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 27 October 19 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation!
Frank Rich | Republican Impeachment Panic Sets In
 Frank Rich, New York Magazine Rich writes: "When Richard Nixon finally was forced to concede in August 1974, that a 1972 White House tape implicated him in the Watergate cover-up, the conservative columnist George F. Will called the revelation a 'smoking howitzer.' Nixon was gone four days later." READ MORE  John Kelly has faced criticism that he did not manage to restrain Donald Trump's wilder impulses. (photo: Leah Millis/Reuters)
John Kelly: "Don't Hire Someone That Will Just Nod and Say, 'That's a Great Idea Mr President.' Because You Will Be Impeached."
Martin Pengelly, Guardian UK Pengelly writes: "Donald Trump has hit back at his former chief of staff, John Kelly, after Kelly said he had warned the president about impeachment." READ MORE  Ivanka Trump. (photo: Kristen Hazzard/The Daily Beast/Getty Images)
How Ivanka Trump and Her Team Cry, Cajole and Carp to Get Her Out of Bad Press
Hannah Seligson, The Daily Beast Seligson writes: "On August 16, 2016, just a few weeks after his father-in-law, Donald J. Trump, had clinched the Republican nomination for president, Esquire magazine ran a story entitled 'Jared Kushner's Second Act.' It was written by veteran journalist Vicky Ward and exposed a number of less-than-flattering details about the then 35-year-old head of his family's real estate firm, Kushner Companies."
EXCERPTS:
While Jared and Ivanka might not go full Harvey Weinstein on reporters—the former movie executive hired ex-Mossad agents to track journalists and intimidate sources—there is no question, Ward says, that Jared and Ivanka have no compunction going to the head of news outlets to interfere with pieces they deem unflattering. “Every reporter knows they will be on the phone to Rupert Murdoch. Their guiding credo is PR above everything else. Ivanka thinks she is brilliant at public relations,” said Ward, the author of Kushner, Inc., and a senior reporter at CNN.
That might explain, in part, why Hunter Biden has gone through a media inquisition about his dealings in Ukraine and China, while Ivanka received virtually no additional press scrutiny after The New Yorker detailed her work on a real estate project in Azerbaijan with local partners who had alleged ties to the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist organization. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee subsequently called on the Justice Department and the Treasury Department to investigate the deal for possibly violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Then there was Ivanka’s very close brush with a criminal indictment for inflating condo sales to potential buyers at the Trump Soho, a development project she helped oversee. And remember it was Ivanka, among others, who advocated for the hiring of Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn. (A spokesperson for a prominent Washington think tank told me it was “malpractice” by congressional Democrats that Ivanka hasn’t been subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee.) Somehow, though, none of these poor judgement calls have made it into the dominant media narrative about the first daughter.
....Ivanka can also go into full attack mode when the news cycle winds aren’t favorable, specifically when she feels particularly embarrassed and belittled by the coverage. Take, for instance, the reaction of the White House press office after BBC reporter Parham Ghabodi tweeted a video taken by the French presidential palace showing Ivanka trying awkwardly to insert herself into a conversation with world leaders.
Ivanka Trump appears to be trying to get involved in a talk among Macron, May, Trudeau and Lagarde (IMF head).
The video is released by French Presidential palace.
Ivanka’s image has been immensely bolstered—and protected—by the lifestyle press. Just look at the Daily Mail’s breathless, almost sycophantic coverage that assiduously chronicles every outfit Ivanka wears as it would a member of the royal family, reinforcing Ivanka’s chosen image as an untouchable celebrity.
One way to look at Ivanka and her relationship with the press is that she is just another chapter in what is becoming the prevailing storyline of this era in American history: the protected status afforded to white, wealthy, socially connected, and media-savvy titans of business and culture. Something that has always stuck with me is an off-hand comment an editor made to me when I asked why there were so many roadblocks to covering Ivanka. The editor responded that many in the media see her as one of their own.
