Author: Bartolo

POLL: Tax reform & Obamacare: Poll finds voters want them dealt with separately – National Review

POLL: 60 percent to blame Trump, GOP for ObamaCare problems – TheHill

House Republicans are divided over Obamacare individual mandate push in tax plan – The Washington Post

Republican U.S. senators to watch in the debate on the tax bill, two of them have qualms about including repeal of the Obamacare individual mandate in the tax bill – Reuters

Pro-Obamacare group ads target swing Republicans on taxes – POLITICO

Trump met Senate Republicans on ObamaCare fix, The importance of the Alexander/Murray bipartisan bill has increased  given that Senate Republicans are now proposing to repeal ObamaCare’s individual mandate in their tax bill  – TheHill

Senate Committee clears GOP tax bill to set post-Thanksgiving table – US News

Killing Obamacare read more

Below is a discussion about the identification of the specific munition used in the Latemenah and Khan Sheikhoun sarin attacks. Bellingcat matches the munition parts found after the blasts to the M4000 bomb declared by the Syrian government to the OPCW as being part of its chemical stockpile. In an heated exchange of tweets, experts confute or approve the Bellingcat statements. Read also the comments at the end of the Bellingcat article.

Did Russia accidentally provide the best evidence of the Syrian government’s involvement in sarin attacks? – bellingcat

This report is based on “cherry picking” – i.e. reporting only matches. This bias causes the human brain to believe “it’s impossible for so many coincidences to happen”. When considering also the mismatches, it looks much less clear-cut: 1. Cap is ~20% smaller in diagram 1/3” – Rootclaim on Twitter

2. Inner metal ring in tail is ~20% larger and 15% wider. 3. Fins seem longer, but hard to measure. 4. Fuze is 30% larger. 5. “Lug” is 100% farther from the cap. 6. The mixer has 3 “steps” instead of 2, rod is 40% wider, and extends through other side 2/3 – Rootclaim on Twitter

7. A metal cone spreading like putty to a half circle seems weird, but expert opinion is needed. So other than a lug next to a cap (which also happens in the cannons), none of the items match. We might publish a probabilistic analysis of this once more info is available. 3/3 – Rootclaim on Twitter

Plausible? read more

For months I have refrained to assign blame for the Khan Sheikhoun sarin attack either to the Syrian army or the opposition due to the absence of conclusive publicly available evidence. It looks that now we may be near the solution of this mystery. The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) has published a report on the Latamenah incident on March 30, 2017 which happened just read more

Republicans propose last-minute changes to tax bill, Kevin Brady unveils amendment – The New York Times

House tax panel adopts GOP changes after day of partisan bickering – The Washington Post

Democrats yell, seethe during markup of GOP tax plan – CNN

House holds off on cutting several Obamacare taxes in GOP bill- washingtonexaminer.com

Read: Rep. Kevin Brady’s amendment to the House’s tax reform bill – Vox

Live coverage: Ways and Means begins tax bill markup – TheHill

VIDEO (Full): House Ways and Means Committee marks up tax reform bill – YouTube

Cornyn: Senate GOP tax plan to be released Thursday – TheHill

Senate tax bill likely to keep $1 Million mortgage cap – Bloomberg

Group of Democratic senators to huddle with White House officials on tax reform Tuesday – The Washington Post

John McCain confirms: Tax reform is “DOA (dead on arrival) in the Senate” – Zero Hedge

James read more

Hill Republicans want more answers from Wasserman Schultz, Podesta about Trump dossier money – Fox News

Trey Gowdy: No difference between Obama DOJ and Trump DOJ when it comes to dossier transparency – washingtonexaminer.com

VIDEO (and transcript): Gowdy: Did Obama Justice Department rely on Steele dossier to get FISA warrant? – RealClearPolitics

Ryan: FBI to turn over anti-Trump dossier documents to Congress this week – Washington Times

House Intelligence Committee strikes deal with Fusion GPS for firm’s bank records – washingtonexaminer.com

Trump heralds GOP “anger, unity” concerning the dossier, uranium deal and Clinton deleted emails as WSJ warns Dems “the Russian dossier dam is breaking” – Zero Hedge

Obama campaign paid $972,000 to law firm that paid Fusion GPS – thefederalist.com

Tom Fitton: Obama campaign payments to law firm raises questions – newsmax.com

VIDEO: Tom Fitton: Obama campaign payments to law firm raises questions – YouTube

According to Bloomberg, Steele dossier was not the basis for Trump-related surveillance – LawNewz

Were FISA warrants to monitor Trump associates improperly obtained in part on the basis of the Russia dossier? read more

House Republicans launch new probes into Obama-era Uranium One deal, FBI handling of Clinton email investigation – Fox News

VIDEO: Rep. Devin Nunes announces probe into Russia uranium deal – YouTube

GOP seeks testimony from ‘informant’ on Russia uranium deal (VIDEO) – news965.com

DOJ is ‘reviewing’ Grassley letter about lifting gag order on FBI informant in Clinton-Russia-Uranium probe – cnsnews.com

