Team Obama: Hey, All Those Ocare Premium Increases Are A Good Thing!

By William Teach August 27, 2016 – 7:19 am

While virtually everyone else is saying that the planned Obamacare premium hikes are a bad thing, Team Obama is spinning furiously

(IBD) This week Illinois’ insurance regulator said ObamaCare premiums in the state will jump as high as 55%. The Obama administration’s response to this and other news of massive rate hikes: Don’t worry. Be happy.

Anyone shopping for ObamaCare coverage in Illinois this fall is in for a big shock. The average increase for cheap Bronze plans is likely 44%. It’s 45% for the lowest-cost Silver plan, and 55% for the cheapest Gold plan.

These are the kinds of rate hikes individuals buying insurance will see across the country, as insurers who’ve suffered massive losses are getting huge double-digit premium increases approved by state regulators.

Fewer choices and higher costs are not what President Obama promised when he signed ObamaCare into law.

But now, in the face of this market meltdown, the Obama administration put out a report this week that says, if anything, massive rate hikes are good for ObamaCare enrollees.

The gist of the report is that enrollees won’t even notice the hikes, because their plans are subsidized, and even claims that the bigger the premium hike, the better it is, because Ocare was designed that way. They claim that the higher the premiums go, the more people will get the subsidies.

But this analysis leaves out two important groups: the taxpayers who must pay vastly increased subsidy costs, and the millions of people who aren’t eligible for any ObamaCare subsidies.

Since subsidy money doesn’t grow on trees, those huge rate increases will mean that ObamaCare costs far more than expected, which means taxpayers will have to fork over still more money to cover the subsidies.

Somebody has to pay for this, and it means either higher taxes, shifting money from other government projects, more debt, and/or lowered Ocare services.

Furthermore, roughly 10% receive no subsidies at all, and another 700,000 receive limited subsidies. Furthermore

What’s more, there are nearly 8 million who bought individual plans outside the ObamaCare exchanges. These plans have to comply with all the same ObamaCare rules and regulations, but aren’t eligible for any subsidies.

So, we have premiums going way up, health insurance providers dropping out left and right from Ocare, fewer doctors and medical facilities accepting Ocare, deductibles going up, and a host of other problems. The number of covered by Ocare is half of what was intended, and healthy people are still not joining. Kinda everything opponents said would happen.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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CNN Totally Debunks Hillary Health Conspiracy Or Something

By William Teach August 26, 2016 – 4:11 pm

Why? Because they’ve seen a letter from her doctor!

The new birthers: Debunking the Hillary Clinton health conspiracy

From Donald Trump and his top surrogates to the right-wing media and its engine rooms of outrage in the blogosphere, Hillary Clinton’s opponents are ramping up efforts to sow doubt over the candidate’s health.

Much in the way “birthers” (Trump was among the most prominent) sought similar ends by questioning President Barack Obama’s citizenship, the “healthers” are using junk science and conspiracy theories to argue that Clinton is suffering from a series of debilitating brain injuries.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday” this weekend, former New York City mayor and Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani first accused the mainstream media of hiding evidence, then encouraged doubters to “go online and put down ‘Hillary Clinton illness.'”

There is absolutely no credible evidence to backstop any of these claims, including on the “videos” Giuliani cited. Clinton’s physician — the only person to speak on the record who has actually examined her — has repeatedly affirmed the former secretary of state’s health and fitness for the highest office in the land.

So, let me ask: if only one person has spoken on the record, and hasn’t provided the same level of health records demanded of John McCain, then how do we know? This is the same CNN that ran multiple stories, both print and on TV, about this. For instance, Dr. Sanjay Gupta ran a special on April 1, 2008, all about McCain’s health.

And then this one: McCain faces questions on age, health. There were serious concerns over McCain’s past skin cancers and his age (it was a video no longer coming up).

And CNN wasn’t quite as accepting of what McCain’s doctor said, going as far as to note that “According to the American Cancer Society, such a melanoma would be classified as Stage IIA, which is associated with a five-year survival rate of about 78 percent and a 10-year survival rate of about 66 percent.” The article digs deep into his health.

And here we are again, in an article about McCain allowing a peek at his records: “McCain, a cancer survivor, is particularly under pressure to prove to the public that he is physically fit for office.”

Yet, with Hillary, CNN will not only take her word, they will defend her. Because there’s no reason to prove to the public that she is physically fit for the office, right?

