Controversial ObamaCare Mandate Won't Solve Problems Administration Claims It Will Fix

At IBD, "ObamaCare Mandate Won't Solve Uninsured, Health Costs":

The Obama administration told the Supreme Court this week that the Affordable Care Act's mandate that everyone buy insurance is vital to providing universal coverage and lower insurance costs. But ObamaCare won't solve either problem, as government reports show.

Despite the mandate, there will still be 27 million uninsured a decade from now, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The promised uninsured rate — 10% in 2022 — isn't much better than in 1980, when it was 12%, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The law also tries to cut the uninsured population by making it illegal for insurers to deny coverage because of preexisting conditions, called "guaranteed issue.

But fewer than 4% cited poor health as a reason for not getting coverage, according to the CBO. Meanwhile, 71% cited the high cost of premiums.

To the extent that poor health puts insurance premiums out of reach, ObamaCare's "community rating" reform could help, since it bars insurance companies from basing premiums on health status. Nevertheless, it will still leave millions without coverage.

Premiums Won't Come Down

The administration also told the Court that the individual mandate will cut insurance costs by eliminating cost-shifting — where uninsured force others to pay for their care. But it appears that, even if the law does reduce cost shifting, the mandate will not result in lower premiums.

A number of reports suggest that, at best, the Affordable Care Act will keep premiums the same, while others say it could actually push them higher than they would otherwise be.

A recent CBO report, for example, says that premiums over the next 10 years will rise at a faster rate than they have for the past five...

At the video, "When Asked Where the Constitution Authorizes Congress to Order Americans To Buy Health Insurance, Pelosi Says: 'Are You Serious?'" (via Legal Insurrection).

Trademarking Trayvon

Look, if they're trademarking their son's name, it's clear they fully expect to profit off the extreme sensationalism of Treyvon's death. And the media rounds to Washington D.C.? What's up with that? A publicity tour ahead of the formal investigation? That's unseemly, to say the least.

I'm surprised CNN even headlined their video "Trademarking Trayvon Martin." There's no pride in that.

And check The Seattle Times‎, "Trayvon Martin's parents say they don't believe police report."

Surprise, surprise!

Florida AG Pam Bondi Discusses Supreme Court ObamaCare Arguments on Fox & Friends

I love her accent!

RELATED: At Washington Free Beacon, "WHITE HOUSE TRIES TO REBRAND MANDATE: EARNEST CALLS GOVERNMENT MANDATE 'PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY CLAUSE'."

MORE: From Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "With ObamaCare in Danger, Liberals Decide the Court’s Power Should Be Limited."

Pope Benedict XVI Calls for Freedom in Cuba

At New York Times, "Pope Calls for ‘Authentic Freedom’ in Cuba":

HAVANA — In the heart of Revolution Square in Cuba, with towering images of guerrilla heroes staring back at him, Pope Benedict XVI called Wednesday for “authentic freedom” in one of the world’s most authoritarian states.

But reflecting an effort to stay in the good graces of his hosts and usher in even more religious freedom on the island, he also denounced the American economic embargo that Cuba has long blamed for most of its troubles.

And so Benedict, a critic of Marxism in general and totalitarian regimes in particular, walked the tightrope that spans the old and new Cuba, with a visit that lasted just over 48 hours and that harked back to the first papal trip here by his predecessor 14 years ago.

In his speeches and before boarding his plane for Rome, the pope pushed for more liberties, sometimes obliquely, while presenting the Roman Catholic Church as being in solidarity with the Cuban people. At the same time, he sought to assure his hosts that he was not explicitly taking sides in one of the most politically complex countries he has visited in his seven years as pope.

“The truth is a desire of the human person, the search for which always supposes the exercise of authentic freedom,” Benedict said in his homily at an outdoor Mass here, eliciting smiles from some in the crowd. “Many, however, prefer shortcuts, trying to avoid this task.”

He warned of “those who wrongly interpret this search for truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism. They close themselves up in ‘their truth’ and try to impose it on others.”

