Conservatives applauded a grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson for killing an unarmed black teenager and vowed to track down the real racists. In a deeply Freudian and self-loathing move, President Obama fired Chuck Hagel for being too soft-spoken and circumspect. And the only thing that may hold our government together over the next two years, apparently, is a carton of Marlboros and the guy who sang "Captain Jack." This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, November 25th, 2014:
HOORAY FOR THE HOLIDAY SCROOGE TAX - Classic Congress -- $400 billion in deficit spending for big biz at the holidays. Igor Volsky: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has reached a compromise with House Republicans on a package of tax breaks that would permanently extend relief for big multinational corporations without providing breaks for middle or lower-income families, individuals with knowledge of the deal tell ThinkProgress." [ThinkProgress]
Heads up: the president is going to talk about immigration and presumably Ferguson in a little bit.
WHITE HOUSE VOWS VETO - Zach Carter: "The Obama administration on Tuesday threatened to veto a bipartisan tax deal that would reportedly create permanent tax perks for corporations without advancing key tax breaks for middle- and low-income families. 'The President would veto the proposed deal because it would provide permanent tax breaks to help well-connected corporations while neglecting working families,' White House spokeswoman Jen Friedman said in a statement provided to HuffPost." [HuffPost]
PROGRAMMING NOTE: No more HuffPost Hill this week. Give thanks.
THIS IS HOW A LAME DUCK QUACKS - More Zach: "The deal would make the research and development tax credit a permanent part of the tax code, despite criticism that the broad provision allows companies to deduct an extremely wide array of costs from their IRS bills. The deal would also permanently codify a corporate tax perk that lets companies deduct up to $25,000 a year from their tax bills for purchasing new equipment. A host of other tax benefits approved by the Senate finance committee in April would also be extended for two years. Those provisions include a rule allowing corporations to avoid paying federal taxes on income stashed overseas until they bring the money back into the country. The only corporate tax credit that would be allowed to expire under the reported deal is for wind energy, a program broadly supported by environmental groups." [HuffPost]
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - "More than 16 million people in low- and modest-income working families, including 8 million children, would fall into — or deeper into — poverty in 2018 if policymakers fail to make permanent key provisions of two important tax credits," the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has reported. "Some 50 million Americans, including 31 million children, would lose part or all of their Child Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit." [CBPP.org]
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SCHUMER THROWS PRESIDENT UNDER BUS - And not just any bus, we’re talking about one of those bi-articulated suckers you see crossing 14th street in Manhattan -- just 20 tons of Avenue D-bound treachery rolling over the the president’s political corpse. The Hill: “Democrats made a strategic mistake by passing the Affordable Care Act, Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said Tuesday. Schumer says Democrats ‘blew the opportunity the American people gave them’ in the 2008 elections, a Democratic landslide, by focusing on healthcare reform instead of legislation to boost the middle class....Schumer's concession is a striking change of tone from what he said shortly after the passage of the healthcare law, when he predicted that ObamaCare would turn out to be a strong political issue for his party. ‘I predict … by November those who voted for healthcare will find it an asset, those who voted against it will find it a liability,’ he said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ in March 2010.” [The Hill]
This isn’t the first time Schumer has said this, but it’s a friendly reminder.
MORE HAGELFREUDE - Or is “tick-tock porn” more apt? Politico: “When President Obama first summoned Chuck Hagel to the Oval Office in October, he wanted to know how his Pentagon chief planned to cope with the dangerous new threat posed by the Islamic State that had drawn the reluctant president back into war in the Middle East, not to mention getting a sense of Hagel’s other plans for the final two years of Obama’s presidency. But after several lackluster, low-energy sessions, Obama was so unimpressed by the performance of his laconic, self-effacing defense secretary that he decided Hagel ‘just wasn’t the man for the job,’ according to a senior administration official. That set in motion the decision that led to Hagel’s decorous dumping on Monday by a president who almost never fires anybody—and never admits it when he does.” [Politico]
OOPS: Turns out Michele Flournoy doesn't want Hagel's job.
