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Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on the hill, Wednesday, concerning healthcare.gov’s problems since its October 1 rollout. She’ll answer questions before the House Energy & Commerce Committee. This is the committee’s second hearing related to the website problems. Last week, four government contractors hired to help build the site testified. Tuesday, Marilyn Tavener, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator, appeared before the Ways & Means Committee. CMS is responsible for setting up the federal marketplace for insurance exchanges and the Medicaid expansion. Rep. Fred Upton chairs the committee and Rep. Henry Waxman serves as Ranking...

On Piers Morgan Live Tuesday, guest Bill Maher openly admitted Obama “lied” about Americans keeping their insurance plans, but insisted that he had to because of unified Republican opposition—and the increasingly “stupider” American public. Morgan trotted Maher on for a number of political issues, including the Obamacare meltdown and the most recent episode in the NSA scandal saga. Morgan opened by asking Maher if the scandal-failure-filled week was “any worse than it’s always been?” Maher said, in essence, yes: Well, I think the country in general is on a decline. Rather than citing the failure of the administration though, Maher’s explained he believes...

Gone is yesterday’s equivocating defense on the millions of distributed insurance cancellations currently shattering the great ObamaCare myth that was “If you like your plan, you can keep it.” After Valerie Jarrett‘s… er… “creative” contribution to the discussion last night, Carney was much more prepared for the question at today’s White House briefing with a more shrewdly crafted offensive strategy — because as we’re all well aware by now, unintentional concessions (don’t even think about apologies, not gonna’ happen) rarely last long in this administration before giving way to well-rehearsed, righteously indignant spin-doctoring. (Be sure to check out Sebelius’s planned...

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday denied President Obama had misled the public when he said that consumers could keep their health insurance plans after the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Carney said that consumers who "had a plan the day before the Affordable Care Act passed and signed into law" and who had not either dropped their coverage or "been thrown off the plan" by their insurance companies were "grandfathered in and can keep that plan." "If you've kept it, you can keep it forever, as long as your insurer offers it," Carney said.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) removed a Facebook post Monday that alleged a House GOP leader told President Obama “I cannot even stand to look at you” at a private meeting. Durbin said he did not immediately take down the post after it was proven false last week because he wanted to leave it in the proper context. "If I'd have raced to take it off, [the media] would have done that story too: `Durbin races to take this off.' I wanted to put into context how I got into this situation," he told the Associated Press. After Durbin...

Piers Morgan used a fake news site to mock Sarah Palin on Twitter on Thursday. He linked to the satirical news site The Daily Currant saying that Palin claimed Jesus celebrated Easter. "And she's back!" Morgan gloated, with absolutely no mention that the article was fake. When critics told him the website was satire, Morgan answered that he knew it was. Yet he praised the notion that it was believable. "That's the beauty of it," Morgan wrote when someone tweeted that it was "hilarious even if its fake. Why? I believed it." That wasn't the first time Morgan has derided...

First official acknowledgment that the Benghazi attacks last year involve at least two suspects who are members of “Al-Qaeda core”, which is based in Pakistan and led by Ayman al-Zawahiri. ... reports of recorded phone conversations that took place between then Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi and al-Qaeda number one, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who sits at the top of “Al-Qaeda core”. These conversations reportedly include discussions about releasing al-Qaeda terrorists into Egypt, to form terrorist camps. These camps were formed in the Sinai and along Egypt’s border with Libya. These developments may constitute the strongest evidence yet that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood,...

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was interrupted during a Wednesday night speech at a university in New York by an angry heckler who blamed her for the deaths of four Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012. "Benghazi, Benghazi, you let them die," the heckler screamed, for fully 40 seconds while Mrs. Clinton tried to ignore it and continue her speech, The Daily Mail reported.

MSNBC's erratic Hardball host, Chris Matthews, has again gone off the deep end with his nonsense talk about the Constitution's three-fifths clause. He's claiming that conservatives believe black people are, or once were, only three-fifths of a person. Why does a group of people that always loses elections or tends to do lately, why do they call themselves American people because - do they still count blacks as three-fifths? Three-fifths of a vote?

