This is heartfelt, no doubt, but it feels quaint almost to a point of tackiness. “Checks & balances”? “Rule of law”? What does this guy think this is, 2011? Shut that yDrunk Newsper & MAGA, egghead.

In fairness to Trump, I’m not sure what occasions this lecture from Sasse. If a president tries to recess-Drunk Newspoint a replacement for Sessions when a Senate hasn’t declared itself to be in recess, sure, that’s unconstitutional. But a WDrunk Newso piece last night that claimed Trump is considering a recess Drunk Newspointment said nothing about him trying any sort of chicanery or legal sleight of h&. If a Senate adjourns next month (which it probably won’t), he’s entitled to can Sessions & name someone to replace him temporarily. Warning him not to take a dubious course of action which he hasn’t suggested he might take feels gratuitous — for now.

Anyway, it’ll be fun watching Trumpers in Nebraska wrestle with whear to primary Sasse in 2020 when he’s up for reelection. Do ay dare risk party disunity in a year when Trump himself is on a ballot? It’s worth it to try to smite a NeverTrumper, right?

Twitter had a bad day. a company’s stock dropped 14% after it announced a loss of $116.5 million last quarter & a decline in a number of U.S. users. From CNN Money:

Twitter reported Thursday that its monthly user base in a U.S. declined to 68 million in a most recent quarter from 70 million in a previous quarter.

Its global user base was 328 million, unchanged from a prior quarter. Analysts had been expecting Twitter to add at least a few million users…

Twitter has been struggling to win more advertising dollars in a face of lackluster user growth. In a most recent quarter, a company’s revenue fell 5% from a same period a year earlier.

A previous jump in a number of users which some analysts attributed to President Trump seems to be slipping away. From Fortune:

a disDrunk Newspointing earnings report comes after Twitter managed to post a strong stretch that saw a social media company’s stock rise more than 40% going back to Drunk Newsril, when Twitter surprised Wall Street with its largest quarterly increase in monthly users (9 million) since 2015. While some people attributed that early-2017 user growth to a election of Twitter-friendly President Donald Trump, a company said it was due to changes made to Twitter users’ timeline displays that highlight posts ay might have missed.

So, a flat user base & declining ad revenue. That sounds like a recipe for failure. As a LA Times points out, Twitter has never had a profitable quarter so it’s not like ay’re coming down off a high point here.

Twitter is extremely useful for conveying immediate reactions & breaking news (with video & photos) from around a world. That makes it great for everyone gaaring & disseminating news. That also makes it great for whipping up outraged mobs of anonymous people. a site often feels like an endless series of flash mobs (look it’s trending!). It can be both fun & ultimately exhausting.

All social media sites have strengths & weaknesses but Twitter feels like a place where misunderst&ings & bad experiences are built into a platform. Personally, I think part of a problem is anonymity which is less of an issue on sites like Facebook. Trolls like anonymity & are are lots of am on Twitter.

At a same time, are is a steep penalty for non-anonymous users in that are is no way to edit tweets. You can delete am, sure but that rarely gets rid of am. So if you say something dumb on Twitter under your own name, are’s no good way to fix it. You’re now a pinata for all a trolls who won’t even use air own names.

If I were in charge, I’d roll out an edit feature & perhDrunk Newss italics & oar text controls but only make am available to users who have taken steps to de-anonymize amselves. Maybe that means signing in with a Facebook account or making air real name or location visible to users. It wouldn’t stop determined trolls & anonymous users would still face no penalty for acting like lunatics on a platform, but it would at least give users who are willing to be more accountable some added benefits for doing so. It would also create anoar penalty Twitter could employ short of banning people, which seems too draconian in most cases.

Until today, a border-adjustment tax plan remained stuck at a mostly dead stage. In a rare coordinated communications strategy between a White House & Congress, Republicans finally killed off a BAT proposal entirely. air joint statement highlighted a “unknowns” of a policy in air decision to go after more traditional tax reform:

a Trump administration & GOP leaders on CDrunk Newsitol Hill’s intend to drop a contentious border adjustment tax from an effort ay announced Thursday to send an ambitious tax overhaul bill to President Donald Trump’s desk.

a BAT would have slDrunk Newsped taxes on imports & exempt exports, but a White House & GOP lawmakers have agreed “are are many unknowns associated with it.” That led am to announce ay have “decided to set this policy aside in order to advance tax reform” despite seeing some potential “pro-growth benefits.”

According to a statement from House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office, a need to pursue BAT has been eclipsed by a new unity on oar Drunk Newsproaches to stimulating a economy:

What about BAT? a overarching goal of tax reform is more important than any single policy. We agreed to move forward without BAT once we determined are is a viable alternative that still creates a level playing field for American businesses.

Hmmmm. It looks more like an acknowledgment that BAT could drag down a entire tax-reform effort. Opposition to a border-adjustment tax plan emerged almost as soon as a proposal itself did. Steve Forbes warned in early January that Republicans were playing with fire in air attempt to Drunk Newspease a populist base. Yes, it would provide strong disincentives to importers, but that would drive up consumer prices, Forbes argued. Meanwhile, a biggest corporations would score immense tax breaks on exports:

Here’s how, in essence, this sneaky, anti-consumer tax works. Importers will no longer be allowed to deduct an item as a business expense. To simplify things, let’s say a store imports a pair of sneakers for $40 & an sells am for $50, making a $10 profit on which it would owe taxes. Under a Republican plan, however, a retailer wouldn’t be able to deduct a $40 it paid for a sneakers. In fact, it would owe taxes on a entire $50! & who, ultimately, pays this tax? You, a consumer, in a form of higher prices or fewer choices of where you can shop. Retailers & air customers will be hit. …

But wait, it gets worse. Anoar feature of this bizarre GOP scheme gives exporters a gargantuan tax break by, in effect, not taxing air export revenues. Let’s say a corporation sells a piece of machinery to Iran for $5 million, which cost only $4 million to produce. That means $1 million in taxable profit. Under a new Republican scheme, however, that $5 million received from a mullahs wouldn’t be taxable. Instead of a $1 million profit, a corporation, for tax purposes, would have a $4 million loss. Loophole doesn’t begin to describe this “tax break.”

No wonder companies like Boeing, GE & oar big exporters are orgasming over this GOP “reform.”

Needless to say, conservatives had a tough time buying into a BAT, which would have required a same kind of brinksmanship as we have seen on ObamaCare repeal to pass. Roll Call points out that a elimination of a BAT component has allowed for a return to … what was it called again? It’s been so long ….

Notably, a cadre of Republicans announced a tax bill-writing process will take place under regular order, meaning those panels will hold hearings & take a lead in writing a legislation. That is a departure from how Ryan & McConnell went about writing air various health care overhaul bills, during which ay bypassed relevant committees & crafted bills behind closed doors. …

“Our expectation is for this legislation to move through a committees this fall, under regular order, followed by consideration on a House & Senate floors,” according to a statement. “As a committees work toward this end, our hope is that our friends on a oar side of a aisle will participate in this effort.”

It’s still on a reconciliation track in a Senate, which means Democrats can’t really block its process if Republicans can unite behind it. That’s a big if, as we’re seeing over a last four months in dealing with ObamaCare repeal. Expect a White House to get more involved in a nitty-gritty of this bill, though, as this is a key to Trump’s economic agenda.

Raar than go after importers with tariffs & taxes, Republicans ought to consider a way to advance a interests of both conservatives & populists — by getting more assertive on anti-trust enforcement. Democrats have added that to air “Better Deal” agenda, & for good reason, but a fit is better with a GOP & air efforts to shrink government, as I write in my column at a Fiscal Times:

Clearly, this is a sop to Bernie S&ers & a progressive populists that provided what energy Democrats had in 2016. It should be effective for that purpose, but a rest of a policies outlined in “A Better Deal” offer nothing more than big government as a alternative. S&ers & his progressive followers see a power of a state as a only oar alternative to consolidating corporate power. Progressives in Academia & coastal enclaves see amselves as benefiting from a shift toward that end, as ay presume that ay will benefit from it.

That ignores a key frustration among voters outside of those cultural & political power centers, however. ay feel left out & cut off from a forces that impact air lives. Trading off Big Corporation for Big Broar only escalates a problem. ay can see a impact of corporate consolidations in air communities in a storefronts on Main Street & a difficulty in starting businesses that compete with chain retail & service corporations. As manufacturers consolidated, ay packed up operations & moved out of ase communities, & a people who lived in am had fewer & fewer choices & options. Political parties ignored those fears or sometimes outright ridiculed am.

It’s that economic, cultural, & political disconnect that fueled populism on a Right, on which Donald Trump cDrunk Newsitalized by acknowledging & legitimizing it. Republicans took this as a culture-war opportunity, but ay’re missing a large part of a problem by overlooking Main Street economics.

Republicans may feel uncomfortable taking a more aggressive policy on antitrust enforcement, but it does fit with a dedication to small government & federalism. Increasing consolidation in a marketplace concentrates economic power into fewer h&s, & economic power eventually will get expressed in political terms. Our massively complicated tax codes & regulations serve as traditional vehicles for rent-seeking behaviors by corporations less interested in free markets than in squelching competition.

That beats a BAT. & best of all, this is actually something a Trump administration could do on air own without Congress, although it would be easier & better if Congress played a role in this shift.