Obamacare’s Got Seven Extra Ways of Hiking Premiums In 2015

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerHealth insurance premiums under Obamacare are rising in a boatload of states, but HealthCare.gov customers will be faced with a laundry list of glitches and changes that could result in hiked premiums on top of that, according to new research from the American Action Forum.

There’s a big problem with the health-care law’s regulations hiking the actual cost of health insurance for many people. Premium rates are rising because policies are required to be more inclusive, whether the customer wants extra servivces or not. But on top of rising prices, there are seven policies on the federal Obamacare exchange itself that can cause even bigger premium hikes next year.

Partly to blame, according to the free-market think tank’s health policy analyst Angela Boothe, is that on HealthCare.gov, many customers just aren’t guaranteed a certain price for their health insurance.

In a private market, an insurance company charges its customers a set price. But in Obamacare exchanges, the federal government can change what they’re charging many customers after the fact — especially if the customer is one of the 85 percent of federal Obamacare sign-ups receiving a subsidy.

One culprit is an ongoing mismatch between Obamacare applications and federal data. When it comes to premium subsidies, errors can result in effective premium increases — owing the IRS money back at tax season.

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Black Voters in Ferguson Turn Against the Democratic Party

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Photo Credit: TownHallIt’s been two months since Michael Brown was shot by police officer Darren Wilson, and while protests continue, some in the African American community are now channeling their anger into political action—and not for the usual party.

“Just because they’ve got the D next to their name, that don’t mean nothing,” Darren Seals told the Washington Post. “The world is watching us right now. It’s time to send a message of our power.”

Many African Americans in Ferguson and across St. Louis County, angered over their leaders’ response to the fatal shooting, say they will be taking their outrage to the ballot box and voting against a Democratic Party that has long been their automatic choice.

They are focusing on the St. Louis county executive’s race, which typically centers on matters such as the budget and sanitation but this year has become caught up in the unrest.

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Report: Houston Mayor Backs Off from Subpoenas to Pastors

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Photo Credit: Breitbart Houston Mayor Annise Parker has backed down from the subpoenas the City of Houston issued to several area pastors, Breitbart Texas has learned.

Breitbart Texas reported earlier about the controversy, stemming from litigation challenging the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance and subpoenas asking the pastors for the content of their sermons, speeches and communications with church members. Texas Senator Ted Cruz weighed in, firmly supporting the pastors in their efforts to fight the subpoenas, while Mayor Parker initially remained adamant that the city had the right to request those records. Despite posting comments on Twitter just hours before that seemed to indicate she would continue to fight this issue, she told a Houston radio station that she had changed her mind.

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Perez: U.S. Should Stump Up Billions to Curb Central America Migration

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Jorge Dan LopezThe United States should provide billions of dollars to help Central American nations curb the flow of illegal migrants, Guatemalan President Otto Perez said, and his government warns the problem will get worse if Washington fails to help.

Fleeing violence, trying to reach relatives already in the United States or seeking jobs, record numbers of child migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have been stopped at the southern U.S. border this year, causing widespread alarm.

Last month, the three countries pitched Washington an ambitious development plan to confront the issue.

They want to pump about $10 billion into the region to create jobs and lift living standards, with the bulk of funding coming from the United States, Perez told Reuters.

He hopes the plan could come up with about $2 billion a year from 2015 to 2019, a sum he equated to roughly 10 percent of annual U.S. spending on border security and immigration enforcement.

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Senator: Emails Reveal EPA, Green Group in ‘Beyond Cozy’ Relationship

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Photo Credit: Pete Souza / White HouseRepublican lawmakers say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enjoys a “beyond cozy” relationship with a liberal environmental action group that seeks to reshape national energy policies in a way that would hurt American businesses and families.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, told The Daily Signal that the Natural Resources Defense Council played an “absolutely inappropriate” role in drafting the EPA’s new carbon emissions plan.

“The EPA has been one of the least transparent agencies I have ever seen, but it’s become apparent that their lack of transparency is to hide the influence that an organization so heavily focused on undermining U.S. businesses and families has at EPA,” Vitter said.

Vitter and House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., have directed staff to look into whether the EPA broke federal law in developing the carbon emissions regulations.

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New Benghazi Indictment Confirms Computers with Classified Information Stolen

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Photo Credit: ReutersAn indictment Tuesday of a Libyan militant already behind bars for the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans confirms that computers with sensitive and classified information were stolen from the consulate during the assault.

Fox News was first to report in July that at least two computers were stolen from the consulate. While the State Department initially dismissed Fox’s report, the new, 18-count indictment against Ahmed Abu Khattala confirms that sensitive and classified information was lost, including the location of the top secret CIA annex.

