Archive for November 22nd, 2013
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Chat On, Night Owls
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Nov
13
Pure Gold
First Lady Michelle Obama by Alexei Hay for Ladies Home Journal Dec 2013/Jan 2014
@petesouza: Pres Obama w John Kerry, Susan Rice and Phil Gordon in the Oval Office today
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Al Jazeera: Kerry Geneva-bound as Iran nuclear deal inches closer
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is heading for Geneva to join talks on Iran’s nuclear program, and several other foreign ministers are on their way as well, in an indication that ongoing negotiations between Tehran and six world powers may be closer to finalizing an interim agreement.
The State Department announced Kerry’s trip after diplomats in the Swiss city said a major sticking point in negotiations on an agreement – under which Tehran would curb its contested atomic activities – may have been overcome. Negotiators have been working since Wednesday to find language acceptable to Iran and its six negotiating partners.
Kerry will head to Geneva “with the goal of continuing to help narrow the differences and move closer to an agreement,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
More here
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Big surge in November ACA enrollment. Beginning to look a lot like the MA trendline in ’07. http://t.co/9U0qIaYIeJ
— David Simas (@Simas44) November 22, 2025
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Check out update on http://t.co/tFuCe1Bpr0. Response times & error rates falling. Daily capacity increasing to 800k. http://t.co/Fj9krtDzl3
— David Simas (@Simas44) November 22, 2025
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More ways to get covered under ACA. Insurers in FL, TX and OH test directly enrolling consumers. http://t.co/YiHw062fu7
— David Simas (@Simas44) November 23, 2025
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ThinkProgress: You Probably Didn’t Hear About The Most Important Health Care News This Week
On Wednesday, the new head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a bombshell report finding that U.S. health care spending since 2010 has increased by just 1.3 percent — the smallest cost growth over a three-year period in American history — while prices in the health care sector rose by 50-year lows, thanks in part to structural changes made by the Affordable Care Act. But most media outlets ignored that story, instead choosing to focus on ongoing glitches with the Healthcare.gov website.
According to a ThinkProgress analysis, English-language online and print media published about ten times as many pieces on the troubles with the Obamacare site than they did on the new health care spending report….
More here
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@Our4thEstate
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TPM: Admin To Launch ‘Direct Enrollment’ Obamacare Pilots In Three States
The Obama administration is launching a pilot program in Florida, Ohio, and Texas that will allow insurance companies to sign people up for coverage under Obamacare directly and forgo HealthCare.gov.
The administration has been considering the process, known as “direct enrollment,” for some time.
“This is one more way we are working to offer consumers a variety of ways to enroll in affordable coverage. Direct enrollment is one more option,” Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services, wrote in a blog post Friday announcing the program. “By strengthening the multiple channels to enroll in quality, affordable coverage through the Marketplace, we are ensuring that every American who wants it can gain access to these new coverage options.”
More here
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ThinkProgress: Vice President Biden Visits Immigration Activists On 11th Day Of Fast
On Friday morning, Vice President Joseph Biden stopped by the “Fast for Families” tent pitched on the National Mall to pray with faith leaders and immigration activists who are fasting as a way to pressure House Republicans to advance immigration reform legislation that includes a pathway to citizenship. Three core fasters, Eliseo Medina, Cristian Avila, and Dae Joong Yoon, are going into their eleventh day of fasting — they will continue to fast until they are medically advised to stop. The movement has spread across the nation with numerous activists fasting in solidarity and then sometimes marching to the offices of elected officials.
Biden said to the fasters, “What you’re doing here is to bring attention to what’s morally right and attention to a community that is already American.” He also said, “We will win this. As my father always says, come hell or high water.”
More here
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More in the morning, chat away!
22
Nov
13
The Medal of Freedom Recipients
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See more here
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And the First Lady from today:
22
Nov
13
Chat Away
22
Nov
13
The new meanness
One of the most popular shows on television is CBS’ “Two and a Half Men”. And I’ve often wondered at its popularity.
It is a very well-written and acted show, as far as it goes. But if you watch it for any length of time, you come away with a wretched taste in your mouth. It is, without a doubt, a show with characters who have no redeeming qualities. Everyone is gleefully mean to everyone else, reveling in cutting barbs and casual humiliation. Obviously, it’s a comedy painted in broad strokes, as sitcoms normally are. However, if you watch it on your local station in reruns before the prime time schedule comes on, you’ll be forgiven for wondering why anyone should give a damn about what happens to any of the show’s characters.
And yet, for more than a decade it has been one of the most popular shows on television. Before Charlie Sheen melted down, he was the highest paid actor on TV thanks to it. Millions of people tune in to watch a weekly display of dysfunction so severe that suspension of disbelief becomes increasingly difficult.
Obviously, you can’t judge an entire culture by the popularity of one television show. But here is another data point. Bloomberg has an article helpfully entitled “Obamacare Shows How Americans Are Becoming Jerks“. From the piece:
What’s clear is that the shifting views on health care predate the Affordable Care Act. The number of Americans who think health care is the government’s responsibility hovered around two-thirds for the first half of the 2000s, peaking at 69 percent in 2006. Then those numbers started falling, hitting 50 percent in 2010 and 42 percent this year.
The shrinkage of American generosity during that period wasn’t just about health care. The onset of the recession corresponded with a change in public opinion on a range of issues, and in most cases the effect was to make Americans less caring about others.
Starting in 2007, the portion of Americans who said the government should guarantee every person enough to eat and a place to sleep started falling, from 69 percent to 59 percent last year. People who said the government should help the needy, even if it means going deeper into debt, fell from 54 percent to 43 percent over the same period.
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Nov
13
A Tweet or Two
Cancer survivor on ACA. Saves $628 per month & “Best of all — I wasn’t even asked if I’ve ever had cancer.” http://t.co/xdCMzQtuK3
— David Simas (@Simas44) November 22, 2025
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“Anytime you upend the staus quo as FDR did in the 1930s and Barack Obama has done with the ACA now, the status quo is going to strike back”
— Rick S (@gratepool) November 22, 2025
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That awkward moment when the narrative that ObamaCare is a failure begins to fall apart: http://t.co/Ztkmh0E1P6
— YeaYouRite (@YeaYouRite) November 21, 2025
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Get Covered: #Obamacare 1. http://t.co/psrNS1oo36 2. Call 1-800-318-2596 3. Mail paper app 4. Apply in person pic.twitter.com/aRPAWfb6V1
— Lizbeth528 (@elizabeth28536) November 22, 2025
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The Senate must now give simple up or down votes on the President’s judicial nominees. Or as FOX calls it, ‘dictatorship.’
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) November 21, 2025
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i guess if i spent 8 years defending a president who needlessly got 4,000 americans killed id get angry when liberals bring it up too.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 22, 2025
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section 60 at arlington national cemetery. thats the bush legacy. forever.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) November 22, 2025
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seems very insulting for white pundits to talk about “america lost its innocence” with kennedy, when slavery, native americans, etc..
— SheriffFruitfly (@sherifffruitfly) November 22, 2025
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I am alive so must live. Some wounds won’t heal. Your prayers and your friendship are important to me
— Creigh Deeds (@CreighDeeds) November 22, 2025
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More later, chat away!
