Reddit Politics Summary Monday Nov 27th 17

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This is a digest of the top posts on reddit/r/politics over the last 24 hours.
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Trump White House Ethics Lawyer Exits

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• Asked about some of the frequent talking heads, Schultz faulted former Office of Government Ethics chief Walter Shaub, who resigned in July after going public with several disagreements with the White House over such issues Trump's plans not to divest his business holdings and to leave his family members in charge of those enterprises.
• Due to his salary, listed at $140,000 in a report submitted in June, Schultz is not covered by a law prohibiting former government employees from contacting their former agencies on behalf of others for one year.

McCain: Trump doesn’t have any ‘principles and beliefs’

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Comcast quietly drops promise not to charge tolls for Internet fast lanes

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• That meant that Comcast wouldn't block or throttle lawful Internet traffic and that it wouldn't create fast lanes in order to collect tolls from Web companies that want priority access over the Comcast network.
• This was one of the ways in which Comcast argued that the Federal Communications Commission should not reclassify broadband providers as common carriers, a designation that forces ISPs to treat customers fairly in other ways.
• Comcast could thus pull back even further from its net neutrality promises, but as of last week it was still promising that it won't block or throttle lawful Internet traffic.

Donald Trump launches attack on news networks 'not including Fox' for 'corrupt' presidential reporting

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• In July, the President retweeted a user's video of footage from one of Mr Trump's appearances on World Wrestling Entertainment's programme in 2007. During it, Mr Trump body slams WWE owner Vince McMahon who has the CNN logo superimposed over his face.
• Mr Trump, once considered a friend of the programme's hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, has been in a feud of sorts with them. The president also mocked NBC’s Morning Joe for airing a pre-taped segment the day after Thanksgiving.

Poll: Majority of small businesses oppose GOP tax bill

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• A Public Policy Polling poll, released by Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform, a group opposed to the GOP tax bills, finds 51 percent of small businesses are against the plan.

Senate GOP tax bill would cost $1.4 trillion, hit poor and middle class harder than estimated, CBO says

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• On Sunday, the Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the tax overhaul Senate Republicans hope to pass this week, and like a previous analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation , it found that the bill would increase the federal deficit by about $1.4 trillion over 10 years. The CBO also found that, compared to the JCT estimate, the bill would be worse for Americans earning less than $75,000, factoring in the changes to Medicaid, Medicare, and other health-related programs as well as zeroing out the Affordable Care Act individual mandate.
• Under the CBO analysis, Americans earning up to $30,000 a year would be worse off by 2019, those earning $40,000 or less would take a hit by 2021, and Americans earning $75,000 or less would be worse off by 2027.
• Republicans also argue that economic growth they say will be unleashed by the tax cuts will at least partly make up for the $1.4 trillion in deficit spending, though the friendliest outside analysis so far, from the Tax Foundation, finds that the Senate plan would still add hundreds of billions to the deficit.

On Cyber Monday, Twitter, Reddit and Other Organizations Ask FCC to Save Net Neutrality

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• The commission’s Republican majority is expected to repeal Pai’s proposal that would cancel rules that ban internet providers from blocking or throttling traffic, or from selling "fast lanes" so content companies can obtain speedier access to the consumer.
• "Without these rules, internet service providers will be able to favor certain websites and e-businesses, or the platforms they use to garner new customers, over others by putting the ones that can pay in fast lanes and slowing down or even blocking others," the letter stated.

'You can't be serious': CNN anchor confronts Breitbart editor over comparing Roy Moore to a member of the Beatles

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Michael Flynn's lawyer meets with members of special counsel’s team, raising specter of plea deal

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• When reached Monday, Kelner declined to comment on the nature of his morning visit to Mueller’s offices in Washington, D.C. Sources familiar with the discussions between Flynn’s legal team and Trump’s attorneys told ABC News that while there was never a formal, signed joint defense agreement between Flynn’s defense counsel and other targets of the Mueller probe, the lawyers had engaged in privileged discussions for months. Trump’s legal team confirmed late last week that Flynn’s attorney Robert Kelner alerted the team that he could no longer engage in privileged discussions about defense strategy in the case — a sign Flynn is preparing to negotiate with prosecutors over a deal that could include his testimony against the president or senior White House officials. Of interest to federal agents, according to people interviewed by the FBI, is his alleged role in a bizarre, unrealized proposal first reported by The Wall Street Journal to kidnap Turkish dissident cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is living in exile in rural Pennsylvania and suspected of involvement in a failed coup attempt. In March 2017, Flynn submitted a late filing with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, revealing that the Flynn Intel Group was paid $530,000 for three months of work on behalf of a Dutch firm owned by a Turkish businessman with close ties to the Turkish government. But they were seriously considering it." Kelner, Flynn’s lawyer, took the rare step of publicly refuting those assertions, saying there was no such discussion and calling them categorically "false." In mid-July at a press conference, the Turkish ambassador to the U.S. also denied the notion of a kidnapping plot. "It appears that General Flynn violated federal law by omitting this trip and these foreign contacts from his security clearance renewal application in 2016 and concealing them from security clearance investigators who interviewed him as part of the background check process," Reps.

The "What happened in your state last week?" Megathread, Week 48

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• Welcome to the 'What happened in your state last week' thread, where you can post any local political news stories that you find important in the comments.
• Though Lance and Frelinhuysen voted against the plan at various stages, the DCCC is betting that their collaboration with the national GOP on their overall legislative agenda will tarnish their reputation. Though all three districts have leaned heavily Republican in the past, Cook Political Report indicates that Lance and Frelinhuysen's districts may be competitive going in to 2018.
• And while he’s garnered plenty of money from Montanans since winning re-election in 2012 – at least $663,000 – he’s also raised considerable sums from Californians, New Yorkers and donors from the Washington, D.C. area. Tester, one of several Democratic incumbent senators up for election in states won handily by President Trump last year, has culled funds from across the nation, with donors from every state.