Via Rockytoppolitics.com

But why now?Haslam has been “negotiating” this abomination for the last 18 months, so why would he not wait a few more weeks to see if it is necessary and/or feasible (not to mention more substantive and documented)? The answer is that a handful of the biggest hospitals –who stand to collect the overwhelming lion’s share of the taxpayer-paid windfall – would find themselves in a much weaker position to con the legislators into going along with Haslam.

But why now?

Let’s be even more specific: The biggest stockholder of the biggest hospitals is the Frist family (HCA). The Frists could lose money if the legislature doesn’t play ball, meaning less money for them to dump into their pet projects like Common Core, etc. And let us not forget, it was Bill Frist who came out publicly in support of Obamacare after every single Republican in Congress voted against it.

“Health Care Reform Watch: Former Republican Senator Bill Frist Likes ObamaCare — a Lot”Kinda all comes together when you follow the money, doesn’t it?

As the late Paul Harvey used to say: “and now you know the rest of the story…”

Don’t be a sucker.
Read the rest here...

Several Republican governors are considering implementing, or have implemented, ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion in their states. Indiana’s Mike Pence is the latest, announcing a new deal this week that abandons conservative principles by adding 400,000 able-bodied adults to the Medicaid rolls, costing taxpayers $3 billion a year.



But one of the first such deal-makers was Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who announced right before Christmas that he had a verbal commitment from the Obama administration to expand Medicaid subject to some changes.



But Mr. Haslam’s announcement was only the first step. Thanks to a law passed last year, Tennessee lawmakers must sign off on any expansion of Medicaid. On Monday the legislature will convene in a special session to debate the governor’s plan, called Insure Tennessee. Their decision could have a big influence on what other Republican states might do.

       


 Tennessee’s plan would make eligible for Medicaid an additional 400,000 Tennesseans earning about $16,000 a year, as well as an additional 125,000- 150,000 who are already paying for health insurance through their employer. Enrollees would have two options: traditional Medicaid with meager premiums and copays, and a so-called private option under which they would receive a subsidy to pay for insurance through their employer.

Certain provisions in his Medicaid proposal—such as requesting enrollees contribute toward their own coverage and offering premium assistance—have led Mr. Haslam to sell it as “market-driven” and “outcome-based.” Yet, these provisions are already available in the Medicaid program. Despite this free-market gloss, there is nothing fundamentally different between Mr. Haslam’s plan and the type of Medicaid expansion ObamaCare architects envisioned in 2009.



Insure Tennessee faces many of the same pitfalls as any expansion of Medicaid, and includes some additional problems of its own. Here are five important things to know:



Read the rest here...

Via Gatewaypundit.com

A student at New Mexico State University sent this email he/she received from the Student Services Office. The email is promoting Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The school is also encouraging non-citizens to apply. This comes from the student at NMSUA in Alamogordo, New Mexico. 

Note the last line of the email: Many non-citizens may be eligible! 

Read the rest here...

Via Gatewaypundit.com

Michael Brown robbed a local Ferguson convenience store shortly before his death. Then Brown smashed police officer Darren Wilson in the face and wrestled the officer for his gun before he was shot dead.

On Monday November 24, 2014 Brown’s stepdad Louis Head incited a riot in Ferguson, Missouri after the announcement of no indictment against Officer Darren Wilson.
Head repeatedly told the protesters to, “Burn this b*tch down!”


At least 18 businesses were torched to the ground and several more were looted and vandalized after Mr. Head’s comments.

Officer Darren Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing in the case.

But that won’t stop Ben & Jerry’s co-founders from pressuring franchise owners to sell #BlackLivesMatter swag at their stores.

Read the rest here...

Via The Jackson Press
Written by  Selwyn Duke

Imagine you get into a loud argument in your home with an adult son. Though it’s resolved peacefully, the police had been called.

They then confiscate your legal firearms and ammunition — valued at $100,000.

Even though you’ve been convicted of nothing.

Even though you weren’t even charged.

And here’s the kicker: The police say they’re going to keep your property.

This is exactly what disabled 9/11 ex-New York City firefighter Marc Weinstein alleges happened to him, in a lawsuit, Weinstein v. Krumpter, et al., he filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York.

On February 25, 2014, Weinstein got into a loud dispute with his son over the use of a washing machine in his Baldwin, New York, home in Nassau County. “There was shouting between them,” contends the suit, “but no violence, no threats of violence, and no brandishing of weapons.” Nonetheless, the elder Weinstein’s wife called the police — a decision they both, apparently, would come to regret.

The suit further states that the Nassau County Police arrived, found “the home at peace, spoke with the wife and son and found that the argument had been peaceably resolved.” This didn’t stop the cops, however, from asking to see Weinstein’s handgun permit and demanding he give them his registered weapons. Weinstein refused — and the police left. But that wasn’t the end of it.

Three hours later, the ex-firefighter found himself confronted by five armed officers. And even though they had no warrant, they stated that Weinstein would be arrested unless he surrendered his expensive collection of firearms and ammunition. He reluctantly complied, he says, “under duress.” American Thinker’s Michael Filozof reports on the rest of the story, writing:

Read the rest here...

Previous You Thought You Were Free posts...
 
