Trump Dump: Internal Policy (Thread I)

[Thanas]

“These are very scary times for the people of the United States, and … for the whole world. We have a president who is a pathological liar. Trump lies all of the time.” And Sanders believes the lying is not accidental: “He lies in order to undermine the foundations of American democracy.” Take his “wild attacks against the media, that virtually everything the mainstream media says is a lie.” Or Trump’s denigration of one of George W Bush’s judicial appointees as a “so-called judge”, and his false claims that up to 5 million people voted illegally in the election. Such statements, which Sanders calls “delusional”, are meant to lead to only one conclusion, he says: “that the only person in America who stands for the American people, who is telling the truth, the only person who gets it right, is the president of the United States, Donald Trump. That is unprecedented in American history.”

He travels even deeper into dystopian territory when I ask what, in his view, Trump’s endgame might be. “What he wants is to end up as leader of a nation that has moved a significant degree towards authoritarianism; where the president of the United States has extraordinary powers, far more than our constitution has provided for.”

From an excellent Sanders interview by the guardian. He sure knows how to sell himself as the new center of the progressives. And he might very well be considering he is one of the few interested in grass-roots movements.

[Flagg]

Paul Ryan demonstrates he has no idea how insurance actually works.

Paul Ryan just admitted he has no idea how health insurance works
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the conservative movement’s Great Wonk.

CREDIT: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), the Great and Knowledgeable Policy Wonk and Wise Knower of Many Things About Health Care, has no idea how insurance works.

The Great Wonk’s poor grasp of one of the most basic financial instruments was clear after a Power Point presentation he gave Thursday advocating for the House GOP’s embattled health care bill.

The problem with Obamacare, Ryan claimed in this presentation, is that “the young healthy person is going to be made to buy health care and they’re going to pay for the person who gets breast cancer in her 40s or heart disease in their 50s.” He then pointed to a pie chart showing a thin red slice cut into a larger blue pie.

The red slice here are what I would call people with preexisting conditions. People who have real health-care problems. The blue is the rest of the people in the individual market — that’s the market where people don’t get health insurance at their jobs where they buy it themselves. The whole idea of Obamacare is the people on the blue side pay for the people on the red side. The people who are healthy pay for the people who are sick.

Well, yes, that is the whole idea of Obamacare. It’s also the whole idea of any form of insurance of any kind whatsoever.

Think of it this way. Imagine that 1,000 people all buy the same car insurance policy. Over the course of the year, ten of them get in car accidents that cost $10,000 each.

If none of them were insured, the ten unlucky drivers would each be stuck with a $10,000 bill, while the other 990 drivers would pay nothing. The entire point of insurance, however, is to spread this cost around to everyone in the insurance pool. So each driver would instead pay at least $100 in premiums, regardless of whether they were in an accident, and then this money would be redistributed to the ten unlucky individuals with high auto repair bills.

All insurance works this way. Car insurance redistributes wealth from people who aren’t in accidents to people who are. Fire insurance redistributes wealth from people whose houses did not burn down to people whose houses did burn down. Flood insurance redistributes wealth from people who are dry to people whose belongings are soaking wet. And yes, health insurance redistributes wealth from people who are healthy to people who are sick.

After attacking Obamacare for doing the thing that all insurance, by its very nature, will do, Ryan proposed an alternative to traditional insurance — high-risk pools.

The idea behind high-risk pools is to create a special government program that pays for the most expensive health consumers’ health costs, while leaving other, healthier patients to buy insurance in the private market. That way, healthy individuals still pay for the health care of sick individuals, but they pay for them in higher taxes rather than in higher insurance premiums.

Theoretically, this is a viable policy, but it requires a considerable investment. In 2008, for example, Republican presidential candidate John McCain proposed spending $7 to $10 billion on high-risk pools (the House GOP’s health bill similarly calls for about $10 billion in annual spending on high-risk pools). But this was hardly enough to put a dent in the nation’s uninsurance problem.

As ThinkProgress has previously reported:

A national program “funded at $7 billion per year would cover only 875,000 people,” and that was in 2008. Alternatively, “even if participants had to pay half of their own premiums, as is generally the case today in state high risk pools, less than 2 million Americans would be covered.”

Obamacare, meanwhile, provides health insurance to about 20 million Americans.

