October 1, 2017

Trump's upbeat Puerto Rico rhetoric clashes with reality on the ground

By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM and MARC CAPUTO 09/29/2017 07:47 PM EDT

President Donald Trump says his administration is deftly responding to the devastating hurricane that leveled Puerto Rico, but the jarring gap between his rhetoric and the dramatic reports about dire conditions there is raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of recovery efforts on the island.

As his administration grapples with the third hurricane to hit the United States in a matter of weeks, and as the relief operation in Puerto Rico kicks into gear, Trump has repeatedly said he’s getting positive reviews. "Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello just stated: 'The Administration and the President, every time we've spoken, they've delivered,'” Trump tweeted Friday. But nine days after Hurricane Maria knocked out the island’s power, communications system and some roadways, Americans there are still struggling to get supplies and phone service.

“There’s always a danger whenever you start responding in a way that says, ‘Hey we’ve done a great job,’ and there are still people in need,” said Thomas Atkin, a former Coast Guard admiral and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense under President Barack Obama. “It’s kind of like a football coach at halftime saying, ‘Hey, we’re winning.’ You still have half a game to play.”

Publicly, Trump and Gov. Ricardo Rosselló have praised each other, with the president claiming Friday morning on Twitter, “FEMA and First Responders are amazing. Governor said ‘great job!’” But while Rosselló has repeatedly expressed gratitude for the federal help, he told MSNBC on Friday that the federal “response still is not where it needs to be.”

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/29/trump-puerto-rico-rhetoric-reality-243325

October 1, 2017

Could America's Socialists Become the Tea Party of the Left?

No longer happy to languish in principled irrelevance, socialists are plotting a Sanders-like insurgency inside the Democratic party.

By ANDREW HANNA and TAYLOR GEE October 01, 2017

If America’s democratic socialists learned anything from watching Bernie Sanders’ deep run in the Democratic primary last year, it’s that they don’t have to be losers any more.

Inspired by the Vermont senator’s success at forcing leftwing ideas into the nomination battle, the nation’s largest socialist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America, has watched its dues-paying membership, which historically has hovered around 5,000, swell to 25,000. The DSA is still nowhere near the levels of the Socialist Party in 1920 when nearly a million people voted for Eugene Debs, but its members, too young to remember the Cold War much less the “red scares” of the 1910s and 1950s, aren’t content to sit quietly on the political sidelines, perennially irrelevant in a system built to sustain two major parties.

They want to win. And to do it, socialists are dispensing with their penchant for symbolic protest votes and their principled disdain for an electoral process they believe can’t deliver meaningful change. Sanders’ ability to run well in primaries across the country, say new DSA members, proved that democratic socialism isn’t destined for the kind of third-party tokenism that bedevils the Green Party and World Workers Party among others. And it has opened their minds to an electoral strategy that was until very recently considered heretical.

“The only viable electoral strategy is to work with the Democratic Party,” says Michael Kazin, the editor of leftist magazine Dissent. “There is no viable third party.”

The consequence of this willingness to play in the main arena is that a loose confederacy of splinter groups—socialists, anarchists, communists and leftists, all spearheaded by the DSA—are more willing than ever to sacrifice ideological purity for a chance to work as insurgent coalition inside the Democratic Party. The DSA leadership insists that it feels no loyalty to the Democratic National Committee, but it is eager to challenge Democrats on their own turf.

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http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/01/could-americas-socialists-become-the-tea-party-of-the-left-215661

October 1, 2017

WH budget chief: 'Detailed analysis' of tax plan not yet possible

Source: The Hill



BY MALLORY SHELBOURNE - 10/01/17 09:35 AM EDT

White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney in a Sunday interview dismissed criticism of the Republican tax plan, saying it is not yet complete.

In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Jake Tapper asked Mulvaney if he could say how the plan will benefit the wealthiest Americans.

“No, in fact, I don’t think anybody can. And anybody who says they can is simply lying to you,” Mulvaney said. “Why is that? It’s because the bill is not finished yet.” Mulvaney emphasized that the plan rolled out last week by President Trump and congressional Republcans is “a framework.”

