The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
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Featuring:
nObama Lied, My Health Plan Died ...
Twice!
Michelle Malkin
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"Know who you are standing with"
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future"
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Democrat Debate Lowlights 
Maybe it was chivalry, but last night we witnessed four men refuse to hit a woman. The first Democrat presidential debate — all too appropriately held in "Sin City" — featured frontrunner Hilly Clinton outpacing her four male challengers by a wide margin, and re-establishing her claim to "inevitability" status.
In truth, only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders can even be considered a "challenger," and even he will fade. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and former Republican Lincoln Chaffee are mere props. Webb spent his time complaining about not having more time, while Chaffee's most memorable moment was griping that a question about one of his earliest votes in the Senate was unfair. Thanks to CNN's rules, Clinton and Sanders far outpaced the other candidates in air time in part because they scrupulously avoided naming Webb, O'Malley or Chaffee so as to eliminate the latter's rebuttal opportunities.
So we'll also focus our attention on Clinton and Sanders, after one other brief note: CNN's Anderson Cooper is listed as a "notable past member" of the Clinton Global Initiative. And he promised before the debate that he would give these "serious people" a chance to "talk about the issues" — almost surely an effort to protect Clinton from attack. -The Patriot Post
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Planned Parenthood's 'Fix'? Making Fetal Harvesting 'Free' It's hard to consider this good news when the core issue remains the same. On Tuesday, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards informed National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins that her organization is amending, albeit diminutively, its controversial fetal harvesting program. Unfortunately, the practice itself remains intact. We wish the same could be said of the victims. In a letter to Collins, Richards attacked the Center for Medical Progress and other "extremists" for allegedly smearing Planned Parenthood in a backdoor effort "to ban abortion in the U.S. and block women from getting any health care from Planned Parenthood." She explained, "In order to completely debunk the disingenuous argument that our opponents have been using — and to reveal the true political purpose of these attacks — our Federation has decided, going forward, that any Planned Parenthood health center that is involved in donating tissue after an abortion for medical research will follow the model already in place at one of our two affiliates currently facilitating donations for fetal tissue research. That affiliate accepts no reimbursement for its reasonable expenses — even though reimbursement is fully permitted under the 1993 law." 
In other words, Planned Parenthood didn't really change anything, except to make fetal harvesting "free" for prospective buyers. The said videos show Planned Parenthood representatives openly discussing profits — the main point of contention — and even ways to spend that money, like on a Lamborghini. Sounds to us like Richards' decision is a concession of wrongdoing. Moreover, the organization may have just opened a can of worms. As Twitchy observes, "There's an unasked question in all this reporting: if Planned Parenthood no longer receives reimbursement for its baby parts business, who pays? There are still costs involved. They think this solves the problem, but what it does is raise additional questions that the overhead associated with the fetal tissue donations will be paid for with taxpayer money." In the letter, Richards contends, "Our decision is first and foremost about preserving the ability of our patients to donate tissue, and to expose our opponents' false charges about this limited but important work." The only thing being exposed is just how rotten this organization is.
-The Patriot Post
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Ending Life Is Great; Saving It, Not So Much
Just days after signing assisted suicide into law in California, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed "Right to Try" legislation. In other words, he told his citizens to drop dead. Right to Try is the idea that terminally ill patients should be able to access medicines that are certified as safe but have not yet survived the gauntlet of approval from the bureaucrats at the Food and Drug Administration. So if you are terminally ill and suffering in California, the governor thinks it's a great idea for you to commit suicide with the help of your doctor. If, however, you wish to try all avenues to avoid suffering and extend your life, well, tough luck. Brown argued that the FDA already has a compassionate use program to meet this need, but it's cumbersome to apply and very few people benefit from it. Brown's seemingly clear preference for suicide here is not terribly compatible with Catholic teaching — a faith he loves to cite when it suits him. But California's legislature passed the bill by large enough margins to override a veto, so we'll see what happens.