Later, Benedict met privately with Fidel Castro for what the Vatican called an “animated dialogue” in which they exchanged jokes about old age — Mr. Castro is 85, and the pope will turn 85 next month — and Mr. Castro asked for books and an explanation of what a pope does.

Afterward, Benedict reiterated the church’s longstanding opposition to the five-decade economic embargo, a rebuke the Cuban government had been waiting for.

While Cubans should use God’s strength in “building a society of broad vision, renewed and reconciled,” the pope said, they should not be hampered by limitations on “basic freedoms” or “a lack of material resources, a situation which is worsened when restrictive economic measures, imposed from outside the country, unfairly burden its people.”

And at Telegraph UK, "Pope Benedict XVI in Cuba."

#NewSpikeLeeMovies

Yesterday saw a hilarious hashtag game break out on Twitter: "#NewSpikeLeeMovies."

And I found Em Dee Bee and was seriously cracking up reading her timeline.

Click that link and give her a follow!

'Kill Zimmerman'

The left's lynch-mob mentality is alive and well.

At Big Journalism, "Blame Palin? 'Kill Zimmerman' Twitter Account Launched."

As of 7:50pm PDT last night, the "Kill Zimmerman" account was live.

Up is Down: Republicans 'Politicizing' Treyvon Martin's Death?

This is frankly bizarre, given all that's been going down on this.

See Jeff Goldstein, "“Obama Campaign: Republicans ‘Politicizing’ Trayvon Martin’s Death”':

Yes. Republicans. It is they who are ‘politicizing’ Martin’s death — they who are organizing marches, they who are putting out bounties, they who are selling hoodies and t-shirts, they who have scheduled mock Congressional briefings, they who used the bully pulpit to call for a national soul-searching because we’re somehow collectively complicit in a young man being shot to death while beating a neighborhood watch captain in Florida. Republicans. It is they who have blamed violence on freedom fetishists, they who have sought to turn the case into a call for federal review of state gun laws, they who stood before the nation and noted that, had they a son, he would have looked like Trayvon, while failing to show any public concern over the death of Brian Terry. It is they who have taken a local case, turned it intentionally into a national story, stoked racial animus, and are trying to orchestrate a lynch mob from the halls of Congress – all while ignoring due process....

Up is down. Black is white. Malcolm is Martin.

Rachel Bloom: Inside the Mind of a 12-Year-Old Boy

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Trayvon Protesters Ransack Walgreens Store in North Miami Beach

A report at CBS News Tampa Bay, "Trayvon Martin protest leads to ransacking Walgreens."

And YouTube video via Pundette, "Honoring Trayvon's memory":

In a touching tribute to the slain Florida teen, Miami high schoolers looted their local Walgreens, because nothing says "rest in peace" or "you will be missed" like a swiped bag of chips...

Progressives Exploit Trayvon Martin Tragedy

A great discussion.

What's interesting is that both the Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley and the New York Post's Robert George are black. And frankly, these two demonstrate the kind of journalistic objectivity and skepticism that used to be the standard of the American press.

PREVIOUSLY: "Racial-Relations Regression."

Race Hustling Progressives

The video's from PJTV.

And see Jonah Goldberg, at National Review, "Playing the Race Card Again: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and all the usual suspects exploit the Trayvon Martin story."

‘White Hispanic.” That’s how the New York Times, Reuters, and other media outlets have opted to describe George Zimmerman, a man who would simply be Hispanic if he hadn’t shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The term, rarely if ever used before this tragedy, is necessary in telling the Martin story in a more comfortable way.

What’s the comfortable way? It’s the way the blame for Martin’s death belongs squarely at the feet of “the system.” And “the system” is a white thing, don’t you know?

For instance, in a remarkably uncritical interview with the Los Angeles Times, the Reverend Jesse Jackson explained that with the election of President Obama, “there was this feeling that we were kind of beyond racism.” He continued: “That’s not true. His victory has triggered tremendous backlash.” Indeed, “blacks are under attack.”

