Author: Ezra Grant

I'm just tired of the lies and nonsense coming from the GOP, so this is my little contribution to combat the nonsense!

Categories
Health Care ObamaCare Politics

Already More Healthcare Enrollees in December Than Entire Month of October

If you have no health insurance and have no interest in seeing what plans are available to you through healthcare.gov, then you’re either a Republican who thinks your party’s false message is more important than your own wellbeing, or you are a low information consumer listening to the lies of right winged media outlets.

For those that take their health seriously, they’re signing up for health care!

More people signed up on the government’s new health insurance website on the first two days of December than in the entire first month of the launch of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform, sources familiar with the numbers said on Wednesday.

The sources said about 29,000 people enrolled on Sunday and Monday, surpassing nearly 27,000 for all of October when the opening of the HealthCare.gov website was beset by glitches that led to a public apology by the president and a retooling of the portal.

Obama’s administration has been criticized by Republican opponents for not regularly disclosing figures over political concerns.

The improved enrollment figures provide the first evidence that a five-week emergency effort by the administration to fix HealthCare.gov was allowing more people to sign up for insurance in 36 states served by the website. Fourteen states and Washington, D.C. run their own online insurance marketplaces.

The agency in charge of the healthcare policy rollout, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said on Wednesday that it would announce official numbers later in December.

The upward swing is a tentative good sign for Obama, whose job approval ratings plummeted as the website made a disastrous debut on Oct. 1 and millions received policy cancellation notices despite Obama’s repeated pledge they could keep their current plans under the Affordable Care Act.

Preliminary government data has also indicated that about 100,000 people chose a health plan through HealthCare.gov during November. Tens of thousands more Americans have signed up through state exchanges.

While enrollment is improving, the administration is still far off track of the 7 million people whom the Congressional Budget Office has said were expected to sign up for private insurance through March 31.

Categories
MSNBC Politics

MSNBC’s Martin Bashir Resigns After Sarah Palin Comment

Personal Note: I disagree with Bashir decision to resign today. His accurate and insightful take on the disfunction in today’s politics and the Republican party will be greatly missed.

MSNBC host Martin Bashir resigned Wednesday following controversy surrounding remarks he made on his show in November about former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

“Upon further reflection, and after meeting with the president of MSNBC, I have tendered my resignation,” Bashir said in a statement. “It is my sincere hope that all of my colleagues, at this special network, will be allowed to focus on the issues that matter without the distraction of myself or my ill-judged comments.”

In a segment that aired on his show in November, Bashir called Palin a “world class idiot” after she equated the United States borrowing money from China with slavery.

Citing a diary item describing various punishments for slaves, Bashir added that Palin should be forced to eat excrement.

The host later apologized on air for his remarks and took a leave of absence.

“I deeply regret what was said, will endeavor to work hard at making constructive contributions in the future and will always have a deep appreciation for our viewers – who are the smartest, most compassionate and discerning of all television audiences,” Bashir said in his statement Wednesday.

MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement: “I understand his decision and I thank him for three great years with MSNBC. Martin is a good man and respected colleague — we wish him only the best.”

Categories
Healthcare Politics

New Texas Rule – You Cannot Advise Texans On The Benefits of Healthcare

It’s like a massive push to keep the American people ignorant to the benefits of having healthcare, and this push is happening in Republican governed states.

Take Texas for example. A new Rule in Texas makes it illegal for anyone to advise someone else on what healthcare to get or the benefits of getting healthcare. The new law even ban those who are trained in providing this information, from providing the information.

The counselors tasked with helping uninsured Texans navigate their way through the complicated process of buying health insurance will have to jump through a series of hoops to get licenses under new rules proposed by the Texas Department of Insurance.

The so-called navigators would have to prove their citizenship or employment eligibility, undergo a background check and show evidence of financial responsibility under the new rules, proposed Tuesday by Texas Insurance Commissioner Julia Rathgeber.

They would also have to receive 40 hours of education on Texas-specific Medicaid and privacy standards, then show proof that they have the proper training to guide consumers to the right health plans.

Navigators would be prohibited from charging for their services and from recommending specific health benefit plans to consumers. The proposed rules would also restrict navigators from providing advice on the substantive benefits or comparative benefits of different health plans, the department said.

