AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Former White House adviser Steve Bannon depicted former President George W. Bush as bumbling and inept, faulting him for presiding over a “destructive” presidency during his time in the White House.

Bannon’s scathing remarks on Friday night amounted to a retort to a Bush speech in New York earlier this week, in which the 43rd president denounced bigotry in Trump-era American politics and warned that the rise of “nativism,” isolationism and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation’s true identity.

But Bannon, speaking to a capacity crowd at a California Republican Party convention, said Bush had embarrassed himself and didn’t know what he was talking about.

Bannon said Bush has no idea whether “he is coming or going, just like it was when he was president.”

“There has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush’s,” Bannon added, as boos could be heard in the crowd at the mention of Bush’s name.

The remarks came during a speech thick with attacks on the Washington status quo, echoing his call for an “open revolt” against establishment Republicans. He called the “permanent political class” one of the great dangers faced by the country.

A small group of protesters gathered outside the hotel where Bannon spoke, chanting and waving signs – one displaying a Nazi swastika. The protesters were kept behind steel barricades on a plaza across an entrance road at the hotel, largely out of view of people entering for the event. No arrests were reported.

Bannon also took aim at the Silicon Valley and its “lords of technology,” predicting that tech leaders and progressives in the state would try to secede from the union in 10 to 15 years. He called the threat to break up the nation a “living problem.”

He also tried to cheer long-suffering California Republicans, in a state that Trump lost by over 4 million votes and where Republicans have become largely irrelevant in state politics. In Orange County, where the convention was held, several Republican House members are trying to hold onto their seats in districts carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential contest.

“You’ve got everything you need to win,” he told them.

He ended his speech with a standing ovation.

Bannon is promoting a field of primary challengers to take on incumbent Republicans in Congress. But in California, the GOP has been fading for years.

The state has become a kind of Republican mausoleum: GOP supporters can relive the glory days by visiting the stately presidential libraries of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, but today Democrats control every statewide office and rule both chambers of the Legislature by commanding margins.

Not all Republicans were glad to see Bannon. In a series of tweets last week, former state Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes said he was shocked by the decision to have the conservative firebrand headline the event.

“It’s a huge step backward and demonstrates that the party remains tone deaf,” Mayes tweeted.

California Republicans have bickered for years over what direction to turn – toward the political center or to the right.

Bannon also argued that the coalition that sent Trump to the White House, including conservatives, Libertarians, populists, economic nationalists, evangelicals, could hold power for decades if they stay unified.

“If you have the wisdom, the strength, the tenacity, to hold that coalition together, we will govern for 50 to 75 years,” he said.

Most of the state’s governors in the 20th century were Republicans, and state voters helped elevate a string of GOP presidential candidates to the White House. But the party’s fortunes started to erode in the late 1990s after a series of measures targeting immigrants, which alienated growing segments of the state’s population.

In 2007, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned party members that the GOP was “dying at the box office” and needed to move to the political center and embrace issues like climate change to appeal to a broader range of voters. In 2011, a state Republican Party committee blocked an attempt by moderates to push the state GOP platform toward the center on immigration, abortion, guns and gay rights.

The decline continued. Republicans are now a minor party in many California congressional districts, outnumbered by Democrats and independents. Statewide, Democrats count 3.7 million more voters than the GOP.

Political scientist Jack Pitney, who teaches at Claremont McKenna College, said he doubted the speech would color the 2018 congressional contests, which remain far off for most voters.

More broadly, he said Bannon’s politics would hurt the GOP, including among affluent, well-educated voters who play an important part in county elections.

“Inviting him was a moral and political blunder,” Pitney said in an email.

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Bannon faults George W. Bush for 'destructive' presidency
Bannon faults George W. Bush for 'destructive' presidency
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Latest on developments in Afghanistan (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

Pakistan is strongly condemning two suicide attacks at mosques in Afghanistan that killed at least 72 people.

In a statement Saturday, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said the government and people of Pakistan stand in solidarity with the Afghan government and its people.

The statement said Pakistan expressed condolences to the affected families and reiterated its condemnation of all forms of terrorism.

In the attack in Kabul, a suicide bomber walked into a Shiite mosque where he detonated his explosives vest, killing 39 and wounding at least 41, while in Ghor province a suicide bomber struck a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers killing 33.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack.

—

11 a.m.

The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing attack on a Shiite mosque in Kabul that killed at least 39 and wounded at least 41.

