Friday, September 20, 2013

INDIVIDUALS EMPLOYING PART-TIME DOMESTIC WORKERS FACING OBAMACARE DEADLINE

Another Obamacare deadline is looming, this time for individuals who hire part-time workers to do domestic work at a residence. 

The New York based certified public accounting firm Margolin, Winer & Evens LLP (MWE) notified its clients recently: 
We are writing to inform you of an important health care reform requirement for virtually all U.S. employers. By October 1, 2013, employers are required to provide written notice to all existing employees including domestic employees, regardless of benefit enrollment status or full- or part-time status, about the federal and state Health Insurance Marketplaces (also known as "exchanges"). After October 1, 2013, employers will be required to provide the notice to new employees within 14 days of their hire date.
The MWE newsletter discusses the issue further, describing the requirements and steps an employer must take. An individual who employs a part-time employee, like a domestic worker, must “inform employees of the existence of the 'Health Insurance Marketplace,' and include a description of the services it provides and how employees can contact the Marketplace to request assistance.”
These requirements, like other Obamacare regulations, may change given the fight on Capitol Hill to defund the health care law. In a virtual party-line vote, the House voted to defund Obamacare in a continuing resolution on Friday. 
The employer mandate for businesses of 50 or more employees was delayed until 2015. However, according to Forbes, the delay has only exacerbated the problem of businesses complying with the law. 


White House highlights Senate GOP split over Obamacare defunding

The White House on Friday highlighted the split in the Senate GOP caucus over defunding Obamacare after the House passed a continuing resolution which removes funding for the president’s healthcare law.
The GOP-controlled House on Friday passed a bill to keep the government funded until Dec. 15 that also strips funds from Obamacare. The legislation is dead on arrival in the Senate, where Democrats have no desire to undo President Obama's signature legislative achievement.
Tea Party favorites, Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have threatened to shutdown the government to block the rollout of Obamacare. But other Republican senators fear a shutdown could cost the GOP at the ballot box and note that the party lacks the votes to block the healthcare reforms.
The White House trumpeted Republican senators who questioned the conservative House strategy.
“There is one glimmer of bipartisanship in all of this: I’m not the only person, this administration is not the only group that has concerns about shutting down the government in protest of Obamacare,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
“Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, said it was 'silly to do so.' Sen. Richard Burr, Republican from North Carolina, called it the 'dumbest idea' he’d ever heard. Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire described it as 'not productive' and even Senator Roy Blunt, whose state we’re about to visit, said that he 'didn’t support this idea'" Earnest added
Those Republicans oppose Obamacare but they view the push to defund the law as futile as long as Democrats control the upper chamber.
As lawmakers voted on the GOP plan Friday, Obama was aboard Air Force One en route to a Kansas City event to tout the recovery of the American auto industry. He will also use the event to hammer Republicans for their laser-focus on Obamacare.
Obama has vowed to veto any bill that cuts Obamacare funding even at the risk of a shutdown.

EPA Head: ‘Climate Change...Is One of Most Significant Public Health Threats'

mccarthy(CNSNews.com) - EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on Friday discussed the agency’s 493-page proposed regulation that would, for the first time, restrict carbon emissions from new power plants, including coal plants.
“Climate change – caused by carbon pollution – is one of the most significant public health threats of our time,” McCarthy said at the National Press Club.  “That’s why EPA has been called to action.”
McCarthy cited power plants as the nation's worst polluters.
“Power plants are the single largest sources of carbon pollution,” McCarthy said. “New power plants can minimize their carbon emissions by taking advantage of modern technologies.”
McCarthy expressed her commitment to fulfilling the promises President Barack Obama made when he revealed his plan to combat climate change at Georgetown University in June. McCarthy called it the “most important speech” made by the president.
But critics, including Republicans in Congress, see the EPA regulations as a war on coal. The Obama administration, in fact, has spent billions of dollars promoting "green" power from wind, sun and ocean waves.
“The announcement by the EPA is another back door attempt
Via: CNS News

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Obama: US will be 'banana republic' if GOP forces default

President Obama said Republicans in Congress were threatening to make the United States into "a deadbeat" and a "banana republic" with their maneuvers to tie the federal budget and the debt ceiling to defunding ObamaCare.

Speaking at a Ford truck plant outside of Kansas City, Mo., the president chided Republican leaders for their vote earlier Friday on legislation that would keep the government funded into December, while stripping funding for the Affordable Care Act.


"You don't have to threaten to blow the whole thing up just because you don't get your way," Obama said. "Nobody gets 100 percent of what they want."

Telegraphing his intention to veto any spending bill that delayed or defunded his signature health care law, Obama accused Republicans of lacking "the same common sense" and willingness to compromise that ordinary Americans showed in their marriages and family finances.  

He said the debate in Congress was "not meeting the test of helping middle class families" and accused a "faction on the far right of the Republican party" of impeding compromise.

Via: The Hill

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Dinwiddie student forced to remove 'threatening' Duck Dynasty t-shirt

A Dinwiddie mother says her son got in trouble for wearing his Duck Dynasty t-shirt to school.
The popular show featuring a group of bearded millionaires is a hit on the A&E network, but the mother says her teenager was told the shirt was threatening to other kids at Dinwiddie High School.
"For this to be considered as a threat to the school," said Edna-Jo Spain. "I couldn't understand it."
Spain was outraged when teachers at Dinwiddie High School forced her son to remove the shirt, which shows a character from the reality television show Duck Dynasty clenching his fist.
"It says, 'I will hurt you physically and metaphysically,'" said Spain. "Anybody that ever watches Duck Dynasty knows that Si Robertson is famous for his little funny slogans."
"Your beard is so stupid it took it two hours to watch 60 minutes," said Uncle Si is a recent episode.
Spain says her son, Hunter, was given a choice to turn the shirt inside-out or go home.
"I'm not going to look stupid in front of all of these young ladies in the school," said Hunter with a smile. "So, I decided to get a different t-shirt."
School superintendent, David Clark, offered the following explanation in response to an email for comment.
"If you are a Duck Dynasty fan you understand the meaning of the shirt," said Clark. "But if you haven't watched Duck Dynasty you may question if the shirt implies violence. As a school division, we would like to keep our slogans on student shirts as non-violent as possible."
Edna-Jo Spain notes Hunter's grandmother gave him the shirt.
"A lady who would not even buy my daughter ripped up jeans to wear to school," said Edna-Jo Spain. "She viewed that as inappropriate."
Duck Dynasty is a pretty big deal in the Spain household.
"Big!" exclaimed Edna-Jo. "We are major fans. We are getting ready to go on the Duck Dynasty cruise next summer."
Hunter says he meant no harm.

Two top GOP leaders quit immigration group, blame Obama

Two leading Republicans have dramatically quit the House’s “Gang of Seven” immigration panel, likely dealing a crippling blow to President Barack Obama’s top-priority effort to push through an immigration rewrite.
The two legislators blamed Obama’s practice of not enforcing laws, including immigration enforcement laws.
“We have reached a tipping point and can no longer continue working on a broad approach to immigration,” said a statement from the two Texas Republicans, John Carter and Sam Johnson, who were working with four Democratic legislators to craft a bill to increase immigration.
“Instead of doing what’s right for America, President Obama time and again has unilaterally disregarded the U.S. Constitution, the letter of the law and bypassed the Congress — the body most representative of the people — in order to advance his political agenda,” they wrote.
“We will not tolerate it. Laws passed by Congress are not merely suggestions, regardless of the current atmosphere. … Laws are to be respected and followed by all — particularly by the Commander-in-Chief,” said the statement.
Obama’s deputies have said one of his top legislative priorities is passage of a bill to double immigration.
The sharp criticism of Obama suggests that House Speaker John Boehner does not intend to schedule a House vote on the Senate’s immigration bill. Without a House vote, the Senate’s July immigration bill will not become law.
If approved, the Senate bill would triple immigration to allow the arrival of 33 million immigrants over 10 years. The bill is backed by progressives and business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce.
Via: Daily Caller

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Obama Administration Threatens the Dreams of Low-Income Students in Louisiana

