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Trump publicly backs healthcare effort, privately harbors doubts — While the president appears all in some in the White House wonder about Graham-Cassidy's contents and its chances. — In public, President Donald Trump is all-in on the Senate's final chance to repeal Obamacare.
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Sandoval doubles down on criticism of Heller-sponsored measure; state analysis highlights up to $2 billion loss — Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, left, and Senator Dean Heller speak with media inside the Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas on Friday, June 23, 2017. Daniel Clark/The Nevada Independent
Discussion:
Washington Post and Political Wire


The key states that would lose funding under Graham-Cassidy — A new estimate obtained by Axios from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) projects that Alaska, home to key swing vote Sen. Lisa Murkowski, would lose 38% of federal funding for premium subsidies and Medicaid by 2026 under the Graham-Cassidy proposal.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress and New York Magazine

Cruelty, Incompetence and Lies — Graham-Cassidy, the health bill the Senate may vote on next week, is stunningly cruel. It's also incompetently drafted: The bill's sponsors clearly had no idea what they were doing when they put it together. Furthermore, their efforts to sell the bill involve obvious, blatant lies.
Discussion:
Bloomberg, ThinkProgress, Vox, The Atlantic, Forbes, The Guardian, The Week, Whatever Source Derived, AOL, Washington Post, CNN, Business Insider, NPR and Center For Children …


Axelrod: I cried when they passed Obamacare — David Axelrod: When ACA passed, I was reminded of my daughter's struggle with epilepsy and high cost of her medical care — The new GOP health-care bill would plunge many Americans into the same situation my family was in, he writes

This Republican health-care bill is the most monstrous yet
Discussion:
CNN, KTLA, WTVR-TV, Daily Kos, Shareblue, Forbes, The Mahablog, New York Magazine and Politico

Trump cautions GOP to pass Obamacare repeal or face the consequences
Discussion:
Political Wire

Federal estimate shows states' big win-loss gap by 2026 under Cassidy-Graham bill
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Marginal REVOLUTION, Hullabaloo and The Week

Medicaid directors issue warning on new ObamaCare repeal bill
Discussion:
The Week

Jimmy Kimmel, Policy-Wonk Wannabe
Discussion:
Vox, Washington Post, Business Insider, The Week, Mashable, twitchy.com, Slate and Save My Care


Trump aides begin looking for the exits — A fast-growing number of White House staffers are starting to look for the exits, even though the one-year mark of President Donald Trump's first term is still months away. — Many who joined the administration in January did so with the explicit idea …
Discussion:
The Week, Raw Story, Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com
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U.S. Monitored Manafort After He Left Trump Campaign — The surveillance came as part of a counterintelligence probe into Russian interference with presidential election — U.S. authorities placed Paul Manafort under surveillance after he was ousted as Donald Trump's campaign manager …
Discussion:
The Hill and Washington Post

How Tom Price decided chartered, private jets were a good use of taxpayer money — After Tom Price was sworn in as health and human services secretary, the Georgia Republican faced an inconvenience known to millions of Americans: His flight was delayed, an aide said, and he was forced to spend hours at an airport.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Mother Jones, Daily Kos, Politico and FierceHealthcare
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Price traveled by private plane at least 24 times — Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers' expense since early May, according to people with knowledge of his travel plans and a review of HHS documents.


North Korea Warns of Hydrogen-Bomb Test Over Pacific Ocean — Threat made in response to U.S. president's speech before U.N.; Kim Jong Un calls Donald Trump ‘mentally deranged’ — SEOUL—North Korea's foreign minister said the country could detonate a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean …
Discussion:
RedState
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Amid new sanctions, Trump calls North Korea's leader ‘madman’ whose regime will face new tests
Discussion:
The Hill, Reuters, The Daily Caller, Just Security, The American Conservative, Business Insider, The Guardian, CNN, The Week, Mashable, Mediaite, RedState and New York Magazine


Kim Jong Un: ‘Deranged’ Trump will ‘pay dearly’ for threat
Discussion:
Axios, Talking Points Memo, IJR, USA Today and The Hill

Kim's Rejoinder to Trump's Rocket Man: ‘Mentally Deranged U.S. Dotard’
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon

N.K. FM says ‘highest-level’ actions in Kim's remarks may be H-bomb test in Pacific
Discussion:
The Atlantic, The Daily Caller, AOL, CNBC, The Week and NBC News


The Left catapulted Valerie Plame to stardom without figuring out what she thinks — CIA Agent. Fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. Apparent anti-Semite. Valerie Plame is many things. — The left-wing darling just tweeted an article accusing Jews of starting American wars.
Discussion:
Patterico's Pontifications, IJR, twitchy.com and Washington Free Beacon
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Steve Bannon held secret meeting in Beijing — Steve Bannon flew to Beijing last week for a secret meeting with the second most powerful Chinese Communist party official, less than a month after the former chief White House strategist declared that America was at “economic war with China”.

Sorry I can't go to your thing. I must call my senator to plead for my life. — An email template from the near future. — I am sorry I cannot make it to your event, but I have to call Congress every eight minutes to plead for my life. — Would I like to go to your wedding/bar mitzvah …


STEVE BANNON HELPED WRITE TRUMP'S U.N. SPEECH, CLAIMS SEBASTIAN GORKA, WHO CALLED IT ‘CLASSIC MAGA AGENDA’ — Steve Bannon helped write President Donald Trump's address to the United Nations General Assembly before he was ousted from the White House last month, Sebastian Gorka told Newsweek Thursday.
Discussion:
Conservative News Today and The Daily Caller
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5 moments that mattered in the Alabama US Senate debate — Senator Luther Strange and former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore faced off tonight in the only debate before the runoff election for the GOP nomination next Tuesday to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the U.S. Senate.
Discussion:
Politico
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McConnell lays it on the line
Discussion:
Washington Post and The Daily Caller


Fighting Breaks Out at Turkish President's Speech in New York — Violence broke out at a New York hotel Thursday afternoon when protesters disrupted a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. — In the middle of Mr. Erdogan's speech, delivered in Turkish, a man …
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon, The Hill and Business Insider


There and Back Again — “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” So began the legendarium that dominated a genre, changed Western literature and the field of linguistics, created a tapestry of characters and mythology that endured four generations, built an anti-war ethos that endured …

I just went live a minute ago. Here's what I said: — Today is my first day back in the office after taking parental leave. It was really special to be with Priscilla and August after she was born, and to get to spend some more time with Max. — While I was out on leave …
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times, NPR, RT, Facebook, Mashable, The Daily Caller, New York Times, Deadline, Axios, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, GeekWire, Engadget, The Verge, Gizmodo and Sunlight Foundation, more at Mediagazer »
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Virginia Republican unleashes most racist attack ad since Willie Horton — GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie released the vile ad — which depicts heavily tattooed Latino gang members overlaid with the words “Kill, Rape, Control” — to attack his Democratic opponent Ralph Northam for opposing a sanctuary city ban.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Washington Post and Daily Kos

Flint's lead-poisoned water had a ‘horrifyingly large’ effect on fetal deaths, study finds — The fertility rate in Flint, Mich., dropped precipitously after the city decided to switch to lead-poisoned Flint River water in 2014, according to a new working paper.
Discussion:
Mother Jones, CityLab, Verrit, AOL, Jezebel, TheBlaze, Business Insider and The Reality-Based Community