A big Obamacare abuse finally struck down

A U.S. judge on March 30 struck down a provision in the Affordable Care Act that required insurers to cover some preventative services such as cancer screenings.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that recommendations on preventative care by an unelected task force were unlawful, and forbade President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing the recommendations.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s recommended preventative services must be covered by insurers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), colloquially known as ObamaCare. It has recommended anxiety screening for some children and breast cancer screening for some women, among other recommendations.

Plaintiffs in a legal case in Texas argued that the mandated coverage violated their constitutional rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it forced them to purchase insurance that covered aspects that clash with their religion, including coverage of preexposure prophylaxis drugs for people deemed at high risk of getting HIV.

“The ACA forces these plaintiffs to choose between purchasing health insurance that violates their religious beliefs and foregoing conventional health insurance altogether. It is undisputed that putting individuals to this choice imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise,” O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote in a 28-page opinion.

Under the religious freedom act, the government can substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion if it shows that the burden “is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest” and “is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.”

Government officials have failed on both fronts, the judge ruled.

While officials said there’s a compelling government interest in inhibiting the spread of diseases like HIV, the question is actually whether the government has a compelling interest in requiring insurers to cover the preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) drugs, he said.

“But neither Congress nor [the task force] expressed that compelling interest and the ACA’s several exemptions for grandfathered plans and small businesses undermine Defendants’ argument that all insurers must provide plans with PrEP drug coverage,” the ruling stated. “Nor have Defendants offered any meaningful argument as to how the PrEP mandate satisfies the ‘exceptionally demanding’ least-restrictive-means test.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

O’Connor applied his ruling nationwide because the ACA provision and the task force’s recommendations are “constitutionally invalid,” the judge ruled. He ordered Biden administration officials not to enforce the compulsory coverage requirements for the task force’s recommendations.

O’Connor previously ruled that ObamaCare was unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the Biden administration, finding states lacked standing to challenge the law.

The ruling leaves intact mandated coverage of recommendations from the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which are both affiliated with HHS and subject to the supervision and direction of the department’s secretary. The task force is a volunteer body.

About 100 million people have received preventative care that is required to be covered since 2018, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

If the ruling stands after an expected appeal, many insurers will likely revert to charging copays for the affected preventative services, Lindsay Wiley, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, predicted.

“In many cases, insurance contracts are in place for the calendar year, so people may not immediately have to pay for preventive services,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy for the foundation, said. “But over time, tens of millions of people could be affected by this court ruling.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/us-judge-strikes-down-key-obamacare-provision_5161268.html

****************************************************

Pro-Transgender Protesters Arrested at Kentucky Capitol as State Lawmakers Outlaw Gender Transitions for Minors

Nineteen protesters were arrested at the Kentucky Capitol on March 29 as lawmakers voted to override Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of a bill prohibiting the use of gender transition procedures on children.

According to the Louisville Courier Journal, the individuals were arrested by Kentucky State Police and charged with criminal trespassing after refusing to leave the House gallery, where they were shouting and chanting during the debate.

The protesters have since been released on their own recognizance.

‘Radical’ Ideology in Schools

Commenting on the demonstrations, Republican Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne told the outlet: “Obviously, we welcome everybody to be here, to participate in their government … but we do expect that proper levels of decorum will be maintained to allow us to conduct our business.

“We felt it was important to proceed on with the business thing that we did.”

Present for March 29’s demonstrations were some Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) students—a fact the Republican Party of Kentucky excoriated in a statement.

“Why aren’t our kids in school? Isn’t today a school day?” Republican spokesman Sean Southard wondered.

“Andy Beshear and [Kentucky Department of Education Commissioner] Jason Glass are so committed to radical gender ideology in our schools that they would send students to the Capitol to protest instead of their classes,” he added.

“Understand what’s going on here: Andy Beshear, Jason Glass, and JCPS appear to be working together to implement this agenda in our schools.”

Responding to those comments, JCPS said: “Engaging in civic activities is a valuable part of the educational experience. Today’s field trip to Frankfort was student-led and student-centered. JCPS supports students’ right to free speech.

“Any students who were transported to Frankfort on a JCPS school bus had permission slips signed by their parents or guardians, as is the case with all field trips,” the school district added.

Meanwhile, Glass called Southard’s claims of his support for the move an “invented fanciful conspiracy theory” and described the Republican legislation as “bigoted, hateful, and shameful.”

“Instead of trying to pin this on someone else, legislators who feel uncomfortable with the attention they are getting because of this issue should reflect on their own actions and statements,” he added.

Hormone Therapies

At the core of the tensions on March 29 was Senate Bill 150, which prevents minors from being treated with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapies, gender transition surgeries, and other related procedures.

