I had trouble laughing last night, or feeling any kind of mirth for that matter. One of the most grotesque and calamitous tax revision bills in U.S. history, passed by gargoyle righties and abetted by Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake (so much for their recently burnished reputations) + a tax-bill provision that will damage the effectiveness of the Affordable Care Act + a decent chance that Alabama Senatorial candidate Roy Moore, sexual misconduct allegations notwithstanding, is going to defeat Doug Jones. (Or maybe not.)

“With barely a vote to spare early Saturday morning, the Senate passed a tax bill confirming that the Republican leaders’ primary goal is to enrich the country’s elite at the expense of everybody else, including future generations who will end up bearing the cost. The approval of this looting of the public purse by corporations and the wealthy makes it a near certainty that President Trump will sign this or a similar bill into law in the coming days.

“The bill is expected to add more than $1.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, a debt that will be paid by the poor and middle class in future tax increases and spending cuts to Medicare, Social Security and other government programs. Its modest tax cuts for the middle class disappear after eight years. And up to 13 million people stand to lose their health insurance because the bill makes a big change to the Affordable Care Act.” — from 12.2 N.Y. Times editorial, “A Historic Heist.”