On a final note, health care economics are going to play an increasing role in end-of-life decisions, and that may explain Brown's move. Specifically, The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto observes, "What accounts for that inconsistency? Here’s one factor that may play a role: California is on the hook for millions of state employees’ and retirees’ generous medical benefits. When one of them receives a terminal diagnosis, it’s a lot cheaper to hasten his death than to attempt to prolong his life."
-The Patriot Post
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Clinton 'Transparent' With Name of CIA Source
During last night's Democrat presidential debate, Hilly Clinton said of her emails, "I've been as transparent as I know to be." She's got that right. Her emails were so unsecure and transparent that security experts said a low-skilled hacker could have defeated her security measures. The server was set up so that Clinton could access its information remotely, which opened the server to prying eyes. She used software notorious for vulnerabilities and she did not use a method of communicating with the server that protected against eavesdropping. Hey, didn't Clinton say she set up the server for "convenience"?
We know at least one hacker accessed the server, although he or she didn't know just what they stumbled into at the time If they did, the hacker would have discovered some of the most hallowed information the U.S. government protects. On March 18, 2011, Clinton forwarded an email to her aides containing the name of a member of the CIA working in Libya. "Even inside CIA, in internal emails or cables, or even conversations you never mention, you never talk about the true name of a human source," said CIA veteran John Rizzo. "You use a pseudonym. I mean, honestly, it was quite stunning." Rizzo continued, "If this is a foreign-based source, living in Libya let's say ... you get outed as a CIA source over there, you're a dead man. So it couldn't be more serious."
Meanwhile, Barack nObama backtracked on his recent comments dismissing security concerns over Clinton's server. Now that he's read the news, he's not so sure it doesn't pose a threat to national security as he alleged Sunday. Imagine that: The sitting president didn't recognize a security threat who sat in his own cabinet. -The Patriot Post
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“Presidential Terrorism,” White House Jihad...
{rickwells.us} ~ Senator Ted Cruz speaks to a radio audience in Iowa regarding the devious plan of Hussein nObama to flood the United States with a quarter of a million unvetted Muslims, or as they might more familiarly be known, Islamic terrorists... The host describes the people as feeling helpless and having no means to stop the reckless actions of this anti-American administration. He points to the pathetic, useless political class in Iowa as only being able to muster some muted whining, aimed only at reducing the number of terrorists imported rather than putting a stop to the insanity. Cruz says the plan to bring in the mystery Muslims “makes no sense and I think it’s crazy.” He says it’s one of the things “that will stop immediately” if he’s elected president. http://rickwells.us/archives/20695.
Putin’s Paid and Unpaid Liars
{Cliff Kincaid} ~ The Dutch Safety Board has issued a report indicating that a Russian BUK missile destroyed Malaysian flight MH17, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board, in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine... The only question is whether the missile was fired by Russian troops or terrorists under Russian control. In any case, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered an invasion of eastern Ukraine, has blood on his hands. The Dutch took the lead because most of the dead were from the Netherlands. The results were not surprising, since circumstantial evidence already pointed to the Russians as the culprits. Russia refused to cooperate with the investigation (led by the Netherlands, Ukraine, Malaysia, Australia and Belgium) and vetoed a U.N. tribunal established to try those responsible..
Mother Asks Why Hilly Clinton Killed Her Son
{rickwells.us} ~ The Democrats and Hilly Clinton want to diminish what happened at Benghazi for their own personal protection and political advantage... They are attempting to alter the narrative, apparently now with the help of a former investigator that they have “persuaded’ to work on the dark side, to attack the integrity of the investigation and portray it as victimizing the criminal, Hilly Clinton. Hilly Clinton is not a victim; she is a predator, the perpetrator. She is responsible for what happened, for the deaths of four Americans. Those dead Americans included Sean Smith, the son of Patricia Smith, who is the guest on the video. Ms Smith has no agenda beyond an understanding of what happened that night and some accountability by those at fault. That puts her in direct conflict with the federal government, which has been engaged in a three-year-long cover-up of their guilt and complicity in the events. http://rickwells.us/archives/20690Video at the site.
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The Evil Party and the Stupid Party Debate
{Roger L Simon} ~ Republicans should wake up because, stultifying and predictable as the Democrats were Tuesday night (in case you missed it, Lincoln Chafee is a Man of Peace — or was it granite?)... much as “climate change” is now the official religion of their party (someone should lead a prayer to Gaia at the beginning of their debates), much as they promise endless new pie-in-the-sky social programs without the slightest hint of how they intend to pay for them (other than taxing Donald Trump), the “evil party” didn’t spend much of the evening tearing each other down. Quite the contrary. With the most minor exceptions, they provided a cheering section for each other. If Republicans continue their approach in their next debate, bashing each other at will and in extremis, they are likely going to lose in November 2016 and then we all lose. The country loses, maybe even disappears as we know it. Republicans aren’t the “stupid party” for nothing — and that includes the Tea Party and RINOS, both equally dopey, not to mention Kevin McCarthy who may have made the greatest unforced political error of the no-longer-young century. Republicans should focus like the proverbial lasers on the opposition, not each other. Fiorina and Rubio have both showed how to do this on different occasions.
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Hurray!!! A Journalist Actually Questioned nObama's Leadership!
{pjtv.com} ~ On 60 Minutes, Pres. nObama encountered a rare species he has heard of but never seen in the wild... a real journalist! See his blunders, as he attempts to hold a conversation! http://www.pjtv.com/series/trifecta-105/hurray-a-journalist-actually-questioned-obamas-leadership-11359/
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TN Hits Back Against 'Islamic Indoctrination' in Schools with New Bill
{Trey Sanchez} ~ Swarms of protests erupted across Tennessee last month when middle schoolers studied and were assigned to write the five pillars of Islam during a three-week study of the world religion... Now, a state Republican has introduced a new bill that would end religious indoctrination in the classroom. The starting point happened in the community of Spring Hill, 35 miles south of Nashville, in September when parents were upset at how much time was spent on the teachings of Islam versus other religions, including Christianity. One parent was extremely upset that her child was assigned to write, "Allah is the only God." As news of this spread, it was revealed that other parents in districts across the state were complaining about the same issue. Next, these grassroots voices joined with the American Center for Law & Justice to request the release of the materials used to teach the controversial lessons only to have Tennessee public schools turn the request down. http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/tn-hits-back-against-islamic-indoctrination-schools-new-bill.
{Jeff Dunetz} ~ Interviewed on 60 Minutes Sunday Night President nObama made a surprising statement about Hilly Clinton’s emails and national security... Was he hinting at an FBI decision? Or was he going to direct a decision? After all the nObama administration has prosecuted many people (including Gen. Petraeus) for the same type of violations. Today at the White House Daily briefing Josh Earnest was asked about the president’s statement and he took one giant step backwards away from nObama’s statement: http://lidblog.com/obama-changes-mind-maybe-hillarys-emails-did-hurt-national-security/?utm_source=The+Lid+List&utm_campaign=4a4a2c9604-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_597b72c01c-4a4a2c9604-291705165
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nObama’s Kill-Hilly Strategy Released Just Before First Debate
{dailycaller.com} ~ Hours before the first Democratic debate Tuesday night, Barack nObama’s 2007 strategy memo to defeat Hilly Clinton was released... The memo argued that “divisiveness… pits Americans against each other and blocks the consensus we need to get things done and its submission to powerful interests that shut out the voices of average Americans.” The slug of the memo is based upon, “The Fault Line: Hilly’s the Problem, Not the Answer.” nObama’s slogan “‘Change you can believe in’ was intended to frame the argument along the character fault line, and this is where we can and must win this fight. We cannot let Clinton especially blur the lines on who is the genuine agent of change in this election.”
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ACLU Campaign to Force Catholic Hospitals to Provide Abortions
{theacru.org} ~ The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is ramping up its campaign to use the courts to force all Catholic hospitals to provide abortions and sterilizations... The strategy is clear: Use the anecdotal exception to destroy the general rule. In the current scenarios, the ACLU is representing women who claim they need to be sterilized because of alleged threats to their health posed by future unwanted pregnancies, or they need to have access to abortion in case they have complications. The women could utilize the services of another hospital. But instead, they are suing to force Catholic hospitals to perform the sterilizations or abortions. http://www.theacru.org/aclu-ramps-up-its-campaign-to-force-catholic-hospitals-to-provide-abortions/.
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nObama Lied, My Health Plan Died ...
Twice!
Michelle Malkin
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In the fall of 2013, our family received notice from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado that we could no longer keep our private health insurance plan because of "changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA)."
In the fall of 2013, our family received notice from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Colorado that we could no longer keep our private health insurance plan because of "changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA)."
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We liked our high-deductible preferred provider organization plan that allowed us to choose from a wide range of doctors. But nObamacare wouldn't let us keep it. Reluctantly, and after great bureaucratic difficulty, my hubby and I enrolled in an individual market plan with Rocky Mountain Health, which offered a much narrower provider network than the Anthem PPO plan we had before the feds snuffed it out.
We liked our high-deductible preferred provider organization plan that allowed us to choose from a wide range of doctors. But nObamacare wouldn't let us keep it. Reluctantly, and after great bureaucratic difficulty, my hubby and I enrolled in an individual market plan with Rocky Mountain Health, which offered a much narrower provider network than the Anthem PPO plan we had before the feds snuffed it out.
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Thanks to "reform," our two kids' dental care was no longer covered, and we had our post-nObamacare insurance turned down at an urgent care clinic -- something that had never happened before.
Thanks to "reform," our two kids' dental care was no longer covered, and we had our post-nObamacare insurance turned down at an urgent care clinic -- something that had never happened before.
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This summer came another bombshell.
This summer came another bombshell.
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In August, we were informed of the "discontinuation of your Rocky Mountain Individual and Family plan effective December 31, 2015."
In August, we were informed of the "discontinuation of your Rocky Mountain Individual and Family plan effective December 31, 2015."
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Over the past month, we have received several bold-faced notices alerting us that "IMPORTANT ACTION IS REQUIRED: YOU MUST CHOOSE A NEW INDIVIDUAL & FAMILY PLAN TO MAINTAIN YOUR HEALTH COVERAGE IN 2016." The clock is ticking: open enrollment begins Nov. 1.
Over the past month, we have received several bold-faced notices alerting us that "IMPORTANT ACTION IS REQUIRED: YOU MUST CHOOSE A NEW INDIVIDUAL & FAMILY PLAN TO MAINTAIN YOUR HEALTH COVERAGE IN 2016." The clock is ticking: open enrollment begins Nov. 1.
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The coerced choices are pretty damned crummy. Individual market PPOs have evaporated. We are being shoved once again toward the nObamacare government health insurance exchange vortex known as Connect for Health Colorado (which should really be called "DISconnect from Health Colorado). Or into a narrow regional HMO.
The coerced choices are pretty damned crummy. Individual market PPOs have evaporated. We are being shoved once again toward the nObamacare government health insurance exchange vortex known as Connect for Health Colorado (which should really be called "DISconnect from Health Colorado). Or into a narrow regional HMO.
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So much for "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what," eh, Mr. President?
So much for "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what," eh, Mr. President?
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nObama lied and our health plan has now died -- twice.
nObama lied and our health plan has now died -- twice.
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"Progressives" sneered at millions of us who received the first round of individual market health plan death notices. Mother Jones called it the "phony canceled health insurance scandal" when I first reported my 2013 health plan homicide by nObamacare.
