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President Obama’s health care law… many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers.

From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are… restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans.

… insurers… have created smaller networks of doctors and hospitals than are typically found in commercial insurance.

Consumers should be prepared for “much tighter, narrower networks” of doctors and hospitals, said Adam M. Linker, a health policy analyst at the North Carolina Justice Center, a statewide advocacy group.

In a new study, the Health Research Institute of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consulting company, says that “insurers passed over major medical centers” when selecting providers in California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee, among other states.

Juan Carlos Davila, an executive vice president of Blue Shield of California, said the network for its exchange plans… did not include the five medical centers of the University of California.

Daniel R. Hawkins Jr., a senior vice president of the National Association of Community Health Centers, which represents 9,000 clinics around the country, said: “… insurers have shown little interest in including us in their provider networks.”

Dr. Bruce Siegel, the president of America’s Essential Hospitals, formerly known as the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, said insurers were telling his members: “We don’t want you in our network. We are worried about having your patients, who are sick and have complicated conditions.”

In New Hampshire, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, a unit of WellPoint, one of the nation’s largest insurers, has touched off a furor by excluding 10 of the state’s 26 hospitals from the health plans that it will sell through the insurance exchange.

283) Encouraged a hospital to close

In September 2013, WCYB reported:

Jonesville, Va. – A local hospital is closing its doors.

Wellmont Health System is citing unprecedented changes in health care as the reason for closing Lee Regional Medical Center.

Company officials say three reasons led to the decision reimbursement cuts associated with the Affordable Care Act, extremely low community use of the hospital and a lack of consistent physician coverage.

Lee Regional will cease all operations on October 1.

284) Required doctors to ask patients sexual questions and put their answers in an electronic database

In September 2013, it was reported that Obamacare requires doctors to ask patients personal questions about their sex lives, and to put their answers into an electronic database. Doctors who avoid doing this will be penalized.

Dr. Adam Budzikowski, a New York cardiologist, said these sex question were “insensitive, stupid and very intrusive,” and that he could not think of any reason why a cardiologist would need such information.

Dr. Richard Amerling, an associate professor of medicine at Albert Einstein Medical College, said that a patient’s medical record should be “a story created by you and your doctor solely for your treatment and benefit,” and that Obamacare turns doctor appointments “into an interrogation, and the data will not be confidential.”

The New York Civil Liberties Union said that these requirements were a violation of patients’ privacy.

The Obama administration said that patients who wished to keep their information out of the electronic database should pay in cash.

285) Listed wrong prices for Obamacare

On September 20, 2013, just 10 days before the Obamacare exchanges were legally required to be ready, it was reported that they had the wrong prices.

286) Made it easier for people to commit health care fraud

In September 2013, CNBC reported:

Deep staff cuts are hitting a federal agency responsible for investigating health care fraud just as Obamacare is due to kick in, leaving less people to investigate an ever-growing crime that costs taxpayers billions of dollars.

And in a perverse twist, the funding cuts at the Health and Human Services Department’s Inspector General’s Office might save money in the short term for the U.S. taxpayer. But over the long run, more money that could have been recouped from the fraud cases now going unpursued, is being left on the table, the agency said.

For every $1 spent on health-care fraud probes, nearly $8 is recouped in fines, restitution or settlements, according to HHS.

287) Included a so-called “family glitch” in his health care reform


In September 2013, USA Today reported:

A so-called “family glitch” in the 2010 health care law threatens to cost some families thousands of dollars in health insurance costs and leave up to 500,000 children without coverage, insurance and health care analysts say.

That’s unless Congress fixes the problem, which seems unlikely given the House’s latest move Friday to strip funding from the law, which is also called the Affordable Care Act.

Congress defined “affordable” as 9.5% or less of an employee’s household income, mostly to make sure people did not leave their workplace plans for subsidized coverage through the exchanges. But the “error” was that it only applies to the employee — and not his or her family. So, if an employer offers a woman affordable insurance, but doesn’t provide it for her family, they cannot get subsidized help through the state health exchanges.

That can make a huge difference; the Kaiser Family Foundation said an average plan for an individual is about $5,600, but it goes up to $15,700 for families.