The group in a statement on its website late Friday says its fighter “Abu Ammar al-Turkmani detonated his explosive vest among the apostates” in the Imam Zaman mosque in western Kabul earlier in the day.

IS has staged similar attacks on Shiite mosques in recent months.

The so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan has taken responsibility for most of the attacks targeting Shiites, whom the Sunni extremist group considers to be apostates. Earlier this year, following an attack claimed by IS on the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul, the militant group effectively declared war on Afghanistan’s Shiites, saying they would be the target of future attacks.

—

10:15 a.m.

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry says the fatalities from a suicide bombing attack in a Shiite mosque in the capital Kabul has risen to 39 dead and 41 wounded.

The ministry’s press office says in a statement Saturday it is investigating the attack a day earlier at the Imam Zaman Mosque in western Kabul’s Dashte-e-Barchi neighborhood. It said the assailant blew himself up as worshippers began their prayers.

A second suicide bombing in western Ghor province on Friday struck a Sunni mosque, also during Friday prayers, and killed 33 people including a warlord who was apparently the target of the attack.

Abdul Hussain Naseri, a Shiite cleric, condemned the Kabul attack and said more security is needed for Shiite mosques in the city.

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The Latest: Pakistan condemns mosque attacks in Afghanistan
The Latest: Pakistan condemns mosque attacks in Afghanistan
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Divided Republicans in Congress are tackling an ambitious overhaul of the nation’s tax system that would deeply cut levies for corporations and double the standard deduction used by most average Americans.

Despite controlling Congress and the White House, Republicans failed to carry out their years-long promise to dismantle and replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law. They say the nearly $6 trillion tax plan, to bring the first major revamp in three decades, is their once-in-a-generation opportunity. President Donald Trump sets it as his highest legislative priority.

But can they deliver? What are the next steps for Congress? How would the changes affect the average taxpayer? Some questions and answers:

—

WHAT DOES THE TAX PLAN DO? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Trump and Republican leaders unveiled the proposal last month, pitching it as a boon to the middle class and a needed spark to economic growth and job creation. It’s only an outline, with Congress left to put meat on the bones as lawmakers turn it into complex legislation.

The plan calls for reduced taxes for most individuals, slashing the corporate tax rate from 36 percent to 20 percent, and doubling the standard deduction used by most average Americans to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for families. The number of tax brackets would shrink from seven to three, with tax rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. (Now make that four, with an added bracket for high-income earners, rate to be determined, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Friday.) Inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates would be repealed.

It would bring far-reaching changes for businesses large and small, with fallout too for American companies beyond U.S. borders. The American middle-class family could take advantage of a heftier child tax credit and the extra money that could come from the bigger standard deduction.

But there are too many holes in the spare nine-page plan, like the income levels that would fit with each tax bracket and what might happen to other deductions used by middle-class people, to know how it actually would affect individual taxpayers and families. Other looming unknowns are how it would be paid for and how much it might add to the mounting $20 trillion national debt.

—

HOW DO THE PLAN’S BACKERS AND OTHERS SAY IT WOULD AFFECT AVERAGE PEOPLE?

The Trump administration is promising that the tax cuts – “which will be the biggest in the history of our country!” – would bring a $4,000 pay raise annually for the average family. Trump expanded that number even further Friday, telling Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, “It can be $5,000 average per individual, per group.”

That might sound like the pledge of “a chicken in every pot” that’s been attributed to President Herbert Hoover in the 1920s. But Trump’s claim is based on fuzzy math, in the view of skeptical tax experts and Democratic lawmakers.

Rather than helping the middle class, Democrats charge, the plan mainly would benefit wealthy individuals – like Trump – and big corporations.

The partisan debate over the plan is all about who’s got the middle class’s back. You’ll be hearing those two words a lot out of Washington in coming weeks.

—

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Now that Senate Republicans have muscled through a $4 trillion budget plan, and the House is poised to adopt it, the ground has been laid for serious work to begin on filling in the details and whipping up complex tax legislation. The budget plan provides for $1.5 trillion over 10 years in debt-financed tax cuts, busting earlier GOP pledges of strict fiscal discipline. More bad news on the federal budget deficit came Friday, when the government reported it rose to $666 billion in the just-completed fiscal year, an $80 billion increase.

But the work won’t be quick. Strap in for a long slog in separate House and Senate committee hearings, drafting meetings and closed-door negotiations. And a feast for lobbyists descending on lawmakers, especially members of the two tax-writing committees. The swarm depicted in “Showdown at Gucci Gulch,” the book chronicling lobbying in the landmark 1986 tax overhaul under President Ronald Reagan, is about to get its second act.

