DAILY BELLWETHER 08/13/2018 RUSSIA HIT HARD BY U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS

Newest US Sanctions Against Russia Hit an Economic Nerve Russia typically brushes off new U.S. sanctions. Not this time. The Trump administration announcement of export restrictions in response to accusations Moscow used a nerve agent to poison a former Russian spy in Britain sent the ruble tumbling to a two-year low and drew a stern warning from its prime minister. While the initial sanctions may have a limited impact, a second batch expected within months could hit the Russian economy much harder and send already tense relations into a tailspin. If sanctions are expanded even further to target Russia's top state-controlled banks, freezing their dollar transactions — as proposed under legislation introduced in the Senate this month — it would ... Read More

Nearly 90K Pages of Kavanaugh Docs Released; Vote Set for September Senators on Sunday released tens of thousands of pages of documents from Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh’s time in the Bush White House, sending researchers scurrying as Washington prepares for his confirmation fight. All sides are now working toward twin deadlines that Republican leaders announced late last week — a confirmation hearing beginning Sept. 4 and a final vote in the Senate later that month — making the documents that have been released all the more important. The nearly 90,000 pages of documents released Sunday range from bookkeeping and scheduling matters to legal advice on whether White House employees should be using official or political stationery for thank-you notes. ... Read More

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Trump Gives Omarosa Her Very Own Nickname President Donald Trump ripped his former advisor and reality TV star Omarosa Manigault Newman as she continues to reveal tapes of her conversations in the White House and promotes her new book. "Wacky Omarosa, who got fired 3 times on the Apprentice, now got fired for the last time. She never made it, never will. She begged me for a job, tears in her eyes, I said Ok. People in the White House hated her. She was vicious, but not smart. I would rarely see her but heard really bad things. Nasty to people & would constantly miss meetings & work. When ... Read More

House Intel Members Introduce Bipartisan Election Security Bill A bipartisan group of House Intelligence Committee members have introduced a companion bill to the Senate’s Secure Elections Act, which aims to significantly bolster America’s digital voting election infrastructure against future cyberattacks. The proposal was offered on Friday by Reps. Tom Rooney, Florida Republican, Trey Gowdy, South Carolina Republican; Jim Himes, Connecticut Democrat; and Terri Sewell, Alabama Democrat. It addresses a host of election security issues and would provide grant funding for states to replace old, paperless voting machines. New systems would include a paper trail in case an election outcome is disputed and requires an audit. “Although the Russian government didn’t ... Read More

Abortion on the Ballot: Red States Planning for Possibility of Roe Rollback With President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, the abortion debate once again has returned to the national spotlight. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Alabama and West Virginia – two states where voters will decide this fall on ballot measures asking whether to amend their constitutions to do away with any abortion protections. If passed, the measures would not immediately impact state policy but would ensure their constitutions can’t be used to allow abortions, if the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. That's far from a sure thing. But the November ballot ... Read More