Obamacare’s Horrible Year

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By Michelle Mankin. There’s no candy coating the truth: Obamacare has had a very terrible, horrible, crappy, none-too-happy year. What it really means is that the victims of Obamacare — taxpayers, health care consumers, health care providers, employers and employees — have had a hellish, nightmarish 2014.

Let’s start with premiums. President Candy Land promised that he’d “lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.” But premiums for people in the individual market for health insurance have spiked over the last year. In fact, Forbes health policy journalist Avik Roy and the Manhattan Institute analyzed 3,137 counties and found that individual market premiums rose an average of 49 percent.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services itself admitted this month that average premiums will rise at least five percent for the lowest-cost plans offered by federal Obamacare health care exchanges. Democrats’ reaction? Obamacare rate shock doesn’t matter … because government is redistributing the burden and taxpayers are footing the bill! HHS crowed this week that nearly 90 percent of exchange enrollees received public subsidies in order to pay their premiums. (Read more about Obamacare’s horrible year HERE)

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Minnesota Companies Score Obamacare Exemptions

By Tom Steward. Do you believe in miracles? Ask Greg Hall, whose company supplied technology and know-how that helped rescue 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for more than two months in 2010.

Almost as miraculous, Hall’s American Manufacturing Company just received a permanent federal exemption from provisions of the Affordable Care Act that contradict the Catholic deacon and businessman’s religious convictions.

“I’m very happy. Obviously, it was not a battle we wanted to join, but we felt we had to and so we did,” said Hall about his St. Joseph company. “We’re pleased that we’re able to continue to offer our employees medical insurance without the areas that violated our Catholic conscience.”

Christmas came early for seven Minnesota business owners, once faced with the dilemma of violating their religious convictions or paying massive fines to the Internal Revenue Service. (Read more from this story HERE)
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Obamacare Employer Mandate Takes Effect Today

By Rick Moran. The Obamacare employer mandate that requires companies with more than 100 employees to offer insurance coverage to 70% of them goes into effect January 1, 2015. Those companies with between 50 and 100 employees will be forced to offer coverage next year.

The employer mandate was delayed a year for political reasons. Employers are not expected to have a problem covering employees, but the reporting requirements to the IRS are a nightmare. . .

Massive confusion is likely this tax season as employers and individuals alike will struggle with new forms and new requirements. This will be a boon to tax prep firms like H&R Block, who have been advertising their expertise in Obamacare compliance. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Senate Wants More Answers from Feds about Fake Cell Towers, Other Cell Phone Tracking

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The Senate Judiciary Committee wants more answers about law enforcement agencies across the country deploying surveillance technology, including trick cellphone towers, that gather cellphone data, according to a letter obtained Thursday by FoxNews.com

The bipartisan letter was sent to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, following a recent FBI policy change regarding search warrants that committee leaders say raises questions about privacy protections and how the equipment was used.

Among the tools singled out in the letter is a Stingray, a device that pretends it is a cellphone tower and tricks cellphones into identifying some of their owners’ account information.

In addition, the U.S. Marshal Service is deploying an airborne device — called a “DRT box” or “dirtbox” — from five metropolitan-area airports across the United States that also “mimic standard cell towers, forcing affected cell phones to reveal their approximate location and registration information,” the Dec. 23 letter states.

“It remains unclear how other agencies within the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security make use of cell-site simulators and what policies are in place to govern their use of that technology,” states the letter from Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, reported first by The Associated Press. (Read more about the fake cell towers HERE)

CIA Says it was flying UFOs and Takes Responsibility for UFO Sightings for Decades (+video)

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1004530-6-20141230101401-cia-all-those-1950s-ufo-sightings-it-was-usThe CIA tweeted a link this past week to a document that referenced its spy plane program from 1954 through 1974 and correlated flights of its spy planes with public UFO reports. Newsweek reports:

Through the program, the CIA secretly flew U-2 spy planes at altitudes of 60,000 feet above target countries, like the Soviet Union. At the time, most commercial flights flew between 10,000 and 20,000 feet, and military aircrafts flew below 40,000 feet. Most people thought man couldn’t reach such heights and assumed alien life was behind the mysterious objects in the sky.

“Consequently, once U-2s started flying at altitudes above 60,000 feet, air-traffic controllers began receiving increasing numbers of UFO reports,” the document reads.

The CIA cross-referenced UFO sightings and U-2 flight logs, which “enabled the investigators to eliminate the majority of the UFO reports” the document reads. But the agency never revealed to the terrified people the truth behind the mysterious flying objects, until this year. Instead, investigators from Project BLUE BOOK, the Air Force program tasked with investigating UFO reports, attempted to attribute the sightings to natural phenomena.

The report was part of a series of documents that were declassified in 2013, along with those that detailed the existence of Area 51 in Nevada.