But is it good for the Cruz?, pt. 3,661,843: "Last night, Mort Klein’s Zionist Organization of America dinner featured Mr. Cruz, known for his steadfast and aggressive support of Israel, in a prominent speaking role. Attendees included Alan Dershowitz, Pastor John Hagee, and Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus...The Observer can report that Mr. Cruz had a private two-hour meeting with the most highly sought-after donor of all. After sitting next to Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire owner of the Venetian casino who was the single largest donor to Republican causes in 2012, at Sunday night’s ZOA dinner, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Adelson met for two hours this morning at the Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue. According to one source close to Mr. Adelson, the casino owner liked Mr. Cruz but found the senator ‘too right wing’ and concluded he is a longshot to win the nomination.” [Observer]
Choice Cruz quote from the article: “I don't think I'm all that conservative."
AMERICANS SPLIT ON IMMIGRATION MOVE - On the one hand, what the president did was a sensible response to a difficult situation, but on the other hand… Nobama. Elise Foley: “Americans are not crazy about the idea of undocumented immigrants who are the parents of U.S. citizens being allowed to stay in the country without being able to work. At the same time, Americans are split on whether those immigrants should be deported or allowed to remain in the U.S. with work authorization, according to a HuffPost/YouGov poll released on Tuesday..In general, a larger share of Americans polled by HuffPost/YouGov disapproved of Obama's announcement that he will halt deportations for as many as 5 million people. Forty-one percent said they approved of Obama's plan, while 47 percent disapproved.” [HuffPost]
AMERICANS ALSO DIVIDED ON FERGUSON - Ariel Edwards-Levy: "Americans are still deeply divided over the shooting of teenager Michael Brown this summer by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, according to a HuffPost/YouGov poll taken before a grand jury decision not to indict Wilson was released Monday night. While 28 percent said Wilson was at fault and should be punished, 23 percent said he was fully justified in the shooting of the unarmed 18-year-old, and another 30 percent said both Wilson and Brown made mistakes and it was 'just a tragic accident.'" [HuffPost]
Here's a timeline of events in Ferguson.
BROWN FLIGHT - Commence your microtargeting. New Republic: “As recently as 1980, less than one-half of metropolitan minorities resided in the suburbs. Only beginning in 1990 did more than half of metropolitan Asians become suburban residents, while Hispanics did not reach that tipping point until 2000. Moreover, it was not until 2010 that more than half of metropolitan blacks became suburban residents. An important milestone was passed when that year’s census became the first to show a majority of each of the nation’s largest racial minority groups residing in the suburbs. And those communities will only become more diverse in the years to come: Each of the major minority groups—Hispanics, Asians, and blacks—now contributes more than whites to suburban gains.” [New Republic]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are two dogs locked in a pitched spaghetti eating contest.
EVERYONE WANTS TO INHALE NICOTINE WITH BILLY JOEL - Give us a cig, you’re the piano man/ give us a cig, tonight/ well we’re all in the mood for some nicotine/ come to the south portico with a light. “An ITK spy was sitting down at the bar at The Jefferson Hotel in downtown Washington last week when in walked The Piano Man himself...Joel described the day’s events, mentioning that he went over to Capitol Hill to Rep. John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office. Our tipster says that Joel recalled the Speaker, well-known for his nicotine habit, opened up a drawer, then ‘pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered me one. And I said, ‘No thanks, I quit.’’ … Then, Joel remembered another tobacco offer from a high-profile politician. According to our tipster, the 65-year-old entertainer said, ‘I was at the White House recently, and President Obama did the same thing. He said, ‘I’m going out on the North Portico to have a smoke. Do you want to come with me?’” [The Hill]
COMFORT FOOD
- Baby tries to eat tiny bird.
- Every issue of Popular Mechanics from 1954 to 1982
- Dog cheats, win race. Lesson about life demonstrated.
- The trailer for “Jurassic World” is live. It looks terrible, but… here you go!
TWITTERAMA
@nickbaumann: Your parody account is bad and you should feel bad.
@daveweigel: t’s 2014 and we’re still writing “Obama should give an inspiring speech to fix this” columns? Go home, pundits, you’re drunk.
@delrayser: “Crime. Boy, I don't know.” - Obama just now, basically
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