Obamacare Killing Rural Hospitals, Already Beset by Financial Problems

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Despite residents’ concerns and a continuing need for services, the 25-bed hospital that served this small East Texas town for more than 25 years closed its doors at the end of 2014, joining the ranks of dozens of other small rural hospitals that have been unable to weather the punishment of a changing national health-care environment.

For the high percentages of elderly and uninsured patients who live in rural areas, closures mean longer trips for treatment and uncertainty during times of crisis. “I came to the emergency room when I had panic attacks,” said George Taylor, 60, a retired federal government employee. “It was very soothing and the staff was great. I can’t imagine Mount Vernon without a hospital.”

The Kansas-based National Rural Health Association, which represents about 2,000 small hospitals across the country and other rural care providers, says that 48 rural hospitals have closed since 2010, the majority in Southern states, and 283 others are in trouble. In Texas alone, 10 have closed.

“If there was one particular policy causing the trouble, it would be easy to understand,” said Mark Holmes, a health economist at the University of North Carolina. “But there are a lot of things going on.”

Experts and practitioners cite declining federal reimbursements for hospitals under the Affordable Care Act as the principal reasons for the recent closures. Besides cutting back on Medicare, the law reduced payments to hospitals for the uninsured, a decision based on the assumption that states would expand their Medicaid programs. However, almost two dozen states have refused to do so. In addition, additional Medicare cuts caused by a budget disagreement in Congress have hurt hospitals’ bottom lines. (Read more from “Obamacare: Rural Hospitals, Beset by Financial Problems, Struggle to Survive” HERE)

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Starving Sea Lions Washing Ashore by the Hundreds in California

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By the time Wendy Leeds reached him, the sea lion pup had little hope of surviving.

Like more than 1,450 other sea lions that have washed up on California beaches this year, in what animal experts call a growing crisis for the animal, this 8-month-old pup was starving, stranded and hundreds of miles from a mother who still needed to nurse him and teach him to hunt and feed. Ribs jutted from his velveteen coat.

The pup had lain on the beach for hours, becoming the target of an aggressive dog before managing to wriggle onto the deck of a million-dollar oceanfront home, where the owner shielded him with an umbrella and called animal control. In came Ms. Leeds, an animal-care expert at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which like other California rescue centers is being inundated with calls about lost, emaciated sea lions . . .

Experts suspect that unusually warm waters are driving fish and other food away from the coastal islands where sea lions breed and wean their young. As the mothers spend time away from the islands hunting for food, hundreds of starving pups are swimming away from home and flopping ashore from San Diego to San Francisco.

Many of the pups are leaving the Channel Islands, an eight-island chain off the Southern California coast, in a desperate search for food. But they are too young to travel far, dive deep or truly hunt on their own, scientists said. (Read more from “Starving Sea Lions Washing Ashore by the Hundreds in California” HERE)

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Images Have Been Posted of Vladmir Putin After Health Rumors Swirl

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Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared in a series of photos released by the Kremlin on Friday after a week in which canceled engagements led to speculation over his health.

The three images showed Putin meeting with the head of the Supreme Court in Moscow on Friday, the Kremlin said. State broadcaster Russia 24 also aired video footage of the meeting.

CNN cannot independently confirm that the meeting took place as stated.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov sought to quell the rumors of ill health on Thursday, joking that they were down to “spring fever,” Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported.

“When the sun comes up in spring, and as soon as spring is in the air, then the fever begins,” Peskov said. “Someone dreams of (Rosneft CEO Igor) Sechin resignation, others — of government resignation, while others have not seen President Putin on TV for several days,” he said, according to Tass. (Read more from “Images Are Posted of Vladmir Putin After Health Rumors Swirl” HERE)

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Massive Suicide Bombs Kill Christian Worshippers in Pakistan

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[Warning: this article contains graphic images, below]A Pakistani evangelist reports this morning that radical jihadists attacked Christian churches during the middle of worship, killing at least 14.

The BBC reports that more than 70 were injured in twin blasts at two separate churches.

One Pakistani pastor, currently working outside of Pakistan, told Restoring Liberty that the blame for the continuing attacks on Christian worshippers in Pakistan should be laid squarely at the feet of the country’s increasingly Islamist government:

One more time the Government of Pakistan failed to provide security to Christians in Pakistan. Twin suicide blasts in two different churches in my city, Lahore, Pakistan, during Sunday worship. 14 killed and 70 injured.

The Pakistani pastor notes that at one of the churches that was attacked, a boy stopped the attacker from entering the church, saving perhaps dozens of lives:

A little Christian hero, “Akash,” gave his life by stopping suicide bomber at the Church gate. He was in Church security team as volunteer. He saved many lives but he gave his life.

The pastor then hits the Pakistani government again for failing to protect its people:

Many of the Churches in Pakistan need security but government failed to do, so now the youth in Churches are trying to have their own people to stand on gate. PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIANS IN PAKISTAN.

