ObamaCare fraud

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News/Politics 2-5-14

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. The scariest part of this is that the CBO tends to under-estimate.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Obamacare will push the equivalent of about 2 million workers out of the labor market by 2017 as employees decide either to work fewer hours or drop out altogether, according to the latest estimates Tuesday from the Congressional Budget Office.

That’s a major jump in the nonpartisan budget agency’s projections and it suggests the health care law’s incentives are driving businesses and people to choose government-sponsored benefits rather than work.

“CBO estimates that the ACA will reduce the total number of hours worked, on net, by about 1.5 to 2 percent during the period from 2017 to 2024, almost entirely because workers will choose to supply less labor — given the new taxes and other incentives they will face and the financial benefits some will receive,” CBO analysts wrote in their new economic outlook.”

And just as a reminder, this isn’t what they said would happen. In fact, quite the opposite. I’ll let Nancy remind you what was promised. She said it would create 4 million jobs, 400,000 of them immediately. Yet another ObamaCare lie.

Yeah, accountability for insurance companies, but not you, right Nancy?

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2. The White House and Harry Reid are calling this news a success, because even though they’ll lose their jobs, as a consolation prize they’ll still be able to take their policy with them.

If they can afford it, which will be tough with no job. 🙄

From Mediaite “A Congressional Budget Office report indicating that more than two million Americans will voluntarily leave America’s already reduced workforce because of the options provided in the Affordable Care Act exploded like the bombshell it was on Tuesday.

The White House already has its hands full as the attempt to mollify the concerns of nervous Democrats heading into the 2014 midterm election cycle. Now, Democrats can add the White House’s reaction to this CBO report to their list of gripes as they head into political strategy sessions with President Barack Obama.”

“On Tuesday, the White House called the report misleading and inaccurate, but they also took the odd step of praising the disincentives contained within the ACA to leave the labor market.

Lisa Desjardins reported that the CBO report indicates that more workers will choose to leave the labor market because they no longer have to depend on their employer to provide them with health insurance. She noted that the White House pushed back on that report by claiming that Americans taking advantage of the opportunity to abandon the workforce was a welcome development.”

That’s some serious spin there. Wow.

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3. Oh look, ObamaCare fraud. That didn’t take long. One govt. agency defrauding another.

From KATUNews  “You already know the process that led to the failed rollout of the Cover Oregon website was bad. But was it criminally bad?

Former Republican state Rep. Patrick Sheehan told the KATU Investigators he has gone to the FBI with allegations that Cover Oregon project managers initiated the design of dummy web pages to convince the federal government the project was further along than it actually was.

If Sheehan’s allegations are true, those managers could face time in jail for fraud.

“One of the allegations that was made was so alarming that it went way beyond a legislative oversight committee and so I did reach out and contact the FBI,” Sheehan said.”

Well if they’re going to jail for overstating the readiness of the state exchange, shouldn’t Sebelius, Obama, and Dems for the same type of thing on the federal level? 🙂

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4. Is this one an insult to women? They must think very little of you if they believe puppies and kitties is what it will take to get you to sign up for ObamaCare.

From FoxNews  “Enroll America, the advocacy group leading efforts to enroll Americans in ObamaCare, is launching a multi-million dollar advertising campaign featuring cats, dogs, birds and other pets in a bid to convince young women to sign up for health coverage, USA Today reported.

With less than two months to go before the March 31 deadline to apply for coverage under ObamaCare, Enroll America officials tell the newspaper 81 percent of the public is unaware of the deadline and 69 percent don’t know that financial aid is available to those earning less than 400 percent of the poverty level.

Enroll America President Anne Filipic told USA Today the pet-themed ads are designed to “help break through the clutter.” She cited statistics showing that more than 60 percent of American homes have a pet and that most female pet owners would risk their lives for their pets. “

Here’s the video from  ACORN Enroll America.

Everybody now!!!!

Enroll Today! 🙄

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5. How do you reward the IRS for targeting your political enemies? Like this.

From TheWashingtonTimes  “Citing the need to boost employee morale, the Internal Revenue Service’s new commissioner said Monday that he will pay out millions of dollars in bonuses to agency employees, reversing a decision his predecessor made to save money amid the sequester budget cuts and other belt-tightening last year.

The agency remains under fire for targeting tea party groups, but Commissioner John Koskinen said the bonuses are needed to retain and attract good employees in a time of cutbacks.

