Good Wednesday morning!
Here is what’s on the President’s agenda today:
- In the morning, President Donald J. Trump will receive his daily intelligence briefing.
- The President will then hold a Cabinet meeting.
House and Senate pass tax reform, bill goes back to the House
Both the House and the Senate passed the tax reform bill, but the bill has to go back to the House due to a parliamentary snafu. The Democrats are completely unhinged about the bill.
House Republicans just passed their disastrous tax bill. Congratulations to the Koch brothers, massive corporations and billionaire campaign contributors on looting the Treasury and working families. pic.twitter.com/gS6elMdysQ
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 19, 2017
“Today is also a victory for the largest and most-profitable corporations in this country like Apple, Microsoft, Pfizer and General Electric, who, despite record-breaking profits, will now see hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks,” Sanders added.
“Today is also a victory for a number of members of the United States Congress who have significant investments in real estate who, with this vote, will substantially lower the taxes that they pay and will further enrich themselves,” he said.
Senator Cory Booker jumped into the fray.
“When the story of this tax plan is written, congressional Republicans will be remembered for never wavering in their determination to give a massive tax cut to corporations,” Booker said in a statement. “It’s foolhardy at best and deceitful at worst.”
“This bill will exacerbate inequality, not ameliorate it,” Booker continued. “It’s irresponsible, reckless, unjust, and just plain cruel – and for these reasons and more, today is one of my most disappointing days as a U.S. Senator.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said on Twitter: “The bill that the Republicans jammed through the Senate tonight isn’t tax reform. It’s a heist. Let’s call this out for what it is: Government for sale.”
“Sooner or later, a reckoning is coming,” Warren warned. “And I will promise you this: When it does, the politicians who lead this Congress & voted for this tax heist will be held accountable for turning their backs on the American people.”
I hope Republicans are keeping track of all this posturing for 2018 campaign ads because once February rolls around the effects of the tax reform should be evident in voters’ paychecks. It’s hard to say exactly what the Democrats are upset about — is it that rich people also get tax cuts? The Democrats have always framed economic issues in terms of a zero-sum game to their followers. They claim any benefit “rich people” get means the filthy casuals get less. This simply isn’t true. I think their over-the-top objections are to the fact that this is a winning issue for Republicans for the 2018 campaigns.
Andrew “Andy’s office” McCabe questioned for almost 8 hours
Yesterday, controversial FBI agent and Mueller RUSSIA collusion fantasy task force member Andrew McCabe spent 8 hours in front of the House Intelligence Committee. The testimony was behind closed doors so we’ll have to wait for the leaks. Fun fact: McCabe’s wife Jill ran for Virginia state office in 2015 and received unusually large campaign donations from Clinton cartel associates. This “transaction” took place while the FBI was investigating Hillary’s mishandling of classified material.
Gowdy and other committee members were tight-lipped on the details of McCabe’s testimony on Tuesday, and most avoided speaking with reporters. But the committee’s ranking member,U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said McCabe “has been a professional FBI agent” and that he does not understand “the calls of some to fire him.”
Rep. Schiff is a notorious leaker so we should be getting some pro-McCabe messaging soon from the Democrat operatives at CNN and the WaPo, right? Worth pondering: why did we see leaks when Don Jr. was behind closed doors literally as he was testifying, but not while McCabe was? Probably because there’s nothing to spin and leak that would hurt the president and further the Democrats’ RUSSIA collusion jihad.
While McCabe was testifying, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was calling for him to be fired. “He oughta be replaced. And I’ve said that before and I’ve said it to people who can do it,” said Grassley. “Trump ought to stay out of it,” Grassley said. “I think it’s a Christopher Wray job.”
Today, Bruce Ohr is expected on the Hill to testify. Ohr is an FBI agent on Team RUSSIA Collusion and his wife Nellie works for Fusion GPS doing anti-Trump RUSSIA research.