288) Made it harder for Canadian politicians to get health care

Canada has had so-called “universal health care” for a long time.

However, when Robert Bourassa, the premier of Quebec, Canada, needed cancer treatment, he came to the United States and paid for his health care with his own money.


And when Canadian Liberal MP Belinda Stronach needed cancer treatment, she also came to the United States and paid for her health care with her own money.

And when Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams needed heart surgery, he, too, came to the United States and paid for his health care with his own money.

Now that Obama has given the U.S. so-called “universal health care,” where will Canadian politicians go when they get sick?

289) Gave married couples an annual tax of up to $11,028 for being married instead of single


In front of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Obama administration argued that Obamacare is a tax.

According to the Obamacare calulator, Obamacare places an annual tax on married couples for being married instead of single. The amount of this tax depends upon the ages, incomes, and parental status of the married couple.

According to the Obamacare calculator, the extreme case of this tax occurs with a 60-year-old married couple with no children, where the two spouses have identical incomes totaling $62,041 per year. Under this scenario, according to the Obamacare calculator, Obamacare gives them an annual tax of $11,028 for being married instead of single.

290) Gave people an annual tax increase of up to $12,214 for earning one more dollar of income

In front of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Obama administration argued that Obamacare is a tax.

Obamacare gives some people a tax increase if they increase their income by one dollar. The amount of this tax increase depends upon the person’s age, income, and marital status.

According to the Obamacare calculator, the extreme case of this occurs with a 64-year-old married couple with a combined income of $62,041. Under this scenario, according to the Obamacare calulator, Obamacare gives them an annual tax increase of $12,214 when their income increases by one dollar, in the case of their income going from $62,040 to $62,041.

This amounts to a marginal tax rate of 1,221,400%. That’s not a typo – the marginal tax rate on that one dollar of additional income is more than one million per cent.

291) Refused to fire IRS employees who “lost” $67 million from Obamacare “slush fund”

In September 2013, it was reported that IRS employees had “lost” $67 million from a “slush fund.” Obama refused to fire those employees. Obama had created the “slush fund” as part of Obamacare.

292) Refused to fire ATF employees who “lost” 420 million cigarettes

In September 2013, it was reported that ATF employees had “lost” 420 million cigarettes. Obama refused to fire them.

293) Falsely said his mother’s insurance company had refused to pay for her cancer treatment

During the 2008 election campaign, Obama falsely said that his mother’s health insurance company had refused to pay for her cancer treatment.

294) Had 19.5 million fake Twitter followers

As of September 2013, Obama had 19.5 million fake Twitter followers.

295) Illegally delayed online registration of Obamacare for small businesses

Obamacare requires that the online registration for small businesses be ready by October 1, 2013. However, five days before that date, Associated Press reported that this deadline would not be met.

296) Encouraged 30,000 Puget Sound grocery workers to vote in favor of authorizing a strike

In September 2013, a union representing 30,000 employees at Safeway, Fred Meyer, QFC, and Albertson’s in the Puget Sound area of Washington state voted in favor of authorizing a strike. Union members said that one of their reasons for voting in favor of the strike was that their employers were trying to switch their part time employees form employer provided insurance to the Obamacare exchanges.

297) Waived the U.S. ban on arming terrorists

In September 2013, the Washington Examiner reported:

Obama waives ban on arming terrorists to allow aid to Syrian opposition

President Obama waived a provision of federal law designed to prevent the supply of arms to terrorist groups to clear the way for the U.S. to provide military assistance to “vetted” opposition groups fighting Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

Some elements of the Syrian opposition are associated with radical Islamic terrorist groups, including al Qaeda

The law allows the president to waive those prohibitions if he “determines that the transaction is essential to the national security interests of the United States.”

298) Caused a family’s monthly insurance premium to increase from $333 to $965

Andy and Amy Mangione and their two sons live in Louisville, Kentucky. In September 2013, they received a letter from Humana, their insurance company, which said that Obamacare would be causing their monthly premium to increase from $333 to $965.

299) Caused Michelle Malkin’s family to lose their health insurance policy

In September 2013, conservative writer Michelle Malkin, who has always opposed Obamacare, wrote:

Like an estimated 22 million other Americans, I am a self-employed small-business owner who buys health insurance for my family directly on the individual market. We have a high-deductible PPO plan that allows us to choose from a wide range of doctors.

