The Political Page, T+300 -- November 17, 2017

The 600-lb US Senate gorilla: Al Franken. I was dead wrong on this. I thought the story had no legs; darling of mainstream media. We will know by Monday if his fall is as fast as that of Harvey's. If there are no Al Franken stories on front page of NY Times after Tuesday, November 21, 2017, it's a dead story. He was overwhelmingly re-elected to his second term in 2014, so he has lots of time to recover. But the photograph is a real downer. Interestingly enough, the harassed and traumatized actress has already accepted his apology, which sort of ends the story, one would think. I'm okay, you're okay, comes to mind. Or que sera, sera.

Que Sera, Sera, Doris Day
Rocket man: not a peep out of North Korea in quite some time now. China, others, want to reward North Korea for good behavior; Trump says "no way."

MAD: US has less than 15 minutes to respond to nuclear attack. Some in Congress want to extend decision for a nuclear response to a nuclear attack on the US to a year or so through congressional oversight. Of course, if there is a nuclear attack on the US, the entire DC political process shuts down while members evacuate to an undisclosed location.

Just say no. US House approves its version of tax bill. First GOP senator has said he will vote "no" on US Senate version; others yet to weigh in but one can expect no less than three more GOP senators to say "no." Those saying "no" can be "bought." I'm posting this for the archives; I've lost interest in the bill. I agree with those who say the various versions appear simply to be replacing old loopholes with new loopholes; and, throwing a bone to the middle class. I strongly believe that tax cuts for US corporations will be good news for the US but the average "man on the street" won't see any change. And even though corporate tax cuts are good for the US, is it that much "good news" compared to other problems/solutions? I'm not convinced the tax code is the biggest problem for the Fortune 500 companies.

Former GE CEO Immelt: unaware that a second corporate jet was flying as back-up whenever he flew. Says he stopped the practice as soon as he learned about it. Really?