“This is money best spent on our existing employees,” he said in an email to agency employees. “The performance award payouts are in recognition of that great work done in very trying circumstances. I firmly believe that this investment in our employees will directly benefit taxpayers and the tax system.”

Yep. Great work. Especially the Cincinnati office.

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6. Everyone already knows the Benghazi talking points were altered to benefit Obama’s re-election campaign. Now it looks like we know who altered them.

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News/Politics 11-27-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. Like a laser people! Again…

From TheHill  “The White House, for at least the fifth time this year, is seeking to pivot to the economy, this time in a bid to change the subject from the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare.

It’s a common play for the White House, which frequently seeks to refocus attention on its jobs and infrastructure agenda when facing political crises.

The move is so familiar that NBC White House correspondent Chuck Todd has dubbed it the “déjà pivot.”

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2. Senator Sessions has taken the Obama admin to task for their lack of border enforcement and disregard for US laws. He also blasted “big business” for attempting to put their monetary interests ahead of what’s best for the country.

From TheDailyCaller  “Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions wants wealthy CEOs to butt out  of immigration policy.

“America is not an oligarchy… A Republic must answer to the people,” Sessions  said today, in a direct response to President Barack Obama’s latest effort to  get wealthy California CEOs to increase their support for his unpopular push for  increased immigration.

“Congressional leaders must forcefully reject the notion, evidently accepted  by the president, that a small cadre of CEOs can tailor the nation’s entire  immigration policy to suit their narrow interests,” Sessions declared in a  populist statement that contradicts the media’s image of Republican coziness  with CEOs.”

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3. Meanwhile our border agents who aren’t allowed to do their jobs are attacked by those who seem to think they are entitled to break our laws and just walk right in. I wonder where they got that idea? 🙄 

From NBCSanDiego  “A crowd of more than 100 people pelted Border Patrol agents  with rocks and bottles as they tried to cross into the U.S. illegally,  according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The incident happened Sunday in the Tijuana River channel,  near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

According to CBP, a Border Patrol agent ordered the Mexican  nationals to stop, but they continued walking into the U.S.”

““They had their phones out so this group was out to spark an incident. That’s  what they wanted to do, “ Border Patrol Union representative Gabriel Pacheco  said.”

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4. The wife of the American pastor held hostage in Iran is asking why the Obama admin didn’t push for her husband’s release while “negotiating” with them.

From FoxNews  “The wife of imprisoned American pastor Saeed Abedini says she and her family are devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran’s nuclear program. 

 Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for more than a year for practicing Christianity. The talks over Iran’s nuclear program were seen by his family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release. 

But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini’s status was not on the table during those talks. “

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5. Oh yeah, about that so-called “deal”……

From FarsNews  “The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday called invalid a press release by the White House alleged to be the text of the nuclear agreement struck by Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in Geneva on Sunday.

“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action (the title of the Iran-powers deal), and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Tuesday.

She said that the four-page text under the name of the Joint Plan of Action (which has been released by the Iranian foreign ministry) was the result of the agreement reached during the Geneva talks and all of its sentences and words were chosen based on the considerations of all parties to the talks. In fact one of the reasons why negotiations between Iran and the G5+1 took so long pertained to the accuracy which was needed for choosing the words for the text of the agreement, Afkham said, explaining that the Iranian delegation was much rigid and laid much emphasis on the need for this accuracy.”

Amateur hour continues. 🙄

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6. It looks like someone is finally going to suffer some consequences for the Benghazi scandal that cost 4 American lives. 

Oh wait… Never mind, it’s a CBS reporter and not anyone at the White House or State Dept..

From NBCNews  “CBS correspondent Lara Logan has been ordered to take a leave of absence after an internal review found her discredited “60 Minutes” segment on the Benghazi consulate attack was poorly vetted, the network said in a memo to staff.

The network also asked Logan’s producer, Max McClellan, to take a leave of absence. CBS did not specify a length for the leaves.

“As Executive Producer, I am responsible for what gets on the air,” CBS’ Jeff Fager said in the memo. “I pride myself in catching almost everything, but this deception got through and it shouldn’t have.”

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7. More no-bid ObamaCare contracts for friends of the Obama’s.  

From CapitolCityProject  “With the roll out of Obamacare being as disastrous as possible for the Obama administration, one group was given a $1 million grant to help lead a rebranding effort with hopes of salvaging the law in the eyes of the American people.

