The cost of Donald Trump’s travel could pay to send 128 cargo ships full of aid to Puerto Rico - Independent

The cost of Donald Trump’s travel could pay to send 128 cargo ships full of aid to Puerto Rico

The estimates are based on Mr Trump's working vacations at his private resorts, places he has frequently gone to instead of going to the White House

Clark Mindock New York @ClarkMindock

The President said that Puerto Rico had thrown the US budget 'out of whack' Getty

When Donald Trump told stony faces in Puerto Rico that their crisis had thrown the US budget out of whack this week, researchers in San Francisco got to thinking: What if the President’s travel budget for personal trips to places like his Mar-a-Lago resort were used to send cargo ships to help that US territory instead?

Researchers at the online documents company FormSwift figured that the budget for Mr Trump's travel to places like Mar-a-Lago would pay for a few ships to make it there. But, they were way off: A full 128 cargo ships could financed to bring supplies over with the amount of cash the US government spends on Mr Trump's working vacations to his private resorts.

“We were surprised by how many trips you could actually do,” Jackson Hille, the content marketer at the company, told The Independent. “I think we were thinking that maybe it would be two, because it just seems like the shipping and logistics were actually a huge issue. We thought, maybe this is two or three trips, and the fact that it came out to the final figure — we were shocked.”

Mexico offers aid to Puerto Rico after Trump's disastrous visit

Mr Trump and the first family have reportedly racked up a huge bill for travel since the President took office earlier this year. So far, they’ve cost the US an unprecedented $32 million for trips to exclusive properties owned by Mr Trump, Mar-a-Lago in particular, according to estimates.

That budget itself could pay for 128 cargo ships, while travel costs associated with other members of the first family could pay for another two ships.

In the days following Maria devastated the island, domestic vessels carrying relief to Puerto Rico were able to move 9,500 containers of goods to the ports on the island, according to Newsweek. One large vessel can carry close to 18,000 tonnes of cargo from Florida to Puerto Rico.

Are Theresa May's days in charge numbered? - CNN Money

Quest: Are Theresa May's days in charge numbered?

by Richard Quest @richardquest

October 6, 2017: 12:10 AM ET

Brexit trouble for Theresa May

Quest's Profitable Moment

I wonder if we will look back on this week as the turning point when it became obvious Theresa May's prime ministership is over. Her keynote speech to the Tory conference was by every conclusion a mishap-filled disaster.

Firstly, a prankster managed to get on the stage and handed her a P45 -- the form used in the U.K. for dismissal. Then May got a coughing fit and had to be handed a throat lozenge by the chancellor. Finally, some of the letters on the screen behind her fell off while she was finishing up.

At the moment, the only reason to keep Theresa May is the alternatives are grim, if not worse. The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, is a brilliant man suffused by his own ambition. Everyone else is either dull, dangerous or deluded. So, Mrs. May continues.

It would be a grave mistake for the European Union to engage in schadenfreude, rubbing their hands in glee at this confusion. Some clearly hope the British confusion will enable the EU to "get one over" on the U.K., punishing them for leaving and sending a warning to other upstarts. That would be disaster. A failed negotiation may hurt the Brits more than the rest, but in the long run everyone will suffer.

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Theresa May's days as prime minister are numbered. What comes after may be worse. The Brexit negotiations are stuck in phase one and time is running out. Politics as normal must not be the way forward on either side if we are to avert disaster of the worst kind.

Spain is being forced to contemplate the unthinkable: losing 20% of its economy.

That's what would happen if Catalonia carried out its threat to declare independence from Spain after Madrid interfered with its referendum.

An unsanctioned separation would plunge Spain into chaos in a situation even more serious and messy than Brexit. More likely, Spain and Catalonia will reach a truce to repair their frayed relations.

In the meantime, Spain's stock market is retreating and two of its biggest banks are considering quitting Barcelona.

-- Matt Egan

EU wants more taxes from Amazon

jeff bezos amazon

Europe says Luxembourg gave a tax break to the mighty Amazon -- and now the EU wants the Jeff Bezos-run company to pay €250 million ($293 million) for the "illegal aid."

Luxembourg says it did nothing wrong. But the EU has stepped up efforts to crack down on what it views as multinationals taking advantage of tax loopholes.

Ireland is refusing to collect €13 billion ($15.3 billion) in unpaid taxes from Apple. The EU is taking Ireland to court over the issue.

-- Paul R. La Monica

Trump can't just erase Puerto Rico's debt

Puerto Rico Donald Trump

In an interview with Fox on Tuesday, President Trump raised the prospect of canceling hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico's massive debt burden (which totals $72 billion).

"You can wave goodbye to that," he said.

Despite the rhetoric, it's unlikely Puerto Rico will really get a clean slate.

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney walked Trump's comments back on Wednesday. Puerto Ricans say they have more pressing concerns. And Trump doesn't have the legal authority to erase the territory's debt anyway.