Jackson apparently includes in this racist Obama “backlash” record home foreclosures for African Americans and black unemployment. It would have been nice if the L.A. Times had asked Jackson to work a little harder to connect those dots.
Jackson also laments that “targeting, arresting, convicting blacks and ultimately killing us is big business” in America.

RTWT.

Rachel Maddow on Late Show with David Letterman

Well, I posted on Leon Wieseltier's ultimate smack down of Rachel Maddow earlier: "Leon Wieseltier Slams Rachel Maddow's New Book, Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power."

Her book is here.

And here's Maddow on Letterman's show a couple of nights ago. She really hates the military, literally everything about it:

Magic Johnson Group to Buy L.A. Dodgers for $2 Billion

The main story's at the Los Angeles Times, "Magic Johnson-led group is picked as Dodgers' next owner":

A group led by Lakers legend Magic Johnson emerged Tuesday night as the new owners of the Dodgers, ending months of uncertainty for the storied but troubled baseball franchise.

Johnson, who guided the Lakers to five NBA championships during the "Showtime" era of the 1980s, is a partner in the group along with longtime baseball executive Stan Kasten and movie executive Peter Guber. The controlling owner would be Mark Walter, chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a Chicago-based financial services company.

Walter and McCourt met privately in New York on Tuesday, coming to an agreement only hours after Major League Baseball owners approved three final bidders.

The winning group paid $2 billion for the team -- a record for a sports franchise -- according to an announcement issued jointly with previous owner Frank McCourt.

"I am thrilled to be part of the historic Dodger franchise," Johnson said in the statement, adding the new owners "intend to build on the fantastic foundation laid by Frank McCourt as we drive the Dodgers back to the front page of the sports section."

And see: "L.A. celebrates Magic Johnson and new Dodgers owners." And more at the link.

Justices Question Extent of Federal Power

At WSJ, "Arguments Over Health-Care Law Veer Into a Challenge to Medicaid as Obama's Signature Measure Faces a Rough Ride":

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ended three momentous days of argument Wednesday over the constitutionality of the Obama administration's signature health-care law, with opponents pushing their rhetoric into fundamental questions about the limits of Washington's power.

Conservative justices suggested that if one part of the law is judged unconstitutional, the entire health overhaul with hundreds of provisions may have to fall with it. In the afternoon, the case took a twist that upended expectations, as the conservatives challenged the basis of the federal-state Medicaid program.

Together, the questions underscored the rough ride the administration suffered over the three days that left President Barack Obama's top domestic achievement in doubt. On Tuesday, justices challenged the law's centerpiece, the requirement that Americans carry health insurance or pay a penalty.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the likely swing vote, sharply questioned both supporters and opponents, leaving his ultimate position in doubt.

In his final minutes before the court Wednesday, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli sought to seize the patriotic mantle from the law's challengers, who have portrayed their effort as a defense of fundamental American values.

Expanding health coverage through the private insurance market or Medicaid, as the Obama law envisions, will extend "the blessings of liberty" to individuals hobbled by disabilities or families decimated by illness, Mr. Verrilli said. "There will be millions of people with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease" who won't have to worry about medicine, he said.

But as the marathon arguments—extended 30 minutes, at the order of Chief Justice John Roberts, to a total of 6½ hours—neared an end, it was Paul Clement, representing 26 Republican-led states opposed to the law, who had the last word.

"I certainly appreciate what the solicitor general says, that when you support a policy, you think that the policy spreads the blessings of liberty. But I would respectfully suggest that it's a very funny conception of liberty that forces somebody to purchase an insurance policy whether they want it or not," Mr. Clement said.

He added that the health law's expansion of Medicaid "is a direct threat to our federalism."

See also, the Los Angeles Times, "Justices poised to strike down entire healthcare law." (At Memeorandum.)

BONUS: Pundette has more.

Spike Lee Apologizes After Placing Elderly Florida Couple's Lives in Danger

This part of the story keeps developing. See the Orlando Sentinel, "Elderly couple abandon their home after address is posted on Twitter as that of George Zimmerman." (At Memeorandum.)