Or rather, we had such a plan.

Last week, our family received notice from Anthem BlueCross BlueShield of Colorado that we can no longer keep the plan we like because of “changes from health care reform (also called the Affordable Care Act or ACA).” The letter informed us that “(t)o meet the requirements of the new laws, your current plan can no longer be continued beyond your 2014 renewal date.”

This isn’t just partisan business. It’s personal. Our cancellation letter states that Anthem is “not going to be selling new individual PPO plans.” When we asked whether we could keep our children’s doctors, an agent for Anthem told my husband and me she didn’t know.

300) Tried to force Little Sisters of the Poor and other Catholic organizations to violate their religious principles

In September 2013, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sued the Obama administration on behalf of Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic charity. Other Catholic organizations were also represented in the lawsuit.

Sister Loraine Marie said of this lawsuit:

“We cannot violate our vows by participating in the government’s program to provide access to abortion-inducing drugs.”

Mark Rienzi, one of the lawyers representing these Catholic organizations, said:

“These women just want to take care of the elderly poor without being forced to violate the faith that animates their work. The money they collect should be used to care for the poor like it always has — and not to pay the IRS.”

301) Signed health care reform that broke his promise not to increase taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year

On September 12, 2008, Obama promised:

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”

In 2010, Obama signed Obamacare.

In 2012, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, the Obama administration argued that Obamacare is a tax.

302) Pushed millions of working people “into a regulatory health coverage no man’s land”

In February 2013, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat-Oregon) said:

“We’ve got millions of people — working-class, middle-class people — who are going to be pushed into a regulatory health coverage no man’s land. They are unable to afford the family coverage through their employer and ineligible for the subsidy that could be used by dependents on the exchange.”

303) “Unfairly” forced federal lawmakers and their aides to participate in the same health care reform as everyone else

In June 2013, U.S. Congressman John Larson (Democrat-Connecticut) said that it is “not fair” to force federal lawmakers and their aides to participate in the same health care reform as everyone else.

304) Encouraged SEIU union to go on strike


The Service Employees International Union supported Obama in both elections, and also supported the passage of Obamacare.

However, in September 2013, member of the Chicago chapter of the SEIU went on strike over jobs cuts that were caused by Obamacare.

305) Removed promise of “free” health care from Obamacare website


In September 2013, the Obamacare website removed its promise of “free” health care.

306) Exposed the hypocrisy of MSNBC host Ed Schultz

After Obamacare was passed, MSNBC host Ed Schultz praised it almost every day for three years. However, on Sepotember 26, 2013, just five days before the Obamacare exchanges were to begin, Schultz said that unions should be exempt from it.

307) Punished people who were unable to accurately predict their income a year in advance

Obamacare requires people to predict their income a year in advance. If their prediction is wrong, they can be punished by the IRS.

308) Created Obamacare website where less than 1% of the people who visited on its first day actually registered for Obamacare

U.S. Congressman Congressman Jim Himes (Democrat-Connecticut) said that out of the 28,000 people from Connecticut who had visited the Obamacare website on its first day, only 167 had actually signed up for Obamacare.

309) Obama administration falsely said it did not know how many people had enrolled in Obamacare

On October 3, 2013, the third day that the Obamacare website was in operation, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that “7 million” people had visited the Obamacare website so far. However, when asked how many of those people had actually enrolled in Obamacare, he said, “We don’t have that data.”

Carney was lying. Of course the Obama administration had that data. CBS News was able to get a copy of that data, and reported that during the first 24 hours after the Obamacare website went online, only six people had used the website to enroll in Obamacare.

310) Broke promise that Obamacare “navigators” would not go door to door

On October 1, 2013, the very first day that Obamacare registration was taking place, the Obama administration broke its promise that Obamacare “navigators” would not go door to door.

311) Created Obamacare website where reporters from various news agencies were unable to register on its first day


On October 1, 2013, a CNN reporter was unable to register at the Obamacare website.

On October 1, 2013, an MSNBC reporter was unable to register at the Obamacare website.

