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      Students protest Ben Sasse’s views on LGBTQ+ rights at University of Florida

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      Students protest Ben Sasse’s views on LGBTQ+ rights at University of FloridaLikely appointment of Republican Nebraska senator as president of the university sparks protests during his campus visit Less than a week after being revealed as the likely next president of the University of Florida (UF), the Republican senator Ben Sasse was met with protests when he appeared on campus in Gainesville on Monday.Ben Sasse, Republican who voted to convict Trump, to depart CongressRead more“Hey-hey, ho-ho, Ben Sasse has got to go,” protesters chanted, seeking to draw attention to the Nebraskan’s views on LGBTQ+ rights.According to the UF student newspaper, the Independent Florida Alligator, after Sasse left a student forum early, leaders of a crowd of around 300 called the senator “homophobic and racist in between yelling from the audience”. One protester called out “Get the fuck”, the crowd responding, “Out of our swamp!”Online footage showed the noisy scenes.A former president of Midland University in Nebraska, Sasse was elected in 2014. He emerged as a relatively independent voice in Republican ranks, criticising Donald Trump though usually voting with him. He voted to convict in Trump’s second impeachment trial.But in 2015, when the supreme court made same-sex marriage legal, Sasse called the ruling “a disappointment to Nebraskans who understand that marriage brings a wife and husband together so their children can have a mom and dad”.Under the heading “Nebraska values”, Sasse’s website says: “The family is the most basic unit of civilization, and the heart of our society. Senator Sasse supports the right to life, the sanctity of marriage, and the right of families to choose how to educate their children.”In Gainesville on Monday, Sasse first spoke to faculty members. The first question was about his opposition to same-sex marriage.He said: “I believe in the universal dignity and the immeasurable worth of every single person, all the tens of millions of Floridians, all … 56,000 students here, all 30,000 faculty and staff … we need to create a community of inclusion and respect and trust where people feel heard and appreciated and cherished.”Regarding Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 ruling which made same-sex marriage legal, Sasse said: “There are definitely federal policy issues where I’ve had disputes before about which decisions courts should be making versus legislatures, but Obergefell, for example, is the law of the land and nothing about Obergefell is changing in the United States.”However, when the right to abortion was overturned earlier this year, Clarence Thomas, one of six conservatives on the supreme court, suggested same-sex marriage could also be reconsidered.Democrats responded by seeking to pass the Respect for Marriage Act. Sasse told reporters that Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, was “trying to divide America with culture wars”.“I think it’s just the same old bullshit,” he said. “She’s not an adult.”In Gainesville, as the young adults of UF protested, a staff forum featuring Sasse was moved online.The Sasse pick prompted the Republican governor of Nebraska, Pete Ricketts, to deny that he intended to appoint himself as Sasse’s Senate replacement. It also fed claims of growing Republican political interference in university affairs.There are no other named candidates for president. On Monday, the campus paper reported, one protester said: “I thought America was supposed to be a democracy. So why don’t we have a choice?”Alex Noon, president of the UF law school’s LGBTQ+ organization, told the Alligator: “It blows my mind that this is the sole person that they came up with. I could probably go downtown on a Thursday and find someone better.”RJ Della Salle, a gay student, said of Sasse: “We either have someone who’s a genuine homophobe as our president or we have a sleazy politician who just says what the people that he’s trying to get elected by want to hear.”TopicsFloridaLGBTQ+ rightsUS educationHigher educationUS politicsRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      DeSantis stays off path of political controversies in hurricane aftermath

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      DeSantis stays off path of political controversies in hurricane aftermathRightwing governor known for aggressive, culture-war brand of populism gives softer demeanor after storm, destroying opponents’ hopes of toppling him If such a thing can be said following a devastating hurricane that took the lives of more than 100 people, caused tens of billions of dollars in damage, and changed the face of south-west Florida forever, Ron DeSantis has had a good storm.The rightwing Republican governor has become a near ever-present face on national television during the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, largely steering clear of the political controversies that have plagued him in recent weeks as he sought to bring a calm and reassuring face to a fast-moving tragedy.It was a previously unseen side of a politician better known for his aggressive, culture-war brand of populism that has elevated him as a rival in the Republican party to Donald Trump. It even earned some praise from Joe Biden, his Democratic bete noire who visited Fort Myers this week to tour hurricane damage.