What can I say. Republicans, everyone.

I'm not advocating violence, but is there like a manual reset where you whack Speaker Eddie Munster in a certain spot and it's reality comprehension sensors kick back in?

[The Romulan Republic]

“These are very scary times for the people of the United States, and … for the whole world. We have a president who is a pathological liar. Trump lies all of the time.” And Sanders believes the lying is not accidental: “He lies in order to undermine the foundations of American democracy.” Take his “wild attacks against the media, that virtually everything the mainstream media says is a lie.” Or Trump’s denigration of one of George W Bush’s judicial appointees as a “so-called judge”, and his false claims that up to 5 million people voted illegally in the election. Such statements, which Sanders calls “delusional”, are meant to lead to only one conclusion, he says: “that the only person in America who stands for the American people, who is telling the truth, the only person who gets it right, is the president of the United States, Donald Trump. That is unprecedented in American history.”

He travels even deeper into dystopian territory when I ask what, in his view, Trump’s endgame might be. “What he wants is to end up as leader of a nation that has moved a significant degree towards authoritarianism; where the president of the United States has extraordinary powers, far more than our constitution has provided for.”

From an excellent Sanders interview by the guardian. He sure knows how to sell himself as the new center of the progressives. And he might very well be considering he is one of the few interested in grass-roots movements.

When he's right, he's right.

But yes- a lot of Sanders' appeal is that, rightly or wrongly, a large portion of the Left/progressives feel that he's pretty much the only national-level progressive who's interested in being more than a corporate shill. In part because he's given voice to a lot of issues and concerns that previously didn't really have a prominent voice in national-level American politics.

[Flagg]

So President Pussygrabber's mouthpiece has admitted that there is zero evidence of Donnie Douchebag's claim that Obama wire tapped him, but she did say that "there are many ways to surveil each other these days".

You know, if the media had done its job during the actual campaign instead of slobbering all over Trump's Teeny Weeny, we may not have a semi-sentient pig rectum as POTUS.

[The Romulan Republic]

House Republicans pushing bill to allow employers to coerce employees into taking genetic tests, and to discriminate based on an employee's genetic information:

Employers could impose hefty penalties on employees who decline to participate in genetic testing as part of workplace wellness programs if a bill approved by a U.S. House committee this week becomes law.

In general, employers don't have that power under existing federal laws, which protect genetic privacy and nondiscrimination. But a bill passed Wednesday by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce would allow employers to get around those obstacles if the information is collected as part of a workplace wellness program.

Such programs — which offer workers a variety of carrots and sticks to monitor and improve their health, such as lowering cholesterol — have become increasingly popular with companies. Some offer discounts on health insurance to employees who complete health-risk assessments. Others might charge people more for smoking. Under the Affordable Care Act, employers are allowed to discount health insurance premiums by up to 30 percent — and in some cases 50 percent — for employees who voluntarily participate in a wellness program where they're required to meet certain health targets.

[Obamacare revision clears two House committees as Trump, others tried to tamp down backlash]

The bill is under review by other House committees and still must be considered by the Senate. But it has already faced strong criticism from a broad array of groups, as well as House Democrats. In a letter sent to the committee earlier this week, nearly 70 organizations— representing consumer, health and medical advocacy groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, AARP, March of Dimes and the National Women's Law Center — said the legislation, if enacted, would undermine basic privacy provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act and the 2008 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).

Congress passed GINA to prohibit discrimination by health insurers and employers based on the information that people carry in their genes. There is an exception that allows for employees to provide that information as part of voluntary wellness programs. But the law states that employee participation must be entirely voluntary, with no incentives for providing the data or penalties for not providing it.

But the House legislation would allow employers to impose penalties of up to 30 percent of the total cost of the employee's health insurance on those who choose to keep such information private.

[Rich Americans seem to have found a way to avoid paying a key Obamacare tax]

“It's a terrible Hobson's choice between affordable health insurance and protecting one's genetic privacy,” said Derek Scholes, director of science policy at the American Society of Human Genetics, which represents human genetics specialists. The organization sent a letter to the committee opposing the bill.

The average annual premium for employer-sponsored family health coverage in 2016 was $18,142, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Under the plan proposed in the bill, a wellness program could charge employees an extra $5,443 in annual premiums if they choose not to share their genetic and health information.

