Middleboro Review et al

MORNING MESSAGE Jeff Bryant Republican Tax Plan Opens Back Door To School Vouchers Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos insists her lifelong support for school vouchers and other forms of school privatization will not lead the Trump administration to “mandate” these “school choice” policies. Nonetheless, her Republican friends in Congress have just put new provisions into their tax plan that will have essentially the same impact as a federally-supported school voucher program and will redirect millions of dollars from public treasuries to private and religious schools. Trump Poised To Sign Tax Plan We’re witnessing the wholesale looting of America. Vox: “Over the course of 2017, both in Congress and in the executive branch, we have watched the task of government devolve into the full-scale looting of America. Politicians are making decisions to enrich their donors — and at times themselves personally — with a reckless disregard for any kind of objective policy analysis or...

TODAY:  MORNING MESSAGE Sam Pizzigati GOP Tax Cuts Hardwire Inequity for Poor and Middle Class New research from three top inequality analysts shows government policies since 1980 have systematically failed America’s poor. The GOP tax plan re-engineers government to fail America’s middle class, too. If the plan is not stopped, government policies and programs will concentrate on keeping income and wealth concentrated — in the pockets of America’s most comfortable — instead of helping America’s vast non-rich majority. Government May Shut Down Friday DACA fix looms over talks to prevent government shutdown. NPR: “Congress, once again, finds itself days away from a potential government shutdown and a fight over immigration could stand in the way of a deal to prevent it. ‘It could happen,’ Trump told reporters on Wednesday. ‘Democrats are really looking at something that is very dangerous for our country. They are looking at shutting down. They want to have il...