Doomscroll News

Tag: policy

  • Reforming Individual Income Taxes: A Focused Approach (Part I of a BBB Critique)

    The current discourse around individual income taxes is cluttered with temporary fixes, unpopular mandates, and provisions that miss the mark for many Americans. Instead of a sprawling bill, a more focused approach is needed, prioritizing permanent, common-sense changes while jettisoning controversial or ineffective measures. Here’s a look at what such a refined individual income tax bill should, and shouldn’t, include.

    Core Tax Provisions: Stability and Simplicity

    At the heart of a sensible tax reform should be the permanent extension of several key provisions initially from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). This includes making permanent the modified individual income tax rates, the increased standard deduction, and the termination of personal exemptions. These measures offer a baseline of stability for taxpayers.

    However, the idea of a temporary enhancement to the standard deduction, proposed for taxable years 2025-2028, should be rejected. Such short-term measures are often gimmicks, creating fiscal uncertainty and providing future leverage for increased government spending without addressing the immediate need for significant fiscal discipline now.

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  • Deconstructing the “Buy American Exclusively” Mandate & Hypocrisy Accusation

    Mark Cuban said on April 13, 2025 that “I don’t care who you are. If you are complaining we need tariffs to bring manufacturing and jobs to the USA, and you don’t buy American EXCLUSIVELY , YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE You want to bring manufacturing back, lead by example and get friends and family to do the same”.

    He was trying to be anti-Trump. This article refutes all this bullshit.

    1. “Complaining” vs. Strategic Threat Mitigation.

    The premise incorrectly labels advocacy for domestic manufacturing/tariffs as mere “complaining.” The primary driver, particularly regarding specific sectors (ref: Section 232 – steel, aluminum, etc.), is national security. This involves mitigating strategic dependencies on potentially adversarial nodes in the global supply network. Framing this as complaining ignores the documented risk assessment driving these policy considerations.

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  • Knauff Power: Tariffs + Trump Gold Card = America’s Double Whammy

    Knauff Power: Tariffs + Trump Gold Card = America’s Double Whammy

    Can the President act decisively on the Gold Card? The precedent set in Knauff v. Shaughnessy (1950) suggests yes. The Supreme Court recognized an “inherent executive power” over immigration matters tied to foreign affairs and national sovereignty. While Congress typically legislates in this area, Knauff indicates the President possesses authority, especially when national security – including economic security – is at stake. Attracting billions in investment for critical technologies certainly qualifies. This inherent authority provides a pathway to implement the Gold Card program swiftly, complementing the national security objectives of the tariffs.

    America needs more than just a nudge to reclaim its industrial dominance and secure its future. We need a powerful, two-fisted approach: the strategic pressure of tariffs combined with the magnetic pull of high-value investment. It’s time for the “Double Whammy” – leveraging both Section 232 tariffs AND President Trump’s proposed “Gold Card” program to bring jobs, capital, and cutting-edge innovation roaring back to American soil.

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  • The TikTok Paradox: National Security, Digital Sovereignty, and the Forging of U.S. Tech Policy

    The TikTok Paradox: National Security, Digital Sovereignty, and the Forging of U.S. Tech Policy

    David’s Note: This article was substantially revised on October 10, 2025 to incorporate new research and provide a more comprehensive analysis.

    On January 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a landmark law that forces the sale of TikTok, a platform used by over 170 million Americans, or face a nationwide ban.1 This decision highlighted a central paradox in modern American policy. TikTok is at once a legislative target, condemned as a grave national security threat, and an indispensable campaign tool, actively leveraged by the political actors who seek to regulate it.

    This paper argues that this apparent contradiction is not a sign of policy incoherence. Instead, it reveals an evolving and deliberate strategy to confront a novel threat to the nation’s digital sovereignty. Digital sovereignty is a nation’s ability to control its own digital destiny—the data, hardware, and software it relies upon.3 In this context, it means securing the digital infrastructure and information environment within its borders from the control of a strategic adversary.4

    The core of this argument is that the threat posed by TikTok is fundamentally structural. It is rooted in the legal and operational subordination of its parent company, ByteDance, to the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This structural risk is distinct from the commercial data practices of domestic social media companies. It has compelled the U.S. to forge a new national security doctrine for the digital age.

    To develop this thesis, this paper will proceed in four parts.

    • Section I will establish that TikTok represents a structural national security threat due to its data collection capabilities under PRC law and its potential for algorithmic manipulation.
    • Section II will trace the evolution of U.S. legal strategy, from the failure of broad executive orders to the crafting of a targeted, constitutionally-sound legislative solution.
    • Section III will systematically deconstruct the primary counterarguments against this policy, including those based on the First Amendment, economic disruption, and false equivalencies with U.S. tech firms.
    • Section IV will analyze the political realities that create the central paradox, examining how electoral pragmatism and divided public opinion coexist with the national security consensus.

    Ultimately, this analysis will demonstrate that the TikTok dilemma is a landmark case in how a liberal democracy is adapting its legal and political tools to defend its sovereignty in an era of weaponized information.

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  • An Unmitigated Threat: The National Security Case for the Prohibition of TikTok in the United States

    An Unmitigated Threat: The National Security Case for the Prohibition of TikTok in the United States

    David’s Note: This article was substantially revised on October 10, 2025 to incorporate new research and provide a more comprehensive analysis.

    With over 170 million users in the United States, TikTok is more than a social media phenomenon; it is a deeply embedded component of American digital life and commerce.1 This ubiquity, however, masks a critical vulnerability. This report presents a comprehensive analysis of the national security threat posed by the social media application TikTok, operated by its parent company, ByteDance Ltd. It argues that due to ByteDance’s inextricable links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the application functions as a dual-threat vector for sophisticated data espionage and algorithmic influence operations against the United States.

    Executive Summary

    This report analyzes the national security threat from TikTok, an application operated by ByteDance Ltd. The company’s deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allow the app to function as a tool for data espionage and algorithmic influence against the United States.

    This report’s central thesis is that mitigation efforts cannot neutralize this threat. The application’s core architecture, corporate governance, and legal obligations are inextricably linked to the CCP, a designated foreign adversary. Therefore, a complete prohibition on its operation within the United States is the only effective policy solution.

    The report deconstructs ByteDance’s opaque corporate structure. It highlights the CCP’s control mechanisms, such as the “golden share” held by a state-backed entity, which make any claims of operational independence untenable. It also details warnings from top U.S. intelligence officials, including the FBI Director and the Director of National Intelligence, who define TikTok as a tool that a foreign adversary can leverage.

    Furthermore, the report dismisses mitigation efforts like the $1.5 billion “Project Texas” as flawed security theater. Evidence shows this project failed to sever data flows to Beijing or neutralize the threat of algorithmic manipulation. The core issue of adversarial ownership remained unaddressed.

    After refuting key counterarguments—related to the First Amendment, economic impacts, and false equivalencies with U.S. tech firms—the report concludes that partial measures are insufficient. The unique nature of the threat, rooted in ByteDance’s subservience to the CCP, demands a structural solution. The only policy that fully addresses these inherent risks is the swift enforcement of a ban on TikTok and any successor applications, as provided by the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA).

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