Thursday, August 24, 2023

Tea Baggers Dismantle Obamacare Part 2 - The Ring Of Fire

The Tea Party made repealing the Affordable Care Act the cornerstone of the 2010 midterm elections, and it helped catapult them onto the national stage. And in the last three years, they haven't budged one inch in their efforts to destroy healthcare reform, even though it's providing coverage to people who would otherwise have to go without healthcare. Ring of Fire host Mike Papantonio discusses the continued assault on the Affordable Care Act with India DeClair, host of the I Declair radio program. India is a prime example of just how powerful citizens' media can be if we become active, take a stand, and are willing to help offer solutions to problems instead of simply complaining.

Tea Baggers Dismantle Obamacare Part 1 - The Ring Of Fire

LIVE: GOP Debate | Stream & Commentary

Hosted by Matt Binder, Mike of The Humanist Report, David of The Rational National, Lance of The Serfs, and possibly more!

POLITICO Massachusetts Playbook: Everyone hates Massachusetts

BY KELLY GARRITY AND LISA KASHINSKY

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Massachusetts Playbook is taking its annual end-of-summer hiatus starting Monday, Aug. 28. We'll be back Tuesday, Sept. 5.

BASHING THE BAY STATE — Massachusetts is having a moment on the broader political stage. Just not a good one.

The Bay State is serving as a political punching bag from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the Hudson Valley of New York. Granite State gubernatorial hopeful and former U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte has spent more time attacking her neighbor to the south than her GOP primary opponent(s), warning voters again and again that they’re just “one election away from becoming Massachusetts.”

Meanwhile, in New York, a super PAC working to elect Democrats to the U.S. House is throwing shade at Republican Rep. Mike Lawler simply for setting foot in Massachusetts. “Massachusetts Mike ,” as House Majority PAC dubbed him earlier this month, stands accused of what is considered a grave sin in New York: abandoning his home state for “Red Sox and Patriots country” — aka hitting the summer fundraising circuit on Nantucket.

So what makes Massachusetts mockable? Our liberal elitist reputation surely doesn’t help. Nor does our Bay-State-best-state ethos.

“We're so much better than everybody else,” Democratic strategist Scott Ferson told Playbook, with full acknowledgment that saying so just “makes everyone hate us more.”

Massachusetts politicians also sometimes bring the hate upon themselves by coming across as out-of-touch. John Kerry was mercilessly mocked in 2004 for allegedly saying, “Who among us does not love NASCAR?” The then-presidential candidate was misquoted, but it doesn’t matter. “That sounds like something someone from Massachusetts would say,” Ferson said.

“The way people perceive us, we're out of touch. We're judgmental of states that are ‘beneath us.’” Ferson said. “It's a convenient touchstone for contrast.”

There are also our high taxes, high housing costs, high cost of living, high ... well, you get the picture.

“In moderate to conservative states, Massachusetts has become a cautionary liberal tale to avoid,” Republican consultant Rob Gray said. “Crazy ideas for laws come from states like California or Massachusetts, and get people saying ‘thank goodness I don’t live there.’”

But hey, at least one big-name pol is out there waxing enthusiastic about the Bay State: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Yes, the guy who used to deride Massachusetts for helping the dozens of migrants his administration had flown here last year (he’s left the line out of some of his more recent speeches in the region) is now leaning into his love for the Red Sox on the campaign trail.

“By the time I was [at Harvard Law School], I was part of Red Sox Nation, I was rooting for them. … And so when they went down three to nothing in 2004, I was like, man, is this ever going to happen?” DeSantis said during a recent interview on WBZ’s “NightSide with Dan Rea." “When they came back to beat the Yankees winning four in a row, I knew the curse was gone.”

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS. At least no one mentioned our fair state during the GOP presidential primary debate last night.

