Monday, June 22, 2015

The Supreme Court’s Obamacare reading lesson: What 4 words mean to millions



    A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington June 15. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort by Iraq to revive a lawsuit against dozens of companies for allegedly conspiring with former leader Saddam Hussein's government to subvert the U.N. oil-for-food program and deprive Iraqi citizens of humanitarian aid.
    A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington June 15. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort by Iraq to revive a lawsuit against dozens of companies for allegedly conspiring with former leader Saddam Hussein's government to subvert the U.N. oil-for-food program and deprive Iraqi citizens of humanitarian aid.
    The four words “established by the state” could come to mean the difference between affordable health insurance and no insurance to millions of people in the coming days. Those 6.4 million people probably never suspected four words could determine whether they can afford a doctor’s visit and have to put off needed care.
    Those four words are the crux of the latest Supreme Court challenge to the federal Affordable Care Act, King v. Burwell, on which the court will rule by the end of this month. A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would endanger a key mechanism in the sweeping health care law that makes health insurance affordable to millions of Americans.
    Those 6.4 million people live in the 34 states, including Maine, that opted not to establish their own online health insurance marketplaces where residents could shop around for the best insurance plan and qualify for federal subsidies to defray the cost. They relied instead on HealthCare.gov — a system that mostly worked well once the federal website overcame its disastrous 2013 rollout.
    They don’t receive health insurance through their jobs or through a government program. They’re low- to middle-income people who required federal assistance in order to bring their monthly premiums down to a manageable level.
    They include nearly 61,000 in Maine who depend on that federal assistance to cover, on average, $337 per month of their health insurance premium, or 78 percent of the cost. Their premiums cost them, on average, $97 per month with the assistance factored in. Before the Affordable Care Act, Maine residents who bought from the individual insurance market paid $336 per month on average.
    But the King v. Burwell plaintiffs argue that these 61,000 Maine residents and millions of others aren’t eligible for federal help to defray their premiums because of four words. The text of the Affordable Care Act, they argue, makes subsidies available only to people purchasing insurance from a marketplace “established by the state.”
    There’s a strong argument to make that the King v. Burwell case should never have been taken seriously as a legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act. It relies on what amounts to a drafting error. It contorts an expansive federal law to mean what Congress clearly never intended. There’s enough context in other parts of the law,supporting analyses and regulations to indicate that those four words never represented Congress’ intent.
    Nevertheless, policymakers must plan for a Supreme Court decision that could invalidate 6.4 million people’s assistance.
    Such an outcome would likely affect more than just the 6.4 million people who receive subsidies. It could destabilize the individual insurance market in those 34 states without insurance exchanges. The Urban Institute has projected a negative ruling could force 8.2 million to join the ranks of the uninsured next year and force individual market premiums up 35 percent in those 34 states as millions of healthy people leave an insurance market rendered unaffordable. In other words, much of the Affordable Care Act — designed deliberately, with each element depending on another — could come tumbling down, likely the plaintiffs’ intent.

    OBAMA ADMIN. PARTNERS WITH BOSTON, ENCOURAGING MORE IMMIGRANTS TO BECOME CITIZENS

    The Obama administration is continuing its efforts to encourage more immigrants to become citizens, announcing agreement with the city of Boston to promote naturalization.

    The agreement with Boston’s Mayor Martin Walsh comes days after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced another citizenship promotion partnership with New York City.
    “There could be no better time for this kind of effort,” Walsh said in a statement. “Like so many places in our country, Boston is becoming more diverse, and this agreement will further the work being done by USCIS and our Office of New Bostonians, which is vitally important to our future.”
    Tuesday USCIS Director León Rodríguez and Walsh signed a letter of agreement to expand the effort in citizenship promotion to Boston for three years.
    “We look forward to working with the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians and other city services in providing tools to help immigrants contribute to a thriving, welcoming and innovative Boston,” Rodríguez said.
    As in New York City, Boston’s Public Libraries will soon have “Citizenship Corners” carrying USCIS materials promoting and informing immigrants about citizenship. The city will also offer such information as schools, community centers and city buildings.
    Additionally, Boston will also hold naturalization information sessions, offer tips on avoiding immigration scams and broadcast public service announcements about citizenship.

    QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHERE DOES HE GET THE NERVE?

    Obama believes the Confederate flag “belongs in a museum”
    obamaconfederateflag

    How dare he! What the hell doesn’t have his no-good nose into? This is how he shows his grief…what a man!
    Dudes and dudettes, I don’t know about the rest of you, but having to endure eighteen more months of this entity’s dictatorship has become our nation’s national nightmare! Plus, you can toss in his intentional endless divisiveness, race-baiting included.
    Read this report and see what you think:President Obama believes the Confederate flag “belongs in a museum,” the White House said Friday amid calls for it to be taken down, following a mass shooting in South Carolina.
    “The president has said before he believes the Confederate flag belongs in a museum, and that is still his position,” spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters aboard Air Force One.
    A mass shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C., has renewed the debate over whether the Confederate battle flag should continue to fly in the state.
    The suspected shooter, Dylann Storm Roof, reportedly drove a car with Confederate flag license plates.
    And while the U.S. and South Carolina flags were lowered to half-staff following the shooting, the Confederate flag that flies near the state capitol flew at full height, a move that drew criticism.
    South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s office said Thursday she could not lower the flag without approval from the state legislature. The GOP governor has dismissed calls to remove it in the past.
    Via: Angry White Dude

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    Figures. Hillary Clinton Supported and Celebrated Confederate Flag Day in Arkansas

    This is a photo from Confederate Flag Day in Arkansas…
    State Capital in Little Rock, Arkansas, April 15, 2006.

    In 2007, Hillary Clinton argued that South Carolina should remove the Confederate Flag from its statehouse grounds:
    “I think about how many South Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag and I believe that we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know that most people in South Carolina do every single day,” Clinton told The Associated Press in an interview.
    “I personally would like to see it removed from the Statehouse grounds.”
    But when she was First Lady of the State of Arkansas they celebrated Confederate Flag Day each year…
    …at the Arkansas capital.
    Confederate Flag Day is still going strong in Arkansas just like when the Clintons occupied the governor’s mansion.

    In 1987, when her husband was governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton signed Act 116 that stated “The blue star above the word “ARKANSAS” is to commemorate the Confederate States of America.”

    Obama's Week: Iftar Dinner, LGBT Reception

    President Obama's week ahead includes an Iftar dinner and an LGBT reception. Via the White House schedule:
    Schedule for the Week of June 22, 2015
     On Monday, the President will host an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan at the White House.
    On Tuesday, the President will attend meetings at the White House.
    On Wednesday, the President will host a reception at the White House in recognition of LGBT Pride Month.
    On Thursday and Friday, the President will attend meetings at the White House.
    Via: Weekly Standard

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    [VIDEO] Iran parliament bans inspector access to military sites

    Iranian lawmakers voted Sunday to ban inspector access to military sites, documents and scientists as part of a future deal with world powers over its contested nuclear program.
    The bill, if ratified, could complicate the ongoing talks in Vienna between Iran and the six-nation group — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — as they face a self-imposed June 30 deadline. The talks are focused on reaching a final accord that curbs Iran's nuclear program in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.
    “All parties to the negotiation are well aware of what is necessary for a final deal, including the access and transparency that will meet our bottom lines,” A State Department official told Fox News Sunday. “We expect that there will be many voices and opinions on the difficult issues as we work towards a final deal in the days ahead, but our team is focused on what is happening in the negotiating room.
    Of 213 lawmakers present on Sunday, 199 voted in favor of the bill, which also demands the complete lifting of all sanctions against Iran as part of any final nuclear accord. The bill must be ratified by the Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog, to become a law.
    The terms stipulated in the bill allow for international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, but forbid any inspections of military facilities.
    The bill states in part: "The International Atomic Energy Agency, within the framework of the safeguard agreement, is allowed to carry out conventional inspections of nuclear sites."
    However, it concludes that "access to military, security and sensitive non-nuclear sites, as well as documents and scientists, is forbidden." It also would require Iran's foreign minister to report to parliament every six months on the process of implementing the accord.
    Iran's nuclear negotiators say they already have agreed to grant United Nations inspectors "managed access" to military sites under strict control and specific circumstances. That right includes allowing inspectors to take environmental samples around military sites.
    But Iranian officials, including Ayatollah Ali Khameni, have strongly rejected the idea of Iranian scientists being interviewed.

