Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Trump taunts Democrats as he touts tax reform win
Politico | Louis Nelson | 12/21/17

President Donald Trump predicted Thursday that the package of tax cuts passed Wednesday by Congress "will soon be kicking in and will speak for themselves," proving wrong Democrats who he said "hate these big cuts" and the media, who he said "is desperate to write badly" about the White House-backed legislation.

"The Massive Tax Cuts, which the Fake News Media is desperate to write badly about so as to please their Democrat bosses, will soon be kicking in and will speak for themselves," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Companies are already making big payments to workers. Dems want to raise taxes, hate these big Cuts!"

The bill, which the president is expected to sign, is the first major legislative victory for Trump and the culmination of a career-long goal for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), long a tax policy wonk who once served as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Wrapped up in the legislation were other GOP priorities, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve for oil drilling. ... Read more

Ryan: 'Nobody Knows' If Massive Tax Cuts Will Pay For Themselves
TPM | Matt Shuham | 12/20/17

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said Wednesday that "nobody knows" if Republicans' tax bill, which would overwhelmingly benefit corporations and the wealthy while adding more than $1.4 trillion to the deficit, would pay for itself.

"Are you saying that the growth you're going to get from this tax cut will equal the amount it would cost on the deficit side, so that it's a wash?" Savannah Guthrie asked Ryan in an interview Wednesday.

"Nobody knows the answer to that question, because that's in the future," Ryan said. "But what we do know is that this will increase economic growth." Read more

*How Trump makes extreme things look normal | Vox | 12/21/17 | 7:24

*How tax breaks help the rich | Vox | 10/09/17 | 8:46

Paul Ryan gets a big win with a massively unpopular bill: Now it gets worse
Salon | Sophia Tesfaye | 12/20/17

As promised, only days before Christmas, Republicans are poised to fulfill the first major overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 30 years. But instead of running a slow victory lap into the 2018 midterm elections, Republican ideologues in Congress -- led by House Speaker Paul Ryan -- appear determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the name of discredited supply-side dogma.

Even though the postcard-size tax return that President Trump promised every American won't be coming anytime soon, Republicans are delivering on three major orthodoxies with a singular bill. In addition to a dramatic slashing of the corporate tax rate, the Republican tax bill does away with the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate and opens the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. Short of stacking the Supreme Court with eight other justices in the mold of Clarence Thomas, no single act of Congress could succinctly meet such a wide-array of long-term Republican goals. ... Read more

Democrats Express Outrage As GOP Tax Cuts Inch Closer To Completion
HP | Rebecca Shapiro | 12/20/17

Democrats were quick to react after the Senate voted along party lines to pass a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. tax code. The unpopular piece of legislation overwhelmingly favors big business and the wealthiest of Americans and adds a whopping $1.4 trillion to the national debt.

Ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the Tax Cut and Reform Bill "a disgrace" on the Senate floor. He then blasted the GOP in a tweet and accused Republicans of favoring the wealthy.

"The bill that the Republicans jammed through the Senate tonight isn't tax reform," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said. "It's a heist. Let's call this out for what it is: Government for sale." ... Read more

Here's animatronic Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women on the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape | HP | 12/18/17 | 0:23

The "backlash" against Star Wars: The Last Jedi, explained
Vox | Todd VanDerWerff | 12/19/17/span>

A divide between movie audiences and critics happens all the time -- especially with blockbusters.

Consider the recent case of Justice League, which brought together a bunch of big-name superheroes, to the delight of 79 percent of those who saw it and bothered to register their opinion on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics, however, only liked the film to the tune of a 40 percent score -- a 39-point gap. There's also 2016's Suicide Squad, with a 26 percent score from critics and a 61 percent score from audiences, for a 35-point gap.

These gaps are normal. If you've bought a ticket for a movie -- as opposed to having seen it at a free critics screening -- you're far more likely to have self-selected as a fan already, and thus, you're far more likely to be into the movie. (If you were to make the argument that Rotten Tomatoes is a deeply flawed system at best and actively harmful to the future of criticism at worst, well, I wouldn't stop you.) ... Read more

Jeff Sessions Reportedly Revives Probe Of Uranium One Deal
HP | Alana Horowitz Satlin | 12/21/17

The Justice Department is reviving an inquiry into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the government's controversial approval of the Uranium One deal, NBC News reported on Thursday.

A now-dormant FBI investigation into whether Clinton had ties to the deal has not found evidence of wrongdoing. But NBC, citing "multiple law enforcement officials," reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has in recent weeks directed Justice Department prosecutors to ask FBI agents to explain evidence uncovered in the probe.

Uranium One, a Canadian mining company with major U.S. holdings, was sold in 2010 to a Russian firm. Before the sale could go through, it needed approval from nine U.S. agencies, including the State Department. Because some of the people who stood to benefit from the sale were Clinton Foundation donors, conservative media and other critics of the 2016 presidential nominee have alleged a quid-pro-quo, even though the State Department said it didn't have the power to green-light or veto the deal and Clinton herself was not involved in the approval process. Read more