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Posted in Hillary Clinton, Journalistic Malpractice | 15 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 26, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is a world turned to desert from carbon pollution, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Right Scoop, with a post on another crazy appearance by Sarah Palin.

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Bummer: 10 Things That “Could” Disappear Due To Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach August 26, 2016 – 10:30 am

The Climaprognosticators are at it again

10 Things That Could Disappear in Your Lifetime, Thanks to Climate Change

Though some American politicians continue to debate whether climate change is real, scientists have long sounded the warning bells that human-caused global warming is rapidly getting worse. Some warn that we may be close to the point of no return, leaving future generations to deal with the calamitous impacts of earth’s rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather patterns. (The most alarmist studies claim that climate change will usher in the sixth mass extinction). Unless our society can curb human emissions, here are 10 things that could be gone in the next century:

1. Your future income. Well, not literally all of your income — but a new report by Demos and NextGenClimate estimates that Millennials as a whole will lose up to $8.8 trillion if the world doesn’t act to stop climate change now. Demos president Heather McGhee told DemocracyNow.org that the study analyzed the financial cost of extreme weather events and curbed agriculture production, noting, “when temperatures rise over a certain point, GDP falls. And we know that when GDP falls, wages fall, jobs fall. “

It’s total doom, folks!

2. Pretty much all of America’s national parks. If you like nature, well, prepare to wish it farewell. The National Parks Service just turned 100, and according to a very scary article in theGuardian, it is now hurtling towards an untimely death:

Pretty much all of them! But, don’t say Warmists are hysterics.

3. Millions of people. An increase in extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires, and infections diseases means that more people are going to die unless we can reverse this trend. TheWorld Health Organization predicts, “Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year” from ailments like malnutrition, malaria, and heat waves.

Wait, I thought Warmists would be excited by this, because they keep saying the want population reduction. No?

Then we have

  • 4. The Maldives. Shocking. A place created by higher water levels could be inundated by higher water levels? Goodness!
  • 5. Coffee!!!!!! Total doom!
  • 6. Wine. Prices will totally soar, you know, because wine grapes can only be grown in exactly one climate
  • 7. And chocolate. Romance will totally be dead!!!!!
  • 8. Wild animals. Um, no. Polar bears are doing fine, and koalas have more to worry about from syphillus
  • 9. This village in Alaska. The climate must always stay exactly the same, like it’s done the last 4.5 billion years
  • 10. Most of our glaciers. Yeah, that’s what happens as a glacial period ends

It’s hard to take these nuts seriously, however, their policy prescriptions should be taken very seriously, because it will affect your money and personal liberty.

Read: Bummer: 10 Things That “Could” Disappear Due To Hotcoldwetdry »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Special Snowflakes Have Hissy Fit Over New Gender Confused Signs At UNC

By William Teach August 26, 2016 – 7:17 am

How important are the Bathrooms Wars? On a list of concerns of Americans, probably pretty low. Much like ‘climate change’. And, yes, illegal immigration. Things like the economy, jobs, and wages tend to rank higher. I’m sure you’re shocked.

Yet, these issues keep cropping up, making it into the news, which tends to avoid exposing just how poor the economy is right now. Also, it’s amusing watching these Special Snowflakes lose their minds

(Heat Street) Student activists at the University of North Carolina are hopping mad over the university’s decision to replace their all-gender-inclusive bathroom signs with more mundane ones that comply with federal guidelines. The new signs, the students complain, are not inclusive enough.

“I think people will look at the new signs and think they look similar because you can still use the bathroom whether you’re male or female in accordance with the new signs. But it blatantly excludes people that don’t conform to gender binaries,” student Regan Buchanan told the Daily Tarheel.

“Our old signs didn’t do that. They were inclusive of all gender identities and expressions,” she said.

A university spokesman tells the student paper that the signs at the Campus Y, described as a “safe space” for transgender students, were replaced as part of an effort to change the signage on 150 gender-neutral and single-stall bathrooms across the campus. The new signs feature universally recognized stick-figure symbols for males and females and are necessary because of the large number of international visitors to campus, the spokesman said.

This is what they are concerned with. The new signs are supposedly “hurtful.” Be afraid that these people will soon be released on the general population. They’ll soon be able to put their taxpayer subsidized degrees to use doing things like….well, who will actually hire them? They are a threat for problems and lawsuits.

