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Watching the headlines #3

Obamacare was never about your healthcare, it was always about control. So this shouldn’t surprise you.

Doctors' Criticism Of ObamaCare Silenced By ACA Bureaucrats

The primary reason is fear. Doctors are afraid of their new bosses — bureaucrats and their corporate employers whom the ACA empowered.

Thanks to the ACA, many physicians who have practiced as small employers have been forced to leave private practice to become corporate employees (a number that now represents more than 50% of all physicians). For physicians in this position, public advocacy against the ACA could be in violation of employment contracts or could be a source for dismissal.

Most doctors' contracts also include a two-year noncompete clause that essentially requires the doctor to move out of town once he or she leaves a specific job. So, running afoul of your employer by criticizing the ACA could result in not just losing your job but also forcing you to leave your hometown.

And that's not all. Many doctors are also afraid of losing insurance contracts. The vast majority of doctors who are still private-practice owners are dependent on a handful of large insurance contracts for revenue. Speaking out against insurance companies — which were complicit in the ACA's passage and are some of its primary beneficiaries — can result in cancellation of those contracts.


I hadn’t heard about this one, it wouldn’t be the first time a government program had unintended and dangerous consequences.

Save the Bees: Eliminate Biofuel Mandates

Fortunately, there is something the federal government can do to make private wildlife habitat more viable: eliminate the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. This mandate promotes excessive planting of corn by creating artificial demand for biofuels such as ethanol. Corn, which self-pollinates, has limited nutritional value to bees and other pollinators.

Just in case you thought the Imperious Leader supports free speech, have a look at this.

Obama To Circumvent Congress With ‘Gag Order’ On Firearm Coverage

While ITAR and its regulations have not been a concern in the past, as far as constraining or limiting “material posted on publicly available websites,” there are some within the current State Department arguing that “anything published online in a generally-accessible location has essentially been ‘exported,'” simply by virtue of being posted, and is therefore under the purview of ITAR.

Moreover, last week the State Department put forth a proposal “clarifying” how to handle releases containing “technical data” which are posted online or otherwise distributed into the “public domain.” Ultimately, the proposal would require those releasing “technical data” on ammunition or firearms to first seek government approval.

Oh, and The Nation has a downright scary one.

You Can Be Prosecuted for Clearing Your Browser History

Matanov continued to live in Quincy for over a year after the bombings. During this time the FBI tracked him with a drone-like surveillance plane that made loops around Quincy, disturbing residents. The feds finally arrested and indicted him in May 2014. They never alleged that Matanov was involved in the bombings or that he knew about them beforehand, but they charged him with four counts of obstruction of justice. There were three counts for making false statements based on the aforementioned lies and—remarkably—one count for destroying "any record, document or tangible object" with intent to obstruct a federal investigation. This last charge was for deleting videos on his computer that may have demonstrated his own terrorist sympathies and for clearing his browser history.

Matanov faced the possibility of decades in prison—twenty years for the records-destruction charge alone.

Federal prosecutors charged Matanov for destroying records under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a law enacted by Congress in the wake of the Enron scandal. The law was, in part, intended to prohibit corporations under federal investigation from shredding incriminating documents. But since Sarbanes-Oxley was passed in 2002  federal prosecutors have applied the law to a wider range of activities. A police officer in Colorado who falsified a report to cover up a brutality case was convicted under the act, as was a woman in Illinois who destroyed her boyfriend's child pornography.

As always, you should read the complete articles and form your own opinions.

Me? I’ll just tell you that government is not your friend.



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