Notations From the Grid (Special Weekly Edition): As #2017 Draws to a Close...

Our team picked this up courtesy of the New York Times' Upshot team on the pending Tax Cut Bill:

How the new tax system will affect people depends on a few key variables. Here's a way to estimate. https://t.co/CVHwENvmLe pic.twitter.com/4MavyELw0D
— The Upshot (@UpshotNYT) December 17, 2017

It was a result of quite a bit of compromise to secure the votes of a number of US Senators including Marco Rubio who was a last minute holdout and the Republicans are confident they will be able to pass it. We also understood from reports late on Sunday that Senator McCain will miss the vote due to the aftermath of recovery from Chemotherapy. In our View, the Guidance from the Congressional Budget Office was of special note as "...According to CBO’s and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation’s (JCT) estimates, enacting H.R. 1 would reduce revenues by about $1,649 billion and decrease outlays by about $194 billion over the period from 2018 to 2027, leading to an increase in the deficit of $1,455 billion over the next 10 years. Those estimates do not incorporate the effects of macroeconomic feedback...." .

In addition to the Tax Debate, One of the biggest decisions that came down was the rejection of Net Neutrality by the US Federal Communications Commission despite profound opposition--including we here are the Daily Outsider. However, what Politico Noted was also very critical:

5 things Trump did this week while you weren't looking https://t.co/lBnJ4FNcFI pic.twitter.com/chv9u0Ik4j
— POLITICO (@politico) December 16, 2017

Our team has also been assessing the moves by Judicial Watch. One move they made was to file suit against California regarding Voting:

Judicial Watch sent a notice-of-violation letter in August 2017 threatening to sue California and certain of its counties over violations of the National Voter Registration Act. California was one of 12 states to receive such letters from JW. (4/6)https://t.co/35Hs3wHINp
— Judicial Watch 🔎 (@JudicialWatch) December 13, 2017

On the Foreign Policy Front, the War of Words intensified between the United States and Iran in the aftermath of UN Ambassador Nikki Haley's Speech in Washington which prompted a retort from the Iranian Foreign Minister over Twitter this past week:

On the very day US regurgitates Saudi & Emirati propaganda on #Yemen, #CAR report confirms US & Saudi weapons end up in the hands of ISIS. With this U.S. administration, it seems hypocrisy knows no bounds. https://t.co/Gf7kAwieTE
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) December 15, 2017

Beyond the immediate challenges, we are looking to 2018 as We were witness to quite a #2017. These images below captured the beauty, the majesty and the tragedies of our World during 2017 and we send a Virtual Thanks to the team at Reuters for their Choice and the team at China Daily for having featured it that we're privileged to feature here as we prepare to go dark for the year: