♪ paul: welcome to "the journal editorial report." i'm paul gigot. a partial shutdown of the government is underway, as midnight saturday deadline came and went without lawmakers reaching a deal without funding for a border wall. blamingt trump democrats for the standoff, despite vowing to take the man tell just last week. how long is a shutdown likely to last? are the two sides any closer to a compromise, ask "wall street journal"er columni, deputy editor, dan henninger, columnist kim strassel, editorial page writer, kate odell. talk about the stakes here. we had shutdowns over holidays before,sh gingrich, clinton, in

'95 that was over a huge vision of government. what are stakes here? >> that is great question. one-fourth of federal government turned into a pumpkin. when i woke up next morning people were still out there doing their christmas shopping, getting ready to travel to see their families. as far as they are concerned i think life is going on as normal but down there in washington, they're fighting, i don't, not over the funding of the federal government per se, that is a pretext for the battle between donald trump and basically the democrats, chuck schumer and nancy pelosi, over the funding of, now that isba the question, are they wanting funding a wall or border security? they wante border security. trump wants the wall. i have argued before on this program it is a semantic distinction and ultimately they will come to some over some agreement which democrats can call border security and president can call the wall. chris: why did the president

switch positions? he had agreed, everybody thought, with mitch mcconnell's deal he would kick the funding two months into february airy, they would postpone this. he reversed himself. why? >> mcconnell would not have brought the short term resolution to the floor if he didn't have the support of the president. he did obviously make a huge late change. i thinkul part of it was a revot among moree conservative membes in the house and the freedom caucus, basically daring him to shut the government down, saying as we heard before, it will hurt democrats more even though the hasn't been our lived experience. chris: well, and it is the political symbolism, correct? basically, trump campaigned on the wall. he wants to define this as victory for funding for something he can call a wall? >> sure. but we have not moved past the $1.6 billion line that has been in the senate i bill the entire time. i thinknk it is important to noe even now we've gotten nowhere past that we had pens and mick

mulvaney on capitol hill last night trying to negotiate a deal tola avoid the shutdown. one issue it is here not clear what president trump is willing to sign. they are weakened automatically not really knowing that. chris:by kim, the president has been asking for five billion. the house bassed a little more than five billion, the senate 1.6, some say 1.3. i'm not sure. i talk to people in government saying they can't even spend 5 billion and end of september when the budget is on, they couldn't even do it? >> that is one of the problems. that gets to the symbolism part. maybe this will go on for a long time. as everybody sits and talks about this, there is already some discussion about splitting things downry the middle, comini think the white house has been careful to leave itself open to the possibility of a deal of some, meeting and minds. democrats interestingly, their leaders seemed to leave that open as well too. so i think that could be where

we end up with this if we do get a deal. paul: kim is there any political vulnerability for democrats on this? they don't take over congress until next month? >> well for them i think this is a freebie. it helps as well the president said just last week i'm willing to take responsibility for this, i will own this shutdown. he now reversed himself. he is saying it's on you, it's on you, but they feel they have that protection there. they're not running the white house. it is not their demands supposedly are shutting down the government so they feel pretty confident right now. paul: but -- >> they do need some direction from the white house. they're sitting over there on capitol hill trying to negotiate over a number, 1.6 billion or 5 billion, whatever the nature of the wall, security is, the white house, the reasonbi mitch mcconnell passed bill earlier in the week sent all the senators home because he thought he got a clear signal from the white house they were willing to

push it over until february. then the presidentit changed his mind. now all the people areng coming back. that suggests chaos. the white house at some point has to put something on the table they can talk around. otherwise you're going to see thishe wheel spinning indefinitely. paul: border security though, kate, seems to me that democrats do not want to be seen to oppose somethingis called border security. that is the major vulnerability here. i could see us coming out of this with democrats saying we voted for border security x dollars, trump saying no, they voted forom a wall, they both agree to disagree what they voted for? >> paul. we're seeing this debate over what is a wall, versus what is border security, so on and so forth. i think the shutdown made them just not as vulnerable in the first place. looks like trump can't govern by shutting downn the government. time pressure doesn't appear to be as urgent, lawmakers are basically going back and forth from home to here.

they said they will have 24 hours to vote in the house before they're called back. so a lot of people have caughted it gets, assume whatever we come up with will pass on unanimous consent any way, not need their vote. paul: 70% of the government is up and running, financed, by time things are deemed essential only 10% shuts down. tragically politically for the president earlier this year he could have had 23 billion for a wall in return for legalizing the so-called dreamers. >> yeah.th paul: he didn't press that issue that deal. he could havefo had it. he walked away from it. now he is going to have settle for a lot less? >> he could be in washington instead of mar-a-lago playing golf next 16 days. paul: kim, why did they not take that deal? >> look, just bullheadedness in the end. they had disagreements within republicans overr the ranks and rather than work hard, try to get everybody on the same page, the president didn't put any real effort into it. he didn't make it a priority. as we all know, if you don't

have the leader of your partially signing on pushing people to do something, not likely to take place. paul: it will be even harder to go ahead with nancy pelosi taking over the hours in early january. still ahead, defense secretary jim mattis resigns following president trump's surprise announcement. that he would pull all u.s. troops from syria. we'll take a closer look at the global and political fallout what we come back. ♪ (honking) when your craving strikes, you need your wing nut. ( ♪ ) no one can totally satisfy a craving, quite like your wing nut.

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♪ paul: defense secretary james mattis announced thursday that he would resign at the end of february, a day after president trump made the surprise announcement that he will withdrawhe all u.s. forces from syriath and amid reports that he isis planning a drawdown in afghanistan as well. both of those moves have been met with opposition from the pentagon and in his resignation letter secretary mattis laid out

his disagreements with the presidents including both, because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours, i believe it is right for me to step down from my position. we're back with dan henninger, kim strassel and kate batch letter odell. kate, you have been reporting on this subject, it has been building somere time, disagreements over policy between secretary mattis and president. >> paul it has been building some time but a couple notes here on that. some are arguing basically mattis want ad robust presence in syria forever or some unknown length of time but there has been internal disagreement between john bolton, national security advisor, jim mattis over this. i think what that should tell you outside of the norm, how impulsiveyo president trump's decision appears to be to withdraw from syria because mattis had a, sort of different view than many on the national security staff containing iran

in syria, among many other subjects. paul: he was reluctant than saybolt ton and pompeo on the score. that is what i thought all along? >> he was more reluctant to start something in syria and middle east, that the u.s. didn't have the's political will to sustain. paul: sore this syria differenc, is as much about process and in other words, than the ultimate policy? process in the sentence that the president did it so impulsively apparently after a phone call from erdogan, the president of turkey, and that general joe june doored, chairman of the joint chiefs was not even consulted in advance. hard for defense secretary to stay in a job if you're basically your chief deputy, the chairman of the joint chiefs, wasn't even in on the decision? >> right it is. anotheren thing i to remember here, while there has been some tensions building between mattis and others in the administration, mattis had an entire military career on

executing decisions that he doesn't necessarily agree with. >> right. >> i think necessarily over the past week the situation has really changed. paul: all right, dan, so what does thish mean? this has sent, i think this is the biggest change inside of administration in terms of the impact that a lot of people are feeling about how things might go from here on out. what doo you think it means for policy going forward? >> i think it means policy will have to be essentially rebooted. look, you're going to need a new secretary of defense who will have to come in and deal with the aftermath of the mattis resignation. the big issue here as i was suggesting, as much about process as policy. nobody saw this coming. and, some may argue, well the president is makes decisions and he is a strong decision-maker. the problem is in an area like this, you have allies and enemies all around the world who have to make call cluecations based on -- call calculations on

an event like this. none of the friend in the middle east, in saudi arabia, asia, or europe saw this coming. they have not had a decision about withdrawing from syria. we lost a secretary of defense who had relationships withia all these people and commitments to them. the new secretary of defense will have to go around the world explaining to them, what happened and why, whether policy has changed or not. in that time, all of are going to recalculate their instance. for instance, the kurds, egyptians, whether they should talk to theha russians because e united states isn't going to be anymore. the israelis have to make those kinds of calculations. i think this will reverberate well into 2019 and shake up our alliances all over the world. paul: kim all that being said, i agree with what dan said. i think, i would say anyway, i wonder if you agree, mattis did this the right way, in the sense that if you really cannot any longer int good conscience

implement a president's policies decisions you have an obligation to resign, state your reasons andci leave rather than do, figt it internally, try to cover it internally, try to leak to the media in ways that are destructive or write anonymous op-eds as we saw somebody do that criticizes the administration? this is an honorable step. >> this is the way things are supposed to be done. this is an honorable man. he absolutely took the right decision even though i think it's a tragedy for the country he is leaving this has to be put ingh broader context what is gog on in the white house, which is what makes it a little bit more disturbing, who else are we having let go, chief of staff kelly? by all indications this is because the president is resisting the advice that he is getting fromt his, his of hisries and members cabinet. he wants to be less governed.

he will make impulsive decisions like this in syria. that is a little bit worrisome and it does beg the question, whott comes in to replace matti? is it someone will be allowed to give sound advice, allowed to execute policy, or is it going to be someone more of a token figurehead? that is especially worrisome especially for that position. paul: kate what do? you hear as possible defense secretaries? >> someone like jack keane, retired army general would be in the mix. who knows at this point. i think kim's right, that who would want to take this job now that they know that the president may or may not be relying on their advice and may be undermining them in public. that is a tough question. i don't know the answer to that. paul: president trump's syria division drawing fire from lawmakers on both sides. we'll tell you what is at stake in the u.s. as troops come home. >> only reason they're not dancing in the aisles in tehran

and isis camps, they don't believe in dancing this is a big gift to them. this is a devastating decision for our allies. ticles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. duo clean technology, corded and cord-free. and fearlessly devours piles. whoooo. did you know the exact same hotel room... ...can have many different prices? that's why tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites to find the lowest price on the hotel you want. your perfect hotel room for the perfect price!

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paul: a surprise decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria coming via tweet from president trump declaring quote, we defeated isisia in syria. my only reason for being there during the trump presidency. the move startling allies, drawing widespread criticism on capitol hill where lawmakers warning ofis dire consequences n the middle east. >> it is clear to me that if you now, based on the conditions on the ground, iran is a big winner inside of syria. a corridor between tehran, to lebanon will exist to funnel

weapons to hezbollah and other forces aligned against israel. mostst importantly none of us believe that isis has been defeated. paul: jonathan schanzer, senior vice president for research at thefe foundation for defense of democracies. good to see you again. thanks for being here. so what is your take on this syria decision? >> well, i think lindsey graham is right but i think he maybe even understated the problems that we may see in the future here. iran is set to cash in on this decision. it is probably the most pleased out of all of america's enemies and adversaries who watched this decision unfold. they will be able to establish the land bridge from western iran to the mediterranean, supporting hezbollah, shiite militias and assad regime itself. we're leaving russians unchallenged in syria. they will have supremacy in the skies. they will be able to do as they please in syria without so much as a challenge from the united states.

on top of that, one of the things that i think a lot of people have ignored here is that then kurds are going to be left out to dry. the turks right now are preparing for an onslaught. likely we'll see a massive battle in northern syria. the turks indicated as much. think about it rightle now, the israelis are nervous, probably the jordanians are nervous. theas kurds are nervous. there isn't one ally of the united statess that is pleased with this. certainly all of our enemy consist -- paul: let me push back on that in this sense. president says you leave troops what is our national interests? what is your plan? we just have endless war, is that it? we're going to be fighting everybody else's fights? isn't it time for other people to fight their own fights? that is his argument. i'm not saying i agree with it, but what is your response? >> i get that, the u.s. isn't exactly fighting anyone else's battles with 2,000 troops in syria. we have established a beachhead there to let everyone know we're

not going anywhere. it's a deterrent. we're not deploying tens of thousands of troops. we're not putting men and women in harm's way on regular basis over. a statement we're not ready to give up on syria. that is what we've been doing there. i think we have drawn down. i think we should be proud of the fact we have a minimal presence. we contain ad virus way i would put it. i don't think isis is defeated but i think it is contained. we have thedo ability to contain it at minimal cost. now the president is withdrawing our last line of defense and in the process, likely thrusting the entire region into chaos. paul: why wouldn't this be seen as by some people i know, on behalf of thebe american people, nation-building again in syria? we'll end up being there, and have to occupy that territory for a long time, and that is going to cost a lot of money? iswe this nation-building if we stay there. >> no, again we're looking at 2,000 troops. i don't think there is really much of an emphasis at all on

nation-building. in fact i believe the united states has already declared that we would not take part in nation-building so long as iran was part of the process. iran is certainly still part of the process. there again a minimal outlay. the idea here was to deter our enemies. i think that we had done that with a minimal presence, a smaller footprint. i think that really, through that smaller footprint we were proving trump right. i mean trump had made his point, we don't need to send massive numbers r about troops. we don't need a major outlay in the middle east in order to maintain control. and now in one fell swoop he just said you know what, never mind. paul: yeah, i i think that one f the things that concerns me the most is is the kurds, and part of syrian democratic forces. they were our agents on the ground, have been to go after isis. they were taking casualties on the ground. we could control, help them with cover, with intelligence,

with, other things that we can do but, without putting our own people in the front lines but they're taking these casualties. now we're walking out, they are going to say, why do we do that? it will be tough to get them to help us again. >> that's right. i think s the kurds feel they e been thrown under the bus here. certainly we will have to wait to see what erdogan does, president of turkey, if he decides to heat up heat on the kurds in northern syria. we could see a massive battle whether the united states intervenes or tries to halt the violence. no one knows exactly what will happen here. i think it is important to note, if you're a u.s. ally right now, you're looking at this decision, made by the president, you're wondering, kind of, whether the president is interested in sticking it out in other key places, like south korea, like afghanistan, like iraq. even whereki we have got smaller footprints, there is a question whether this president, whether the united states, whether this

pentagon is willing to stick it out with some of its most enduring allies? i think that is really the up shot here. and i think there are a lot of nervous friends of the united states looking around right now. paul: i guess if you combine that with the report that they're going, president may draw down half of the forces in afghanistan, that anxiety will grow even more. jonathan schanzer, thank you for being here. >> my pleasure. paul: despite signs of an economic slow down and anxiety in financial markets, the federal reserve raises interest rates for the fourth time this year. so didan the central bank make a mistake and what can we expect in 2019? ♪ and 4% on entertainment. now when you go out, you cash in. what's in your wallet?

paul: despite shrines of a slowdown in the economy, anxiety in the financial markets. federal reserve raise the interest rates by a quarter point, signaled two more increases in 2019. the move comes amid ongoing criticism from the central bank by president trump. jay powell said political considerations makes no role in his decision-making. >> political considerations have played no role whatsoever in our discussions or decisions about monetary policy we have independence we think is essential to do our jobs in a non-political way. we are, we at the fed are absolutely committed to that mission and nothing will deter us from doing what we think is, is the right thing to do.

paul:: douglas holtz-eakin, former director of the congressional budget office, director of the american nationale forum. thanks for being here. >> thank you. paul: as at least i see it the federal reserve's decision. you could watch equityies fall as chairman powell was speaking. bond market yields also fallen in mid to long end. did the fed make a mistake? >> i don't think so. if they made a mistake it was over a year ago when they held rates too low, too long. we did see equity markets, other asset markets get inflated a little bit. as they have normalized. that froth has come out. and i think that has been the bulk of what has gone on. the real issue will be in 2019. there are signs of weakness in the economy. certainly housing is week. financial markets do indicate tighter conditions. so the tough decisions are ahead. but it wasn't yesterday. yesterday was good.

>> but fed is doing two things, right? at same time it is raising interest rates andra withdrawing its bond buying. so you're getting two kinds of tightening. we have never done this before. the fed has at least not in my lifetime. i can't remember -- so something of an experiment. isn't that an argument for caution and going slow? >> i think it's a great observation. think is too little commented on. we have never done this before. it is hard to translate the run-down in the portfolio to the equivalent of interest rate increases but it is. there we do see financial conditions tightening, no question about that. i think caution is the right word. but i think if you've got essentially a t zero real federl funds rate, that is not consistent with the kindd of growth we have in the real economy, which is, close to 3% right now. so, you know, the hike this week was not a mistake. real issue what happens going forward. paul: okay.

how strong is the economy now? we're getting conflicting signals. financial markets a you say showing some tensions. >> sure. paul: interest rates auto sales not so good but how is the rest of the economy? >> i think it is fair to expect the economy to slow somewhat but the question is to what? the old normal was a little under 2%. the whole goal was have a set of policies that move that north 2 1/2 to 3%. paul: i was hoping for three for atw while, doug. >> i don't think we'll see the three. that is largely due to the trade front. i expect that to soften. i think all the chatter about recession is wildly out of bounds. you can't have a household sector without spending going south. that is 70% of spending. that is 2/3 of gdp growth. unemployment rate is 4%.

chatter about recession is really, really too much. paul: what aboutth investment, capital investment? that is one of the big arguments that i know i made, other people made, about i think you did too. >> i did. paul: argument for tax reform. that had been so slow during the obama era of expansion. postcrisis. we thought there was a lot of room to move that up with deregulation and tax reform. is that working? >> it has moved up. people forget that. if you look at year-over-year increases, they are faster now than they were in 2016, 15, 14. if you look at comparisons to projections made before the tax reform, we're above those projections. i think disappointment has been after very strong first half of 2018, we got a really weak third quarter and people are worried about the fourth quarter. ceo confidence is down. we get bad monthly data on orders. and that suggests that while the tax reform did its job.

the rest of the policy portfolio has not done its job. i would largely point the finger at trade tensions which caused a lot of companies to back off the expansion plans. paul: federal reserve is saying 3% growth in the fourth quarter, which would make for the year, first over 3% year since 2005. we're all glad to see. the trade tensions is how you would, more than the fed, what you would pinpoint for some of lack of slowdown in capital investment and ceo uncertainty? >> that's what we see in the survey data. you never know exactly why companies do exactly what they do. if you look at survey data scaling back comes with concerns over relations with china. threat of auto tariffs with europe. that is thesi primary culprit. federal reserve is, getting back to neutral. it is not tightening. it is getting back faster because of a bond runoff than it might appear to be.

i think it is hard to blame the fed for, raising rates to zero in realfo terms and in an econoy with 3%. that is not a policy mistake. if you got a trade deal with china you would think there is big positive effect on economy and markets? >> i think business community would have a big exhale, when the two largest economies in the globe are at loggerheads, no one is comfortable making a decision. to have that put in the rear view mirror i think would be a great thing for the economy. i understand the president's point that you want to put in the rear view mirror on the right terms. no one thought china was behaving right. can you get them to behave better in the future. there is a tough thing to negotiate. getting itng in the past would e a good thing for the outlook. paul: douglas holtz-eakin thank you for being here. >> thank you. paul: when we come back a federal judge postpones sentencing of president's trump former national security advisor. what the plan fiasco reveals

about the special counsel mueller. oh!

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♪ paul: in a surprise move a federal judge this week postponed next year sentencing of former national security advisor michael flynn. he pleaded to guilty to a single count of the lying to fbi over russia. the judge unloaded on the defendant supposed violation of fara a, foreign agent registration act, a crime flynn was not charged with. kim strassel and jason riley are here. kim what do you make of the judge's unloading on flynn? what are the big takeaways from the sentencing? >> yeah, so, the judge had absolutely no business going there. because, as you just mentioned, the general was never charged fara. he never admitted to breaking fara. beyond that the judge even got all of hisis facts incorrect,

suggesting that flynn was lobbying for other countries while national security advisor. took special counsel mueller's team to walk back the judge on some of the facts. so inappropriate at every level. it wasal useful, paul, it brougt new attention to fara, why we're even in the court having this discussion. it is because, because the special counsel is using statutes like this to pressure targets of its probe to bleeding to other crimes which they might not have even committed. paul: we know flynn represented turkey. two of his former business partners were indicted for basicallyad violating fara. you canyo represent a foreign government but you have tont register as foreign agent. the accusation he didn't register. the fact that flynn might have been indicted for that why he pleaded guilty for lying to the fbi in the one count, even if he

may have not have lied to the fbi in truth? >> i correct. he should have registered. but reality is, paul, for decades now the department depaf justice has not enforced fara you normally get a around wag letter. the fact that the special counsel taking out this musty law to use people to plead other things that is one of the big drama moments in the court. there have been pretty good evidence released over the last week that flynn was treated poorly by the fbi. he wasn't urged to have counsel with them. he was not warned about lying. he was not told he was necessarily under investigation. and some thought that he might revoke his plea. he didn't. so the judge really had no point but to go forward with, on the presumption thatt he was guilty in that regard. paul: jason what do you think about the fbi's handling of general flynn? >> i think there is a lot to be disturbed about. starting with why the obama administration was investigating flynn while he was working on the trump campaign.

but, flynn, was fired by trump for lying to the vice president. he then pled guilty as you just mentioned to lying. to the fbi. that's a crime. you lie to the fbi, i lie to the fibly, there are consequences. there can't be consequences for michael flynn. paul: dan? >> onn the other is such a strange incident. the crime he committed was lying to the fbi about his russiantions with ambassadorin kislyak which were not illegal. paul: the conversations were not illegal? >> yeah. >> part of his job, actually. >> that was not a crime but lying to the fbi about illegal activity was a crime which doesn't really quite compute why a person would do that. as kim was suggesting, mueller's investigation was holding over his head a violation of the foreign agent registration act. a couple of days before this court hearing, they indicted two of his associates, looming in the background with the possibility that his son would also be indicted.

my reading was, that despite judge sullivan's repeated questions about do you really want to plead guilty to this, mike flynn was saying i am pleading guilty so i can avoid jail time and not bankrupted by this investigation and i'm trying to get this behind me. >> i think dan is absolutely right. these activities were illegal but lying to the fbi is illegal. i would also add this is not the smoking gun that the left thinks it is of proving russian collusion. this is perfectly legal. asking questions about that. and comey, jim comey the fbi director, says he sent these agents to talk to flynn because they wanted to find out why he was lying to the vice president about his activities and that they knew he was lying because he had been under surveillance. >> we know that comey admitted he wouldn't have gotten away with sending agents over there without a lawyer, without going

through the white house general counsel's office through any otherhe administration. they tried to get a fast one here, they told flynn, you don't need a lawyer. they never told him he was really the guy under investigation, kim? >> yeah. it looks like a set-up. also if you go through the transcript, rather the notes of that interview by the two agents, it is really actually kind of hard to make the claim he just bald-faced lie. look what he said, i've been talking to representatives from 30 countries, endless numbers of phone calls. you're asking me about this one. i don't entirely remember. i don't think i did that, no, i don't think so. it is hard to come away from that and believe it was a bald-faced lie. also too, because he had no incentive to do that, because he probably knew he was under surveillance. in fact suggests as much he knew they had a transcript. paul: thanks to you all.

still ahead, president trump's school safety commission recommends doing away with obama-era guidance on -- [inaudible]. a firestorm among civil rights groups. we'll have details when we come back. te with his wife. ♪ la-di-la-di. entresto is a heart failure medicine that helps your heart... so you can keep on doing what you love. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. it helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium.

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♪ . paul: the white house released long-awaited school safety report, t recommending among otr things, that the department of education scrap obama-era guidance aimed reducing racial disparities in school discipline. those guidelines handed down in 2014 focused how to identify, avoid, remedy what the obama administration called, discriminatory discipline and promoted alternatives to suspension and expulsion. but education secretary betsy devos says those policies made schools reluctant to address unruly students or violent incident.

devos chaired president trump's school safety commission which was formed after the february shootingng at parkland high schl in florida. dan henninger, jason rile, kate odell. right decision? >> long overdue, paul. very difficult for kids to learn at a school in chaos. that is what these obama guidelines. schools were fearing that the federal government would slap them with a civil rights lawsuit. they feared expensive it, reputational cost of it, if they didn't stopp suspending more black kids.s. so that is what schools did. the administration wanted racial parity who was getting suspended. >> isn't it true, under the discrimination laws actually show discrimination? >> administration was using something called disparate impact. which means statistically if you are expelling or suspending more groups in one certain racial or ethic group or another, that that is ininso facto evidence of

racial an my news going on. animus. blacks are suspended higher rates than whites. whites are suspended higher rates than asians. it doesn't necessarily mean that these groups are being discrimed against. i would add very quickly, pal, in many inner cities schools, teacherse left, principals lef. what incentives do they have to be picking on black kids. it is not for the behavior going on. paul: dan. >> bear p in mind this was not just a policy announcement by thee obama administration. they conducted 350 investigations on school systems on this basis, mostly large urban school systems in the united states. this is extraordinary intrusion of the federal government into what typically normally has been a local responsibility but they were using the threat of withdrawing federal funding to say, you comply with these disparate impact guidelines or we're going to investigate you and threaten you with defunding.

