DIY: Necklace Holder

Didn't really know what to do with all my necklaces, so I stuck these little clips inside my dresser door and it works out so perfect :)

My 33rd Birthday

What a great birthday it was!  I got a beautiful watch, earrings, and boots I've been eyeing.  Then w got to get dressed up and treat ourselves to dinner at The Melting Pot with my beautiful family.  And, let's not forget about the sweet / and funny birthday cards they made me.  I am lucky!!

New President - First 100 days

I tried to make this my goal with Obama in 2008, and I failed before I even began, and I regret that.

I want to track what our president claims they will change, understand WHY they want to make these changes, and also document other bills/orders/executive decisions he has made.

Apparently, and this is news to me since I never follow politics, but presidents make a list of their first 100 days and what they want to accomplish.  I don't know what Obama listed. I will go back and research though later. But for now, I am researching Trump and what his goals are for 2017 as POTUS.

I will update this as I research more of his promises. I've made notes in highlighted pink of what's been completed.  The Italic wording are notes from my research on what the current issue is about.



FIRST HUNDRED DAYS PROMISE BY TRUMP:

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

In May 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995), that states cannot impose term limits upon their federal Representatives or Senators.

It can help vote out the unfavored congress members, and bring in new people with new ideas.  

* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health) signed Executive Order on 1/23/17

Attrition  : a gradual reduction in work force without firing of personnel, as when workers resign or retire and are not replaced.

“in the long term, a smaller federal workforce will mean a more honest and effective government, in which it is harder to hide corruption.” –Trump.  The goal is to try and make it easier to fire Government employees to ensure it doesn’t get deep in corruption.

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

According to the Office of the Federal Register, in 1998, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the official listing of all regulations in effect, contained a total of 134,723 pages in 201 volumes that claimed 19 feet of shelf space. In 1970, the CFR totaled only 54,834 pages.

Currently, there are at least 5,000 federal criminal laws, with 10,000-300,000 regulations that can be enforced criminally.

Congress passes a law designed to address a social or economic need or problem.

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

Lobbyist - a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest

Right now, the wait period is two years.

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

Lobbyist - a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest

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

“Does ‘foreign lobbyists’ mean ‘foreign nationals’ who are lobbyists? That’s already prohibited. Does he mean ‘foreign money?’ That’s also already prohibited,”

Maybe Trump wants to prevent American lobbyists from taking foreign money. But what counts as foreign money? If he’s talking about foreign governments, then that’s already illegal. If he’s talking about multinational corporations, then Trump is talking about a genuinely massive new restriction — banning hundreds if not thousands of firms like Coca-Cola and Pfizer from lobbying on Capitol Hill — that would require hugely changing the Washington landscape (and would never make it through a Republican-controlled Congress).

“I just have no idea what that sentence means. And Trump hasn’t exactly been eager to clarify,” Allard says.

On the same day, I will begin taking the following 7 actions to protect American workers:
* FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205
* SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (signed Executive Order to stop this on January 23, 2017)
         Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States of America and Vietnam.
          The Obama administration claimed that the agreement aimed to "promote economic growth; support the creation and retention of jobs; enhance innovation, productivity and competitiveness; raise living standards; reduce poverty in the signatories' countries; and promote transparency, good governance, and enhanced labor and environmental protections."
        Opponents believed TPP was encouraging further export of manufacturing jobs to low-wage nations while limiting competition and encouraging higher prices for pharmaceuticals and other high-value products by spreading American standards for patent protections to other countries. 




* THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator
* FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately
* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars' worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward
* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure
Additionally, on the first day, I will take the following five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law:
* FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama
* SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States
* THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities - Signed 1/25/17

        that’s the term for cities like NYC, Chicago, and LA, where local officials protect undocumented immigrants from deportation unless they’ve committed major crimes.

* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won't take them back
* FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.

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

1. Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.
2. End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.
3. American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.
4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable.
5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act.  Signed 1/20/17. 
6. sanctuary citiesct. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.
7. Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.
8. End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall - Signed 1-25-17 to begin construction of the wall ; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first      Regarding the Wall construction signed 1/25: Trump’s plan would extend the barrier that already exists along parts of the US-Mexico border. He says construction will probably begin in the next few months. Critics say the wall will be pricey, ineffective, and bad for diplomatic relations. Supporters say the wall will be great for national security and jobs. And that Mexico will reimburse the US for it later. But yesterday, Mexico’s president said (again) that he won’t complete that Venmo request.
9. Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.
10. Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values
11. Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.

On November 8th, Americans will be voting for this 100-day plan to restore prosperity to our economy, security to our communities, and honesty to our government.

 
Additional Executive Orders signed not on the above:
Reinstate the Mexico City Policy dealing with non-governmental Organizations (NGO's) and abortion access.  signed 1-23-17
            It’s a ban on giving federal money to overseas NGOs that perform abortions or give women information about abortions. Critics say this move could push more women in the developing world to turn to unsafe options instead. Trump’s not the first prez to flip the switch on this ban. Bill Clinton lifted it. George W Bush put it back. Then Barack Obama lifted it. 

Executive Order Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals For High Priority Infrastructure Projects.  signed 1-24-17

Executive Order: Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. Signed 1-25-17.

            It hits ‘pause’ on Syrian refugees coming into the US. And also temporarily shuts the door on citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Initially, the ban even applied to people with valid visas or green cards. Over the weekend, at least 100 travelers were detained at airports across the country. Including an Iraqi man who once worked as an interpreter for the US gov. So the ACLU sued the White House. And a federal judge blocked anyone who was being held at US airports from being deported.

People who oppose this say: That the ban may be unconstitutional because it could violate religious freedoms. See: prioritizing letting in Christian refugees coming from places like Syria. Plus, some experts say the order won’t help protect the US, since people from these banned countries aren’t the ones who have carried out deadly attacks in America in recent years. And some people — including GOP lawmakers — say Trump’s move might end up helping terrorist groups recruit more members in the future.

People who support this say: That this is a win for national security. Trump says that his executive order has nothing to do with religion and it’s all about “keeping our country safe.” Trump is also doing basically what he said he’d do during the campaign, so his supporters are happy he’s keeping his promises, promises. 

On 1/29, The White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said that green card holders aren’t affected by the ban.