Home · News · News Dec 2017 · Dec 21 2017
Thursday December 21, 2017

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

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Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, December 21 [13:56]
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Thursday, December 21 (FULL) | 59:02
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
  1. Headlines
  2. DACA Recipients' Message to Democrats: Stop Playing with Our Lives, and Pass a Clean DREAM Act Now
  3. Jailhouse Interview: Denied Asylum, Mexican Reporter Emilio Gutiérrez Faces Death If ICE Deports Him
  4. ACLU Investigation Reveals Texas Troopers Are Turning Traffic Stops of Immigrants into Deportations
* Bill Black -> Trump, GOP Pull Off Their Tax Heist | TRNN | 12/20/17 | 14:25
Trump's 'America First' Muscle Flexing is Actually a Defensive Strategy | TRNN | 12/20/17 | 23:29
Paul Ryan's Stunning Tax Cut Admission | TYT | 12/20/17 | 11:04
Lying Ted Is At It Again | TYT | 12/20/17 | 5:13
The1a.org
1A Movie Club Sees "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" | 1a.org | 11/21/17 | 1hr
Judging by reviews and ticket sales, the new Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi is a hit as red hot as the planet Mustafar. But some fan reactions have been colder than Hoth.

The negative reactions range from frustration with the movie's alleged politics, its deviation from past Star Wars formulas and its treatment of various fan-favorite characters. (Here's a spoiler-filled rundown from Vox).


Joe On GOP Investigating DOJ & FBI: This Is The Guy Questioning The FBI? | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/21/17 | 13:15
The Truth Behind President Donald Trump's Obamacare Repeal Claim | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/21/17 | 3:43
Leaders Heap Praise On President Donald Trump: 'It's So Autocratic' | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/21/17 | 11:06
Stephen Colbert
Today's Future Now - Crime-Fighting Technology | Srephen Colbert | 12/21/17 | 4:36
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Republicans Pass Their Tax Plan: A Closer Look | Seth Meyerd | 12/20/17 | 8:23

Wednesday December 20, 2017

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

Someone Dubbed Trump's Horrible Speeches Over His Animatronic, And It's Terrifying
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

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, December 20 [13:22]
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Wednesday, December 20 (FULL) | 59:02
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
  1. Headlines
  2. Broadcast Exclusive: Jill Stein Says Senate Request for Docs on Russia Probe is "New McCarthyism"
  3. "The Rape of Recy Taylor": How Rosa Parks Helped a Sharecropper Report Her Assault & Seek Justice
Trump Promised To End Hedge Fund Handout (He's Increasing It) | TYT | 12/19/17 | 7:45
Republican DESTROYS Trump Nominee | TYT | 12/19/17 | 8:44
Navy Jets Intercept UFO | TYT | 12/19/17 | 13:07
The1a.org
Facebook knows it can be bad for you. Really. | 1a.org | 12/20/17 | 1hr
Facebook knows it can be bad for you. Really. In a blog post last week, researchers at the social network summed up the research on how using Facebook can affect your mood.

"In general, when people spend a lot of time passively consuming information -- reading but not interacting with people -- they report feeling worse afterward," they write.

The post promises that the company will work to make sure they provide good feelings, rather than bad.

Meanwhile, Twitter has answered users' calls to start banning Nazis and other hate groups from the site. This includes accounts affiliated with controversial videos President Trump retweeted this month.


*GOP Tax Bill Set To Make Rich Richer At Everyone Else's Expense | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC | 12/19/17 | 15:10
*Wealth Inequality in America [6:25]
Joe: Wrong Tax Cut, Wrong Time For Wrong People | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/20/17 | 18:19
White House Takes Credit For Market Rally, But Numbers Tell Different Tale | Morning Joe | MSNBC | 12/20/17 | 5:08
How Is The White House Picking Judicial Nominees? | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC | 12/20/17 | 6:17
Hayden: Trump Jr. is appealing to heart of autocracy | CNN | 12/20/17 | 7:46
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
*Can Liberals Survive the Apocalypse? | Trevor Noah | 12/20/17 | 5:57
Late Night with Seth Meyers
The GOP's Tax Bill, the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program | Trevor Noah | 12/20/17 | 2:26
The GOP's Tax Bill, the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program | Trevor Noah | 12/20/17 | 2:26

12.21.2017. 13:03



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Lindsey Graham Mashups
Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said the quiet part aloud on why he’s still so close to former President Donald Trump: because we can use him for our goals. "President Trump has gotten people who wouldn't give me or Romney or anybody else the time of day. They believe he is on their side," the senator told the America First Agenda Summit crowd on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

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Environment & Climate Change
Environment

The term "climate change" is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change (also known as global warming). Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

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AI - Artificial Intelligence | Machine Learning | Deep Learning
AI - Artificial Intelligence

AIArtificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by animals including humans. AI research has been defined as the field of study of intelligent agents, which refers to any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of achieving its goals.

