IDF Humanitarian Delegation to the Philippines

This is awesome:

Youth Pastor Daniel Diaz Shot to Death by Lone Gunman in Pomona

It's a pretty rough neighborhood out that way.

At LAT, "Pastor's slaying is latest in a year of violence for Pomona":

Eddie Reyes was just a 12-year-old in the school lunch line when Daniel Diaz shook his hand, introduced himself and asked Reyes about God.

Twenty years after the pair first met, Diaz was still reaching out to young people. His ability to connect with youths took the longtime friends to the corner of Park and Mayfair avenues in Pomona on Nov. 11, where police say Diaz was shot to death by a lone gunman on foot.

Diaz's killing — just hours after about 200 people gathered for an anti-violence rally at Ganesha High School in Pomona — was the latest in what police and community leaders are calling the worst year of violence in the city's recent history.

"I'm just kind of in disbelief," said Connie Jimenez, whose son Carlos was killed in a still-unsolved homicide in May 2011. "It's a cycle."

Diaz was shot about 12:45 a.m. Monday. He was a passenger in Reyes' car while the pair dropped off three boys who are a part of Diaz's youth ministry at New Beginnings Community Church in Baldwin Park. The group was celebrating Reyes' 32nd birthday and one of the boys' recent graduation from a youth program. Diaz had turned 33 a week earlier.

According to police, someone ran up to the passenger-side door and unloaded four shots into Diaz. No one else in the vehicle was hit, and police have no explanation for the killing. Friends and family say Diaz had no enemies.

"The individual that was out there that night was some lost young soul," Reyes said. Diaz's "entire purpose was to inspire them to not go in that direction."

Over the last two years, Pomona has seen a sharp increase in homicides, reversing years of decline in a city once known for its crime rate and gang wars. There have been at least 24 homicides in Pomona this year, according to the Times Homicide Report.

"There's no way to overlook the fact that we've had a significant increase in gun violence and homicides," said Pomona police Lt. Eddie Vazquez. "All of our other crimes, assaults, thefts, burglaries are all down … but homicides are up."

A majority of the victims of this year's violence have been documented gang members, Vazquez said.

Continue reading.

More at the Times Homicide Report.

USC Interim Coach Ed Orgeron Makes Loud Statement with Trojans' Dramatic 20-17 Win Over Stanford

It was something else.

Funny video too, of Lee Corso's prediction of a USC victory.

At LAT, "Ed Orgeron makes loud statement to stay as USC football coach":

The deep green Coliseum field turned cardinal and gold, swarmed by thousands of fans, enveloped in thousands of screams, a heart of Trojans nation beating together in dizzy disbelief.

In the middle stood one sweating man who was somehow bigger than all of it, his giant white-sleeved arms raised above his giant smile, his massive shoulders carrying this bear of a victory.

He was rocked, he was hugged, he was loved like no man has been loved here since the early days of Pete Carroll.

He is Coach Ed Orgeron, and he orchestrated and inspired USC's stunning 20-17 last-second victory over fifth-ranked Stanford on Saturday night in such a way that every question about his brief but dazzling tenure was answered but one.

Will he be allowed to keep his job?

After Andre Heidari kicked a 47-yard field goal with 19 seconds remaining to give the Trojans their biggest victory in several years, one more startling question dominated the postgame celebration.

If the Trojans win their final two games, against Colorado and UCLA, then win their bowl game, how can they let Coach O go?

As the pressure lifts from a USC team that has joyfully won five of six games since Orgeron replaced Lane Kiffin this fall, the pressure mounts on Athletic Director Pat Haden to remove Orgeron's interim tag and allow this crazy Trojans rebirth to continue.

Actually, if you listen to one of Saturday's defensive heroes, freshman Su'a Cravens, the pressure begins now.

“Coach O needs to be here next year … we want Coach O next year,” Cravens said after his fourth-quarter interception set up the game-winning drive. “Forget the hiring, forget all that. We got Coach O and that's all we need.”

Continue reading.

Also, "Andre Heidari's foot doesn't fail USC in 20-17 upset of No.5 Stanford."

Sunday #Rule5

Here's the long-awaited Rule 5 roundup I've been meaning to get posted (my last roundup is here).

I've been busy with semester grading, plus I'm going to be speaking on campus next week on the left's attacks on the Koch brothers' group, ALEC. So, I'm sadly behind on the lovely babe blogging.

Here's last week's entry at the Other McCain, to get things rolling, "Rule 5 Sunday: Double-Stuf Veterans Day Weekend Edition." (And click over there for updates.)

Now, over at Pirate's Cove, "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup," and "If All You See……is a wonderful wooden bench made to overlook a changing climate which changes because someone cut down a tree to make the evil bench, you might just be a Warmist."

And at Camp of the Saints, "Rule 5 News: 09 November 2013 A.D."

From Wirecutter, "Your (Belated) Good Morning Girl."

Also Daley Gator, "DaleyGator DaleyBabes: Stephanie Fantauzzi."

And In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World has the "Friday Pinups."

EBL has, "Retro Halloween Advertisement Rule 5."

Now from Wine, Women, and Politics as well, "The Weekend Sweetie Pics."

From Blackmailers Don't Shoot, "Pretty Girls on a Thursday, Rima Fakih Edition."

And from the Regular Right Guy, "Shocker! Miley Cyrus Smokes Dope!!!"

Plus, from Drunken Stepfather, "Steplinks of the Day."

And at a View From the Beach, "Shockingly, Brazilian Model Admits to Horrible Taste in Men, Music."

At 90 Miles From Tyranny, "Morning Mistress," and "Girls With Guns."

And at Randy’s Roundtable, "Thursday Nite Tart - Nell McAndrew."

Postal Dogs, "Rule 5 Sunday: Ella, pt. 2."

Subject to Change, "Melons."

At Proof Positive, "SF 49er's Vs. New Orleans Saints," and "Best of the Web* Linkaround."

More at Reaganite Republican, "B-League Beauty Pageants: 'Miss Bikini Universe 2013'!"

Also at Odie's, "Shampoo ~OR~ Rule 5 Woodsterman Style."

First Street Journal has, "Rule 5 Blogging: Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson."

At COED, "Happy Birthday to Gemma Atkinson! [PHOTOS]" (via Linkiest).

Good Stuff's has "Elly Tran Ha."

See also, the Hostages, "Big Boob Friday," and "Big Boob Eva Wants to Know if You’re In."

Plus, special guest star, Blazing Cat Fur, "Attention Agriculturists : German Farm Girls Calendar 2014 Is Here."

Drop your links in the comments of I've missed your Rule 5.

Until then...

Diamond-Studded Nancy Pelosi Lies Her Way Through 'Meet the Press' Interview on #ObamaCare

A bloody, bald-face liar who spews incoherent untruths without a hint of self-awareness or remorse.

She's absolutely infuriating, but the complete and utter meltdown of the Democrat Party is the gift that keeps on giving.

At Twitchy, "Bless her lying heart! Nancy Pelosi ‘stands tall’ for Obamacare lies; Throws Dems under the bus?"

@NancyPelosi on @MeetthePress in her huge diamond earrings talking about "affordable' health care.

— Dana French (@DanaBordeaux) November 17, 2013

More here, "Side-splitting ‘hoop-dee-do!’ Nancy Pelosi’s most idiotic Obamacare defense yet?"

And at Free Beacon, "Pelosi Gets Grilled Over False Obamacare Promises on ‘Meet the Press’."



More from Doug Powers, at Michelle's, "Nancy Pelosi tries to insist ‘if you like your plan you can keep it’ wasn’t untrue, fails miserably." And at Conservative Intelligence Briefing, "Pelosi’s painful, embarrassing re-write of her own promise on health care."

Yes, painful.

But the congressional painkiller elections are less than one year away. It's going to be a Democrat bloodbath.

#ObamaCare's Launch Debacle Could Haunt for Years to Come

From John Judis, at the New Republic, "If You Believe in Government, You Should Be Furious About Obamacare's Incompetent Rollout":

Since the country’s founding, Americans have always had an abiding distrust of the federal government. In the country’s first fifty years, that probably had a progressive effect by accelerating Westward economic expansion, but after the Civil War, business and banking leaders exploited this sentiment to block attempts to protect workers and consumers; later, the appeal to state’s rights was used to oppose civil rights laws.