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NY Times Openly Sides With Al Qaeda Over Club Gitmo

By William Teach August 26, 2016 – 7:02 am

Guantanamo Bay detention facility has long been a burr in the side of Democrats, as has the use of enhanced interrogation techniques used on members of the terrorist group al Qaeda, who, if Democrats would care to recall, attacked the United States on 9.11.2001, killing almost 3,000 people, not too mention all those who have become sick and even died later from all the pollutants released. They really, really want it closed, and the Islamic jihadis sent off to rejoin the battlefield, to the extent of taking the side of the terrorists, as the NY Times Editorial Board shows

A Stark Reminder of Guantánamo’s Sins

It is haunting, maddening even, to revisit the facts of Abu Zubaydah’s time in American custody more than 14 years after he was detained in Pakistan in the frenzied period following the Sept. 11 attacks. Abu Zubaydah, the first prisoner known to have been waterboarded by the Central Intelligence Agency, loomed large in America’s imagination for years as the personification of evil.

On Tuesday, a small group of human rights advocates and journalists got a fleeting glimpse of Abu Zubaydah — the first since his detention — when he appeared before a panel of government officials to argue that he would not be a threat to the United States if he were released from the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba. The hearing, which civilians were allowed to watch part of from a live video feed, is an opportunity to reflect on the shameful tactics employed during years of national panic about terrorism and to reinvigorate efforts to close the prison.

Was waterboarding necessary? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But, it was in the backdrop of

And this

Images that Leftists would prefer not be remembered. The utter evil of al Qaeda and people like Abu Zubaydah

Years later, it became clear that Abu Zubaydah wasn’t a top figure in Al Qaeda after all. It also became clear that he had willingly provided insights into terrorist groups when he was interrogated by F.B.I. agents, who treated him cordially. By the time he was turned over to the C.I.A., his knowledge about threats to the United States appears to have been largely exhausted. Yet agency personnel insisted on the need for torture, waterboarding him at least 83 times and subjecting him to other cruelty.

The Times forgot to mention a few things. Abu was, in fact, a big shot al Qaeda member, involved in training, intelligence, and planning. The CIA and FBI under Bill Clinton saw him as a trusted aid to Osama Bin Laden and as having played a key part in the 1998 US embassy bombing in Tanzania and Kenya. He is woven all through the pre-9/11 intelligence. This guy is a very bad dude. And the NY Times is taking his side because he was interrogated with harsh techniques.

Never charged and never tried, Abu Zubaydah has also never been allowed to speak publicly about his ordeal. His American abusers have never been held to account.

President Obama is likely to leave office having failed to close Guantánamo, which he promised to do when he ran for office in 2008, calling it an insult to the Constitution and American values. He has, however, made significant headway in winnowing down the detainee population. Only 61 of the 780 men who have been detained in Guantánamo remain.

And hundreds have returned to the battlefield. Perhaps Obama would be OK with a detention facility near his out-of-office house?

The two people seeking Mr. Obama’s job have staked out opposite positions on Guantánamo. Donald Trump has vowed to keep the prison open, expand it and “bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.” Hillary Clinton has rightly concluded that “over the years, Guantánamo has inspired more terrorists than it has imprisoned.” That outcome could well have been avoided if men like Abu Zubaydah hadn’t been tortured, and if they had been given a chance to contest their detention in a court of law.

Poll after poll sees Americans support keeping Gitmo open. Poll after poll shows Americans support enhanced interrogation of terrorists. It’s only in Progressive World where they are worried about the feelings of stone cold jihadis, to the point of taking their side.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

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Most Americans Won’t Act On Climate Change, And The Media Is To Blame Or Something

By William Teach August 25, 2016 – 4:10 pm

No, really. So says the ever wacky, cultish leaning, George Soros financed Think Progress (btw, Joe Romm’s Climate Progress has totally been subsumed, and is now just a little tab at the website, rather than a huge part)

Most Americans Won’t Act On Climate. The News Probably Isn’t Helping.
A new study suggests some journalists are missing a key piece of the story.

While a growing number of Americans acknowledge the climate is changing, the issue generally ranks low among voters’ concerns. A scant few have bothered to contact a government official to press for action on global warming.

This is a point of frustration for organizers and academics alike, who contend that lawmakers will only pass strong policies when Americans demand it, and Americans will only demand it if they believe they can affect the political process. At the root of all this grumbling is the question of empowerment. How do you empower citizens to pick up their phones and call their elected officials?

A new study published in the journal PLOS One investigates the effect of news coverage on feelings of empowerment — what social scientists call efficacy.Their findings suggest reporters are missing a key piece of the story.

Most of it is typical gobbledegook we see from Warmists who keep wondering “why the hell does no one care about this?”

