Politics

Politico reports: Florida’s legislative black caucus on Tuesday bashed White House chief of staff John Kelly as “an empty suit” and called on him to apologize to Rep. Frederica Wilson for falsely accusing her amid a controversy concerning the death of an Army soldier who was a constituent of hers. The group’s news conference marked the seventh straight day that …

CBS News reports: President Donald Trump has arrived on Capitol Hill to lunch with GOP senators after sparring with several of them, as congressional Republicans turn to overhauling the tax code. The president arrived and was escorted by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as reporters shouted questions. The two are set to meet briefly before they head to Senate policy lunches …

In a Daily Beast interview that’s mostly about Kathy Griffin’s very public feud with celebrity lawyer Lisa Bloom, we get this tidbit: When Kevin Frazier of Entertainment Tonight asked her whether she had spoken to Anderson Cooper, her longtime friend, co-host, and comic foil on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show, she shook her head, cried, and managed to blurt how …

GOP Sen. Bob Corker was on television this morning and of course “too busy to watch TV” Trump was watching. ABC News reports: Republican Sen. Bob Corker today stood by his remarks criticizing the White House as an “adult day care center” and arguing that President Trump is putting the United States on a path toward “World War III.” “I …

The New York Daily News reports: Make Halloween Great Again. President Trump’s selling of orange jack-o’-lantern “Make America Great Again” hats is causing a social media frenzy. The orange “MAGA Pumpkin Hat,” which is “proudly made in the USA,” is being sold for $45 each, has a jack-o’-lantern’s face embroidered on the front and the President’s infamous campaign slogan written …

The Guardian reports: A Montana Republican party official “would have shot” Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs if he had approached her as he did Greg Gianforte, who assaulted Jacobs one day before he was elected to Congress. Jacobs approached Gianforte in May, in a room where he was about to give a television interview. The Republican slammed Jacobs to the floor, …

Politico reports: Elton John Monday condemned Georgia state Rep. Betty Price, wife of former HHS Secretary Tom Price, for making comments suggesting that HIV patients be quarantined. The singer, an advocate for HIV patients, said that Price’s comments captured on videotape during a legislative meeting last week are “horrific, discriminatory, and astonishingly ill-informed.” “As a doctor and elected official from …

Bloomberg reports: Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim ordered a probe on Monday into a giant banner depicting fictional boxer Rocky Balboa at a soccer match at Galatasaray stadium, sending the team’s shares plunging on the Borsa Istanbul. The banner unfurled at Sunday’s match featured an image of the character portrayed by actor Sylvester Stallone and was framed by the words …

Joshua Peck writes at Medium: The Trump administration recently announced that they were cutting the outreach and education budget for Obamacare by 90 percent, from $100 million to $10 million. As the person in charge of how that money was spent last year, I decided to crunch the numbers to figure out what that would mean for enrollment this year. …

The Chicago Tribune reports: Gov. Bruce Rauner made official Monday morning what had long been expected, formally announcing plans to seek a second term as the state’s chief executive despite turmoil within his own Republican Party. His campaign released a two-minute-plus video in which a Harley-Davidson riding Rauner criticizes his chief political nemesis, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. Rauner positions …

CBS News reports: A pro-independence party in the Spanish region of Catalonia is calling for “mass civil disobedience.” They are upset about the Spanish government’s unprecedented decision and attempt to take over Catalonia’s government. The political crisis has escalated to the point that Spain’s central government is, in essence, saying “we’ll take over now” as they seek to impose direct …

NBC News reports: The pregnant widow of Sgt. La David Johnson said the phone call she received from President Donald Trump before meeting her husband’s body at Dover Air Force Base made her more upset as the president struggled to remember her spouse’s name. “I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me …

Talking Points Memo reports: In an interview about the Vietnam War taped last week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared to criticize President Donald Trump for receiving a draft deferment for bone spurs during the Vietnam War. The Arizona senator did not mention the President by name but specifically called out “high-income Americans” who got doctors’ notes for a “bone spur.” …

The Concord Monitor reports: Bernie Sanders said he’ll run for re-election next year as an independent candidate. The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and independent senator from Vermont made the news in an interview with the Monitor on Sunday evening after energizing Democratic activists packed into the American Legion hall in Rollinsford, along the Maine border. Sanders’s trip to the first-in-the-nation …

The New York Daily News reports: Billionaire Mark Cuban thinks he could be the next President Trump, and says he could use the commander-in-chief’s own party to do it. The Dallas Mavericks owner and reality show personality told Fox News Sunday night that if he runs for the White House, he would do so as a Republican. “I think there’s …

“I doubt I’d be here if it weren’t for social media, to be honest with you. Because there is a fake media out there––I get treated very unfairly by the media––and I have a tremendous platform. I think I have 125 million people between Twitter and Instagram and all of ’em––and Facebook. I have a tremendous platform. So when somebody …

Via Mediaite: After Congresswoman Frederica Wilson said the White House is “full of white supremacists” on Friday, another Democrat weighed in this morning. CNN’s Dana Bash asked Senator Sherrod Brown about Wilson’s remarks and asked if he agrees. “I agree that Steve Bannon is a white supremacist and Stephen Miller seems to be,” he said, “and I know that studies …

Well, of course: President Trump traveled to his Virginia golf club on Sunday for the second consecutive day. Trump left the White House wearing a red hat, a white polo shirt and dark pants, according to a pool reporter traveling with the president. Trump’s motorcade arrived at Trump National Golf Club shortly after 10:00 a.m. Trump also traveled to his …

That didn’t take long. The New York Daily News reports: The head of the U.N. health agency has revoked his appointment of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as a “goodwill ambassador” after the choice drew widespread criticism. World Health Organization director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus last week told a conference in Uruguay on non-communicable diseases that Mugabe had agreed to be a “goodwill …

The Guardian reports: Russia has placed a prominent British businessman on the Interpol wanted list. President Vladimir Putin is understood to have sanctioned the move against Bill Browder, who has led an international campaign against Russia over the killing of the jailed Moscow lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. On Wednesday Canada became the latest country to pass a “Magnitsky Act”, targeting officials …