The bill, Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act, HR 1313, was introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx, (R-N.C.), who chairs the Committee on Education and the Workforce. A committee statement said the bill provides employers “the legal certainty they need to offer employee wellness plans, helping to promote a healthy workforce and lower health care costs.” It passed on a party-line vote, with all 22 Republicans supporting it and all 17 Democrats opposed.

The bill’s supporters in the business community have argued that competing regulations in federal laws make it too difficult for companies to offer these wellness programs. In congressional testimony this month, the American Benefits Council, which represents major employers, said the burdensome rules jeopardize wellness programs that improve employee health, can increase productivity and reduce health care spending.

A House committee spokeswoman told CNBC that those opposed to the bill “are spreading false information in a desperate attempt to deny employees the choice to participate in a voluntary program that can reduce health insurance costs and encourage healthy lifestyle choices.”

Edit: Apologies, link doesn't work. I'll try to find another one.

[LaCroix]

Just in, Rachel Maddox tweets she has obtained Trump's 2005 tax returns and will publish them.

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/rachel- ... 202009151/

https://twitter.com/maddow/status/841795163664089089

[Ralin]

Saw that on Twitter.

If true, I wonder if Trump will have her arrested for stealing/receiving stolen documents?

[Gandalf]

Someone in the IRS might get in trouble, but going after a media personality like that would be a ridiculous step. It's easier to sit back and demonise her on Fox.

[Ralin]

but going after a media personality like that would be a ridiculous step.

I'm sorry, you seem confused. Trump is president now.

[The Romulan Republic]

If he was actually nuts enough to arrest her for doing her job as a journalist, expect a First Amendment law suite and hopefully more people waking up to the fact that he's not just an idiot, but a dictator in the making.

What I wonder about is what the reaction of the bulk of the press would be. Outrage, and stepping up the opposition to Trump, or self-muzzling out of fear that they'll be next?

[FireNexus]

Someone in the IRS might get in trouble, but going after a media personality like that would be a ridiculous step. It's easier to sit back and demonise her on Fox.

Nobody in the IRS. The docs are clearly from someone on Trump's end. The signature lines are stamped "taxpayer copy" or something similar, so not the ones actually filed. Some Trump org stooge leaked some docs, so Trump might be in a world of hurt with a much more detailed series of shoes to drop.

Considering the questions she asked that the docs so far released did nothing to answer, this could get very interesting very quickly.

[Flagg]

Apparently he paid $38 million in taxes and all of his turdlets are celebrating that he (apparently) didn't break the law.

Congrats, shit rats! Your Dear Leader didn't break a law one year when he filed taxes!

God damn the bar is so low in US politics, Ant-Man has to enter the quantum realm to get a beer.

[Gandalf]

Apparently he paid $38 million in taxes and all of his turdlets are celebrating that he (apparently) didn't break the law.

Congrats, shit rats! Your Dear Leader didn't break a law one year when he filed taxes!

God damn the bar is so low in US politics, Ant-Man has to enter the quantum realm to get a beer.

I could have done without the hype.

"Tonight! One night only! Donald Trump's tax return! What will we all find?"

Evidently less than Al Capone's vault, but that wasn't Geraldo's fault.

[Flagg]

but going after a media personality like that would be a ridiculous step.

I'm sorry, you seem confused. Trump is president now.

Yeah, we are past the event horizon now. It's all just crazier by the second political shit and (Interstellar Spoilers) = Matthew McConaughey behind a bookcase screaming "DONT GO!!!"

[Ralin]

Apparently he paid $38 million in taxes and all of his turdlets are celebrating that he (apparently) didn't break the law.

Congrats, shit rats! Your Dear Leader didn't break a law one year when he filed taxes!

God damn the bar is so low in US politics, Ant-Man has to enter the quantum realm to get a beer.

I didn't watch the broadcast, but I've heard speculation that Trump's people leaked them specifically because it was a year he made money and paid a lot in taxes. Don't know enough to decide if that's bullshit yet.

[Lonestar]

I could have done without the hype.

"Tonight! One night only! Donald Trump's tax return! What will we all find?"

Evidently less than Al Capone's vault, but that wasn't Geraldo's fault.

