AS A ROGUE ACTOR Tax Overhaul to Trump PICTURE OF …Dec 03, 2017  · Morehouse Protects Rapists,...

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ATLANTA — The fliers ap-peared suddenly on a crisp morn-ing in early November. They werescattered among golden leaves onthe grounds of Spelman and More-house, the side-by-side women’sand men’s colleges that are two ofthe country’s most celebrated his-torically black schools.

“Morehouse Protects Rapists,”some of them read. “Spelman Pro-tects Rapists.”

Some of the documents accusedprominent athletes and fraternitymembers by name. Though work-

ers quickly made the fliers disap-pear, students were already pass-ing photos from cellphone to cell-phone. Before long, the nameswere on Twitter.

And the next morning, studentsat Morehouse woke up to anotherunnerving sight: graffiti marringthe chapel, a spiritual gatheringplace dedicated to a revered alum-nus, the Rev. Dr. Martin LutherKing Jr. Scrawled in red spraypaint, the message read: “Prac-tice What You Preach Morehouse+ End Rape Culture.”

The torrent of claims againsthigh-profile men in entertain-ment, media and politics is nowspreading across academia, re-en-ergizing the outcry over sexualmisconduct on American cam-puses and bringing forth a newwave of complaints.

Bound by History, Two CollegesConfront Their #MeToo Moment

By CAITLIN DICKERSON and STEPHANIE SAUL

Continued on Page 18

THE WOODLANDS, Tex. —Leslie Martinez heard the flood-waters before she saw them. Theyrushed across the lawn, seepedaround the doors and into thehouse. It was 2:15 a.m. on Aug. 28,three days after Hurricane Har-vey made landfall. Her youngdaughter was asleep in her arms.Ms. Martinez’s first reaction wasto spread towels around the floor.

After all, Ms. Martinez recalled,the home builder had assured herthat “flooding was not even a pos-sibility” when she and her hus-band purchased the house in thissuburban enclave north of Hous-ton in 2011. They would never havebought here otherwise. Flood in-surance, of course, was neither re-quired nor needed.

Now, with the rains outsidelashing and the water inside ris-ing, the family and their terrifiedpet, a one-eyed goldendoodle

named Coco, took refuge on thesecond floor. Later that day, res-cue boats came and ferried themto safety.

The flooding forced Ms. Mar-tinez and her husband, John

Ahearn, to borrow money fromtheir parents and accept a dona-tion from their daughter’s school.It left them feeling furious and be-trayed. “I’m scared that it’s goingto continue happening,” Ms. Mar-

tinez said, even as she wonderedhow they had become the victimsof something they had been toldhad a vanishingly small chance ofcoming to pass in such a shorttime since the purchase.

What they did not know wasthat their home, and those ofmany of their flooded-out neigh-bors in this new section of TheWoodlands, had been built on landthat not long ago lay squarely, andsometimes soggily, in a floodplain.

A New York Times examinationfound that in the years leading upto Hurricane Harvey, with a surg-ing local economy fueling demandfor new upscale housing, the de-velopers of The Woodlands hadused a wrinkle in the federal flood-mapping system — along withmany dump trucks’ worth of dirt— to lift dozens of lots out of thearea officially deemed prone toflooding. What they had done, ineffect, was create gerrymanderedmaps of risk.

Revised Flood Maps Paved the Way for Homes. Then Harvey Hit.This article is by John Schwartz,

James Glanz and Andrew W.Lehren.

Flooded streets near The Woodlands, Tex., a community northof Houston, days after a hurricane made landfall in August.

BARBARA DAVIDSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page 26

A military campaign threatens to sys-tematically eradicate all evidence of theRohingya Muslims’ existence in thecountry. PAGE 6

INTERNATIONAL 4-14

Erasing a History in Myanmar

Sharply rising costs have struck allincome classes, turning basic tasks likefood shopping and commuting into featsof endurance. PAGE 12

Inflation Grips Venezuela

In a first in the United States, a womanwho was born without a uterus and hadone transplanted from a living donorgave birth to a son in Dallas. PAGE 29

NATIONAL 16-29

History in the Delivery Room

For Giving Tuesday, Lin-Manuel Miran-da, Audra McDonald and other notableNew Yorkers talked about some of theirfavorite charities to support. PAGE 24

Why They Give Back

A fight over the fate of one Californiahouse shows why it is so hard to buildenough affordable places to live. PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

Homes Wanted (Just Not Here)

Pushing far beyond camp, a new dragmovement opens the door to looks thatinclude alien and goth. PAGE 1

