This is Weekend Edition. I'm Scott Simon we'll have the latest from Parker Rico where millions of Americans still need food water and health a former Republican speechwriter on the party's can't do image just another cap and member has to leave repeal and replace fails again and anger grows over hurricane relief a Russian activist an author on what Putin has wrought and plans a general's blunt inspiring words stand. That Stravinsky to a toadfish would another civilization hear or sounds and know that we're actually here 1st we have our newscast today is Saturday September 30th 2017. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington on trial Snyder President Trump is defending his administration's response to Hurricane Maria all American hearts are united with the people of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands who have faced terrible devastation in the wake of 2 catastrophic hurricane we are working night and day in cooperation with territorial and local authorities to assist those in need to help save and sustain lives the president speaking in his weekly media address following complaints that the response has been slow and trumpets answering his critics on Twitter this morning singing to immigrants and told the mayor of San Juan that she must be nasty to trump and that she and other Puerto Rican leaders have poor leadership ability San Juan Mayor Carmen Julian Crews yesterday accuse a trump administration of killing us with any fish and sea secretary of state Rex Tillerson in China this weekend for talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing the focus likely to be on trade in North Korea Tillerson also expected to help lay the groundwork for president Trump's visit in November federal funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program or chip is set to expire today N.P.R.'s Leila Fadel reports on the findings of a study that looked at what this means for states and for almost 9000000 children who are covered by Chip. If Congress doesn't act next week some states like Nevada are preparing to stop coverage chip insures children from low income families and while it's jointly funded by the states and the federal government some 80 percent of the money comes from federal funding Nevada told the Kaiser Family Foundation that it expects to run out of money by the beginning of December at the latest So if the funding isn't extended next week the state will have to start telling families that it's discontinuing coverage according to the study 10 states will use up federal funding by the end of the year right now experts say the number of uninsured kids is at an all time low disruption of chip could change that Leila Fadel n.p.r. News Las Vegas the American Civil Liberties Union threatening to challenge the Trump administration's latest travel restrictions as N.P.R.'s Richard Gonzales reports in a statement a c.l.u. Executive director Anthony Di remember oh says President Trump's newest travel ban on lawfully discriminates on the basis of national origin earlier this week the administration issued its 3rd version of the travel ban affecting 5 Muslim majority nations that were on the original list and adding Chad North Korea and Venezuela the a.c.l.u. And other groups that sued the administration over the earlier versions of the travel ban now in a letter to a federal judge in Maryland the a.c.l.u. Says it wants to amend its existing lawsuit and is seeking a preliminary injunction to suspend the implementation of the visa and entry restrictions set forth in the new travel ban Richard Gonzales n.p.r. News and you're listening to n.p.r. News. The Trump ministration is looking for a successor to Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price Price resigned yesterday over his use of private charter planes for government business the president has named deputy assistant secretary of Health Don Reich to serve as acting secretary Spain's Northeast region of Catalonia holding a referendum on independence tomorrow the Spanish government considers a vote illegal and has sent employees from all over the country Lauren Frayer reports from the closing campaign rally in Barcelona. To say. That's where bands played into the night on a stage near majestic fountains in Barcelona the Catalan president Carlie's Puja Mont took to the stage I we haven't won yet we have been shook lush parts we've already won who told the crowd of thousands we've already defeated the fear he says tomorrow's referendum will go on despite orders to desist from the central government in Madrid the police have been instructed to surround polling stations public schools and block voting parent teacher associations are mobilizing separatists to camp out inside if the yes votes when Catalan leaders vow to the Clare independence from Spain no matter how many voters actually turn out for n.p.r. News I'm Lauren Frayer in Barcelona Iraq's military preparing to take control of the international borders of the northern Kurdish region the move as part of efforts to isolate the Kurds following their vote for independence earlier this week yesterday the Iraqi government in Baghdad imposed a ban that halted all international flights servicing the region's airports on trial smiter n.p.r. News support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include Cigna a global health service company dedicated to helping people improve their health well being and sense of security more information is available at Cigna dot com and the National Endowment for the Arts art works. This is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Scott Simon Tom Price the secretary of Health and Human Services has fallen on his prescription pad and let me put it that way resigned just before he was probably going to be fired after reports as department chartered private jets for the secretary at the same time the Trump administration is assailed for failing to come to the aid of Puerto Rico Congress failed again to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and now the party is trying to overhaul the tax code a lot to talk about with Mary Kate Cary who was a speechwriter for President George h.w. Bush she's now a senior fellow for the presidential for Presidential Studies the University of Virginia Mary Kay thanks so much for joining us this morning thanks for having me and I'm afraid we have to begin with not just Puerto Rico but President Trump's tweet storm of just a few minutes ago the mayor of Puerto Rico of course has said despondently people are dying the president said just this morning quote He tweeted the mayor of San Juan has displayed quote such poor leadership ability is this time