Generally speaking, news about climate change does little to promote efficacy. Feldman and Hart’s prior work looked at print and TV news stories on global warming. In the periods studied, doom and gloom dominated coverage—climate change would flood cities, dry rivers and extinguish supplies of coffee beans and avocados. Little of the reporting focused on what people could do to shape climate policy.

Notice, this is all about passing polices that affect Other People. When I see something like “act”, I think of something I can do in my own life. Members of the Cult Of Climastrology think “what can I do to make other people act on my beliefs.”

Read: Most Americans Won’t Act On Climate Change, And The Media Is To Blame Or Something »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach August 25, 2016 – 1:00 pm

…is an ocean angry because Other People refuse to take 2 minute showers, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Intellectual Takeout, with a post on the U of Chicago pushing back on trigger warnings.

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Study: On ‘Climate Change’, Biofuels Worse Than Gasoline

By William Teach August 25, 2016 – 10:21 am

Well, this is a hell of a thing

(Detroit Free Press) The multi-billion-dollar U.S. biofuels industry — promoted and expanded for over a decade by the federal government — may be built on a false assumption, according to a new University of Michigan study published today that is sure to stir all sides in the contentious debate over the industry.

Despite their purported advantages, biofuels created from crops such as corn or soybeans cause the emission of more climate change-causing carbon dioxide than gasoline, according to the study from U-M Energy Institute research professor John DeCicco.

The study is the latest salvo in the expanding battle over whether biofuels, and the farmland increasingly devoted to them, are actually providing the environmental and climate benefits many expected.

Reading on, once the entire life-cycle of biofuels is factored, it is worse for “carbon emissions” than gasoline. Not discussed is whether any of them actually make much of a difference in causing the current Holocene warm period, but, that is a debate for a different day.

There’s also a handy dandy graphic of where corn is going

Also not discussed in the article is the notion that using food for fuel is a bad idea, something even the NY Times noticed a few years back. Using more and more of it helps increase the costs of other foods. Perhaps it is time that the federal and state governments, along with both Republican and Democratic supporters, jump off the food for fuel bandwagon.

Read: Study: On ‘Climate Change’, Biofuels Worse Than Gasoline »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Surprise: Cult Of Climastrology Blames Italy Earthquake On ‘Climate Change’

By William Teach August 25, 2016 – 8:13 am

One of the hallmarks of a cult is their opposition to independent thought, which the further threat to remove any who question the dogma. Then there’s the group think and cognitive dissonance. A focus on an imagined enemy. And let’s not forget circular logic and magical think where everything is linked to their pet cause

People are searching for answers after an earthquake in Italy left hundreds dead, and naturally people are looking to the Internet for guidance. So, did climate change cause the Italy earthquake? While mainstream science is starting to link climate change with earthquakes, the geophysical feedback mechanisms that are in play in a warming climate aren’t well-understood yet.

Back to those studies linking earthquakes to climate change: most of them focus on how earthquakes can add to the greenhouse gas effect feeding into global warming. For example, methane release can occur if the earthquake takes place in an area with a large amount of methane gas pockets, or in areas where fracking is occurring.

The notion of melting glaciers and land rebound are mentioned, but, of course, the article ends with a “we just don’t know right now” after pretty much implying that it was ‘climate change.’ Then we have this

https://twitter.com/JatikaSpeaks/status/768578291624271872

https://twitter.com/Atmvn/status/768539328964358144

https://twitter.com/Mzcoach/status/768565465534705664

https://twitter.com/Poltics1345/status/768524675387392000

Sigh. There is a plate boundary that runs right through Italy, where the African plate is diving under the European plate. This is why rock from the African plate shows up in the Matterhorn. The plate is creating the Alps. This is the cause of the earthquakes. Hey, don’t ask me, ask a geologist

A geologist in Poland says that the magnitude 6 earthquake in central Italy was caused by the slow but constant under-surface movement of the African Plate toward Europe.

Jerzy Zaba of the Silesian University in Katowice, in southern Poland, said Wednesday that a wedge-shaped front of the African Plate is pressing into the Eurasian Plate in the Adriatic Sea region and pushes into the neighboring regions, like Italy’s Apennine Mountains. The tension that accumulates leads to a sudden release in the form of under-surface rock movement that causes earth tremors.

Zaba told Polish PAP agency that the African Plate is moving northwards at the speed of up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) a year.

Cults like to assign the causes of disasters to the actions of their deities or boogeymen.

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Posted in Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 10 Comments | Trackback URL
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