The Republicans are promising to get a final bill to Trump’s desk by Christmas – already slippage from the earlier Thanksgiving deadline. The House version of the legislation is expected to come forward by early next month. The Senate has its own ideas and may well craft its own bill, which means the differences would have to be hammered out in a potentially contentious joint conference.

—

THAT SOUNDS HARD. AND THE REPUBLICANS THEMSELVES ARE DIVIDED?

Complicating the picture further, the tax plan already has driven a sharp wedge through House Republicans, cracking open regional fault lines within the majority party. The plan would eliminate the federal deduction for state and local taxes, a widely popular break used by some 44 million Americans, especially in high-tax, Democratic-leaning states like New York, New Jersey and California.

Republican lawmakers from those states have revolted, balking at supporting the tax plan when their votes are so critically needed. Their opposition has led the GOP leaders in Congress to hear out the fractious GOP members and seek a compromise with them. At the same time, the White House has made overtures on the tax plan to conservative Democrats in the House and Democratic senators from states that Trump won in the 2016 election.

—

This story has been corrected to reflect that the proposed tax rate for the third bracket is 35 percent, not 25 percent.

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Q&A on the GOP effort to overhaul the nation's tax system
Q&A on the GOP effort to overhaul the nation's tax system
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge on Friday tossed out a $417 million jury award to a woman who claimed she developed ovarian cancer by using Johnson & Johnson talc-based baby powder for feminine hygiene.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Maren Nelson granted the company’s request for a new trial, saying there were errors and jury misconduct in the previous trial that ended with the award two months ago.

Nelson also ruled that there wasn’t convincing evidence that Johnson & Johnson acted with malice and the award for damages was excessive.

The decision will be appealed even though Eva Echeverria has died, said her attorney, Mark Robinson Jr.

“We will continue to fight on behalf of all women who have been impacted by this dangerous product,” he said in a statement.

Echeverria alleged Johnson & Johnson failed to adequately warn consumers about talcum powder’s potential cancer risks. She used the company’s baby powder on a daily basis beginning in the 1950s until 2016 and was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, according to court papers.

Echeverria developed ovarian cancer as a “proximate result of the unreasonably dangerous and defective nature of talcum powder,” she said in her lawsuit.

Her attorney contended that documents showed that Johnson & Johnson knew about the risks of talc and ovarian cancer for three decades.

The company said it was pleased with the ruling.

“Ovarian cancer is a devastating disease – but it is not caused by the cosmetic-grade talc we have used in Johnson’s Baby Powder for decades. The science is clear and we will continue to defend the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder as we prepare for additional trials in the U.S.,” spokeswoman Carol Goodrich said in a statement.

Similar allegations have led to hundreds of lawsuits against the New Jersey-based company. Jury awards have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars.

However, on Tuesday a Missouri appellate court threw out a $72 million award to the family of an Alabama woman who has died, ruling that the state wasn’t the proper jurisdiction for such a case.

The court cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that placed limits on where injury lawsuits could be filed, saying state courts cannot hear claims against companies not based in the state where alleged injuries occurred.

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Judge tosses 7M award against Johnson & Johnson
Judge tosses 7M award against Johnson & Johnson
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ATLANTA (AP) — The slaying of five dozen people in Las Vegas did little to change Americans’ opinions about gun laws.

The nation is closely divided on whether restricting firearms would reduce such mass shootings or homicides, though a majority favor tighter laws as they have for several years, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The massive divide on stricter limits remains firmly in place.

The survey was conducted from Oct. 12-16, about two weeks after 64-year-old Stephen Paddock fired on a crowded musical festival taking place on across the street from his hotel room, killing 58 and wounding more than 540 before killing himself. It’s the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

In this latest survey, 61 percent said the country’s gun laws should be tougher, while 27 percent would rather see them remain the same and 11 percent want them to be less strict. That’s similar to the results of an AP-GfK poll in July 2016.

Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats, but just a third of Republicans, want to see gun laws made stricter.

Kenny Garcia, a 31-year-old resident of Stockton, California, and a former gun owner, said he’s torn about whether tighter gun laws would lead to a reduction in mass shootings.

“That’s the hard part,” Garcia said. “How do you control something like that when you have no idea where it’s coming from, whether you control the guns or not?”

Still, he’s frustrated by easy availability of some devices – such as the “bump stocks” used by the Las Vegas shooter to make his semi-automatic guns mimic the more rapid fire of automatic weapons.