Moscow: Fire Breaks out at Novodevichy Convent

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The bell tower of Moscow’s historic Novodevichy convent, a Unesco world heritage site and the burial place of many prominent figures, has been threatened by a fire that broke out on Sunday night. Flames from construction scaffolding around the bell tower, which has been under renovation, rose high above the Moscow skyline as firefighters struggled to protect one of the city’s most beloved landmarks.

Law enforcement sources told Russian news agencies that the fire had started in the scaffolding about 30 metres above the ground, and moved up to the top of the tower, which is more than 70 metres high. According to the Moscow branch of the emergency situations ministry, the fire started at 10.41pm local time.

Firefighters were containing the blaze and “there is no danger of the fire spreading”, Alexander Gavrilov, first deputy director of the Moscow branch of the emergency situations ministry, told journalists at the scene shortly after midnight. No one was injured and the interior of the bell tower was not damaged, he said.

State news agency RIA Novosti later reported that the fire had been almost completely extinguished.

Gavrilov declined to comment on the fire’s possible causes. But the city’s cultural heritage department told news agency Interfax that the renovation work on the tower was being conducted in violation of safety regulations, which likely caused the fire. The department had previously noted violations but could not dismiss the construction contractor because the convent is under federal control. (Read more from “Moscow: Fire Breaks out at Novodevichy Convent” HERE)

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Open Letter to All Representatives of the House, State of Alaska

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This past week, Alaska’s House of Representatives voted to move forward a reduced budget at approximately $5.4 billion. While there is a substantial difference between our revenue income and this budget, it is clear that the House Finance committees ( HFIN ) have done diligent work to get to this number.

The real issue is to completely rethink our funding formulas to get Alaska’s budget to a level of sustainability. The old models are archaic and will not provide a legitimate path forward. We must act on two fronts:

1. To sustain and promote our diverse investment formulas in order to counter-balance any further decline in the price of oil.

2. To root out the gross inefficiencies of a government system unaccountable in it’s irresponsible spending. This is imperative. This is clearly the issues Representative Lora Reinbold stands against, which brings me to this point.

I wish to speak to all of you with clarity regarding the stance Representative Lora Reinbold took on the House floor. While she gave great credit to the diligent work that had been done in the House committees, she could not, in good conscious, vote for a budget which, in her representative opinion, is loaded with inefficiencies and questionable expenditures given the current, serious, fiscal climate.

As citizen’s we take great issue with an ” internal system” which coerces members of political groups to “delphi” their vote. This is certainly against the grain of representative democracy and especially egregious considering all of you took an oath to defend our Constitution.

It has come to our collective attention that the House leadership will be meeting in conference to take up the issue of a reprimand and disciplinary action toward Representative Reinbold. She is not the target. The target is clearly an inefficient system and financial structure which has be perpetuated for way too long.

As you step into the halls of your committee, to mitigate the perception of damage a rogue representative may cause to your cabal, I want to remind you that Alaska is filled with “rogue citizens” who have staked our tents in the valley of her thoughts and convictions. To make her a target of your disdain is to send a clear and concise message to us all, for it is not only her you are reprimanding, but the foundations of our representative democracy. Your reprimand will not only be to her, but to us all.


In conclusion, I do not write to you as the Chair of the Libertarian Party, nor do I write to you as the Chair of United for Liberty. I write to all of you as a parent who wants my daughter to enjoy the full breath of freedom and liberty which has been given to us all. The manner in which you direct the financial future of Alaska will determine whether she may return to Alaska one day beyond college and continue writing the story of my family as proud Alaskan’s.

I ask you for your maturity in our financial guidance and I ask you to embrace our Alaskan sister, Lora. She deserves nothing less.

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Bristol Palin and Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer Engaged

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Wedding bells are on the horizon for Bristol Palin and 2011 Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer.

Meyer, 26, proposed to Palin, 24, Friday night at a Rascal Flatts concert in Las Vegas, Palin said on her blog.

“The lead singer, Gary LeVox, dedicated ‘Bless the Broken Road’ to us, and then Dakota got down on one knee and proposed!” she wrote. “It’s amazing to see what happens when you place everything in life in God’s hands.”

Friends and well-wishers congratulated the couple on the news. As one person said in a comment on Meyer’s Instagram, “This is so ‘MERICA that my mind is blown right now.”

Meyer received the nation’s highest military honor for braving enemy fire in 2009 to recover 36 American and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. He was the third living recipient — and the first Marine — to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. (Read more from “Bristol Palin and Medal of Honor Recipient Dakota Meyer Engaged” HERE)

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General Jerry Boykin: Navy Forcing out Evangelical Chaplain After he was “Deliberately Set Up” by Homosexual Activist

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As Restoring Liberty reported earlier this week, a Navy chaplain with an incredibly distinguished service record has been relieved of his duties and may be forced out of the military just shy of his 20-year mark because he discussed the bible’s view on homosexuality.

