Minnesota’s Biggest (And Cheapest) Obamacare Insurer Drops Out Over Overwhelming Costs

Photo Credit: Reuters The largest insurer with the lowest premium rates on Minnesota’s Obamacare exchange is dropping out because the government health-exchange is unsustainable, the company announced Tuesday.

PreferredOne Health Insurance told MNsure, the state-run exchange, Tuesday morning that it would not continue to offer its popular insurance plans on the marketplace in 2015. It’s “purely a business decision,” spokesman Steve Peterson told KSTP-TV. The company is losing money on administrative costs for plans offered on the bureaucratic and glitchy government exchange.

Part of the problem, according to PreferredOne, is that MNsure hasn’t even been able to verify its customers’ information. PreferredOne said that some of its customers have turned out not to even live in Minnesota.

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Benghazi Bombshell: Hillary Clinton's Team Committed Obstruction of Justice?

Photo Credit: Ron Sachs / NewscomAs the House Select Committee on Benghazi prepares for its first hearing this week, a former State Department diplomat is coming forward with a startling allegation: Hillary Clinton confidants were part of an operation to “separate” damaging documents before they were turned over to the Accountability Review Board investigating security lapses surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

According to former Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell, the after-hours session took place over a weekend in a basement operations-type center at State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. This is the first time Maxwell has publicly come forward with the story.

At the time, Maxwell was a leader in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, which was charged with collecting emails and documents relevant to the Benghazi probe.

“I was not invited to that after-hours endeavor, but I heard about it and decided to check it out on a Sunday afternoon,” Maxwell says.

He didn’t know it then, but Maxwell would ultimately become one of four State Department officials singled out for discipline—he says scapegoated—then later cleared for devastating security lapses leading up to the attacks. Four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were murdered during the Benghazi attacks.

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Cheerleaders Defy School's Ban, Lead Crowd in Lord's Prayer

Photo Credit: Fox NewsOn “Fox and Friends” this morning we heard from two Tennessee high school cheerleaders who defied a ban on prayer before football games.

Oneida High School stopped prayers before athletic events due to the possibility of legal action from the ACLU or atheist organizations.

According to WBTW-TV, the school district received a letter from the ACLU last year, cautioning that school-sanctioned prayer is unconstitutional.

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ISIS Urging "Lone Wolves" To Target US Soldiers

Photo Credit: TownHallBy Daniel Doherty.

My visceral reaction to reading this story was intense anger. And yet, why am I bewildered that a terrorist organization that kills innocents has reportedly stepped up its efforts in urging rogue extremists in the U.S. to target American soldiers?

On second thought, I’m not surprised at all. But that doesn’t mean I don’t find their their latest tactic to kill Americans somewhat strange. Is this not the same army of barbarians whose chief spokesman (since killed in a drone strike) arrogantly prodded the president to “send [us] your soldiers, the ones we humiliated in Iraq?” If ISIS is so confident and proud of their own military capabilities, why must they RESORT to such cowardly and desperate acts?

Fox News has the exclusive…

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Law enforcement bulletin warned of ISIS urging jihad attacks on US soil

By Jana Winter.

A law ENFORCEMENT bulletin obtained by FoxNews.com warned that Islamic State fighters have increased calls for “lone wolves” to attack U.S. soldiers in America in recent months, citing one tweet that called for jihadists to find service members’ addresses online and then “SHOW up and slaughter them.”

There will be “a continued call – by Western fighters in Syria and terrorist organizations – for lone offender attacks against U.S. military facilities and personnel,” warned a July law enforcement intelligence bulletin from the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange, a state-run agency that gathers, assesses and shares threat information and works with the Department of Homeland Security. “These threats will most likely increase should the U.S. or its allies attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) in Syria or Iraq.”

In one example cited in the bulletin, a British jihadist encouraged radicals still living in the West to use Facebook and LinkedIn to find and target soldiers.

“You could literally search for soldiers, find their town, photos of them, look for address in Yellowbook or something,” the tweet read. “Then SHOW up and slaughter them.”

On Thursday, Peter Boogaard, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told FoxNews.com that “there is no credible intelligence at this time to suggest that there is an active plot by (ISIS) to carry out an attack in the United States.”

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Photo Credit: The FederalistWashington’s Ruling Class Is Fooling Itself About The Islamic State

By Angelo Codevilla.

The American people’s reaction to Muslim thugs of the “Islamic State” ritually knifing off the heads of people who look like you and me boils down to “let’s destroy these bastards”—which is common sense. But our ruling class, from President Obama on the Left to The Wall Street Journal on the Right, take the public’s pressure to do this as another occasion for further indulging their longtime preferences, prejudices, and proclivities for half-measures in foreign affairs—the very things that have invited people from all over the planet to join hunting season on Americans.

This indulgence so overwhelms our ruling class’s perception of reality that the recipes put forth by its several wings, little different from one another, are identical in the one essential respect: none of them involve any plans which, if carried out, would destroy the Islamic State, kill large numbers of the cut-throats, and discourage others from following in their footsteps. Hence, like the George W. Bush’s “war on terror” and for the same reasons, this exercise of our ruling class’s wisdom in foreign affairs will decrease respect for us while invigorating our enemies.

The WSJ’s recommendations, like the Obama administration’s projected activities, are all about discrete measures—some air strikes, some arming of local forces, etc. But they abstract from the fundamental reality of any and all activities: He who wills any end must will the means to achieve it…

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Feds Mum on Prosecution of Illegal Border Crossers

Photo Credit: Getty ImagesBy Astrid Galvan.

