Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Golden State Calif. Cartoons





Senate GOP Introduce Last Minute Tax Bill Changes Ahead of Key Committee Vote

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, speaks to reporters following a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
GOP senators made last minute changes to the tax reform bill in an effort to win over undecided lawmakers ahead of a key committee vote.
Republican Senators Ron Johnson and Steve Daines say they could vote against the tax bill.
They argue the legislation puts limited-liability companies and small businesses at a disadvantage compared to larger corporations.
Meanwhile, Senator Bob Corker expressed concern the tax reform could jeopardize budget revenues in the short-term.
The tax bill is expected to clear Congress this week with senators confident they can reach an agreement.
“We always have to deal with everybody, so it’s not any one particular person,” said Senator Orrin Hatch. “This is … these are tough times these are tough issues hard to deal with and we intend to deal with them we’re always able to come out all right in the end, so we’ll see what happens.”
Experts say the proposed tax overhaul would boost the GDP by at least 0.4 percent per year over the next decade.

Signature Gathering Underway to Repeal New Calif. Gas Tax Hike

In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 30, 2017, gasoline prices are displayed at a Chevron station in Sacramento, Calif.
OAN Newsroom
Backers of an initiative to repeal California’s controversial gas tax have began to gather signatures.
The bill was signed into law in last April, raising gas prices across the state by 12 cents per gallon, and hiking vehicle registration fees by up to $175.
The signature drive kicked off in San Diego on Monday in an effort to reverse the legislation.
Although the gas tax aims to fund infrastructure improvements, critics claim it does not take into account the high cost of living in the state.
Organizers of the repeal effort have until January to obtain more than 365,000 signatures to get the issue on next November’s ballot.

Second House Dem calls for Conyers to resign as sex misconduct outcry grows


A second Democratic lawmaker called on Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., to step down Tuesday over sexual misconduct allegations hours after Conyers' former deputy chief of staff detailed three occasions when he made unwanted advances toward her.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a statement that while she had looked up to Conyers for decades, "I believe these women, I see the pattern and there is only one conclusion – Mr. Conyers must resign."
Jayapal joined Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., as the only two lawmakers who have said Conyers should resign from Congress. In a statement of her own last week, Rice called the allegations against Conyers "as credible as they are repulsive."
The 88-year-old Conyers has been under fire since a BuzzFeed News report that he had paid a former staffer more than $27,000 in 2015 to settle a complaint from the woman alleging that she was fired because she rejected his sexual advances. BuzzFeed also published affidavits from former staff members who said they had witnessed Conyers touching female staffers inappropriately or requesting sexual favors.
Deanna Maher, who worked for Conyers between 1997 and 2005, told the Detroit News Tuesday that the congressman partially undressed in front of her in a hotel suite during a 1997 Congressional Black Caucus event.
"I didn't have a room and he had me put in his hotel suite," said Maher, adding that she rejected his offer to share his room at the Grand Hyatt in Washington and have sex.
Maher, now 77, said Conyers also touched her inappropriately in a car in 1998 and touched her legs under her dress in 1999. She said she didn't report the harassment because Conyers is a powerful man in Washington and she didn't think it would be taken seriously.
On Tuesday, members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) met behind closed doors to determine whether they could convince Conyers to resign his seat or leave the organization he helped found in 1971. A spokeswoman for the CBC said Tuesday that the group has no additional comments about the allegations against Conyers beyond a statement released last week that condemned the alleged behavior and called for an House Ethics Committee investigation.
CBC Chair Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., told reporters that he and Conyers "had a good conversation" and said he "did not ask [Conyers] to resign."
When asked if Conyers should resign, Richmond said "I have no idea ... that's a personal decision."
Conyers has denied the allegations and refused to resign, though he did announce Sunday that he would step aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Separately Tuesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a letter to the Ethics panel that it should move quickly in its inquiry.
"We are at a watershed moment for our country in the fight against sexual harassment and discrimination," Pelosi wrote. "The Committee on Ethics has a great responsibility to proceed expeditiously as well as fairly into any investigation of credible harassment and discrimination allegations."

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un ordered missile launch, saying, ‘Fire with courage’


North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un ordered his engineers on Tuesday to launch the country’s new intercontinental ballistic missile with "courage" a day ahead of the flight test where it demonstrated its reach deep into the U.S. mainland.
State television on Wednesday broadcast a photo of Kim's signed order where he wrote: "Test launch is approved. Taking place at the daybreak of Nov. 29! Fire with courage for the party and country!"
North Korea’s state television said that the nuclear-capable intercontinental-ballistic missile that was launched earlier is “significantly more” powerful than the previous weapon and puts the entire United States in its crosshairs.
The report called the weapon a Hwasong 15. The launch was detected after it was fired early Wednesday morning from a site near Pyongyang.
South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, which first reported the launch, said the missile launch happened around 3 a.m. local time in North Korea. South Korea fired pinpoint missiles into nearby waters to make sure North Korea understands it can be "taken under fire" by the South, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said.
The South Korean military said that the missile was fired from an area near Pyongyang. It reached a height of 2,796 miles and traveled 596 miles, demonstrating the potential to reach a range of 8,100 miles. David Wright, a U.S. physicist who has studied North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, said that this would put any part of the U.S. comfortably within reach of a North Korean missile strike.
One factor that could significantly affect the missile’s range is the payload. If, as expected, it carried a light mock warhead, then its effective range would have been shorter, analyst said.
North Korea has been working to perfect “re-entry” technology to one day have a warhead be able to survive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. This ICBM would be able to hit any city within the U.S. if a warhead is able to survive re-entry.
It was determined by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) that the missile "did not pose a threat to North America, our territories or our allies," Pentagon spokesman Col. Robert Manning III told Fox News.
Manning, in an earlier statement, said: "We are in the process of assessing the situation, and we will be providing additional details when available.”

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