Politics

Two days after the House passed bipartisan legislation in a 419-3 vote codifying and imposing further sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea and preventing the president from acting unilaterally to remove certain sanctions on Russia, moments ago the Senate also overwhelmingly approved the measure in a 98-2 vote.  Only Senators Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders voting no. The bill will now head to the White House where it will be either signed into law by the president or vetoed, setting up a potential showdown with the White House over Russia.

Turns out, Robert “Kid Rock” Ritchie’s “campaign announcement” earlier this month was a “marketing stunt” meant to capitalize on Ritchie's name being floated as a possible contender to face off against Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow in the 2018 midterms.

But after a poll from Delphi Analytica showed Michigan voters preferred Ritchie to Stabenow by four percentage points, the entertainer and longtime conservative says he’s seriously considering a run, according to Fox News.

Authored by Scott Rasmussen via Ballotpedia.org,

If the individual mandate were to be repealed and Americans were no longer required to purchase the Obamacare-mandated levels of health insurance coverage, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) believes that 15 million Americans would no longer purchase such coverage.

Some, including Jonathan Gruber, believe that the CBO is overestimating the impact of repealing the mandate. Gruber was one of the architects of the healthcare law.

Authored by Cyril Widershoven via OilPrice.com,

The sweltering heat of Saudi Arabian summer will feel like a cool breeze compared to the geopolitical fire that could soon take over the country if ongoing internal power struggles destabilize the Kingdom’s Royal Family and national security in the coming weeks.

The Trump fiscal agenda - which these days really means tax reform - may be dead, but that does not mean it can't reemerge as a zombie every now and then. That's precisely what happened moments ago when Paul Ryan just announced that after months of speculation whether border adjustment tax will or won't be implemented to help offset Trump's proposed tax cuts, it is now officially dead.

• RYAN IS SAID TO BE TELLING REPUBLICANS BORDER TAX IS DEAD: BBG

As Reuters adds: