Remember struggles you have read about or watched in movies, struggles that were either true or fictional, struggles or fights which inspired you. Now I want you to think about the fact that we are in the struggle, the fight, some may even call it the war — the battle for our generation. It may not feel like we’re in a fight, because bombs aren’t falling (in the United States at least) but we have to keep on fighting.
It’s a war that has been going on for millennia, between haves and have-nots, between lies and truth, between wrong and right. So it’s no surprise that we should have to fight.
It’s also your chance to be a hero. So join on up!
So, let’s consider the good news that there is, to give us the strength to continue.
Let’s talk money…
Well, of course it does not meet Republican promises! Seems as if fewer people believe any of those! Not even big Republican donors! But here we go...
The Joint Committee on Taxation released an analysis of Senate Republicans' tax bill on Thursday that showed it would increase the federal budget deficit and fall short of "paying for itself," as Republican leaders have suggested.
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The committee also said the bill would increase the deficit by $956 billion over 10 years, even when factoring increased tax revenue due to economic growth. With the cost of servicing the increased debt, the bill would add just over $1 trillion in debt compared with the current baseline, the analysis said.
That analysis runs counter to statements from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who has argued that the tax bill will "pay for itself." And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said as recently as late last month that it would be revenue neutral.
Some Rs are trying to argue that the Joint Committee on Taxation is wrong and that the impact of the tax bill on the economy would be far better. I believe that the Joint Committee on Taxation is wrong, but that the economy and the deficit would fare far worse.
Seems I’m not alone, and that some Rs believe the Joint Committee or even my opinion of the bill. And so we see the following...
Senate Republicans on Thursday furiously scrambled to rewrite parts of their massive tax legislation after the Senate rule-keeper threw a last-minute wrench in their plan.
Drama erupted on the chamber's floor late Thursday afternoon when the Senate parliamentarian said a provision that was set to be included in the bill did not comply under Senate rules. The provision would have triggered a reversal of the tax cuts included in the legislation if the bill did not generate economic growth and added too much to the federal deficit.
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The "trigger" was conceived by Republican Sens. Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and James Lankford. The trio expressed concerned that the bill would not generate enough economic growth to make up for its projected revenue shortfall from massive tax cuts. The "trigger" would have automatically increased revenue (likely by raising taxes in some way) to make sure the deficit did not balloon out of control.
By future tax hikes, I mean tax hikes to corporations and wealthy individuals, who could face an alternative minimum tax hike. And this shows again just how wretched the Rs are at governing, when it becomes more difficult to ignore reality and math.
I’m glad I contacted Flake about this yesterday! Rather disappointed in McCain, although if he knew that the bill was going to run into trouble via some other route I will not be as annoyed. Because McCain could be deciding to keep his powder dry for the next fight.
We also have to remember to thank those who are consistently on our team and fighting the good fight, like Senator Sherrod Brown who blasted the Republicans and refused to let this process be considered legitimate.
Russia, Russia, Russia
The probe is tearing apart Trump supporters, because no one wants to be the fall guy, and well, these aren’t exactly people who are particularly loyal anyway. So we have Erik Prince and Jeff Sessions talking smack about each other.
We have learned, too, that Mueller has spoken with Jared Kushner. Some think that this is just another nail in Flynn’s coffin, but Mueller is capable of multi-tasking, and may be gathering stuff on Kushner and the Trumps.
Go Mueller, go! I know what I want for Christmas! In the meantime, speaking of Christmas...
Just another reminder of how unpopular Trump is!
During the Obama Administration, seats were as scarce as hens’ teeth, because so many people wanted to attend that most of the tickets were for standing room.
This year no one wanted to go. Many empty seats:
Trump, of course, embodies the real war on Christmas. And a reminder that much of his “popularity” is made up of Russian bots who have trouble filling up actual seats.
And if Trump is so unpopular, that’s GREAT news for us.
Rex Tillerson is one of the worst Secretaries of State ever, bent on destroying the department.
And Rex Tillerson’s disastrous tenure as secretary of state may finally be coming to an end.
The New York Times reports that the White House is planning to fire Tillerson and replace him with current CIA Director Mike Pompeo sometime in the next few weeks.
This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. The consensus among foreign policy observers is that Tillerson’s time as secretary of state as been an unmitigated disaster.
“Tillerson would be at or near the bottom of the list of secretaries of state, not just in the post-Second World War world but in the record of US secretaries of state,” says Paul Musgrave, a scholar of US foreign policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Tillerson is a buddy of Putin’s so maybe the Kremlin grip is weakening a little.
Of course, Pompeo is awful too, but the persistent musical chairs is more evidence of how weak the Trump administration really is. And at least Pompeo called Julian Assange “a narcissist, fraud and coward.”
And the other bitter pill that comes with this is the probable assignment of Tom Cotton, a man who is just dandy with torture, to head the CIA. But that would get Cotton out of the Senate, and it sure seems to be easier to retire people out of Trump’s administration than to challenge them out of their Senate seats. Which would leave a Senate seat in Arkansas up for grabs. Now Arkansas is a red state, but it has had Democratic senators before (Mark Pryor), so maybe we’ll stand a real chance.
We all had great days on November 8 & 9. But our people have been working since:
For Philadelphia schools:
Two weeks later, on November 16, the SRC bowed to public pressure and opted to vote itself out of existence. It decided to turn the city’s schools back to local decision makers by the summer of 2018, when the mayo plans to replace it with a nine-person appointed board.
The article reminds us of victories in Seattle (demilitarizing the police), mayorships in Albuquerque and New Orleans, and how cities around the country are creating the SAFE Cities Network to protect undocumented immigrants.
If you have more good news, please put it in the comments!