for that kind of observation. Well I've said for a long time that I think the president needs an assistant to the president for Twitter control and once again we have an example of why you would want that in this case though I have to say when I 1st read the tweet you know you're just shocked I was shocked at the mayor's speech last night begging for help and saying that people were dying that was heartbreaking to hear but this feels feels to me like it fits in a theme that he has had for a while starting with his inaugural which is to side on the side of the forgotten people in this case he names the military the 1st responders and the able coach nobody feels more forgotten the people of Puerto Rico and yes can say and the people of Puerto Rico versus what he sees as the elite which would be the mayor and questioning the mayor's poor leadership ability can't get workers to help was told to be nasty to Donald Trump is in the tweet also and this fits with his m.o. Of going against the elites and this fits with the rest of the news this week as well. Is that not surprising is the trumpet ministration failing Puerto Rico now. Every president in his or his his or her every president in their 1st year has an unexpected crisis whether it's national security natural disaster domestic unrest this is certainly shaping up to be Donald Trump's unexpected crisis and I think he realizes that and the stakes are getting higher and I think that's why he's lashing out more because I think he realizes what's going. To move to the capital as we said Secretary price has resigned but at least 3 more Cabinet members face similar records ations about charter jets. Whatever happened to them Can the trumpet ministrations say they'll drain the swamp when they seem to be flying over in private jets you know this reminds me of that line from The Godfather about Mr Corleone likes his bad news early Donald Trump is not like bad news and this was starting to spread to other cabinet members obviously and I think the we'll see when he was asked. Whether Trump I mean whether price should resign was his way of signaling Yes And sure enough Tom Price offered his resignation and unlike the sessions case the president accepted it because I think he he sees this for the irony that it is of his own cabinet doing what he campaigned exactly against is the Republican Party offering much of a profile of leadership at the moment can't get repeal and replace past the tax code seems a proposal seems fuzzy federal response seems to certainly be be slow if not negligent in Puerto Rico we could go on it's a very big challenge right now because they're trying to harness the energy of the base and turn it into a legislative agenda and that is proving almost impossible there is no populist wing of the Republican Party in the House or Senate and there is across the country but not in the House and Senate and that to me is where the big disconnect is happening and it is extremely frustrating for Republicans like the rest of us out here to watch the lack of inability to harness that energy into a legislative agenda do you think the tax reform proposals are going to go nowhere No I think if anything the chances of it passing are even higher now because they all realize it's almost October and they've got nothing to show for this year so I think you'll see faster action now as a result on Puerto Rico in tax reform Yeah but will it will it help middle class taxpayers I think a growing economy will solve a lot of problems in this country and tax reform would certainly start the economic engine moving very quickly you saw it this week with the stock market I think tremendous good could come from that solve a lot of problems when the president says he's getting praise in Puerto Rico for what is ministrations doing and when we see and we speak with people without food water power or medicine does he look either incompetent or just profoundly out of touch. When he was saying he got praise I noticed at the beginning there was praise from the mayor and the governor saying that really they were all working together things were good but then the optics as you're saying did not match that so at 1st there was some praise but that seems to have stopped as of you know last night this morning so that's that makes him look a little more in tune now because it's he knows the tide is turning America Kerry thanks so much for being with us thanks for having me and our Mandalit del Barco traveled to the northwestern side of Puerto Rico where there is no power virtually no social service dwindling food and water she spoke with people in India and with Isabella about how they're very I saw some graffiti the red deer army we need help and. The countryside was always been a very lush green and it's now a tangle of dry palm trees and uprooted say but trees there are bees swarming everywhere lost from their homes you see broken power lines and wires dangling over the roads piles of garbage and debris and long long lines that stretch for miles of people in cars waiting to get gasoline sometimes for 8 or 12 hours people who are able to get a bit of fuel drive to spots near cell towers to be able to make calls and get some information while at the airport and I met Anthony who was hoping to get some diesel he's a lumberjack who says he was finally able after 8 days after the hurricane to make a call to his family on the mainland who had been worried sick everybody I mean even though we were alive. Over here Everybody's are crying about the grammar of. Their families how are people living there well like in other parts of the island some of the houses that were built out of concrete and rebar were beaten up but they're still standing and people are beginning to clean those up but others who lost their homes. Are living in shelters some of them very precarious leave because they need oxygen ventilators or dialysis machines and the few generators there are can go out at an in time and in the roof more rural areas people are drinking from the creeks that run through the farmland I met a man named Boris bet all he worries about those areas that are even more cut off here strayed and. I feel I decrease when there were ones where they draw Still I. Told him and I have been taking care of day when. I don't I don't. Mentally President Trump says he will visit Puerto Rico on Tuesday do people know that he's coming they do know that he's coming and unlike some of the people in other parts of the United States who are angry with him that it's taken so long the people I met are pretty hopeful that the island will finally receive some help once President Trump sees for himself what's