Insurance CEO Calls on Hawaii to Shutdown Health Exchange

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

The chief executive of Hawaii’s largest health insurance company is calling on Hawaii to shut down its beleaguered health insurance exchange, which was set up as part of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.

Michael Gold, president and CEO of Hawaii Medical Services Association, says the state shouldn’t keep spending money on the Hawaii Health Connector, a system that he says is financially unsustainable and does not work.

“I think there’s an alternative that Hawaii needs to pursue immediately,” Gold said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Hawaii should ask the federal government for an exception to the part of the Affordable Care Act that requires states to set up and run their own insurance exchanges, Gold said. He thinks businesses should buy approved plans directly from insurance companies, as they have done in the past. Individuals would do the same, or the federal government could take over that part of the exchange, he said.

Lawmakers on Friday were outraged at Gold’s assertion that the state hasn’t already pursued flexibility from federal requirements. Rep. Angus McKelvey of West Maui said they sought waivers from the federal government and were told they had to wait until 2017.

Read more from this story HERE.

Florida Democrats Just Voted To Impose Sharia Law On Women

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Florida Democrats have declared war on women; but fortunately, their attack on our freedoms was turned back by Republicans who represented America and voted against them.

Anyone who isn’t certain that Democrats are devoted to destroying America need only take a look at their despicable conduct in the Florida Senate. In a vote that never should have had to be taken, every single Democrat voted to force Sharia Law on the people of Florida. By doing so, they placed women and children in very real danger. The vote was 24 votes for America and 14 votes for al Qaeda and the Taliban cast by loathsome Democrats. They voted to deny Americans the Constitutional protections generations of American men and women fought for and died to protect. Democrats have revealed their desire to force Americans to live as slaves to a third world, foreign “justice system.”

Since the liars in the Democrat–controlled media won’t describe what these quislings have tried to force on Americans, here is an outline of the horrors of Sharia Law.

There would be no freedom of religion because Sharia supports only Islam.

There would be no freedom of speech.

The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by joemiller.us.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama’s Foreign Policy of Denial

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Photo Credit: Charles Dharapak

Photo Credit: Charles Dharapak

Barack Obama’s 949-word response Monday to a question about foreign policy weakness showed the president at his worst: defensive, irritable, contradictory and at times detached from reality. It began with a complaint about negative coverage on Fox News, when, in fact, it was the New York Times’ front page that featured Obama’s foreign policy failures, most recently the inability to conclude a trade agreement with Japan and the collapse of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Middle East negotiations.

Add to this the collapse of not one but two Geneva conferences on Syria, American helplessness in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine and the Saudi king’s humiliating dismissal of Obama within two hours of talks — no dinner — after Obama made a special 2,300-mile diversion from Europe to see him, and you have an impressive litany of serial embarrassments.

Obama’s first rhetorical defense, as usual, was to attack a straw man: “Why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force?”

Everybody? Wasn’t it you, Mr. President, who decided to attack Libya under the grand Obama doctrine of “responsibility to protect” helpless civilians — every syllable of which you totally contradicted as 150,000 were being slaughtered in Syria?

And wasn’t attacking Syria for having crossed your own chemical-weapons “red line” also your idea? Before, of course, you retreated abjectly, thereby marginalizing yourself and exposing the United States to general ridicule.

Read more from this story HERE.

Conservative Lawmaker Predicts Boehner Won’t Run for Speaker Again

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A House Republican who supported Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in 2013 is predicting Boehner won’t run for the job again and says he would be surprised if he could win reelection by the House.

“I don’t think John Boehner will be Speaker this time next year,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said in an interview. “But I think it’s because, in my judgment, he’s not going to run for reelection as Speaker, but if he does, I’ll be mildly surprised if he can get the 218 votes that the Constitution requires.”

Brooks, a conservative serving his second term, voted for Boehner on the floor of the House in January 2013, but he would not say if he would do so again in 2015.

His prediction came hours after Boehner used a private GOP meeting to walk back comments he made in Ohio last week that were seen as mocking his fellow Republicans for a lack of courage to pursue immigration reform.

“You only tease the ones you love,” Boehner told reporters, repeating a phrase he used inside the meeting. He acknowledged, however, that “sometimes I can rib people just a little too much.”

Read more from this story HERE.