Additionally, among other provisions, the bill bans sex-based discussions in schools and prohibits schools from requiring staff to use a student’s preferred pronouns if they do not align with the child’s biological gender.

The bill was passed by the Republican-controlled Kentucky General Assembly earlier this month only to be vetoed by Beshear, who held that the legislation “strips freedom” from parents and allows “too much government interference” in families’ health decisions.

“SB 150 also turns educators and administrators into investigators that must listen in on student conversations and then knock on doors to confront and question parents and families about how students behave and/or refer to themselves or others,” he wrote in his March 24 veto message.

The governor also cited his faith as a reason for his decision, noting that “all children are children of God” and asserting that the bill would “endanger the children of Kentucky.”

But proponents of the bill have argued that it protects children and “empowers” their parents.

“Kentuckians overwhelmingly support SB 150’s commonsense student privacy protections in restrooms and locker rooms, along with the right of parents to have a say in their child’s education,” said David Walls, executive director of The Family Foundation, in a statement.

“The off-label use of puberty blockers, along with cross-sex hormones and surgery, in experimental gender ‘transitions’ has no place in children’s healthcare—the irreversible harms that de-transitioners have suffered testify to that.”

Adding that he found Beshear’s position on the matter “deeply troubling,” Walls said the bill would “save the lives of Kentucky children by setting policy in alignment with the truth that every child is created as a biological male or female and deserves to be loved, treated with dignity, and accepted for who they really are.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/pro-transgender-protesters-arrested-at-kentucky-capitol-as-state-lawmakers-outlaw-gender-transitions-for-minors_5161832.html

****************************************************

Hyperbole, Hysteria, and Hatred

With yet another deranged lunatic having decided that the best way to get attention is to shoot up a school and murder people, it’s time to look at the role played by the increasingly heated rhetoric that characterizes political, cultural and social debate in this country.

Politicians, admittedly, have done this forever. They demonize their opponents and warn the electorate that electing Candidate B instead of Candidate A will have dire consequences for the city/state/country. Disagreements over policy are routinely spun into moral failings. It has gotten much worse in recent decades; political opponents now compare other candidates to mass-murdering dictators or accuse them (and the party they belong to) of the most malevolent possible motivations. Former President George W. Bush was often compared to Hitler. During the 2012 presidential campaign, studiously wonky Paul Ryan, Republican Mitt Romney’s running mate, was accused of wanting to “push granny off a cliff” -- including an infamous political ad that showed exactly that. It’s not possible for a national election cycle to go by without hearing that this or that candidate hates entire segments of the population, doesn’t care about struggling families or wants poor children to starve.

But nothing can compare to the reaction to Donald Trump’s election, which can only be described as mass hysteria. On his inauguration day and for weeks thereafter, Washington, D.C., and other cities were roiled by riots and violence. People sat in the streets and screamed. Windows were broken, cars set on fire. Johnny Depp and Madonna made unfunny jokes about actors killing presidents and blowing up the White House.

Why? Because Trump’s opponents had decided that the usual political hyperbole wasn’t strong enough, so Trump had to be painted as Satan incarnate who would not stop until he had destroyed the country and democracy with it.

And the public bought it hook, line and sinker.

It would be bad enough were these trends confined to politicians or politics generally. But they aren’t. It isn’t merely the politicians themselves who are evil and to be despised; it’s now their donors, their supporters and anyone who votes for them. Former President Barack Obama called Americans who opposed his policies “bitter” people who “cling to their guns and their religion.” Hillary Clinton called Trump’s supporters “a basket of deplorables.” President Joe Biden’s Justice Department is targeting conservatives, pro-life Christians and irate parents objecting to pornography in schools, warning that they are potential “domestic terrorists.”

Academics seeking tenure publish outrageous social “theories” that smear wide swaths of the population, accusing them of every conceivable form of hatred. These theories then seep out into the general culture, where they are treated as some kind of dogma that cannot be challenged or questioned, only accepted and used as the basis for public policy.

Activists have become accusatory to the point of irrationality. You must overhaul your life in accordance with their computer-generated models of “climate change,” “overpopulation” and “mass starvation,” or else everyone on the planet is going to die.

(Pay no attention to decades of flawed and failed predictions of similar catastrophes.)

If you believe that children need a married mother and a father, reject the notion that “gender is a social construct,” insist that a man cannot become a woman (or vice versa) despite pharmaceutical or even surgical intervention, you are a (fill-in-the-blank)-phobe who has “blood on your hands.”

Terminology takes on quasi-criminal tones: Misunderstandings or perceived slights are “microaggressions.” Due process in campus sexual assault cases is “another form of rape.” And then there’s the all-purpose rage inflator: “Words are violence.”

