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News/Politics 11-23-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. A new attempt to delay the coming pain of ObamaCare. At least until after the 2014 elections. Then the hammer drops. 🙄 Great plan.

From Bloomberg  “Obama also is pushing back the second-year start of enrollment to Nov. 15, 2014, from Oct. 15. That move is intended to give insurers until May 31 to analyze claims from the first year of plans sold under the law , an extension that may potentially stave off premium increases before the 2014 congressional elections.

Technology failings in the new government-run insurance exchanges are undermining efforts to attract the broad array of customers needed to keep plans affordable in the long run. Avoiding a large increase in prices next year is “absolutely critical” if Obama wants to preserve his signature legislative achievement, said Ana Gupte, a Leerink Swann & Co. analyst.

“The death of this law would be for health insurance companies to price policies for 2015 in a way that premiums skyrocket,” Gupte said in an interview. “At that point, it’s a death spiral and it’s over. So he needs to do something.”

““If premiums go through the roof in the first year of Obamacare, no one will know about it until after the election,” Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in an e-mail. “This is clearly a cynical political move.”

A blatant attempt to provide cover for vulnerable Democrats.

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2. We now learn that if this all goes down in flames, insurers will receive a taxpayer bailout.

From YahooNews  “The insurance industry may be next in line to receive a hefty government bailout. That’s what could happen if sign ups for Obamacare fall short of expectations triggering an obscure provision in the Affordable Care Act that makes up any serious losses. 

The potential price tag: millions of taxpayer dollars or more over a 3-year period.”

“So-called “risk corridors” were  included in the 2010 health law to compensate insurance companies for major coverage losses in the event that far more older and sick people signed up for health plans than younger, healthy people and drove up their costs after they had set the premiums.  If actual claims exceed projections by more than 3 percent under Obamacare, the government will compensate the industry for those losses.”

Yay. 🙄

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3. Senate Republicans have an option for fighting back against Reid’s power grab. The question is will they use it? With RINO’s like Graham, McCain, and McConnell already giving in to Dems on the matter, and being too busy attacking the Tea Party wing of the party, I doubt it.

From RedState  “Throughout the past few years, aside for a few judicial nominees, Republicans have been willing to grant Democrats a super-majority on major liberal initiatives.  They helped Reid pass amnesty.  They gave him the votes for the massive farm/food stamp bill.  They were all in the tank for the deceptively-named Violence Against Women Act.  They recently gave him the 60 votes for ENDA.  And most importantly, they stood shoulder to shoulder with Reid against House Republicans during the most important time when conservatives were united behind defunding Obamacare.

So why would Harry Reid fear reprisal from Republicans?  What would stop him from pulling the nuclear option?”

“There is one simple thing Republicans can do to retaliate.  They can start by ending the Democrat super-majority on legislative issues.  They can easily pledge to filibuster every piece of legislation and deny all requests for unanimous consent until the rules change is overturned.

How would Harry Reid respond to a complete shutdown of the Senate?  Would he abolish the filibuster even for legislation?  Let him try.  But for now, he has nothing to fear from just eliminating the filibuster on judges because he knows Republicans will not retaliate.  Reid knows that there is not a single issue where McCain, Corker, Graham, and Alexander will now withhold support simply because they were stiffed with the nuclear option.”

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4. We’ve all heard the stories of leftist indoctrination masquerading as education involved with Common Core. Here is yet another example.

From IllinoisReview  “Fourth graders in Dupo Illinois are reading a biography of Barack Obama that’s raising eyebrows among St. Clair County parents. The book, which supplements the school’s Common Core curriculum, blames television for the negative behaviors the first African-American president picked up as a teen:”

“The book – brought to the attention this week of those on the “Moms Against Duncan – MAD” Facebook page, goes on to say white Americans were hesitant to vote for a black president, and that Obama pushed the race issue to bring the nation together.

“But some people said Americans weren’t ready for that much change. Sure Barack was a nice fellow, they said. But white voters would never vote for a black president. Other angry voices were raised. Barack’s former pastor called the country a failure. God would @#%$ the United States for mistreating its black citizens, he said.”

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5. And it looks like mid-week could be messy, just in time for holiday travel.

From NBCNews  “Forecasters are warning Thanksgiving travelers to beware, as a sweeping winter storm system could bring icy roads, flight delays and more headaches to the holiday next week.

“We’ve been lucky the last few years, but unfortunately this is a rather poorly timed storm,” said Jonathan Erdman, senior meteorologist at the Weather Channel.

Erdman said the Northeast would likely see “massive flight delays” on Wednesday in all major airports, because of rain, snow and low-lying clouds that wreak havoc with flight plans.”

“The storm is “about as expansive a winter storm as it get,” according to Erdman, with its effects being felt from California to Maine.”

Great. 😦

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8 thoughts on “News/Politics 11-23-13”

  1. Last couple years have got to be an all time shameful low for Dems. Really, what person, R or D, can’t see through the slime that is Harry Reid? Mind-boggling. At least Obama–the worst president in America–has a veneer about him that could fool unsuspecting acolytes. But Reid? Pure weasel.

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  3. I was listening last night as a Dem operative tried to defend the president’s WH shut-out of independent press photographers who have been seeking more access.

    This would be the most transparent administration ever, I think was the 2008 promise.

    How long can actions like this be defended, even among the true-believer Democrats, in good conscience?

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  5. Some great lines here from George Will 🙂

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-obamas-presidency-unravels-through-chaos-and-crisis/2013/11/22/57132e74-52de-11e3-a7f0-b790929232e1_story.html

    ” … Valerie Jarrett, perhaps Obama’s closest and longest-serving adviser, on her hero’s amazingness:

    ” ‘He knows exactly how smart he is. . . . I think that he has never really been challenged intellectually. . . . He’s been bored to death his whole life. He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do. He would never be satisfied with what ordinary people do.’

    “Leave aside the question of whether someone so smitten can be in any meaningful sense an adviser. About what can such a paragon as Obama need advice? …

    “… The White House, disoriented by adoration — including the self-adoration — of its principal occupant, sits in a city that has become addicted to its own adrenaline. … “

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  8. From Politico via Drudge.

    “By ANDREA DRUSCH |
    11/24/13 9:15 AM EST
    Secretary of State John Kerry says the Iranian nuclear deal is based on verification, not trust with Iran.
    “Everybody has a right to be skeptical because there are indications that there are people in Iran who have wanted to pursue a weapons program, Kerry said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “That’s why we don’t take anything at face value. That’s why you don’t take it for granted.”
    Asked if he were skeptical whether Iran would actually comply with the signed deal, Kerry said trust wasn’t necessary, and no one was expecting Iran to “turn over a new leaf.”
    “There’s nothing built on trust,” Kerry said. “You don’t have to trust the people you’re dealing with, you have to have a mechanism put in place whereby you know exactly what you’re getting and you know exactly what they’re doing.”
    Kerry compared the negotiations to dealing with the Soviet Union in terms of a lack of trust between negotiators.
    “We’ve done arms control agreements in other parts of the world,” Kerry said. “You don’t trust. It’s not based on trust. It’s based on verification.”’

    I searched Drudge, but couldn’t find anything that specifies what the agreement is.
    I haven’t turned on TV today. So I have nothing from there.

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