MHI NextDraft

1 CAN I GET A WITNESS? The Harvey Weinstein story is big because it involves a powerful perpetrator and celebrity victims operating in America’s most obsessively observed industry. But it’s also big because of its connections to the broader story of sexual harassment and abuse; who comes forward, how we treat them when they do, and what happens next. It’s easy, now, to make public pronouncements about the repugnancy of Weinstein’s monstrous history of abuse. What’s more difficult is figuring out a way to urge more victims to come forward, and to ensure that they’re not punished, in one way or another, for doing so. The New Yorker’s Jill Tolentino with a short, powerful piece on how men like Harvey Weinstein implicate their victims in their acts. Louis B. Mayer in the 1930s. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio that bore Mayer’s name, boasted that it had more stars than there are in heaven. + Manohla Dargis in the NYT: Harvey Weinstein Is Gone. But Hollywood Still Has a Problem. “What largely separates Mr. Weinstein from other predators, within and without the entertainment world, is that he was once powerful, he got caught and a number of gutsy women are on the record.”The industry’s silence has historically shielded the men who make movies, including the old studio bosses like Louis B. Mayer to whom Mr. Weinstein has often been nostalgically compared. In histories, these old-studio chiefs are genteelly referred to as womanizers, a polite metaphor for conduct that ranges from time on the casting couch, another odious euphemism, to what sounds a lot like prostitution.

2 ART OF THE REPEAL Congress couldn’t repeal the Affordable Care Act, so President Trump is looking to dismantle it piece by piece by way of executive orders. Under the guidance of Rand Paul, the first of those orders was signed today. Vox on Trump’s executive order to undermine Obamacare. “Trump wants to open more loopholes for more people to buy insurance outside the health care law’s markets, which experts anticipate would destabilize the market for customers who are left behind with higher premiums and fewer insurers.” + Boston Globe: What does Trump’s one-man effort to end Obamacare actually mean? President Trump has taken yet another step toward unilaterally upending the Affordable Care Act. Having already shortened the enrollment period, reduced funding for outreach, and withheld a key subsidy for insurers, Trump signed an executive order Thursday that could lead to lower insurance costs for healthy Americans but higher premiums for the sick, the old, and those with preexisting conditions.

3 NATURE’S THRALL After several days in which the Norcal fires have burned out of control and caused unbelievable damage, firefighters might finally be getting a few breaks from the weather. Addressing his team of sleepless fire-fighters, Santa Rosa Fire Chief Tom Gossner said: “We need to hit this thing hard and get it done. It’s time to finish this thing.” Meanwhile, the pockets of containment have allowed recovery crews into some areas to begin “the grim task of searching for bodies in the ashes of neighborhoods.” Here’s the latest from the LA Times. + Haunting drone video of a postal truck driving through streets where there used to be a neighborhood (accompanied by music that reflects how many people out here are feeling this week). + AP: Emergency alerts get scrutiny after deadly wildfires. The story is repeated again and again: The dead of night, no warning, then panic after realizing the smoke and flames were approaching. Fleeing residents from across Northern California wine country, where at least 31 people have died in wildfires that started Sunday, complained Thursday that they had no notice from authorities that the blazes were closing in, or the warnings arrived too late.

4 THE BULLY’S PULPIT Here’s a headline that, just a few months ago, would’ve been entirely unthinkable. After Prompt From TV Personality, Trump Threatens to Abandon Puerto Rico. As far as I can tell, Trump hasn’t mentioned the fires or anything about visiting Northern California. As a resident, I thank him for that. + “Interior towns like Utuado and Barranquitas face total isolation, landslides, and dwindling supplies. FEMA estimates that over a third of the islanders are in need of water, a fact underscored by alarming reports that some people have tried to obtain drinking water from contaminated EPA Superfund sites. In all, millions of people are struggling to find basic necessities, and the presence of federal aid has been tenuous or lacking in rural areas. People are dying, and people will likely continue to die from worsening illnesses.” The Atlantic: Puerto Rico’s recovery is more uncertain than ever.

5 FREED HOSTAGES TURN DOWN RIDE? From NPR: “An American woman, her Canadian husband and their three young children have been freed after five years in captivity by an extremist group in Afghanistan.” + The New Republic: On a remote spit of land in the Bay of Bengal, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are fighting for their lives.

6 MYANMAR WAS BURNING “In the next violent blur of moments, the soldiers clubbed Rajuma in the face, tore her screaming child out of her arms and hurled him into a fire. She was then dragged into a house and gang-raped. By the time the day was over, she was running through a field naked and covered in blood. Alone, she had lost her son, her mother, her two sisters and her younger brother, all wiped out in front of her eyes, she says.” From the NYT: Rohingya Recount Atrocities. + The New Republic: On a remote spit of land in the Bay of Bengal, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are fighting for their lives. The boat arrived on September 7, charging onto the beach. That morning, passengers plunged into the surf, then disappeared onto the shore, seeking shelter and a chance to sleep. In the distance, plumes of smoke drifted up from the horizon: Myanmar was burning.

7 THE BUCK STOPS ALL OVER HERE “The company’s aggressively plain yellow-and-black logo is becoming the small-town corollary to Starbucks Corp.’s two-tailed green mermaid. (Although you can spot her on canned iced coffee at Dollar General, too.) Already, there are 14,000 one-story cinder block Dollar Generals in the US—outnumbering by a few hundred the coffee chain’s domestic footprint.” From Businessweek: Dollar General Hits a Gold Mine in Rural America.