“In Texas, we are being vigilant about safeguarding privacy and keeping personal information out of the wrong hands,” Rathgeber said in a statement. “These proposed rules address insufficiencies in federal regulations and make the training and qualifications of navigators in our state more readily apparent to consumers and service providers.”

It makes absolutely no sense! To be a Navigator in Texas, the individual must prove their citizenship, go through a background check and show evidence of financial responsibility. And if the get through all that, there is a 40 hour training program they must go through. And at the end of it all, Navigators are still bound by this new rule, and cannot educate people on healthcare.

How dumb is that!

Categories
Politics

President Obama’s Speech on Economic Mobility

President Obama spoke today on the need for economic mobility not only for the top one percent, but also for the middle class and those Americans trying to get into the middle class.

Categories
Entertainment Movies

The Butler to Return to Theaters

Riding a wave of Oscar buzz and big earnings at the box office, Lee Daniels’ acclaimed film The Butler will be returned to theaters for a limited on December 6th.

The film stars Forest Whitaker as a White House service-worker named Cecil Gaines who witnesses history alongside presidents like Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan. His performance in the film, and Oprah Winfrey’s supporting turn as his wife, are earning serious consideration for Academy Awards.

The movie is loosely based on the life of real-life White House butler Eugene Allen and in addition to Winfrey and Whitaker boasts an all-star cast which includes Terrence Howard, Jane Fonda, John Cusack, Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding, Jr.

The Weinstein Company is presumably re-releasing the film to capitalize on the awards season hype but it hardly needs the money

The Butler earned over $115 million during its initial run in theaters.

Categories
Featured

Sandy Hook 911 Tapes Released – Disturbing Calls, Bullets Heard in Background

I don’t see the need for posting the actual 911 calls from terrified teachers and workers at Sandy Hook the day Adam Lanza decided to slaughter 26 people. I see no point in hearing people scream for their lives, or hearing gunshots ringing in the background as kids were murdered. I side with the families of the slain that these tapes should not be released. But today, they were. And based on other reports, the tapes are indeed gruesome and disturbing.

Gunshots boomed in the background as panicked callers flooded Newtown’s 911 emergency line with desperate pleas for help as deranged gunman Adam Lanza blasted his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School and massacred 26 students and staffers, recordings released Wednesday reveal.

“Sandy Hook School, I think there’s someone shooting in here, Sandy Hook School!” a terrified woman reported in one of the earliest of seven calls released by police.

“I caught a glimpse of somebody. They’re running down the hallway. Oh, they’re still running and still shooting. Sandy Hook school, please,” the woman pleaded, her voice trembling.

Another call came from a custodian, Rick Thorne, who said that a window at the front of the school was shattered and that he kept hearing shooting.

Thorne remained on the phone for several minutes.

“There’s still shooting going on, please!” the custodian pleaded to the 911 dispatcher, as six or seven shots could be heard booming in the background. “I keep hearing shooting, I keep hearing popping! … Still, it’s still going on!”

While on the line with Thorne, the dispatcher told somebody off the call: “Get everyone you can going down there.”

The recordings show dispatchers calmly responding to the panicked janitor, a teacher and others while assuring them help was on the way as gunman Adam Lanza blasted his way through the school.

The operators urge the callers – who reported hearing multiple gunshots – to take cover as they desperately contact town and state police for help.

The operators also ask about the welfare of the children.

Lanza, 20, stormed the school on the morning of Dec. 14 and gunned down 20 children and six educators with a semi-automatic rifle. He had earlier killed his mother nancy as she slept, and blew his own brains out as police arrived.

The calls begin at 9:35 a.m. from the school’s central office, saying the front glass had been shot out.

There were a total of seven landline calls from inside the school to Newtown police — including Thorne’s.

The janitor stayed on the phone with a dispatcher as he made his way through the school trying to warn staffers and students about Lanza’s bloody rampage.

Another call came from a teacher.

“It sounds like there are gunshots in the hallway. I’m a teacher at the school,” the woman said. “All of my students are in the classroom …the door’s not locked yet.”

The dispatcher tells her to lock the door and keep the children away from the windows.

Categories
Politics

Jon Stewart Congratulates GOP’s “Old White Men” in Ending Racism

This is what Jon Stewart, host of the Jon Stewart Show on Comedy Central, said in a recently: “I have one source for news that I turn to more than any other: Twitter.”

