Progressive Breakfast: What Will Pope Francis Say This Week?

MORNING MESSAGE

Since he already issued his encyclical on the moral imperative to avert a climate crisis back in June, it is widely assumed he will reiterate his call to a recalcitrant Republican Congress ... But will Pope Francis go farther? ... Pope Francis has declared that December 8 will begin a “jubilee year,” a time of asking for the remission of sins from God. The theme will be “Holy Year of Mercy.” ... Might the Pope use his time in America to expand the reach of jubilee? For example, back in January the Campaign for America’s Future called for a “student debt jubilee” that would “Liberate 41 Million Americans From Student Loan Debt.”

Pressure For More Dem Debates

NH Democratic Party convention heckles DNC chair. The Hill:Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz repeatedly attempted on Saturday to quiet an audience of 4,000 … she interrupted her prepared remarks on at least two occasions to address chants of ‘more debates’ and ‘we want debates.'”
Sen. Bernie Sanders wins crowd battle in NH. W. Post: “Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders drew an estimated 3,000 people to a boisterous rally here Sunday night at the University of New Hampshire, about five times as many people as Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton attracted to an event two days ago at the same campus.”
But Hillary Clinton gains in recent CNN poll: “Clinton is backed by 42% of Democratic primary voters nationally, compared to 24% for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 22% for Biden and 1% for former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. That’s a marked improvement over an early September CNN/ORC poll that found Clinton leading Sanders, 37% to 27%, with Biden at 20% … Without the vice president in the race, Clinton’s numbers climb by 15 percentage points, while Sanders’ increase by only 4 points…”

Spotlight Turns To Fiorina

Yale’s Jeffrey Sonnenfeld eviscerates Fiorina’s CEO record in Politico Magazine: “If the board was wrong, the employees wrong, and the shareholders wrong—as Fiorina maintains—why in 10 years has she never been offered another public company to run?”
Fiorina questioned by Fox News for doing business with Iran. Bloomberg: “Appearing on Fox’s Fox News Sunday, Fiorina said that despite being the CEO of HP when the Iranian sales took place via a third party, she was unaware of them.”
Advocates charge Gov. John Kasich with cutting people of color off welfare. Mother Jones: “Ohio civil rights groups and economic analysts say Kasich’s administration is using [time-limit] waivers unequally: It applies for waivers in some regions of the state but refuses them in others, in a pattern that has disproportionately protected white communities and hurt minority populations.”

Shutdown Probability High

Stan Collender puts shutdown likelihood at 75 percent in Politico Magazine: “First and foremost, there is not enough time to reach a deal … a short-term CR will be very difficult for any number of reasons, but the controversy over Planned Parenthood is perhaps the biggest one … Some GOP representatives and senators are now considering using the CR to stop the [Iran] agreement…”
Boehner likens being Speaker to being a prisoner or sanitation worker, in Politico interview: “Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners, all right? You can teach yourself to do anything, especially if you’re committed to a cause.”

Breakfast Sides

NYT’s Paul Krugman criticizes shifting stories from proponents of a interest rate hike: “In 2010-2011 the Fed’s critics issued dire warnings about looming inflation. You might have expected some change in tune when inflation failed to materialize … The justification du jour is ‘financial stability,’ the claim that low interest rates breed bubbles and crashes … What’s clear, however, is that low rates are bad for bankers.”
Syriza re-elected in Greece. Time: “Tsipras lost some of his strongest comrades … who joined … a new party called Popular Unity. They were angry about what they saw as Tsipras’ capitulation to Germany … But the Prime Minister’s legions of fans remain undeniably behind him … ‘I voted for Tsipras because the others are worse and they got us into this mess,’ said [one.]”
Bipartisan push to loosen “small employer” requirements in Obamacare. NYT: “At issue is a provision of the health care law that expands the definition of a ‘small employer’ to include companies with 51 to 100 employees, subjecting them to stringent insurance regulation … Legislation to let states keep the current definition of ‘small employer’ has won support from 229 House members, including 43 Democrats.”

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