8 BLIND DATES “Loose ties have traditionally played a key role in meeting partners. While most people were unlikely to date one of their best friends, they were highly likely to date people who were linked with their group of friends; a friend of a friend, for example.” Online dating changed all that. And it’s having broader impacts on who we marry, and how long we stay married. MIT Tech Review with the first evidence that online dating is changing the nature of society.

9 The song of a captive zebra finch. The same song, as predicted from neural recordings inside the finch’s brain. BIRD BRAIN Some technologists predict that we’ll be able to control a computer or send a text using only our thoughts. It might sound like something out of a science fiction novel, but scientists have already figured out a way to read a bird’s brain and predict its next song. “The team’s main innovation was to simplify the brain-to-tweet translation.” (Just what we need. Fewer barriers between brains and tweets…)

10 BOTTOM OF THE NEWS The news has been rough over the past couple weeks. It’s even been hard to find items for the bottom of the news to offer a brief respite from the storm. I’m guessing this lede won’t do the trick: “Scientists working in and around Yellowstone National Park say that the supervolcano sitting under the tourist attraction may blow sooner than thought, an eruption that could wipe out life on the planet.” + How Video Games Satisfy Basic Human Needs. (This rings true for me. I only play solitaire.) Psychologists found that video games that allowed players to play out their “ideal selves” (embodying roles that allow them to be, for example, braver, fairer, more generous, or more glorious) were not only the most intrinsically rewarding, but also had the greatest influence on our emotions.     MHI NextDraft

WHITE HOUSE REPORT

To : <redaksi@mediahukumindonesia.com>Date : Mon, 25 Sep 2017 23:10:52 +0700   Subject : Keeping America Safe

On Sunday, President Donald J. Trump announced the establishment of enhanced national security measures, aimed at creating—for the first time in history—minimum requirements for international cooperation to support visa and immigration vetting and adjudications for individuals seeking entry to the United States. This is a critical step toward establishing an immigration system that protects Americans’ safety and security in an era of dangerous terrorism and transnational crime.

“Our government’s first duty is to its people, to our citizens — to serve their needs, to ensure their safety, to preserve their rights, and to defend their values.”

Strengthening Security Standards for Traveling to AmericaPresident Trump is taking key steps to protect the American people from those who would enter our country and do us harm. The President is putting the security of the Nation first by implementing minimum security standards for immigration, enhancing security through more rigorous vetting, and properly screening individuals coming to this country in order to ensure the safety of the American people.
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First Lady Melania Trump’s First White House Kitchen Garden Event 
First Lady Melania Trump welcomed several children from the Girls and Boys Club of Greater Washington, FBR Clubhouse in Ward 8, to the White House on Friday. Along with the National Park Service (NPS), which maintains the White House grounds, the group spent time in the White House Kitchen Garden learning about the importance of the outdoors and healthy eating.
Watch the video

Hurricane Maria
The federal government is continuing to provide life-saving and life-sustaining resources to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. While significant progress in being made in the response to Hurricane Maria, recovery for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands will be long and will require the help of the whole community. As access to ports, airfields, and roads continue to open, resources will become more easily available to the hardest hit areas.
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Photo of the Day

First Lady Melania Trump and Prince Harry at the Invictus Games | September 23, 2017 (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

POTUS and VP TODAY

Today, President Trump will have lunch with Vice President Mike Pence. The President will then make an announcement on his Administration’s commitment to equipping the American workforce for jobs of the future.

Vice President Mike Pence will travel to visit NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. There, the Vice President will visit with NASA officials and employees, and tour the center including the science mission bridge to the International Space Station.

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“5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TRUMP’S NEW NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS”

– Jonathan Easley and Rebecca Kheel, The Hill

Jonathan Easley and Rebecca Kheel of The Hill write on the five things to know about the new sanctions President Trump placed on North Korea with an executive order he signed Thursday. The new economic and travel sanctions target limiting business and trading with North Korea by making financial institutions choose between supporting the U.S. or North Korea and stating that anyone who conducts any sort of trade with North Korea can also be banned from the U.S. financial system. Easley and Kheel also mention President Trump has said he was not targeting China when signing the new sanctions into order. These sanctions follow President Trump’s address at the United Nations general assembly where he vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if it continued along the nuclear path, Easley and Kheel report.

The Dallas Morning News editorial board praises the efforts of President Trump and Congressional leaders to reform the tax code, writing that “Opportunities for comprehensive reform of the tax code do not present themselves often. With a stable economy, low unemployment and low inflation, President Trump and Congress have an excellent opportunity to provide the country with much-needed reforms to the tax code.”

On ObamaCare, The Washington Free Beacon’s Ali Meyer reports that “health care insurers in Illinois have requested an average premium rate hike of 35 percent for next year” for plans being offered on the Obamacare exchanges, saying for individuals purchasing silver plans “many counties will see increases of more than 40 percent.”

In The Washington Post, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross writes that while NAFTA has actually hindered the U.S. automotive industry, the Trump administration is working to fix the trade agreement through renegotiation to help American workers.

In economic news, Sho Chandra of Bloomberg reports that “U.S. household wealth increased in the second quarter to yet another record, driven by solid gains in financial assets and rising property values” according to newly released Federal Reserve data.

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