WHITE HOUSE REPORT

To : <redaksi@mediahukumindonesia.com>Date : Wed, 11 Oct 2017 02:58:46 +0700 Subject : Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

White House Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month 
On Friday, President Donald J. Trump hosted an event to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month and Hispanic American leaders at the White House. More than 200 Hispanic business, community, and faith leaders from across the country gathered at the White House to hear remarks from President Trump, Secretary Alex Acosta of the Department of Labor, and Treasurer Jovita Carranza from the Department of Treasury.

President Trump discussed the histories, cultures, and many contributions of Hispanic-Americans to our Nation. “Our amazing Hispanic American communities embody our great American values of faith, and family, and security, and hard work, and freedom,” the President said. He also highlighted the contributions of more than a quarter of a million Hispanic Americans serving in the military, “We are all Americans and bound together by this country and this flag,” said the President. “Each of you represents a vital part of the fabric of this Nation.”

Read more about the Hispanic Heritage celebration here.

We Will Get Through This Together
Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Friday to survey storm damage and meet with members of the community affected by Hurricane Maria. The Vice President visited a local church-turned-relief center, reminding those gathered that they will have the support of the federal government throughout the recovery process. “We will get through this and we will get through this together for everyone,” he said.

Read the Vice President’s remarks, see more from the visit, and read about the Second Lady’s art therapy outreach to Puerto Rican children.

Hurricane Relief and Recovery 
Over the weekend, President Trump signed emergency declarations for Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana and ordered Federal assistance to supplement hurricane relief and response efforts in the wake of Hurricane Nate. These declarations will help expedite recovery measures such as debris removal.

For more information, and to apply for assistance if you have been impacted by the storm, visit FEMA’s website.

Photo of the Day

Vice President Mike Pence visits victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico | October 7, 2017 (Official White House Photo by D. Myles Cullen)

POTUS AND VP TODAY

This morning, the President received his daily intelligence briefing, followed by a meeting with Dr. Henry Kissinger. In the afternoon, the President had lunch with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Later, the President welcomed the Stanley Cup Champions: The Pittsburgh Penguins to the White House.

Vice President Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence are in California where they will participate in a briefing on Mojave Air and Space Port and then tour the Virgin Orbit/Virgin Galactic/The Spaceship Company hangar. After that, they will tour the Stratolaunch Systems carrier plane, and then depart for Washington, D.C.

10/10/17/ White House Press Briefing :

COMING UP

Tomorrow, the President and First Lady will welcome the Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and Mrs. Gregoire Trudeau to the White House.

THE WHITE HOUSE  MHI 

Q-MHI Daily Brief ;

Good morning, Q-MHI readers!

Most Twitter users around the world should now be able to tweet in 280 characters instead of 140. Take care, it’s a big responsibility.

As US president Donald Trump has repeatedly shown, it’s possible to tweet yourself in the foot, especially when it comes to making policies that are subject to the checks and balances of the judicial system. And unlike him, most of us aren’t even adding much of potential global importance anyway; according to a 2015 study, Twitter users spend 80% of online conversations talking about themselves.

More space is a funny thing to receive at a time when quality, not quantity, is the problem. Just days ago, executives from Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, testified before the US Congressabout the spread of propaganda and misinformation on their platforms during the 2016 US presidential election. And along with Russian bot networks, social-media users have to navigate a rising tide of hate speech and ad hominem attacks. Must we now suffer through doubly long versions of the same?

To reach a higher quality of public discourse, what we actually need is less of it. You can do your part: When online channels tempt your stream of consciousness, consider self-editing a civic duty. Before availing yourself of all 280 characters, remember that if it can be shorter, it probably should be. And use the buddy system! Ask a friend or an experienced editor if your rant really needs to heardbefore pressing send.

Of course, our ability to freely add to the public record has also allowed the rise of important new voices to make themselves heard; the unprecedented hashtag #MeToo, for example, is allowing women to finally confront power players in politics and in Hollywood who’d long drowned out their accusations. In the moments when you choose not to tweet at all, you’re saving your own time and attention for those voices that might otherwise get lost in the din.

Silence, after all, is the only way to find out what other people are saying.—Caitlin Hu (MHI)

FIVE THINGS ON Q-MHI WE ESPECIALLY LIKED

It’s time to get low. Many of us in the developed world spend most of our lives sitting, and our devotion to placing our backsides in chairs is damaging our health, writes Rosie Spinks. The deep squat—not the weight-bearing gym squat—is a posture we should learn to relax in.