Families USA (FUSA) — an organization that describes itself as a “national nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans” — was given a $1.1 million grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on October 4, 2013, to gather “success stories” of Americans dealing with Obamacare and distribute them to the media who often refer to them as an “independent” group. This is part of a greater upcoming effort to bolster the perception of the lowly health care law.

“The purpose is to bridge the information gap for people who can significantly benefit from the Affordable Care Act,” Ron Pollack, the Co-founder and Executive Director of Families USA, told TIME on October 25, 2013.

However, the organization is a far cry from “non-partisan” and is extremely close to the Obama Administration and Enroll America – the group leading the efforts to sign people up for Obamacare.”

Propaganda sure is expensive.

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8. These photo-ops to help the President sure are the “Kiss of Death” for participants healthcare plans.

Welcome to reality ladies.

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News/Politics 11-15-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. As I’m sure you’ve heard, the President has proposed some changes to ObamaCare in order to quiet down the commoners. He’s decided to let you keep your sucky plan for one more year. 🙂

Democrats still aren’t happy, neither are the American people.

From Politico  “Senate Democrats are still considering legislation to repair President Barack  Obama’s broken Obamacare promise, despite the White House plans for an  administrative fix.

Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) still want to see votes  on their separate, alternative proposals aimed at helping Americans who lost  insurance plans. Several of the other Democrats who are up for reelection in  2014 want to vote on a legislative fix, too.”

“Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), one of the most vulnerable Democrats up next year,  called Obama’s plan a “step in the right direction,” but said, “a one-year fix  is not enough, and we need to do more.”

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2. Even Howard Dean is wondering if the President has the legal authority to make this “fix.”

From TheWeeklyStandard  ““I wonder if he has the legal authority to do this, since this was a congressional bill that set this up,” said Dean of Obama’s proposed fix. 

The former Vermont governor suggested that since the Obamacare website isn’t working, the president’s signature legislation might fail.”

When you’ve lost Howard Dean, you’ve got problems.

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3. And O’Keefe strikes yet again. More ObamaCare navigator fraud. Yeah.

From CapitolCityProject  “James O’ Keefe’s Project Veritas has released a second video showing even more Obamacare Navigators in Texas suggesting fraud and deceit to undercover reporters — despite some in the mainstream media calling the first exposé an “isolated incident.”

“Today, Project Veritas released a second investigation exposing more Obamacare navigators counseling applicants to lie and cheat the health care system by erroneously reporting income status, health history, and more,” Project Veritas wrote.

They continue, “Critics said the first video was an isolated incident so we decided to visit with even more navigators funded by your American tax dollars. What we found was disturbing and showed a clear pattern of fraud through the Obamacare navigator program.”

Within the new video, Obamacare Navigators in Texas yet again counsel the reporters to lie in order to avoid higher premiums.”

The video shows it’s hardly an isolated incident.

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4. Huh….. That’s funny. Democrats, the President, and Attorney General insist that Voter ID is racist and a Republican effort to suppress voter turnout. Yet the real results are actually quite the opposite…….

From TheDailyCaller  “The first Texas elections under a contentious new photo ID law drew  interesting conclusions for an off-year election that normally draws a low  amount of voters.

There were nine proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution, and the number  of votes tallied was nearly double what it was in 2011. Democrats and civil  rights groups have long argued that voter ID requirements suppress turnout,  particularly in poor and minority communities.”

“In Hidalgo County, which is 90 percent Hispanic, just over 4,000 voted in  the constitutional amendment election in 2011. In 2013, an average of over 16,000 voted according to the Texas secretary of state’s office.“

Doh!

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5. This one should be fun to watch.

From Breitbart  “Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) has introduced an Articles of Impeachment resolution against Attorney General Eric Holder for his role in Operation Fast and Furious and other scandals of President Barack Obama’s administration.

Seven congressman have signed onto the resolution thus far in addition to Olson. They are Reps. Larry Bucshon (R-IN), Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Phil Roe (R-TN), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Roger Williams (R-TX), Ted Yoho (R-FL), and Randy Weber (R-TX).

The Articles of Impeachment has four different sections. The first calls for Holder’s official removal because of his failure to comply with congressional subpoenas relating to Operation Fast and Furious. Holder has been voted on a bipartisan basis into both criminal and civil contempt of Congress for his failure to comply with the Fast and Furious subpoenas from House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA).”

Another of the Articles is for his refusal to enforce DOMA.

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6. Some scathing words for the Obama admin from a former secret service agent tuned congressional candidate who has a released a book on the whole affair.

