Monday, December 19, 2016

Let the infighting begin.

December 19, 2016
By Reuters

A Koch Industries-funded report (click here) warned on Friday U.S. gasoline prices would rise if Congress passed a Republican proposal to adjust U.S. corporate tax rates to favor exports over imports, escalating a lobbying battle over the measure.
The report by energy consultant Philip Verleger surfaced a week after the private conglomerate, controlled by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, predicted the Republican measure called "border adjustability" would devastate the economy.
The actions are unusual for the Koch brothers, who spend heavily in elections to support Republicans and conservative policies. They are part of the early lobbying salvo by a range of industries that hope to eliminate the measure as President-elect Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress edge toward agreement on a tax reform agenda for 2017.
Analysts said the specter of higher gasoline prices could prove embarrassing for Trump, who supports the energy sector and has nominated prominent industry advocates to top cabinet positions, including Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State....

In case Democrats and Independents were wrapped up in some kind of masochistic analysis, they missed an important fact; Republican unity ain't all that. I really am jealous of the fact, someone was able to gather the "Good 'ole boys' club" for a family portrait.

Ya did hear about Murdoch's new marriage, right? (click here)

The naked truth of the GOP. It is still the establishment vs the terrorists.

March 20, 2015
By Frank Rich

In mid-July of 2015, (click here) a month after Donald Trump announced his presidential run, I joined a gaggle of political junkies in a clubby bar four blocks from the White House to hear a legendary campaign strategist expound on the race ahead. Our guest’s long résumé included service to Mitt Romney and two generations of Bushes. Not speaking for attribution, and not having signed on to any 2016 campaign, he could talk freely. The nomination was Jeb Bush’s to lose, he said. Scott Walker, the union-busting Wisconsin governor then considered something of a favorite, had no chance because he was just “too stupid.” And Trump? Please! Trump represented every ugly element that was dragging down the GOP in presidential elections. But our guy wasn’t fazed. The good thing about Trump, he said, is that he would finally “gather together all the people we want to lose” and march them off the Republican reservation — though to what location remained undisclosed....