    Is EPA Helping Green Groups Raise Funds in Exchange for Favorable Research?

    On first glance, this is a rather routine story in the environmental policy wars.
    study published in the journal Nature Climate Change said researchers had found that if rules being considered by the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce carbon emissions were enacted, it would mean 3,500 fewer premature deaths per year.
    This was a necessary piece of the puzzle for the EPA as it works to implement regulations it says would, by 2030, reduce carbon emissions to 30 percent below their levels in 2005. Industry experts say these regulations would drive a final nail into the coal industry, which currently supplies almost half the nation’s electricity. So, to justify the regulations, significant health benefits must be demonstrated.
    Such stories have become expected in environmental policy. The government announces an aim or policy change, and the research community gets together, using taxpayer dollars, to confirm the government’s approach is the best option. Those who support it post it to their Facebook pages; those who don’t ignore it.
    Researchers from Harvard University, Syracuse University and four other institutions used climate models to predict the impact the EPA’s proposed carbon emissions reductions would have on human health. And not surprisingly, it turned out the government’s plan was not just among the options that would produce positive results but was, in fact, the best way to achieve the goals.
    But there was a line in this story that sets it apart. Jonathan Buonocore, a research fellow at Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, told U.S. News the EPA did not participate in the study or interact with its authors.
    But it seems the agency did participate and did interact with the authors.
    EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. (Photo: State Department/Sipa USA/Newscom)
    EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. (Photo: State Department/Sipa USA/Newscom)
    Emails discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by Steve Milloy, a former editor at JunkScience.com, found a string of correspondence to set up meetings and conference calls to, in the words of one such email, “discuss methods for our next set of analyses.”
    The chain of emails went back and forth as the researchers and the agency both sought to add participants to the call. The fact the research showed precisely what the government wanted it to and that the government’s own proposal, when mimicked by researchers, produced the best results further raise suspicion.
    Driscoll seemed to grasp this when he told the New York Times it was “a coincidence” that one of the models so closely resembled the federal proposal.
    Milloy does not buy that explanation, and he doesn’t buy that this research was not coordinated with the agency to maximize effectiveness in promoting the coal regulations.
    Despite the fact the study’s authors “received or were involved in $45 million worth of research grants from the EPA,” The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Associated Press described the researchers “simply and innocuously” as researchers and scientists, Milloy lamented in a recent post at JunkScience.com. “Absent some unimagined explanation, these emails flatly contradict the claims [of independence] made in the Harvard and Syracuse media releases and in statements to media [by the researchers themselves].”

    Watch: Former Obama Classmate Just Made One MAJOR Accusation About The President

    "The plan is simple..."

    A former classmate of President Obama’s contends the commander-in-chief himself is the greatest threat to the country.
    Former Libertarian vice presidential nominee and entrepreneur Wayne Allyn Root asserts in a commentary earlier this month on Personal Liberty that “Obama is divebombing our nation’s economy the same way that the Germanwings airline co-pilot Andreas Lubitz crashed his plane into the ground in France two months ago.” He called the plan the “Cloward-Piven strategy.”
    The plan is simple: To destroy capitalism and ‘American exceptionalism,’ you overwhelm the system with spending, entitlements, regulations and debt. The economy comes to a halt; full-time jobs are killed; businesses fail in record numbers; the middle class is murdered financially; the debt implodes; and the economy is overwhelmed.
    Root graduated from Columbia University in 1983, the same year as Obama.
    “Capitalism dies as a majority of Americans wind up hooked on welfare, food stamps, free healthcare and government checks like a drug addict is hooked by a drug dealer on heroin, or crack cocaine, or crystal meth. Obama is America’s drug dealer. But his drug of choice is government dependency,” Root continued.

    Tim Scott: 'What the Enemy Meant for Evil, God Will Bring Good Out of It'

    Already-existing gun control laws did not keep accused South Carolina church shooter Dylann Storm Roof from going into a church and killing nine people, Sen. Tim Scott said Sunday, pointing out that it will be difficult to know just what the right solution is to stop such violent acts from happening again. 

    "When there is so much evil in the heart, it is hard to think of the right legislative solution for that problem," the South Carolina Republican told CBS' "Face the Nation" program.

