memeorandum: Federal employees allegedly brought in Puerto Ricans to provide them a ‘spa day’ while doing disaster relief: report (Noor Al-Sibai/Raw Story)

1:10 PM ET, October 13, 2017

Top Items:

Paul Demko / Politico:

Trump will scrap critical Obamacare subsidies — President Donald Trump plans to cut off subsidy payments to insurers selling Obamacare coverage in his most aggressive move yet to undermine his predecessor's health care law. — The subsidies, which are worth an estimated $7 billion this year …

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation:
Kaiser Health Tracking Poll - October 2017: Open Enrollment and the ACA Marketplaces

Discussion: Axios

Sam Baker / Axios:
Trump takes a sledgehammer to the ACA

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post and Daily Kos

David Anderson / New York Times:
Trump's Obamacare Order Will Deepen Health Inequality

Discussion: The White House, Health Affairs Blog, Daily Kos, Raw Story, The Commonwealth Fund, Washington Post, The Daily Signal, CNBC and Forbes

Sarah Kliff / Vox:
Trump's acting like Obamacare is just politics. It's people's lives.

Discussion: ABC News

Nicholas Bagley / The Incidental Economist:
Cutting off the cost-sharing payments.

Discussion: NPR, Talking Points Memo, NBC News and ThinkProgress

Kim Masters / Hollywood Reporter:

Amazon TV Producer Goes Public With Harassment Claim Against Top Exec Roy Price (Exclusive) — “You will love my d**k,” Price allegedly said to Isa Hackett, a producer on ‘The Man in the High Castle,’ who details a July 2015 incident at Comic-Con in San Diego.

Discussion: Variety, CNBC, Zero Hedge, CNNMoney, Washington Free Beacon, NBC News, New York Times, Mediaite, NPR, KTLA, AOL, Washington Post, Mashable, The Guardian and Axios, more at Mediagazer »

Patrick Brzeski / Hollywood Reporter:

Oliver Stone on Harvey Weinstein: “It's Not Easy What He's Going Through” — The director addressed the international media at the Busan International Film Festival, where he is serving as chair of the event's competition jury. — Oliver Stone intitially declined to condemn Harvey Weinstein …

Kate Feldman / New York Daily News:

Former Playboy Playmate Carrie Stevens accuses Oliver Stone of sexual assault after director defends Harvey Weinstein — While Oliver Stone defended Harvey Weinstein amid more than a dozen allegations of sexual harassment and assault, a former Playboy Playmate accused the “Platoon” director of sexual assault.

Discussion: IJR, Mediaite, Mashable, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

TMZ.com:

Harvey Weinstein's Contract Allowed for Sexual Harassment — Harvey Weinstein may have been fired illegally by The Weinstein Company, a company that wrote a contract that said Weinstein could get sued over and over for sexual harassment and as long as he shelled out money, that was good enough for the Company.

Discussion: Raw Story, Power Line, Instapundit, Hot Air, Althouse, Mediaite, RedState, IndieWire, twitchy.com, Fox News Insider, PerezHilton, IJR and CNNMoney

Michelle Goldberg / New York Times:

Put Women in Charge — Most women I know — and probably most women you know — have stories about sexual harassment. Mine happened in college, with a professor who was older than my father and who made me think he was genuinely interested in my writing. One day in his office, he told me he wanted to “kiss and molest” me.

Discussion: Da Tech Guy Blog, Washington Post, Right Wing Watch, NewsBusters and BuzzFeed

Lisa O'Carroll / The Guardian:
Harvey Weinstein: English actor says alleged sexual assault ruined film career

Discussion: RedState

Christopher Flavelle / Bloomberg:

How the Pentagon Spun Hurricane Maria — U.S. officials inadvertently included a Bloomberg reporter on an internal email list. Here's a glimpse into their bid to put relief efforts in a positive light. — Late last month, Pentagon communications officials inadvertently included Bloomberg …

Discussion: Raw Story

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:

69 Republicans vote against aid for Puerto Rico, other disaster sites — Legislation to provide $36.5 billion in aid for communities affected by recent wildfires and hurricanes, including Puerto Rico, secured widespread support in the House on Thursday save for 69 Republicans.

