Top Items:


The individual mandate no longer applies to people whose plans were canceled — Today, the Obama administration announced that people whose insurance plans were canceled this year will “temporarily” be exempted from the law's individual mandate. Here's how they're doing it — and what it means for the law.
Discussion:
Power Line, Weekly Standard, Connecting.the.Dots, Weasel Zippers, Shakesville and Guardian
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Utter Chaos: White House Exempts Millions From Obamacare's Insurance Mandate, ‘Unaffordable’ Exchanges — It's hard to come up with new ways to describe the Obama administration's improvisational approach to the Affordable Care Act's troubled health insurance exchanges.
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler, Josh Blackman's Blog, National Review, NBCNews, Betsy's Page and Los Angeles Times

Obama administration relaxes rules of health-care law four days before deadline — The Obama administration Thursday night significantly relaxed the rules of the health-care law for millions of consumers whose individual insurance policies have been canceled, saying they could buy bare-bones health plans …


Chuck Todd: Will anyone be fined? — NBC News chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd says with all the changes the Obama administration has made to the rules of Obamacare, he doubts a “single person” will end up paying a penalty next year when the individual mandate takes effect.
Discussion:
Washington Free Beacon


Obama Lifts Health Mandate for Those With Canceled Plans — Hundreds of thousands of people whose health plans are being canceled because their coverage doesn't meet Obamacare rules will be exempt next year from the U.S. mandate that all Americans carry medical insurance.
Discussion:
protein wisdom and The Gateway Pundit


Does New Obamacare Mandate Exemption Open A Pandora's Box? — The Obama administration's announcement Thursday night that it would exempt people whose policies have been canceled because of Obamacare from the law's individual mandate was an unexpected move.
Discussion:
Health Affairs Blog

White House Will Allow Some To Buy Catastrophic Health Plans

Another Rule in Health Law Is Scaled Back
Discussion:
Power Line and Gawker

Obama Administration to Delay Individual Mandate for Some
Discussion:
The Incidental Economist, Washington Free Beacon and The Volokh Conspiracy

White House broadens Obamacare exemptions
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Hit & Run and Althouse

For Obamacare boosters, all memes are good memes
Discussion:
CNN, CBS New York and First Read


The Robertson Family Offical Statement — We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The family has spent much time in prayer since learning of A&E's decision. We want you to know that first and foremost we are a family rooted in our faith in God and our belief that the Bible is His word.
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Phil Robertson Publicly Bashed Gays for Years — A&E Knew All About It — Publicly Bashed Gays ... FOR YEARS — A&E KNEW ALL ABOUT IT — EXCLUSIVE — A&E knew all about “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson feelings toward gays when it hired him — because the guy openly preached …
Discussion:
The Raw Story, Business Insider, Towleroad News #gay, Patterico's Pontifications and Mediaite


Paul Ryan Finds God — How a backstage prayer in Cleveland and a new leader in the Vatican set the budget-slashing congressman on a mission to help the poor. “My bet is that he's on Pope Francis' team.” — On Oct. 24, 2012, Paul Ryan slipped into a high-ceilinged backstage room …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, JSOnline and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion


Officials' defenses of NSA phone program may be unraveling — From the moment the government's massive database of citizens' call records was exposed this year, U.S. officials have clung to two main lines of defense: The secret surveillance program was constitutional and critical to keeping the nation safe.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Secrecy News, Prairie Weather, The Reaction and Pocket Full Of Liberty

BREAKING: Workers Dismantle Over 70 Unions in Wisconsin — [Madison, Wisc...] Workers rejected over 70 of 408 school district unions during annual recertification elections that ended on Thursday, according to a preliminary analysis of the results. — The elections went from November 29th until noon …
Discussion:
Hot Air and Weekly Standard


GCHQ and NSA targeted charities, Germans, Israeli PM and EU chief — • Unicef and Médecins du Monde were on surveillance list — • Targets went well beyond potential criminals and terrorists — • Revelations could cause embarrassment at EU summit
Discussion:
New York Times, Angry Bear, The Verge and Boing Boing


Most Americans Don't Care What Race Santa Is — Except For Republicans Who Think He's White — Most Americans don't care about Santa's race, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, but nearly half of the Republicans surveyed think Santa should be portrayed as white.
Discussion:
YouGov US Opinion Center News, Outside the Beltway, NewsBusters, Feministing and Washington Post


10 Democratic Committee Chairs Warn Menendez's Iran Sanction Bill Could Blow Up Negotiations — WASHINGTON — In a remarkable rebuke to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), 10 other Senate committee chairs are circulating a joint letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, Firedoglake, emptywheel, Taylor Marsh and The Plum Line
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Obamacare ‘death spiral’ scenario is about the states, stupid — OBAMACARE HEALTH CARE HEALTHCARE.GOV HEALTH CARE EXCHANGES HHS — As problems continue to plague the rollout of President Obama's health care law despite improvements to the federal healthcare.gov website …
Discussion:
Washington Post

High security risk found after HealthCare.gov launch — Shares - — Tweets - Stumble — A top HealthCare.gov security officer told Congress there have been two, serious high-risk findings since the website's launch, including one on Monday of this week, CBS News has learned.
Discussion:
Hot Air and Jammie Wearing Fools


Tim Draper Wants To Split California Into Pieces And Turn Silicon Valley Into Its Own State — TechCrunch has learned about noted technology investor Tim Draper's plan to split California into six separate states, including a Northern California slice appropriately named “Silicon Valley.”
Discussion:
ThinkProgress


The Gangs of Chicago — I spent last week trooping through North Lawndale, on the West Side of Chicago, with the Atlantic's video team. We spent much of Friday with some positive folks over at the Better Boys Foundation (BBF) in K-Town. Then we went outside to get some sense of the neighborhood.
Discussion:
Washington Monthly