GOP Tax Bill Slashes Billions From Medicare, Turkish Cleric Tangled In Flynn's Dealings, And Trump Attacks Franken

November 17th, 2017 Top Stories --------------------------------------------------------------- [House GOP’s Tax Bill Would Trigger A $25 Billion Cut To Medicare]( The Gist: Two weeks after its introduction and following zero hearings, the House of Representatives passed an approximately $1.5 trillion dollar tax cut on Thursday. Most of the focus has been on the bill’s tax benefits for the wealthy and corporations, but some lawmakers are sounding the alarm that passage of the bill will also trigger an estimated $25 billion cut to Medicare. [5 Points On The Cleric Targeted In Mike Flynn’s Shady Dealings With Turkey]( The Gist: The focus of former national security adviser Mike Flynn’s tangle of business dealings with Turkey is one man: Fethullah Gulen, an ailing septuagenarian Muslim cleric who lives in a Pennsylvania compound. Plenty of ink has been spilled about the hundreds of thousands of dollars Flynn received to produce negative PR materials about Gulen and about Flynn’s alleged discussions with Turkish officials about forcibly removing him from the U.S. What’s received less attention is why Turkey would take such extraordinary steps to take down the aging cleric, and why President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government thought Flynn would be able to facilitate them. [Report: Trump’s Panama Resort Took Money From FARC Money Launderer]( The Gist: A new report from watchdog group Global Witness says that a Colombian money launderer currently in U.S. custody participated in the advance sale of units in a Panama development bearing the president’s name: The Trump Ocean Club. Trump has made $13.9 million from the Ocean Club in the last three years alone, according to NBC’s own reporting on the matter. From The Reporter's Notebook --------------------------------------------------------------- Twitter took its most serious step towards addressing rampant hate speech on its platform this week, de-verifying white nationalists and banning those who initiated targeted harassment campaigns against other users. Sites like Gab and Hatreon have cropped up as alternatives for those banned or marginalized from mainstream platforms. [But as TPM’s Allegra Kirkland notes]( the mass freakout by those targeted by Twitter’s change in policy proves how much they rely on major web platforms to maintain relevance and spread their message. Agree Or Disagree? --------------------------------------------------------------- Josh Marshall: "You’ve probably seen the new Fox poll which has Doug Jones with an eight point lead over Roy Moore in Alabama. [I’m skeptical](. This isn’t a criticism of the particular poll. I’m just skeptical whether Roy Moore has suffered that much of a decline. This doesn’t mean Democrats shouldn’t put everything they have into winning this race. They should. They should be all in. But I think we are fooling ourselves if we think that Jones has now opened up a substantial lead over Moore. Winnable? Yes. But I don’t think Jones has anything like an eight point lead." Say What?! --------------------------------------------------------------- "The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps? And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women." - President Donald Trump [promptly attacking]( Senator Al Franken (D-MN) for allegations of groping a woman while she was asleep, while keeping quiet about accusations against GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore alleging sexual assault and misconduct with teen girls. BUZZING: Today in the Hive --------------------------------------------------------------- From a TPM Prime member: "It's well past time to have Kushner's security clearances removed and for him to be investigated for obstruction charges. He's repeatedly not included the proper information on his security docs only to provide them well past the time he's been called out. He's a criminal and needs to be treated as one." Related: [Senate Judiciary Makes Bipartisan Ask For ‘Missing’ Kushner Russia Docs]( Have something to add? Become a [Prime]( member and join the discussion [here](. What We're Reading --------------------------------------------------------------- The Making Of An American Nazi ([The Atlantic]( The Uncounted: An NYT Investigation Found U.S.-led Airstrikes Against ISIS Are Killing Far More Civilians Than Previously Believed ([The New York Times]( [unsubscribe from this list]( | [update subscription preferences]( | [view email in browser](