    "Listen, the first thing that you should do in the aftermath of an amazing atrocity is look for solutions to prevent it from happening again. What I do know is that the gun laws that prevented him from bringing a gun into the church did not work."

    South Carolina is considered a "shall issue" state, reports The Huffington Post. This means that state law enforcement officials must issue concealed-carry permits to people who pass background checks, undergo fingerprint reviews, and complete a handgun education class.
    However, state law forbids concealed-carry permit holders from bringing guns into churches or other religious institutions unless they have express permission from a church official. Back in 2011, a law seeking to allow concealed weapons in churches failed in the state's legislature. 

    Background checks are not required on private gun sales in South Carolina.

    Scott, who was in Charleston to attend services at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, the site of last week's massacre of nine people, said it is still too early to "jump into the why" about the shootings.

    "I want to acknowledge the nine victims that lost their lives. One of whom was a friend of mine, Clementa Pinckney, the pastor," said Scott. "He was just a jewel of a person, a prince of a man, a God-fearing guy that believed in building bridges."

    Via: Newsmax


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    Sunday, June 21, 2015

    [VIDEO] HERE’S THE CONDESCENDING RACIST INSULT A DEMOCRAT PRESIDENT CALLED THE CHARLESTON MAYOR FOR HELPING BLACKS

    Charleston Mayor Jason P. Riley Jr. was fondly remembering how he used to advocate for black people when Jake Tapper reminded him about the racist insult that President Lyndon Baines Johnson used to call him over it.
    “Little black Joe” is just a footnote to history. Of course, if Reagan or Nixon had called him that, it’d be indoctrinated into our kindergartners as absolute proof that all conservatives are racist.


    California: 5 Ways to Outsmart LA Traffic

    The good news about Los Angeles is that you'll never get bored. With everything from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to the picturesque coastline, the City of Angels rarely disappoints. The downside of a city with such allure is that millions are drawn to it, resulting in major traffic snarls. However, with a little luck, a little planning and a little technology, you might be able to beat the gridlock. 

    Travel at Off-Peak Times:

    While nothing in life is guaranteed, you can bet L.A. freeways are going to be jammed during the morning and evening rush hours. With Los Angeles County’s population topping 10 million, lots of people are heading to work between 7 and 9 a.m., and the same workers drive home in the late afternoon. If you set your own hours, if you're traveling for pleasure or if you're simply running errands, you can choose to avoid peak-impact times. Tinker with your departure times if you work a more traditional 9-to-5 job to see if there are any seams in the traffic. If you normally leave for work at 8 a.m., try 7:45 or 8:15 a.m. instead to see if the traffic flow is better.

     Learn the Most Congested Routes: 

    One of the best ways to avoid traffic is to know where it is most likely to be and to plan a route around it. Los Angeles is filled with heavily traveled segments, and learning the times and places where congestion is likely to occur is critical to avoiding it. The 405, between the 105 Freeway and the Getty Museum, is considered the nation's most congested route. Another heavily traveled stretch is the 10 Freeway heading west to the beach on a beautiful day. If you need to go in that direction, know that it will be packed and search for alternative options, such as Venice Boulevard. The Southland’s freeway system is extensive, but there are also lots of ways to get around without using it. Many surface streets are well known to Angelenos as being great alternatives to sitting on bumper-to-bumper freeways.

    Via: National Review

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    [VIDEO] Chris Wallace to Rick Perry: Aren’t Uninsured Texans Your ‘Responsibility’?

    During Chris Wallace‘s interview with 2016 GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry on Fox New Sunday, the show host took a minute to ask the former governor of Texas about his state’s monumentally high uninsured rate. During Perry’s time as governor, Texas boasted what Wallace calls the “highest uninsured rate in the country” as “more than one in five Texans didn’t have health coverage.”
    Wallace then put to Perry the question, “Is that looking out for the little guy?” Perry’s response was pure, full-blooded Texan:
    If how you keep score is how many people you force to buy insurance, well then I would say that’s how you keep score…
    Let me explain what we do in Texas, and this is a state by state decision. We make access to health care the real issue. We passed the most sweeping tort reform in the nation. We have 35,000 more licensed physicians to practice medicine in 2013 than we did a decade before that.
    Wallace swings back to whether or not Perry feels any “responsibility” for the state’s uninsured masses, but his guest “sticks to his guns” with his “That’s not how we keep score!” line.

