we need to talk about, and that’s the issue of immigration enforcement.

Every time an African-American citizen, or any citizen, loses their job to an illegal immigrant, the rights of that American citizen have been violated.

Equal protection under the law must include the consistent application of our immigration laws.

These laws were passed to protect American citizens and lawful residents. For instance, federal law protects the ability of American workers to seek jobs and employment. When government suspends those immigration laws in order to curry favor with special interests – costing Americans their jobs – they have been denied the protection of their laws.

In recent days, the media – as it usually does – has missed the whole point on immigration. All the media wants to talk about is the 11 million or more people here illegally.

But my priority is the well-being of 300 million American citizens, including millions of Hispanic citizens and legal residents who want a secure border, a safe and drug-free community, and a growing economy.

My goal is to provide good jobs, good schools, and safety to every Hispanic community in the country. But we can’t do that if we don’t secure our border.

On Day One, I am going to begin swiftly removing criminal illegal immigrants from this country – including removing the hundreds of thousands of criminal illegal immigrants that have been released into U.S. communities under the Obama-Clinton Administration.

These international gangs and cartels will be a thing of the past. Their reign of terror will be over. In this task, we will always err on the side of protecting the American people – we will use immigration law to prevent crimes, and will not wait until some innocent American has been harmed or killed before taking action.

I am going to build a great border wall, institute nationwide e-verify, stop illegal immigrants from accessing welfare and entitlements, and develop an exit-entry tracking system to ensure those who overstay their visas are quickly removed. If we don’t enforce visa expiration dates, then we have an open border – it’s as simple as that.

Overstayed or abused their visa?  I am looking at your Mrs. Trump no 3.

I am also going to cancel all unconstitutional executive orders and empower rank-and-file ICE officers and Border Patrol officers to finally do the jobs they were hired for.

Now, what is Hillary Clinton going to do?

She has pledged amnesty in her first 100 days, combined with the elimination of virtually all routine immigration enforcement. In other words, totally open borders. Which will lead to a massive crime wave.

Most alarmingly, she has pledged to keep President Obama’s executive amnesty – which has been blocked by the Supreme Court – directly disregarding a Supreme Court injunction.

Beyond that, she has pledged to add another executive amnesty in violation of both Congressional law and the U.S. Constitution.

These actions from Hillary Clinton will trigger one of the greatest Constitutional crisis in American history. In effect, she is pledging to abolish the law-making powers of Congress and assume the powers of an imperial ruler.

This executive amnesty would bypass Congress to print millions of work permits and benefit cards to those ineligible to receive them.

Hillary Clinton’s immigration proposal will also give illegal immigrants access to Obamacare, Social Security, Medicare and all U.S. welfare. Her plan will functionally end enforcement of visa overstays rules, another open border decree. She will also close down detention centers for border-crossers, meaning we will have an open southern border as well.

This is not to mention that Hillary Clinton wants a 550% increase in Syrian refugees. She can’t even say the words: Radical Islamic Terrorism.

And she supports the Sanctuary City and catch-and-release policies that are getting innocent Americans killed. I’ve met with many of these grieving families, including the incredible family of Sarah Root, a young Iowa girl who was killed by an illegal immigrant released from the border by the Obama Administration – and then released again after the killing. I’ve been so inspired by the courage and bravery of the Root Family and I’d like to invite them on the stage right now just to say a few words.

Thank you. There is a reason why 16,500 Border Patrol agents have endorsed our campaign, and warned that Hillary Clinton’s plan is “deeply dangerous” “divisive” “radical” “reckless” “wrecking innocent lives” “panders to extremists” and would create “unprecedented crisis”

So the choice couldn’t be more clear. A vote for Trump is a vote to have a nation of laws, a vote for Clinton is a vote for open borders.

On every issue, our campaign is about making life better for working people. But we can’t accomplish that goal unless we break-up the special interest monopoly and give power back to the citizens.

Many people have said that establishment media assault on me and our campaign – we have a movement – is the greatest in the political history of our country. Even today, some major papers fail to mention how strong our poll numbers have become over the short one-week period – they just refuse to print anything positive or good.

They too are part of the rigged system trying to deny people the positive change they deserve. They take phrases and statements, chop them up, take them out of context, and discuss them for days. Always trying to demean and belittle me and our incredible movement to take our country back from the death spiral it is currently in.