Elias PittmanDays after commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the Obama Administration filed suit against the Louisiana Scholarship Program, which has providedthousands of low-income children more opportunity to make their dreams reality.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed suit to stop the program, claiming that it impedes upon “the desegregation process.” However, as Heritage explains in this Backgrounder, the DOJ’s attempt to undermine the scholarship program could keep low-income children confined to poor-performing schools. The program was expanded for the 2013–2014 school year to offer 8,000 scholarships to low-income children.
The stories of families of scholarship recipients in Louisiana, published by the Louisiana Federation for Children, show that children flourish with choice:

Media Mash: MSNBC's Schultz Wonders Why 'People Don't Love Obama'

It "amazes" MSNBC's Ed Schultz "that people don't love Obama" and think he's doing a stellar job handling the economy. Reacting to a video clip of that absurd rant, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told the audience of Sean Hannity's September 19 program the reasons why.
There's "1.9 million less jobs" now than when President Obama took office, not to mention "47,600,000 Americans on food stamps" and "3 million people [who] have entered the rolls of poverty since [Obama] became president," the Media Research Center founder noted. "That's why they don't love him, everybody's having a very hard time" in the Obama economy and "Ed Schultz needs a dosage of reality," Bozell concluded. Hannity agreed, noting that when it comes to on-air Obamagasms, "he's giving Chris Matthews a run for his money." [watch the full "Media Mash" segment below the page break]  Bozell and Hannity also discussed how the media, particularly MSNBC's Alex Witt, sought to portray President Obama as "coming out the winner" in his bumbling handling of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis:

SEAN HANNITY: Give him the Nobel Peace Prize. He fell into a solution after Vladimir Putin threatened to shoot missiles out of the air--
BRENT BOZELL: Somebody should get them some smelling salts over at that network. Look, here's just the simple reality. Barack Obama has lost control of the Middle East. The United States has lost control of the Middle East. Vladimir Putin is now  planning policy in the Middle East.
They are laughing at us. Putin is now saying, well, maybe they won't do it after all. Assad is saying, well, maybe I'll do it, but give me a billion dollars more. They're laughing at America. At MSNBC, they call that a victory.
Via: Newsbusters

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Pelosi: Republicans Can’t Stand Obama Because He’s ‘Eloquent’ and ‘Effective’

HE MAY BE ELOQUENT (haha) BUT EFFECTIVE? EFFECTIVE AT LIES LIES, AND DAMN LIES

With the threat of a government shutdown looming over a conservative battle to defund Obamacare, tensions on Washington are reaching a fever pitch. It was with that likely in mind when Nancy Pelosiopened up to POLITICO about Republican hatred ofPresident Obama. She said she’s never seen anything quite like it before, and surmised that Republicans can’t stand Obama because he’s “eloquent” and “effective.”
Mike Allen asked Pelosi if the hatred is more “personal” than normal. Pelosi threw out this argument for why the GOP hates Obama so much.
“He has a vision for our country. He’s brilliant, has knowledge of the issues and judgment about what the right path would be, respectful of other people’s views, he thinks in a strategic way in how to get something done… and he’s complete eloquent to convey a message to the American people. That’s a package that they don’t like.”
She also added, “Look at me, I’m effective, I’m a target,” claiming she is also the target of a lot of GOP hatred because of how much she’s got done.
When Allen asked if she thought race factored into it, Pelosi simply answered, “You’d have to ask them.”
Watch the video below, via POLITICO:
Via: Mediaite.com
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U.S. v. California

