What’s interesting in the news today?
1. The ObamaCare contraceptive mandate has suffered a loss in court. Good.
From TheNYPost “In a blow to President Obama’s signature legislative mandate, a Brooklyn federal judge on Monday sided with several Catholic organizations in New York, saying they do not have to comply with an Affordable Care Act requirement to provide employees with contraceptive coverage.
Citing religious freedom grounds, the organizations filed the lawsuit last year seeking protection from the Obamacare directive.
In the first permanent ruling on the hot-button issue, US District Court Judge Brian Cogan said the religious groups should not be forced to comply with the birth control component of Obamacare. The plaintiffs benefitting from the permanent injunction are Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx, Monsignor Farrell High School on Staten Island, the ArchCare healthcare group and Catholic Health Services of Long Island.”
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2. It looks like another court loss may be in their future. Again, good.
From Politico “A federal judge ruled Monday that the National Security Agency program which collects information on nearly all telephone calls made to, from or within the United States is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon found that the program appears to violate the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. He also said the Justice Department had failed to demonstrate that collecting the information had helped to head off terrorist attacks.”
“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” wrote Leon, an appointee of President George W. Bush.
The preliminary injunction Leon granted Monday does not require him to make a definitive ruling on the constitutional questions in the case, but does take account of which side he believes is more likely to prevail.”
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3. The GOP is looking into ObamaCare navigator fraud. And Of course they didn’t get background checks. The DoJ says those are racist. This is exactly the type of people the DoJ is trying to protect. Criminals.
From TheHill “Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released documents on Monday saying that the ObamaCare “navigators” responsible for helping consumers enroll in the new law have made a series of errors and put sensitive consumer information at risk.
Documents released with the report said they have been giving enrollees misinformation, and have not done enough to keep secure consumers’ health information, Social Security numbers, yearly income and other tax information.”
“Some ObamaCare navigators, the report says, “encouraged consumers to commit tax fraud by underreporting income in order to qualify for ObamaCare’s health insurance subsidies.”
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4. The White House says it’s OK, they trust these “community organizing groups” and that this is just GOP efforts to stifle the navigator program.
Yeah, fraud tends to draw that reaction. 🙄
From TheWaPo “Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius says in a new op-ed that a House oversight committee hearing in Texas on Monday is “designed to stifle, intimidate and impugn the reputation” of Obamacare navigators.
The hearing, which is being run by committee Chairman Darrel Issa (R-Calif.), will be held in Dallas and is titled, “Who are the navigators?” Navigators are people who help others sign up for Obamacare.
“What opponents of the new law could not do legislatively, at the ballot box, or even by shutting down the federal government, they’re now trying to do through other means,” Sebelius says in the op-ed in the Dallas Morning News. “Case in point is Monday’s congressional hearing in Dallas, designed to stifle, intimidate and impugn the reputation of people who have been working hard to help their fellow Texans get covered.
In a dueling op-ed, Issa and Dallas-area Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) cite “numerous examples of fraudulent activity related to health navigators in Texas.”
Please. This is ACORN. They impugned their own reputation long ago. The White House’s repeated backing of them has done the same for their reputation.
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5. The anti-Semitism amongst America’s college elite is no secret. But at least now they’re not trying to hide it anymore.
From TimesOfIsrael “The membership of the American Studies Association endorsed its national council’s call for a boycott of Israeli universities.”
“The membership-wide canvas was unprecedented and was undertaken in part at the behest of boycott opponents, who said at a session during the ASA annual conference in Washington last month that the matter was too sensitive to leave up to the 20-member national council, which unanimously endorsed the boycott.”
“This shameful, morally bankrupt and intellectually dishonest attack on academic freedom by the American Studies Association should be soundly condemned by all who are committed to the ideal that open exchange of ideas is the most effective way to achieve change,” said National Director Abraham Foxman in a statement.
In the resolution passed unanimously by the ASA national council on December 4, the group asserted that Palestinian students and scholars enjoy “no effective or substantive academic freedom” under Israeli rule and that “Israeli institutions of higher learning are a party to Israeli state policies that violate human rights and negatively impact the working conditions of Palestinian scholars and students.”
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Wandering Views 
Which universities are “Israli Universities”. I’m sure there are several in Israel. Which ones in America that we can boycott. And how do we go about boycotting them?
We can hope their football team loses?
There is a neat cartoon in the paper today. I wonder if it will whow up Friday?
It shows democrats and republicans joined togehter. A horse and donkey joined with only rear’s. Nobody has a head.
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There was some discussion on FoxNews last night.
It appears the Obama’s administration is in the running for most corrupt administration ever.
Ulyssiss Grant’s administration was corrupt, but it was because of lack of attention by the general. He wasn’t an evil guy, just an incompitent President.
I forgot which President it was, but the Civil Sservice Commission was established because of corruption in placement of government jobs.
But Obama seems headed for the top..
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I heard on the radio that the full moon we’re having now is called “The Cold Moon”. I don’t know why other than it is near the solsitce. I know why the “Harvest Moon” has it’s name.
At that time of year, the full moon rises about the same time the sun sets, and it is bright enough that the farm hands don’t have to quit harvesting. That is important because the harvest must be brought in quickly.
You may, or may not, know that the reason the full moon is so bright is that the albedo of the lunar surface is such that the light from the sun is always directed back toward the direction of the source. Different from a mirror in which the angle of the reflection is the angle of incidence.
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Isn’t it amazing that God has such things figured out?
Miricles around us all the time and we don’t notice.
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chas debating chas?
🙂
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