A new way to talk about Asia. US presidents have long discussed US interests in the “Asia-Pacific.” But in the past few weeks, Trump’s team has started using the relatively obscure term “Indo-Pacific”instead. Nikhil Sonnad explains the term and whether it is just another way for Trump to insult China.

How the internet transformed sex work. In the past 20 years, the market for illegal sex services has changed: There are now more women selling sex, more overall encounters, and higher wages for workers. Allison Schrager, Christopher Groskopf, and Scott Cunningham take a long look at the pros and cons of this shift.

The brain behind Beijing. If US political strategist Steve Bannon was once the “brain” of the White House, shaping Donald Trump’s thinking from trade to immigration, then the neo-authoritarian theorist Wang Huning is the brain of Beijing. Zheping Huang delves into the intellect behind the ideologies espoused by not just one, but three Chinese presidents.

Why we can’t separate Louis CK from his art. As sexual assault allegations mount in the entertainment industry, what should audiences do? Thu-Huong Ha analyzes the ethics of consuming art made by people with less-than-admirable personal lives. By playing unacceptable behavior for laughs, she argues, comedian Louis CK has created an unprecedented level of complicity for fans.

FIVE THINGS ELSEWHERE THAT MADE US SMARTER

YouTube’s algorithms are terrorizing a generation of children.From disembodied Disney characters to bleach-drinking heroines, something is wrong on the internet. British artist James Bridle climbs into the bowels of YouTube for an in-depth analysis of the disturbing world of bot-ified children’s videos—and the click-driven culture that encourages it.

The business of friendship. Ishii Yuichi has been pretending to be the father of a teenage girl for eight years and she still thinks he’s her real dad. In a fascinating Atlantic interview with Roc Morin, Yuichi discusses the complexities of his relationship-for-hire business, Family Romance, and notes, “It feels like work to care for a real person.”

How to make it as an online sportswriter. By the time she graduated high school, teenager Becca Shultz had managed to grow a five-year career as a professional sportswriter. To do it, she assumed the persona of a married man, with a penchant for harassing women online. Deadspin’s Lyndsey Adler investigates the strange story behind baseball blogger “Ryan Schultz.”

The forever Trumpers. When a Politico reporter revisited Trump voters in a depressed Pennsylvania steel town, he found they were still loyal, but in a new way. “Voters do not intend to hold the president accountable” for the promises he has yet to fulfill, writes Michael Kruse. Instead of moving the goalposts, they have “eliminated the goalposts altogether.”

When college students swear off technology. While some teachers are introducing controversial “tech breaks” for students to check messages and social networks, one University of Pennsylvania class has sworn off technology altogether. For New Hampshire Public Radio, Barbara King explores the surprising easewith which college students gave up their phones.

Q-MHI 

The Week MHI dailybriefing ;

1. Washington Post: Senate candidate Roy Moore fondled 14-year-old girl A woman told The Washington Post that Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 years old and Moore, now 70, was a 32-year-old prosecutor. The woman, Leigh Corfman, said Moore kissed and fondled her, and “guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.” Three other women said Moore started inappropriate relationships with them when they were 16 to 18. Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, called the allegations “completely false” and “a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party.” The White House said President Trump believes a “mere allegation” shouldn’t be allowed to “destroy [Moore’s] life,” but that he should “step aside” if the accusations are true. Source: The Washington Post, MarketWatch

2. Senate Republicans’ corporate tax-cut delay spooks markets Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled their tax plan, which differed from the House version on some key points. Like their House counterparts, whose revised bill was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, Senate Republicans want to cut the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent, but they want to delay the reduction until 2019. Stocks, which have been boosted by anticipation of corporate breaks, dropped Thursday and headed for another fall Friday due to investors’ concerns over the Senate’s proposed delay. Supporters of the legislation also worried that the differences between the House and Senate bills on such issues as whether to keep deductions for state and local taxes could threaten efforts to pass the overhaul quickly. Source: Reuters, MarketWatch

3. Trump touts America-first policies at Asia summit President Trump said at a regional summit in Vietnam on Thursday that the U.S. “will not tolerate” trade abuses, saying only countries that “follow the rules” will get U.S. business. Trump said that the U.S. had removed trade barriers to let foreign goods into the U.S., but many countries have not reciprocated by opening their markets. “We are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore,” the president said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in Danang. “I am always going to put America first, the same way that I expect all of you in this room to put your countries first.” Despite speculation of a possible one-on-one meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the White House said “scheduling conflicts” would prevent a meeting. Source: NPR