“I think he’s done a good job. We have very different political philosophies … but we worked hand in glove,” the president said of a man many expect to be challenging him for the White House in the 2024 presidential election.“And on things related to dealing with this crisis, we’ve been completely lockstep. There’s been no difference,” he added, acknowledging the partnership between the DeSantis administration and federal agencies.Biden’s affirmation on Wednesday, as the immediacy of Ian’s search and rescue missions began to evolve into a relief and recovery effort, came little more than a month before the 8 November midterms, in which DeSantis was already heavily favored to win a second term as Florida governor.To some analysts, it left opponents’ hopes of toppling him lying deep among the hurricane wreckage.“Biden essentially ended the intellectual argument for any swing or undecided voters to pick Charlie Crist over DeSantis. The 2022 race for Florida governor is officially over,” Peter Schorsch, publisher of Florida Politics, said in a withering assessment of the Democratic candidate’s chances.Other observers contrast DeSantis’s softer demeanor during the hurricane with the prickly, hardline disposition more familiar to viewers of Fox News, the governor’s preferred megaphone.“In a lot of ways [the hurricane] has been golden because it allowed him to step away from politics and to really exercise his crisis management skills, and to seem compassionate, two things that we don’t see a lot of,” said Susan MacManus, distinguished professor emeritus of political science at the University of Florida.“It was an opportunity to go to different parts of the state and exhibit compassion for the people living here, the workers and the circumstances. Floridians are so used to seeing his political side, but this was a golden opportunity to see his management and people skills side.”A debate between DeSantis and Crist, scheduled for 12 October, was postponed because of the hurricane, with no make-up date yet set. It adds up, MacManus believes, to an even steeper mountain to climb for Crist, himself a former Florida governor when he was a Republican.“Here’s Crist with barely enough money to run any ads because he expended a lot when he was in the primary, plus outside donors haven’t really been willing to put a lot of money into the Crist campaign,” she said.“The two things, the free exposure that DeSantis has, plus canceling or at least delaying the debate, make it very difficult for Crist to close the gap.“I’m an analyst for a television station on campus and even this week we’ve just gone 100% doing stories about hurricane recovery. It won’t be until next week where we really see it ramping up again, and that’s a very short amount of time with mail-in ballots already going out.”A Mason-Dixon poll taken before the 28 September storm already had Crist 11% behind, suggesting that messaging over abortion and the backlash to DeSantis’s political stunt shifting Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Massachusetts were gaining little traction with likely voters.“DeSantis is going to be Governor Hurricane for the next couple weeks,” pollster Brad Coker told NBC.“The disadvantage Crist has is two-fold: he’s completely out of the news and he never managed a hurricane, so he can’t stand up and point to what he did. Crist is totally, totally defanged.”Kevin Cate, a Democratic strategist and former Crist adviser, calculated that DeSantis had earned the equivalent of $110m in free television time from thousands of appearances nationally during the first week following the storm.In Florida, he said, that value was $16.5m, while the Republican also retains a blowout advantage in cash in hand, $110m to Crist’s $3.6m.Both campaigns have resumed television advertising after a brief hiatus during the storm, and Crist’s team claims that since the 23 August primary, the Democrat has received more in fundraising – $4.7m to $4.6m – than his opponent.Southwest Florida is a Republican stronghold, and the party has concerns over the impact of the hurricane could have on the election. Officials in Lee county say they met Thursday’s deadline for sending out mail-in ballots, but with thousands of homes damaged and residents displaced, they say there is no guarantee they will reach their intended recipients.DeSantis could be asked to sign an order allowing early voting sites to be used on polling day, NPR reports, although the governor appears to be reluctant.“I want to keep [the election] as normal as humanly possible. The more you depart, it creates problems,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday.TopicsRon DeSantisUS politicsFloridaHurricane IanfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Ben Sasse, Republican who voted to convict Trump, to depart Congress