Abu Khattala, 43, the first militant to be prosecuted for the Benghazi violence, had initially been charged with conspiracy to provide support to terrorists, resulting in death. U.S. officials had described that initial, one-count indictment as a placeholder to allow for him to be brought into court and for a grand jury to hear more evidence.

The new indictment does not add to the public account of how the account unfolded but it does include multiple counts that make Abu Khattala eligible for the death penalty if convicted, including murder of an internationally protected person and killing a person during an armed attack on a federal facility. It also accuses him, among other charges, of providing material support to terrorists, malicious destruction of property and attempted murder of an officer and employee of the U.S.

The indictment also alleges rocket propelled grenades, AK 47s and semi-automatic assault rifles were used at the consulate, and then mortars at the Annex during the third wave of the assault –a level of firepower that would contradict the administration’s initial explanation that a demonstration had simply turned violent.

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White House Approving and Disapproving Content in News Reports…

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Photo Credit: White HouseWhite House journalists are creating an alternative system for distributing their media “pool” reports in response to the Obama administration’s involvement in approving and disapproving certain content in official reports.

A small group of reporters initiated an online forum this month in which they shared “pool” information among themselves, without White House involvement. The forum was set up by the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which negotiates with the White House’s press staff over access for journalists.

Pool reports — those summaries of the president’s public appearances that go to the news media at large and are used in countless news stories — are filed by a rotating group of journalists whose work is intended to be free of content changes by the White House.

The pool journalists, however, must submit their reports to the White House press office, which distributes them via e-mail to hundreds of news organizations and others. The White House maintains the list of recipients.

Reporters have complained that the Obama White House exploits its role as distributor to demand changes in pool reports and that the press office has delayed or refused to distribute some reports until they are amended to officials’ satisfaction.

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Ft. Hood Murderer's Attorney: "I Don't Know Where They Come Up With Workplace Violence"

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Photo Credit: TownHallLast night on The Kelly File Hassan’s current attorney, John Galligan, said he doesn’t understand where the classification of “workplace violence” comes from in this case.

“I don’t know where they come up with the term ‘work place violence.’ I’ve been in the Army 30 years, I’ve been in the practice of law for almost 35 years, work place violence was not the crime for which he was charged, it is not a punishable offense under the UCMJ and it’s certainly not an aggravating factor that would warrant the death penalty. Nidal Hasan was charged with mass murder,” Galligan said, adding the government had the option to charge him with terrorism and didn’t…

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Neil Young: Impeach Obama

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesBy Al Weaver.

In an appearance Tuesday night on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young told host Stephen Colbert that President Barack Obama should be impeached for allowing fracking.

“Last time you were here, you tried getting me to sing a song about impeaching the president who at the time was George W. Bush,” Colbert told the rock legend. “And you wanted to impeach him over getting us into the war in Iraq.

“Now that President Obama is getting us into a war in Iraq, are you up for impeaching him too?” asked Colbert in his character as a conservative talk show host.

“No,” responded Young.

“Then you’re a double hypocrite?” asked Colbert.

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Neil Young: Environment more important than defeating ISIS terrorists

By Joe Newby.

The radical Islamic group ISIS is taking large areas of land in Iraq and Syria, enslaving women and beheading anyone with whom they disagree — even children. But those are secondary concerns as far as singer Neil Young is concerned, Canada’s Sun News reported Tuesday. What’s more important to Young is the impact a conflict with ISIS would have on the environment.

“We can do little things to fight climate change but our armed forces are the biggest carbon dioxide providers in the world, and yet we are fighting, what, ISIS?” he told Howard Stern over the weekend. According to Young, terror groups like al-Qaida and ISIS have smaller carbon footprints than Western militaries and their “big machines,” Sun News added.

“Since 1950 we’ve lost 90% of the fish in the ocean (and) we’ve doubled our own population,” he told Stern. “Since 1970, we’ve lost half the wildlife on the planet and again we’ve doubled our population.”

“And we are fighting these wars against these organizations and their carbon footprint has got to be like one percent of our huge army and our navy and all of this stuff that have with all our big machines,” he added, as though America’s foreign policy and national defense should be based solely on the carbon footprint of its military. “We’re doing more damage to the earth with our wars. And you try to find out? Hey, freedom? No, freedom, you don’t get it. You can’t find out what that carbon footprint is of the military. It’s not available for us.”

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Democrat Mark Pryor Thinks $200K Is Middle Class

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Expect to see this gaffe get plenty of playtime in attack ads and on cable news: Arkansas Democratic Senator Mark Pryor apparently thinks that the middle class makes $200,000 annually.

Pryor made the comment during Tuesday night’s Arkansas Senate debate when asked to define the middle class. “Well you know, under the law there’s a lot of different definitions of middle-class, but when I think of the middle class I think of most of Arkansas, and maybe that goes up to $150,000, $200,000, there’s different ways to judge it.”

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