TODAY — Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll launch their “MassReconnect” free community college program at 11 a.m. at MassBay Community College. Driscoll participates in a Caribbean American cultural panel at 5:30 p.m. at the Massachusetts Historical Society and attends the Dominicanisimo award ceremony at 7:30 p.m. in Danvers.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu attends a MBTA Board of Directors meeting at 10:15 a.m. and speaks at the NAAAP National Leadership Conference at 12:50 p.m. at the Sheraton Boston. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas hosts an awards ceremony at Coast Guard Base Boston at 10:30 a.m. Rep. Jake Auchincloss is on a congressional delegation trip to Ireland and the U.K. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is also in Europe.

Tips? Scoops? Email us: kgarrity@politico.com and lkashinsky@politico.com .

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2024 WATCH

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum stand on stage before a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by FOX News Channel on Aug. 23, 2023. | Morry Gash/AP Photo

— UP FOR DEBATE: Nikki Haley impressed. Tim Scott underwhelmed. And there were plenty of canned lines to go around.

Those are some of the takeaways from the first GOP presidential primary debate from a handful of Massachusetts and New Hampshire Republican voters and operatives Playbook texted with through the melee in Milwaukee.

Political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy was the top target of the night, despite standing next to higher-polling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis . But “piling on the new guy was a mistake — it will cause even more people to rally around him,” former Massachusetts state representative and GOP gubernatorial nominee Geoff Diehl told Playbook. Diehl was at a Ramaswamy watch party in New Hampshire last night “scouting the field” — but says he hasn’t moved away from former President Donald Trump .

Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss, meanwhile, took to the platform formerly known as Twitter to rebut the foreign policy and national security positions of half the Republicans onstage — continuing his trend of doing battle with the GOP candidates as an unofficial surrogate for President Joe Biden .

More from the POLITICO team:

— “Pile-on in Milwaukee: Who won, who lost and who fizzled in the first Republican debate.”

— “The spiciest moments of the first GOP debate.”

— “Trump counter programs the Republican debate — even though he doesn’t need to.”

DATELINE BEACON HILL

— “State restrictions on pork sales take effect,” by Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune: “A voter-approved law banning the sale of pork from pigs confined in gestation cages takes effect on Thursday, after years of delays and warnings that the rules will lead to price spikes and shortages of pork chops and bacon.”

— "Jewish Groups Watching State’s Approach To Security Grants," by Alison Kuznitz, State House News Service (paywall): "Frightened in recent years by the stabbing of a rabbi in Brighton, a hostage situation at a Texas synagogue, and the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, Jewish organizations in Massachusetts have clamored for state funding to strengthen security infrastructure at their temples and day schools. ... Earlier this month, as [Gov. Maura] Healey signed the fiscal 2024 budget into law, she slashed the $4 million allocation for the next round of nonprofit security grants approved by the Legislature by $2.5 million."

FROM THE HUB

— “‘A moment of great momentum’: Boston authorities tout potential future of Long Island, site of old recovery campus,” by Danny McDonald, Boston Globe: “Weeks after Mayor Michelle Wu announced that Boston had received a key permit to rebuild a bridge to Long Island, city officials and health care providers on Wednesday toured the shuttered and derelict addiction recovery campus in Boston Harbor, hailing the site’s potential to help solve the city’s opioid and homelessness crises. … Wu hopes to have services up and running on the island in four years."

— “Federal officials tout Dorchester remodel as future of clean energy projects,” by Xavier Cullen, GBH News.

THE RACE FOR CITY HALL

— ENDORSEMENT CORNER: The Boston Globe editorial board has endorsed Ben Weber for District 6 Boston city councilor over incumbent Kendra Lara , saying that despite her “eloquence and passion,” Lara has “shown many lapses in judgment that make the challenger a better choice.” It appears to be the Globe editorial board’s first endorsement in this year’s council races. Read the endorsement .

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

— “Four teens hacked the MBTA for free rides. The agency says they're listening,” by Kana Ruhalter and Arun Rath, GBH News: “About 15 years ago, three MIT undergrads found themselves in legal trouble for speaking out about security vulnerabilities in the MBTA payment system. … 15 years later, four high schoolers — Matty Harris, Scott Campbell, Noah Gibson and Zack Bertocchi — decided to pick up where the MIT students left off to see if the transit system fixed those exposed vulnerabilities. Spoiler alert: they didn't.”

— “If you ride it, you know. The Red Line is the worst. Just look at the stats,” by Daniel Kool, Boston Globe.

— “Boston, Harvard, BU pledge $300m for I-90 Allston project,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine.

FROM THE DELEGATION

— “Elizabeth Warren travels to Ukraine, meets with Zelensky ahead of funding showdown,” by Tal Kopan, Boston Globe: “Senator Elizabeth Warren made a covert trip to Ukraine on Wednesday to commemorate the country’s independence day, as a messy fight is brewing in Congress over whether to continue funding the country’s war against Russia’s invasion. … The goal: to send the message that the United States still stands with Ukraine as it battles a Russian invasion launched a year and a half ago.”

— "Pressley presses big banks for updates on $30 billion in racial equity pledges," by Aris Folley, The Hill.

Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here .

IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

— “Once seen as opponents to climate action, utilities and the business community are making changes. Is that a sign the tides are turning?” by Sabrina Shankman, Boston Globe: “As business opportunities in a burgeoning clean economy grow, two influential lobbying groups now have leaders with strong environmental credentials. Meanwhile, a prominent business group parted ways with an executive who had represented gas interests, and the state’s two largest utilities have made moves that advocates believe could lead them to deemphasize their fossil fuel based operations.”

— “DPU approves termination of offshore wind contract,” by Bruce Mohl, CommonWealth Magazine.

THE LOWELL CONNECTOR

— “Lowell may welcome migrant families,” by Melanie Gilbert, Lowell Sun: “The state of emergency that Gov. Maura Healey announced during a State House press conference on Aug. 8 hit close to home with the administration allegedly looking at UMass Lowell’s Inn & Conference Center as a possible housing site for migrants fleeing unrest and violence in Haiti and Venezuela.”

FROM THE 413

— “Gov. Healey’s budget cut puts region’s antipoverty services in jeopardy,” by Chris Lisinski and Chris Larabee, State House News Service and Daily Hampshire Gazette: “Community Action Pioneer Valley is looking at scaling back a host of programs that support low-income residents throughout the Valley after Gov. Maura Healey this month vetoed significant funding for the state’s 23 community action agencies.”

— “Police settlements in Pittsfield and North Adams aren’t public information — despite use of tax dollars,” by Amanda Burke and Greta Jochem, Berkshire Eagle.

THE LOCAL ANGLE

— “Officials say services, housing policy best tools to address growing homeless camps,” by Dustin Luca, The Salem News: “Local officials say efforts in Boston to relocate a large homeless encampment and drug market at ‘Mass and Cass’ may be contributing to an uptick in such encampments in Salem.”

— “LGBTQ+ community, advocates protest Diocese of Worcester gender policy,” by Dave Thompson, MassLive: “In the wake of a new Diocese of Worcester policy barring transgender students from expressing their identity in school as well as restricting other LGBTQ+ expression in the city’s Catholic schools, dozens of protesters lined sidewalks in front of the diocese and, later, City Hall, displaying signs and chanting pro-acceptance slogans.”

— “Public toilets, more green space, or both? Somerville residents will decide how to spend $1 million,” by Alex Koller, Boston Globe.

— “Wayland is trying a four-day week for town employees. How that impacts office hours,” by Tom Benoit, MetroWest Daily News.

HEARD ‘ROUND THE BUBBLAH

SPOTTED — among the Massachusetts contingent at the GOP debate in Milwaukee: MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale, Weymouth Mayor Bob Hedlund and Massachusetts RNC national committeeman Ron Kaufman .

TRANSITIONS — Margot Botsford , a former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice, has been named chair of the State Ethics Commission.

— Adrian Bispham has joined Morgan, Brown & Joy as an associate.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY — to Lawrence Bacow, Emily Cherniack, Sarah Heinonen and Keith Sonia of Regina Villa Associates.

NEW HORSE RACE ALERT: A DAY AT THE STEEPLECHASES — Hosts Jennifer Smith and Steve Koczela talk to the Boston Globe’s Tal Kopan about Rep. Stephen Lynch and the ethical questions surrounding congressional earmarks. Smith explains the legal issues surrounding churches getting historic preservation grants. Koczela talks new polling on Joe Biden and Maura Healey . Subscribe and listen on iTunes and Sound Cloud .

Want to make an impact? POLITICO Massachusetts has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Bay State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness among this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com .

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August 23, 2023 HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

August 23, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

AUG 24

Yesterday, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with the ambassador from the People’s Republic of China, Xie Feng, in advance of her trip to Beijing and Shanghai next week. China’s economy has been slowing down alarmingly recently, with falling consumer prices, a deteriorating real estate sector and market, high youth unemployment, and slumping exports, and international leaders are concerned that China’s economic troubles could spread.

Earlier this week, the Commerce Department removed 27 Chinese companies from export restrictions after they met checks about the end use of their products, that is, verified that U.S. exports were not being passed on to terrorists or countries under U.S. sanctions. China’s Ministry of Commerce praised that decision, saying it was “conducive to the normal trade between Chinese and American companies and is in line with the common interests of both parties…. It is entirely possible to find a solution that benefits companies on both sides.”

In China, Secretary Raimondo will meet with senior Chinese government officials and U.S. business leaders. National security advisor Jake Sullivan yesterday told reporters that

“her trip is an encapsulation of the approach that the Biden administration is taking, where we are engaged in an intense competition with the PRC, but intense competition requires intense diplomacy to manage that competition so that it doesn't tip over into conflict and also so that we create every opportunity to work together with the PRC on issues that are in our mutual interest.”

He echoed the frequent statements of the administration when he continued: “Secretary Raimondo will carry with her the message that the United States is not seeking to decouple from China, but rather to de-risk, and that means protecting our national security and ensuring resilient supply chains alongside our allies and partners while we continue our economic relationship and our trade relationship.”

Raimondo’s outreach comes as the administration announces another round of senior officials’ trips to Indo-Pacific countries.

On September 4th, Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Jakarta, Indonesia, to attend the U.S.-ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit. ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a political and economic organization made up of 10 member states in Southeast Asia that have a total population of more than 600 million people. Harris’s mother was a doctor from India, and that personal connection to the Indo-Pacific has made her an especially effective U.S. leader in that region. This is her third trip to Southeast Asia in the past two years: she went to Singapore and Vietnam in 2021 and to Thailand and the Philippines in 2022.

At the summits, she will work with other Indo-Pacific leaders—the U.S. is an Indo-Pacific leader itself, of course—to address the climate crisis, maritime security, infrastructure, and economic growth, and on efforts to uphold and strengthen international rules and norms in the region.

Just as Harris is leaving Indonesia on September 7, President Biden will travel to New Delhi, India, for the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders’ Summit. The G20 is a forum made up of 19 countries and the European Union, and works to address major issues related to the global economy. In India, Biden will focus on issues from “the clean energy transition and combating climate change, to mitigating the economic and social impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine, to increasing the capacity of the multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, to better fight poverty and take on the significant transnational challenges that are afflicting countries across the world,” Sullivan said.

Of this laundry list, Sullivan said, Biden hopes to encourage countries of the Global South to get behind the modernization of development banks as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy begun in 2013 to invest in more than 150 developing countries. Yesterday, Sullivan said that Biden is eager to reshape and scale up the World Bank to reduce global poverty and promote inclusive economic growth, “while also addressing global challenges from climate to migration and to the recovery from COVID-19.”

Biden nominated Ajay Banga, an Indian-born American business executive, to be the president of the World Bank, Sullivan said, “precisely to make this vision a reality,” and has asked Congress to beef up funding for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, proposals that Sullivan said “will generate nearly $50 billion in lending for middle-income and poor countries from the United States alone. And because our expectation is that our allies and partners will also contribute, we see these proposals ultimately leveraging over $200 billion. That is the proposal that President Biden will carry with him to Delhi and that he will work with the Congress on to deliver through the supplemental funding request,” Sullivan said.