(Read more from this story about the “flying UFOs” HERE).

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No UFOs Or Drones – Mysterious Lights Over Dallas Solved

By CBS Local. There was lots of interest after some saw strange lights in the North Texas sky. Rumors pegged them as a UFO. And while they weren’t alien — they were illegal.

The culprit in this case – sky lanterns. You’ve probably seen the small, hot air balloon-like, paper lanterns being lifted high into the air by a small fire at the bottom.

A lot of cities have banned the floating lanterns, so when they show up in the sky many people don’t know what they’re seeing.

Islam Sesalem said, “It’s kind of funny. I didn’t know it was gonna get that kind of reaction.”

Sesalem says he organized the release of 37 Chinese sky lanterns. “The last couple years we set off balloons. This year I thought we’d do something different.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Multi-Platinum Superstar Rapper Nicki Minaj: My Abortion has Haunted Me All My Life

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Photo Credit: The Daily Signal

Photo Credit: The Daily Signal

By Philip Wegmann. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, rapper Nicki Minaj openly discussed her decision to have an abortion, a choice that she says has “haunted me all my life.”

While attending the prestigious LaGuardia Performing Arts High School in New York and dating an older man from Queens, Minaj discovered she was pregnant. “I was a teenager,” Minaj says. “I thought I was going to die”. . .

In “The Pinkprint,” an album critics have called her most personal work yet, Minaj raps about the decision. On the track “All Things Go,” she mourns that “my child with Aaron would’ve been 16 any minute”. . .

Through emotion-driven rhymes, she raps, “Please baby forgive me, mommy was young, mommy was too busy trying to have fun,” and sings, “Wish I could touch your little face or just hold your little hand; if it’s part of God’s plan, maybe we can meet again.” (Read more about Nicki Minaj saying, “My abortion has haunted me all my life” HERE)

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What the Battle Over Abortion Will Look Like in 2015

By Tierney Sneed. The recent surge in abortion laws — more were enacted between 2011 and 2013 than in the previous decade — met both success and defeat in court challenges in 2014. That fight over women’s access to abortion likely will continue in the months to come, as both houses of U.S. Congress will be Republican-led, as will even more state houses. What issues will be at the battle lines?

Ten states have laws in place banning abortion after 20 weeks; Nebraska was the first to pass theirs, in 2010. . .

As litigation continues, there is reason believe that Congress — with both houses led by Republicans — may also consider a federal ban on abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy. The House passed a 20-week ban in 2013, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., refused to bring the Senate version to the floor. At a National Right to Life Conference in July, Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R.-Ky.​, who will take over for Reid come January, promised to revive the legislation. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Fireworks Stand Worker Shoots Robber

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Photo Credit: Scott Olson / Getty

Photo Credit: Scott Olson / Getty

By Samantha Ptashkin. An employee at a fireworks stand turned the tables on a couple of crooks, after they try to rob his shop. . .

According to investigators, at around 10pm two men pulled up to the fireworks stand in a green Ford Mustang. One of the guys got out of the vehicle, approached the clerk, then pointed a gun at him and demanded cash.

“They told him we want the money and he tried to talk him out of it, so he said ‘I have to go to this little room and get the money’,” said Richard Treichel, who owns the fireworks stand.

At that point the employee grabbed his own gun and started firing at the crook. He was shot in the face, wrist and back, then rushed to the hospital via Life Flight in critical condition,

The employee was not injured. “I’m just very glad he didn’t get hurt,” Treichel said. “He’s a nice guy and he didn’t deserve this.” (Read more about the firework stand worker shoots robber HERE)

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Teenager Dead After Attempted Robbery of Coveted Shoes

By Natalie Tendall. Miami Township Police are confirming the shooting that left a juvenile male dead Saturday started over an attempted robbery of athletic shoes.

According to police, three juvenile males from Middletown approached two adult males outside the Dayton Mall around 10:00 a.m. Saturday. They say one of the juveniles produced a gun and demanded merchandise from the adult males. Police say one of the males, who had a valid concealed carry weapon permit, pulled out a gun of his own and shot the teen who had the gun. That teen, identified as Jawaad Jabbar, 16, died from a single gunshot wound.

The men were at the mall to attend a limited athletic shoe release sale. Police say the two groups did not know each other and the only motive known is that of aggravated robbery to gain control of another’s property.

Sgt. Jay Phares said the teen didn’t make it to the mall in time to get in line for the shoes. “This was a random act of ‘I want something that person has and I’m going to take it from them by any means’,” said Sgt. Phares. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Hamas Stopped Palestinian Children from Going to Israel for Postwar Peace Trip

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Photo Credit: NY Daily News

Photo Credit: NY Daily News

By Fares Akram. Gaza’s Hamas rulers prevented a group of children from entering Israel on Sunday for a postwar conciliatory trip meant to foster peace, Hamas and organizers said.

