• Silver lining: Tax scam bill leaves credits for wind, solar, and electric vehicles in place:
The booming renewable energy industry breathed a wary sigh of relief as Congress voted this week on a sweeping tax bill that ended up preserving critical tax credits for wind energy, solar power and electric vehicles, though the industry still has serious concerns about other parts of the bill.
As lawmakers worked over the past week to resolve issues between the House and Senate versions of the bill, the clean energy industry kept a keen eye out for details of the legislation, including provisions from the original House bill that would have weakened or eliminated the tax credits for renewables.
By rejecting that approach, Republicans sent a message that they won't back attempts to kneecap ongoing growth in renewables, despite pressure from the oil and gas industry to scale back incentives for clean energy.
• Corey Robin explains why we’ll be fighting Donald Trump long after he’s gone.
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MIDDAY TWEET
• Democrats are catching flak over their votes for the stopgap spending bill that didn’t include a fix for DREAMers:
Democrats who voted on a spending bill this week to keep the federal government open are facing backlash from their party for not demanding a permanent solution for thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children.
Immigration advocates in and out of Congress are railing against those who voted for the stopgap spending bill Thursday despite promises from Democratic leaders that they would force action on the issue by the end of the year. Even before the Senate vote, a group of House Democrats burst into the office of Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Senate minority leader, demanding an explanation. Protesters shouting “Shame on Kaine!” briefly occupied the office of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who said he voted for the measure to prevent a partial government shutdown and protect federal employees.
“Every single Democrat who voted for the continuing resolution just voted to deport ‘dreamers’ and leave kids without access to health insurance,” said Murshed Zaheed, the political director of the California-based progressive group CREDO Action. “Quite frankly, it’s a pathetic way for the Democratic Party’s leadership to close out a year in which millions of Americans fought back and resisted the Trump regime’s racist, xenophobic and dangerous agenda.”
• Ninth Circuit panel declares Trump’s third travel ban illegal:
”For the third time, we are called upon to assess the legality of the president’s efforts to bar over 150 million nationals of six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States or being issued immigrant visas that they would ordinarily be qualified to receive. To do so, we must consider the statutory and constitutional limits of the president’s power to curtail entry of foreign nationals,” the panel wrote.
“Those powers, however, are not without limit. We conclude that the president’s issuance of the proclamation once again exceeds the scope of his delegated authority,” the 77-page order continues.
• Ancient Wari queen in what is now Peru brought to life in stunning re-creation of her head:
At first glance, the wrinkled face of a dark haired-woman wearing round, gold earrings looks incredibly real. But it's not — it's a reconstruction crafted from modeling clay, based on the skull of a Wari queen who lived about 1,200 years ago in what is now Peru.
At first glance, the wrinkled face of a dark haired-woman wearing round, gold earrings looks incredibly real. But it's not — it's a reconstruction crafted from modeling clay, based on the skull of a Wari queen who lived about 1,200 years ago in what is now Peru.
Peruvian and Polish archaeologists unearthed the queen in a pyramid mausoleum known as El Castillo de Huarmey (Huarmey's castle), located north of Lima, in 2012. The tomb held the remains of 58 noblewomen, including the queen, who was buried in private chamber, according to National Geographic. All of the women were part of the Wari culture, a people who lived in the region from A.D. 700 to 1000, long before the Inca rose to power.
• Trump regime will grant mining Leases that benefit Ivanka’s billionaire Chilean landlord:
The Trump administration said Friday it will renew mining leases to extract copper and nickel adjacent to a Minnesota wilderness area, reversing an Obama administration decision and giving a victory to a Chilean billionaire who is renting a mansion to the family of the president’s elder daughter.
[Sorry, the rest of this story is behind The Wall Street Journal’s paywall...MB.]