This past week was Admission Day, the holiday marking the date – Sept. 9, 1850 – that California was admitted into the Union.
Maybe 163 years is too long for this marriage.
Yes, Democrats hold the White House and the U.S. Senate in Washington DC, and they have the governorship and big legislative majorities in Sacramento. But that hasn’t cut down on the California vs. DC sniping. If anything, it seems to have ramped up the conflict, as different factions of the Democratic Party battle over issues and the direction of Democratic politics, coast vs. coast.
The array of issues is surprisingly long, and go beyond the hot button of Syria (President Obama was for bombing, at least for a while, and Californians, like much of the country, were against it).
  • Schools and testing. The state is moving to eliminate testing for a year while California schools transitions to the Common Core curriculum, and Washington isn’t happy. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that schools and students need the test results, that California’s move violated federal rules, and that he would seek to cut off federal education funds for the state if California didn’t reconsider.
  • Transportation. Washington’s tactic of threatening money for California to get its way isn’t limited to schools. The U.S. labor secretary threatened to cut off transit funding if transit workers were not exempted from changes to the state pension law. Gov. Brown responded by agreeing to an exemption – while preserving the state’s right to fight the federal government in court over whether federal law protects the pensions of transit workers from state reform.
  • Prisons. This is the California vs. the feds war that never ends. The federal courts want state leaders to reduce the prison population. But they either won’t (politics) or can’t (depending on whom you ask, the prison guards or the gangs or no one at all really runs the prisons). California’s latest “plan” to fix the problem is to avoid fixing the problem, first by asking for more time for the courts, and then, if that doesn’t work, spending money temporarily to put off the problem for a few years.
  • Immigration reform. California is (wisely, in my view) giving driver’s licenses to unauthorized immigrants. In signaling his approval of the legislation, Gov. Brown said in a statement: “This bill will enable millions of people to get to work safely and legally. Hopefully, it will send a message to Washington that immigration reform is long past due.” Amen.
  • Immigration enforcement. The feds have a program called Secure Communities that allows for people arrested to be held for immigration enforcement, including deportation. California leaders understandably don’t like it and say that it’s optional.
  • High-speed rail. The feds, along with the Brown administration, have been working to advance the state high-speed rail project, even as majorities of Californians, and previous backers of the project, turn against it.
  • Gun control. It’s advancing in the state legislature. In Washington, gun control is going nowhere, as Democrats believe it’s too dangerous an issue.
  • Surveillance. The U.S. government, for reasons it can’t explain with any coherence, thinks it’s a good idea to force California’s leading technology companies to help it gather lots of data on those companies’ customers. This is destructive to the reputation and businesses of those companies, which have to compete around the world. Not that the security state in Washington seems to care.
Then there’s health care – an issue where California and DC seem to be on the same page. But give it time, and you can bet there will be more conflict. The Affordable Care Act hasn’t been fully implemented yet.

Online Health Exchanges Plagued by Pricing Glitch

With less than two weeks to go until the open enrollment period for the Obamacare health exchanges begins, the government’s software still cannot display reliable insurance quotes for consumers, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The problem is causing Obamacare and insurance officials to “scramble” behind the scenes for fear of “alienating” the initial wave of customers:
Less than two weeks before the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the federal health overhaul, the government’s software can’t reliably determine how much people need to pay for coverage, according to insurance executives and people familiar with the program.
Government officials and insurers were scrambling to iron out the pricing quirks quickly, according to the people, to avoid alienating the initial wave of consumers.
A failure by consumers to sign up online in the hotly anticipated early days of the “exchanges” is worrisome to insurers, which are counting on enrollees for growth, and to the Obama administration, which made the exchanges a centerpiece of its sweeping health-care legislation.
If not resolved by the Oct. 1 launch date, the problems could affect consumers in 36 states where the federal government is running all or part of the exchanges. About 32 million uninsured people live in those states, but only a fraction of them are expected to sign up in the next year.
Via: WFB

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There Is No Compromise on ObamaCare

APRepublicans oppose ObamaCare.  That's no secret.  But there seems to be some conflicting ideas among Republicans about how that opposition should be played out on Capitol Hill.
For example, the House GOP establishment had, until this week, wanted to hold votes on two bills: one that could potentially defund ObamaCare, and a separate bill that would keep the government funded after this month.  This was the expected path, the path of GOP reason and "compromise" according to the media and Democrats. 
It's hardly a spirited opposition, though, as it does absolutely nothing to impede the Democrat endgame.  The Senate could simply ignore the bill to defund ObamaCare, pass the bill to provide stopgap spending to keep the government running, and send the latter to the White House for signing.
Conservatives less interested in pre-emptive capitulation to Democrats, however, have suggested there be a vote on a single bill which would both defund ObamaCare and provide the stopgap spending to keep the government funded.  Want to keep the government running?  So do we.  Just defund the bill, granting all Americans the courtesy of a waiver from ObamaCare -- you know, like the one Congress worked so diligently to grant itself. 
And surprisingly, House majority leader John Boehner has finally endorsed the latter strategy, saying that "[t]he law's a train wreck.  It's time to protect working families from this unworkable law."