“They give people access to these things, then they question after something horrible happens, but yet the answer is right there,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

About half of Americans said they think making it more difficult to buy a gun would reduce the number of mass shootings in the country, and slightly under half said it would reduce the number of homicides.

About half felt it would reduce the number of accidental shootings, 4 in 10 that it would reduce the number of suicides and only about a third felt it would reduce gang violence.

Alea Leonard, a 21-year-old data analyst and full-time student, said she’s torn about whether the nation’s gun laws should be more strict, in part because different parts of the country have different experiences with crime.

“Here, I feel like everyone should be able to carry a .22 (caliber handgun) on them,” said Leonard, who lives in Orange County, California. Her neighborhood, she said, has a high crime rate and in the five months since she moved there, a 14-year-old was shot in the back of the head.

She grew up in California, but spent some summers in Wyoming. She never before felt the need to have a gun but is now researching what it would take to carry a firearm.

There are indications of a generational divide on the issue. Most of those in the survey who are younger than 30 said they believe stricter gun laws would result in fewer mass shootings, homicides and accidental shootings.

The poll also found that a majority of Americans disapprove of how President Donald Trump is handling gun control. Trump is the first president since Ronald Reagan to address the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association. One of his sons has voiced strong support for easing the restrictions on gun silencers.

Some 59 percent voiced disapproval with Trump’s handling of the issue, while 40 percent said they approved. About half of Americans age 60 and over approve of how he is handling the issue, compared with fewer than 4 in 10 of those under 60. Politically, 79 percent of people who identify as Republican approve of Trump’s handling of gun issues, while 61 percent of independents and 89 percent of Democrats disapprove. Sixty percent of gun owners approve of Trump on the issue.

The poll also showed Americans divided over which party, if any, they trust to handle gun control. Close to a third give Democrats the edge while 28 percent prefer Republicans, and 31 percent say they don’t trust either party.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,054 adults was conducted Oct. 12-16 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.

—

Emily Swanson reported from Washington.

—

Online:

AP-NORC Center: http://www.apnorc.org

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Vegas shooting doesn't change opinions on guns: AP-NORC poll
Vegas shooting doesn't change opinions on guns: AP-NORC poll
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RAQQA, Syria (AP) — Drone footage from the northern Syrian city of Raqqa shows the extent of devastation caused by weeks of fighting between Kurdish-led forces and the Islamic State group.

Footage from Thursday shows the bombed-out shells of buildings and heaps of concrete slabs lay piled on streets littered with destroyed cars.

Entire neighborhoods are seen turned to rubble, with little sign of civilian life.

The U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced they have driven Islamic State group militants out of the city after weeks of fighting.

The spokesman for the coalition, Col. Ryan Dillon, tweeted on Thursday that the SDF has cleared 98 percent of the city, adding that some militants remain holed up in a small pocket east of the city’s athletic stadium.

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Drone video shows devastation in Raqqa, Syria
Drone video shows devastation in Raqqa, Syria
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WASHINGTON (AP) — He started by describing the reverent handling of America’s war dead, bodies packed in ice and shipped home in the dark to Dover Air Force Base.

From that opening, White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered a raw and searing monologue Thursday about the reality and pain of war sacrifice, praising those who serve and summoning the 2010 death of his own son to defend President Donald Trump against accusations of insensitive outreach to a grieving military family.

In an unannounced appearance at the White House, Kelly, a retired three-star general whose son was killed while serving in Afghanistan, dressed down the Democratic congresswoman who had criticized Trump for comments she said he had made in a condolence call to the pregnant widow of a Green Beret killed in Niger.

Kelly called Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida an “empty barrel” who “makes noise,” but he did not deny the lawmaker’s account of the phone call, as the president had this week. Throughout his remarks, Kelly lamented what he said was lost respect for military service, women, authority and more.

“I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and brokenhearted at what I saw a member of Congress doing,” Kelly said. “Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred.”

The remarkable scene underscored Kelly’s singular role as an authoritative adviser and now spokesman for a president who is prone to false claims, exaggerations and misstatements. Kelly, who joined the White House to restore internal order, has increasingly become a public figure himself, employed to project calm and reassurance in times of crisis.

The uproar over Trump and how presidents should or shouldn’t try to console families of the fallen has rattled the White House and overshadowed the rest of Trump’s agenda in recent days.

Trump himself attacked Wilson again on Twitter late Thursday, calling her “wacky” and saying she “was SECRETLY on a very personal call, and gave a total lie on content!”