The couple is interviewed at Fox News Tampa Bay, "Spike Lee re-tweet targets wrong home."

And now after the pressure of a week-long Twitter campaign, Lee has issued an apology: "Spike Lee apologizes over tweeting wrong address."

That's laudable, but without the outrage from conservatives on Twitter, it's doubtful Lee would have come clean. The director made no attempt to even address the issues during a lecture he gave last night at the College of William & Mary. See, "Trayvon Who? – Spike Lee Fails to 'Do the Right Thing' at William & Mary":

Spike Lee comes to Va. and misses an opportunity to offer his point-of-view on the biggest racial controversy of the year.

RTWT.

George Zimmerman Police Surveillance Video

There's lots of reporting at CNN.

Anderson Cooper had on former L.A. ADA Marcia Clark. She was highly skeptical that Treyvon Martin attacked George Zimmerman. She argued that Zimmerman didn't look shaken up, he didn't look like someone who had been attacked.

The full story's an ABC News exclusive, "Trayvon Martin Video Shows No Blood or Bruises on George Zimmerman."

The initial police report noted that Zimmerman was bleeding from the back of the head and nose, and after medical attention it was decided that he was in good enough condition to travel in a police cruiser to the Sanford, Fla., police station for questioning.

His lawyer later insisted that Zimmerman's nose had been broken in his scuffle with 17-year-old Martin.

In the video an officer is seen pausing to look at the back of Zimmerman's head, but no abrasions or blood can be seen in the video and he did not check into the emergency room following the police questioning.

But the surveillance tape changes nothing, despite ABC's attempt to recapture the narrative momentum.

I'll update when video becomes available on YouTube.

PREVIOUSLY: "Racial-Relations Regression."

UPDATE: I'm sure this is just the beginning, but see Mediaite, "New Police Video Shows George Zimmerman Unscathed on Night of Trayvon Martin Shooting" (via Memeorandum).

Again, the video changes no facts in the case. All it does is fuel speculation. The paramedics on the scene checked Zimmerman and declared him good to go in the squad car. If all the facts check out in favor of Trayvon, Zimmerman should be prosecuted. Meanwhile, due process must be afforded, despite Democrat lynch mob efforts to the contrary.

Here's the clip:

Democrats Escalate Violent Rhetoric in Trayvon Martin Case

I'm rarely surprised by Democrat racial-grievance fear-mongering and recrimination, but you've gotta admit this lady has the routine down cold.

The Right Scoop has a report, "Rep. Frederica Wilson: Trayvon hunted down like a rabid dog, shot in the street and racially profiled."

And also at Big Government, "Dem Congresswoman: Arrest Zimmerman 'For His Own Safety'."

At a Congressional forum on the Hill yesterday at which killed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin’s parents were asked to testify, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) took center stage. She claimed first that Martin had been victimized by racial profiling and a “botched police investigation.” But she went even further: George Zimmerman, the shooter in the case, she said, should be arrested “immediately for his own safety.”

This has become a rallying cry for other members of the left. Michael Eric Dyson, professor of sociology at Georgetown University, said on MSNBC several days ago that Zimmerman should be “for his own safety, let’s just go to the ultimate extreme, for your safety, Mr. Zimmerman, because people may want to execute vigilante justice against you, we want to protect you, we want to put you in jail, we want to put you under cover of the law. Nothing is reasonable here to suggest that Mr. Zimmerman should continue to go free.”

There are no legal grounds upon which somebody can be imprisoned for his or her own safety, unless they are actually a threat to harm themselves, which is not the case here. In fact, the Constitution expressly forbids such measures under the Fourth Amendment, which states that people have a right “to be secure in their persons … against unreasonable searches and seizures.” The only excuses for a criminal arrest in America are probable cause or an arrest warrant based upon probable cause. Arresting citizens “for their own safety” smacks of tyranny.

At the video, Congresswoman Wilson makes a speech on the House floor yesterday, repeating the "hunted down like a rabid dog" allegations.