Via: American Thinker


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The Babysitters’ Union

If Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has his way, your babysitter soon could join a union and cost you a lot more.
The San Francisco Democrat has authored several domestic-worker unionization bills that have been vetoed by California governors. Now he’s back with Assembly Bill 241, which just passed both houses of the Legislature and is awaiting a signature or veto from Gov. Jerry Brown.
The bill would significantly impact home health care providers’ ability to provide affordable care to elderly clients or clients with disabilities.
Flexibility in schedules for such workers is imperative, based on the unique needs of the client. But the law would make it difficult to provide care to those needing around-the-clock assistance.
The other problem is the home-care industry will be forced to absorb the additional increased labor costs caused by this bill. The increased costs could make live-in care unaffordable for many families, landing more elderly Californians in state-run long-term medical care hospitals.

It always starts with a resolution

In 2010, the Legislature passed a Resolution for a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which spawned a study by UCLA on the issue.
“This resolution highlights the work done by domestic workers in the state and the labor violations faced by these workers,” the UCLA study said. “The resolution calls for the fair treatment of these workers, noting that domestic workers have a right to be treated with respect and dignity.”
The California Domestic Worker Coalition was formed in 2009 to replicate New York’s Domestic Worker Bill of Rights.
The coalition included Mujeres Unidas Y Activas, POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights), La Colectiva de Mujeres of La Raza Centro Legal, Filipino Advocates for Justice, Grayton Day Labor Program, the Pilipino Worker Center, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, and Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California.
In 2009, the coalition brought together 100 domestic workers to create a list of demands for workplace protections available to other workers, such as overtime pay, Cal/OSHA safety standards and workers’ compensation.
This isn’t just a grassroots effort to help domestic workers. It’s being pushed by big labor groups such as Urban Habitat, the International Labour Organization and the National Domestic Worker Alliance.

GOP-Controlled House Votes To Defund ‘Obamacare,’ Keep Government Funded

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, speaks to members of the press during a news conference on Sept. 12, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)WASHINGTON (CBSDC/AP) — The Republican-controlled House of Representatives have passed a bill that would defund President Barack Obama’s health care law and which funds the federal government through Dec. 15.
The House voted 230-189 in favor to defund “Obamacare” in order to avert a government shutdown. This sets up a confrontation with the Democratic-led Senate that promises to strip the “defund Obamacare” provision from the bill next week.
The White House has stated that Obama would veto the measure in case it reached his desk.
“They actually did it: The House just passed a resolution that risks a government shutdown to defund Obamacare. (hashtag) EnoughAlready,” the president’s Twitter account, run by Organizing for Action, posted.
House Speaker John Boehner called the vote a “victory for common sense.”
“This is hurting our constituents, it’s hurting the American people,” Boehner said.
Before the vote, Nancy Pelosi called the House “a mess.”
“I come to the floor, in many ways, as a mother,” the House minority leader stated. “This place is a mess. Let’s get our House in order.”

The Hoax of Global Warming, AKA, Climate Change and Death of Coal Mining

Not content with various country killing plans, Obama seeks now to apply more new rules through his infamous Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that greatly concerns those who say his new “change” will be even less loved than the nightmarish “Hope and Change” of 2008. 

These next new changes could possibly result in deaths to our citizens and excessively high costs in their applications; in fact, one of Obama’s own former appointees who has deep concerns that these new coal regulations could kill, was published in the following FoxNews.com story on September 19, 2013.

“New clean-energy rules pushed through by the Obama administration are raising concerns that they could cripple the coal industry—and may require power plants to use technology so risky that even the president’s former top energy official once warned it could ‘kill.’

“The EPA, by Friday, is expected to release a new proposal to set the first-ever carbon dioxide limits for new power plants.

“To meet those emissions caps, power plants would likely have to use what is known as ‘carbon-capture technology,’ which involves burying the carbon underground.

“The technology, which is still under development, remains expensive and not commercially available. But there are lingering safety risks.