"Progressives" sneered at millions of us who received the first round of individual market health plan death notices. Mother Jones called it the "phony canceled health insurance scandal" when I first reported my 2013 health plan homicide by nObamacare.
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But it's real, it sucks, and we know we are not alone among the estimated 22 million other Americans who purchase health insurance directly on the ever-shrinking individual market.
But it's real, it sucks, and we know we are not alone among the estimated 22 million other Americans who purchase health insurance directly on the ever-shrinking individual market.
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In Illinois, Blue Cross announced it was eliminating its most popular individual plan with the largest network of doctors and hospitals of any of its offerings, Blue PPO. More than 170,000 enrollees will have to scrounge up an alternative. Customers are panicking, and insurance broker Mike Troha told the Chicago Tribune last week:
In Illinois, Blue Cross announced it was eliminating its most popular individual plan with the largest network of doctors and hospitals of any of its offerings, Blue PPO. More than 170,000 enrollees will have to scrounge up an alternative. Customers are panicking, and insurance broker Mike Troha told the Chicago Tribune last week:
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"I wouldn't be shocked if all the PPOs are gone in a few years in the individual markets."
"I wouldn't be shocked if all the PPOs are gone in a few years in the individual markets."
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Last month, the Maryland Insurance Administration approved premium rate increases for small group and individual health insurance plans effective next year, with some rates spiking by double digits thanks to "significant changes in regulation and market dynamics over the past two years."
Last month, the Maryland Insurance Administration approved premium rate increases for small group and individual health insurance plans effective next year, with some rates spiking by double digits thanks to "significant changes in regulation and market dynamics over the past two years."
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Remember: One of the reasons for those rate hikes is that nObamacare's mandated benefits provisions force insurers to carry coverage for items that individual market consumers had deliberately chosen to forgo. Americans who had willingly and willfully opted for affordable catastrophic coverage-style plans now have fewer and fewer choices.
Remember: One of the reasons for those rate hikes is that nObamacare's mandated benefits provisions force insurers to carry coverage for items that individual market consumers had deliberately chosen to forgo. Americans who had willingly and willfully opted for affordable catastrophic coverage-style plans now have fewer and fewer choices.
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In Texas, some 300,000 individual health insurance subscribers are watching their plans disappear and their access to specialists. In New Mexico, the state nObamacare exchange ended all of its PPO offerings in favor of HMOs. And in Arizona, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and Meritus are all dropping PPO plans offered to tens of thousands of individuals and families.
In Texas, some 300,000 individual health insurance subscribers are watching their plans disappear and their access to specialists. In New Mexico, the state nObamacare exchange ended all of its PPO offerings in favor of HMOs. And in Arizona, Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna and Meritus are all dropping PPO plans offered to tens of thousands of individuals and families.
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As the Arizona Republic's editorial board noted this weekend, "Rosy predictions of cost savings bandied by advocates five years ago are now running into the harsh economic reality of unanticipated consequences." Hospitals are consolidating. Doctors are quitting their private practices or hitching themselves to the big hospital wagons. "And bigger means fewer options. Only a handful of critics predicted in 2010 that one consequence of nObamacare would be the return of HMOs. But, in retrospect, no one should be surprised."
As the Arizona Republic's editorial board noted this weekend, "Rosy predictions of cost savings bandied by advocates five years ago are now running into the harsh economic reality of unanticipated consequences." Hospitals are consolidating. Doctors are quitting their private practices or hitching themselves to the big hospital wagons. "And bigger means fewer options. Only a handful of critics predicted in 2010 that one consequence of nObamacare would be the return of HMOs. But, in retrospect, no one should be surprised."
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In other words: The destruction of the private health insurance market is going exactly according to plan and as many of us warned.
In other words: The destruction of the private health insurance market is going exactly according to plan and as many of us warned.
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