Putting on my tinfoil hat here, it seems fairly obvious to me that someone in the Administration picked a "safe" year to leak a partial copy of returns to a gay liberal talking head on the left major news network in order to weaken the "release your taxes" movement.

Dalton was all over social media last night talking this up and then defending it when it was nothing when his employer got played hard for it.

[Flagg]

Apparently he paid $38 million in taxes and all of his turdlets are celebrating that he (apparently) didn't break the law.

Congrats, shit rats! Your Dear Leader didn't break a law one year when he filed taxes!

God damn the bar is so low in US politics, Ant-Man has to enter the quantum realm to get a beer.

I didn't watch the broadcast, but I've heard speculation that Trump's people leaked them specifically because it was a year he made money and paid a lot in taxes. Don't know enough to decide if that's bullshit yet.

It would only slightly surprise me because it sounds too smart for them to do.

Like (the allegation) that to shut up the critics of Dubya's daddy getting him out of having to go to 'Nam Howie!!! NOOOOOOO!, the Bushies faked a bunch of records and sent them to Diagnosed (By Me) 'Idiotic Cunt' Dan Rather who ran (WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY KENNETH?!?!?!) with them and then had his sad, sad, career ruined (and the entire true story about Bush escaping 'Nam by protecting the Skies of Texas from the Vietnam Cong in the Texas Air National Guard, assuming he showed up much if at all) when it turned out the whole thing was faked bullshit and Dan Rather got fired and was replaced for a few years from Cylon Skinjob Katie "Navy SEALS Rock!" Couric.

The best part is that instead of trying to bury, misconstrue, or downplay it, Rachel Maddow proved her journalistic integrity by reporting on them like any other story and hasn't lost credibility like Geraldo "Ok, Our Troops are here, and the Iraqi Insurgents are here, and the 5th Marine Battalion is stationed 7 Kliks west here..." Rivera did when he found Al Capones used condoms.

[Flagg]

I could have done without the hype.

"Tonight! One night only! Donald Trump's tax return! What will we all find?"

Evidently less than Al Capone's vault, but that wasn't Geraldo's fault.

Putting on my tinfoil hat here, it seems fairly obvious to me that someone in the Administration picked a "safe" year to leak a partial copy of returns to a gay liberal talking head on the left major news network in order to weaken the "release your taxes" movement.

Dalton was all over social media last night talking this up and then defending it when it was nothing when his employer got played hard for it.

Meh, they knew what they had. I don't get the impression from watching Rachel and reading her work that she would overhype (or hype at all, it's not really her personality) nothing. I haven't been in the loop (as in paying attention to Micro Scrotum Nuts Being Crushed or any other 24 Hour "News" Network) so if anyone did hype it, it would be the network itself.

I can see Chris "Thank God For Hurricane Sandy" Matthews (actually said by him, 7 seconds before coverage of Obama's 2012 reelection was over and live coverage went off the air ) hyping it during his entire portal to 1996 hourlong.

[Lonestar]

She(or whoever dropped it on her twitter account) ran with it a hour and a half before the show with an incredibly clickbaity Tweet

https://twitter.com/maddow/status/841795163664089089

They hyped it, and timed it in such a way as to make you think they were trying to get it out the door before they were stopped. Now if any interesting tax returns do pop up it'll be much more likely to be in the background noise.

[Flagg]

She(or whoever dropped it on her twitter account) ran with it a hour and a half before the show with an incredibly clickbaity Tweet

https://twitter.com/maddow/status/841795163664089089

They hyped it, and timed it in such a way as to make you think they were trying to get it out the door before they were stopped. Now if any interesting tax returns do pop up it'll be much more likely to be in the background noise.

I may just be apologizing because I've never seen Maddow do dishonest tacky bullshit journalism, and unless it was implied that there was wrongdoing on President Pussygrabber's part, it is news that a tax return came out. To me it's a bit of brilliance on MSSTD's part because now they can point to this and say "There's nothing untoward here, why refuse to release even more to silence your critics?"

But yeah, it smells bad. Like The corpse of the intern they found in Joe Scarborough's office when he was in congress. I almost wonder if they're trying to get Maddow to leave.

[The Vortex Empire]

https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/sta ... 1601593345

Hoping @POTUS tells Hawaii judge what Andrew Jackson told overreaching court-"I'll ignore it and let the court enforce their order."