paul: i guess, kate, what they used, they used this guidance letter, right? something that is the specialty inside of the obama administration, we're, this is not formal rule but we're guidance. it is sort of an, it is an order youu can't refuse. >> right, exactly. they said it is just a dear colleague letter, best practices which is not really true from what dan said about conducting roving investigations et cetera. but that is whyhy i think, paul, even if you disagree with the underlying policy or agree with it, you should support the education department here because they're getting something off the books here that wasn't a regulation, it was end outlined in statute, it was basically just roving authority to enforce guidelines that they wanted to enforce. so the basically, just accomplished something through a guidance letter that should have been debated in the political process. paul: but i guess the other argument, jason, you formed the commission in relation to park land, terrible shooting incident at a high school.

there is nothing about guns in here. why isn't this about park land about guns? >> well thereis is something abt guns in there in the sense that the administration thinks that different states and differ localities, different school systems should have different views about gun. whether teachers should be trained to use them. whether they shouldn't be trained, this should not be a one size fits all type of solution when it comes to recommending safety regulations on the gun front. i think that is correct. attitudes about guns do vary. it's a big country, out west or down south it will be different than in manhattan for instance, when it comes to guns. that is the right step to take. paul: what happens now, dan? >> i guess this will be challenged in court like everything else? we'll see, if it can survive? >> it's a recommendation so far. they wanted to make it more permanent, they would put in a comment period in which they actually weree heading towards a regulation or a guidelines,

stronger than simply a recommendation. remains to be seen whether the education department wit do that. paul: what do you hear, kate? promulgate a rule or withdraw the guidance? >> there is strong incentive to promulgate the rule and go you there the process the obama administration avoided. that is what they should do. and they didn't do. paul: one more break. hits and misses of the week. i sure am, linda. they've been saving folks money for years. and now they're re-airing some of their all-time greatest hits. with classics like... hump day. caveman airport. and even... celebrating squirrels. this crudité is great, but those geico ads are even better. but that's not all. vote today and you can enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial. .. estof. oh, geico.

>> timeout for mrs. of the week. first to you. >> paul, it's paul, it's a hit for speaker paul ryan who gave his farewell address to congress this week. this end 20 years of service in the house where he consistently and i would note always cheerfully pushed into more consistently principled positionser on poverty programs, entitlement taxes. in 2015 he took on a speakership

job he did not want but because he was the only guy to unite a bitterly divided republican party he managed to get through his ambition of tax reform. this hasb been a life of honor and service that we wish him well in his nextnl chapter. >> jason. >> this is a hip for theek weeky standard magazine which this month published its final issue of more than two decades a reliable source of smart intelligent conservative commentary on the earth in politics and culture from great writers like steve hayes and fredarti are in. weekly reminder that there is intelligent commentary from the right as an alternative to the mainstream media and i'm one who will miss it greatly. >> thank you, jason. kate had >> paul, one group of people taking the time off for the holidays are regulators in a state of california appeared utilities commission proposed a tax on text messages to pay for more phone services for low incomeak individuals. i had this for the federal communications commission's were quickly clarifying that this is not appropriate under currenty

law. >> i'm going to give it to a real hit and that is the christmas song baby it's cold outside. this song came under attack from some corner of the meet to movement. presumably it's about date. it has risen to number 10 on billboard's digital top 10 list. paul, if this is the new standardrd of political correctness, half the movies from the 1950s will have to be banned and you'll probably have to empty out the rock 'n roll hall of fame. >> empty out, abolish it. >> personally i intend to spend from now until new years listening to perhaps the best version of baby it's cold outside by rod stuart and dolly parton. don't miss it. >> i won't. let's make it number one on the billboard charts. remember if you have your own head or miss twitter i to us. that is it for this week show. thanks to my panel.

merry christmas. hope to see you right here next week. president trump speeding up the departure of defense secretary james madison tweeting that patrick shanahan will replace an effective january 1st about 2 months before mattis has planned to leave the pentagon. hello, mike emanuel. welcome to a brand-new hour inside america's is headquarters for the president's announcement amid a standoff for his long promised border wall or the partial federal government shutdown could last a while as the senate has adjourned until thursday and democrats and republicans are all trading shots on the sunday shows today. >> senate democrats who refuse come and they sit back and say that offer is ridiculous. okay, what is y