I loved MTM from the time I first saw her more than holding her own with more experienced comedians Dick Van Dyke, Carl Reiner, Rose Marie on the Dick Van Dyke Show.

And, of course, The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I do not know a single girl of my generation who was not influenced by that TV show.

"Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) confirmed in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that she met with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad during a recent trip to the country. Gabbard told Jake Tapper on CNN's 'The Lead' that she 'hadn't planned' on meeting Assad, but took the 'opportunity' when it came up."

Speaking as Rep. Gabbard's constituent, I am increasingly annoyed by her demonstrable penchant for grandstanding at our expense, and I know I'm not the only one in her district who's feeling this way. Colleagues of mine who traveled to D.C. in part to meet with members of the Hawaii congressional delegation were stood up today by her, when she abruptly cancelled their appointment and blew them off to do this interview with CNN'S Jake Tapper.

I'll be honest, I'm very sorely tempted to form an exploratory committee with the idea of challenging her in the 2018 Democratic primary. She's clearly using this seat to further her own ambitions, rather than serve the people who elected her. And in a state like ours with a small delegation, that's entirely counterproductive to our present needs. If no other Democrat steps up to the plate here, well, I'm inclined to not let her run unopposed.

While Trump and Repubs want to lower the top individual tax rate, most plans seem to also want to reduce, eliminate or cap itemized deductions, or cap overall itemized deductions. This will have a large negative impact on high earners, and likely offset or reduce the positive impact of the reduced rate. It will also impact blue states.

"[One Repub] plan, like Trump's, would sharply reduce tax rates, especially at the top. Additionally, it would eliminate most itemized deductions -- including those for state and local income and property taxes. ... these deductions are most often claimed in relatively high-tax states such as Connecticut, New Jersey, California and New York."

Mortgage interest and charitable donations are also big itemized deductions. There are already some limits in place for higher earners.

Another large change may be Medicaid block grants.

"one other likely alternative -- and one that might appeal to many Republican legislators -- would be pegging the size of a state's lump sum to its per-capita income. The higher-income the state is, the less money it gets."

 "[this] would result in a seismic redistribution of federal spending."

"Among the biggest winners would be lower-cost-of-living red states; among the biggest losers, high-cost-of-living blue states. Texas, for example, would gain about $8 billion in federal Medicaid funding relative to what it receives today. New York and California would each lose more than $15 billion annually."

"... some heavily Democratic states have little room to shift funds toward safety-net programs such as Medicaid. That's because they're among the states that most need to raise the share of revenue that they contribute to their government pensions to avoid an increase in their already-large unfunded pension liabilities. .... Among those most in trouble: New Jersey, California and Oregon ...."

"Arrival" followed with 8 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director (Denis Villeneuve). Barry Jenkins' luminous coming-of-age drama "Moonlight" also received 8 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Jenkins), Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali) and Best Supporting Actress (Naomie Harris).

Meryl Streep picked up her record 20th acting nomination for "Florence Foster Jenkins." Did her awesome speech at the Golden Globes maybe have something to do with that? I think so. Her film was entertaining, but otherwise hardly Oscar-worthy.

Denzel Washington's by-the-book screen adaptation of August Wilson's play "Fences" received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Washington), Best Supporting Actress (Viola Davis) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Wilson). Wilson's nod may be something of a first, perhaps for the "posthumous nomination" category; the playwright passed on eleven years ago at age 60.

And Mel Gibson's surprising return from Hollywood purgatory is almost complete, as he snagged a Best Director nod for his war drama "Hacksaw Ridge," which further picked up 6 nominations in all, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Andrew Garfield).

Loathe Gibson as a man, if you will, for his past anti-Semitic, misogynist and homophobic utterances. But please also recognize, as Academy voters no doubt did here, that he did an outstanding job here as a director. "Hacksaw Ridge" is a very worthy Best Picture nominee.

Given my aforementioned affinity for HP products, I happen to be affected by this recall, but I'm posting this for those of you who might also possess HP laptops, as I do. These recalled batteries have been deemed potential fire hazards.

Here's the warning at the Consumer Product Safety Commission website.

Affected batteries have one of the following bar codes printed on them: 6BZLU, 6CGFK, 6CGFQ, 6CZMB, 6DEMA, 6DEMH, 6DGAL, and 6EBVA.

HP will provide a replacement battery for each verified and affected battery, at no cost to the consumer. In the meantime, those who own HP laptops outfitted with the recalled batteries should immediately stop using their laptops on battery power, remove the affected batteries from their notebook computers, and contact HP for a free replacement battery.

HP's contact information is as follows:

• Phone: (888) 202-4320 from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday
  
• Online: LINK, or go to the HP website and click "Recalls" at the left-hand bottom of the page for more information.

i would assert that seattle's sanctuary city statute promotes better policing and safer communities. without it, victims of crime are left vulnerable and without recourse, crimes would go unreported to police, and police would have a more difficult time solving crime and arresting criminals.

this is a reasonable and prudent statute that, in my opinion, should be adopted by all states not just a few cities. i provide here seattle municipal code 4.13 to debunk the assertion that there is sanctuary for persons commiting felonys or previously deported persons:

Cooperation with enforcement of federal immigration laws.
City officers and employees are directed to cooperate with, and not hinder, enforcement of federal immigration laws.

Inquiries into immigration status.
A. Notwithstanding Seattle Municipal Code Section 4.18.010, unless otherwise required by law or by court order, no Seattle City officer or employee shall inquire into the immigration status of any person, or engage in activities designed to ascertain the immigration status of any person.

B. Seattle Police officers are exempt from the limitations imposed by subsection A, above, with respect to a person whom the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe: (1) has previously been deported from the United States; (2) is again present in the United States; and (3) is committing or has committed a felony criminal-law violation.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors on Friday called for a court inquiry into whether alleged billionaire drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is entitled to continue receiving legal representation from a pair of public defenders.

Guzman was extradited from Mexico to face charges in Brooklyn last week, and was represented at his arraignment by two taxpayer-funded defense lawyers from the Federal Defenders of New York, Michael Schneider and Michele Gelernt.

Prosecutors also said they were seeking to forfeit $14 billion in proceeds....They also told Cogan that if Guzman doesn't replace his court-appointed lawyers, there could be a conflict of interest problem because the Federal Defenders have represented two potential cooperating witnesses against Guzman and three alleged co-conspirators.

Gelernt and Schneider did not respond to an email seeking comment late Friday.

In the course of two days, hundreds of thousands of Americans descended upon Washington, D.C., to either celebrate or protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Some were proud of their country. Others were embarrassed by it.

And yet, amid the division emerged a story suggesting the possibility of unification.

Two Russian intelligence officers who worked on cyberoperations and a Russian computer security expert have been arrested and charged with treason for providing information to the United States, according to multiple Russian news reports.