It has taken panics, depressions, wars and social upheaval to get Congress to adopt social and economic reforms. At all other times, the publics’ distrust of government, as reinforced by business, has carried the day. Bill Clinton discovered that out in his first term when he tried to pass a national healthcare program. Obama succeeded in passing a health care bill in 2010 in the wake of the Great Recession. But if Obamacare doesn’t work as promised, then its failure will have reinforced for a generation the argument against any government initiatives. Reform will be dead – whether it’s to fix immigration, healthcare, or the growing gap between rich and poor.

There are already clear warning signs. In the Gallup surveys of public trust in government, Americans’ confidence in the federal government already hit an all-time low in September. Indications are that it has continued to fall.  This lack of confidence initially reflected disillusionment with Congress over the Republican shutdown, but the Obamacare’s current problems will deepen the public’s distrust of government. In 1828, perhaps, such distrust a rising farm economy that needed the kind of easy credit that a national bank was unwilling to provide. But in 2013, it will doom the country to inaction.

The Obama administration still has a chance to turn this situation around, but it doesn’t have long. George W. Bush eventually got the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the ground in the New Orleans after Katrina, but the damage to Bush’s political reputation lingered on. If there are still stories of snafus with the Affordable Care Act six months from now, the Democrats are going to suffer the consequences in November 2014. And the country could suffer for years to come.

I don't read Judis very often, but what's interesting about this is that he's sympathetic to big government while simultaneously sounding its obituary. It's a theme across the spectrum at this point, and after reading a number of pessimistic analyses, I don't hold out much hope that the fixes are going to work. Republicans can and should help reduce the pain of ObamaCare, but in the end, it's going to take GOP congressional majorities with the Republican in the White House to fix this mess once and for all.

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

Bwahaha!! White House Optimistic it Will Bounce Back From Healthcare 'Glitches'

This is hilarious!

At the Los Angeles Times, "Despite President Obama's sharp drop in the polls, staffers believe a fix to the failed online insurance marketplace will bring healing":

WASHINGTON — He's vented, attacked, apologized and adjusted. Now, President Obama has one move left in his attempt to salvage the rollout of his healthcare law: hope the website works soon.

The White House, knowing a functional website is needed to calm its panicky allies, has now entered the wait-and-see period of its triage after the turmoil that has followed the Oct. 1 rollout. With the latest fix to the law unveiled, a bruising House vote behind them and experts working feverishly on the broken website, administration officials believe they may have weathered the worst.

Although Obama's standing in polls and support within his party have dropped sharply, much like the downward trajectory of George W. Bush's second term, White House officials believe he can still recover.

That optimistic assessment depends almost entirely on the administration's ability to reboot healthcare.gov, the once-hyped online insurance marketplace now undergoing extensive repair. At stake are the future of the president's signature domestic achievement, his political standing and reelection prospects for vulnerable Democrats in Congress.

If the administration meets its goal of a mostly glitch-free site by the end of November, the last two months may be remembered as just another near-death experience for a healthcare overhaul that has had many. Even though many insurance executives and congressional Democrats are angry at Obama for his handling of the healthcare law, both groups have strong incentives to help the Affordable Care Act succeed.

But if the White House fails, the recent setbacks could become the beginning of years of trouble for Democrats in office, as well as those seeking to get there, officials concede.

Administration officials privately acknowledge that no argument defending Obamacare will connect with Americans until they begin to see the effects of the law at work. No work-around or temporary fix will reach enough people to build a critical mass of support. The website has to function, admit edgy aides who sometimes spit the word "website" with the contempt familiar to anyone who has ever called a tech help desk.

Obama revealed his own frustrations Thursday, saying at a White House news conference that he has an obligation to show Americans that the law has made health insurance more affordable and accessible — "if we can just get the darn website working and smooth this thing out."

Officials said Friday they were making progress on the site's many glitches and bugs. It now takes less than one second, on average, to load a page, down from eight seconds in the weeks after the launch, said Jeffrey Zients, a former top administration official who was brought back to oversee the repairs. The site can "comfortably" handle 20,000 to 25,000 consumers at the same time and more capacity is being added, he said.