The 37 children, most of whom have lost a parent in fighting between Hamas and Israel, were to enter Israel on Sunday and spend a week visiting Jewish and Arab communities and a zoo. They were also going to travel to the West Bank for a meeting with the Palestinian president.

But a bus carrying the children and their adult chaperones was turned back when it reached the main crossing between Gaza and Israel. Hamas spokesman Eyad Bozum said the decision was made “to protect the culture of our children and our people” from normalizing relations with Israel. He said Hamas would make sure such a trip “will never happen again”. . .

Yoel Marshak, an Israeli organizer, said the visit was meant to a show a positive side of Israel and promote peace. (Read more on why Hamas stopped Palestinian children from their Israel peace trip HERE)

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UAW Teachers Branch Joins Israel Boycott

By Sean Higgins. A local branch of the United Auto Workers has become the first U.S. labor organization to join the international movement to boycott Israel, according to liberal groups.

UAW Local 2865, which represents teaching assistants at the University of California, voted to join it on Dec. 4, saying that Israel was engaging in “ongoing human rights violations” against the Palestinians.

A total of 66 percent of the members backed joining the movement, which supporters call “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.” Only 2,168 members participated in the Dec. 4 vote, a small fraction of Local 2865’s reported 13,000 members.

The ballot language asked members to support the boycott and to call on both the university and the UAW to join in by “divest[ing] their investments, including pension funds, from Israeli state institutions and international companies complicit in severe and ongoing human rights violations as part of the Israeli oppression of Palestinian people.” It also called on UAW and the university not to do business with any such companies and for the federal government to end economic aid to the country. (Read more from this story HERE)

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7th Grader Stopped by Gov’t School from Handing Out Fliers for Religious Event (+video)

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Photo Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP / Getty Images

Photo Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP / Getty Images

A Kansas school blocked a seventh-grader from handing out fliers inviting students to join her in prayer at the school’s flagpole.

Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano called the school’s ban “so obviously wrong and misguided,” noting that students “theoretically” have the same constitutional rights as anyone else.

“Schools can restrain speech if the speech is disruptive,” Napolitano said. “But when the speech is not disruptive and when it’s especially protected by the Constitution, like speech about religion or speech about non-religion, they cannot interfere with it.”

The school issued a statement to Fox News outlining its policy, which prohibits the distribution of religious material on school property before, during and after the school day.

Napolitano says this is unconstitutional unless the school can show that the “mere distribution” interferes with school activity. Napolitano does not believe it has done so. (Read more about the child who was stopped from handing out fliers for religious event HERE)

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Anti-Cop Protesters Fail to Disrupt New Year’s in Times Square

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

Photo Credit: Breitbart

By Kerry Picket. The demonstrators marched from Union Square to 38th and Broadway, where they were prohibited from going any further uptown towards the celebration when the clock struck 12. Protesters were beckoned by the organization Stop Mass Incarceration to participate in the march on New Year’s Eve.

The New York Police Department passed out flyers to protesters at Union Square telling the marchers that they must walk on the sidewalk during their march and not go into the streets and block vehicle traffic. A recording that looped numerous times played the NYPD flyer’s message through a loudspeaker during the night.

By 10 p.m., about 100 protesters began walking up 6th Avenue toward Times Square as NYPD officers controlled the direction of the march. Police diverted the group as they approached 33rd street in Herald Square.

“NYPD – KKK, how many kids did you kill today?” protesters yelled, as they carried “I can’t breathe” signs, referencing the last words of Eric Garner as NYPD officers held him in a headlock after he resisted arrest. (Read more about the anti-cop protesters fail to disrupt NYC New Year’s Eve HERE)

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De Blasio Slaps NYPD in the Face on the Last Day of 2014

By Laurel Babcock, Kirstan Conley and Bruce Golding. Mayor de Blasio delivered another blow to New York’s Finest on Wednesday when he reappointed a Brooklyn judge who freed without bail two men who threatened cops just days after the Bed-Stuy double police assassination.

The stunning decision came even as one of the suspects — a gang member charged with posting police death threats online — skipped out on a court date and had a warrant out for his arrest, sources said.

Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson had faced a midnight expiration of her term. She was appointed by Mayor Mike Bloomberg in January 2013.

Her one-year, interim reappointment by de Blasio outraged law-enforcement officials a day after he met with the heads of five police unions to heal his fractured relationship with cops.