4. Ex-Trump bodyguard rejected Russia offer to send women to Trump’s room President Trump’s former security chief, Keith Schiller, privately testified to the House Intelligence Committee that he refused a Russian offer to send five women to Trump’s hotel room during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant, CNN reported Thursday, citing several sources with direct knowledge of the testimony. Schiller, a longtime Trump confidant, reportedly said he assumed the offer was a joke, and that he and Trump laughed it off. Committee members brought up the matter because of a controversial dossier compiled by a former British intelligence agent, Christopher Steele, working on opposition research funded by Democrats during last year’s presidential campaign. Steele concluded that Russia had dirt on Trump, including salacious details of an alleged encounter with prostitutes in Moscow. Source: CNN, The Hill

5. Putin calls Olympic disqualifications a U.S. plot to influence Russian election Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday suggested that the U.S. is pushing for the disqualification of Russian athletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics in an attempt to interfere in Russia’s presidential campaign. Putin noted that the Olympics start in February in PyeongChang, South Korea, and Russia’s election is in March. “There are very strong suspicions that all that is done because someone needs to create an atmosphere of discontent among sports fans and athletes over the state’s alleged involvement in violations and responsibility for it,” Putin said, adding that the U.S. might be trying to “create problems in the Russian presidential election in response to our alleged interference in theirs.” Source: The Washington Post

6. Texas pastor says church where massacre occurred will be demolished Pastor Frank Pomeroy, leader of the Texas church where a gunman murdered 26 people on Sunday, told leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention that the building would be demolished. The pastor said the church was “too stark of a reminder” of the massacre, in which his own teenaged daughter was killed, said a spokesman for the national church. The decision won’t be final until surviving congregation members are consulted. Charlene Uhl, whose 16-year-old daughter Haley Krueger was killed, agreed that the building should be torn down, saying as she visited a row of white crosses placed on the property that there should be a church, “but not here.” Other sites of some other mass shootings, such as Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, also have been demolished. Source: The Associated Press

7. Excused juror says she would have found Sen. Bob Menendez not guilty A juror excused from Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) bribery trial said she would have found him “not guilty on every charge.” The former juror, Evelyn Arroyo-Maultsby, said she believed the government was “railroading him,” and she predicted the jurors would be unable to resolve disagreements on the case. “It’s a hung jury right now,” she said after she was dismissed Thursday at the end of the third day of deliberations. The judge replaced Arroyo-Maultsby to keep a promise that she would be able to make a trip planned earlier. Prosecutors accuse Menendez of doing business favors for Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen in exchange for lavish gifts and campaign contributions. Menendez and Melgen deny it, saying they are just close friends. Source: The Hill, NJ.com

8. Study: Aaron Hernandez had worst CTE ever seen in person his age One-time New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who hanged himself in prison in April while serving a life sentence for murder, suffered the most severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) ever observed in a person his age, Boston University researchers revealed at a medical conference on Thursday. The researchers said the damage would have significantly affected his thinking and judgment. Doctors found that Hernandez had Stage 3 CTE, never before seen in a brain younger than 46 years old. The finding was expected to fuel renewed debate in football’s concussion crisis, and heighten concerns over the possibility of injuries to young players. Source: The Washington Post

9. 80 percent of Puerto Rico without power after repaired line fails A major Puerto Rico power line repaired by the tiny Montana company Whitefish Energy failed on Thursday, leaving more than 80 percent of the island, including parts of San Juan and other major cities, without electricity, two months after Hurricane Maria. The failure of the line early Thursday knocked out 25 percent of the U.S. Caribbean island territory’s power generation, which had been restored to 43 percent capacity, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority said. Whitefish, which lost its contract after critics questioned its qualifications, denied that the new problems “have anything to do with the repairs Whitefish Energy performed,” spokesperson Brandon Smulyan said. Source: BuzzFeed News

10. NYT: Five women accuse Louis C.K. of sexual misconduct Five women told The New York Times in an article published Thursday that comedian Louis C.K. either asked to masturbate in front of them or in fact did it, without permission. Comedian Rebecca Corry said C.K. asked to pleasure himself in front of her while they were on set for a TV pilot in 2005, but she declined. Comedic duo Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov said that in 2002, they went to hang out with C.K. in a hotel room and, before they removed their winter coats, C.K. asked them if he could take out his penis. The women thought he was joking, but then “he really did it. … He proceeded to take all of his clothes off … and started masturbating.” When reached for comment, C.K.’s publicist told the Times that the comedian “would not answer any questions.” Source: The New York Times The Week MHI