“As if Twitter’s reputation hasn’t been battered enough, a new stidy sheds light on how the social media platform can be hijacked by bots to spread political disinformation during election campaigns.” More …
Coverage Losses Under the Senate Health Care Bill Could Result in 18,100 to 27,700 Additional Deaths in 2026
“One Republican member of Congress, defending the GOP health care plan suggested that concerns that the loss of health care coverage leads to death are overblown. However, the scientific literature on the effects of insurance coverage on mortality shows that the coverage losses from the AHCA would result in tens of thousands of deaths.” More …
Conservatives Believe Medicaid Is Worthless, So Slashing It Is Harmless.
“Conservatives are justifying savage Medicaid cuts by denying its benefits.” More …
Republican Lawmakers Buy Health Insurance Stocks as Repeal Effort Moves Forward
“Health industry stocks, including insurance giants like UnitedHealth, have surged as Republicans move forward with their repeal effort, which rolls back broad taxes on health care firms while loosening consumer regulations which prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for medical treatment.” More …
Russians Are Said to Be Suspects in U.S. Nuclear Site Hackings
“Hackers working for a foreign government recently breached at least a dozen U.S. power plants, including the Wolf Creek nuclear facility in Kansas, according to current and former U.S. officials, sparking concerns the attackers were searching for vulnerabilities in the electrical grid.” More …
The Republican Healthcare Bill Is Stuck in a Valley of Incoherence
“Is 22 million more uninsured a moral blight? Evidence of freedom? Republicans disagree.” More …
Trump Is Struggling to Stay Calm on Russia, One Morning Call at a Time
“Frustration with the investigation stews inside him until it bubbles up in the form of rants to aides about unfair cable television commentary or as slights aimed at Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein. And, of course, it emerges in fiery tweets about the ‘WITCH HUNT’ — or, as he wrote Thursday morning, shortly before an event promoting leadership in technology, ‘a big Dem HOAX!'” More …
If You Love High Deductibles, Then You’ll Love The Senate Health Bill
“All that talk about lowering out-of-pocket costs? Yeah, they didn’t mean it.” More …
Intel Chiefs Tell Investigators Trump Suggested They Refute Collusion with Russians
“Two of the nation’s top intelligence officials told Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team and Senate investigators, in separate meetings last week, that President Donald Trump suggested they say publicly there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russians, according to multiple sources. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers described their interactions with the President about the Russia investigation as odd and uncomfortable, but said they did not believe the President gave them orders to interfere, according to multiple sources familiar with their accounts.” More …
GOP Data Firm Leaks Personal Details of Nearly 200 Million American Voters
“Political data gathered on more than 198 million US citizens was exposed this month after a marketing firm contracted by the Republican National Committee stored internal documents on a publicly accessible Amazon server. The data leak contains a wealth of personal information on roughly 61 percent of the US population. Along with home addresses, birthdates, and phone numbers, the records include advanced sentiment analyses used by political groups to predict where individual voters fall on hot-button issues such as gun ownership, stem cell research, and the right to abortion, as well as suspected religious affiliation and ethnicity.” More …