Still, problems persist in the system that sends consumer information to insurers, and as experts have ticked off 200 software problems, more continue to pop up. Zients said the officials expect to make the Nov. 30 goal, but added: "Not all consumers going on the website will have a seamless experience."

While the tech team works, the president must convince his allies as well as his potential adversaries that, as he said Thursday, he's a clutch player who knows how to recover from a fumble.

That group includes insurance executives who were called to the White House on Friday to discuss Obama's answer to the millions of policy cancellation notices sent to surprised consumers. After announcing Thursday that he would allow insurers to rescind those cancellations and extend the policies for another year, the president sought to persuade the executives to take him up on the offer.

The group also includes Democrats on Capitol Hill, many of whom have gone from disgruntled to distrustful of the White House. On Friday, 39 House Democrats voted for the GOP alternative to Obama's extension fix.

That sizable number of largely swing-district lawmakers was only the most visible sign of broader dissatisfaction that makes Obama's current holding pattern a challenge. Even those who stuck with the White House on Friday's vote have expressed frustration. In the wake of Obama's announcement, lawmakers were left to figure out whether their state officials and insurers would go along with the plan. Skepticism was high.

"The message from the White House is, 'OK, you can be mad, it's frustrating. But be on the program,'" said one advisor to a House Democrat, who asked for anonymity while characterizing internal discussions. "But what program is that? The program where every five minutes there's a different plan?"

IMAGE CREDIT: The People's Cube.

Another One! Las-Vegas Review Journal Calls for Full-Blown #ObamaCare Repeal!

Here's the earlier editorial, "Whoa! Chicago Tribune Calls for Full-Blown #ObamaCare Repeal!"

And now from the LVRJ, "Obamacare Woes Beg for Repeal":

Congressional Democrats can’t run away from this mess fast enough, as evidenced by the number of partisans proposing or supporting legislation to let individuals keep their current plans — which led to the president’s Hail Mary on Thursday. At this point, however, it’s impossible to fix that broken promise. The insurance industry, which has spent all year entirely remodeling plans to become Obamacare compliant, can’t turn it all back around in just 45 days and is furious with being scapegoated into trying to do so. An industry insider told BuzzFeed.com, “This doesn’t change anything other than force insurers to be the political flak jackets for the administration.”

Said Karen Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans: “Changing the rules after health plans have already met the requirements of the law could destabilize the market and result in higher premiums for consumers.”

As the guys in those Guinness commercials would say, “Brilliant!” Obamacare policy premiums in many cases were already going to cost significantly more money; this “fix” could cause even bigger increases. The law is so deeply flawed, with so many components in direct conflict with one another, that tweaking just one part will accelerate its collapse.

The Obamacare debacle is just getting started — and it only gets worse from here. Repeal and replace.

Billionaire Socialist George Soros to Spend Millions on 2014 Democrat 'Big Data' Effort

Obviously, panic on the left is reaching defcon levels.

At the New York Times, "Groups Mobilize to Aid Democrats in ’14 Data Arms Race":

Liberal and Democratic-leaning groups, facing difficult midterm elections next year without the technological muscle of the Obama campaign behind them, are preparing a major effort to improve their data infrastructure.

George Soros, the retired hedge fund billionaire and longtime patron of liberal causes, will invest $2.5 million in the effort, officials involved with the plan said. His participation is a signal that some of the wealthy donors who arrived late to the Democrats’ “super PAC” efforts in 2012 are committing early for the next round.

The initiative opens a new front in the “big data” arms race between the left and the right, as the Republican Party and conservative outside groups pour money into political technology after a presidential campaign in which they were badly outmatched.

President Obama’s campaign spent tens of millions of dollars building a program to identify likely supporters and to motivate them with ads, social media efforts and get-out-the-vote messages. But the data experts and engineers who built Mr. Obama’s tech programs have largely moved into the private sector. And the president’s political organization faces an uncertain future: Reborn after Election Day as a tax-exempt advocacy group, it has struggled to translate Mr. Obama’s millions of supporters into an effective tool for advancing his agenda on issues like guns and immigration.

More important, some Democrats said, is that they are unsure how big a role Mr. Obama’s organization can — or will — play in 2014. Those involved with the new effort say they are not waiting to find out. The initiative, as yet unnamed, will be based at Catalist, a for-profit cooperative founded in 2006 by Harold Ickes, a former aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton, and others.