The federal government refuses to say whether prosecutors in Yuma, Arizona, have scaled back a years-old program that guarantees jail time for most immigrants caught crossing the border illegally and which law enforcement officials say is crucial to public safety.

Reports that federal prosecutors have stopped some prosecutions under Operation Streamline surfaced nearly two weeks ago when Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder seeking information on the status of the zero-tolerance program that circumvents the civil immigration system and lumps together months’ worth of criminal proceedings into one day for immigrants caught crossing the border illegally.

Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot said in a letter to the senators that he had been informed that federal prosecutors in Yuma are no longer going after first offenders.

But the government has been completely silent on the issue. Public affairs officials from the Department of Homeland Security, Justice Department and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection have all refused to answer questions about whether the program has been scaled back.

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Photo Credit: Breitbart474 ILLEGALS FROM TERRORISM-LINKED COUNTRIES APPREHENDED IN 2014 ALONE

By Edwin Mora.

U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended at least 474 aliens from terrorism-linked countries attempting to sneak into the country illegally this year alone, according to a leaked document obtained by Breitbart Texas.

According to the document from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Intelligence and Investigative Liaison, of the 474 aliens, 76 are from terrorism-linked nations located in and around the jihadist Islamic State’s area of operation — Turkey (41), Saudi Arabia (13), Syria (7), Jordan (7), Iraq (4),Iran (3), and J Kuwait (1).

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, controls areas inside Syria and Iraq, both countries are bordered by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, Kuwait and Jordan.

Illegals from terrorism-linked countries apprehended by Border Patrol agents are referred to as Special Interest Aliens (SIAs) in the CBP intelligence document.

SIAs are individuals whose native country is found on a list of 35 nations described in a November 2004 CBP memo as “special interest countries.”

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Investigator Says He Found Multiple ‘Fake Cell Towers’ Near White House, Russian Embassy

Photo Credit: IntegricellThink about the phone conversations you’ve had in the last 48 hours. Is there anything personal or sensitive you wouldn’t want a stranger to hear or record?

Now imagine the cell phone conversations that took place about the Islamic State this week between lawmakers, their staff members and anyone who testified on the Hill. Think any sensitive information or key plans were discussed during those phone calls?

An investigator looking into the claims that “fake cell towers” are popping up all over the country says he discovered several active sites just in the last 48 hours within feet of the White House, around the Russian Embassy and covering the Senate buildings where key Islamic State hearings took place this week.

“On Tuesday, I believe it was at the exact time the ISIS hearings were ongoing, we drove by the Senate and our phones were targeted,” Aaron Turner, an expert in MOBILE SECURITY and information protection, told TheBlaze.

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Intruder Made It Through White House Doors, Secret Service Says

Photo Credit: Flickr / nedrichardsA Texas man who scaled the White House fence made it through the North Portico doors on Friday night before being apprehended, the Secret Service said.

The intruder, Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, was ARRESTED just inside the doors and taken to George Washington University Hospital after complaining of chest pains, said Ed Donovan, a Secret Service spokesman.

None of the Obamas were home when the SECURITY BREACH occurred about 7:20 p.m., but White House staff members were evacuated as a precaution, officials said. President Obama and his daughters had left for the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md., just minutes before the incident.

Mr. Gonzalez, of Copperas Cove, Tex., was not armed and was not carrying a bag or a backpack when officials spotted him jumping the fence on the Pennsylvania Avenue side, Mr. Donovan said. He ignored several calls for him to stop as officers gave chase.

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Census: Marriage Rate at 93-Year Low

Photo Credit: APThe Census Bureau reported Thursday that the nation’s marriage rate is the lowest since 1920, and the first-time inclusion of same sex married couples did little to reverse the decline.

According to Pew Research Center analysis, the marriage rate of Americans 18 and older hit a bottom of 50.3 percent in 2013, down from 50.5 percent in 2012. In 1920, the first year mentioned, 65 percent were married, and the marriage rate hit a high of 72.2 percent in 1960.

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John Boehner Joins Nancy Pelosi to Pass Bill Funding Planned Parenthood, ObamaCare

Photo Credit: APHouse Speaker John Boehner (R) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) united Wednesday evening to fund the government after September 30 by passing a continuing resolution (CR) that includes the funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, and Obamacare.

Republicans needed significant support from Democrats to pass the CR, 319-108. However, 53 Republicans and 55 Democrats voted against it, reports CNSNews.com. The bill will fund the government through December 11th during the “lame duck” session of Congress.

Among the Republican members of the House who voted against the resolution were Reps. Louis Gohmert (TX); Michele Bachmann (MN); Trey Gowdy (SC); John Fleming (LA); Jim Jordan (OH); Scott Garrett (NJ); Jim Bridenstine (OK); and Dana Rohrabacher (CA).

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Report: GOP Leadership Considering Rules To Punish Party Disloyalty

Photo Credit: TownHallA new congressional delegation will bring a new vote for leadership. With Democrats needing a miracle to gain a few seats, much less actually take the House, Republicans are close to a sure bet to be in control come November. That’ll mean elections, and elections means a John Boehner who needs to have the support of his caucus.

There are a lot of members of the GOP caucus who don’t very much like John Boehner. He’s taken a lot of heat for being insufficiently conservative. To avoid an embarrassing vote, leadership might have some “rules tweaks” in the pipeline, as National Journal reports:

House Republicans are quietly discussing a proposal that could fundamentally alter the way future speakers of the House are chosen, according to multiple GOP sources, with the objective of avoiding a repeat of John Boehner’s embarrassing reelection vote in 2013.

Read more from this story HERE.