On October 1, 2013, a reporter from the Tennessean was unable to register at the Obamacare website.

312) Created Obamacare phone line that was answered by “navigators” who had no training

President Obama signed Obamacare in March 2010. The Obama administration had three and a half years to hire and train the “navigators” who answer the Obamacare phone line.

However, on October 1, 2013, one of the “navigators” who answered the Obamacare phone line said “We have not been trained yet.”

313) Created Obamacare website that can’t handle as much traffic as a website which is run by one guy in his pajamas from his apartment

drudgereport.com is run by Matt Drudge, who runs the website in his pajamas from his apartment. I’ve visited his website just about every day since the late 20th century. It runs very well. His website has gotten as many as 45 million hits per day.

On the first day of the Obamacare website, it had 5 million visitors. It could not handle that amount of traffic.

314) Created Obamacare phone line where “navigators” told people to go to a building that turned out to be empty

Obamacare “navigators” who answered the Obamacare phone line told people to go to a building that turned out to be empty.

315) Created Obamacare phone line with a number that when spelled out is “F*** YO”

When spelled out, the Obamacare phone number is “F*** YO.”

This is not a complaint on my part. On the contrary, I consider this to be truth in advertising. For once, the Obama administration is telling us the truth about Obamacare.

316) Tried to censor a book about the “Fast and Furious” scandal

In October 2013, the ACLU announced that it would be defending John Dodson’s first amendment right to free speech, against the Obama administration, which was trying to prevent Dodson from publishing a book about Obama’s “Fast and Furious” scandal.

317) Michelle Obama said she could not tweet as often after the federal shutdown caused layoffs of her 16 “assistants,” who have salaries as high as $172,200

Michelle Obama has 16 taxpayer funded “assistants,” whose salaries are as high as $172,200.

During the government shutdown in October 2013, her 16 “assistants” were laid off, and her twitter account said:

“Due to Congress’s failure to pass legislation to fund the government, updates to this account will be limited.”

318) Hypocritically blocked Texas’s voter ID law for being “racist”

In March 2012, Obama’s Justice Department blocked Texas’s voter ID law, claiming that it was “racist.”

However, the very same Obama Justice Department that did this, also requires photo ID for everyone who enters it. In this video, beginning at 2:39, we see that a security guard at Obama’s Justice Department requires photo ID for everyone who enters.

319) Falsely said that his negotiating over the debt ceiling would be unprecedented

In October 2013, Obama falsely said that his negotiating over the debt ceiling would be unprecedented.

320) Blocked access to outdoor memorials and monuments during the government shutdown, even though it would have been cheaper to leave them open

During the government shutdown in October 2013, Obama shut down the Vietnam Memorial, despite the fact that it would have been cheaper to leave it open.

Obama also shut down the World War II Memorial. Obama used metal fences and yellow police tape to block the entrances.

Obama put up orange cones to prevent drivers from stopping and taking pictures of Mount Rushmore.

Obama put up yellow police tape in front of the Lincoln Memorial to prevent people from entering.

During previous government shutdowns, these memorials and monuments had remained open.

Since it’s more expensive to close these outdoor memorials and monuments than it is to leave them open, I have to wonder what Obama’s reason was for shutting them down.

321) Kicked people out of their privately owned vacation homes on federal land during government shutdown

During the government shutdown in October 2013, Obama forced people to leave their privately owned vacation homes along Lake Mead. The privately owned homes were situated on land owned by the federal government. All of the homes in question were vacation homes, not primary residences, so no one was forced into homelessness. Nevertheless, there was no legitimate justification for Obama to do this.

322) Forced private businesses on federal land to close during government shutdown

During the October 2013 government shutdown, Obama forced privately owned marinas, restaurants, inns, and concessions stands which were situated on federal land to close. Although the Obama administration claimed that this was done because the government did not have enough money to allow them to stay open, the government actually spent extra money to have federal guards prevent people from entering these private businesses.

323) Kept one of his favorite golf courses open during government shutdown

During the October 2013 government shutdown, while Obama was busying closing federal parks, monuments, and memorials, he made one exception – he allowed one of his favorite golf courses to stay open.