I agree with Stewart on that point. Twitter and other social media networks have revolutionized how news and other information is distributed. But Stewart said something else I have to disagree with. “Cos I likes my news like I likes my ladies,” he said, “short and punchy and delivered second-hand by anonymous sociopaths.”

We’re not all sociopaths.

But my disagreement with Stewart was short-lived. Especially when he made the point to congratulate “old white men” in the Republican party for their role in ending racism. Stewart of course,  was basing his remarks on a tweet made by the Republican National Committee earlier this week, in which they came to the conclusion that racism in America, was over.

“It’s OVER!” Stewart exclaimed, “It’s official! Stick a fork in racism, it’s done!”

But Stewart’s excitement was also short-lived. Moments after the Republicans declared that racism was over, they issued another tweet stating that their proclamation was in fact, incorrect. Stewart took note of that too.

“You declare an end to racism and then three hours later, you start it again?” Stewart then equate the GOP’s back and forth on whether or not racism had ended to being “an Indian giver.”

Watch it below.

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

Categories
Newt Gingrich Politics war on women

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Smacks Down Newt Gingrich on War On Women

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R) awkward attempt to link Vice President Joe Biden to the GOP’s policies against womens’ reproductive health was smacked down hard by Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) on Tuesday.

“Democrats like to complain about a Republican ‘war on women,’” Gingrich said on Crossfire, before mentioning Biden’s visit to a Japanese e-commerce company, DeNA, in which Biden asked a group of women working there if their husbands “like them working full-time,” if they were married, and if they were allowed to work from home.

“How do you explain Biden’s inability to stay in touch with reality?” Gingrich asked Wasserman Schultz, who expressed amazement that Gingrich would link the “war on women” term with Biden, the author of the Violence Against Women Act, which was been staunchly opposed by Republicans even after passing in the House in February 2013.

“Your party spent two years holding back on bringing the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act to the floor,” Wasserman Schultz responded. “Your party has nominated, consistently, the likes of [Pennsylvania Gov. Tom] Corbett in Pennsylvania, who famously said, ‘Well, if women don’t want to have an ultrasound when they have an abortion, they can just close their eyes.’”

Schultz also pointed out that another Republican, Virginia Attorney General nominee Mark Obenshain, introduced legislation four years ago that would have required pregnant women to report a miscarriage to authorities.

“If you want to talk about the war on women — and that’s just a couple of examples –” Schultz said, before getting cut off by Gingrich.

“I understand your version of reality,” Gingrich shot back, before being interrupted himself by co-host Stephanie Cutter.

“That’s not a version of reality, Newt,” Cutter chimed in. “Those are facts.”

Video

Categories
Politics pope

The Pope Sneaks Out At Night to Help People – Republicans Can’t Be Happy

The Pope has been getting on Republicans’ nerves lately. He recently let his feelings about capitalism and trickle down economics be known, saying that the theory of trickle down “has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power…”

This proclamation by the Pope caused the right wing to practically blow their tops. Rush Limbaugh, the author of much of the Republican’s talking points took to his radio show and denounced the Pope and all that he stands for. Said Rush;

“Pope Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as ‘a new tyranny.’ He beseeched global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality, in a document on Tuesday setting out a platform for his papacy and calling for a renewal of the Catholic Church. In it, Pope Francis went further than previous comments criticizing the global economic system, attacking the ‘idolatry of money.’ ”

I’ve gotta be very caref– I have been numerous times to the Vatican. It wouldn’t exist without tons of money. But, regardless, what this is — somebody has either written this for him or gotten to him. This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope. There’s no such — “unfettered capitalism”? That doesn’t exist anywhere.

And a Fox Host Stuart Varney also lashed out at the Pope for him suggesting that we should be helping the less fortunate among us.

And now this news. A recent interview with Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the “Almoner of His Holiness,” raised speculation that the Pope joins him on his nightly trips into Rome to give alms to the poor, and it turns out that the rumors are probably true.

A knowledgable source in Rome told The Huffington Post that “Swiss guards confirmed that the pope has ventured out at night, dressed as a regular priest, to meet with homeless men and women.”