Details of the effort were presented this week at a Washington conference of the Democracy Alliance, a coalition of some of the country’s biggest liberal givers, which works to steer money and to coordinate political work among advocacy groups. Mr. Soros and other alliance donors were early investors in Catalist, and many of the groups funded by the alliance now buy data from it.

On Thursday, boldfaced names of the Democratic donor world mingled at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel with rising Democratic stars like Wendy Davis, a contender for the Texas governor’s race, and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has been urged by some supporters to consider a presidential bid. Ms. Warren gave a speech touching on Republican efforts to filibuster Mr. Obama’s judicial nominees and the drive to bring intellectual diversity to the federal bench, attendees said, and was warmly received.

“She’s been a darling here since the first time she came,” said Rob McKay, the alliance’s chairman.

The conference will also feature the installation of Gara LaMarche, a veteran of liberal philanthropy, as the alliance’s new president. In an interview, Mr. LaMarche said the alliance hoped to expand its donor base and double its giving over the next several years, in part for a major new effort to expand the liberal political infrastructure at the state level, where conservatives and Republicans have won a series of political and policy victories.

“There is a lot of feeling in this room that the states are where the focus should be,” Mr. LaMarche said.

Improving Catalist was part of that drive, alliance officials said. The group serves as a kind of data hub for dozens of labor unions, liberal advocacy groups and super PACs, maintaining a shared national voter file that is continually updated with commercial and consumer data. Catalist was also involved in the governor’s election this month in Virginia and in the victorious mayoral campaign of Bill de Blasio in New York City.

But the company is also jockeying with other Democratic-oriented data ventures, including some with roots in the Obama campaign, in a rapidly expanding sector that consumes an ever-larger chunk of campaign spending.

Here's the piece on the Democracy Alliance at Discover the Networks, "A New Alliance of Democrats Spreads Funding: But Some in Party Bristle at Secrecy and Liberal Tilt."

Democracy Alliance is a front-group for the most radical organizations in the United States, groups that have been working for decades to destroy the basic fabric of American freedom, to leverage in the far-left socialist state. More on where that funding goes, "The Democracy Alliance's Grant Recipients."

And more on Catalyst at CNN, "George Soros reinvests in progressive-cause data company."

Whoa! Chicago Tribune Calls for Full-Blown #ObamaCare Repeal!

Points and Figures has it, "Hey, it looks like Senator Ted Cruz was right! Even the venerable Chicago Tribune is calling for outright repeal of Obamacare. It’s what happens when one party rams objectives down the throat of constituents."

And at the Tribune, "Stop digging. Start over":

As Friday dawns, here's what a health insurance crisis looks like to many millions of Americans: Barely six weeks shy of 2014, they do not know whether they will have medical coverage Jan. 1. Or which hospitals and doctors they might patronize. Or what they may pay to protect themselves and their families against the chance of medical and financial catastrophe. How much, that is, they may pay in order to satisfy the Democratic politicians and federal bureaucrats who are worsening a metastasizing health coverage fiasco.

For perhaps 5 million of those Americans thus far — estimates vary — the Washington-ordered cancellation of their policies is especially maddening. In the past these people took responsibility for their coverage and bought policies that balanced their needs, finances and personal choices. Congress and President Barack Obama, by enacting the Affordable Care Act, in effect ordered insurers to dismantle many of those individual plans — and cancel those policies.

The Americans manhandled by this exercise in government arrogance now find themselves divided into warring tribes: Those with chronic ailments who have found new plans on Obamacare exchanges and are pleased. Those who don't want or can't afford the replacement policies Obamacare offers them. Those whose new policies block them from using the health providers who have treated them for many years. The estimated 23 million to 41 million people whose employer-sponsored plans are the next to be imperiled. And on and on.

Most of these tribespeople only wish their big problem was a slipshod Obamacare website. On Thursday, their plight grew more frightful. With even Democratic members of Congress storming the White House over the cancellations, Obama declared — by what legal authority is unclear — that he would overrule the law he signed in 2010 and allow insurers to extend those canceled policies for a year.