Obama: U.S. Competitors Have 'More Effective' Health Care Systems

export council(CNSNews.com) - President Obama said on Thursday that until the Affordable Care Act passed, other nations had more "effective" health care systems than the United States did.
He also said Obamacare is having a positive impact on American businesses' bottom lines, which will help boost American exports.
In the three years since Obamacare passed, health care costs have grown at the slowest pace on record, the president told a meeting of his Export Council.
"And I think this is critically important to recognize, because one of the huge competitive disadvantages that our businesses have had is that we -- American businesses oftentimes are shouldering health care costs that their competitors are not, because they've had a more efficient, more effective system."

House sends government spending bill to the Senate without Obamacare funding

The House on Friday approved a bill to temporarily fund the government that would strip funding for the 2010 federal health care law known as Obamacare, a move that will set up a showdown with the Senate next week that could result in a government shutdown.
The bill, which Democrats in the Senate plan to reject in its current form, would set spending levels at $986.3 billion through Dec. 15. Congress must pass a bill to set federal funding levels, known as a continuing resolution (CR) by Oct. 1, or the government will partially close. House Republicans see the mandatory deadline as a final opportunity to cripple the 3-year-old health care law.
While conservatives in the House see the passage of the bill as a victory, the celebration will be short-lived. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid intends to strip out the part of the bill that defunds the health care law when the upper chamber takes up the measure next week. In a statement Thursday, President Barack Obama vowed to veto any CR that does not include funding for the law.
The move by House Republicans comes amid a fierce internal party battle over how to tackle the Affordable Care, a law that was found constitutional by the Supreme Court in 2012. For months, Republican leaders resisted calls from conservative members in the House and Senate to use the CR as a vehicle to defund the law, but they relented this week by announcing that the bill sent to the Senate would not include funding for the law. They preferred, instead, to seek a delay of the law's individual mandate to purchase health insurance by tying it to a vote to raise the federal government's borrowing limit.
In the Senate, four Republicans, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah, have led an aggressive effort to defund the health care law. They have enraged other Republicans by saying publicly that those who vote for government spending measures that include funding for Obamacare effectively support the Democratic health care law.

House to vote on plan to defund ObamaCare as shutdown looms

The House on Friday will vote to replace ObamaCare with a plan that expands tax breaks for Americans who buy their own insurance, setting the stage for a showdown with Senate Democrats that could push the government toward a partial shutdown at the end of the month.

More than 140 congressional Republicans signed on to the bill to keep the government running at existing funding levels and delay the health care law. Democrats have vowed to oppose that bill, warning the strategy risks a government shutdown, with funding set to expire by Oct. 1.

Under the proposal, Americans who purchase coverage through state-run exchanges can claim a $7,500 deduction against their income and payroll taxes, regardless of the cost of the insurance. Families could deduct $20,000. The plan also increases government funding for high-risk pools.

One day after conceding that the Democratic-controlled Senate probably would prevail in stripping the health law provision, Sen. Ted Cruz still vowed to do "everything and anything possible to defund ObamaCare." That includes a possible filibuster of legislation to prevent a partial government shutdown, the Texas Republican said.

Cruz, one of the most vocal supporters of the “de-fund ObamaCare” push, startled his House colleagues when he released a written statement Wednesday afternoon that appeared to acknowledge the bill will probably fail in the Senate.

Via: Fox News


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[CARTOON] Debt Ceiling Tic-Tac-Toe

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Via: California Political Review

Chicago: 13 shot in park: 'My younger brother was on the floor'


Grandmother and great aunt of the 3-year-old girl Deonta' Howard, who was shot at South Side park talk about the shooting.

Semehca Nunn tried hard to talk about her 3-year-old grandson, one of 13 people shot as neighbors played basketball in Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards Thursday night.
"They need to stop, they need to stop," Nunn said, the last word coming out as almost a shriek as she closed her eyes and collapsed crying.
A pick-up game was being played on the park's basketball court in the 1800 block of West 51st Street around 10:15 a.m. when at least one gunman walked up and started firing, apparently with a high-powered gun.
Thirteen people who were on the court or were watching the game were hit, many of them in the arms or legs.
The boy was standing on the court and was shot near the ear, the bullet exiting through his cheek, according to police and relatives. His family said the boy is expected to recover but will need plastic surgery.

