Open Thread Nov. 17: Franken, Keystone and Estate Taxes

Filed in National by on November 17, 2017

The liberal hand-flapping over Al Franken has for the most part died down, in part because Republicans can’t very well pile on. Donald Trump himself found that out when he tried to burn Franken over the photo released yesterday.

Some on the left are still clamoring for Franken to resign. At least Michelle Goldberg admits that would beĀ unfair to Franken, but argues it’s “what’s needed now.” Yeah, right. Easiest thing in the world is telling someone else to be a martyr.

For all the endless yammering Republicans do about the estate tax, they are careful not to use numbers. The New York Times crunches them and determines that eliminating the estate tax will benefit just over 5,000 people, including many in Trump’s cabinet. The story also explains why the money isn’t being “taxed twice,” as the GOP parrots like to claim.

Remember the Keystone XL pipeline? The XL stands for the same thing it does on your t-shirt, and it faces an important last-hurdle vote Nov. 20. That makes Thursday’s leak of 200,000 gallons of oil in South Dakota from the regular Keystone pipeline seem like a warning rather than just an accident.

All that talk of investigating the Uranium One deal again sounds so ridiculous because Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with it, as she pointed out again in responding to the chatter. But then, she’s not really the target here: Robert Mueller is.

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  1. puck says:

    Since the offending photo was a pantomime of groping, I insist that AL Franken perform a pantomime of resigning.

  2. Alby says:

    I think the forced kiss is much more problematic, but SJWs never let nuance get in the way of their outrage.

    I’m not on Facebook or Instagram, but I’ll bet there are thousands of pictures of that sort posted on both every day.

  3. chris says:

    Senator Gillibrand (NY)playing the hard card on Bill Clinton’s conduct….but easy now that both Clintons are yesterdays news and in rear view mirror. That sentiment is about 20 yrs too late, but I still give her credit for openly verbalizing it.

  4. puck says:

    The gullible Sen. Gillibrand fell for Mattress Girl’s story too.

  5. Alby says:

    What do you mean, “fell for”? I’ve never looked into it, just seen the headlines, but I don’t think she’s lying.

  6. Paul says:

    I like Bernie Sander’s proposal that we put a tax on every financial transaction on wall street. No trouble balancing the budget after that.

  7. Alby says:

    It’s a prudent, logical proposal, so it goes nowhere. But it wouldn’t solve the budget deficit. It’s estimated it would raise $34 billion a year.