The rhetoric is really heating up. California Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi (she of “You have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it” fame) is throwing around the world “sabotage” concerning any disagreement with President Obama. uscds101513 And the 10 year Treasury yield rose 3 basis points. ust10101513 And, of course, President Obama nixed ANY deal. Huh. If Pelosi thinks this is sabotage and will lead the US to default, its odd that CDS prices are falling.

An off-duty, undercover police detective was arrested as fallout from a burst of motorcyclist mayhem reached a new level, with investigators saying the off-duty officer was shown on video hitting and kicking an SUV before bikers attacked its driver. Wojciech Braszczok, who was off-duty when he joined a motorcycle rally that spiraled into violence, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday. He surrendered Tuesday to face riot and criminal mischief charges, New York Police Department spokesman John McCarthy said. There was no response to phone messages left with Braszczok's attorney, Phil Karasyk. He had previously said the 10-year NYPD veteran only...

Obama: Republicans Using 'Extortion' On Debt Limit Mr Obama attacked the Republicans for "hanging the threats of a shutdown or economic chaos over the heads of the American people" US President Obama has said he is willing to hold budget talks with Republicans, but not until they agree to lift "threats" against the economy. Mr Obama likened Republicans using a looming debt limit deadline of 17 October for political leverage to political "extortion". Republican leaders on Tuesday reiterated calls for Mr Obama to open negotiations. The US government shut down last week when Congress failed to agree a budget. At...

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, said conservative Republican attempts to defund Obamacare will prove fruitless. "In the United States Senate, we will not repeal or defund Obamacare. We will not. And to think we can is not rational," McCain said Thursday on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”

Raising the debt ceiling doesn't increase the nation's debt, Pres. Obama declared in a speech today... Obama dismissed concerns about raising the debt ceiling by noting that it'd been done so many times in the past: ... Obama went on to suggest that "the average person" mistakenly thinks that raising the debt ceiling means the U.S. is racking up more debt:

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, blamed conservative Republicans for a stalemate on the budget and insisted that while he is willing to haggle over taxes and government spending, he will not make a deal would that would impose conditions on increasing the nation's debt limit. With a possible government shutdown looming in two weeks, and the threat of a U.S. debt default as early as mid-October, Obama said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" that it is up to lawmakers to work out a budget. He insisted the budget should contain enough spending...

The State Department is hitting back at what it calls false accusations that Russian President Vladimir Putin made about Secretary of State John Kerry. Jen Psaki is a department spokeswoman. She says Kerry is a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam war and has had more than words aimed at him. Psaki says Kerry is not losing sleep because of Putin's quote preposterous comment that was based on an inaccurate rendering of what Kerry said.

Obama: 'I Didn't Set a Red Line' on Syria Daniel Halper September 4, 2013 9:31 AM President Obama said in Sweden today that he personally "didn't set a red line" on Syria: "First of all, I didn't set a red line," said Obama. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudble] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red...

Is the dumping of the most loquacious and obnoxious liberal from one of Hollywood’s most prestigious positions an indication that movie land is finally getting the message?

UPDATE: 8/23/13 1:00PM PDT Its seems there’s blunders to go around. The Washington Post now says they “misquoted” Gore. Given his penchant for saying and doing dumb things in the past related to his views on climate, color me “skeptical”, especially when he makes ugly comparisons about people like he did below. It may be more of a case of some deal was worked out behind the scenes to salvage Gore’s waning credibility. I suppose we’ll never know, but I have asked WaPo to put the relevant audio of the tape recorded session online so we can verify that Gore...

Love her or hate her, co-star Oprah Winfrey and her big media blitz helped open the pic even if it did little to help her public image by providing more dirt for her detractors. Yet a survey by Fandango found that 72% of Butler ticket-buyers claimed Oprah’s involvement increased their interest in seeing the film which was her first movie role in 15 years. But The Butler still trailed the opening weekend grosses of two recent and similarly race- and civil rights-themed adult pics: 42 and The Help. No one, and certainly not The Weinstein Company, expected director Lee Daniels’...