If, that is, insurance regulators of the 50 states permit this potential distortion to risk pools inside and outside of Obamacare. The regulators, including those in Illinois, had better put protection ahead of politics: Within two hours of Obama's announcement, Mike Kreidler, insurance commissioner of Washington, a Democrat-leaning state, rejected the president's notion, citing "its potential impact on the overall stability of our health insurance market. ... We will not be allowing insurance companies to extend their policies."

Note that these are the same insurance companies that have done what Obamacare demanded of them, while they often were being vilified by politicians and bureaucrats who haven't done what Obamacare demanded of them: Create workable, economically sustainable, insurance markets. A spokesman for America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry group, said Thursday that Obama's decree could further drive up prices: "Premiums were set based on assumptions about people transitioning to the (Obamacare) marketplaces," Robert Zirkelbach told The Washington Post. "Changing the rules in the middle of the game could dramatically change who actually signs up. If the exchanges become nothing more than a high-risk pool, that's going to result in massive premium increases for consumers"....

We understand why the president and leaders of his party want to rescue whatever they can of Obamacare. On their watch, official Washington has blown the launch of a new entitlement program ... under the schedule they alone set in early 2010.

What we don't understand is their reluctance to give that failure more than lip service. Many of the Americans who heard their president say Thursday that "we fumbled the rollout of this health care law" would have been pleased to hear him add: So we're admitting it. This law is a bust. We're starting over.

Remember, this is the president's hometown newspaper. Lots of hardcore Obama-cultists will be canceling their subscriptions at the audacity of dissing the dope!

Hat Tip: Instapundit.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz: 'Good Lord. She's Baghdad Bob...'

At Twitchy, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Remember, 500,000 have signed up for Obamacare."

She's also pushing the line that Democrats will run on ObamaCare in 2014. Bwahahaha!!

Rush Limbaugh Slams "#ObamaCare Fix" as Fairytale

It's unfixable, via Daily Rushbo.

#ObamaCare Debacle Sparks Debate Over Future of Big-Government

A great discussion with Eric Bolling and crew on Fox News this morning.

Michelle Fields is especially hot.

@EricBolling, Guilfoyle Battle Juan Williams Over How ‘Destructive’ Obama's Been http://t.co/Cbjp7j195C via @mediaite

— Michelle Fields (@MichelleFields) November 16, 2013

PREVIOUSLY: "#ObamaCare Implosion Signals Collapse of Radical Progressivism."

Obama on the Ropes

From Fred Barnes, at the Weekly Standard:

When in trouble, presidents have ways to escape the hubbub, deflect attention from what’s causing the problem, and wait for the whole thing to pass. In 1974, as Watergate was engulfing his presidency, President Nixon traveled to Egypt. A million people lined the roads to see him. Nixon aides quipped that “a million Egyptians can’t be wrong.” But they were wrong, and Nixon resigned a few weeks later.

In 1987, President Reagan was beset by the Iran-contra scandal. His advisers came up with a clever idea for him to emphasize in speeches, an “economic bill of rights.” Its acronym was EBOR, so it was half-jokingly referred to at the White House as “ebor.” Talking about it was preferable to addressing Iran-contra. But the press and public stayed focused on the scandal.

In the firestorm over Obamacare, President Obama has few of these tools of evasion at his disposal. His ability to change the subject from his embattled health insurance plan is limited. This is mostly his fault. Thus he was forced to yield last week to pressure to address the chorus of complaints generated by the cancellation of millions of individual policies....

Obama is in a bind. To save Democratic incumbents in the 2014 election, he’ll have to accept further changes that mollify critics while undercutting Obamacare’s fragile financing scheme. For Republicans, there’s a lesson here: Keep pressuring Obama to stop forcing people to buy more insurance coverage than they want or need, offer an attractive health plan of their own, and await the day a Republican president buries Obamacare once and for all.

That's what I'm talking about!

IMAGE CREDIT: The Looking Spoon, "Here's a couple of Obamacare "Got Insurance" liberals didn't create (but they should have)..."

Shock: Obama Didn't Consult With Insurers Before He Announced His 'Plan' to Rewrite the Law Yet Again

At AoSHQ, "Obama did consult the insurers after he made his announcement, which is the smart way to do it."