And there’s more Hill testimony on the horizon
Rep. Bob Goodlatte and Rep. Trey Gowdy want to question even more FBI agents “about their handling of two probes: the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information and the investigation of President Donald Trump’s campaign associates and their ties to Russia.”
“Among other things, the Committees are investigating the circumstances surrounding the FBI’s decision to publicly announce the investigation into former Secretary Clinton’s handling of classified information, but not to publicly announce the investigation into campaign associates of then-candidate Donald Trump,” Goodlatte and Gowdy write.
U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley throws down
Anyone else see a Nikki Haley for President campaign down the road?
Ambassador Nikki Haley is serving notice the U.S. “will be taking names” on a U.N. General Assembly vote Thursday on a nonbinding resolution criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Emergency sessions of the General Assembly are rare, and Haley chose her Twitter account Tuesday to speak out. She says in the post, “We’re always asked to do more & give more.”
The tweet adds, “So, when we make a decision, at the will of the American ppl (people), abt (about) where to locate OUR embassy, we don’t expect those we’ve helped to target us.”
Slay Queen.
She also served up some notice to Iran, calling them out for arming Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Tuesday that evidence is mounting that Iran is supplying arms to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, in violation of the resolution that put the Iran nuclear deal into international law. Haley’s strong words came on the same day that Saudi Arabia said its air defense system intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the rebel group toward the their capital city, Riyadh.
“This is the Secretary-General’s fourth report on the Iranian regime’s lack of full compliance with Resolution 2231,” Haley said, referring to the U.N. resolution that codified the nuclear deal. “And it is the most damning report yet. This report makes the case that Iran is illegally transferring weapons.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia reports it shot down some friendly rockets aiming for the Royal Palace courtesy of the Iranian-supported Yemeni Houthi rebels. Basically Iran just fired missiles at the Saudis. Thanks, Obama.
[Alleged] sexual harassment round-up
Sinclair Broadcast Group sued by ex-employees for sexual harassment, discrimination
House Reveals Additional $115,000 in Sexual Harassment Related Settlements
House committee unanimously approves anti-harassment training guidelines in markup
Ian McKellen Recalls Actresses Offering To Have Sex With A Director For Roles
“Silicon Valley” star TJ Miller denies sexual assault allegations
Historical picture of the day:
Madame Marie Curie, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, is shown on Dec. 20, 1923 at an unknown location. Curie won the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics as co-discoverer of radium, and she later won the 1911 Nobel Prize in chemistry. (AP Photo)
Other morsels:
!!!—->Hillary Clinton campaign, DNC accused of ‘corrupt’ money scheme in new FEC complaint
HAHAHAHA Hillary Clinton is now just as unpopular as Donald Trump
Saudis intercept Yemen rebel missile targeting royal palace
Man gets 28 years in plot to behead conservative blogger
Twitter: We used to believe in free speech but not so much anymore
Alabama Announces Voter Fraud Investigation After This Viral TV Interview With Jones Supporter
Connecticut parents pull kids from school as Ivanka Trump visits
Internet Horrified That Disney’s Donald Trump Robot Looks Like Hillary
Abominable Snowman arrested in Oregon for drunk driving
Two women exchange punches, profanity inside Indianapolis Chuck E. Cheese
Number of robocalls soars in 2017
Companies Fight for Piece of Calif. Pot Industry
Senate panel rejects Trump’s nominee to run Export-Import Bank
Cardinal Law, central figure in church abuse scandal, dies
BLM activist to start ‘politically active’ Christian denomination to address ‘black suffering’
Sarah Silverman: ‘Patriotism Is Perverted’
Former head of secret UFO-hunting program thinks aliens are real
Palestinian protester wears Santa suit while throwing rocks
Amtrak engineer in deadly wreck may have been distracted, official says
What could go wrong? The embryo is just a year younger than the mother who birthed her
House fire that left 4 dead in New York City sparked by ‘lit menorah’
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!
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