happening here and I met a little 8 year old boy named Anthony Hernandez he stays at a shelter at the Boys and Girls Club an idea because they don't want to he doesn't want to be home alone in the dark and this is what he had to say to the president. It's easy. He says so stop tweeting and come help the people N.P.R.'s Mandalit del Barco in Puerto Rico thanks so much thank you. Hugh Heffner made history and then tripped over it when I was growing up in Chicago the formidable women who were my mother's friends considered Playboy a good place to work for a single woman women at the Playboy Club were well paid got chauffeured home and cabs and customers stars politicians even it was rumored spoiled middle eastern princes were thrown out if they weren't gentleman my aunty are between Playboy bunnies when Gloria Steinem and other said the bunny costume which wrenched a woman's bodice upwards so her chest resemble ice cream scoops were exhibit a in the way he made women into idealize sex objects my aunty obvious NAFTA and said Well there were some pretty ridiculous costumes at the Metropolitan Opera to Hugh Hefner was considered progressive and hip in a time of button down shirts and bigotry Playboy printed articles by Nobel laureates on the flipside of fold outs he hired the late Dick Gregory and other black comics to work the Playboy Clubs when nightclubs were largely segregated and he put long crucial interviews with James Baldwin Malcolm x. And Dr Martin Luther King front and center in his magazine when it had 7000000 readers he hired Lenny Bruce to play his clubs and paid his legal bills he promoted jazz in finance legal cases for free speech civil rights and abortion rights you have heard how the sexual revolution is companion to the movements for civil rights and free speech but this leading figure of the sexual revolution couldn't see the feminist revolution half went from being acclaimed an icon of cool to being denounced an oppressive pig the criticism wasn't just rhetoric Bill Cosby allegedly raped several young women at the Playboy Mansion where drug use was rife numerous playmates said they were abused too free nudity on the Internet ultimately diminished the Playboy empire but its cache of cool had long disappeared. We talked about that when we profiled Hugh Hefner on Playboy's 50th anniversary he often sounded defensive and called his critics prudes and the interview was over I told him he'd known some members of my family and Mr Hefner brightened he took me through his personal archives to go through photos and even found a couple of my father it was a gracious act that seemed to bring him back to the time when he wasn't a controversial figure in a mansion but a hipster in a stodgy culture. Life reminds us that the cutting edge can grow. The music of psycho man if you're listening to n.p.r. News. On Trial Snyder with these headlines President Trump is accusing the mayor of San Juan Puerto Rico of listening to Democrats after being complimentary only a few days ago Trump as opposed to a series of tweets this morning defending his administration's response to Hurricane Maria and attacking critics including news media up to say the response has been inadequate the trumpet ministration is looking for a successor to Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price Price resigned yesterday over his use of private charter planes for government business and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in China this weekend his focus is on trade and North Korea Tillerson is also expected to help lay the groundwork for president Trump's visit to November on trial Snyder n.p.r. News from Washington. Support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Babble a language app that teaches real life conversations in a new language including Spanish French and German Babble's 10 to 15 minute lessons are available in the app store or online at Babel be a b b e l dot com from future of storytelling presenting the future of storytelling festival with immersive technologies performances and panel conversations October 6th 2 a Finn New York City future of storytelling dot org And from the listeners who support this n.p.r. Station this is Weekend Edition from n.p.r. News I'm Scott Simon Lieutenant General Jason Varia received a lot of attention when he stood up before his 4000 cadets and 1500 staff members at the u.s. Air Force Academy and said If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect. Then you need to get out general so very ahead of that academy and he spoke after racial slurs were written on the message boards of 5 African-American cadets at the prep school the n word and the message get out at Bin scrawled on the dry erase boards outside their dorm rooms general so very joins us now from Colorado Springs thanks so much for being with us absolutely my pleasure Scott good to talk to you and what it would move you to speak out so bluntly directly Well I wanted to make it very clear to the cadets and also the cadet candidates at the prep school that this kind of language this kind of thought is reprehensible that it's disgusting and I wanted that to come to the cadets in a very unambiguous way I wanted to make it very clear you also mention Charlottesville and Ferguson and the protests in the n.f.l. Why did you think it was important to talk about events in the outside world to well I I mentioned those because as I said when I talked to the cadets that we would be tone deaf not to think that this kind of incident at our prep school that it takes place within the backdrop of what's going on around the nation so we would be tone deaf not to recognize that there are other incidents going on to what degree did the people who teach at the Air Force Academy talk about the outside world not just military matters which obviously they're there to learn about but the social context of this country. Our dean of faculty has a program that we we call critical conversations where we bring groups together to talk about those issues that we see every day and our society this is a country that our cadets have signed up to defend So it's important that we have those conversations about what's going on in our nation is racism a problem that at the Air Force Academy racism is not a problem at the Air Force Academy somebody that decided to put hateful speech and someone that clearly is thinking small and someone that does not embrace our values as an Air Force Academy or as a United States Air Force decided to write something on a message board and writing something on a message board is not going to take away our values or threaten our institution general mask without giving away anythi