Imagine if this much media attention was spent telling the truth about the real problems facing America. Imagine if the media spent this much time telling the story of Sarah Root.

All of the ugly things being said by Hillary Clinton in recent days – funded by big banks and Wall Street donors – are nothing more than a desperate attempt by failed leaders to cling to power in order to keep rigging the system.

There is nothing they won’t say or do, no lie they won’t tell – and no amount of money they won’t spend – to try to bully voters into giving them what they want.

Project much?

This November 8th, the American people are going to reject the cynicism of the past and embrace the optimism of the future.

The old attacks aren’t going to work anymore. The Clinton-Kaine fear-mongering isn’t going to resonate with anyone but the most radical factions of their far-left base.

I want to empower people. Hillary Clinton wants to scare people.

Project much?

Empowering people begins with three simple words: jobs, jobs, jobs.

Our economy will soar.

Wages will rise.

We will make new friends abroad, and achieve new peace at home.

We will be a country of laws, and a country of great success.

Our cities will be safe, sound and secure.

Our government will be honest, ethical and responsive.

Rule by special interests will be over. The rule of the American people will begin.

So let’s get out and vote on November 8th, and create the future our children deserve.

Together, We Will Make America Strong Again.

We Will Make American Wealthy Again.

We Will Make America United Again.

We Will Make America Safe Again.

And We Will Make America Great Again – For Everyone.

Thank you, and God Bless you all.

As always, there is so little content here, with no details, and over 3/4 of it is just personal attacks. Again, less than 5% of the words convey anything in terms of policy.  The whole tone is terrible.  I feel bad for Republicans for having this buffon for their candidate.

 

Posted by on September 7, 2016 in Political

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Trump decoded

August 18

So…I went through 2,866 words of a Trump speech, just to see how much useful information was contained within.  This speech was to restore law and order and delivered on August 16, 2016 in West Bend, Wisconsin.  For a speech which was supposed to be turning point in his campaign I was frankly surprised how little actual policy was delivered.  Below is a transcript of the speech.  I did a strike-through  for anything that was an attack on his opponent, was an out of context statistic, or empty platitude.  I put in bold what I thought actually pertained to message of helping African Americans (which is pretty debatable).  Finally, I italicized information that was a policy, but really had nothing to do with making communities safer.  Like, ending speaking fees for politicians and whatnot.

You can scroll through the whole speech and make up your own mind, but from what I can tell, is all Trump said about helping African American Communities:

More law enforcement, more community engagement, more effective policing is what our country needs.

On education, it is time to have school choice, merit pay for teachers, and to end the tenure policies that hurt good teachers and reward bad teachers. We are going to put students and parents first.

I am going to allow charter schools to thrive, and help young kids get on the American ladder of success: a good education, and a good-paying job.

On crime, I am going to support more police in our communities, appoint the best prosecutors and judges in the country, pursue strong enforcement of federal laws, and I am going to break up the gangs, the cartels and criminal syndicates terrorizing our neighborhoods.

That’s it.  121 words.  4.22% of the speech and could of been stated in less than a minute.  Pretty much empty words as well.  With the massive tax cuts proposed, Mr. Trump had no explanation of how we will pay for these new police and charter schools.  Charter schools are hit and miss.  More police and stricter prosecution is really not the answer.  More people in overcrowded jails is not the answer.  You can look all you want, there are no other details in this speech, which is why I am presenting it in its entirety.

It’s so great to be here tonight. I am honored to also be joined this evening by Governor Scott Walker, Chairman Reince Priebus, and Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

We are at a decisive moment in this election.

Last week, I laid out my plan to bring jobs back to our country. Yesterday, I laid out my plan to defeat Radical Islamic Terrorism. Tonight, I am going to talk about how to make our communities safe again from crime and lawlessness.

Let me begin by thanking the law enforcement officers here in this city, and across this country, for their service and sacrifice in difficult times.

The violence, riots and destruction that have taken place in Milwaukee is an assault on the right of all citizens to live in security and peace.

Law and order must be restored. It must be restored for the sake of all, but most especially the sake of those living in the affected communities.

The main victims of these riots are law-abiding African-American citizens living in these neighborhoods. It is their jobs, their homes, their schools and communities which will suffer as a result.

There is no compassion in tolerating lawless conduct. Crime and violence is an attack on the poor, and will never be accepted in a Trump Administration.