Emma Kuziara

I've been slacking on my babe blogging.

The ClusterCare news has been just overwhelming, lol.

Here's Emma K., via Twitter.

'Charles Krauthammer was surprised when President Barack Obama invited him to the White House last month...'

Heh.

At Politico, "Krauthammer on Krauthammer":

Since Obama took office, the columnist and Fox News contributor has been among the most forceful critics of the president’s policies. Krauthammer’s long been widely read among conservatives, but has recently raised his prominence with unrelenting and searing attacks on the president’s health care plan, proclaiming earlier this month that the “unraveling” of Obamacare, the administration, and the Democratic Senate majority could amount to nothing less than “the collapse of American liberalism.”

With Obama’s approval rating at an all-time low, and the Republican establishment at odds with the conservative base, Krauthammer had become more than “critic in chief.” Blending high-mindedness with strong conservative values, he has commanded respect on both the extreme and moderate sides of the spectrum, becoming the closest thing the factionalized GOP could have to a spokesperson, a de facto opposition leader for the thinking right.

But on that October day when a small group of conservative writers gathered for an off-the-record session with Obama, Krauthammer checked his criticism at the gates to the White House.

“I wouldn’t presume to be schooling the president of the United States in his own house on political philosophy,” Krauthammer told POLITICO in a recent interview. “I wouldn’t do it to a friend, let alone to a president who invites me to see him. The role of that encounter is for me as a journalist, as an observer, as an outsider and as a critic to try and get a sense of how his mind works, so I can more accurately understand him and what he does. So it’s not my role to go in there and say ‘You’re a romantic, sir.’”

Such diplomacy goes right to the heart of Krauthammer’s temperament. Despite bold statements and dire predictions, Krauthammer is revered by colleagues on the right and widely respected by those on the left. Fellow pundits call him one of the most important voices in conservatism. Top Republican lawmakers read his columns, as does the President of the United States.

He's a classy guy.

Continue reading.

And here's Krauthammer's book at Amazon, Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics.

Sarah Silverman Returns Ex-Boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel's Things During Interview - UPDATED!!

Poor guy.

Kimmel was with Sarah Silverman? And whatever moved him to invite her on the show? Magnanimity, I guess.

From Kathy Shaidle, "Not only was Silverman’s cleavage more charismatic than her ex Jimmy Kimmel but her bit about returning Kimmel’s belongings was the funniest thing we’ve seen all week. Take note, ladies — this is how you win a breakup."

ADDED: That link is to a blog Kathy tweeted ( nd she commented at the post). My bad. Here's her entry, at Five Feet of Fury, "Five years later, Sarah Silverman still pushing ‘Jimmy’s ex-girlfriend’ schtick."

UnitedHealth Group Purges Doctors Amid Massive #ObamaCare Funding Cuts

It's the country's largest private Medicare provider --- getting slammed by Barack Obama's monstrosity.

Remember, Democrats had to destroy the American healthcare system in order to save it.

These cuts will essentially mean healthcare rationing for the elderly, long wait-times and curtailed doctor visits. Because equality!

At the Wall Street Journal, "UnitedHealth Culls Doctors From Medicare Advantage Plans: Physicians in 10 States Notified; Insurer Cites 'Funding Pressure' From Federal Government":

Doctors in at least 10 states have received termination letters, some citing "significant changes and pressures in the health-care environment." The notices also tell doctors they can appeal within 30 days. That means many physicians and patients won't know for sure who is in or out of UnitedHealth's Medicare Advantage networks before the open-enrollment period to switch Medicare plans ends on Dec. 7.

UnitedHealth said its provider networks are always changing and that it expects its Medicare Advantage network "to be 85% to 90% of its current size by the end of 2014," although it declined to say how many doctors are being cut in individual states or what criteria it is using.

The company said it is managing its network, in part, to provide more value for members, particularly given Medicare's new five-star rating system that ties bonus payments for insurers to certain measures of cost and quality.

"That's what's driving our actions," said Austin Pittman, president of UnitedHealth's networks. He also said, "It's no secret that we are under substantial funding pressure from the federal government."