Three of those wounded, including the boy, were in serious to critical condition this morning. The others ranged from serious to good condition, including a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl.
Police believe the shooting stemmed from an ongoing dispute between the Black P. Stones and Gangster Disciples, a law enforcement source said. It was not known if any of the victims were intended targets.
Police said they were questioning several people, but would not say whether any of them were suspects.

MASTERFUL: Rep. Trey Gowdy GRILLS Adm. Mullen on Why He Didn’t Interview Hillary Clinton Over Benghazi

Groups wage grassroots battle ahead of ObamaCare launch

On a recent Friday evening, David Fladeboe showed up to a high school football game in Waukesha, Wis. But he had no interest in the two teams playing. 

With a tablet in hand, he was there to get signatures on an anti-ObamaCare petition. 

"This bill is obviously not ready for prime-time. We wanna see what we can do to get it delayed and ultimately repealed," Fladeboe said. 

Fladeboe is one of many foot soldiers for the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. He was on the front lines of the ground game during the presidential campaign, and now he's back doing almost the same thing. The difference is that he is campaigning to defeat legislation as it is being implemented. 

Back in Washington, the politically risky push by Tea Party-aligned Republicans to de-fund ObamaCare is being met with derision by Democrats and some in their own party. But the ground game behind the push to derail the law itself has been building for months. 

Conservatives will say this is an information campaign, but there is a target: The Internet-based health care exchanges which go into effect Oct. 1. 

These are intended to be the markets where uninsured can shop around for coverage. Opponents of the Affordable Care Act think if they can discourage people -- young and healthy people, in particular -- from enrolling in the exchanges, there will not be enough money in the pool to pay for the sick and the elderly. ObamaCare would then, the theory goes, deflate upon implementation. 




Dozens Of TSA Employees Fired, Suspended For Illegal Gambling Ring At Pittsburgh Int’l Airport

(Photo Credit: KDKA)PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Dozens of local Transportation Security Administration workers have been fired or suspended after they were caught in an illegal gambling ring at Pittsburgh International Airport.
TSA sources tell the KDKA Investigators that the officers were fired or suspended Thursday morning.
Of the 311 local TSA workers, five were fired, and 47 were suspended.
TSA sources say they just finished a two-month investigation into the office betting. The investigation found that TSA officers at the airport had an office betting pool, and officers were betting on everything from Nascar, to the NCAA, even football.
Homeland Security says all of the workers accused of sports gambling at the airport were in uniform at the time, but says public safety and security was never at risk.
The investigation determined that no criminal laws were broken, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has turned down the case for criminal prosecution.

Wasserman Schultz On Obamacare: Once People Receive Benefits "They're Not Going To Want To Let It Go"

CHRIS HAYES: Is there some point where there is victory here? Ae we doomed to be fighting about Obamacare until I am an old man?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): I don't think so. In fact, that is exactly why the tea party Republicans are hell-bent on doing everything they can to try to stop Obamacare from going online on October 1st. Because even as Ted Cruz said the other day, this is the real transparent deal here, Chris, is that they know that once people realize the benefits of Obamacare, once they can no longer be dropped or denied coverage for pre-existing conditions, once they are able to fully benefit from the coverage that will be provided, they're not going to want to let it go. 

They're going to realize that the bogeyman that the Republicans and the tea party have put up was just that. it was as fictional as the bogeyman of our childhood. 

HAYES: You think this push right now, this fall, that the reason that the fight has doubled down right now, as we head up against both a continuing resolution deadline, that happens to be the same deadline as the day that the health exchanges go into effect. You think that's not a coincidence you think this is a last-gasp attempt to kill the thing before it starts delivering the tangible benefits that have been promised. 

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Absolutely. The tea partyers are desperate to prevent people from realizing the full scope of the benefits to their lives that Obamacare will provide. The women who will, you know, be able to get their annual checkups and preventative care, which is already occurring. The -- no more of annual or lifetime caps. The young adults that can stay on their parents' insurance until their 26. The side-by-side coverage that they're going to be able to compare in the marketplace exchanges when they go online on October 31st. The 30 million people that over the next few years will get coverage they don't have now. 

That is what the Republicans are desperate to prevent from coming fully online because they know that there's no turning back after that, and they know they will have lost. And that's why they're willing to harm the economy in order to stop it from happening.


Via: Real Clear Politics

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