Tag: nevada

The Las Vegas Review Journal backhands Harry Reid over… being Harry Reid, really.

I’m going to really enjoy the 2016 Nevada Senate election…

Last week, Sen. Reid was in rare form following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn part of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate. The 5-4 ruling declared that closely held for-profit businesses, such as craft retailer Hobby Lobby, do not have to provide some forms of birth control to female employees if doing so violates the owners’ religious beliefs. Sen. Reid eviscerated the decision. “The one thing we are going to do during this work period, sooner rather than later, is to ensure that women’s lives are not determined by virtue of five white men,” Sen. Reid said.

That Sen. Reid would inject race into criticism of a ruling with gender-based ramifications was bad enough. What made the comment far worse, however, was that it was completely false. Justice Clarence Thomas, who happens to be black, sided with the court’s majority in the Hobby Lobby case.

Continue reading The Las Vegas Review Journal backhands Harry Reid over… being Harry Reid, really.

Gov. Brian Sandoval (R, Nevada) takes a big step forward in toppling Harry Reid in 2016.

If, you know, that’s going to be a thing that he wants to do.

Let me set the scene: Brian Sandoval is the (popular) governor of Nevada, and he’s going to win re-election in November. Yes, yes, there’s always the chance of scandal and/or unforeseen circumstances – but last night the Democrats’ top vote-getter in their gubernatorial primary was None of the above*.  Sandoval’s term-limited, so at 51 the man has to think about what happens next.  Basically, there are two options for him: a Vice President spot, or the Senate. Both would involve him leaving early, which Brian Sandoval said that he wouldn’t do.. but as the RCP link notes above Sandoval said that when he ran for Nevada Attorney General. That ended up with Sandoval leaving that job (as per a Harry Reid scheme) in 2004 to go be a federal judge… and then leaving that job to run for Governor in 2010.

Not that I – or many other Republicans – really mind any of that.  We typically don’t punish our politicians for deciding that, gosh and by golly, they’re going to run for something anyway.  Besides, in 2010 Brian Sandoval beat Rory Reid (Harry Reid’s kid) like a red-headed stepchild.  That’s the sort of thing that can endear a politician to the Republican base… Continue reading Gov. Brian Sandoval (R, Nevada) takes a big step forward in toppling Harry Reid in 2016.

And *another* state (Nevada’s) #Obamacare exchange dies.

This is starting to appear to be a trend:

The Silver State Health Insurance Exchange board voted unanimously Tuesday to end its relationship with Xerox, the vendor contracted in 2012 to build the exchange’s Nevada Health Link website.

In place of Xerox, the exchange will adopt the federal Healthcare.gov exchange’s eligibility and enrollment functions for the sign-up period that begins Nov. 15, though it will keep its status and funding as a state-controlled system. The exchange will also issue a request for proposals to evaluate replacement systems in coming years. A new platform could come from a state with a functional marketplace, or from a vendor with a similar, proven program.

…This would probably be a bad time to note that the entire federal exchange subsidy thing hinges on a couple of critical court cases, right?  Not that any sane person should ever be totally confident in predicting how the Supreme Court will rule on things, of course.  And that’s a problem with two edges.

Via Hot Air.

Moe Lane

 

Nevada’s state #obamacare exchange numbers are… very, very bad.

So last month there was SOME sort of benchmark established for the Nevada state exchange:

According to Nevada Health Link’s Twitter feed, as of October 15, 32,280 Nevadans had created accounts on the exchange, with 11,916 of them beginning applications. 3,795 had completed the eligibility process and 1,419 had selected a plan and placed it in their cart, a task at least one step short of enrolling in a plan.

The state exchange was projected to enroll 118,000 uninsured Nevadans during the open enrollment period, which runs from October 1, 2013 through March 31, 2014. In a report on the Exchange Enrollment Facilitator program, Nevada Health Link predicted that 80% of those enrolled through that particular program would enroll by December 15 and be covered on January 1.

Applying that same percentage to overall enrollment results in a target of 94,400 enrolling through Nevada Health Link from October 1 through December 15. The 1,419 Nevadans who had selected a plan in the first 20% of this period is just 1.5% of the enrollment target. And the number of people who had actually enrolled in a plan is certainly less.

A month later, how is that going?

