What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Nixon would be so jealous. And unlike Nixon, they’ll get away with it.
From TheNYPost “The personal e-mail account of a State Department whistleblower was hacked, and four years worth of messages — some detailing alleged wrongdoing at the agency — were deleted, The Post has learned.
The computer attack targeted the Gmail account of Diplomatic Security Service criminal investigator Richard Higbie, his lawyer, Cary Schulman, confirmed.
“They took all of his e-mails and then they deleted them all,” said Schulman. He said that he could not prove who was responsible for the hack job, but said the attack was “sophisticated” and called the targeting of Higbie “alarming.”
“The e-mails included evidence about misconduct by top officials at the department, communications with other potential whistleblowers there, and correspondence with members of Congress who are investigating the allegations, Schulman said.”
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2. Congressman Trey Gowdy is blasting the NY Times for their latest effort to provide cover for Hillary in the upcoming 2016 election. The NYT wrote an extensive piece on Benghazi, 15 months late I might add, yet not once was Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s name mentioned. Odd since all this happened on her watch.
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3. The folks over at The Week have finally seen the obvious, that ObamaCare is sucker punching the middle class. This is exactly what it was intended to do.
From TheWeek “ObamaCare has delivered another sucker punch to the middle class. This time it’s sticker shock.
Now that most people can get past the tech problems of HealthCare.gov and actually see the real cost of insurance plans available, they are finding that Affordable Care is a big hit to the family budget. And when the family budget gets hit in the solar plexus, guess what happens to consumer spending and the economy?
In California, policies for about 900,000 Californians are being canceled because of ObamaCare’s mandates, and about two-thirds of these do not qualify for subsidies, according to The Chicago Tribune. The result: These folks will be paying higher premiums.
In Alabama, premiums have doubled for some middle-class families, like that of Courtney Long, a stay-at-home mother of four. She told WHNT News, “It’s devastating. I started crying.”
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4. I found this interesting. By now you’ve probably heard of the young California girl who underwent a tonsillectomy and ended up in a coma. The hospital wants to pull the plug, while the family got an injunction to stop it while they seek a private facility to take her. The family now has an ally assisting them, and it’s a name you’ll recognize.
From LifeNews “The family of Terri Schiavo, who made international headlines when her husband starved and dehydrated her to death over the course of two weeks, has been quietly helping the family of Jahi McMath find a new hospital or medical facility that will provide her care.
News that Terri Schiavo’s brother Bobby Schindler, also a LifeNews guest blogger, is assisting the McMath family, follows on a judge’s decision allowing the McMath family more time to secure transfer for Jahi to a facility. Schindler told LifeNews that, under the direction of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, he and other patient advocates have been working on behalf of Jahi McMath and her family in relative silence for the sake of the sensitivity of her case.
It also follows on a prominent pediatrician saying he believes Jahi is not brain dead and can recover with proper care and treatment.
Schindler said Terri’s Network, Life Legal Defense, Angela Clemente & Associates, The Wrongful Death & Injury Institute, New Beginnings and others defending Jahi’s life are now stepping forward publicly to represent the many supporters who have been working tirelessly to obtain Jahi’s release from Children’s Hospital Oakland and transfer her to a safe place.”
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5. A new study is out on the effects of “spirituality” on the brain.
From YahooNews “For people at high risk of depression because of a family history, spirituality may offer some protection for the brain, a new study hints. Parts of the brain’s outer layer, the cortex, were thicker in high-risk study participants who said religion or spirituality was “important” to them versus those who cared less about religion.
“Our beliefs and our moods are reflected in our brain and with new imaging techniques we can begin to see this,” Myrna Weissman told Reuters Health. “The brain is an extraordinary organ. It not only controls, but is controlled by our moods.”
“While the new study suggests a link between brain thickness and religiosity or spirituality, it cannot say that thicker brain regions cause people to be religious or spiritual, Weissman and her colleagues note in JAMA Psychiatry.
It might hint, however, that religiosity can enhance the brain’s resilience against depression in a very physical way, they write.”
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Wandering Views 