Category: Politics

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Healthcare ObamaCare Politics

Insurance Executives Shut Down More GOP Lies About Obamacare

Photo: Screenshot

House Republicans were fishing around today for anything negative to about Obamacare. They thought bringing the executives of the insurance companies to Capitol Hill to testify about the law would be a great way confirm their already debunked talking points about Obamacare. Their plan however backfired, as one executive after the next shut down their crazy assumption.

One of the talking points floating around now is that Obamacare policy prices would explode in 2015. House Republicans were trying to get the executives to admit that this was true, that 2015 would be the year Obamacare dies, but they failed tremendously.

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), chair of the subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that hosted the hearing, opened the questioning with what seemed like a laundry list of potential problem spots for the health care law.

Are people going to paying higher premiums in 2015?

“I can’t say for certain,” one of the executives replied. “I don’t have the exact numbers yet,” another said.

Do you know if your enrollees are paying more for insurance now under Obamacare? Do you know how many had their previous health plan canceled?

“We currently do not have that data,” one of the witnesses said.

A little while later, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), one of the more outspoken Obamacare critics in Congress, got audibly flustered as she continued to press insurers to reveal their business plans in front of their competitors, pressing the witnesses to give some indication of what Obamacare’s 2015 premiums will be.

“At this point, we can’t offer any guidance on where they’re going to fall,” Paul Wingle, a top executive at Aetna, told Blackburn.

“At this juncture, we do not have that information,” another witness said.

“A lot of uncertainty floating around up there,” Blackburn quipped. She then implored the witnesses to offer anything — even some kind of preliminary guess that might have been given to their top officials — of what was going to happen with the next year’s premiums.

“Have any of you conducted any interim analysis of what your organization’s premiums are going to look like?” she said. She asked for a show of hands. No witnesses volunteered.

“You have done no internal analysis on what the trend line is for these premiums? None?” Blackburn said, clearly exasperated. “It is baffling that we could have some of our nation’s largest insurers, and you all don’t have any internal analysis of what these rates are going to be.

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north carolina Politics

This Republican Brags about Taking Healthcare From His Constituents -Video

Maybe I got this wrong. But I always thought that the reason anyone went into politics is to help their constituents. To make policies that would help them, not hurt them. Today’s Republicans however, keep suggesting that my way of thinking is wrong. Apparently the main focus of today’s politician is to hurt people.

Take this ad for example. It’s an ad by North Carolina State House Speaker, Republican Thom Tillis, who is also running for the US Senate. Listen, as Tillis brags about taking health care away from the people of North Carolina, as he ask them to support his Senate run.

Video.

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Featured Politics terrorist

Republican Congressional Candidate – “I’d rather see another terrorist attack” than deal with TSA

Bob Johnson

Everyone, please be quiet. Sit down and have a seat. Another Republican “Patriot” has something to say.

Ladies and gentlemen, your American “patriot” today is Bob Johnson of Savannah Georgia,  who incidentally is running for Congress in the Republican primary.

Bob dislikes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) so much,  that he would rather see another terrorist attack in the United States than dealing with the airport security system.

Take it away “Patriot!”

“The TSA is doing something really profound. They’re indoctrinating generations of Americans to walk through a line and be prodded and probed by uniformed personnel, agents of the government, like sheep.

“Now this is going to sound outrageous: I’d rather see another terrorist attack — truly I would — than to give up my liberty as an American citizen. Give me liberty or give me death. Isn’t that what Patrick Henry said at the founding of our Republican — or, republic.

“People are saying, ‘Now everyone wants security before anything else. I want a perfectly safe flight.’ You’re not going to have it. We’re going to have jack-boot uniformed people in our backyards.”

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ObamaCare Politics

PolitiFact to Rand Paul – Your Lie About Obamacare is a ‘Pants on Fire’ Lie

So Rand Paul has sent out mailings to his supporters telling them some rather impossible to believe claims about Obamacare. Of course his supporters drink it all as truth. They happily believe everything these Republicans say. But PolitiFact has checked and this lie got their Pants on Fire ratings.

According to PolitiFact, someone sent them the mailing from Rand Paul claiming that “for every Kentuckian that has enrolled in Obamacare, 40 have been dropped from their coverage.” An insane ratio, I know. And I’m not the only one who found this claim rediculous. It also caught the attention of PolitiFact. They checked into Paul’s claim and found this:

Tracking cancellations isn’t so easy, because cancellations are issued by private health insurance companies, and regulations differ in each state. The Associated Press assembled a comprehensive, 50-state look at Obamacare-related cancellations and concluded that, in Kentucky, 130,000 people received cancellation notices. Meanwhile, the Kentucky Department of Insurance has put the number at 168,000.