“The mayor’s actions of reappointing this judge are completely hypocritical to his argument that he’s pro-police and counterproductive to what he claims to be an effort to open dialogue going forward,” said sergeants union chief Ed Mullins. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Lawsuit Filed Against Washington’s Gun Control Initiative

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Leah Barkoukis. The Second Amendment Foundation has never been one to let the rights of law-abiding citizens get trampled on without putting up a fight. It should come as no surprise, then, that they’ve taken Washington state’s gun control Initiative 594 to court. Well, parts of it at least.

Via SAF:

The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Tacoma, seeking a permanent injunction against enforcement of portions of Initiative 594, the 18-page gun control measure that took effect Dec. 4, alleging that “portions of I-594…are so vague that a person of ordinary intelligence cannot understand their scope,” and that other parts violate the Second Amendment outright.

Joining SAF in this action are the Northwest School of Safety, Puget Sound Security, Inc., the Pacific Northwest Association of Investors, the Firearms Academy of Seattle, six individual citizens including SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb and the Gottlieb Family Trust. They are represented by Seattle attorneys Steven Fogg and David Edwards, and Bellevue attorney Miko Tempski.

Named as defendants are Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste, in their official capacities.

“We took this action due to the confusing and arbitrary language and nature of I-594,” Gottlieb said in a statement. “Three of our plaintiffs, including my son, are residents of other states and cannot legally borrow handguns for personal protection while traveling in Washington. Under I-594, all transfers must be done through federally-licensed firearms dealers, but under federal law, dealers cannot legally transfer handguns to residents of other states. I-594 also essentially prohibits our non-resident plaintiffs from storing their own firearms here. (Read more about the lawsuit on Washington’s gun control initiative HERE)

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Governor McAuliffe Vows to Stick to His Gun Control Measures

By Tommie Mcneil. Despite criticism from gun-rights advocates and GOP legislative leaders, Governor McAuliffe is not retreating on a package of gun-control measures that he has proposed for the upcoming General Assembly session. McAuliffe says this was one of his campaign promises, so no one should be surprised.

Conservatives say the Governor is catering to the anti-gun agenda of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose Super PAC donated to his campaign. But McAuliffe says this is about keeping people safe.

The Governor proposes prohibiting anyone subject to a protective order or convicted of certain misdemeanor offenses from owning a gun. Those include brandishing a firearm, domestic assault, and stalking.

But Philip Van Cleave with the Virginia Citizens Defense League says that’s not how the law should be interpreted. . .

The Governor also proposes reverting back to Virginia’s “One-Handgun-a-Month” law, which was recently repealed. He says criminals exploit it and run guns out-of-state. (Read more from this story HERE)

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United States Advisers Stay Out of Combat but See ISIS Fight Edging Closer; Multiple Reports that ISIS Fighters Have Ebola (+video)

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Photo Credit: Musadeq Sadeq

Photo Credit: Musadeq Sadeq

By Missy Ryan and Erin Cunningham. In Iraq’s western Anbar province, more than 300 U.S. troops are posted at a base in the thick of a pitched battle between Iraqi forces, backed by tribal fighters, and well-armed Islamic State militants.

The militants, positioned at a nearby town, have repeatedly hit the base with artillery and rocket fire in recent weeks. Since the middle of December, the U.S.-led military coalition has launched 13 airstrikes around the facility.

U.S. troops have suffered no casualties in the attacks. But the violence has underlined the risks to American personnel as they fan out across Iraq as part of the expanding U.S. mission against the Islamic State, even as President Obama has pledged that U.S. operations “will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.” (Read more on what the United States advisers said HERE)

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US Veteran Says Fighting in Syria was Just as Easy as Buying a Ticket to Miami

By Catherine Herridge. All it took was a plane ticket, and an informal background check over Facebook. Then he was ushered to the front lines in Syria, fighting against the Islamic State.

In a rare, exclusive interview with Fox News, a U.S. military veteran with multiple tours in Iraq detailed his journey to Syria to fight against ISIS, on the condition his identity was protected.

The veteran, who asked to be identified as “John,” described a surprisingly simple process that took him from America to the dangerous Syrian civil war – and not as part of the U.S. military.

“I just went online and bought a ticket. It was that easy. It was like booking a flight to Miami Beach,” said “John.”

Then he found a Kurdish group known as the YPG. (Read more from this story HERE)
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Reports: ISIS Fighters Have Ebola

By Jordan Schachtel. Multiple Iraqi and Kurdish media sources have claimed that some Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Mosul, Iraq, have contracted the deadly Ebola virus, Mashable reports.

The Iraqi outlets reportedly claimed that Ebola had started to spread in a Mosul hospital. The city, known as ISIS’s most important strategic stronghold in Iraq, has been under the control of the Islamic State since June.

Christy Feig, the World Health Organization (WHO) director of communications, told Mashable, “We have no official notification from the Iraqi government that it is Ebola.” She said that WHO had reached out to authorities and asked if they needed help investigating the matter. (Read more from this story HERE)

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