This is irresponsible and dangerous. Politicians may not believe their own press packages, and social cynics may laugh all the way to the bank, but much of the public believes what they are being told, and they are reacting accordingly.

One horrible irony is that some of those who subscribe to the “words are violence” school of thought are so offended by the mere existence of opposing viewpoints that they feel justified -- with alarming frequency -- in resorting to actual violence. Antifa mobs have made careers out of this in city after city across the country, insisting that they are preventing fascism by rioting, breaking windows, burning down buildings and beating up innocent bystanders. Jane’s Revenge and other pro-abortion groups have been firebombing and vandalizing crisis pregnancy centers. Conservative speakers are shouted down on college campuses -- and some have been physically attacked.

I want to be clear that the only person I am holding responsible for the killings at the Covenant School in Nashville is the woman who pulled the trigger. But her rampage appears to have been fueled by a sordid combination of mental illness and manufactured hysteria. Mental illness needs to be treated. The manufactured hysteria needs to stop.

https://townhall.com/columnists/laurahollis/2023/03/30/hyperbole-hysteria-and-hatred-n2621318

*****************************************************

Conservative Australians should be very angry

John Howard was a conservative. He won, again and again and again. Tony Abbott was a conservative. He won a landslide. Scott Morrison dressed himself up as a conservative and won his first election before shedding his conservative clothes and lost his second one. Turnbull, the luvvies’ preferred Prime Minister, only survived by the skin of his teeth and lost Abbott’s huge majority.

Virtually every state election across the nation in the last decade has seen Woke Liberal parties getting thrashed. Dominic Perrottet is just another in the long list of non-conservative conservatives. Can we please stop this errant nonsense that the Liberal party needs to become more like its opponents in order to win?

What Liberals actually need to do is to start fighting for the freedoms and values at all levels of our daily lives that are being daily tossed onto a Labor and the Greens bonfire of virtues and vanities.

Leftist parties will always win on emotional issues and utopian fantasies. The job is much harder for conservatives. Conservatives must argue from sound principles grounded in hard-earned experience and sell concepts that are anathema to the laptop class – concepts such as thrift, hard work, sacrifice, the Protestant work ethic, dedication, individual freedoms, resilience, and above all equality of opportunity not equality of outcome.

Conservative values, by recognising the weaknesses of human behaviour as well as the strengths, are grounded in reality. Leftist values, grounded in fantasies, lies, and fabrications, are easy to sell but impossible to deliver. Only a strong, single-minded conservative convictions-based leader can ever point this out.

(A classic example: in the Sky News Australia debate, despite performing well, Dominic Perrottet allowed his opponent to repeatedly trash ‘privatisation’, without once pointing out that the only alternative to a market based on the notion of profit is socialism, which always leads to more inequality, not less. How can Liberals ever hope to succeed if they refuse to defend and more importantly explain even the most basic economic free market principles?)

Traditional Australians should be very angry with the Liberals. The factional warlords have squandered the genuine faith mainstream Australians put in the Liberals to be the party to protect them from the ravages of the Left. Instead, they have time after time simply pandered to them. Name a cultural issue, and you’ll find the Liberals have simply vacated the field.

(Another example: after correctly resisting Labor’s calls to stick the Aboriginal flag on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – a hugely important symbolic victory to the Indigenous activist class of ceding sovereignty – Mr Perrottet, as Premier, turned around and did exactly that before compounding the error by supporting the Voice. Or another: Kean and Morrison capitulated to the climate cult and were lauded by the activist classes, but not only went on to lose the next election but in one fell swoop destroyed their most powerful weapon the Liberals once had against the Left.)

Only Peter Dutton can save the day. Only Peter Dutton can return the Liberals to power within the next three years. But to do so he must fight with every sinew in his being. He must expose the vile agenda behind the extremist trans movement. He must oppose the Voice without further ado. He must insist on the removal of the nuclear moratorium. He must abandon Net Zero. He must rescue our children from the permissiveness of the more extreme parts of the LGBTQ+ activist agenda within our schools. He must fight for small business in the face of Labor’s hard-left industrial relations regime and the unions. He must denounce Labor’s fantasies about EVs and green hydrogen for the snake oil that they are.

No more excuses. No more flirting with the Teal agenda to try and pacify the doctors’ wives. No more selling out conservatives in the name of the supposed ‘broad church’. No more putting ‘moderates’ into key economic or political positions.

Fighters win fights and only fighters win the future. Cowards and appeasers are destined for the dustbin of history. Take a look around you, Liberal Australia. Wall-to-wall Labor. Wokeness means weakness. You have betrayed the people who put so much faith in you. Conservatives want a party they can believe in.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/conservative-australians-should-be-very-angry/

****************************************

My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

*****************************************