Kelly personally absolved Trump of blame in his call to the family of Sgt. La David Johnson, a conversation that prompted Wilson to declare that the president had been disrespectful to the grieving family and couldn’t remember Johnson’s name.

“If you’re not in the family, if you’ve never worn the uniform, if you’ve never been in combat, you can’t even imagine how to make that call,” Kelly said. “I think he very bravely does make those calls.”

Trump – who has frequently struggled with showing empathy – has emphatically rejected claims that he was disrespectful. But he started the latest controversy this week when he boasted about his commitment to calling service members’ next of kin and brought Kelly into the issue by wondering aloud if President Barack Obama had called the former Marine general after the death of Kelly’s son.

Kelly confirmed Thursday that Obama had not called him, but he made clear “that was not a criticism.”

“That’s not a negative thing,” he said. “I don’t believe all presidents call. I believe they all write.”

In fact, the chief of staff said that when Trump took office, he advised him against making those calls: “I said to him, ‘Sir there’s nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families.'”

But Trump wanted to make the calls, and asked Kelly for advice on what to say. In response, Kelly told him what General Joseph Dunford, now chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him when Robert Kelly was killed. Kelly recalled that Dunford told him his son “was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what the possibilities were because we’re at war.”

And Kelly added that Dunford told him that “when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. That’s what the president tried to say to four families the other day.”

Kelly said the Defense Department is investigating the details of the Oct. 4 ambush that killed four American soldiers, including Johnson, in Niger.

Islamic militants on motorcycles brought rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns, killing the four and wounding others after shattering the windows of unarmored U.S. trucks. The attack happened in a remote corner of Niger where Americans and local counterparts had been meeting with community leaders.

Kelly said Thursday that small groups of U.S. military personnel are being sent overseas, including to Niger, to help train local people to fight the IS group “so that we don’t have to send large numbers of troops.”

His speech was a rebuke to Wilson, who was in the car with the family of Johnson when Trump called on Tuesday. She said in an interview that Trump had told Johnson’s widow that “you know that this could happen when you signed up for it … but it still hurts.” Johnson’s aunt, who raised the soldier from a young age, said the family took that remark to be disrespectful.

The call came in as they drove to Miami’s airport to receive the body. At the airport, widow Myeshia Johnson leaned in grief across the flag-draped coffin after a military guard received it.

A spokeswoman said Thursday that Wilson stood by her earlier comments. The congresswoman herself, asked by WSVN-TV in Florida about Kelly’s remarks, replied only indirectly.

“Let me tell you what my mother told me when I was little,” Wilson said. “She said, ‘The dog can bark at the moon all night long, but it doesn’t become an issue until the moon barks back.'”

Kelly also accused Wilson of grandstanding at the dedication of a Miami FBI office in 2015.

The White House chief of staff said he was so upset by her criticism of Trump’s call that he went to walk “among the finest men and women on earth” in a 90-minute visit to nearby Arlington National Cemetery, among the graves of service members, including some who died under his command.

Kelly began his remarks by recounting in painstaking detail what happens after a soldier is killed in overseas combat. The dead soldier’s body is wrapped in a makeshift shroud by his colleagues, Kelly said, and then flown by helicopter to a nearby air base, where it is packed in ice. It is then flown to a second base, often in Europe, and put in more ice before it is transported to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The body is then embalmed and dressed in military uniform, complete with medals before heading home.

Kelly said the next of kin are notified by a casualty officer, who “proceeds to break the heart of a family member.”

Robert Kelly, 29, was killed when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan’s remote Helmand province. Kelly said his family got calls from Robert’s friends in Afghanistan attesting to his character. Those calls, he said as he fought back tears, were the most important.

After his dramatic opening statement, Kelly then took questions from reporters, asking first if any of them were Gold Star parents or siblings, meaning relatives of slain service members. When no one raised a hand, Kelly then said he would take questions only from those who knew a Gold Star family.

Kelly, whose frustration with the distractions created by Trump on other subjects led him to deny last week that he was considering quitting, also bemoaned how the nation no longer held things sacred, from life to religion to women. He said the respect given to Gold Star families “left in the convention over the summer,” an apparent reference to the bitter election exchanges between the Trump campaign and a family whose military son had been killed.

—

Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman in Washington and David Fischer in Miami contributed reporting.

