Before the Minnesota Obamacare health exchange has even officially opened there has been a security breach of the private health records of more than 2,400 individuals.

That didn’t take long: Before the Minnesota Obamacare health exchange has even officially opened there has been a security breach of the private health records of more than 2,400 individuals.

Stay tuned for more screw-ups and the misuse of private health records for political purposes. The Obamacare health exchanges are inherently insecure.

Fifteen so-called journalists have made their political preferences official by joining the Obama administration.

Working for the Democratic Party: Fifteen so-called journalists have made their political preferences official by joining the Obama administration.

That almost all of these media types have ended up working for a Democratic administration illustrates the one-sided culture in the mainstream media. If you aren’t for the Democratic Party, you won’t survive as a journalist at these news outlets. In fact, it is likely that you won’t even get a job there.

More here. This second article is absolutely worth reading because it dissects the leftwing and partisan culture of the mainstream press by looking at the employment history of these mainstream media journalists as well their history of bad and biased reporting.

Indiana University is laying off 50 maintenance workers to avoid Obamacare costs.

Finding out what’s in it: Indiana University is laying off 50 maintenance workers to avoid Obamacare costs.

The employees will now work for an independent company, which I am sure will either make sure its total staffing is under 50 or those employees work less than 30 hours per week in order to also avoid Obamacare.

The numbers here aren’t gigantic, but the story is notable in that these employees and the university that had employed them almost certainly supported Obamacare and Obama blindly this last five years. The sad thing is I doubt they will finally face reality and link their troubles with his policies.

And then there’s this: Trader Joe’s to drop health insurance for part-time workers because of Obamacare.

The two Colorado Democrats who were key instigators of that state’s new gun control laws were both decisively voted out of office yesterday in recall elections.

Pushback: The two Colorado Democrats who were key instigators of that state’s new gun control laws were both decisively voted out of office yesterday in recall elections.

The election, which came five months after the United States Senate defeated several gun restrictions, handed another loss to gun-control supporters. It also gave moderate lawmakers across the country a warning about the political risks of voting for tougher gun laws.

The recall elections ousted two Democratic state senators, John Morse and Angela Giron, and replaced them with Republicans. Both defeats were painful for Democrats – Mr. Morse’s because he had been Senate president, and Ms. Giron’s because she represented a heavily Democratic, working-class slice of southern Colorado.

The article says almost nothing about Angela Giron’s defeat, which I find intriguing. She was not expected to lose, considering her district was so Democratic, but her margin of defeat was actually larger than Morse’s. See also this article for a very good election analysis which suggests that any effort by Democrats to impose oppressive gun control laws is going to backfire for them very badly.

Obamacare is forcing a number of artist organizations to cancel health insurance for its members.

Finding out what’s in it: Obamacare is forcing a number of artist organizations to cancel health insurance for their members.

The College Art Association website posted a notice this month: “The New York Life Insurance Company recently informed CAA that it will no longer offer catastrophic healthcare coverage previously available to CAA members.” Why? Because it “is no longer an option” for “associations whose members reside in different states” to provide such coverage. These members will have to seek help from their home states’ newly formed Obamacare exchanges. Plans offered to Modern Language Association (MLA) members will suffer a similar fate.

Other insurance providers are reporting cancellations. The Entertainment Industry Group Insurance Trust (TEIGIT) website posts the following notice: “All individual and/or Sole Proprietor Health Insurance will terminate January 1, 2014. This includes plans acquired as Members of our Affiliated Associations & their groups.” Those affiliated associations include the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Dramatists Guild, the Graphic Arts Guild, NY Women in Film and Television, and many others.

From my experience in the movie industry it is almost certain that the vast majority of these artists, writers, musicians, and actors are Democrats who blindly supported Obama and Obamacare. I am also certain that, even after this disaster, they will still blindly support the Democratic Party.

“The [US Justice Department] just stuffed a rag in Barrett Brown’s mouth, as well as his lawyers.”

“The [US Justice Department] just stuffed a rag in Barrett Brown’s mouth, as well as his lawyers.”