The narrative that has been pushed aggressively for years now by our current Administration, and pushed by my opponent Hillary Clinton, is a false one. The problem in our poorest communities is not that there are too many police, the problem is that there are not enough police.

More law enforcement, more community engagement, more effective policing is what our country needs.

Just like Hillary Clinton is against the miners, she is against the police. You know it, and I know it.

Those peddling the narrative of cops as a racist force in our society – a narrative supported with a nod by my opponent – share directly in the responsibility for the unrest in Milwaukee, and many other places within our country.

They have fostered the dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America.

Everytime we rush to judgment with false facts and narratives – whether in Ferguson or in Baltimore – and foment further unrest, we do a direct disservice to poor African-American residents who are hurt by the high crime in their communities.

During the last 72 hours, while protestors have raged against the police here in Milwaukee, another 9 were killed in Chicago and another 46 were wounded. More than 2,600 people have been shot in Chicago since the beginning of the year, and almost 4,000 killed in President Obama’s hometown area since his presidency began.

How are we serving these American victims by attacking law enforcement officers?

The war on our police must end. It must end now.

The war on our police is a war on all peaceful citizens who want to be able to work and live and send their kids to school in safety.

Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, the violent disruptor. Our job is to make life more comfortable for the African-American parent who wants their kids to be able to safely walk the streets. Or the senior citizen waiting for a bus. Or the young child walking home from school.

For every one violent protestor, there are a hundred moms and dads and kids on that same city block who just want to be able to sleep safely at night. My opponent would rather protect the offender than the victim.

Hillary Clinton-backed policies are responsible for the problems in the inner cities today, and a vote for her is a vote for another generation of poverty, high crime, and lost opportunities.

I care too much about my country to let that happen.

We all care too much about our country to let that happen.

Good policing saves lives. My dear friend, Rudy Giuliani, knows a thing or two about this. The policies put into place by Rudy ultimately brought down crime by 76 percent and murder by 84 percent. Think of how many families were saved, how much heartache was prevented, when police were put into communities and criminals were removed.

Imagine how many lives could have been saved, all across this country, if Democratic politicians hadn’t blocked in their cities what Rudy did in New York City? I’ll make sure we deliver safe neighborhoods here in Milwaukee, and all across this country.

It’s easy for Hillary Clinton to turn a blind eye to crime when she has her own private security force. I believe all Americans, not just the powerful, are entitled to security.

Hillary Clinton has had her chance. She failed. Now it’s time for new leadership.

The Hillary Clinton agenda hurts poor people the most.

There is no compassion in allowing drug dealers, gang members, and felons to prey on innocent people. It is the first duty of government to keep the innocent safe, and when I am President I will fight for the safety of every American – and especially those Americans who have not known safety for a very, very long time.

I am asking for the vote of every African-American citizen struggling in our country today who wants a different future.

It is time for our society to address some honest and very difficult truths.

The Democratic Party has failed and betrayed the African-American community. Democratic crime policies, education policies, and economic policies have produced only more crime, more broken homes, and more poverty.

Let us look at the situation right here in Milwaukee, a city run by Democrats for decade after decade. Last year, killings in this city increased by 69 percent, plus another 634 victims of non-fatal shootings. 18-29-year-olds accounted for nearly half of the homicide victims. The poverty rate here is nearly double the national average. Almost 4 in 10 African-American men in Milwaukee between the ages of 25-54 do not have a job. Nearly four in 10 single mother households are living in poverty. 55 public schools in this city have been rated as failing to meet expectations, despite ten thousand dollars in funding per-pupil. There is only a 60% graduation rate, and it’s one of the worst public school systems in the country.

1 in 5 manufacturing jobs has disappeared in Milwaukee since we fully opened our markets to China, and many African-American neighborhoods have borne the brunt of this hit.

To every voter in Milwaukee, to every voter living in every inner city, or every forgotten stretch of our society, I am running to offer you a better future.

The Democratic Party has taken the votes of African-Americans for granted. They’ve just assumed they’ll get your support and done nothing in return for it. It’s time to give the Democrats some competition for these votes, and it’s time to rebuild the inner cities of America – and to reject the failed leadership of a rigged political system.

I’m not part of the corrupt system. In fact, the corrupt system is trying to stop me. I’ve been paying my own way. The voters in the Republican Party this year defied the donors, the consultants, the power brokers, and choose a nominee from outside our failed and corrupt and broken system.