Judges May Not Be Affiliated With Boys Scouts of America

"You Thought You Were Free?" : 7 Children Taken from Parents During Search for "Miracle" Treatment Chemical

Via Zerohedge.com
We are raised with pretty standard ideals of what the world is meant to be but these ideals seem to take place only in the movies.  It must be incredibly difficult for our young people to reconcile the two worlds, I know it is for me.  That which they learn as a child and that which they find has replaced it as a young adult.  Our ‘leaders’ our despicable arrogant and egotistical fools who pretend we elect them because we don’t see them for what they are.  But we elect them because we feel we have no choice.  We know what we want the world to be.  We know what it should look and feel like.  And we know it is not the world in which we live today.  “I know I’d like to change the world but I don’t know how and so I’ll leave it up to you”.  And so we continue to move forward down this path each step uneasy as though something ungood is lurking just around the next corner.

We are able to put that feeling out of our minds for the most part but our subconscious is always aware that things are off.  

Read the rest here...

Leaving that job up to someone else ins't working. What are you doing to change the world? Posting, sending emails, and tweeting doesn't solve problems, it's just venting. You have to actually engage in the system you have access to which is local government...but you don't have time...your too busy taking the kids to dance/soccer/band practice, going to the movies/football/basketball games,  watching the Walking Dead/Breaking Bad/ Game of Thrones, etc. meanwhile...Rome is burning....it starts with you and the only people thinking your engagement won't change anything are the ones that aren't engaged...

We are the ones we have been waiting for....now do something!

Washington (CNN)The U.S. military and intelligence community now suspect that one of the five Taliban detainees released from Guantanamo Bayin return for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in May of last year has attempted to return to militant activity from his current location in Qatar, CNN has learned exclusively.

The development has led to an ongoing debate inside the administration about whether there is a new threat from this man, and potentially the other four.

This is the first known suggestion that any of the detainees involved in the exchange may be trying to engage again in militant activity. It comes at a politically sensitive time as the administration has quickened the pace of prisoner release in an effort to encourage the closure of the Guantanamo, and the Army must decide in the coming weeks whether and how to punish Bergdahl for leaving his post.

Read the rest here...

Researching some of the states who had previously refused to expand Medicaid under the Unaffordable Care Act is like reading the same book over and over. They all have benevolent sounding names and have no mention of the phrase MEDICAID EXPANSION because in the eyes of elected officials...what you don't know won't hurt you...

Reading through the different links, I even heard a similar phrase that a particular Shelby County Commissioner used during a meeting when fretting about not wanting to pass a resolution of support for expanding Medicaid in Tn to Governor Haslam...saying "I don't like this anymore than you do and I'm just trying to make lemonade out of lemons".

Wow...does the Republican Governor's Association have a journolisting group? (Go here if you don't know what journolisting is). There are talking points for states that need to snow their voters into thinking they are not expanding Medicaid when in the truth is they are expanding medicaid and ALL the "Republican" governors are using them.

Some common words and phrases you will hear from Republican Governors trying to put lipstick on a (Medicaid Expansion) pig....

• Free market solution (Hmmm Medicaid & free market are polar opposites)
  
• Personal responsiblity (by taking taxes paid by others for your benefit?)
  
• Personal accountability  (HOW? THERE IS NEVER ANY ACCOUNTABILITY)
  
• Conservative approach  (Jeb Bush Conservative maybe)
  
• State specific (It's Tennessee specific, it's unique to Tn, created by Pennsylvania for Pennsylvania) you get the idea...
  
• Market-based Alternative  (this would require the government getting the HE!! out of the way, that isn't happening for the foreseeable future)
  

Florida.....A Healthy Florida Works   Proponents have presented the plan as a “free market” solution that promotes “personal accountability” 

Tennessee....INSURE TN    Insure Tennessee, as introduced in concept, promotes personal responsibility and helps control the overall cost of healthcare in Tennessee by introducing private market principles to Medicaid.  Haslam touts his “verbal agreement” with the Obama administration as a “market-based Tennessee solution.” Haslam touts his “verbal agreement” with the Obama administration as a “market-based Tennessee solution.” Haslam touts his “verbal agreement” with the Obama administration as a “market-based Tennessee solution.” 

Indiana....Healthy Indiana 2.0   State can begin covering our uninsured working poor the Indiana way, based on personal responsiblity and consumer-driven health care," Pence said. 

Pennsylvania....Healthy PA      plan that was created in Pennsylvania, for Pennsylvania - a plan that would allow us to reform a financially unsustainable Medicaid program and increase access to health care for eligible individuals through the private market...

Michigan....Healthy Michigan     patient-centered healthcare plan that would allow us to capitalize on our free market system and provide better quality, less expensive healthcare to Michigan’s residents while boosting our economy

Utah.....Healthy Utah  Governor Herbert apparently thinks he can play the same games that were used in Arkansas, spinning his Medicaid expansion as a “market-based alternative” instead of a broadening of ObamaCare.

Idaho.....Medicaid Redesign   Redesign Medicaid, lower the burden on Idaho taxpayers, provide health care coverage to 150,000 Idahoans and save $85 million by eliminating county and state programs that care for a small fraction of indigent patients, expand the care for the mentally ill, and create a more efficient, effective Medicaid program.