324) Spent $98,670 to build an outhouse

In September 2013, the Obama administration spent $98,670 to build an outhouse at the Swede Park Trail Head in Alaska.

325) Engages in “a sign of leadership failure”

In March 2006, Senator Obama said:

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.”

However, in September 2013, President Obama argued in favor of raising the debt ceiling.

326) Used armed guards to imprison law abiding tourists inside a locked building at Yellowstone National Park

During the October 2013 government shutdown, Obama used armed guards to imprison law abiding tourists inside a locked building at Yellowstone National Park.

327) Obama used the October 2013 government shutdown as an excuse to deny death benefits to the families of dead U.S. soldiers, even though the funding had already been previously authorized by law


During the October 2013 government shutdown, Obama denied death benefits to the families of dead U.S. soldiers, even though the funding for this had already been previously authorized by law.

328) Ordered a $47,174 mechanical bull during the October 2013 government shutdown

During the October 2013 government shutdown, while Obama was busy closing parks, memorials, and monuments (even though it would have been cheaper to leave them open because they are outdoors), and denying death benefits to the families of dead U.S. military personnel (even though the funding for this had already been previously authorized by law), the Utah National Guard (which is a component of the United States Army and the United States National Guard) ordered a $47,174 mechanical bull. However, after being embarrassed by reports of this from Fox News, Drudge Report, and CNS News, the federal government canceled the order.

329) Seized $35,000 from a law abiding owner of a grocery store without any warning , explanation, or charges


For 30 years, Terry Dehko has been legally operating a grocery store near Detroit, Michigan. In January 2013, the Obama administration seized $35,000 from Dehko’s bank account, without giving any warning or explanation, and without charging Dehko with any crime.

330) Ran “the most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered”

For the past 20 years, David Sanger has been a New York Times reporter stationed in Washington, D.C. In October 2013, he said:

“This is the most closed, control-freak administration I’ve ever covered.”

331) Fined a runner $100 for running in Valley Forge


During the October 2013 government shutdown, the Obama administration fined a runner $100 for running in Valley Forge.

332) Ordered Claude Moore Colonial Farm to shut down, even though it was privately funded

During the October 2013 government shutdown, the Obama administration ordered Claude Moore Colonial Farm to shut down, even though it was privately funded.

333) Ordered a volunteer to stop cleaning up the National Mall

During the October 2013 government shutdown, the Obama administration ordered Chris Cox, a volunteer, to stop cleaning up the National Mall.

334) Told students to remove two amendments from the “outdated” Bill of Rights

As part of Obama’s “Common Core” education program, students in a sixth-grade history class in Bryant, Arkansas, were told to removed two amendments from the “outdated” Bill of Rights.

335) Ordered people to appear in federal court because they had entered the Grand Canyon


During the October 2013 government shutdown, the Obama administration ordered people to appear in federal court because they had entered the Grand Canyon.

336) Ordered volunteers to stop bringing therapy dogs to visit sick children in the hospital


During the October 2013 government shutdown, the Obama administration ordered volunteers to stop bringing therapy dogs to visit sick children in the hospital.

337) Had veterans arrested for visiting the Vietnam Memorial

During the October 2013 government shutdown, Obama had veterans arrested for visiting the Vietnam Memorial

338) A “lead navigator” for Obamacare falsely told applicants that they must provide their credit score

In October 2013, Anne Packham, a “lead navigator” for Obamacare, falsely told applicants that they had to provide their credit score.

339) Created Obamacare website which “looks like nobody tested it”

President Obama signed Obamacare in March 2010. He had three and a half years to create and test the Obamacare website.

However, in October 2013, CBS News quoted Luke Chung, an online database programmer who supports Obamacare, as saying the following about the Obamacare website:

“It wasn’t designed well, it wasn’t implemented well, and it looks like nobody tested it… It’s not even close. It’s not even ready for beta testing for my book. I would be ashamed and embarrassed if my organization delivered something like that.”

340) Obamacare’s first publicized “enrollee” turned out to be a Democratic activist who had not actually enrolled in Obamacare

After the Obamacare website went online, the media tried and tried to find someone who had actually enrolled, but could not find anyone, because the website was so badly designed.

After much searching, they finally reported that they had found someone – a 21-year-old guy from Georgia named Chad Henderson.