“God” Replaced With “Peace” In Pledge of Allegiance at Madison, Wisconsin High School

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US Flag“One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

For the past few years, this line in the Pledge of Allegiance has caused an increasing amount of debate among Americans. Despite this debate, 85% of Americans still believe that “under God” should be kept in the Pledge, while only 8% do not. Forget the lawsuits, conflict, and uproar, saying that controversial line at schools daily is still part of the law.

Unfortunately, a Madison, Wisconsin high school has decided to go against that law over the past couple months.

Just last month, Samantha Murphy, a brave high school junior at Madison East High School, emailed me. In her freshman year, Madison East did not offer the Pledge every morning. Her family decided to talk to the principal and school board, reminding them that it is a state law to offer the Pledge every day. They pointed out Wisconsin State Statute Chapter 118, Section 6, which states “Every public school shall offer the pledge of allegiance or the national anthem in grades one to 12 each school day.”

After months of waiting and deciding if her family should go public with her school district’s unlawfulness and lack of patriotism, her school board finally obliged and started to offer the Pledge of Allegiance daily.

Read more from this story HERE.

Harry Reid: I Call On Republican Leaders to Denounce this Hateful Racist Bundy (+videos)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Allahpundit.

Give the man his due. He may be a low-rent McCarthyite for whom no smear is too cheap. He may be an awful majority leader whose imperious tactics have hopelessly alienated the minority party. He may be dirty, having built a curiously large fortune despite working in government his entire adult life.

But he sure can troll.

“I used to live in North Las Vegas and it is home to some of the hardest-working people I have ever met – men and women who embody the American dream by working hard every day to build a better life for themselves and their families. By contrast, Cliven Bundy has spent decades profiting off government land while refusing to pay the same fair use fees as his fellow ranchers. Today, Bundy revealed himself to be a hateful racist. But by denigrating people who work hard and play by the rules while he mooches off public land he also revealed himself to be a hypocrite.

“To advance his extreme, hateful views, Bundy has endangered the lives of innocent women and children. This is not a game. It is the height of irresponsibility for any individual or entity in a position of power or influence to glorify or romanticize such a dangerous individual, and anyone who has done so should come to their senses and immediately condemn Bundy. For their part, national Republican leaders could help show a united front against this kind of hateful, dangerous extremism by publicly condemning Bundy.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Irish Central

Photo Credit: Irish Central

Hannity: Bundy’s comments on race are beyond repugnant to me

By Allahpundit.

t’s the story du jour and Hannity’s take is probably the most eagerly awaited in media given how much airtime he’s devoted to the BLM standoff lately, so here you go — a sneak preview of his (presumptive) opening segment on tonight’s Fox News program at 10 p.m. An hour later, the guy he’s been feuding with over this goes on the air on Comedy Central. I wonder if Hannity will come up in his opening segment.

WaPo, incidentally, has posted more context from Bundy’s comments. A taste:

In video of the entire speech, which was obtained first by the Washington Post and shot by someone who describes himself as a Bundy supporter, Bundy said that he “hardly ever” saw a black person until he was almost a teenager and also noted that he is surrounded today by white faces.

“Where is our colored brother? Where is our Mexican brother? Where is our Chinese — where are they?” Bundy said. “They’re just as much American as we are, and they’re not with us. If they’re not with us, they’re going to be against us.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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No, I Don’t Care if Cliven Bundy Is a Racist

By Kira Davis.

Why would anyone even ask Mr.Bundy to comment on such things? As if what Cliven Bundy thinks about the state of the “Negro” in America has any bearing on property rights, or the fact that the federal government has sent S.W.A.T. teams to collect a million dollar tax bill. Even famous “Negro” Wesley Snipes was politely led off to federal prison for a tax evasion of well over 2 million dollars.

Read more from this story HERE.

The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest

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Photo Credit: NYT

Photo Credit: NYT

The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, has lost that distinction.

While the wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.

After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.

The numbers, based on surveys conducted over the past 35 years, offer some of the most detailed publicly available comparisons for different income groups in different countries over time. They suggest that most American families are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality.

Although economic growth in the United States continues to be as strong as in many other countries, or stronger, a small percentage of American households is fully benefiting from it. Median income in Canada pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010 and has most likely surpassed it since then. Median incomes in Western European countries still trail those in the United States, but the gap in several — including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden — is much smaller than it was a decade ago.