The other party – the Democratic Party – nominated the personification of special interest corruption. The Democratic Party rigged the nomination to give it to Hillary Clinton, thus giving the soul of their party this year to the special interests.

I am running to listen to your voice, to hear your cries for help. The quiet voices in our society, not the loudest demonstrators, need to have their demands heard.

Jobs. Safety. Opportunity. Fair and equal representation.

We reject the bigotry of Hillary Clinton which panders to and talks down to communities of color and sees them only as votes, not as individual human beings worthy of a better future. She doesn’t care at all about the hurting people of this country, or the suffering she has caused them.

The African-American community has been taken for granted for decades by the Democratic Party. It’s time to break with the failures of the past – I want to offer Americans a new future.

It is time for rule by the people, not rule by special interests.

Every insider, getting rich off of our broken system, is throwing money at Hillary Clinton. The hedge fund managers, the Wall Street investors, the professional political class.

It’s the powerful protecting the powerful.

Insiders fighting for insiders.

I am fighting for you.

When we talk about the insider, who are we talking about? It’s the comfortable politicians looking out for their own interests. It’s the lobbyists who know how to insert that perfect loophole into every bill. It’s the financial industry that knows how to regulate their competition out of existence. The insiders also include the media executives, anchors and journalists in Washington, Los Angeles, and New York City, who are part of the same failed status quo and want nothing to change.

Every day you pick up a newspaper, or turn on the nightly news, and you hear about some self-interest banker or some discredited Washington insider says they oppose our campaign. Or some encrusted old politician says they oppose our campaign. Or some big time lobbyist says they oppose our campaign.

I wear their opposition as a badge of honor. Because it means I am fighting for REAL change, not just partisan change. I am fighting – all of us across the country are fighting – for peaceful regime change in our own country. The media-donor-political complex that’s bled this country dry has to be replaced with a new government of, by and for the people.

The leadership class in Washington D.C., of which Hillary Clinton has been a member for thirty years, has abandoned the people of this country.

I am going to give the people their voice back.

Think about it. The people opposing our campaign are the same people who have left our border open and let innocent people suffer as a result.

The people opposing our campaign are the same people who have led us into one disastrous foreign war after another.

The people opposing our campaign are the same people who lied to us about one trade deal after another.

Aren’t you tired of a system that gets rich at your expense?

Aren’t you tired of big media, big businesses, and big donors rigging the system to keep your voice from being heard?

Are you ready for change?

Are you ready for leadership that puts you, the American people, first? That puts your country first? That puts your family first?

Let’s talk about what this means for the inner cities of America. It’s time to break through the television noise, the entrenched interests. I understand that a lot of powerful people in our political system – a lot of people who’ve created our problems – will lose a lot of their contracts, and their special gigs, if African-American voters, and all minority voters, support my campaign.

It’s time to stop making the special interests rich. It’s time to make the American people rich.

I am going to Make America Wealthy Again.

The Democratic Party has run nearly every inner city in this country for 50 years, and run them into financial ruin.

They’ve ruined the schools.

They’ve driven out the jobs.

They’ve tolerated a level of crime no American should consider acceptable.

Violent crime has risen 17% in America’s 50 largest cities last year. Killings of police officers this year is up nearly 50 percent. Homicides are up more than 60% in Baltimore. They are up more than 50% in Washington, D.C.

This is the future offered by Hillary Clinton. More poverty, more crime, and more of the same. The future she offers is the most pessimistic thing I can possibly imagine.

It is time for a different future.

Here is what I am proposing.

First, on immigration. No community in this country has been hurt worse by Hillary Clinton’s immigration policies than the African-American community. Now she is proposing to print instant work permits for millions of illegal immigrants, taking jobs directly from low-income Americans. I will secure our border, protect our workers, and improve jobs and wages in your community. We will only invite people to join our country who share our tolerant values, who support our Constitution, and who love all of our people.

On trade, I am going to renegotiate NAFTA, stand up to China, withdraw from the TPP, and protect every last American job.

On taxes, I am going to give a massive tax cut to every worker and small business in this country, bring thousands of new companies and millions of new jobs onto our shores – and make it very difficult for our businesses to leave.

I am going to reform our regulations so jobs stay in America, and new businesses come to America to hire workers right here in Milwaukee. Every policy my opponent has sends jobs overseas. I am going to bring trillions in new wealth back to the United States.