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal and The Daily Caller

Eliza Barclay / Vox:
This CNN clip shows why we need an accurate death count from Puerto Rico

Discussion: ABC News and The Hill

The Daily Beast:

McMaster Wants to Save the Iran Deal by Hiding It From Trump … In a meeting with Senate Democrats last week, President Donald Trump's top national security aide had a message for those worried that the administration may scuttle the Iran nuclear deal: If Trump doesn't have to see it, he won't be able to kill it.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The Atlantic and Al Jazeera English

Katharine Q. Seelye / New York Times:

Senator Susan Collins Will Not Run for Governor of Maine — ROCKPORT, Me. — After several months of open deliberations about her future, Senator Susan Collins of Maine announced Friday that she would not run for governor and would remain in the Senate. — Ms. Collins, a Republican …

Discussion: NBC News, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, Refinery29 and LifeNews.com

Daniel Strauss / Politico:
Collins declines run for Maine governor

Discussion: Axios

Sean Illing / Vox:

20 of America's top political scientists gathered to discuss our democracy. They're scared. — “If current trends continue for another 20 or 30 years, democracy will be toast.” — Is American democracy in decline? Should we be worried? — On October 6, some of America's top political …

Discussion: Raw Story

Kara Scannell / CNN:

Background check chief has ‘never seen’ mistakes and omissions at level of Jared Kushner forms — STORY HIGHLIGHTS — (CNN)The head of a government bureau responsible for clearing background checks told lawmakers Wednesday he has “never seen that level of mistakes” when asked …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Seth Stevenson / Slate:

The Massachusetts congressman is a white, centrist, Harvard-educated war hero who wants to remake the Democratic Party. Too bad no one wants that. — I'm squinting through the sun at the Polk County Steak Fry, trying to size up Seth Moulton. — It's a late September Saturday in Des Moines …

Avery Anapol / The Hill:

RNC chair: GOP is 'in the best place we've ever been' — Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel says the GOP is “in the best place” it's ever been. — During a visit to Denver, McDaniel said the party's high fundraising shows a strong base, the Denver Post reported.

Discussion: Denver Post, Washington Monthly and Booman Tribune

Josh Meyer / Politico:

Twitter deleted data potentially crucial to Russia probes — Twitter has deleted tweets and other user data of potentially irreplaceable value to investigators probing Russia's suspected manipulation of the social media platform during the 2016 election, according to current and former government cybersecurity officials.

Discussion: AOL and Political Wire, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

Social Media Guidelines for The Times Newsroom — The New York Times has been a dominant force on social media for years. Our newsroom accounts have tens of millions of followers. Many of our journalists are influential voices on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms.

more at Mediagazer »

Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:

Flynn ally sought help from ‘dark web’ in covert Clinton email investigation — Barbara Ledeen, a staffer on the committee looking into Trump's Russia ties and a friend of Mike Flynn, tried to launch her own investigation into Clinton's emails … A close associate of Donald Trump's former …

Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times:

California Journal They survived six hours in a pool as a wildfire burned their neighborhood to the ground — (Video by Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) — Jan Pascoe and her husband, John, were trapped. The world was on fire, and Jan was hyperventilating from fear.

Discussion: New York Post, IJR, Shakesville and Althouse

Washington Post:

‘Just ash and bone’: Death toll in California wildfires reaches historically grim heights — SANTA ROSA, Calif. — The horrific scale of death and destruction is coming into focus, even as the wildfires continue to rage throughout Northern California. — Thirty-one confirmed dead, many of them elderly.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and NPR

Alexander Nazaryan / Newsweek:

WHO BROKE CONGRESS? DENNIS HASTERT, FORMER SPEAKER, BREAKS TWO-YEAR SILENCE TO DENY ROLE IN GRIDLOCK — In 1978, E.J. Dionne Jr. was a young reporter covering New York state politics in Albany. That same year, a young historian from Georgia finally won a seat in the House of Representatives, after two failed attempts.

Discussion: twitchy.com

Devin Henry / The Hill:

Trump taps climate skeptic to lead White House environment office — President Trump has nominated a skeptic of climate change science to lead the White House's environmental policy board. — The White House late Thursday announced that Trump picked Kathleen Hartnett White to serve as a member …

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Daily Caller

Noor Al-Sibai / Raw Story:

Federal employees allegedly brought in Puerto Ricans to provide them a ‘spa day’ while doing disaster relief: report — A veteran doctor who's worked on humanitarian missions in ten countries affected by disaster quit abruptly after allegedly witnessing federal disaster relief staffers …

Discussion: The Root

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:

Hannity hits back at Sasse: ‘Call me when you repeal ObamaCare loser’ — Fox News host Sean Hannity fanned the flames of his feud with Sen. Ben Sasse — (R-Neb.) late Thursday, saying he has “done nothing” in D.C. and to “call me when you repeal ObamaCare loser.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze, Political Wire and Mediaite