-- Julia Horowitz

Las Vegas in mourning

las vegas crime tape

Tourism is a big business for Las Vegas. And there are now questions about whether people will continue to flock to Sin City following the massacre at a country music festival -- the worst mass shooting in modern American history.

Casino stocks, including Mandalay Bay owner MGM, fell. But gun stocks rose as investors bet sales will surge -- as they often do following mass shootings.

Concert organizers around the U.S. have already pledged to step up security.

-- Paul R. La Monica

Echoes of the dotcom bubble as China's tech stocks party like it's 1999

What's next

Jobs, jobs, jobs: The U.S. Labor Department is set to release September jobs numbers on Friday. The unemployment rate is expected to reflect layoffs linked to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which hit hard in Texas and Florida.

Big banks share earnings: It's a big week for investors who keep an eye on big banks. JPMorgan and Citigroup report earnings on October 12. PNC, Bank of America and Wells Fargo will follow suit the next day.

Donald Trump Jr says college campuses teach Americans to hate their country and religion - Associated Press

Donald Trump Jr says college campuses teach Americans to hate their country and religion

US president’s son defends father and mocks universities’ focus on diversity, and ‘safe spaces’ for women, minorities and LGBTI students

Associated Press

Friday 6 October 2017 17.07 AEDT Last modified on Friday 6 October 2017 21.30 AEDT

Donald Trump Jr has stood by his father’s declarations that “both sides” were to blame after August’s racially driven violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white supremacist killed a counter-protester.

President Donald Trump’s eldest son said his father was criticised only because of an “atmosphere of hatred” on the left that the younger Trump blamed on liberal university campuses and traditional media.

“He condemned ... the white nationalists and the left-wingers,” Trump Jr said during the annual fundraising gala for Faulkner University, a private Christian university in Alabama. “That should not have been controversial, but it was.”

‘Alt-right’, ‘alt-left’ – the rhetoric of hate after Charlottesville

Trump Jr, who was paid as Faulkner’s keynote speaker, went on to cite examples of violence on the left. He mentioned Antifa, far-left-leaning militant groups that call themselves anti-fascist, for outbursts in Berkeley, California. He alluded to the former Bernie Sanders supporter who shot at Republican congressmen gathering for baseball practice, nearly killing Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

“He went out looking for Republicans to kill,” Trump Jr said, “and we’re supposed to forget that.”

Trump Jr did not go into detail about the Charlottesville melee, never mentioning the woman who was killed after a white nationalist drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters.

Besides defending his father, Trump Jr used much of his 35-minute address to mock the culture on most of the nation’s college campuses, which he said teaches young Americans to “hate their country” and “hate their religion” while squelching conservative voices.

He noted instances where conservatives have been denied speaking opportunities or encountered protests upon their appearances.

“Today’s conservative speech is violence. Unprovoked liberal violence is self-defense,” Trump Jr complained. “Words have lost their meanings.”

He continued: “‘Hate speech’ is that America is a good country ... that we need borders ... anything that comes out of the mouth of the president ... the moral teaching of the Bible.”

He also mocked some universities’ focus on diversity, singling out the concept of “safe spaces” for women, minorities and LGBT students. He went on to praise two Alabama figures who played defining roles in the civil rights movement: Martin Luther King Jr and federal jurist Frank Johnson, who enforced many of the supreme court’s civil rights decisions.

'No good Nazis': James Murdoch criticises Trump over Charlottesville

Neither Trump Jr nor his hosts at Faulkner mentioned his place at the center of ongoing FBI and congressional inquiries into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Trump Jr moved to the fore of the Russia investigation in July amid revelations about a June 2016 meeting he helped arrange with a Russian attorney tied to the Kremlin.

Senate intelligence committee leaders from both parties this week declared that the issue of Russian meddling has not been settled, despite the president’s claims of a “hoax” and “fake news.” The committee staff has yet to interview Trump Jr, who has admitted he took the meeting with the Russian attorney expecting to get damaging information about his father’s general election opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Trump Jr made no mention of Alabama’s looming Senate election for the seat previously held by attorney general, Jeff Sessions. The president endorsed Sessions’ appointed successor, Luther Strange, but GOP voters sided with former Judge Roy Moore, who faces Democrat Doug Jones in a 12 December general election.

The address was part of Trump Jr’s periodic paid speaking schedule that began before his father’s election. A Faulkner spokeswoman confirmed the school paid Trump Jr but declined to disclose his fee.

The North Texas Daily, the student newspaper at the University of North Texas, has reported Trump Jr will be paid $100,000 to speak at a university fundraising event on 24 October. An archived web page of Trump Jr’s agency, All American Speakers, shows his speaking fee as “$50,001 and above.” NBC News has reported the page was removed from the agency’s website after NBC inquiries.