“I’ve seen the criticism and all I can tell you is that no one can make real detailed analysis of the plan yet because it is not finished,” he said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/353303-white-house-budget-chief-no-one-can-analyze-tax-plan-because-its-not

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Mulvaney: Price's travel was legal, but question is if it was right


White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney explained on Sunday the investigations into former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price's use of private jets for government business, saying the travel was legal, but ethical questions remain.

"My guess is, and there's a couple of ongoing investigations into a couple of different agencies right now, we'll find out that all of this travel was entirely legal. The question is whether or not it's right, and I think that's the lens the president wants to look at this travel through, not just whether or not it follows the law," Mulvaney told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."

Mulvaney's comments come after the White House issued a memo to members of President Trump's Cabinet on Friday outlining rules for travel after Price resigned on Friday over backlash for his expensive travel habits.

Price was not the only Cabinet member under fire for his travel on government business.

more
http://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/353304-mulvaney-prices-travel-was-legal-but-question-is-if-it-was-right

October 1, 2017

Republicans ignore Trump's bipartisan Dreamers deal

House GOP lawmakers insist that wall funding should be part of any immigration talks.

By RACHAEL BADE and HEATHER CAYGLE 10/01/2017 06:58 AM EDT

President Donald Trump may want to partner with “Chuck and Nancy” on a solution for Dreamers, but House Republicans say forget it — at least for now.

GOP leaders are resisting Trump’s push to salvage the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals initiative with bipartisan cooperation. Instead, at the behest of a conservative conference that loathes the Obama-era program giving work permits to young undocumented immigrants, Republicans are crafting a solution that sticks to party orthodoxy.

A GOP working group formed by Speaker Paul Ryan held two meetings last week to discuss immigration, and sources say there was virtually no support among members for Trump’s tentative DACA deal with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

Multiple House GOP sources told POLITICO that Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico must be part of any discussion about DACA. That would completely contradict the accord struck by the president and Democratic leaders, in which undocumented youth would get relief in exchange for enhanced border security but not a dime in wall funding.

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/01/dreamers-house-gop-border-wall-trump-immigration-243311

October 1, 2017

Trump Is Making Canada Great Again

While America closes its borders, its northern neighbor is poaching some of the best tech talent in the world.

By RICHARD FLORIDA and JOSHUA GANS October 01, 2017

It’s no secret that the United States has long dominated cutting-edge technologies, from personal computers and biotech to smartphones and social media. One big reason: America’s track record of attracting global talent, like the Scottish-born steel magnate Andrew Carnegie or the Hungarian-born Andrew Grove, a pioneer in the semiconductor industry, or, more recently, Google’s Sergey Brin—and many other entrepreneurs in between and afterward.

But that edge may be disappearing thanks to the new president. Just eight months into office, President Donald Trump has moved to cut legal immigration by half over the next decade, increase security along the border, build a wall with Mexico, ban travel indefinitely from several countries and overturn DACA, the Obama-era policy that grants work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as minors. The Trump administration has also suggested limiting “startup visas” for high-tech entrepreneurs entering the United States, and massively cutting America’s funding for scientific research. Trump’s aggressive “America first” posture on trade and international diplomacy has transformed the United States into something of a pariah nation, out of touch with the basic norms and values of advanced democracies.

Trump might see these proposals as part of his core political agenda to prioritize Americans and their jobs, and make the United States “great again.” But, while America turns inward, another country stands to benefit: Canada.

Why? It’s not just that Canada has opened centers for refugees streaming over the border from the United States, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally welcoming some of them to the country. Canada is specifically recruiting the skilled, ambitious talent that drives innovation and economic growth, including top thinkers and workers in technology and industry. Canadian universities—which rank among the world’s best in fields like computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and artificial intelligence—are aggressively recruiting foreign students, who in turn are matriculating in Canada at higher levels than before Trump’s election. And Canadian cities—particularly Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, which rate among the best places in the world to live—are attracting more venture capital to fund the tech industry, on par with American tech hubs like Seattle and Austin.



more
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/01/donad-trump-making-canada-great-again-215651

October 1, 2017

Seth Moulton -- who? -- plants his flag in Iowa

By James Pindell GLOBE STAFF SEPTEMBER 30, 2017

DES MOINES — Eight days after a wedding, most newlyweds are still on their honeymoon. Not US Representative Seth Moulton, who instead found himself in Iowa Saturday — without his wife — learning to flip a fried steak.

