Source: The Hill

Thousands of Americans attended a march last November organized by a Russian group that used social media to interfere in the 2016 election.

The demonstration in New York City, which took place a few days after the election, appears to be the largest and most successful known effort to date pulled off by Russian-linked groups intent on using social media platforms to influence American politics.

Sixteen thousand Facebook users said that they planned to attend a Trump protest on Nov. 12, 2016, organized by the Facebook page for BlackMattersUS, a Russian-linked group that sought to capitalize on racial tensions between black and white Americans. The event was shared with 61,000 users.

As many as 5,000 to 10,000 protesters actually convened at Manhattan's Union Square, where they then marched to Trump Tower, according to media reports at the time.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/technology/358025-thousands-attended-protest-organized-by-russians-on-facebook

Source: Notre Dame ending no-cost contraceptive coverage

The University of Notre Dame is reportedly ending its free contraceptive coverage after the Trump administration rolled back an ObamaCare requirement that employers include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans.

The Catholic university will stop the coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2018, according to The South Bend Tribune.

Coverage will end for students on the university's health-care plan on Aug. 14, 2018.

Employees in the past had been able to get contraceptives and contraceptive services at no cost through a third party. This allowed Notre Dame to continue its religious opposition to contraceptives while still meeting the ObamaCare requirement, according to the South Bend Tribune.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/358029-notre-dame-ending-no-cost-contraceptive-coverage

Source: The Hill

House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of his term, according to the Dallas Morning News.

"Today I am announcing that I will not seek reelection to the U.S. Congress in 2018. Although service in Congress remains the greatest privilege of my life, I never intended to make it a lifetime commitment, and I have already stayed far longer than I had originally planned," Hensarling said.

Hensarling, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, will be forced to step down after three terms leading the panel due to GOP rules.

Talk of Hensarling's possible retirement has started to pick up.

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/358040-gop-rep-jeb-hensarling-to-retire-after-end-of-current-term-report

Source: Variety

“House of Cards” has suspended production on Season 6, in light of recent sexual assault allegations leveled against star Kevin Spacey, Variety has confirmed.

“MRC and Netflix have decided to suspend production on ‘House of Cards’ season six, until further notice, to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew,” said the companies in a statement.

Yesterday the companies announced that the sixth season would be the last for the series, which was currently in production in Baltimore. “Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey,” they said in a statement. Netflix and MRC also said that they had sent executives to Baltimore Monday to meet with cast and crew after actor Anthony Rapp (“Star Trek: Discovery”) told Buzzfeed in an interview that Spacey had sexually assaulted him when Rapp was 14 years old.

Spacey is not currently on set for “House of Cards.” He issued an apology for his “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,” that was widely criticized given that he also used it to come out as a gay man.

Read more: http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/house-of-cards-season-six-production-suspended-1202603446/

In July 2016, the Federal Election Commission slapped the 60 Plus Association with a $50,000 fine, charging that it hadn’t revealed its donors as legally obliged.

The penalty — along with fines assessed to two other politically active nonprofit groups likewise connected to billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch — represented one of the most decisive decisions this decade at an FEC best known for intramural bickering and ideological gridlock. Government reformers rejoiced.

But 15 months later, the Virginia-based 60 Plus Association has only paid one-tenth of its fine. Chairman Jim Martin says the senior advocacy group, which backs “free enterprise, less government” while supporting conservative politicians, has no plans to pay more. The FEC, meanwhile, isn’t forcing the 60 Plus Association’s compliance — or anything close.

The 60 Plus Association has plenty of debt-dodging company: More than 160 political committees and similar groups together owe the government more than $1.3 million worth of unpaid fines, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Federal Election Commission and U.S. Treasury records since 2000.

more: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/10/30/scofflaw-political-groups-are-ignoring-fec-fines-215760

Source: McClatchy

WASHINGTON

Republicans in Congress are poised to release legislation soon that would revamp the nation’s tax code for the first time since Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

But Sen. Marco Rubio is insisting that a child tax credit he’s championed for years must be part of the package, or else he’ll vote against the plan. Rubio and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, are proposing an increase in the nation’s child tax credit to at least $2,000 per child, up from the current limit of $1,000 per child.

“I’m not going to vote for an increase on the middle class,” Rubio said. “But we’re not going to get to that point. We’re not that crazy around here.”

Rubio has been working with President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka for months on the plan, and she was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for to pitch the plan with a group of Republicans including Rubio.

Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/news/politics-government/article180900801.html

The latest poll in the New Jersey governor's race shows Democrat Phil Murphy leading Republican Kim Guadagno by 16 percentage points heading into the final days of the campaign.

The Suffolk University/USA Today Network survey, released Monday, also showed the approval rating of outgoing Gov. Chris Christie's approval rating — already the least popular governor in state history — has dropped another 2 percentage points.

Here's a closer look at the poll, which also examined President Donald Trump's approval rating in the state, what Democrats think of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker running for president, whether U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez should resign if he's convicted in his corruption trial, and more:

The governor's race
The survey shows 49 percent of likely New Jersey voters supporting Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany and ex-Goldman Sachs banking executive, in the Nov. 7 election to succeed Christie.

more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/10/murphy_leads_guadagno_christies_rating_drops_in_ne.html#incart_river_index

The latest poll in the New Jersey governor's race shows Democrat Phil Murphy leading Republican Kim Guadagno by 16 percentage points heading into the final days of the campaign.

The Suffolk University/USA Today Network survey, released Monday, also showed the approval rating of outgoing Gov. Chris Christie's approval rating — already the least popular governor in state history — has dropped another 2 percentage points.

Here's a closer look at the poll, which also examined President Donald Trump's approval rating in the state, what Democrats think of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker running for president, whether U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez should resign if he's convicted in his corruption trial, and more:

The governor's race
The survey shows 49 percent of likely New Jersey voters supporting Murphy, a former U.S. ambassador to Germany and ex-Goldman Sachs banking executive, in the Nov. 7 election to succeed Christie.

more: http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/10/murphy_leads_guadagno_christies_rating_drops_in_ne.html#incart_river_index

TALLAHASSEE — Private investigators have pursued state legislators, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Latvala, secretly recording their daily lives in search of scandal, according to state law enforcement records and private surveillance reports obtained by POLITICO Florida.

It’s unclear who is behind the multiple spying efforts, but in at least four separate incidents — one dating back to 2015 involving Latvala dining with three female lobbyists — private eyes have been watching pols more than ever in the capital city. One surveillance operation became the subject itself of an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement this spring, when a legislator spied a camera, hidden on a table behind a vase in a condo hallway, fall on the floor.

Even in Florida politics, where attack ads and mudslinging are commonplace, the emergence of private investigators digging up dirt on the personal lives of state lawmakers is striking and has some lawmakers worried that this out-of-sight-out-of-mind college town is turning into a surveillance state.

“Historically, we don’t see this in Tallahassee: active private eyes following a politician in his daily activities,” said David Ramba, a longtime lobbyist and lawyer who helps lawmakers organize and run their political committees.

more: https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2017/10/30/florida-politicians-become-surveillance-targets-as-political-payback-rumors-swirl-115364

Source: Public Policy Polling

PPP’s newest national poll finds a record level of support for impeaching Donald Trump. 49% of voters support impeaching him, to 41% who are opposed to doing so. This marks the 6th month in a row we’ve found a plurality of voters in favor of impeaching Trump, and it’s the closest we’ve found to a majority.

Trump’s approval rating has declined by a net 7 points in the last month. In September we found him at a -11 spread with 42% of voters approving of him to 53% who disapproved. Now he’s at -18 with 38% of voters approving of him to 56% who disapprove.

Trump claimed last week that he had accomplished more in 9 months than any President in American History, but only 25% of voters believe that claim to 66% who do not, although it’s a notable measure of the ‘Trump cult’ that 55% of those who voted for him do believe he’s the most accomplished to 32% who disagree. Voters actually put his first 9 months in a very different historical context- 49% already say they think he’s the worst President in American History, to 43% who dispute that notion. By a 54/40 margin voters wish Barack Obama was still President instead of Trump, and by a 48/42 spread they wish Hillary Clinton was in the White House rather than Trump.

Trump fares poorly on a number of metrics we tested in the poll. Only 37% of voters think he’s honest, to 56% who say he’s not. In fact a 52% majority come right out and say they think Trump is a liar, to 41% who disagree with that characterization. There are continued transparency concerns, with 60% of voters thinking he needs to release his tax returns to just 32% who don’t think it’s necessary for him to. And only 31% of voters think Trump has delivered on the core promise of his campaign to ‘Make America Great Again,’ to 60% who say he’s failed on that front.

Read more: https://www.publicpolicypolling.com/polls/support-impeachment-record-high/