See also Jawa Report, "Democratic Congresswoman Wants To Arrest George Zimmerman 'For His Own Safety'."

Democrat Congressman Bobby Rush Dons Treyvon Martin Hoodie During House Floor Debate

Well, I'd think this was a joke if I didn't see it with my own eyes.

At the Washington Examiner, "Dem pulled from House floor for Trayvon hoodie":

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., lost his right to speak on the House floor after he violated rules by putting on a hoodie and sunglasses in honor of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen shot last month.

"May God bless Trayvon Martin's soul, his family and -- [inaudible]" Rush said as he was removed from the House floor this morning for wearing a hoodie.

Rush was wearing a grey hoodie under his suit jacket. He took off his jacket, pulled the hood over his head and put on sunglasses while saying "racial profiling has to stop, Mr. Speaker. Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum," he said.

"The member will suspend," said a visibly frustrated Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., the speaker pro tempore administrating the morning session. "The member is no longer recognized. The chair will ask the sergeant-at-arms to enforce the rules on decorum."

What a f-king idiot.

Also at the Miami Herald, "Rep. Bobby Rush gets escorted from House floor for donning Trayvon-inspired hoodie." And The Hill, "Dem kicked off House floor for ‘hoodie’ in Trayvon Martin protest" (via Memeorandum).

Bill Maher on Trayvon Martin Case: 'The New Racism is Denying Racism'

Well, I guess when RAAAAACISM!!! is all you've got, you gotta work it for all it's worth.

And that ain't much in this case, from one of the left's most supreme misogynist a-holes.

PREVIOUSLY: "Racial-Relations Regression."

Racial-Relations Regression

From Victor Davis Hanson, at National Review (via Instapundit):

The Trayvon Martin tragedy, by the time the entire process is played out, will reflect poorly on lots of people and groups, who in mob-like fashion have weighed in before all the facts in the case are fully aired. We have reached the nadir when the civil-rights community decries the release of further pertinent information about Mr. Martin as gratuitously defaming the deceased — with the implicit understanding that incomplete and leaked information so far has been welcomed if it reflected poorly on the alleged perpetrator.

The narrative of the shooting unfortunately changes every 24 hours, which suggests the media saw a preliminary narrative it liked and then adorned it in a manner to ensure sensationalism and polarization. Now as the collective fit subsides, the vigilante becomes a neighborhood watch designee; the German-named, white racist shooter is found to be half-Hispanic with plenty of friends of all races; Trayvon Martin is not, as his widely-circulated photo suggests, a pre-teen with an unblemished school record, but a 6 foot, 2 inch 17-year old who was currently on school suspension, with some evidence of possible past drug possession and assorted disciplinary problems.

The anguished cry for help from a gunned-down victim may turn out to be the assailant’s own call, as he was pounded to the pavement. No one can quite figure out whether Mr. Zimmerman actually chased Mr. Martin; or if so, how he caught someone younger and in apparent better shape; or whether both or neither ever ran at all; or who said what or hit the other first. The supposedly racist police may well have collated eye-witness accounts, reviewed the injuries of Mr. Zimmerman, reexamined Florida law, and had cause not to charge the shooter.

The point in all of these changing narratives is that not only do we not have all the facts, but we are certain that the “facts” we currently have will be different within 24 hours, which is why it was wise to turn the matter over to state authorities for complete review of the original decisions....

So far all that is clear is that there is a growing anger among African-Americans about a failure to immediately arrest the shooter that in turn is provoking an even greater backlash against the antics of Al Sharpton, the creepy bounty offered by the New Black Panther Party, and others who inflame for their own careerist advantage, and no one — not the president, not the media, not the civil rights leadership, not the politicians — seems willing or able to call for a time-out until all the facts are reviewed and released. We have collectively regressed to the days of Rodney King and the L.A. riots and the O. J. Simpson trial — or to something far worse. Hope and change came and went.

BONUS: From Jim Treacher, at Daily Caller, "Open-and-shut Trayvon Martin case gets cluttered up with facts."