The term "artificial intelligence" had previously been used to describe machines that mimic and display "human" cognitive skills that are associated with the human mind, such as "learning" and "problem-solving". This definition has since been rejected by major AI researchers who now describe AI in terms of rationality and acting rationally, which does not limit how intelligence can be articulated.
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Quantum mechanics | AI - Artificial Intelligence
Quantum mechanics

Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles.  It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science.
Classical physics, the collection of theories that existed before the advent of quantum mechanics, describes many aspects of nature at an ordinary (macroscopic) scale, but is not sufficient for describing them at small (atomic and subatomic) scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an approximation valid at large (macroscopic) scale.
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Economy, Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street and Banksters

Wall Street is an eight-block-long street running roughly northwest to southeast from Broadway to South Street, at the East River, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, the American financial services industry (even if financial firms are not physically located there), or New York-based financial interests.

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Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

Intelligence Agencies/Deep State?

An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis,.

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Daniel Ellsberg | Pentagon Papers
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Nukes
Nukes

Nuclear weapons have come a long way and come in all types of different sizes. Some are relatively small while others are enormous, so big they boggle the mind at what they can be capable of, i.e. the Soviet 'Tsar Bomba' is/was 3,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

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Rana Foroohar and Fall of American Business
Rana Foroohar

Ms. Foroohar says financialization delivers stagnant wages, inequality and economic crisis; the Financial Times columnist and author of "Makers and Takers" says the financial sector represents only 7 percent of the U.S. economy, but takes around 25 percent of all corporate profit while creating only 4 percent of all jobs.

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The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick

The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone & Petere Kuznick | 2014 | 10 Episodes

Oliver Stone and American University historian Peter J. Kuznick began working on the project in 2008. Stone, Kuznick and British screenwriter Matt Graham cowrote the script. It covers "the reasons behind the Cold War with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Harry Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and changes in America's global role since the fall of Communism." Stone is the director and narrator of all ten episodes.

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Kuznick Interviews

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Historian Peter Kuznick says Eisenhower called for decreased militarization, then Dulles reversed the policy; the Soviets tried to end the cold war after the death of Stalin; crazy schemes involving nuclear weapons and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba put the world of the eve of destruction - with host Paul Jay

The Untold History of the United States by Kuznick, Peter.mobi | Book | 6.99 MB

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China Valley of Tunnels

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A report written by a Georgetown University team led by Phillip Karber conducted a three-year study to map out China’s complex tunnel system, which stretches 5,000 km (3,000 miles). The report determined that the stated Chinese nuclear arsenal is understated and as many as 3,000 nuclear warheads may be stored in the underground tunnel network.

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911
911

On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the Unites States. They hijacked four airplanes in mid-flight. The terrorists flew two of the planes into two skyscrapers at the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact caused the buildings to catch fire and collapse. Another plane destroyed part of the Pentagon (the U.S. military headquarters) in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Officials believe that the terrorists on that plane intended to destroy either the White House or the U.S. Capitol. Passengers on the plane fought the terrorists and prevented them from reaching their goal. In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.

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The Vietnam War

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Trump's Mashups
Trump's Mashups

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Trump's Sexcapades
Trump's Sexcapades.

Jessica Leeds (1980s)
Kristin Anderson (1990s)
E. Jean Carroll (1995 or 1996)
Lisa Boyne (1996)
Cathy Heller (1997)
Temple Taggart McDowell (1997)
Karena Virginia (1998)
Mindy McGillivray (2003)
Jennifer Murphy (2005)
Rachel Crooks (2005)
Natasha Stoynoff (2005)
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Trump's Speeches | Rallys |Interviews
Trump's Speeches | Rallys

Donald Trump talks a lot, but what is he actually saying? Watch Trump at some of his rallys and see what you think.

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