On October 3, 2013, the Washington Post reported:

Meet Chad Henderson, the Obamacare enrollee tons of reporters are calling

Ask and, apparently, you shall receive.

Just moments after writing a blog post Thursday morning, about the lack of information on Obamacare enrollees, Enroll America reached out with contact information for Chad Henderson, a 21-year-old in Georgia who had successfully enrolled in coverage on the federal marketplace.

It was a little difficult to reach Henderson, mostly because so many other reporters wanted to talk to him. “I’m supposed to talk to the Chattanooga Times Free Press in a half hour,” Henderson said. “And The Wall Street Journal is supposed to call.”

Luckily, Henderson managed to squeeze me in for a few minutes. He’s a student at Chattanooga State University who lives across the state border in Flintstone, Ga.

Politico reported:

Rare health exchange enrollee gets 15 minutes of Obamacare fame

Chad Henderson, a college student who is one of the few people to have signed up for health insurance on a federal exchange, is having his 15 minutes of Obamacare fame.

But wait.

It turns out that Henderson had not actually enrolled in Obamcare.

In addition, Henderson is actually a member of Organizing for Action, the organization that ran Obama’s election campaign.

341) Said it’s “unfair” to ask for Obamacare enrollment numbers just one week after Obamacare website went online

U.S. Congressional reperestentative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Democrat-Florida) is the chairperson for the Democratic National Committee. When a reporter asked her how many people had enrolled in Obamacare during its first week, she said it was “unfair” to ask that question so early.

When a new movie comes out, we know how many people bought tickets in the first week. When a new video game, or a new CD, or a new book comes out, we know how many people bought it in the first week.

But when a news reporter asks “the most transparent administration in history” how many people signed up for its new health care program during its first week, we are told that such a question is “unfair.”

342) Declined to idenifty the private contractors who screwed up the Obamacare website

When the New York Times asked the Obama administration to identify the private contractors who had screwed up the Obamacare website, the Obama administration refused to answer.

343) Refused to answer why businesses, but not individuals, were able to delay the Obamacare mandate for a year

When Jon Stewart asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius why businesses, but not individuals, were able to delay the Obamacare mandate for a year, Sebelius refused to answer.

344) Gave people Obamacare “rate shock”

Many news sources, including the Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, Investor’s Business Daily, the Daily Caller, CBS News, Forbes, CNN, the San Jose Mercury News, and the San Francisco Chronicle, have been reporting on something called Obamacare “rate shock.”

For example, Tom Waschura, a self employed engineer who lives in Portola Valley, California, said that he supports Obamacare, and that he voted for Obama in both elections.


However, on October 5, 2013, Waschura said:

“I was laughing at Boehner — until the mail came today.”

“I really don’t like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so pissed about this. When you take $10,000 out of my family’s pocket each year, that’s otherwise disposable income or retirement savings that will not be going into our local economy.”

This next quote is one of the funniest things that I’ve heard anyone say about Obamacare so far. It comes from Cindy Vinson, a retired teacher from San Jose, California, who said that she supports Obamacare, and that she voted for Obama in both elections. This is what she said in October 2013, after she found out that Obamacare would be causing her insurance premium to increase:

“Of course, I want people to have health care. I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally.”

CNN reported:

One North Carolina reader was upset to learn her current $267 a month plan was being canceled and the cheapest option on the exchange would cost her family $750 a month. They don’t qualify for a subsidy.

“Obamacare is a nightmare for my family,” she wrote.

345) Made sure that Obamacare “rate shock” did not happen until after the 2012 election

Obamacare was deliberately written so that Obamacare “rate shock” would not occur until after the 2012 election.

On October 9, 2013, Obama’s approval rating was only 37%. Obamacare “rate shock” was a significant factor in this low approval rating. If Obamacare “rate shock” had happened in October 2012 instead of in October 2013, it’s highly unlikley that Obama would have won the 2012 election.

346) Had the Obamacare website built by cronies instead of by qualified programmers

Obama had the Obamacare website built by cronies instead of by qualified programmers.