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Evoking slain son, Kelly defends Trump on condolence calls
Evoking slain son, Kelly defends Trump on condolence calls
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are moving to boost transparency for online political ads, unveiling on Thursday what could be the first of several pieces of legislation to try to lessen influence from Russia or other foreign actors on U.S. elections.

The bill by Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota would require social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to keep public files of election ads and meet the same disclaimer requirements as political broadcast and print advertising. Federal regulations now require television and radio stations to make publicly available the details of political ads they air. That includes who runs the ad, when it runs and how much it costs.

The bill also would require companies to “make reasonable efforts” to ensure that election ads are not purchased directly or indirectly by a foreign national. The move comes after Facebook revealed that ads that ran on the company’s social media platform and have been linked to a Russian internet agency were seen by an estimated 10 million people before and after the 2016 election.

Warner is the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, which is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 race, and Klobuchar is the top Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, which oversees elections. The legislation also has support from Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Lawmakers on the Senate intelligence panel and other committees investigating Russian influence have said one of the main roles of Congress will be to pass legislation to try to stop the foreign meddling. That’s in contrast to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is also investigating and has the ability to prosecute if he finds any criminal wrongdoing.

Other lawmakers are working on legislation to help states detect if foreign actors are trying to hack into their systems. That’s after the Department of Homeland Security said that 21 states had their election systems targeted by Russian government hackers.

But it’s unclear if Congress will be able to agree on any such legislation amid heightened partisan tensions. Warner and Klobuchar are still trying to woo additional Senate and House Republicans, who have spent much of the year rolling back federal regulations they see as burdensome.

McCain, who has for years broken with many of his GOP colleagues on campaign finance laws, said in a statement that he has “long fought to increase transparency and end the corrupting influence of special interests in political campaigns, and I am confident this legislation will modernize existing law to safeguard the integrity of our election system.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., has said he wants to wait until after an upcoming hearing with social media executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google before weighing in on the legislation. Late last month, after Warner first floated the bill, Burr said it was too soon to discuss legislation and that the hearing will “explore for the first time any holes that might exist in social media platform regulation or campaign law.”

Another Republican member of the intelligence panel, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, said he has concerns about the bill, including that “there is a difference between the public airwaves and privately held fiber, basically, and how it’s managed.”

He said the “idea isn’t bad,” but he wants to look at the technical issues.

Lankford said he believes there will be several pieces of legislation coming out of the Russia probe, but “whether that’s the first or not, I don’t know.”

Announcing the legislation at a news conference, the two Democrats framed the issue as a matter of national security.

“Russia attacked us and will continue to use different tactics to undermine our democracy and divide our country, including by purchasing disruptive online political ads,” Klobuchar said. “We have to secure our election systems and we have to do it now.”

Warner, who has worked closely with Burr on the intelligence panel, has said repeatedly that he hopes the social media companies will work with them on the legislation, which he calls “the lightest touch possible.”

The companies have said very little publicly about the bill or the prospect of regulation. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his company will now require political ads to disclose who is paying for them, a move that Warner and Klobuchar said their bill would “formalize and expand.”

“We stand with lawmakers in their effort to achieve transparency in political advertising,” Erin Egan, Facebook vice president for United States public policy, said in a statement after Warner and Klobuchar introduced their bill. “We have already announced the steps Facebook will take on our own and we look forward to continuing the conversation with lawmakers as we work toward a legislative solution.”

Google also said it supports efforts to “improve transparency, enhance disclosures, and reduce foreign abuse.” The company said it is evaluating steps it can take.

Twitter would only stay in a statement that “we look forward to engaging with Congress and the FEC on these issues.” The Federal Election Commission regulates campaign finance laws.

Lawrence Noble, general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan election advocacy group, said that some foreign entities could potentially get around the legislation if it were passed, but it would make it harder for them and put more responsibility on the companies.

“There is a difference between them saying they will do something and the law saying they have to do something,” Noble said.

—

Associated Press writers Barbara Ortutay in New York and Ryan Nakashima in Menlo Park, Calif. contributed to this report.

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Senators push for more online transparency in elections
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — One man climbs 24 flights of stairs several times a day alongside dormant elevators. Street vendors hawk plastic washboards for $20. And families outstretch their hands as crews in helicopters drop supplies in communities that remain isolated.

This is life one month after Hurricane Maria slammed into the U.S. territory on Sept. 20 as a Category 4 storm that killed at least 48 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and left tens of thousands of people without a job. It was the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in nearly a century, with winds just shy of Category 5 force.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” retired schoolteacher Santa Rosario said as she scanned empty shelves at a supermarket in the capital of San Juan that had run out of water jugs – again.