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      Ben Sasse, Republican who voted to convict Trump, to depart CongressNebraska senator, to take top post at University of Florida, is latest GOP legislator to leave Capitol Hill after voting to impeach in 2021 Another Republican who stood up to Donald Trump is on his way out of Congress, with the news that the Nebraska senator Ben Sasse is set to become president of the University of Florida.What are the US midterm elections and who’s running?Read moreOf the 10 House Republicans and seven senators who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial, for inciting the January 6 Capitol attack, only two congressmen and four senators are on course to return after the midterm elections.High-profile casualties include Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the House January 6 committee vice-chair who lost her primary to a Trump-backed challenger in August.Like Cheney, Sasse, 50, has been thought a possible contender for the Republican presidential nomination, a notional 2024 contest still dominated by Trump.The senator does not have to face voters again until 2026. But on Thursday Rahul Patel, a member of the University of Florida board of trustees, told the Tampa Bay Times the college needed “a visionary, an innovator and big thinker who would differentiate us from others – a leader who is transformational. The committee unanimously felt Ben Sasse is a transformational leader.”Sasse decried “Washington partisanship” and called Florida “the most interesting university in America right now”.A university president before he entered politics, at Midland in Nebraska, Sasse will in November be the sole candidate interviewed for the Florida position.If he resigns as a senator, the Nebraska governor – the Republican Pete Ricketts, or a likely Republican successor if Sasse resigns in January – will appoint a replacement.NBC News reported that Sasse’s move was the result of Republican rivalries. Quoting “a top Republican insider”, the outlet said the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, was behind the move, which was meant as one in the eye for Trump.Marc Caputo, a reporter, wrote: “In May, Trump said he regretted supporting Ben Sasse. Now, DeSantis’s man at UF has engineered Sasse’s hiring. ‘Everyone knows what this is about: Ron and Don,’ a top Republican insider tells me, echoing others.”As the only Republican who polls even close to Trump, DeSantis is widely thought to be planning a presidential run of his own.Ricketts, the Nebraska governor, is from the family behind the stockbroker TD Ameritrade and a former co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. He made headlines in June 2020, amid national protests for racial justice, when he apologised for calling Black leaders “you people”.The Ricketts family has ties to DeSantis. On Friday, in messages viewed by the Guardian, a Trump insider said the Sasse move was “about Ricketts money to DeSantis. This is what Pete wanted so he can appoint himself to the Senate.” In a statement, Ricketts said he learned about Sasse’s planned resignation on Thursday, “when he called to notify me”.He added: “If I choose to pursue the appointment, I will leave the appointment decision to the next governor and will follow the process established for all interested candidates. It is the honor of a lifetime to serve as the governor of Nebraska. It is the greatest job in the world, and it will remain my number one focus for the remainder of my term.”Sasse was elected to the Senate in 2014 and emerged as a critic of Trump and his effect on US politics when the billionaire ran for the White House two years later. Sasse called Trump a “megalomaniac strongman” and said he would not vote for him or his opponent, Hillary Clinton.Sasse’s wife, Melissa, said her husband had “a need for competition. Also he’s an idiot.”From 2017 to 2021, Sasse voted with Trump more than 85% of the time. He voted to acquit in Trump’s first impeachment trial, for blackmailing Ukraine for political dirt.Nevertheless, in November 2020 Sasse claimed: “I’ve never been on the Trump train.”In February 2021, Sasse said he voted to convict Trump over the Capitol attack because he had “promised to speak out when a president – even of my own party – exceeds his or her powers”. Such words earned him his share of Trumpian abuse, including a nickname, “Liddle Ben Sasse”.In 2018, Sasse wrote a book, Them, in which he lamented political polarisation. He wrote: “We are in a period of unprecedented upheaval. Community is collapsing, anxiety is building, and we’re distracting ourselves with artificial political hatreds. That can’t endure. And if it does, America won’t.”On Thursday, the Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin had a suggestion for what Sasse might do next.“Why not join Liz Cheney to campaign against GOP election liars/deniers. It might even impress his new employers. Otherwise his Senate career has been a total nothing burger.”TopicsRepublicansUS SenateUS CongressWashington DCFloridaUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Hurricane Ian Poses Another Hurdle for Election Officials in Florida

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      In North Port, Fla., a tarpaulin covered the roof of a waterlogged county election office as the midterm elections entered the final stretch.Farther south along Florida’s Gulf Coast, where the brunt of Hurricane Ian was particularly deadly, officials in Lee County asked the governor to authorize the creation of “super polling” centers to serve displaced voters from precincts ravaged by the storm.And in the city of Sarasota, as the state’s deadline for mailing absentee ballots to voters loomed less than 72 hours away, the whoosh of dehumidifiers muffled the conversations of election workers.