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The Paper Trail: October 29, 2024

OPM Issues Anti-Schedule F Guidance; Google, Microsoft Promote Scientific Racism; The Company Helping Health Insurers Deny Coverage; and More.

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The Paper Trail

Top stories for October 29, 2024

Feds see uptick in online chatter among extremists preparing for “civil war”: While warning of the potential for violence, a DHS report said large-scale action by extremists is unlikely because of law enforcement infiltration of online groups and the convictions of prominent organizers of the January 6 insurrection. (Betsy Woodruff Swan, Politico)

🔎 See Also: Ballot drop box fires under investigation in Oregon, Washington after hundreds of ballots destroyed (Nicole Chavez, CNN)

OPM issues guidance for agencies to implement anti-Schedule F regulations: OPM issued new guidance to agencies as they implement regulations protecting the federal civil service from a presidential attempt to replace career employees with loyalists, something that Donald Trump has vowed to do if elected. (Erich Wagner, Government Executive)

Congress may have created a boon for Trump in trying to Trump-proof the transition: Congress’s attempt to ensure the peaceful transfer of power may have inadvertently created new risks. Under the new law, Donald Trump still gets access to resources and state secrets without having to adhere to rules on fundraising, conflicts of interest, and transparency. Refusing government office space and cybersecurity resources also heightens the risk of hacking and foreign surveillance. (Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico)

🔎 See Also: An ethical minefield awaits a possible second Trump presidency (Ben Protess, Maggie Haberman, and Eric Lipton, New York Times)

Chinese hackers said to have collected audio of American calls: A group of Chinese government-affiliated hackers dubbed Salt Typhoon collected audio from the phone calls of U.S. political figures, including an unnamed Trump campaign adviser. (Ellen Nakashima and Josh Dawsey, Washington Post)

🔎 See Also: U.S. panel to probe cyber failures in massive Chinese hack of telecoms (Dustin Volz, Wall Street Journal)

Ethics office clears federal official for his Project 2025 involvement: The Office of Government Ethics concluded that FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr didn’t violate any ethics laws or agreements when he wrote a chapter for the Project 2025 policy document. The Office of Special Counsel last month also cleared Carr. (Eric Katz, Government Executive)

State Department’s little-known weapon for countering foreign disinformation faces uncertain future: In late December, the congressional authorization for the Global Engagement Center — America’s nerve center in combating foreign, state-backed disinformation campaigns in other countries — is set to expire, potentially dismantling the unit at a time when its architects argue it’s needed most. (Joseph Gedeon, Politico)

 

Dobbs Aftermath

She said she had a miscarriage, then got arrested under an abortion law: Authorities in both red and blue states have used laws entirely unrelated to abortion to prosecute women who tried to end their pregnancies. (Caroline Kitchener, Washington Post)

 

Russia-Ukraine War

Russia works around international sanctions designed to cripple the economy amid war with Ukraine: Russia’s “dark fleet” of an estimated 200 ships move a million barrels of Russian oil around Western sanctions every day. (Sharyn Alfonsi, 60 Minutes)

 

Business and Finance

Supreme Court ignites wave of lawsuits against federal regulations: Major businesses and industry groups have seized on recent Supreme Court decisions that sharply limit the government’s regulatory powers. The decisions have factored into more than 150 new or ongoing legal challenges, touching on virtually every aspect of the economy. (Tony Romm, Washington Post)

 

Tech

Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity promote scientific racism in AI search results: AI-infused search engines from Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity promote widely debunked and deeply racist scientific research. (David Gilbert, Ars Technica)

 

Health Care

What Trump winning the election could mean for the CDC: Conservatives in Congress and think tanks have proposed eliminating CDC programs they say aren’t central to fighting infectious diseases. Programs studying the public health impact of climate change, tracking opioid overdoses, providing cancer screenings, and helping people quit smoking could be on the chopping block. (Lena H. Sun, Washington Post)

“Not medically necessary”: Inside the company helping America’s biggest health insurers deny coverage for care: Insurance companies often outsource medical reviews to a largely hidden industry that makes money by turning down doctors’ requests for payments. The biggest player is EviCore, a company owned by insurance giant Cigna. (T. Christian Miller, Patrick Rucker, and David Armstrong, ProPublica)

 

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

Whether Harris or Trump wins, seeking asylum in the U.S. may never be the same

Border911: The misinformation network profiting off the “invasion” narrative

Other News:

Inside the movement behind Trump’s election lies

Philadelphia district attorney sues Musk over $1M giveaway

Steve Bannon is getting out of prison — and heading right back to court

The press often pretends that billionaires don’t influence the newsrooms they own. But it’s now undeniable

After 142 years, Navy apologizes for destroying Alaska Native village

Upcoming Events

📌 Trump’s Unconstitutional Plan To Weaponize the FCC Against Media Companies. Center for American Progress Action Fund. Friday, November 1, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon ET.

Hot Docs

🔥📃 DHS OIG: FPS Protective Security Officers Did Not Always Have Knowledge, Equipment, and Authority to Respond to Physical Threats. OIG-25-01 (PDF)