Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that he will support the Senate tax reform bill.
“After careful thought and consideration, I have decided to support the Senate tax reform bill,” he said in a statement. “I believe this legislation, though far from perfect, would enhance American competitiveness, boost the economy, and provide long overdue tax relief for middle class families.”
The controversial bill would mostly cut taxes for corporations and wealthy Americans. A vote on its final passage could happen as early as Thursday.
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Alex Wong via Getty Images
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaking at an event in Arlington, Virginia, earlier this month.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that veteran Democratic Rep. John Conyers (Mich.) should resign in response to multiple sexual misconduct allegations from former female staffers.
“Congressman Conyers should resign,” she said during a news conference on Capitol Hill.
Calling the allegations “serious, disappointing and very credible,” Pelosi told reporters that “the brave women who came forward are owed justice.”
It was a reversal from earlier this week, when Pelosi defended Conyers, calling him “an icon” on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She refused to say then whether he should resign or whether she believed the women who have come forward with the allegations. She later issued a revised statement affirming that she believed one of the accusers, Melanie Sloan, an attorney who worked for Conyers on the House Judiciary Committee.
The tax plan has been marketed by President Trump and Republican leaders as a straightforward if enormous rebate for the masses, a $1.5 trillion package of cuts to spur hiring and economic growth. But as the bill has been rushed through Congress with scant debate, its far broader ramifications have come into focus, revealing a catchall legislative creation that could reshape major areas of American life, from education to health care.
Some of this re-engineering is straight out of the traditional Republican playbook. Corporate taxes, along with those on wealthy Americans, would be slashed on the presumption that when people in penthouses get relief, the benefits flow down to basement tenements.
Some measures are barely connected to the realm of taxation, such as the lifting of a 1954 ban on political activism by churches and the conferring of a new legal right for fetuses in the House bill — both on the wish list of the evangelical right.
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A job fair in Atlanta in last year. While Republicans promote their tax plan as a way to encourage job growth and economic expansion, its constraints on state and local taxation could restrict spending on health care, education, transportation and social services.CreditBob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via Associated Press
President Trump tweeted on Friday that reports he would soon fire Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson were “fake news,” and that “I call the final shots.”
The tweet came just hours after Mr. Tillerson called reports that the White House wants him to resign “laughable,” even as one of his closest aides planned to leave the department.
In his tweet, Mr. Trump wrote, “He’s not leaving and while we disagree on certain subjects, (I call the final shots) we work well together and America is highly respected again!”
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Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson spoke during a meeting with the the prime minister of Libya, Fayez al-Sarraj, on Friday.CreditAlex Wong/Getty Images
The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks, senior administration officials said on Thursday.
Mr. Pompeo would probably be succeeded at the C.I.A. by Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas and key ally of the president on national security matters, according to the White House plan. Mr. Cotton has signaled that he would accept the job if offered, said the officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations before decisions are announced.
Mr. Trump has not signed off on the plan developed by John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, officials said, but the president is said to have soured on Mr. Tillerson and is ready to make a change at the State Department. Mr. Trump spoke harshly about Mr. Tillerson in front of White House aides as recently as Thursday but did not seem ready yet to replace him, according to one person close to the president.
Lillehammer is a ski resort town in southern Norway.Its Maihaugen open-air museum displays buildings from the 1200s to the present. The nearby Norwegian Olympic Museum has exhibits chronicling Lillehammer’s 1994 Winter Olympics and features a biathlon simulator. Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena includes a chairlift with views over the park. North is the Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track.
Slobodan Praljak, a former Bosnian Croat official who was on trial Wednesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, has reportedly died after drinking poison.
Praljak, 72, was filmed drinking the poison Wednesday.
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Former Bosnian Croat Official Dies After Drinking Poison
Garrison Keillor, one of the nation’s most lauded humorists, was fired Wednesday by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of “inappropriate behavior” that occurred while he was in charge of “A Prairie Home Companion,” his long-running variety show heard nationwide by millions every week.
Keillor, 75, who retired from the show last year and did not respond to a request for comment, denied any wrongdoing but described what he believed to be the allegation against him in an email to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
As the co-host of NBC’s “Today,” Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her mortified.
On another day, he summoned a different female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis. After the employee declined to do anything, visibly shaken, he reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act.
He would sometimes quiz female producers about who they’d slept with, offering to trade names. And he loved to engage in a crass quiz game with men and women in the office: “f—, marry, or kill,” in which he would identify the female co-hosts that he’d most like to sleep with.
These accounts of Lauer’s behavior at NBC are the result of a two-month investigation by Variety, with dozens of interviews with current and former staffers. Variety has talked to three women who identified themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Lauer, and their stories have been corroborated by friends or colleagues that they told at the time. They have asked for now to remain unnamed, fearing professional repercussions.
Donald Trump potentially has millions of lives in his hands as the threat of a devastating war with North Korea swiftly escalates.
Yet the President of the United States is raising new questions about his temperament, his judgment and his understanding of the resonance of his global voice and the gravity of his role with a wild sequence of insults, inflammatory tweets and bizarre comments.
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On Wednesday Trump caused outrage and sparked fears of violent reprisals against Americans and US interests overseas by retweeting graphic anti-Muslim videos by an extreme far right British hate group. Earlier this week he used a racial slur in front of Native American war heroes. He’s attacked global press freedom, after cozying up to autocrats on his recent Asia tour.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Alex Wong via Getty Images
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lillehammer, norway
Former Bosnian Croat Official Dies After Drinking Poison
Trump’s behavior raises questions