From TheNYPost  “Dan Bongino, the Secret Service agent who turned on President Obama and is running for Congress, says he believes the “toxic” administration is “using government as a weapon exclusively to intimidate enemies.”

““That wasn’t necessarily the case with the Clintons, and I was pretty much enmeshed in Hillary’s Senate campaign. Although I disagreed with a lot of their political positions . . . I can’t tell you that they thought government was a weapon exclusively to intimidate their enemies. But this administration constantly seems to use government [as a weapon] because they are inexperienced with it — it’s like giving a kid a Bowie knife and saying, ‘Have fun.’ They gave this administration which has no experience the reins of government and they have just gone wild.””

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by

News/Politics 11-13-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

It just gets worse.

From CBSNews  “CBS News has learned that the project manager in charge of building the federal health care website was apparently kept in the dark about serious failures in the website’s security. Those failures could lead to identity theft among buying insurance. The project manager testified to congressional investigators behind closed doors, but CBS News has obtained the first look at a partial transcript of his testimony.

Henry Chao, HealthCare.gov’s chief project manager at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), gave nine hours of closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee in advance of this week’s hearing. In excerpts CBS News has obtained, Chao was asked about a memo that outlined important security risks discovered in the insurance system.

 Chao said he was unaware of a Sept. 3 government memo written by another senior official at CMS. It found two high-risk issues, which are redacted for security reasons. The memo said “the threat and risk potential (to the system) is limitless.” The memo shows CMS gave deadlines of mid-2014 and early 2015 to address them.

But Chao testified he’d been told the opposite.”

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A former Obama advisor is warning that without significantly more sign-ups, the premiums could rise much higher.

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ObamaCare effect on individual healthcare plans is getting worse by the day.

From SacramentoCBSLocal  “More than 1 million cancellation notices have been sent to Californians as the Affordable Care Act begins allowing individuals to buy insurance through exchanges, Jones said. The federal law requires policies to offer minimum levels of coverage, forcing companies to terminate many existing plans. But Jones said that under the law, insurers have another year to do so.”

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But thankfully people are wising up. Those responsible should be getting nervous, like this Senator. Looks like consequences and repercussions may be coming from voters. Lets hope so.

From Politico  “Incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) is near the top of national Republicans’  target list for 2014 — and a new poll shows her lead over her potential GOP  challengers has all but evaporated.

Against state House Speaker Thom Tillis, Hagan leads by only 2 points, 44  percent to 42 percent, according to the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. She  leads the Rev. Mark Harris by 2 points as well, 43 percent to 41 percent, and  nurse Heather Grant by 3 points, 43 percent to 40 percent.

Hagan trails physician Greg Brannon, the Rand Paul-endorsed candidate in the  race, by 1 point: He leads 44 percent to 43 percent.

That’s a huge difference from PPP’s September poll, which gave Hagan leads of  anywhere from 12 points to 17 points against all possible GOP challengers.”

Ruh-Roh…… 🙂

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And that Project Veritas video of the ObamaCare navigators engaging in fraud has already brought consequences.

From FoxDallas/FtWorth  “The Urban League of Greater Dallas fired one person and suspended three  others after a video from a conservative activist reportedly showed the workers  encouraging health care applicants to lie.

An edited video was released Monday that seemingly shows so-called health  care Navigators encouraging people to lie on forms signing up for health care to  get better rates.”

“The Urban League said the person fired was a “part-time receptionist trainee”  who was not authorized to speak on behalf of The Urban League or act as a  Navigator and said it supports decertifying three “Navigators-in-training” in  the video.

The Urban League also called for the unedited video of the incidents to be  released. It said the undercover applicants were told the people they were speaking to were Navigators-in-training and “the full context of these comments  is not reflected in the video.”

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And here’s a pretty lengthy piece on the consequences of the green energy push, especially when it comes to ethanol production. As with many govt ventures, the cure is worse than the illness.

From APNews  “The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply.”

“With the Iowa political caucuses on the horizon in 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama made homegrown corn a centerpiece of his plan to slow global warming. And when President George W. Bush signed a law that year requiring oil companies to add billions of gallons of ethanol to their gasoline each year, Bush predicted it would make the country “stronger, cleaner and more secure.”

“As farmers rushed to find new places to plant corn, they wiped out millions of acres of conservation land, destroyed habitat and polluted water supplies, an Associated Press investigation found.