UnitedHealth Group reported a third-quarter profit of $1.57 billion last month, but Chief Executive Stephen J. Hemsley has issued cautious outlooks for 2014, citing expected cuts in Medicare payments tied to the Affordable Care Act.

Medicare Advantage, an alternative to traditional Medicare, combines hospital and doctor coverage and often includes prescription drugs and perks like gym memberships. Enrollment has more than doubled since 2004 to 13 million in 2012, which represents about 27% of Americans on Medicare.

The federal government pays private insurers a per-capita fee to manage the benefits. The rate is currently about 12% more than the average Medicare patient spends annually. The Obama administration plans to cut those extra payments to insurers by about $150 billion over the next 10 years to help pay for the health law. Some experts expect enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans to decline sharply if that occurs.

Other Medicare Advantage providers, including Humana Inc., Aetna Inc. and WellPoint Inc., said they are always evaluating their provider networks, but doctor groups say none appear to be shrinking them to the extent of UnitedHealth.

UnitedHealth is the biggest player, with nearly three million members in Advantage plans, many of them sold under the AARP brand. The company says it had over 350,000 doctors in its Advantage provider networks.

Among the practices UnitedHealth has dropped are Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and the Yale Medical Group in New Haven, Conn., which includes 1,200 faculty physicians.

"Instead of a scalpel, United is using a chain saw," said Michael Saffir, a rehabilitation specialist and president of the Connecticut State Medical Society, which estimates the insurer has cut 2,200 doctors across the state.

Two Connecticut county medical groups filed suit against UnitedHealth in U.S. District Court, alleging that the terminations violated contract provisions.

Several state attorneys general are investigating. Congressional delegations have complained about the company's timing and tactics to Medicare administrator Marilyn Tavenner, as did 43 national medical associations and 40 state medical societies in a joint letter on Nov. 6.

A spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said CMS is reviewing UnitedHealth's and other provider's networks "to ensure that beneficiaries have full, transparent and timely information and access to needed care."

"We recognize that change is hard," said Mr. Pittman. "This is about meeting the needs of patients in specific geographic areas, improving the quality and sustainability of our networks and deepening our relationships with providers over the long term." The company said it had no comment about the investigations.

AARP issued a statement saying it "has heard from a small number of our members regarding this decision" and was encouraging anyone with concerns to contact UnitedHealth directly.

Some terminated physicians predicted that UnitedHealth's patient satisfaction, a factor in Medicare quality ratings, would suffer with fewer doctors in the network.

"Fewer practitioners mean longer waits, longer drives, less convenience," said ophthalmologist Steven Thornquist of Trumbull, Conn., who said he is the only specialist in adult strabismus—which causes double vision—in a 20-mile radius.

"Patients battling cancer should be focused on their treatment, not on finding another doctor," said gynecological oncologist Johnathan Lancaster, one of more than 200 doctors dropped from UnitedHealth's network at Moffitt, which is a nationally recognized cancer center.

Dr. Lancaster said the cuts mean that about 2,500 current Moffitt patients will have to switch plans or find other cancer doctors—and that thousands more who come for consultations and second opinions can no longer use their UnitedHealth Medicare Advantage plans there.

IMAGE CREDIT: Michelle Malkin.

The Only 'Fix' Is to Scrap #ObamaCare

From Kim Strassel, at WSJ, "The President's ObamaCare Backpedal":

The White House "fix" was likely also groundwork to shift the blame for canceled policies to insurers and state regulators, trusting the public won't notice the difference between "can" and "may." It is highly unlikely that most insurers "can" rip up their business plans (rates, policies, eligibility, actuarial tables), get state regulator approval, reprogram their computers, send out notices and new explanations, give consumers time to think, and then re-sign people up in the one month that remains before the Dec. 15 deadline. But as Mr. Obama has now said they "may," and you can bet he'll blame the failure for this to happen on anyone but his administration.

The question is whether blame-shifting is even possible. The Obama announcement was designed to quell the cancellation furor, to push it beyond next year's midterms. But what's becoming clear to horrified Washington Democrats is just how successfully they re-engineered health care. ObamaCare's pieces are vastly complex, intricately linked, and built upon each other. For Democrats who want political cover, there are no "fixes" around the edges.

A great piece. Strassel's one of my very favorite political writers.

RTWT.