So, does Huckabee not know the context of that quote, or does he support forcing the Cherokee on a forced march off their lands in which 2,000-6,000 of them died?

[Napoleon the Clown]

https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/sta ... 1601593345

Hoping @POTUS tells Hawaii judge what Andrew Jackson told overreaching court-"I'll ignore it and let the court enforce their order."

So, does Huckabee not know the context of that quote, or does he support forcing the Cherokee on a forced march off their lands in which 2,000-6,000 of them died?

I wouldn't discount the latter off-hand, personally. Fuckabee is a piece of shit. More likely he just gives no fucks. Once again, he's an absolutely horrible person.

[Flagg]

https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/sta ... 1601593345

Hoping @POTUS tells Hawaii judge what Andrew Jackson told overreaching court-"I'll ignore it and let the court enforce their order."

So, does Huckabee not know the context of that quote, or does he support forcing the Cherokee on a forced march off their lands in which 2,000-6,000 of them died?

He's a stupid shit. That's what happens when people who swear to uphold the constitution read that document less than the Bible.

[FaxModem1]

Need to build a wall, but don't have the funds to pay for it? Slash funds from feeding peasants. Peasants. They can get by without your help, and if they can't, then who cares? They're peasants.

The Independent

Donald Trump is going to cut Meals on Wheels to pay for Mexican border wall
The president appears to be prioritising his promised wall along the US-Mexico border which will receive an immediate $1.5bn (£1.2bn) cash injection

Harriet Agerholm @HarrietAgerholm 2 hours ago8 comments




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The Independent US
president-wall.jpg
The budget will be formally released on Thursday and is titled America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again Getty
Community projects like Meals on Wheels and housing assistance are set to lose out on all of their government
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funding if Donald Trump's budget blueprint for the coming fiscal year is passed by politicians.

The president's proposals include the complete elimination of the $3 billion (£2.4 billion) Community Development Block Grant program, which funds those programs along with other community assistance efforts.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will also see its funds slashed.

The president appears to be prioritising his promised wall along the US-Mexico border which will receive an immediate $1.5bn (£1.2bn) cash injection, with another $2.6bn (£2.1bn) if his spending plans for the 2018 budget year are approved by the House of Representatives.


Environmental Activists Vandalized and Defaced Trump Golf Course
Mr Trump – who campaigned for the presidency on a staunchly anti-immigrant platform – said repeatedly during his election bid that Mexico would pay for the wall. Instead, it appears that initially at least, US taxpayers will foot the bill.

Thursday's $1.15 trillion (£1 trillion) budget – titled America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again – will also benefit the military, which will receive the largest windfall since the Reagan administration.

The 10 per cent Pentagon boost – intended to improve troop readiness, fight Isis and buy new weapons – is financed by $54 billion (£44 billion) of cuts to foreign aid and domestic agencies that had been protected by former President Barack Obama.

Mr Trump said: “A budget that puts America first must make the safety of our people its number one priority — because without safety, there can be no prosperity.”

The financial blueprint goes after the frequent targets of the party's staunchest conservatives, eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts, legal aid for the poor and low-income heating assistance.

Twelve of the government's 15 cabinet agencies would absorb cuts under the president's proposal. The biggest loser is arguably the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which will reportedly see its funding slashed by almost a third, receiving $2.5 billion (£2 billion) instead of the current $8.2 billion (£6.7 billion).


READ MORE
Here are the federal agencies and programs Trump wants to eliminate
Agriculture, Labour, Housing and State departments will also see funding pulled, along with Transportation programmes like Amtrak.

The $3 billion (£2.4 billion) Community Development programme – which funds popular programmes such as housing assistance and Meals on Wheels – which delivers food to the elderly and disabled – will be completely dismantled.

More than 3,000 EPA workers would lose their jobs and programmes such as Mr Obama's Clean Power Plan, which would tighten regulations on emissions from power plants seen as contributing to global warming, would be eliminated.

Meals on Wheels, funding slashed, Housing Assistance, slashed, EPA, oh you better believe that's a slashing.

[Thanas]

Trump is just like the Emperors of old who slashed everything in order to pay for a huge oversized and mostly useless prestige object - which would also be a drain on manpower and cost their empire dearly later on.

And I thought that kind of government had gone out of style.

Trump - making antiquity real again.