Five million acres of land set aside for conservation – more than Yellowstone, Everglades and Yosemite National Parks combined – have vanished on Obama’s watch.”

It’s caused the expansion of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico as well. Read the whole thing, it’s worth the time.

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News/Politics 11-12-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

First up, CBS has run a retraction/correction to a Benghazi story. I posted it here, so I’m posting the retraction as well.

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Next up, again with the fuzzy math…. 🙄

From TheWaPo  “The fight over how to define the new health law’s success is coming down to one question: Who counts as an Obamacare enrollee?

Health insurance plans only count subscribers as enrolled in a health plan once they’ve submited a payment. That is when the carrier sends out a member card and begins paying doctor bills.

When the Obama administration releases health law enrollment figures later this week, though, it will use a more expansive definition. It will count people who have purchased a plan as well as  those who have a plan sitting in their online shopping cart but have not yet paid.

“In the data that will be released this week, ‘enrollment’ will measure people who have filled out an application and selected a qualified health plan in the marketplace,” said an administration official, who requested anonymity to frankly describe the methodology.”

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Next, like roaches fleeing the light, they’re desperately seeking cover.

From TheWallStJournal  “The torrents of Affordable Care Act monsoon season aren’t letting up, so Democrats are scrambling to help the victims: namely, their own careers. The Senators up for re-election in competitive states in 2014 are starting to panic, though they still aren’t offering solutions for anything other than their own growing political jeopardy.

Fifteen Senate Democrats plus Colorado’s Michael Bennet  who chairs the Senatorial Campaign Committee sat down at the White House Wednesday, and they want all and sundry to know that they let President Obama have it. Alaska’s Mark Begich put out a statement saying he chewed out the big cheese for “absolutely unacceptable” mismanagement and “an understandable crisis in confidence.” He must have drafted it in advance.

Oregon’s Jeff Merkley chimed in to report that even after the two-hour encounter session that was not on the public schedule, he was still “very frustrated” and “I remain deeply convinced that this is a ‘show-me’ moment.” Asked by Politico if Democrats were losing credibility, an anonymous attendee said, “You got to have it, to lose it.”

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Then some controversy over GI Bill funds, and where they’re being used.

From NBCNews  “Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill went into effect in August of 2009, the federal government has paid more than $30 billion in tuition and benefits, according to new figures from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs released on Friday. The VA said this money has now helped 1 million vets, service members and their families get college degrees or technical training.

Most of this money goes to for-profit colleges and universities. Eight of the 10 schools receiving the most GI Bill dollars are for-profits, according to a 2012 report from the Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP).

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who chairs that committee, accuses some for-profits of using “predatory and deceptive tactics to target service members and veterans for enrollment” in order to tap their federal educational benefits.”

“Sen. Durbin believes too much federal money is going to an industry that “often provides a greater return on taxpayer investment to its administrators and investors than it does to its students.”

Parents have known about the “not worth the money we’re spending” part for years.  😯

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NY City’s new mayor is promising a crack down on Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and an expansion of abortion services. This is why NYC leads the country in abortions. This is who they elect.

From LifeSiteNews  “New York City has been called “the abortion capital of the world.” The city has some of the laxest restrictions and the highest abortion rate in the country, with 41 percent of its pregnancies ending in elective termination. According to New York Magazine, 10 percent of all U.S. abortions happen in the state of New York, and seven out of ten abortions in the state take place in New York City.

But those statistics aren’t high enough for newly elected Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, who claims the city is “underserved” by its dozens of abortion centers, and for whom increased access to abortion was a key part of his campaign platform.”

“De Blasio, who was elected Tuesday with 73 percent of the vote, has promised to partner with Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to help them expand their business in the city. He says he plans to help abortionists find neighborhoods that lack convenient clinic access and provide them with “city sponsored” space to set up shop.

Additionally, de Blasio has pledged to help abortionists wipe out their main competition – pro-life crisis pregnancy centers – that offer women financial and logistical help to either keep the babies they would otherwise be unable to afford, or place unwanted children with adoptive families. De Blasio calls crisis pregnancy centers “sham” clinics. In his view, their refusal to perform abortions means they do not offer “legitimate health care.” He has pledged to continue the city’s appeal of a court order striking down a law aimed at closing down such centers.”

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And last one for today. Project Veritas strikes again.

First PV exposed fraud at abortion mills, then fraud at OFA. (Obama campaign) Now it’s ObamaCare “navigator” fraud. That didn’t take long huh?

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