Read more from this story HERE.

Oversight Member on Lois Lerner Coordination with DOJ: ‘Now I See Why IRS is Scared to Give Up Emails’

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Yuri Gripas

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Yuri Gripas

By Patrick Howley.

Key members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform expressed outrage at revelations made in newly released emails showing ex-IRS official Lois Lerner coordinating with the Department of Justice on prosecuting nonprofit groups.

One committee member said the emails prove why the IRS is “scared to give up the rest of Lois Lerner’s emails.” IRS commissioner John Koskinen was recently threatened with contempt for stonewalling the committee’s investigation. Koskinen claimed in a hearing that it could take years to provide the documents requested by Oversight.

“The release of new documents underscores the political nature of IRS Tea Party targeting and the extent to which supposed apolitical officials took direction from elected Democrats,” Oversight chairman Rep. Darrell Issa said in a statement. “These e-mails are part of an overwhelming body of evidence that political pressure from prominent Democrats led to the targeting of Americans for their political beliefs.”

“Now I see why the IRS is scared to give up the rest of Lois Lerner’s emails,” said Oversight Economic Growth subcommittee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP / Getty Images

Photo Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP / Getty Images

Lerner was in contact with DOJ about prosecuting tax-exempt groups

By Caroline May.

Former head of the IRS tax-exempt division Lois Lerner communicated with the Justice Department about the possibility of criminally prosecuting certain tax-exempt groups, new documents reveal.

According to the conservative government accountability group Judicial Watch, email exchanges between Lerner and Nikole C. Flax, the Chief of Staff to then-Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller, reveal there were discussions about possible prosecution of tax-exempt groups that were believed to have “lied” about political activities.

May 8, 2013: Lerner to Flax

I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ … He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folks could talk to about [Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon] Whitehouse idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who “lied” on their 1024s — saying they weren’t planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large visible political expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs. I told him that sounded like we might need several folks from IRS …

Read more from this story HERE.

Nevada Rancher: ‘The Founding Fathers Didn’t Create A Government Like This’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: George Frey / Getty Images

Photo Credit: George Frey / Getty Images

By CBS Las Vegas/AP.

A Nevada rancher said Monday he’s trying to determine if federal agents damaged his cattle when the animals were rounded up then released in a showdown with angry protesters over a decades-long dispute about rangeland rights.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze said the agency backed off to avoid a potentially violent situation over the weekend.

However, he vowed to go to court to collect more than $1 million in back grazing fees he says Cliven Bundy owes for trespassing on federal lands since the 1990s.

Bundy, whose family has operated a ranch since the 1870s southwest of Mesquite a few miles from the Utah line, does not recognize federal authority on the land that he insists belongs to Nevada.

On Saturday, the bureau released about 400 head of cattle it had seized from Bundy. The operation had been expected to take a month to collect as many as 900 cattle.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Rory Reid: Rancher Cliven Bundy “Should Be Prosecuted”

By Real Clear Politics.

RORY REID, SON OF SEN. HARRY REID: We believe in a country in which we are subject to laws and you can’t just ignore the laws we don’t like. I think clearly if state and local prosecutors look at this more closely, they’re going to find that he broke the law and he should be prosecuted.

Read more from this story HERE.

Washington Post Gives Obama 2 Pinocchios On 77¢ Gender Pay Gap Lie, But He Should Have Gotten Many More!

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

The ‘Fact Checker’ at the Washington Post isn’t terribly objective, which is why it only gave two “pinocchios” (a rating for how bad a lie is) to the Obama administration for it’s perpetual hoisting upon the American public of the 77¢ gender pay gap. Even so, it’s much more honest than many other liberal outlets who perpetuate the misleading claim:

Few experts dispute that there is a wage gap, but differences in the life choices of men and women — such as women tending to leave the workforce when they have children — make it difficult to make simple comparisons.

…Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis surveyed economic literature and concluded that “research suggests that the actual gender wage gap (when female workers are compared with male workers who have similar characteristics) is much lower than the raw wage gap.” They cited one survey, prepared in 2009 for the Labor Department, which concluded that when such differences are accounted for, much of the hourly wage gap dwindled, to about 5 cents on the dollar.

Read more from this story HERE.