The case might be complicated, and Brown might have even broken a reasonable privacy law, justifying his imprisonment. Nonetheless, it disturbs me greatly that the government’s response is to silence the man. Something about this stinks.

A college professor threatened a student during in a rant in which he insulted Republicans and even Mitt Romney’s wife.

Leftwing civility: A college professor threatened a student during in a rant in which he insulted Republicans and even Mitt Romney’s wife.

Video at the link. The threat is veiled but it there nonetheless. The whole rant itself is quite disgusting, especially for a teacher to do it in class, when he has a captive audience.

Taxing both the rich and the sick to pay for Obamacare.

Finding out what’s in it: Taxing both the rich and the sick to pay for Obamacare.

Key quotes:

The change will negatively impact parents who have special needs children and who use FSA funds to help pay for tuition in special needs schools, says Xavier Epps, owner of XNE Financial Advising.

and:

For the more than 10 million individuals and families that claim medical expenses in 2011, there’s more bad news. In order to claim medical expense deductions in 2013, the claims must be at least 10% of AGI, up from 7.5% in the past. There’s an exception for people who are age 65 and older at the end of the year and for married taxpayers with only one spouse age 65 or over. Their threshold will remain at 7.5% until the 2017 tax year.

Y’know, I have yet to find any documented evidence of Obamacare lowering costs or improving health coverage anywhere. So far, this law has done nothing but balloon costs, limit options, and reduce the ability of people to either get health insurance they can afford or healthcare they need.

But that’s all right. The Democrats passed it! It must be good! Let’s vote for them again so they can do this kind of masterwork in many other places. (Right now, the Middle East and Syria comes to mind.)

Update: Obamacare will hike the cost of healthcare in Wisconsin as much as 125%, while forcing almost 100,000 people to lose their health insurance.

Militant gays force an Oregon bakery out of business.

The thugs win: Militant gays force an Oregon bakery out of business.

The background:

On January 17, a mother and daughter arrived at Sweet Cakes By Melissa, an Oregon bakery owned by the Kleins. When the pair explained they wanted a wedding cake for a lesbian wedding, the shop owners politely refused informing the would-be customers that their religious beliefs don’t condone gay weddings and that, because of this, they did not want the women’s business. Before the week was up the bakery was beset by attacks in person, on the phone, and in email. The gay mafia from across the country had sprung into action to threaten the lives of the religious couple. [emphasis mine]

The threats and loss of business have now forced them to shut their bakery. And the reason: Their religious beliefs forbid them from catering to a gay wedding, an act which would be the equivalent of endorsing that event. Note also that they had not been refusing to serve gays, only refusing to cater a gay wedding.

A businessman fights a federal regulatory effort that destroyed his business. The government responses by trying to destroy him.

A businessman fights a federal regulatory effort that destroyed his business. The government responds by trying to destroy him.

Read the article. It will send chills down your spine. The business was legal, did no harm, and was very successful. The government shut it down, killed it. Now they are going after the creator because he had tried to stop them.

“The timing couldn’t be worse.”

The next IPCC report: “The timing couldn’t be worse.”

The author describes how the new report, due out in just a couple of months, is probably already obsolete because of a slew of new papers documenting the long 10 to 15 year pause in global warming that was not predicted by any of the climate models used by the IPCC.

This quote I think sums things up nicely, however:

Due to a ‘combination of errors’, the models have overestimated warming by 100% over the past 20 years and by 400% over the past 15 years.

No Atlantic hurricanes in August for the first time in eleven years.

More extreme weather, eh? There were no Atlantic hurricanes in August this year, for the first time in eleven years.

As I’ve noted repeatedly, there is no evidence yet of an increase of extreme weather events as predicted by global warming advocates. In fact, some recent data suggests a decline, though I personally wouldn’t take that seriously either.

So, when Al Gore or Barack Obama or Dianne Feinstein starts running around like Chicken Little, claiming the sky is about to fall, remember these facts.

The IRS harassment of conservatives continues.

