“Health insurers are blasting an effort by conservatives to modify the Senate Obamacare repeal bill and set up a two-tier market in which companies could sell plans that don’t meet Obamacare’s coverage requirements. Their big concern, according to documents obtained by POLITICO: The plan by Ted Cruz and Mike Lee would threaten access to coverage for individuals with costly medical conditions.” More …
Trump Crafting Plan to Slash Legal Immigration
“Trump plans to get behind a bill being introduced later this summer by GOP Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia that, if signed into law, would, by 2027, slash in half the number of legal immigrants entering the country each year, according to four people familiar with the conversations. Currently, about 1 million legal immigrants enter the country annually; that number would fall to 500,000 over the next decade.” More …
Kansas, Sam Brownback, and the Trickle-Down Implosion
“The Kansas governor’s attempt to create supply-side nirvana in Middle America not only failed to grow the economy—it created a crippling crisis of government that led to a statewide rejection of his politics.” More …
Justice Department’s Corporate Crime Watchdog Resigns, Saying Trump Makes It Impossible to Do Job
“One of the Justice Department’s top corporate crime watchdogs has resigned, declaring that she cannot enforce ethics laws against companies while, she asserts, her own bosses in the Trump administration have been engaging in conduct that she said she would never tolerate in corporations.” More …
Trump’s Voter Fraud Endgame
“His “election integrity” investigation is a pretext to repeal the National Voter Registration Act. ” More …
The Federal Voting Agency Republicans Want to Kill
“GOP lawmakers argue the Election Assistance Commission, created in 2002, has outlived its usefulness. Democrats say that in the age of hacking, it’s needed now more than ever.” More …
Who is Felix Sater? Trump’s Russian ex-Real Estate Partner Set to Help in Laundering Probe
“Whether at home or abroad, President Donald Trump’s alleged links to Russia dog the U.S. executive at every turn. Especially when it comes to his financial real estate empire. The latest revelation came Thursday morning as the Financial Times reported Russia-born real estate dealmaker Felix Sater, who allegedly has organized crime links, had agreed to assist in an international probe into a Kazakh family’s real estate dealings in the U.S.— including one of Trump’s most famed properties, the Trump SoHo in downtown New York City.” More …
Russia Steps Up Spying Efforts After Election
“Russian spies are ramping up their intelligence-gathering efforts in the US, according to current and former US intelligence officials who say they have noticed an increase since the election.” More …
These Three Lawyers Are Quietly Purging Voter Rolls Across the Country
“The Trump administration could soon follow their lead.” More …
Securing Elections From Foreign Interference
”
Amid ongoing investigations into Russia’s unprecedented cyberattacks around the 2016 election, this report outlines specific actions Congress and local election officials can quickly take to insulate voting technology from continued foreign interference. The authors focus on assessing and securing two of the most vulnerable points in the system: voting machines, which could be hacked to cast doubt on or change vote totals; and voter registration databases, which could be manipulated in an attempt to block voters, cause disruption, and undermine confidence when citizens vote. Amb. R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intelligence 1993-95, wrote the foreword for the report. He has been a key voice elevating the seriousness of the issue, and framing foreign interference as a pressing national security threat.” More …