He also just might have been laying the groundwork to run for president of the United States.

“You’re probably asking yourself what on earth a sophomore congressman from Massachusetts is doing here,” Moulton told hundreds of Democratic activists gathered in a field at the sprawling Water Works Park.

“To be honest, giving a political speech in Iowa is just about the last place I would have expected to find myself when I was . . . in Iraq a few years ago,” Moulton said, referring to his service as a Marine Corps officer.

“The answer to all those questions is simple: It’s the right thing to do. Because we can do better, and we need to do better.”

Iowa’s annual steak fry, sponsored by the Polk County Democrats, is a unique institution in US politics. The photo-op at the grill and the keynote speech have been traditional first stops for future Democratic presidential candidates, from Bill Clinton to Al Gore to Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

more
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/09/30/seth-moulton-who-plants-his-flag-iowa/k3JxytV1GmgK1cGj2XEXZM/story.html

October 1, 2017

Trump Scolded Price for Two Hours

September 30, 2017 at 5:36 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

President Trump “berated” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price “in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon for about two hours before heading out to meet with reporters, according to people informed about the meeting,” the New York Times reports.

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https://politicalwire.com/2017/09/30/trump-scolded-price-two-hours/

October 1, 2017

Pelosi: 'We didn't win the elections, but we've won every fight'

Source: The Hill




BY REBECCA SAVRANSKY - 10/01/17 08:16 AM EDT

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a new interview that Democrats have been successful in "every fight" since President Trump was elected.

During an interview for The New York Times' podcast "The New Washington," Pelosi explained the reasons she stayed in her role in Congress instead of leaving the government.

She said she expected Hillary Clinton to become president. "We’d have a woman president and so there would be a woman not at a seat at the table, but at the head of the table for the world,” she said.

“We wanted to have a woman president,” she continued. “But when we didn’t, then I couldn’t walk away and say, OK, just let all the men have the seats at the table that are making decisions for our country.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/353294-pelosi-we-didnt-win-the-elections-but-weve-won-every-fight

October 1, 2017

Trump Goes After 'Politically Motivated Ingrates' on Twitter for Criticizing Puerto Rico Response

Source: Mediaite




by Josh Feldman | 8:42 am, October 1st, 2017

President Trump is back on Twitter this morning slamming the people criticizing his response to the crisis in Puerto Rico.

After slamming the “fake news” and the mayor of San Juan yesterday, the President today tweeted that the criticism is coming from “politically motivated ingrates”:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914465475777695744
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914466534365569025
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/914467502251528192


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Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-goes-after-politically-motivated-ingrates-on-twitter-for-criticizing-puerto-rico-response/

October 1, 2017

Defiant Catalans vote on split from Spain despite crackdown

Source: Reuters




#WORLD NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2017 / 12:04 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish riot police burst into polling stations across Catalonia on Sunday confiscating ballot boxes and voting papers to try to halt a banned referendum on a split from Spain as Madrid asserted its authority over the rebel region.

Police broke down doors to force entry into voting stations as defiant Catalans shouted ‘Out with the occupying forces!” and sang the anthem of the wealthy northeastern region. In one incident in Barcelona, police fired rubber bullets.

The referendum, declared illegal by Spain’s central government, has thrown the country into its worst constitutional crisis in decades and deepened a centuries-old rift between Madrid and Barcelona.

Despite the police action, hundreds-strong queues of people formed in cities and villages throughout the region to cast their votes. At one Barcelona polling station, elderly people and those with children entered first.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-politics-catalonia/defiant-catalans-vote-on-split-from-spain-despite-crackdown-idUSKCN1C60YA