The U.S. must, he said, provide support to developing countries, maintain strong global solidarity in the face of Russia's illegal war, and to offer “a credible alternative to the coercive and unsustainable lending practices at the PRC.” He noted that the U.S. ability to mobilize financial power is one of its most valuable assets (which, although he did not say it, is one of the reasons the Republican threat to undermine our finances is so enormously destructive).

Reflecting the importance of the G20, Biden will commit to the U.S. hosting the G20 in 2026.

If the U.S. is trying to expand its influence, things are not going swimmingly for the world’s autocrats. Today, a plane on which Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin of Russia was allegedly on board crashed, taking all three pilots and seven passengers’ lives. While it is not clear whether Prigozhin was actually on the plane, national security analyst Mark Hertling took the position that it doesn’t matter whether he was on board or not, because the loss of Prigozhin from the head of Wagner will infuriate the Wagner mercenaries, who are being merged with the regular Russian military, and who were much better paid under Prigozhin than are regular Russian soldiers.

This fury will not calm things inside increasingly unstable Russia. As Ukraine’s troops are advancing, slowly but surely, “this is not a good time to start reforming the military,” Hertling told CNN. “Even if it's part of a charade,” chair of the Human Rights Foundation (and world chess champion) Garry Kasparov wrote, “it reflects chaos among Ukraine's enemies, murderous energy turned against one another. Dictatorships are stable until they are not, hard but brittle like glass.”

And then there are events here at home. Last night’s news that one of Trump’s aides at Mar-a-Lago had recanted previous false testimony and had outlined the involvement of the former president and his other aides in trying to destroy security recordings and then cover up that effort was just some of the chum that Trump world is stirring up lately.

Those indicted alongside Trump on RICO charges in Georgia have been surrendering to authorities or making demands of Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney Fani Willis. Today, Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro asked for an exceptionally fast trial, likely hoping to get it over with before more information comes out, prompting Los Angeles Times senior legal affairs columnist Harry Litman to explain: “All of these moves—the latest being Chesebro's speedy trial motion—bring home the elementary fact that now that the concrete prospects for trial and punishment are forcing a sober look at everyone's self-interests, which means their departure from Trump's. A critical time.”

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force (CFETF) established by Attorney General Merrick Garland in May 2021 to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud, announced its results today. The Department of Justice is brining federal criminal charges against 371 defendants for offenses related to more than $836 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, most of it related to the two largest Small Business Administration pandemic programs: the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loans, both funded by the March 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In April 2020, Trump removed the inspector general tapped to chair a special oversight board Congress put in place to oversee the distribution of the act’s funds.

The release quotes acting director of the CFETF Michael C. Galdo, who “said that 63 of the defendants had alleged connections to violent crime, including violent gang members also accused of using pandemic funds to pay for a murder for hire. Twenty-five defendants have alleged connections to transnational crime networks.”

The Justice Department said that 119 of the defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial, courts ordered $57 million in restitution, and prosecutors worked with law enforcement to secure forfeiture of over $231.4 million.

Tonight, eight Republican candidates for the presidency will debate on stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, without former president Trump, who is the front-runner for the nomination, participating. Trump’s people saw no reason for him to risk his position in a debate, and instead are using the event to conduct counterprogramming. After considering upstaging the debate by surrendering to authorities in Georgia at the same time, they settled on recording an interview with former Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson to be aired in a competing time slot.

While Trump was not there, President Biden was: his “Dark Brandon” ads trumpeting his administration’s successes appeared before the broadcast.

—

Notes:

https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2023/08/readout-secretary-raimondos-meeting-ambassador-peoples-republic-china

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/21/economy/china-economy-troubles-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/documents/about-bis/newsroom/press-releases/3313-uvl-august-21-2023/file

https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/documents/policy-guidance/3156-axelrod-prevention-of-end-use-checks-policy-memo-10-7-22/file

https://mohawkglobal.com/white-papers/how-to-survive-an-export-end-use-check-2/

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/22/economy/gina-raimondo-china/index.html

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/23/1195466126/russia-wagner-prigozhin-crash

https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-22-2023

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/21/donald-trump-republican-debate-fox-news