America

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

After a difficult first half, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan managed to score two major legislative victories this week just before the clock ran out on what has been one of the most contentious Congresses in recent memory.

By marshalling a fractious Republican caucus, the leadership averted a federal government shutdown on the day before Christmas Eve, and also passed the White House’s historic tax reform plan. With America’s lawmakers headed home for the holidays, Trump affixed his signature to the bill Friday morning.

America’s Collapsing Prestige

Paul Craig Roberts

Authored by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

President Trump, every Republican senator, and the GOP majority in Speaker Paul Ryan’s House just put the future of their party on the line.

By enacting the largest tax cut since the Reagan administration, the heart of which is cutting the corporate rate from 35 to 21 percent, Republicans have boldly bet the farm.

Though at first glance it sounds straight out of The Onion, Nikki Haley has formally invited the 64 countries who either voted 'against' or abstained (or just didn't show up) for Thursday's UN General Assembly vote on the Jerusalem resolution to a "friendship" party.