SUNDAY STYLES

Drag Without Boundaries

What led the Yankees to hire AaronBoone, who has no managing experi-ence? Those who know him say thatBoone, a third-generation major leaguerknown for his curiosity and attention todetail, was born for the job. PAGE 1

SPORTSSUNDAY

His Blood Type: Baseball

Frank Bruni PAGE 3

SUNDAY REVIEW

THE MAGAZINE

U(D5E71D)x+&!}!_!#!/

Ohio State edged Wisconsin to win theBig Ten, perhaps muddying the CollegeFootball Playoff. Clemson, Georgia andOklahoma won their conferences andwill probably make the playoff. PAGE 3

Awaiting the College Playoff

WASHINGTON — The highsand lows of a presidency rarelycome in such quick succession.But within hours, PresidentTrump watched as one of hisclosest former aides pleadedguilty and promised to helpprosecutors seek out more tar-gets, then stayed up late to cheeron the Senate as it broke throughmonths of gridlock to pass thelargest tax cuts in years.

Scandal and success in shortorder left the White House whip-sawed and searching for a pathforward that would generatemore of the latter while knowingthat the former is not going awayanytime soon. Michael T. Flynn,the former national securityadviser who pleaded guilty to afelony on Friday, was the fourth

person near Mr. Trump to becharged and few in Washingtonexpect him to be the last.

No president in modern timeshas faced such a major investiga-tion so early in his term even ashe was still seeking to establishhis political footing, much lessone with as little popular supportin polls as Mr. Trump has. Thechallenge for Mr. Trump in theweeks to come will be how topress forward on his agendawithout letting the ominousdrumbeat of indictments andcourt hearings consume his

presidency.“The White House has to con-

tinue to operate and cannot beperceived as waiting for the nexttestimony, the next announce-ment or the unanticipated issue,”said Tom Griscom, a formerWhite House official who helpedPresident Ronald Reagan re-cover from the Iran-contra scan-dal in the 1980s. “The Americanpeople wanted to see a presidentthat was engaged and able tomove his agenda even with thedistraction of an investigation.”

Initially at least, Mr. Trumpfollowed that script on Saturdaymorning but his restraint did notlast long. “What has been shownis no collusion, no collusion,” hetold reporters when he left theWhite House for a day trip to

Looking Ahead, and Over His ShoulderNEWS ANALYSIS

By PETER BAKER

President Trump at the White House on Saturday, on the heels of “one of the big nights,” he said.TOM BRENNER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page 22

Success and Scandal Create Roller Coaster

for the President

WASHINGTON — When Presi-dent Trump fired his national se-curity adviser, Michael T. Flynn,in February, White House officialsportrayed him as a renegade whohad acted independently in hisdiscussions with a Russian officialduring the presidential transitionand then lied to his colleaguesabout the interactions.

But emails among top transi-tion officials, provided or de-scribed to The New York Times,suggest that Mr. Flynn was farfrom a rogue actor. In fact, theemails, coupled with interviewsand court documents filed on Fri-day, showed that Mr. Flynn was inclose touch with other seniormembers of the Trump transitionteam before and after he spokewith the Russian ambassador,Sergey I. Kislyak, about Americansanctions against Russia.

While Mr. Trump has dispar-aged as a Democratic “hoax” anyclaims that he or his aides had un-usual interactions with Russianofficials, the records suggest thatthe Trump transition team was in-tensely focused on improving re-lations with Moscow and was will-ing to intervene to pursue thatgoal despite a request from theObama administration that it notsow confusion about officialAmerican policy before Mr.Trump took office.

On Dec. 29, a transition adviserto Mr. Trump, K. T. McFarland,wrote in an email to a colleaguethat sanctions announced hoursbefore by the Obama administra-tion in retaliation for Russian elec-tion meddling were aimed at dis-crediting Mr. Trump’s victory. Thesanctions could also make it muchharder for Mr. Trump to ease ten-sions with Russia, “which has justthrown the U.S.A. election to him,”she wrote in the emails obtained

EMAILS DISPUTEPICTURE OF FLYNNAS A ROGUE ACTOR

CONTACTS WITH RUSSIA

During Transition, Aidesto Trump Tracked Call

to Ambassador

This article is by Michael S.Schmidt, Sharon LaFraniere andScott Shane.

Continued on Page 22

As the tax cut legislation passedby the Senate early Saturday hur-tles toward final approval, Repub-licans are preparing to use theswelling deficits made worse bythe package as a rationale to pur-sue their long-held vision: undo-ing the entitlements of the NewDeal and Great Society, leavinggovernment leaner and the safetynet skimpier for millions of Ameri-cans.

