What’s interesting in the news today?

I guess we start with the snow. Yes, it’s that bad.

From TheEagleTribune

“Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency for blizzard that could bring near 3 feet of snow.

Patrick signed an executive order banning all vehicles from roadways starting at 4 p.m. today. Ban applies to all roadways, including highways and secondary roads. Any one caught driving after 4 p.m. faces up to one year in jail and $500 fine.”

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Another terrorist attempt, via Cali.. This one seeking to blame the right and set off a civil war. Must’ve been reading them DHS warnings about right wingers.

From TheHuffingtonPost

” A 28-year-old man tried to set off what he thought was a car bomb outside of a bank in Oakland, Calif., Friday morning, federal authorities said. Matthew Aaron Llaneza was arrested as part of an undercover FBI terror sting and charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Federal authorities allege that Llaneza, of San Jose, Calif., is a Taliban sympathizer who wanted to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States. Previously incarcerated for possessing an AK-47 assault rifle, he was released from state prison in November 2011. Authorities alleged he first met an undercover FBI agent he believed was connected with the Taliban and mujahideen in Afghanistan on Nov. 30, 2012.

FBI agent Christopher Monika said in an affidavit that Llaneza initially proposed structuring his attack to make it appear that an “umbrella organization for a loose collection of anti-government militias and their sympathizers” was behind the attack.

“Llaneza’s stated goal was to trigger a governmental crackdown, which he expected would trigger a right-wing counter-response against the government followed by, he hoped, civil war,” Monika wrote.”

No word yet on whether he was radicalized with Islam before, during, or after prison.

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And here’s some ObamaCare news.

From Politico

“The Obama administration’s decision not to subsidize family health insurance  for workers who have individual coverage on the job effectively drops that same  tough call into the laps of employers.

They can pay for the coverage and threaten the bottom line. Or they can in turn pass the problem on to the families.”

“So to the dismay of many advocates of health coverage expansion, spouses and  kids could fall through the cracks.

The Government Accountability Office, using 2009 data, estimated that about 7  percent of uninsured children — 460,000 — would remain uninsured because parents  wouldn’t be able to afford coverage for the whole family.”

The Medical Device Tax’s days are numbered. I hope.

From HotAir

“Instead, the repeal process uncovered the many fiscal fictions that bolstered Obamacare’s passage, and led to repeal of at least two onerous and unworkable funding mechanisms—the CLASS Act and the 1099 reporting requirement.

Now, the medical device tax is up for reconsideration again by — wait for it— Republicans and Democrats, making for yet another repeal attempt that’s far more bipartisan than the original passing of Obamacare.

A bipartisan group of 180 House members — consisting of about 40 percent of the House — has reintroduced a bill to end the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices that was imposed under President Obama’s healthcare law.”

And Pennsylvania and Indiana say “no thanks”.

From HotAir

“The Obama administration has made it abundantly clear that it would really just be oh so very helpful if all of the states would voluntarily comply with their proffered Medicaid expansion deal; ObamaCare really needs everybody to cooperate in order to work properly, so it’s really most unfortunate for them that the Supreme Court ruled last June that states were within their rights to decline the expansions without the threat of the total loss of federal Medicaid funding being held over their heads.

It was something of a boon to the Obama administration when Republican governors John Kasich in Ohio and Rick Snyder in Michigan announced that they were giving in and signing up for the Obama administration’s earlier this week, bringing the total number of GOP-led states participating to six, but other governors are still resisting the power of the all-engulfing big-government dark side. Gov. Corbett in Pennsylvania served the administration with his disinclination on Tuesday:

Pennsylvania is taking a pass on a major expansion to its Medicaid program, at least for now.”

“And in Indiana, Gov. Mike Pence protested that he won’t be participating without more state-administered flexibility on how to run the program:”

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And last, this. 🙂

From RealClearPolitics

“Famed Baltimore neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson addressed the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday morning on healthcare. Dr. Carson often criticized Obamacare and government intrusion in healthcare while President Obama sat in the audience.”

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