Shortly thereafter, General Jerry Boykin appeared on The Joe Miller Show and announced that he had actually spoken with Chaplain Wes Modder that day and described for listeners what was really going on with the case (see interview below).

[Editor’s note: General Boykin’s discussion about Chaplain Wes Modder begins at 9:30 in the below YouTube]

Among other outrages, General Boykin said that the chaplain’s case was a set-up by a homosexual navy officer who is “married to another man.” Apparently, this service member had been temporarily assigned to Chaplain Modder’s office and he sought – on multiple occasions – private counseling from Chaplain Modder on the biblical view of sexuality, specifically homosexuality. The chaplain, an ordained Assembly of God minister, told the junior office that the bible disagrees with all sexual sin: homosexuality, adultery, etc.

The setup was complete when the junior officer marched in to the chaplain’s office with two “equal opportunity officers,” announced charges of “intolerance and bigotry,” and the chaplain was relieved of duty. General Boykin, the former Delta Force Commander, said that it was obvious the “Navy acted unacceptably” in this case.

General Boykin went on to observe how screwed up the military has become with soldiers and retirees not getting necessary colonoscopies, but convicted traitors and others are getting sex changes on the public dime. He also discusses the problem with women in combat. He believes that everyone must get active to save this country.

You can start by signing a petition of support for Chaplain Modder. Click HERE to sign the Family Research Council’s petition.

General William “Jerry” Boykin is Vice President of the Family Research Council. He served as Commander, Delta Force, has received numerous military awards, served in multiple combat missions, and was the US Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Bush Administration.
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More than 40,000 rally for Navy chaplain accused of being anti-gay

By Todd Starnes. Thousands of Americans, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and famed evangelist Franklin Graham, have come to the defense of a chaplain who could be thrown out of the Navy because of his Christian faith.

Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder has been accused of failing to show “tolerance and respect” in private counseling sessions regarding issues pertaining to faith, marriage and sexuality – specifically homosexuality.

Modder, who is endorsed by the Assemblies of God, has also been accused of being unable to “function in the diverse and pluralistic environment” of the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, S.C.

The highly decorated, 19-year military veteran previously served in the Marine Corps and has had several high-profile assignments – including being named force chaplain of the Navy SEALs.

Just a few months ago, Modder’s commander called him “the best of the best” and a “consummate professional leader” worthy of an early promotion. (Read more from this story HERE)

U.S. Economic Data is the World’s Most Disappointing

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It’s not only the just-released University of Michigan consumer confidence report and February retail sales on Thursday that surprised economists and investors with another dose of underwhelming news. Overall, U.S. economic data have been falling short of prognosticators’ expectations by the most in six years.

The Bloomberg ECO U.S. Surprise Index, which measures whether data beat or miss forecasts, fell to the lowest since 2009, when the nation was in the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

There’s been one notable exception to the gloom, and it’s a big one: payrolls. The economy added 295,000 jobs in February and 1.3 million over four months, a reflection of a healthier labor market in which the unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest in almost seven years. [Editor’s note: these numbers ignore the massive number of Americans who have quit looking for work. Read about that crisis HERE and HERE]

Most everything else? Blah.

This month alone, personal income and spending, manufacturing as measured by the Institute for Supply Management, auto sales, factory orders, and retail sales have all come in a bit weak. (Read more from “U.S. Economic Data is the World’s Most Disappointing” HERE)

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Intoxicated Secret Service Agents Who Wrecked into White House Disrupted Active Bomb Investigation

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Two Secret Service agents suspected of being under the influence while striking a White House security barricade drove through an active bomb investigation and directly beside the suspicious package, according to current and former government officials familiar with the incident.

These and other new details about the March 4 incident emerged Thursday from interviews and from police records obtained by The Washington Post.

The revelations spurred fresh questions Thursday from lawmakers about whether the newly appointed director of the Secret Service, Joseph P. Clancy, is capable of turning around the troubled agency.

Among lawmakers’ questions was whether Clancy, a 27-year Secret Service veteran appointed to his job last month after a string of embarrassing agency missteps, has been aggressive enough in his handling of last week’s incident.

Clancy placed the two senior agents involved in the incident in new “non-supervisory, non-operational” jobs pending an investigation — a less stringent approach than the service has taken in the past, when staffers suspected of misconduct were put on administrative leave or pressed to resign or accept demotion. Also, Clancy did not take action against a senior supervisor on duty that night who, according to officials briefed on the incident, ordered Secret Service officers to let the agents go home without giving them sobriety tests. (Read more from “Intoxicated Secret Service Agents Crashed into White House Disrupted Bomb Investigation” HERE)

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