On education, it is time to have school choice, merit pay for teachers, and to end the tenure policies that hurt good teachers and reward bad teachers. We are going to put students and parents first.

Hillary Clinton would rather deny opportunities to millions of young African-American children, just so she can curry favor with the education bureaucracy.

I am going to allow charter schools to thrive, and help young kids get on the American ladder of success: a good education, and a good-paying job.

On crime, I am going to support more police in our communities, appoint the best prosecutors and judges in the country, pursue strong enforcement of federal laws, and I am going to break up the gangs, the cartels and criminal syndicates terrorizing our neighborhoods. To every lawbreaker hurting innocent people in this country, I say: your free reign will soon come crashing to an end.

On healthcare, we are going to get rid of Obamacare – which has caused soaring double-digit premium increases – and give choice to patients and consumers. Aetna, just today, announced they are dropping out – as are many of the major insurance companies.

On government corruption, I am going to restore honor to our government. We’ve seen the corruption of Hillary Clinton, the mass email deletions, the pay-for-play at the State Department, the profiteering, the favors given to foreign corporations and governments at your expense. We’ve seen a former Secretary of State lie to Congress about her illegal email scheme, risk innocent American lives, and bring dishonor onto our government.

In my Administration, I am going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.

I am going to forbid senior officials from trading favors for cash by preventing them from collecting lavish speaking fees through their spouses when they serve.

I am going to ask my senior officials to sign an agreement not to accept speaking fees from corporations with a registered lobbyist for five years after leaving office, or from any entity tied to a foreign government. This is all just the beginning.

We are going to make this a government of the people once again. This is our chance to take back power from all the people who’ve taken it from you. The reason you see the establishment media lining up behind my opponent is because they are scared that you, with your vote, can take away their power and return it to your family and community.

These are tough times. But I know we can make American Greater Than Ever Before.

To do this, we are going to need a fighter in the White House.

I will be your fighter.

To defeat crime and Radical Islamic Terrorism in our country, to win trade in our country, you need tremendous physical and mental strength and stamina. Hillary Clinton doesn’t have that strength and stamina. She cannot win for you.

Most importantly, she has bad judgment. Bad judgment on terrorism, bad judgement on foreign policy, bad judgment on trade.

The only individuals she’s ever delivered for is her donors – not the people.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. My opponent asks her supporters to repeat a three-word pledge. Her pledge reads: “I’m With Her”

I choose to recite a different pledge. My pledge reads: “I’m With You – the American people.”

I will fight to ensure that every American is treated equally, protected equally, and honored equally. We will reject bigotry and hatred and oppression in all of its forms, and seek a new future of security, prosperity and opportunity – a future built on our common culture and values as one American people.

I am asking for your vote so I can be your champion in the White House. We will once again be a country of law and order, and a country of great success.

To every parent who dreams for their children, and to every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I’m with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you.

Together, We Will Make America Strong Again.

We Will Make American Safe Again.

And We Will Make America Great Again.

Thank you, and God Bless.

 

Posted by on August 18, 2016 in Political

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Trump lies…again

August 15

Trump just did a speech on banning Muslims from entering the country…again.   Something just did not seem right to me in his examples, so here is my research:

13 were murdered, and 38 wounded, in the assault on Ft. Hood.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan was born in the United States.

The Boston Marathon Bombing wounded and maimed 264 people, and ultimately left five dead – including 2 police officers.

The brothers were born in Kyrgyzstan and came to the United States legally and were young children when they entered.  They were also US Citizens.

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, five unarmed marines were shot and killed at a military recruiting center.

The shooter was born in Kuwait, a US ally, came to the US when he was SIX.  Also a US Citizen.

Last December, 14 innocent Americans were gunned down at an office party in San Bernardino, another 22 were injured.

The main shooter was born in the United States, the wife was born in Pakistan.

In June, 49 Americans were executed at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, and another 53 were injured. It was the worst mass shooting in our history, and the worst attack on the LGTBQ community in our history.

The lone shooter was…surprise(!) born in the United States.

See a pattern here?  After this Trump cites random attacks, around the world, not on American soil.  Trump attempts to make the case if we keep these ‘undesirables’ out, these attacks could of been prevented.  Did you see a pattern above?  That’s right, this draconian policy may of prevented…none of the attacks.  These examples seem to make a better case for gun control than new immigration policy.  You be the judge.

 

 

Posted by on August 15, 2016 in Political

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