| Trump visit to Puerto Rico: a chance to deflect 'Katrina' comparisons Posted: 03 Oct 2017 02:34 PM PDT ![Trump visit to Puerto Rico: a chance to deflect 'Katrina' comparisons]( "Trump visit to Puerto Rico: a chance to deflect 'Katrina' comparisons") President Trump has been praised for his administration's response to last month's hurricanes in Texas and Florida – no small feat. Hurricane Maria left the island in utter devastation, and critics have accused the Trump administration of lagging in its response. Trump's visit Tuesday to Puerto Rico represents an opportunity to turn the page, but a narrative is already setting in: Maria is Trump's "Katrina," a reference to the charge that President George W. Bush had failed a devastated New Orleans after its own hurricane in 2005.
|
| Can the Supreme Court define political communities? Posted: 03 Oct 2017 12:31 PM PDT ![Can the Supreme Court define political communities?]( "Can the Supreme Court define political communities?") The justices could again decline to rule on the common practice of partisan gerrymandering, as they have in the past. Some states let a "citizens commission" draw up districts using criteria such as the compactness of a district. The ballot box is the best way for Americans to create and affirm their values – and determine how to draw voting districts.
|
| With Wisconsin case, Supreme Court takes up partisan gerrymandering Posted: 03 Oct 2017 11:58 AM PDT ![With Wisconsin case, Supreme Court takes up partisan gerrymandering]( "With Wisconsin case, Supreme Court takes up partisan gerrymandering") Unlike with racial gerrymandering, the US Supreme Court has been reluctant to confront partisan gerrymandering in recent years. Not only is partisan gerrymandering perfectly legal to some degree – making it difficult to judge when it becomes unlawful – but the justices are also traditionally reluctant to get too involved in politics, particularly local politics. "They really feel like they're not well situated to decide whether the line should be drawn here or on the other side of [a town's] park," says Michael Li, a senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School.
|
| Bangladesh opens doors – and hearts – to fleeing Rohingya Posted: 03 Oct 2017 10:20 AM PDT ![Bangladesh opens doors – and hearts – to fleeing Rohingya]( "Bangladesh opens doors – and hearts – to fleeing Rohingya") When hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees began fleeing from Myanmar into Bangladesh six weeks ago, Haroon Roshid and his wife, Khaleda Begum, gave them what little they could: water, rice, plastic tarpaulins. Bangladeshi authorities say the flow of refugees has greatly slowed in the past two weeks.
|