“I’m sitting in the middle of formerly wet ceiling tiles,” Ron Turner, supervisor of elections for Sarasota County, said in an interview on Monday afternoon.Still, Mr. Turner emphasized, “we’re lucky compared to our neighbors to the south.”Nearly a week after Hurricane Ian slammed into southwestern Florida, election officials for the counties in the storm’s path said that they were still assessing the damage to early voting sites and Election Day precincts but expected that many would not be available. Early voting begins on Oct. 24 in Florida.Those officials said that they still expected that counties would meet a Thursday deadline to mail absentee ballots.Election officials nationwide have been grappling with threats, misinformation and the pressure of handling higher numbers of mail-in ballots during the pandemic. Now, some in Florida also have to function with hurricane damage.The Aftermath of Hurricane IanThe Search for Survivors: In the wake of Hurricane Ian, a search-and-rescue team in Fort Myers Beach set out to knock on every door that was still standing on the battered Florida island.A Delayed Evacuation: Despite warnings from forecasters before Ian made landfall, officials in Lee County, Florida, delayed issuing an evacuation order. The delay may have contributed to catastrophic consequences that are still coming into focus.Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor, who as a congressman opposed aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy, is seeking relief from the Biden administration as his state confronts the devastation wrought by Ian.Lack of Insurance: In the Florida counties hit hardest by Ian, fewer than 20 percent of homes had flood insurance, new data show. Experts say that will make rebuilding even harder.“For many voters, their regular polling location will not be available,” Tommy Doyle, supervisor of elections in Lee County, said in a message posted on Monday on the county’s website.Hurricane Ian hit Florida on Sept. 28, one day before a seven-day window for counties to send mail-in ballots to domestic voters. The period ends on Thursday.Working to restore power to residences in Matlacha, Fla., on Monday.Callaghan O’Hare for The New York TimesAs of Tuesday afternoon, more than 400,000 utility customers in Florida still did not have power, with a vast majority concentrated in the southwestern part of the state, according to poweroutage.us, a tracking website.More than half were in Lee County, where the authorities said that at least 55 people had died since the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane.Election officials in Lee County said that the loss of power and disruptions to cellphone service were hampering their damage assessments.“We want voters to be confident that we are working hard to ensure they can safely, securely and efficiently cast their ballots in the upcoming election,” Mr. Doyle said in his message.Gaby Aguirre, a spokeswoman for the Lee County Elections Office, said in an email on Tuesday that the county had requested an emergency order from Gov. Ron DeSantis granting it the ability to create “super polling” centers.A similar order was signed after Hurricane Michael in 2018, when the governor at the time, Rick Scott, who is now a U.S. senator, relaxed voting rules in eight counties along the Panhandle.Ms. Aguirre said on Tuesday that the vendor Lee County used for absentee ballots was “up and running” and “working diligently” to meet Thursday’s deadline to mail ballots.A spokesman for Mr. DeSantis on Monday referred questions about election preparations to Cord Byrd, Florida’s secretary of state, who said in a statement that he was still assessing the situation and that his primary concern was the well-being of residents.“We are considering all contingencies at the moment and will be in continual contact with supervisors of elections to evaluate the conditions of the affected counties moving forward,” Mr. Byrd said on Monday.In response to the hurricane, Mr. Byrd had issued an emergency order earlier that suspended the filing deadline for campaign finance reports until Friday.Mark S. Earley, the president of the statewide association of election supervisors, said in a statement on Monday that disruptions to in-person voting sites appeared to be a significant concern.“Voting machines, supplies and staff are all safe and sound, it appears,” said Mr. Earley, a top election official in Leon County, which was outside the hurricane’s direct path. “Some offices are still without power, but they are intact. That cannot be said for many of the other structures that are integral to in-person voting, such as early voting and Election Day polling sites. Thousands of voters, first responders and poll workers are displaced.”He added that he expected “at least a few counties” to be allowed to use the “super polling” centers in lieu of regular Election Day polling places.In Collier County, which is south of Lee County, Jennifer J. Edwards, the election supervisor, said in an interview on Monday that the county’s 11 early-voting locations and her office were unscathed.“It’s high and dry,” Ms. Edwards said, noting that the county was still assessing conditions at Election Day precincts.While some other counties were clambering to restore power so they could mail ballots by Thursday’s deadline, Collier County uses a vendor in the Orlando area, far north of hurricane-ravaged areas, that transported printed ballots to the U.S. Postal Service on Friday, Ms. Edwards said. Those ballots are expected to start being delivered this week, she said.Surveying the damage at a home in Naples in Collier County on Sunday.Callaghan O’Hare for The New York Times“If someone’s home has been destroyed and the U.S.P.S. is unable to deliver to that home, they will take the mail for that resident’s address back to the post office and keep it for 10 days,” Ms. Edwards said.Mr. Turner said that Sarasota County was expecting 120,000 ballots to be mailed on Tuesday to voters.“We faced challenges in the last few years in the pandemic,” he said. “We will get through this and make sure that the voters have an opportunity to make sure their voices are heard at the ballot box.”Mitch Smith More