Maria caused as much as an estimated $85 billion in damage across an island already mired in an 11-year recession. That has complicated and delayed efforts to restructure a portion of a $74 billion public debt load that officials say is unpayable. And it has thrust Puerto Rico’s territorial status into the international spotlight, reviving a sharp debate about its political future as the island attempts to recover from flooding, landslides and power and water outages.

Maria has also put Puerto Rico into the U.S. political spotlight with President Donald Trump on Thursday giving himself a “10” for his response to the devastation wrought by the hurricane. Asked when the 3.4 million U.S. citizens living there could expect power to be fully restored, Trump said it will take “a while.”

“There’s never been a case where power plants were gone,” Trump said, seated alongside Gov. Ricardo Rossello in the Oval Office. “So it’s going to be a period of time before the electric is restored.”

Roughly 80 percent of power customers remain in the dark, and another 30 percent are without water. Schools remain closed. Stoplights are not operating. And while nearly 90 percent of supermarkets have reopened, many have bare rows of shelves empty of goods ranging from water to bananas to canned tuna.

“We’re not eating well,” said 28-year-old maintenance worker Pedro Lopez as he took a break from cleaning a damaged apartment complex. “It’s a lot of white rice and fried eggs.”

Near where he stood, massive tree trunks, pieces of zinc roofs and soggy items including mattresses still lined the street – a scene common across the island.

Less than half of Puerto Rico’s cellphone towers are operating, and only 64 percent of bank branches have reopened, some of them with dead outdoor ATMs whose empty screens prompt a roll of eyes from people seeking to withdraw money.

A brown haze has settled over parts of the island as more and more generators are turned on to light hospitals, homes and even the power company itself. In turn, the number of asthma cases and thefts has increased.

Newly precious generators have been stolen from places including a nursing home, an airport cargo terminal and a hospital.

Nearly 5,000 people remain in shelters, with many using rainwater to shower.

“Life has changed dramatically,” said Gilberto Del Orbe, 50, who used to install marble and gypsum board. “I’ve had no work. Everything is paralyzed.”

Last week, the House of Representatives passed a $36.5 billion disaster aid package for places including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and now a group of Democratic lawmakers are pushing for tax relief, saying that people and businesses in both U.S. territories affected by Hurricane Maria receive unequal treatment compared with U.S. states.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency also has pledged more than $171 million to help restore power across the island, and it has distributed more than $5 million to municipalities in need, as well as $ 1 million to Puerto Rico’s National Guard.

Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez said the storm set Puerto Rico back 20 to 30 years, and while generators, food, water and other types of aid are still being flown and shipped to the island, people say it’s not enough.

“We lost our home and we lost our car,” said Lisandro Santiago, a 42-year-old carpenter who started work just a week ago and was overseeing a crew repairing an apartment complex.

He and his wife, their three children and his mother-in-law are staying in a 13-by-9 foot (4-by-2.7 meter) room that remained unscathed as the hurricane ripped the rest of their home apart in the north coastal town of Dorado. “I’m leaving Friday for Massachusetts. I can’t stay here.”

He is among tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans trying to restart life in the U.S. mainland after losing homes or jobs or both after the storm. Those who remain behind say the post-hurricane conditions are draining them.

The complaints posted on social media or shared over beers or candlelight dinners are multiplying: Weight loss. Roaring generators. Sporadic sleep in oppressive heat. Swarms of mosquitoes. Worsening traffic jams. Breakouts of pinkeye. Hands rendered raw by daily clothes washing.

Celebrations of power coming back on in certain neighborhoods are often brief: A litany of happy exclamation points following messages of elation posted on social media are usually replaced a day later by angry emojis.

Many use social media to post endless questions on post-hurricane help: where to find fans with batteries (nowhere so far); where to find affordable baby sitters as some parents return to work while schools remain closed (Many suggested finding unemployed friends); what’s the best way to wash clothes by hand (A majority of votes went to someone who suggested placing them in a big garbage bag with water and soap and shaking it vigorously).

“If it continues like this, a lot of people are going to leave,” said Rosario, the retired schoolteacher. “But not me. I will stay here.”

She paused and then continued to push her cart through the aisles, searching for new food options after having eaten sandwiches of canned chicken and asparagus for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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Puerto Rico still stumbles in the dark a month after Maria
Puerto Rico still stumbles in the dark a month after Maria
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Linda Rodriguez Flecha

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — One man climbs 24 flights of stairs several times a day alongside dormant elevators. Street vendors hawk plastic washboards for $20. And families outstretch their hands as crews in helicopters drop supplies in communities that remain isolated.

This is life one month after Hurricane Maria slammed into the U.S. territory on Sept. 20 as a Category 4 storm that killed at least 48 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and left tens of thousands of people without a job. It was the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in nearly a century, with winds just shy of Category 5 force.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” retired schoolteacher Santa Rosario said as she scanned empty shelves at a supermarket in the capital of San Juan that had run out of water jugs – again.

Maria caused as much as an estimated $85 billion in damage across an island already mired in an 11-year recession. That has complicated and delayed efforts to restructure a portion of a $74 billion public debt load that officials say is unpayable. And it has thrust Puerto Rico’s territorial status into the international spotlight, reviving a sharp debate about its political future as the island of 3.4 million people attempts to recover from flooding, landslides and power and water outages.

Roughly 80 percent of power customers remain in the dark, and another 30 percent are without water. Schools remain closed. Stoplights are not operating. And while nearly 90 percent of supermarkets have reopened, many have bare rows of shelves empty of goods ranging from water to bananas to canned tuna.

“We’re not eating well,” said 28-year-old maintenance worker Pedro Lopez as he took a break from cleaning a damaged apartment complex. “It’s a lot of white rice and fried eggs.”

Near where he stood, massive tree trunks, pieces of zinc roofs and soggy items including mattresses still lined the street – a scene common across the island.

Less than half of Puerto Rico’s cellphone towers are operating, and only 64 percent of bank branches have reopened, some of them with dead outdoor ATMs whose empty screens prompt a roll of eyes from people seeking to withdraw money.

A brown haze has settled over parts of the island as more and more generators are turned on to light hospitals, homes and even the power company itself. In turn, the number of asthma cases and thefts has increased.

Newly precious generators have been stolen from places including a nursing home, an airport cargo terminal and a hospital.

Nearly 5,000 people remain in shelters, with many using rainwater to shower.

“Life has changed dramatically,” said Gilberto Del Orbe, 50, who used to install marble and gypsum board. “I’ve had no work. Everything is paralyzed.”

Last week, the House of Representatives passed a $36.5 billion disaster aid package for places including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and now a group of Democratic lawmakers are pushing for tax relief, saying that people and businesses in both U.S. territories affected by Hurricane Maria receive unequal treatment compared with U.S. states.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency also has pledged more than $171 million to help restore power across the island, and it has distributed more than $5 million to municipalities in need, as well as $ 1 million to Puerto Rico’s National Guard.

Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez said the storm set Puerto Rico back 20 to 30 years, and while generators, food, water and other types of aid are still being flown and shipped to the island, people say it’s not enough.

“We lost our home and we lost our car,” said Lisandro Santiago, a 42-year-old carpenter who started work just a week ago and was overseeing a crew repairing an apartment complex.

He and his wife, their three children and his mother-in-law are staying in a 13-by-9 foot (4-by-2.7 meter) room that remained unscathed as the hurricane ripped the rest of their home apart in the north coastal town of Dorado. “I’m leaving Friday for Massachusetts. I can’t stay here.”

He is among tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans trying to restart life in the U.S. mainland after losing homes or jobs or both after the storm. Those who remain behind say the post-hurricane conditions are draining them.

The complaints posted on social media or shared over beers or candlelight dinners are multiplying: Weight loss. Roaring generators. Sporadic sleep in oppressive heat. Swarms of mosquitoes. Worsening traffic jams. Breakouts of pinkeye. Hands rendered raw by daily clothes washing.

Celebrations of power coming back on in certain neighborhoods are often brief: A litany of happy exclamation points following messages of elation posted on social media are usually replaced a day later by angry emojis.

Many use social media to post endless questions on post-hurricane help: where to find fans with batteries (nowhere so far); where to find affordable baby sitters as some parents return to work while schools remain closed (Many suggested finding unemployed friends); what’s the best way to wash clothes by hand (A majority of votes went to someone who suggested placing them in a big garbage bag with water and soap and shaking it vigorously).

“If it continues like this, a lot of people are going to leave,” said Rosario, the retired schoolteacher. “But not me. I will stay here.”

She paused and then continued to push her cart slowly through the aisles, searching for new food options after having eaten sandwiches of canned chicken and asparagus for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Puerto Rico still stumbles in the dark a month after 'Maria'
Puerto Rico still stumbles in the dark a month after 'Maria'
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES