Joy, fury on social media after Senate passes tax overhaul

Optimism and anger – without much middle ground – characterized social media reactions by celebrities and politicians to the news that the Senate had approved a historic tax overhaul early Wednesday.

Republicans, who have promised tax reform even as they suffered other significant legislative defeats since President Donald Trump took office, sounded a note of year-end triumph.

“Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare) Repealed,” President Donald Trump tweeted at 1:09 a.m EST. “Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M.”
GOP congressional leaders echoed his reaction and took stock of the once-in-a-generation scale of the reform.
“The #Senate has passed #TaxReform to boost our #economy, help grow #SmallBusiness, and give our nation more #energy independence,” tweeted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell., R-Ky.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has served in the Senate since 1981, said the tax overhaul was overdue.
"I’m 1 of only 5 to be involved w tax reform as a senator in 1986 & again in 2017,"  Grassley tweeted. "It shouldn’t have taken so long but we’ve delivered tax cuts & tax simplification to the American ppl as promised."
Meanwhile, Democrats, in stark terms, suggested that Republicans would ultimately face a backlash from voters.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, referred to the legislation as a "heist" on Twitter, adding that "sooner or later, a reckoning is coming" because Americans are "angry."
And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the bill an "absolute disgrace."
Comedian Rosie O'Donnell, who promised on Twitter early Tuesday to pay "2 million dollars to senator susan collins and 2 million to senator jeff flake" if they voted against the tax legislation, tweeted her age and an anti-Trump hashtag minutes after the bill passed.
"55 - still alive #survivingtrump," she wrote, along with an Instagram photo of herself.

Why Trump's tax reform triumph isn't matched by public enthusiasm

After a long political drought on Capitol Hill, tax reform is a big win for President Trump, no question about it.

So why isn’t there a celebratory mood?

The legislation, passed by the House yesterday, has been so widely disparaged, by opponents and many in the media, that it just isn’t very popular with the public. (The House will revote today because of a rules glitch.)
In a USA Today poll, 32 percent support the bill, 48 percent oppose it.
In a CNN poll, 33 percent support the bill, 55 percent oppose it.
In a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll yesterday, 24 percent say it is a good idea, 41 percent say it’s a bad one.
And many surveys echo one by the New York Times and Survey Monkey, that only a third of Americans expect their taxes to go down.
Now the numbers reflect some undeniable partisanship. A majority of Republicans support the measure, which makes sense because it is passing only with GOP votes. It’s no surprise that Democrats and some independents who don’t like Trump don’t think much of his tax bill, either.
The pounding by the press focuses on the fact that the lion’s share of benefits go to corporations and that some middle-class families, especially in high-tax states, will pay more, either now or in the future. Even some in the top 5 percent aren’t happy, as reflected in this Times column: “Tax Cuts Benefit the Ultra Rich, but Not the Merely Rich.”
A Wall Street Journal headline: “Middle Class to Get 23% of Tax Cuts for Individuals Under GOP Bill.”
The street obviously likes the tax cuts because the market has continued to climb, now gaining 5,000 points during Trump’s tenure to finish yesterday at 24,754.
The bill’s image got scuffed a bit by what is being called, somewhat unfairly, the Corker Kickback (a play on the Cornhusker Kickback used to pass ObamaCare). After Sen. Bob Corker flipped from no to yes, it was revealed that Orrin Hatch had added a big fat break for real estate profits—and Corker is a Tennessee developer who would benefit (along with another prominent Republican).
Thus, a Times editorial is headlined “Tax Bill Lets Trump and Republicans Feather Their Own Nests.”
At yesterday’s White House briefing, NBC’s Hallie Jackson said: “You’re getting a lot of questions what will benefit the president, what won’t benefit the president. I get he doesn’t want to release taxes. That would obviously put all of these questions to rest.” Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeated the standard answer that Trump remains under audit.
Whatever the sniping back and forth over tax reform—which is normal in a bill so complicated—public sentiment may change over time. ObamaCare, having survived years of Republican criticism and Trump’s attempt to repeal it, is above 50 percent approval for the first time.
If the measure delivers real tax relief to enough Americans—and the corporate cuts keep the economic expansion going—the bill could rise in popularity. And if not, the Republicans will face some heavy lifting in 2018.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author of five books and is based in Washington. Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz. 

Senate OKs tax reform package, sends bill back to House for final vote

The U.S. Senate passed the most sweeping rewrite of the nation's tax laws in more than three decades early Wednesday, all but ensuring the bill will soon become law.

The vote also likely helped hand President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans a major year-end legislative triumph.

The final vote, shortly before 1 a.m. EST, was 51-48, with no Democrats voting in favor of the bill and all Republicans supporting it.
Only U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who had announced his support for the bill earlier this month, was not present for the vote. His office said he “looks forward to returning to Washington in January" as he recovers from brain cancer treatment.
The Senate's vote meant that Vice President Mike Pence, who had postponed a trip to the Middle East to be at the Capitol if needed, was not required to break a tie vote.
During the vote, protesters interrupted with chants of "kill the bill, don't kill us," and Pence repeatedly called for order.
Before Trump can sign the tax overhaul into law, the House of Representatives must re-vote because of procedural flaws in the chamber's vote earlier Tuesday.
The office of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said House members would reconsider the Senate's bill Wednesday morning and send it to President Trump for his signature.
The House voted 227-203 in favor of the tax bill Tuesday afternoon, but the package ran into trouble in the Senate because of two provisions that Democrats said ran afoul of the Senate's strict budget reconciliation rules.
In order to avoid a filibuster according to Senate rules, the tax overhaul must directly address fiscal issues, not policy matters. Matters that are considered extraneous to budget are subject to potential filibustering, meaning they would require 60 votes for passage, instead of a 51-vote majority.
Senate Democrats, including Vermont independent Bernie Sanders and Oregon's Ron Wyden, specifically objected to two provisions in the House bill: one providing for the use of 529 savings accounts for home schooling expenses; and the other establishing criteria to determine whether endowments of private universities are subject to the legislation’s new excise tax.
Additionally, Democrats objected to the name of the House bill.
The Senate parliamentarian reportedly sided with Democrats, forcing the Senate to remove those provisions before the vote.
Top Democrats charged that the procedural snafu was a sign that Republicans were rushing the legislation through Congress.
“The House revote is the latest evidence of just how shoddily written the GOP tax scam really is," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
The complex legislation, weeks in the making, scales back the popular deduction for state and local taxes, bad news for Americans in some of the wealthiest suburbs of New York, New Jersey and California.
The bill preserves the deduction for medical expenses, rebuffing an effort by House Republicans to eliminate it.
It also provides steep tax cuts for businesses and wealthy families, and more modest reductions for low- and middle-income families.

Obama Hezbollah Cartoons

Lawmaker demands investigation into report Obama WH undermined anti-Hezbollah task force

Rep. Robert Pittenger of North Carolina called for an investigation into a report on the Obama administration's handling of an anti-Hezbollah task force.

A Republican congressman on Monday urged the House to look into a report the Obama administration held up a Drug Enforcement Administration task force’s investigation into Hezbollah’s drug-trafficking and money-laundering operations, all to ensure the Iran nuclear deal remained on track.

After the bombshell exposé in Politico Sunday revealed that Obama administration officials road-blocked the campaign of the task force, Project Cassandra, to curtail the Lebanese militant group’s criminal activities, Rep. Robert Pittenger of North Carolina sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy.

“These revelations are shocking and infuriating,” Pittenger said in a statement to Fox News. “While American soldiers were bravely fighting ISIS terrorists, with some paying the ultimate price, the Obama administration reportedly was protecting Hezbollah terrorists who were funding themselves by trafficking illegal drugs. No wonder President Obama couldn’t bring himself to call them ‘Radical Islamist Terrorists.’”
Politico reported that the red tape against Project Cassandra allowed Hezbollah to evolve into a major global security threat bankrolling terrorist and military operations.
When Project Cassandra leaders, who were working out of a DEA’s Counter facility in Chantilly, Virginia, sought approvals for some significant investigations, prosecutions, arrests and financial sanctions, Justice and Treasury Department officials delayed, hindered or rejected their requests, according to Politico.

The report detailed how the closer the U.S. got to finalizing the Iran nuclear deal, the more difficult it was to conduct Hezbollah investigations. After President Obama announced the deal in January 2016, Project Cassandra officials were transferred to other assignments, Politico added.
OBAMA ADMINISTRATION UNDERMINED ANTI-HEZBOLLAH TASK FORCE TO HELP SECURE IRAN NUKE DEAL, REPORT SAYS
“This is the same administration that sent $1.7 billion in cash ransom to Iran,” Pittenger continued in the statement. “The growing nexus between terrorist organizations and Latin American drug cartels poses a grave threat to our national security, especially considering the porous state of our southern border. Last month, I hosted a forum in Buenos Aires for 220 Members of Parliament and government officials from 15 South American countries with government and private sector experts to address the critical challenge of intercepting drug related funding of terrorism.”
Hezbollah was formed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in 1982 to fight Israel’s invasion of Beirut. Under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, who took over in 1992 after his predecessor, Abbas Mussawi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the group moved from seeking to implement an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon to focusing on fighting Israel and integration into Lebanon’s sectarian-based politics.
Nasrallah, now 57, has played a key role in ending a feud among Shiites, focusing attention toward fighting Israel and later expanding the group’s regional reach.

Trump shuts down ginned-up liberal 'uprising' in three words

You would’ve thought they were preparing for the apocalypse.

Former Obama White House Ethics Chief, Walter Shaub, tweeted that he was “stocking up” on gear to “take the streets.” In his words, it was supposed to be a “defining moment for the Republic.”

Actor-turned-activist George Takei tweeted that Americans should “shut the country down.”
Cenk Uygur, the founder and CEO of far-left online news show “The Young Turks” prophesied that this should be an “uprising like we’ve never seen in America.”

When asked about the firing on Sunday night, the president shut down all of the rumors (and all of their plans) by simply declaring, “no, I’m not.”

Former Attorney General Eric Holder drew what he called an “absolute red line.”
Their message was clear: if President Trump fires special counsel Robert Mueller, the American people should act as if their 241-year-old experiment in democracy has come to an end.
But unfortunately, when asked about the firing on Sunday night, the president shut down all of the rumors (and all of their plans) by simply declaring, “no, I’m not.” In an instant, he vanquished all the left’s dreams of sparking a “Tahrir square like uprising” and made their hysterics over the potential firing appear foolish.
Make no mistake. The left will soon decide on another issue (or rumor of an issue) to incense their base and stir outrage in our country. Eventually, they’ll decide on a new red line and then pray that the president crosses it. Their dream of widespread panic isn’t going away—it’s just deferred for a little while.
Here’s the problem.
First, regardless of their empty assurances that their uprising will be peaceful—their rhetoric says otherwise. They pay lip service to holding a peaceful protest while using inflammatory language like “stock up on gear” and “shut down the country.” But if there is anything that “Antifa” has taught the United States, it’s that there are plenty members of the far-left with no intentions of keeping the peace.

You can’t spew alarmist, end-of-the-world rhetoric and then expect your base to respond with careful, dignified street protests.

You can’t spew alarmist, end-of-the-world rhetoric and then expect your base to respond with careful, dignified street protests. It doesn’t work that way. Leaders have a unique duty to dial down their followers’ radical impulses. Instead, it seems that some culture leaders prefer to do quite the contrary.
Second, liberals’ selective outrage is appalling. Moveon.org, the organization behind the protests, made their motto “nobody is above the law.” Ostensibly, that’s an idea that both sides of the aisle could get behind. Patriotic Americans would agree that all citizens are equal under the law. But to many who hold progressive political views, that idea only applies to one side of the political spectrum.
Notably, these same activists made no such calls for mass protests after former FBI Director James Comey cleared Hillary Clinton of criminal charges a year ago. And there was no indignation from these folks after it came to light that the FBI softened the language in Comey’s statement in her favor. That’s why it’s difficult to believe that these activists are genuinely motivated to uphold the rule of law, and not just their own political ideologies.
One thing is true: the President’s words may have temporarily halted what the left saw as a “defining moment for the republic.” But they will find new opportunities. New pots to stir. And new calls for chaos.
Jeremy C. Hunt is a 24-year-old writer and commentator. He also serves as an active duty U.S. Army officer. Follow him on Twitter @thejeremyhunt. The views expressed in this article are those of Jeremy C. Hunt only and not those of the Department of Defense.

Rep. Jim Jordan: I'm convinced FBI was trying to stop Trump from being elected

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told the Todd Starnes Show he is convinced the FBI was actively trying to stop Donald Trump from being elected president of the United States.

Last week, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., called for the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller.

Click here for a free subscription to Todd’s newsletter: a must-read for Conservatives! 
“We are at risk of a coup d’etat in this country if we allow an unaccountable person with no oversight to undermine the duly-elected president of the United States,” Gaetz said. “And I would offer that is precisely what is happening right now with the indisputable conflicts of interest that are present with Mr. Mueller and others at the Department of Justice.”
I asked Jordan if he bought into the argument that something nefarious was afoot.
“The whole pretext is wrong. Think about this – you had – I’m convinced now – the FBI actively seeking with intent – actively trying to stop Donald Trump from being president of the United States,” Jordan told Starnes.
Continue reading at ToddStarnes.com 
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.

White House says North Korea was behind massive ‘WannaCry’ cyberattack in May

North Korea was behind the massive “WannaCry” cyberattack in May that spread around the world costing billions of dollars, White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Monday.

In the article, entitled, “It’s Official: North Korea Is Behind WannaCry,” Bossert wrote that the Hermit Kingdom was the main culprit behind the May 2017 global cyberattack in which computers running Windows were targeted. During the infamous attack, data were encrypted and ransom payment, in the form of bitcoin, was demanded of users if they wanted their data back.

“Cybersecurity isn’t easy, but simple principles still apply. Accountability is one, cooperation another,” Bossert's op-ed read. “They are the cornerstones of security and resilience in any society. In furtherance of both, and after careful investigation, the U.S. today publicly attributes the massive ‘WannaCry’ cyber attack to North Korea.”
Bossert went on to say the attack spread across the world and rendered hundreds of thousands of computers in in hospitals, schools, businesses, and homes useless unless the ransom was paid.
“While victims received ransom demands, paying did not unlock their computers,” the homeland security adviser said. “It was cowardly, costly and careless. The attack was widespread and cost billions, and North Korea is directly responsible.”
He added that the Department of Homeland Security was not taking the allegation lightly. He said it was based on credible evidence, that the United Kingdom attributes the attack to North Korea and that Microsoft traced the attack to cyber affiliates of the regime.

White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert.  (AP, File)

“North Korea has acted especially badly, largely unchecked, for more than a decade, and its malicious behavior is growing more egregious. WannaCry was indiscriminately reckless,” Bossert asserted. “Stopping malicious behavior like this starts with accountability. It also requires governments and businesses to cooperate to mitigate cyber risk and increase the cost to hackers.”
He added, “The U.S. must lead this effort, rallying allies and responsible tech companies throughout the free world to increase the security and resilience of the internet.”
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, released a statement Monday evening regarding the revelation.
“I commend the men and women of our Intelligence Community for their strong work in following the evidence and putting forth their assessment of these events, and I urge our international partners to fulfill their responsibilities under the sanctions regimes that are now in place,” he said in the statement. “I look forward to hearing additional details in classified session in the coming days.”
Cummings also commented on how the news was released to the public.
“President Trump is handling the intelligence assessments regarding North Korea and Russia completely differently, staging an elaborate media roll-out to press on sanctions against North Korea while at the same time discrediting the assessment by these very same intelligence agencies that the Kremlin interfered with our election. Why isn’t President Trump taking these same steps in response to Russia?”