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      Ex-US army medic allegedly lured migrants on to flights to Martha’s Vineyard

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      Ex-US army medic allegedly lured migrants on to flights to Martha’s VineyardPerla Huerta was reportedly sent to Texas from Florida to fill planes chartered by DeSantis, offering gift cards to asylum seekers A former US army combat medic and counterintelligence agent allegedly solicited asylum seekers to join flights out of Texas to Martha’s Vineyard that Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, chartered.Perla Huerta was sent to Texas from Tampa to fill the planes at the center of the trips, which many have argued could amount to illegal human trafficking, a person briefed on an investigation into the case told the New York Times.In September, dozens of asylum seekers were transported to Martha’s Vineyard, an affluent community in Massachusetts, and were promised cash assistance, help with housing and other resources if they traveled to the state. DeSantis claimed responsibility for the flights, portraying it as a protest against the Joe Biden White House’s immigration policy.The flights – one of which made a stop in Florida – departed from San Antonio and therefore have drawn scrutiny from the sheriff’s office there.Huerta was discharged from the US army in August after serving the military branch for two decades. A migrant told CNN that a woman named “Perla” offered him clothes, food, and money in exchange to help find other migrants, mostly from Venezuela, to board the flights to Massachusetts. She gave him $10 McDonald’s gift cards to be handed out to the asylum seekers who agreed to join the flights.Florida officials confirmed a payment to the airline charter company, Vertol Systems, for $615,000 on 8 September. The money comes from a state budget signed earlier this year giving DeSantis $12m for a program to deport migrants.Vertol Systems offers aviation maintenance and training services and performs work for the US government. The company has networked with Florida’s Republican power brokers over the years.The charter has contributed money to some of DeSantis’s top allies, including the Congress member Matt Gaetz and Florida’s public safety director in charge of immigration policy, Larry Keefe, according to NBC News.Attorneys representing the asylum seekers have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against DeSantis and others, contending that the plaintiffs were misled into thinking they would receive benefits upon arrival to Martha’s Vineyard.However, those benefits are only available for refugees, a specific status that the asylum seekers do not currently fall under.Some legal experts have deemed DeSantis’s acts as human trafficking or smuggling. The group Lawyers for Civil Rights labeled the move as an “appalling” political stunt.In the San Antonio area, the Bexar county sheriff, Javier Salazar, launched an investigation examining the flights that took off from there.Upon the asylum seekers’ arrival, aid group workers quickly gathered food as well as supplies and set up shelter. Island residents set up a church to house the migrants and provided translation services.The asylum seekers were also receiving clothing from community thrift shops, and people were increasingly calling to volunteer to help them and donate to them.Many of the asylum seekers ended up at a military base in Cape Cod with little knowledge of what would happen next.The flights are an escalation of Republican officials sending hundreds of asylum seekers to predominantly Democratic areas. The Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has sent more than 100 migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela by bus from Texas to the Washington DC home of Vice-President Kamala Harris.Abbot has also sent buses to New York City.TopicsUS immigrationUS politicsFloridaUS militaryTexasRon DeSantisMassachusettsnewsReuse this content More

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      Hurricane Ian: Americans urged to weigh risks of rebuilding in vulnerable areas

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      Hurricane Ian: Americans urged to weigh risks of rebuilding in vulnerable areasFema administrator says people should ‘make informed decisions’ about rebuilding in areas hit by natural disasters US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) administrator Deanne Criswell asked Americans on Sunday “to make informed decisions” about rebuilding in vulnerable areas hit by natural disasters intensified by climate change.“People need to understand what their potential risk my be whether it’s along the coast, inland along a riverbed or in tornado alley,” Criswell told CNN’s Face the Nation. “People need to make informed decisions about what their risk is and if they choose to rebuild there they do so in a way that’s going to reduce their threat.”Criswell’s comments came four days after Hurricane Ian devastated barrier islands and coastal communities around Fort Myers Beach, Florida, with estimates for rebuilding running into the tens of billions.The state’s Medical Examiners Commission has confirmed that the storm resulted in at least 44 deaths, most of them due to drowning. Other estimates say the toll is already at 72 – and that is expected to rise.Of those dead, 30 were found in Lee county, which includes Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Cape Coral. About 70% of the county is without power. Across the state, about 837,000 businesses and homes remained without power on Sunday.The Associated Press reported that water was still rising in central Florida, with officials warning that flooding could continue for days, particularly in areas around the St Johns River and its tributaries, which were left swollen by the powerful storm.The latest natural disaster to hit the US comes after a series of floods, tornadoes, fires and hurricanes, has laid bare the rising costs of devastation associated with a warming climate.It has been widely reported that only about 18% of Fort Myers residents had purchased flood insurance. “If you live near water or where it rains it can certainly flood, and we have seen that in multiple storms this year,” Criswell said. “If you live near water – anywhere near water – you should certainly purchase flood insurance.”Insurers say they are anticipating between $28bn and $47bn in claims from what could amount to the costliest Florida storm since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.Criswell’s comments came as officials and political figures have deflected accusations that evacuation orders for residents of Fort Myers came too late for many to leave.The Fema administrator defended that decision on ABC’s This Week: “The storm itself was fairly unpredictable in the days leading up to landfall,” Criswell said. “Just 72 hours before landfall, the Fort Myers and Lee county area were not even in the cone of the hurricane.”Criswell continued: “As [the cone of uncertainty] continued to move south, the local officials immediately – as soon as they knew that they were in that threat zone, made the decisions to evacuate and get people to safety.”State senator and a former governor Charlie Crist told CNN that the timing of the warnings out were “something we’ll have to look at”.“When you do issue an evacuation notice, assuming everybody is going to do it, you have to think how fast can you get them out?” he added.Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are set to visit the devastation in Florida on Wednesday, two days after the president is supposed to take a trip to Puerto Rico, where thousands of people are still without power two weeks on from Hurricane Fiona’s hitting the island.“This is not just a crisis in Florida. Or in South Carolina. Or in Puerto Rico,” Biden tweeted Sunday. “It’s a United States crisis.“We’ll do everything we can to get these communities back on their feet.”This is not just a crisis in Florida. Or in South Carolina. Or in Puerto Rico.It’s a United States crisis.We’ll do everything we can to get these communities back on their feet.— President Biden (@POTUS) October 2, 2022
      In Florida, satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show how storm surge demolished structures on the shores of Sanibel Island. In addition the roadway linking the island to the mainland has been severed in several places and could be structurally unsound in others.Marco Rubio, the Florida Senator, told ABC that it was likely that Fort Myers will recover but would not be the same. “They’re going to be rebuilt, but they won’t look the same, because you can’t rebuild old Florida,” Rubio said. “Some of those places that had been there for so long are just gone.”The Republican senator predicted that it would take at least a couple of years for the causeway to Sanibel island to be rebuilt.“I think our priority now is to identify the people that remain on Sanibel who wanted to stay there, but eventually have to come off because there’s no way to continue their life there,” Rubio said. “There’s no way to restore the power. There’s no economy there. At some point, they’ll have to be moved.”As authorities continue to assess the damage, Fema’s Criswell warned that “this is going to be a long road to recovery”. The administrator signaled that any lessons to be learned from the disaster would come after federal and state agencies had discharged their initial responsibilities.“We’re still actively in the search and rescue phase trying to make sure that we are accounting for everybody that was in the storm’s path and that we go through every home to make sure that we don’t leave anybody behind,” Criswell said.TopicsHurricane IanUS politicsFloridanewsReuse this content More

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      5 Takeaways From the Campaign Trail

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      Democratic nominee Tina Kotek.Pool photo by Jamie ValdezOregon never used to be a battleground. But a poll by The Oregonian found a dead heat between the Republican governor candidate, Christine Drazen, and the Democrat, Tina Kotek, with Betsy Johnson, an independent, at 18 percent. The Fifth Congressional District is a toss-up; two other Democratic seats are in play. Republicans say Portland chaos is the reason. More