 Bernie Sanders. (image: Alex Wong/Ryan McVay/Slate/Getty Images/Thinkstock)
How Bernie Sanders Made Burlington Affordable
Jake Blumggart, Slate Blumggart writes: "Bob Robbins bought his home in 1995 amid a bout of long-term unemployment. Living with his wife and two kids in a rundown rental in Burlington, Vermont, he wanted to stabilize the family's housing before his children started kindergarten. Prospects seemed bleak." READ MORE  Border wall. (photo: Herika Martinez/AFP/Getty Images)
Trump Administration Has Acquired Little of the Private Land in Texas It Needs for Border Barrier
Nick Miroff and Arelis R. Hernández, The Washington Post Excerpt: "The Trump administration has acquired just 16 percent of the private land in Texas it needs to build the president's border barrier, casting doubt on his campaign promise to complete nearly 500 miles of new fencing by the end of next year." READ MORE  More than 190 people have been killed since the protests first broke out in early October. (photo: Hadi Mizban/AP)
Hundreds Continue Protests in Baghdad as Death Toll Tops 60
Al Jazeera Excerpt: "Hundreds of Iraqi protesters have remained in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square on Sunday, defying a bloody crackdown that killed at least 60 people over the weekend and an overnight raid by security forces seeking to disperse them."
EXCERPT:
On Saturday, security forces fired tear gas and opened live fire on thousands of protesters who tried to reach Baghdad's Green Zone, home to government offices and embassies.
Three protesters were killed when they were struck with tear gas canisters in Baghdad while another three were shot dead in the southern city of Nasiriyah after attacking a local official's home.
The protests are a continuation of the economically driven demonstrations that began in early October and turned deadly as security forces began cracking down and using live ammunition. At least 190 people have since been killed.
The ongoing turmoil has broken nearly two years of relative stability in Iraq, which in recent years has endured an invasion by the United States and protracted fighting, including against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group.
The demonstrations have posed the biggest challenge yet to the year-old government of Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi, who has pledged to address demonstrators' grievances by reshuffling his cabinet and delivering a package of reforms.
The moves have done little to quell the demonstrators, however, whose ire is focused not just on Mahdi's administration but also Iraq's wider political establishment, which they say has failed to improve the lives of the country's citizens.
Many view the political elite as subservient to one or other of Iraq's two main allies, the US and Iran - powers they believe are more concerned with wielding regional influence than ordinary Iraqis' needs.
Nearly three-fifths of Iraq's 40 million people live on less than six dollars a day, World Bank figures show, despite the country housing the world's fifth-largest proven reserves of oil.
 Inside Vinni Orsini's tent classroom. (photo: Rachel Ramirez/Grist)
A Year Ago, This Island Was Hit With the Worst US Storm Since 1935. What Happened Next?
Rachel Ramirez, Grist Ramirez writes: "Vinni Orsini used to work in a place straight out of a fantasy: From the vast windows of his classroom, the social studies teacher and his students could look in one direction and see white sand beaches and the clear waters of the Pacific Ocean. In the other direction rose Mt. Tapochau, its peak the highest point on the island of Saipan."
EXCERPTS:
Hurricane Maria made headlines two years ago when it pummeled Puerto Rico, another U.S. territory, but many mainland Americans didn’t hear much about Super Typhoon Yutu. That’s not only because of the scarce media attention, but also because the islands are largely missing from U.S. history textbooks.
Now, a year has gone by since Yutu battered the Northern Marianas, and residents are still reeling, waiting for government funding, watching warily as another storm season passes, and wondering when things will get back to normal.
The Northern Mariana Islands — Saipan, Tinian, and Rota — are dots on the map in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, about 1,600 miles east of the Philippines. Saipan played a pivotal role during World War II, when U.S. forces seized the island from Japanese control and used its air base to launch B-29 bombers at the Japanese mainland.
After the war, the Northern Marianas, along with Guam, turned into a hub for U.S. military forces, strategies, and tests. The islands became a U.S. territory in 1975. Over time, Saipan and Guam turned into tropical getaways for tourists coming from all over East Asia.
Today, the Northern Mariana Islands have a population of nearly 55,000 people. Just like in Puerto Rico and Guam, anyone born on these islands is a U.S. citizen.
Some island nations are taking steps to combat rising seas by passing climate legislation and resiliency plans. Kiribati, which has been inundated by a series of extreme “king tides,” has already put out an adaptation plan on top of its policies to mitigate climate impacts, such as constructing seawalls and resilient infrastructures. During the U.N. General Assembly in September, the Marshall Islands unveiled a plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Palau, Guam, and other small island nations are following suit.
The government of the Northern Marianas, however, has not passed any serious policy to combat, or adapt to, the climate crisis. Governor Ralph Torres, a Republican, has thrown his support behind President Trump, whose administration has been weakening federal and state environmental regulations.
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