So a reasonable number for cancellations in Kentucky is probably between 130,000 and 168,000.

How many Kentuckians have signed up for Obamacare?

The answer depends on your definition of “Obamacare.”

The broader measure includes both signups for private insurance at the state-run Kynect insurance marketplace, as well as signups for Medicaid, the longstanding government-run health insurance program for the poor that Kentucky chose to expand under Obamacare.

In late April 2014, the state announced that 82,795 Kentuckians had purchased private plans on Kynect and 330,615 others had qualified for Medicaid coverage, for a total of 413,410. Data from the federal Department of Health and Human Services that counts a few more weeks of signups had slightly higher numbers.

Comparing the two numbers

Using just these numbers, Paul is either wrong or very wrong.

The smaller number — private-insurance number of signups (82,795) — is exceeded by the number of cancellations (up to 168,000), but at most, the discrepancy is only twice as big, not 40 times as big.

But it’s not clear that this is the right number to use. Paul’s newsletter didn’t only refer to private plans, and the Medicaid expansion was just as much a part of Obamacare as the marketplaces for private health insurance plans.

So if you include both types of signups (413,410), then the combined Medicaid and private-insurance signups in Kentucky actually exceeded the number of cancellations by more than double. So Paul’s claim is not just off-base, it’s actually going in the opposite direction.

In fact, the 40-times-higher claim is ridiculously off-base.

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Featured Politics racist

Republican Candidate Calls Melissa Harry Perry a “Dirty Ape”

Jim Coughlan

“Keep your stinking paws off my kid, you damned dirty ape.”

Those words by Republican Jim Coughlan, the Dutchess County controller and a candidate for state Senate, was directed at Melissa Harris-Perry in response to remarks she made about child-rearing that upset many conservatives.

Coughlan said he had no idea that Harris-Perry is black and denied the comment had racist undertones, saying he simply repeating a “well-known quote from the Planet of the Apes.

Even republican party insiders aren’t that thrilled with Coughlan and would probably just as soon wash their hands of him.

Some Republicans said they fear his Twitter history could keep them from regaining a Senate seat they long held until two years ago.

“Jim Coughlan is toxic,” said one.

“The Democrats are dying to run against him in November because they know he’s the best chance they have of keeping this seat in Democratic hands.”

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Featured Politics

Alabama Judge – The First Amendment Only Protect Christians

Roy Moore

I thought Jesus was inclusive and wanted everyone to come to him. After all, he did say to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” And exactly how would anyone become a Christian if they weren’t included and preached to at some point in their life?

No one was born a Christian, which means that being inclusive is the lifeline of the Christian faith.

Alabama State Judge Roy Moore has not figuref this inclusive message yet and is still thinking that the survival of Christianity is to preach only to the base. And he is taking his religious segregation view and applying it to the constitution,  more specifically, the First Amendment.

It is Roy Moore’s belief that the First Amendment of the United States Constitution only protect Christians.

Earlier this year Roy Moore, the Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, spoke at a luncheon in Mississippi for a Pro Life group and shared his thoughts on the First Amendment and who it protects.

“Everybody, to include the U.S. Supreme Court, has been deceived as to one little word in the First Amendment called ‘religion.’ They can’t define it.” Moore said. “They can’t define it the way Mason, Madison and even the United State Supreme Court defined it, ‘the duties we owe to the creator and the manner of discharging it.’ They don’t want to do that, because that acknowledges a creator God. Buddha didn’t create us. Mohammed didn’t create us. It’s the God of the Holy Scriptures.

“They didn’t bring a Koran over on the pilgrim ship, Mayflower. Let’s get real. Let’s go back and learn our history.”

What would Jesus say?

Video

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Benghazi Benghazi George Bush Politics

Republican Army Colonel to Republicans – Forget Benghazi, Investigate Bush and Cheney

Retired. U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson is not very fund of his party these days, and their insistence that there is something more to discover in yet another Benghazi investigation, is not winning them the colonel’s friendship award either.

The Colonel, who miraculously still considers himself a Republican, thinks a different investigation should be done – one focused on war criminals George Bush and Dick Cheney.

Speaking about the Republicans and their never ending Benghazi investigations, Wilkerson said;

“It’s very difficult to handle a crisis, and you take the talking points points from whomever you can get them who’s on the scene. In this case, as I understand it, the CIA provided most of the talking points.”

“You can’t ever get it right right up front, so, I don’t find that to be a great problem.”

After asserting that he remains a member of the Republican Party, Wilkerson said that he does find it concerning that the GOP focuses on Benghazi over more pressing issues.