Spoiler warning: badly. Continue reading Nevada’s state #obamacare exchange numbers are… very, very bad.

Harry Reid has nobody to cry to about that big meanie Ted Cruz…

…so he’ll just cry about it:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called freshman GOP Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) a “schoolyard bully” during a contentious exchange Monday on the Senate floor.

The two senators bickered as Cruz rose to object to Reid’s motion to appoint conferees to a House-Senate budget committee.

Cruz’s great sin? “He asked that Reid amend his motion to go to conference to make out of order any provisions raising taxes or raising the debt ceiling.” …No, I’m not exactly sure where the term ‘bully’ would apply, there.  I could conceivably see ‘pain in Harry Reid’s ass’ – which is indeed Ted Cruz’s intent, and possibly chief amusement while on the Senate floor – but ‘bully’ implies that a man who has spent a quarter-century in the Senate is somehow innately intimidated by a first-term junior Senator from Texas.

What a… fascinating revelation.  And potentially one that’s useful, as well.

Moe Lane

Nevada state Rep. Steven Brooks (D) expelled, chased, cornered, tased, punched, arrested. In one day.

I believe that ‘expulsion’ usually is not intended to be meant quite so… literally.

Police chased a former lawmaker on a freeway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles and arrested him at gunpoint following a struggle, hours after he became the first person ever expelled from the Nevada Legislature.

Steven Brooks was jailed in California’s San Bernardino County after being subdued with punches and a Taser. Police alleged he attacked a police dog with a wrench.

The AP managed to not mention Brooks’ political affiliation (Democrat) until the fourth paragraph, although to be fair: the phrase ‘attacked a police dog with a wrench’ can reasonably seen as being an irresistible lure for reading further.  At any rate, this should be a fascinating HBO movie in a couple of years.  Assuming, of course, that they can figure out some way to get some skin in it.

Via Drudge.

Moe Lane

PS: All joking aside; there may be something neurological going on, here.

Shelley Berkley (D, NV-01) under ethics investigation for medical crony capitalism.

OK, here’s the background: back in 2011 it came out that in 2008 Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D, NV-01) intervened to prevent the shutdown of a Nevadan kidney transplant program that was killing patients.  It’s important at this point to distinguish between proper and improper responses: for example, it is proper to be concerned about what was reported as being “the only transplant center in Nevada” at the time, which is why a number of Nevadan Members of Congress (including Rep. Dean Heller – this will be important later) joined Rep. Berkley in intervening with the program. Is this clear?  Good.  Because the problem here – the possibly improper problem – is that the method of intervention involved just happened to involve hiring more medical personnel from a company that just happens to be owned by Berkely’s physician husband (kidney specialist) who also just happens to be a co-owner of one of Berkley’s major corporate campaign contributors.

Funny how it always seems to work out that way, huh? Continue reading Shelley Berkley (D, NV-01) under ethics investigation for medical crony capitalism.

President Obama’s Presidential Playpen!

Barack Obama is an incredibly insecure man. Admittedly, he has reason to be.

(Via AoSHQ) From Reno, NV… oh, isn’t this the cutest thing ever?

Obama’s got his little podium, and he’s got his little microphone, and, hey, Obama even has his Junior PotUS Presidential Seal to talk behind as he speaks to everybody on the whole block! Such a big boy, now. And he’ll probably be such a good President…

…once he grows up, of course. Continue reading President Obama’s Presidential Playpen!

Six weeks until the primary starts?

If so, the luxury of taking one’s time with picking a favorite GOP candidate is about to go away:

In a bombshell this afternoon, New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner raised the strong possibility of a December first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

In a statement entitled “Why New Hampshire’s Primary Tradition is Important,” Gardner, who has full authority under state law to set the date of the presidential primary, called Dec. 13 and Dec. 6 “realistic options.”

New Hampshire is blaming Nevada, which has decided to move its GOP primary up to January 14th, largely because Nevada is tired of having Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina always be first in the primary schedule.  New Hampshire wants Nevada to push it back to January 17th, and Nevada’s saying that it won’t, and at least one candidate – who isn’t Mitt Romney* – is totally taking New Hamphire’s side, and… OK, look, it’s high school all over again, you understand?  God help me for having to describe this dispute in such terms, but it’s the best analogy that fits.

Continue reading Six weeks until the primary starts?