Pacific South Morning Journal ®

Train law may be a Train wreck THE TAX REFORM FOR ACCELERATION AND INCLUSION (TRAIN) ACT. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 10963, otherwise known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, the first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP, on December 19, 2017 in Malacanang. The TRAIN will provide hefty income tax cuts for majority of Filipino taxpayers while raising additional funds to help support the government’s accelerated spending on its “Build, Build, Build” and social services programs. This tax reform package corrects a longstanding inequity of the tax system by reducing personal income taxes for 99 percent of taxpayers, thereby giving them the much needed relief after 20 years of non-adjustment of the tax rates and brackets. This is the biggest Christmas and New Year gift the government is giving to the people. For the poorest 10 million households, the government is giving them targeted cash transfers of...

Trump - Reshaping the world one conference at a time By ROBERT BURNS      P resident Trump's repeated tongue lashings of NATO allies and his friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin are stirring questions at home and abroad about Trump's commitment to an Atlantic alliance that has been a pillar of U.S. security policy for more than half a century. Might a reordering, or even a reduction, of U.S. forces in Europe be in the cards? Clues may come when Trump gathers Wednesday with NATO leaders in Brussels. The official agenda includes a plan for increasing the number of land, air and sea forces capable of reacting quickly in a European crisis, but overshadowing it are tensions generated by Trump's view that the Europeans are slackers leaning unfairly on the U.S. military. At the risk of deepening the rift with traditional allies, Trump will then hold a summit in Finland with Putin. On his departure from Washington on Tuesday, the president remarked that h...

Archie From Newfoundland Newfoundland declares war on the U.S.A!!! President Trump was in the Oval Office when his telephone rang. "Hallo, President Trump, " a heavily accented voice said. "This is Archie, up ‘ere at the Harp Seal Pub in Badger's Cove, Newfoundland, Canada, eh? I am callin' to tells ya dat we are officially declaring war on ya!" "Well Archie," Donald said, "This is indeed important news! How big is your army?" "Right now," said Archie, after a moments calculation "there is myself, me cousin Harold , me next-door-neighbour Mick, and the whole dart team from the pub. That makes eight!" Donald paused. "I must tell you Archie that I have one million men in my army waiting to move on my command." "Wow," said Archie. "I'll have at call ya back!" Sure enough, the next day, Archie called again. "Mr. Trump, the war is still on! We have managed to acquire some infan...

Tips on fake news To help protect social media users, as well as members, in general, from being fooled by fake news, let me share  observations concerning this matter. Chances are, it is fake news when: 1) There is no byline or dateline. 2) Statements cited are not attributed to verifiable sources. 3) The text contains grammatical errors. 4) Articles or news reports are not carried by reputable and traditional or mainstream media outlets. 5) Reports appear mostly in social media and are written by dubious and unscrupulous persons or pseudo-journalists. 6) Headlines are either erroneously written or poorly crafted and misleading. Let us bear in mind that the main purpose of fake news is to disseminate misinformation and disinformation.