“I find it an enormous problem that they go after something like this, Benghazi – tragedy that it was – and they don’t go after something that is a colossal tragedy like the war crimes of Richard Bruce Cheney,” he insisted.

“The fact that I was a member of that administration will haunt me to the grave,” he concluded.

Wilkerson is the former Chief of Staff for Colin Powell.

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Benghazi Politics

State Department – John Kerry Will Not Comply With Republican Subpoena

The Secretary of State John Kerry would not be available and will not be complying with the subpoena issued by Republicans. The Republicans are demanding that Kerry make himself available on the May 21st, but according to State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf, that is not going to happen.

Harf said that Kerry “has been made aware” of the subpoena, but still plans to be out of the country and in Mexico on the 21st. She said the State Department was “surprised” that Darrell Issa skipped over offering an invitation and went straight to issuing a subpoena. She very strongly intimated the subpoena was issued for partisan political purposes and suggested Republicans are hypocrites for decrying subpoenas when they were issued against Condoleezza Rice.

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Featured pat robertson Politics Republican Party

OMG – Pat Robertson Warns Of The Radicals in The Republican Party

Breaking news: Pat Robertson spoke the truth! Now, this doesn’t happen often but when it does I’m going to bring it to you.

In his recent 700 Club program, Robertson laments on the plight of the Republican party and acknowledges that radical right may be causing more harm than good.

NOTE: Pat Robertson is inarguably part of the radical right.

Video.

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Oklahoma Politics Television

John Oliver – Why The Death Penalty Is Like a McRib – Video

With a backdrop like what happen in Oklahoma last Tuesday with the botched execution, media outlets far and wide are making their feelings and opinions known about the death penalty. But I’m choosing to highlight the thoughts and ideas of a comedian.

Why? Because the ideas expressed I think, best represent where this country should go in regards to the death penalty.

The comedian is John Oliver. The show is Last Week Tonight.

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Benghazi Benghazi Featured Politics

Fox News Talked About A Hillery Clinton Assassination – Video

The good olé boys over at Fox News. It’s where you get your news, right? Well this is your “news” from your ‘Fair and Balanced’ “news” network.

A recent segment on Fox took America’s attention away from the fact that 288,000 jobs were created in April, lowering the unemployment rate once again to 6.3%. Fox, the “news” people felt our attention would be much better served if it is focused on… Benghazi!

So in cahoots with the pretend “Patriots” in the Republican party, a massive diversion effort went into full swing. And now, once again, after tens of thousands of documents submitted, millions of dollars spent, and numerous investigations conducted, we are now, once again talking about… Benghazi!

America, I know you todd about thank god you’re ready, but here is your news.

In a recent segment, Fox managed to create a scenario where Hillary Clinton is assassinated to prove another false Benghazi point. Fox’s Wayne Rogers is credited with this bit of right wing nuttery;

Imagine the following. Imagine that Hillary Clinton runs for president, and gets assassinated in the process.

And somebody shows up, a congressman, and says, ‘Well, what difference does it make anyway?’ I mean, The New York Times would have that on the front page!

The segment was in reference to a testimony Hillary Clinton gave about Benghazi years ago, and a point she made that the focus now should be on how to prevent another Benghazi from happening,  instead of wasting time trying to figure out if the attackers were terrorists or angry movie critics.

The Fox thought a Clinton assassination scenario would be a great way to prove their dumb point.

But then again, proving dumb points is what the Fox does best.

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Politics

They Voted – Wisconsin Republicans Rejected Seceding From The United States

Earlier I told you about an expected vote by Wisconsin Republicans to secede from the United States. The vote was scheduled to happen over the weekend as state Republicans held their convention. Well the vote happened yesterday and guess what? It seems there are still some sensible Republicans in the old party, and they realized that seceding from the United States was not the best idea.

Apparently these Republicans did not want to be the “laughingstock” of the nation if the succeeded, and they managed to convince the rest of the Wisconsin Republicans to vote against seceding.

Delegates at the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s convention Saturday overwhelmingly rejected a resolution affirming the state’s right to secede from the United States in extreme circumstances.

Some delegates worried the party could become a national laughingstock if the resolution passed.

“The party spoke loudly today that secession is not something we support,” executive director Joe Fadness said after the vote.

The secession debate drew attention leading up to the convention, which featured speeches from the state’s Republican leaders, including Gov. Scott Walker, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and others.

Walker told the crowd gathered at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee not to be distracted by side issues.

NOTE TO REPUBLICANS – You guys are already the laughingstoock of the nation.

Carry on…

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