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      Ron DeSantis changes with the wind as Hurricane Ian prompts flip-flop on aid

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      AnalysisRon DeSantis changes with the wind as Hurricane Ian prompts flip-flop on aidMartin Pengelly in New YorkThe Florida governor ‘put politics aside’ to ask Joe Biden for federal – unlike when he voted against help for Hurricane Sandy victims As Hurricane Ian has devastated parts of Florida, the national political spotlight in America has shone brighter than ever on Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor, rising star of the hard right and probable presidential contender in 2024.Since his election in 2018, DeSantis has made his name as a ruthless culture-warrior, an ally of Donald Trump but also perhaps his most serious rival.Hurricane Ian leaves trail of destruction in Florida – in picturesRead moreDeSantis has embraced an extremist agenda on everything from immigration to election integrity, positioning himself as Trumpist on policy but more mainstream on personality and temperament. He has championed “don’t say gay” legislation in Florida schools and this month used taxpayers’ money to send two planeloads of migrants from the southern border in Texas to Massachusetts, a Democratic-run state.That move prompted anger, investigation and legal action. The transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said DeSantis was “hurting people in order to get attention”. But such opprobrium did not deter a governor playing to a Trumpist base. For his next move, DeSantis suggested, he would send another planeload of unsuspecting asylum seekers to Delaware, where Joe Biden has a weekend home.But then Hurricane Ian hit. And like ambitious Republicans before him – most famously Chris Christie of New Jersey, whose photo ops with Barack Obama after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 were reckoned to have hurt him in the 2016 primary – DeSantis realised he needed to talk to the president.On Wednesday, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked: “Given how politicised things are at the moment, are you confident you’re gonna get the federal support Florida needs?”DeSantis said: “So I actually spoke with the president and he said he wants to be helpful. So we did submit a request for reimbursement for the next 60 days at 100%. That’s significant support, but it’s a significant storm.“We live in a very politicised time, but you know, when people are fighting for their lives, when their whole livelihood is at stake, when they’ve lost everything, if you can’t put politics aside for that, that you’re just not going to be able to do so.“So I’ll work with anybody who wants to help the people of south-west Florida and throughout our state.”Critics were quick to point back to Hurricane Sandy, which battered the east coast 10 years ago, and how DeSantis approached the matter of federal aid then.DeSantis was elected to Congress in November 2012, becoming a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, the far-right House group which would morph into the nest of Trump supporters and election deniers it constitutes today.Sandy hit in late October, unusually far north, bringing chaos to New Jersey and New York and leading to more than 100 US deaths. Months later, in January 2013, DeSantis was one of 67 Republicans to vote against a $9.7bn federal aid package for Sandy victims.He said then: “I sympathise with the victims of Hurricane Sandy and believe that those who purchased flood insurance should have their claims paid. At the same time, allowing the program to increase its debt by another $9.7bn with no plan to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere is not fiscally responsible.“Congress should not authorise billions in new borrowing without offsetting expenditures in other areas. If a family maxes out its credit cards and faces the need for new spending, it is forced to prioritize by reducing its spending in other areas … this ‘put it on the credit card mentality’ is part of the reason we find ourselves nearly $17tn in debt.”Times change. Now DeSantis – who budgeted $12m, from federal Covid relief funds, for efforts to move migrants to Democratic states – is facing “one of the biggest flood events we’ve ever had” and needs federal help.“Dear Mr President,” his formal aid request began. “I request that you issue a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of Florida as a result of Hurricane Ian and authorise and make available all categories of individual assistance and public assistance.”Ironically, in light of his comparison of aid for Sandy victims to irresponsible home economics, DeSantis also said that as Ian would “hamper local activity … federal aid through the Individuals and Households Program will help alleviate these household budget shortfalls”.Reporters noticed. Responding to the New York Times, a spokesperson said DeSantis was “completely focused on hurricane response” and added: “As the governor said earlier, we have no time for politics or pettiness.”Late-night comedians, however, had plenty of time for pointing out DeSantis’s hypocrisy – and pettiness.Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show on CBS, perhaps put it most pithily: “If you can, get out of the storm’s path. Worst-case scenario, tell Ron DeSantis you’re Venezuelan, maybe he’ll fly you to Martha’s Vineyard.”TopicsRon DeSantisHurricane IanFloridaUS politicsHurricanesanalysisReuse this content More