VIDEO: FBI informant blocked by Obama-era AG can unlock key info on the Russian uranium deal, his attorney says – Fox Business

Hillary Clinton pushes back on Russian uranium deal reports: ‘Baloney’ – TheHill

VIDEO: Hillary Clinton pushes back on Russian uranium deal reports: ‘Baloney’ – YouTube

Media sees no meat at all in the Russian uranium deal- onenewsnow.com

Dan Gainor: Media obsessed with Trump Russia conspiracy ignoring Clinton Uranium One – breitbart.com

The Hill’s flimsy Russia-uranium story lands with maximum effect – The Washington Post

read more

Senate Judiciary opens probe into Obama-era Russian nuclear bribery case – TheHill

Grassley probes Clinton ‘conflicts of interest’ amid new questions in Russia uranium deal – Fox News

Grassley statement at Justice Dept. Oversight Hearing – Chuck Grassley

Grassley releases a series of letters he fired off  to 10 federal agencies, addressing the uranium deal – United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

VIDEO: Senate Judiciary’s Grassley questions AG Sessions on Uranium One – YouTube

Sessions says Justice to review Russian uranium deal – TheHill

WTH? Attorney General Sessions says Rosenstein can investigate HIMSELF in Uranium One criminal probe (VIDEO) – thegatewaypundit.com

FBI uncovered Russian bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow – TheHill

Obama’s DOJ slow-walked probe of Russia uranium deal despite national security concerns – TheHill

FBI informant blocked from telling Congress about Russia nuclear corruption case, lawyer says – TheHill

AG Sessions could lift gag order on informant in Clinton-Russia-uranium probe – cnsnews.com

Robert read more

Report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers says corporate tax cuts will lift workers’ wages, it draws on several economic studies that find similar results – The New York Times

Press release: CEA report: Corporate tax reform and wages: Theory and evidence – whitehouse.gov

CEA report (Full text): Corporate tax reform and wages: Theory and evidence – whitehouse.gov

VIDEO: White House chief economist Kevin Hassett: Corporate tax cuts will boost wages – CNBC

Schumer slams WH report on corporate tax cuts, says it is using ‘fake math’ – newsmax.com

Detractors pile on a White House study that foresees incomes getting a boost of $4,000 a year if the corporate tax rate is cut to 20% from 35% – MarketWatch

I got issues with the new CEA report – Jared Bernstein

Press release: Report: Corporate tax cuts boost CEO pay, not jobs – Institute for Policy Studies

IPS report (full text): Report: Corporate tax cuts boost CEO pay, not jobs – Institute for Policy Studies

Summers says Trump officials are making things up about their tax plan – Bloomberg

VIDEO: Ex-Treasury Secretary Summers: White House tax plan ‘indefensible’ – CNBC

Opinion: read more

In a meeting with Trudeau, Trump says NAFTA talks ‘tough’ and failure possible: ‘If we can’t make a deal, it’ll be terminated and that will be fine’ – digitaljournal.com

Trump says separate trade pacts with Canada, Mexico could replace NAFTA – Fox Business

VIDEO: Trump says ‘we’ll see what happens’ regarding NAFTA – YouTube

VIDEO: Trudeau remains optimistic for a positive outcome to NAFTA negotiations – YouTube

VIDEO: Canada’s Justin Trudeau takes questions on NAFTA, US relations – YouTube

‘Mexico’s bigger than NAFTA’, will only remain in the trade pact if good for national interest: FM sends dire warning to US – RT America

Mexico warns that abandoning NAFTA could end broader cooperation with US against drug trafficking and illegal migration – The Guardian

Mexican senators lay out six ‘red lines’ for NAFTA renegotiation – WSJ

Mexican Senate chief backs complete withdrawal from NAFTA – panampost.com

Mexican business leaders say no NAFTA better than bad deal – Reuters

Mexican Peso drops amid NAFTA talk troubles – Fox Business

Chambers of Commerce from all 50 States urge Trump administration to modernize NAFTA, ‘Do no harm’ – U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Speech read more

Official: Trump expected to decertify Iran nuclear deal, the President says ‘we must put an end to Iran’s continued aggression and nuclear ambitions. They have not lived up to the spirit of their agreement’ – Reuters

By decertifying Iran’s compliance but staying in the accord Trump’s Iran gambit keeps `worst deal ever’ intact, sources say – Bloomberg

Tillerson’s secret plan to keep US in Iran deal – CNNPolitics

H.R. McMaster hints he’s not behind Trump on decertifying Iran deal – CNNPolitics

Republicans not unified on killing Iran nuke deal – newsmax.com

More than 180 Dems, led by Jewish lawmaker and early opponent of Iran nuclear deal Deutch, sign letter pushing Trump to re-certify it – TheHill

Cotton says decertifying Iran isn’t necessarily the same as leaving the deal, Congress would act after Trump’s decision to lay out key requirements of a revised Iran agreement – Bloomberg

Sen. Cotton thinks ‘military strikes’ against Iran are ‘credible’ option, en route to speak to Trump calls for pushing Iran, China and Russia out of the negotiating room – ThinkProgress

A read more