Working for the Democratic Party: The IRS harassment of conservatives continues.

An IRS letter sent to [a tea party] group last week and obtained by The Washington Times contains a laundry list of requests related to virtually all the group’s activities, including its involvement in the 2012 election cycle and its get-out-the-vote efforts, fundraising activities, all radio and TV advertising, and other information. The IRS also is asking for detailed financial records, including “the amounts and percentages of your total expenses that were for fundraising activities in the tax year 2011, 2012 and 2013.” [emphasis mine]

Key quote: “We got away with discriminating against you and we’re not stopping.”

“Democrats are just goddamned liars.”

“Democrats are just goddamned liars.”

He is referring to professional Democrats, not your typical Democrat voter. To continue:

The fact that one of their more politically useful falsehoods nowadays is telling black people that their problems are caused by white racism should not require us to treat that lie any more seriously than we do any other Democrat lie.

When Democrats say we need “a conversation on race,” what they really mean is they want to have a monologue, a tedious lecture about all the evils perpetrated against black people by those evil racist Republicans. Your part of the “conversation” is, shut up.

The Israeli spring.

The Israeli spring.

In comparison to the ruined economies of the Arab Spring — tourism shattered, exports nonexistent, and billions of dollars in infrastructure lost through unending violence — Israel is an atoll of prosperity and stability. Factor in its recent huge gas and oil finds in the eastern Mediterranean, and it may soon become another Kuwait or Qatar, but with a real economy beyond its booming petroleum exports.

Israel had nothing to do with either the Arab Spring or its failure. The irony is that surviving embarrassed Arab regimes now share the same concerns of the Israelis.

Read it all. It gives you a different but (I think) more accurate perspective on the chaos in the Middle East.

A disabled security guard was fired for asking a Muslim woman to remove her veil.

An upside down world: A disabled security guard was fired for asking a Muslim woman to remove her veil.

The dispute occurred in May when Krause asked a Muslim woman to remove her face scarf thinking he was enforcing the mall’s no-mask policy. Instead of just reprimanding him after informing him that the woman’s veil was a vestige of her religion, Krause was fired after the woman filed a lawsuit of her own.

Without doubt there are real security concerns when someone arrives wearing a full face mask. Muslims might claim this is part of their religion, but it has been used too often by Islamic terrorists to do terrible harm. Moreover, there is real dispute within the religion whether such veils are required.

Finally, from a western perspective requiring women to be masked seems oppressive, even if they choose to do it.

Identifying the real racists.

Identifying the real racists.

A very honest, thoughtful and blunt look at the source of today’s racial hate.

Note that I comment very little on these despicable criminal acts that are all the rage these days in the media because that’s what they are, criminal acts first and foremost. To emphasize the racial component of either the victims or the criminals, which is what too many journalists and pundits on both the right and the left are doing, would be to play into the hands of the bigots. I won’t play that scorecard game.

What matters is the crime itself, and the use of the law to find a just sentence.

The Homeland Security employee who runs a website promoting race war has been put on paid leave.

Does this make you feel safer? The Homeland Security employee who runs a website promoting race war has been put on paid leave.

Then there’s this quote:

The website declares, “in order for Black people to survive the 21st century, we are going to have to kill a lot of whites – more than our Christian hearts can possibly count,” the Alabama-based SPLC said in its report.

One of Kimathi’s former supervisors at DHS told SPLC’s Hatewatch that, “Everybody is the office is afraid of him,” and that his co-workers are “afraid he will come in with a gun and someday go postal.”

Healthcare premiums have climbed almost $3,000 since 2009.

Healthcare premiums have climbed almost $3,000 since 2009.

The important point however is this:

And while annual premium increases have moderated over the past two years, that’s due to trends in the insurance market largely unrelated to ObamaCare, and trends the law could actually reverse.

To save money on insurance people had been shifting to plans with high deductibles. Obamacare however has outlawed such plans, thus requiring health insurance coverage in cases where people really don’t need it or can’t afford it.

1 190 191 192 193 194 253