Speaker Paul D. Ryan and otherRepublicans are beginning to ex-press their big dreams publicly,vowing that next year they willmove on to changes in Medicareand Social Security. PresidentTrump told a Missouri rally lastweek, “We’re going to go into wel-fare reform.”

Their nearly $1.5 trillion pack-age of tax cuts, a plan likely to winfinal approval in the coming days,could be the first step. But theirstrategy poses enormous risks,not only for millions of Americanswho rely on entitlement pro-grams, but also for Republicanswho would wade into politicallydifficult waters, cutting popularbenefits for the elderly and work-ing poor just after cutting taxesfor profitable corporations.

“The way to get at fixing thedebt is to feel like everybody iswilling to put something on the ta-ble,” said Maya MacGuineas, thepresident of the Committee for aResponsible Federal Budget, a bi-partisan group. “Once you haveone side grab all it could, you’renever going to have the other sideshow up.”

Even if the tax cut sparks thekind of economic growth that Re-publicans advertise, the tax billwill increase the deficit by $1 tril-lion over 10 years, the nonpartisancongressional Joint Committee onTaxation said.

And it was passed alongsharply partisan lines, offeringnothing to Democrats, and leav-ing them with no obligation or in-centive to negotiate cuts to Medi-care, Medicaid and Social Securi-ty, the entitlement programs thatare driving up spending, but arealso the pride of the DemocraticParty.

For his part, Mr. Trump spenthis campaign promising not to cutMedicare and Social Security. AndRepublicans will probably find, asthey did when they failed to repeal

By KATE ZERNIKEand ALAN RAPPEPORT

Continued on Page 20

Next Objective: Cuttingthe Safety Net

WASHINGTON — Congres-sional Republicans, buoyed by theSenate’s approval early Saturdayof a landmark tax overhaul, ex-pressed confidence that final leg-islation would be sent to PresidentTrump by the end of this month.

While the tax bills approved bythe House and the Senate divergein significant ways, the sameforces that rocketed the measuresto passage appear likely to bondRepublicans in the two chambersas they work to hash out the differ-ences.

Republicans passed theirsweeping tax overhaul throughthe Senate just before 2 a.m. onSaturday, two weeks after theHouse passed its own measure.The Senate vote was 51 to 49, withevery Republican but one — Sena-tor Bob Corker of Tennessee — infavor. Senate leaders locked downthe necessary votes on Fridaywith little drama, after makingconcessions to a handful of waver-ing Republicans.

The plan to cut taxes by nearly$1.5 trillion has flown throughCongress in the month since a billwas introduced in the House, withRepublicans united in their beliefin the economic power of tax cutsand desperate for a legislative vic-tory to appease restless campaigndonors and base supporters.

During a news conference afterthe Senate vote, the majorityleader, Senator Mitch McConnellof Kentucky, expressed littledoubt that a consensus plan wouldsoon become law after a confer-ence committee resolved the dif-ferences between the two bills.“This is a great day for the coun-try,” Mr. McConnell said.

Mr. Trump echoed that opti-mism, writing on Twitter that “weare one step closer to deliveringMASSIVE tax cuts” and that helooked forward to signing a finalbill before Christmas.

The differences between themeasures, though substantial, donot appear troublesome enough toprevent Mr. Trump from achiev-ing that goal, which would be his

With Few Hurdles Left,G.O.P. Sprints to Send Tax Overhaul to Trump

By JIM TANKERSLEYand ALAN RAPPEPORT

Party Leaders NearLandmark Moment

Continued on Page 20

The Metropolitan Opera said itwas looking into a man’s claimthat the conductor James Levinehad sexually abused him as ateenager 30 years ago. Page 27.

Met to Open Levine Inquiry

MUELLER’S STAFF An F.B.I. agentwas let go over possible anti-Trump biases. PAGE 27

THE FIRING President Trump saidhe fired Michael T. Flynn becauseof lies he told to the F.B.I. PAGE 22

The Holiday Issue includes the list of100 Notable Books of 2017 and a By theBook with the author John Hodgman.

BOOK REVIEW

Holiday Books

Lawmakers added last-minuteloopholes for the wealthy andtightened deductions for middle-income workers. Page 19.

What’s in the Senate Bill?

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVII . . No. 57,800 © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2017

Today, intervals of clouds and sun-shine, high 52. Tonight, partlycloudy, seasonably cold, low 41. To-morrow, sunshine and clouds, high51. Weather map is on Page 28.

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