    AG Lynch: 'Cascade' of LGBT Equality...Will Forever Reshape This Country'


    President Barack Obama applauds as Attorney General Loretta Lynch arrives for her investiture ceremony, Wednesday, June 17, 2015, at the Warner Theatre in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

    (CNSNews.com) - "Keep up the great work," Attorney General Loretta Lynch told LGBT activists at a Lambda Legal reception in Washington on Thursday.

    "We are finally witnessing the cascade of equality...that will forever reshape this country," she said in her prepared remarks.

    She told the activists that they have the "enthusiastic partnership" of both the Justice Department and the president: "President Obama and I are both passionate about this cause and deeply devoted to this mission, and this administration is committed to invigorating the values of equality and opportunity that you have long demanded for all Americans."

    Lynch noted that many LGBT "trailblazers" emerged from the legal community, standing up to discrimination and harassment "to fight for what your hearts have always told you is right."

    That fight has pivoted the country "away from hate and intolerance" toward acceptance, respect and understanding, she said.

    "Of course, even as we celebrate remarkable advances, it is clear that we still have more work to do."

    Lynch mentioned "marriage equality" and the case now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. She also mentioned and "difficult legal issues, from adoption to immigration," which "remain unresolved."

    She noted that the transgender community particularly is facing "new and difficult legal issues that extend far beyond marriage -- and here, too, the Department of Justice has provided support. 


    Via: CNS News
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    FBI director says Charleston shootings not an act of terrorism

    Is Dylann Roof a terrorist? The killing of 9 black Americans at an historic black church in Charleston has some elements of terrorism, but, according to FBI director James Comey, does not rise to the level of "terrorism" as the bureau defines it.

    In the wake of the Charleston church shooting in South Carolina, two particular phrases have been used in the media to describe the attack — “hate crime” and “terrorist act.” Soon after the initial reports of the tragedy, the authorities threw both around when discussing the matter with reporters, sometimes letting their emotions get the better of them. That is, what Dylann Roof did was terrible, but until the official investigation is complete, the use of either descriptor won’t be completely accurate.
    But that hasn’t stopped FBI Director James Comey from discounting the use of “terrorism” and “terrorist act” to describe Roof’s crimes. At a press conference in Baltimore on Saturday, Comey said that the agency was currently investigating whether or not Roof committed a hate crime, but not terrorism:
    “Terrorism is act of violence done or threatens to in order to try to influence a public body or citizenry so it’s more of a political act and again based on what I know so more I don’t see it as a political act.”
    The Bureau has a rather large and ever-evolving code of definitions for the various kinds of terrorism and terrorist acts. However, the basic definition is quite simple.
    The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

    Via: American Thinker


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    Karl Rove: Only Way To Stop The Violence Is To Repeal Second Amendment


    Karl Rove (Getty Images)
    Republican strategist Karl Rove said on “Fox News Sunday” the only way to stop gun-related violence, like the Wednesday massacre at Emmanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston S.C., was to repeal American citizens’ Second Amendment rights.
    What do you think?

    When Chris Wallace asked Rove how we can, “stop the violence,” the long-time gun-rights advocate stated that we have made great strides as a nation in empathizing with the victims of these types of shootings, but the only way to guarantee they will stop is to “remove guns from society.”
    What do you think?

    WALLACE: How do we stop the violence?
    What do you think?

    ROVE: I wish I had an easy answer for that, but I don’t think there’s an easy answer
    What do you think?

    We saw an act of evil. Racist, bigoted evil, and to me the amazing thing is that it was met with grief and love. Think about how far we’ve come since 1963. The whole weight of the government throughout the South was to impede finding and holding and bringing to justice the men who perpetrated the [Birmingham] bombing.
    What do you think?

    And here, we saw an entire state, an entire community, an entire nation come together, grieving as one and united in the belief that this was an evil act, so we’ve come a long way.
    What do you think?

    Now maybe there’s some magic law that will keep us from having more of these. I mean basically the only way to guarantee that we will dramatically reduce acts of violence involving guns is to basically remove guns from society, and until somebody gets enough “oomph” to repeal the Second Amendment, that’s not going to happen.
    Via: Daily Caller

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