It’s tough to compete with sex and taxes, but here are a few tidbits:
Clinton announced that she is resigning -- as Fox News's president of the United States. noted that Fox News seems to think that she lives in the White House and Sean Hannity referred to “President Clinton” on Fox News recently. At least she resigned the position and didn’t have to be impeached.
In comments regarding Trump’s Asia trip, the former Australian Prime Minister said that Trump has ceded economic leadership to China. Despite complaining loudly about China, Trump has proven to be only a paper tiger. (And here are the origins of the phrase.)
- According to the FBI, hate crimes rose for second straight year in 2016. Now what on earth would cause that? It must be climate change.
The Republican candidate in Alabama for a U.S. Senate election on December 12 is Roy Moore. He has now been accused of sexual misconduct by five women. Some were teenagers – and one was 14 -- at a time when Moore was in his 30’s. A woman who was one of Moore’s colleagues at the district attorney’s office said that it was "common knowledge" that Moore dated high school girls while in his third decade. Can we say “No more Moore”?
Republican Senators Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, Orrin Hatch, Thom Tillis and Todd Young called for Moore to drop out of the race. Despite this, the Alabama Republican Party, which could have removed Moore as a candidate, said that it continued to support him. Because even a child molester is better than the Democratic candidate.
Although this should be taken with a barrel of salt (many people may now be unwilling to admit they will vote for Moore), according to a National Republican Senatorial Committee poll Moore now trails Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones by 12%. The holidays might arrive early for Democrats.
On the Democratic side, broadcaster Leeann Tweeden accused Democratic Senator Al Franken of French kissing her against her will during rehearsal for a 2006 USO performance and then having pictures taken of him pretending to fondle her breasts while she was asleep on the flight back to the U.S. Ironically, given Fox’s major issues with sexual harassment, she was a Fox News broadcaster at the time.
Franken apologized and, in an intriguing political move, asked that the Senate Ethics Committee investigate him. As for her part, Ms. Tweeden accepted his apology.
That did not stop Donald Trump from criticizing Franken, despite the many claims of sexual harassment against Trump, including a current lawsuit and the infamous bus video. As Chaucer said, people in glass houses….
When asked how Donald Trump was different from Al Franken, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “Senator Franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn’t. I think that’s a very clear distinction.” Everyone immediately bowed to Ms. Sanders’ superior logic.
Moving to the inevitable death and taxes, if the Senate passes its version of the Republican tax-cut bill it’s extremely like that the House will accept it and Trump will sign it. The Senate bill would add a minimum of $1.5 trillion to the debt. Among many other fine features, the Senate bill would cut the taxes of the wealthy and increase taxes on families earning less than $75,000 by 2027. As Leona Helmsley once said, only the little people pay taxes.
Further, the GOP’s tax bill would trigger a $25 billion cut to Medicare. The Republicans also decided to eliminate the Obamacare individual mandate, which would cause health-insurance premium surges for many. Groups representing doctors, hospitals and insurance companies immediately protested. Medical deaths would result from those cuts.
52% of Americans disapprove of GOP tax plan and only 25% support it, so the Republicans clearly have their hands on the pulse of America.
The Senate bill also awards permanent tax cuts to corporations but not to individuals. The fantasy is that corporations will invest to provide more goods and services. Corporations are already sitting on record amounts of cash and interest rates for borrowing for investment are extremely low. Demand for more goods and services will come only if the middle and lower classes have more money to spend.
At a forum attended by President Trump’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, the moderator asked how many of the business leaders in the audience planned to increase investment if the tax reform bill passed; when only a few hands went up, Cohn plaintively asked “Why aren’t the other hands up?” Oh, I don’t know, Gary, reality perhaps?
The Republicans hold 52 out of 100 seats in the Senate; if three Republican Senators vote against the bill and its variants it cannot pass. At least two Republican Senators are demanding changes in the bill and others have criticized it. The problem for Republicans is that if changes are made that increase the debt by more than $1.5 trillion, a minimum of 60 votes in the Senate are required. We’ll find out if the Republican Senate bill is a paper tiger or not.
A vote on the Senate bill will be held the week after Thanksgiving, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-turkey).