Krajewski earlier said, “When I say to him ‘I’m going out into the city this evening’, there’s the constant risk that he will come with me,” and he merely smiled and ducked the question when reporters asked him point-blank whether the Pope accompanied him into the city.

What will these Republicans do now? Oh the calamity!

Categories
Politics Racism racist

Macy’s Subpoenaed For Not Cooperating With Racial Profiling Investigation

Remember Trayon Christian, the 19-year old engineering student who was handcuffed and arrested by the NYPD after he bought a $349 Salvatore Ferragamo belt at Barneys New York? And Kayla Phillips, who bought a $2300 orange suede Céline bag from Barneys with her debit card — only to be accused of credit card fraud by cops just blocks away from the upscale store? Or “Treme” actor Rob Brown, who is now suing Macy’s and the NYPD after being handcuffed for “shopping while Black”?

October’s racial profiling stories that turned into a series of “shopping while Black” exposés highlighted the ugly racism that still runs rampant in New York City. Two NYC-based retailers, Barneys and Macy’s, were at the center of the storm. Shortly after the news that African-Americans were seemingly often accused of credit card fraud by New York City police, including repeated  accusations of “how did you afford to buy that?”, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began an investigation.

Schneiderman demanded statistics on how many customers — detailed by race and national origin — the stores had detained, what their policies for detaining customers are, what contracts or relationships they have with external security firms — including the NYPD — and what anti-discrimination policies are currently in effect.

In what appears to be a separate investigation by the NYC Human Rights Commission, Barneys apparently has complied, but Macy’s, and higher-end Bloomingdale’s, owned by Macy’s, have not, according to Women’s Wear Daily. WWD adds that the NYC Human Rights Commission is investigating 17 retailers in total.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights has issued a subpoena to Macy’s Law Department, ordering them to provide the commission with documents by Dec. 10 for all Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s locations in New York City, regarding information that pertains to their policies on loss prevention and approaching and detaining individuals suspected of theft.

Patricia L. Gatling, NYC Human Rights Commissioner, said Monday, “It is disappointing that they have not fully cooperated in the commission’s investigation into recent allegations of racial profiling at some of the city’s larger retail stores and instead sought to dictate the terms and scope of our investigation. The commission will be issuing subpoenas to other stores that have been unresponsive, including Old Navy and Banana Republic.”

Of course, it’s still unclear in the NYPD was acting alone, or in conjunction with the retailers, or if the retailers were the ones who contacted police.

But between NYC’s “shopping while Black,” and “stop and frisk” attacks, and recent reports like the three Black Rochester, NY high school basketball stars arrested for waiting on the sidewalk for their school bus, it feels like the entire state has jumped into the 1950s.

Categories
Politics

Top Hillary Clinton Fundraiser Begins Preparation for 2016

The top fundraiser behind Hillary Clinton’s first presidential bid is currently in talks to join Priorities USA, the leading super PAC behind President Obama last year that is now positioning itself for a possible Clinton White House bid in 2016.”

Jonathan Mantz, who served as Clinton’s national finance director in 2008 and is one of the Democratic Party’s biggest names in fundraising, is set to join Priorities USA in a senior adviser.

Four sources familiar with the Mantz discussions said he will fundraise for Priorities as transitions from the last presidential election into its next phase — a pro-Clinton paid media effort, likely led by Jim Messina and John Podesta, top former aides to Barack Obama and Bill Clinton respectively.”

Categories
dead Featured

Woman’s Scary Facebook Message Before She Was Stabbed to Death

An East St. Louis woman who was found stabbed to death in her apartment Saturday night had posted a Facebook status update prior to her murder warning her friends that she might die.

“If anything happens to me tonight just let my kids know I loved them dearly and tell my momma I love her,” Michelle Rowling posted on November 25th.

Less than a week later, police were called to Rowling’s housing complex to investigate a disturbance and found the 25-year-old bleeding out, having sustained several stab wounds.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced DOA.

According to the St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly, Rowling’s post was in reference to the release of her ex-boyfriend, 25-year-old Montrell Cooper, who had been jailed since August for assaulting her.

Cooper, who is the chief suspect in Rowling’s murder, had assaulted Rowling before, but she testified on his behalf and managed to get his sentence reduced to probation.

Montrell Cooper
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