347) Used 55 different contractors to build the Obamacare website

Instead of choosing just one contractor or a few contractors who could properly build the Obamacare website, Obama decided to spread the work out over 55 different contractors, which made it much harder to get all the parts to run together properly.

348) Waited until after the 2012 election to issue major rules for the Obamacare website

Obama signed the Obamacare law in March 2010. The law requires the online exchanges to be up and running by October 2013. So Obama had three and a half years to get the website ready.

However, Obama waited until after the 2012 election to release some of the major rules for how the website was supposed to be designed. So instead of having three and a half years to get the website ready, Obama made sure the programmers had less than one year.

349) New York Times reporter was never able to log in to Obamamacare website during more than 40 attempts over 11 days

During more than 40 attempts to log in to the Obamacare website over a period of 11 days beginning on October 1, 2013, a New York Times reported was never able to log in.

350) Hired illegal immigrant as Obamacare “navigator”

Obama hired an illegal immigrant to work as an Obamacare “navigator.”

"When you look for a job, you can't find it and you give up. You are now considered statistically employed."

Completely false. statistically you are considered "out of the labor force" not "employed"

"The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process."

False, and the opposite of any statements the two organizations have made at this time

351) Hired someone with an outstanding arrest warrant as Obamacare “navigator”

Obama hired someone with an outstanding arrest warrant to work as an Obamacare “navigator.”

352) IRS collected taxes but did not send out refunds during government shutdown

During the October 2013 government shutdown, the IRS collected taxes but did not send out tax refunds.

353) Prevented Catholic volunteers from practicing their religion at military bases during government shutdown

During the October 2013 government shutdown, the Obama administration prevented Catholic volunteers from practicing their religion on military bases.

354) Spent more than $500 million to build unusable Obamacare website

Obama spent more than $500 million of taxpayers’ money to build the unusable Obamacare website.

355) Refused to fire Kathleen Sebelius, even after the failure of the Obamacare website

Even after the Obamacare website failed, Obama still refused to fire Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.

356) There is “no reasonable expectation of privacy” at Obamacare website

The source code for the Obamacare website states:

“You have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system. At any time, and for any lawful Government purpose, the government may monitor, intercept, and search and seize any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system. Any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system may be disclosed or used for any lawful Government purpose.”

357) Requires users to reveal private info before shopping at Obamacare website

Legitimate shopping websites such as amazon.com allow users to browse merchandise without having to enter their personal information. However, the Obamacare website requires users to enter their name, social security number, and other personal information before they are allowed to look at the insurance plans.

358) Michelle Obama refused to pick vegetables from her own garden without federal help

During the October 2013 government shutdown, Michelle Obama decided to avoid picking her own vegetables from her own garden, and instead, allowed them to rot.

Reuters reported:

In the famous White House kitchen garden, tomatoes are rotting on the vine. Herbs have gone to seed. And the sweet potatoes – a favorite of President Barack Obama – have become worm food.

It’s another impact of the government shutdown, one that only the fox and the many squirrels that live on the White House grounds could love.

359) The Obamacare website is “a hacker’s wet dream”

John McAfee, the computer programmer who founded McAfee, Inc., said the Obamacare website is “a hacker’s wet dream.”

360) Caused a leukemia patient to lose his insurance

Michael Cerpok lives in Fountain Hills, Arizona. He has leukemia.

In 2012, his health care cost more than $350,000. But because he had insurance, he only had to pay $4,500 of that amount.

However, in October 2013, his insurance company sent him a letter which said that because of Obamacare, his insurance policy would be canceled on January 1, 2014.

361) Added 11 million words of regulations to Obamacare, which is 30 times as many words as the law itself

The regulations that Obama addded to Obamacare after he signed it are 11 million words long. That’s 30 times as many words as the actual Obamacare law that Obama signed in March 2010. Because Obama added these 11 million words without approval from Congress, his actions are illegal.

362) Threatened to arrest people for telling jokes

In October 2013, the Obama administration announced the following on loudspeakers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas:

“Inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest.”

363) Changed Obamacare registration deadline at the last minute

For three and a half years, the Obama administration repeatedly said that people had to register for Obamacare by March 31, 2014.

However, in October 2013, the Obama administration changed that deadline to February 14, 2014.

364) Ignored the successful methods of eHealthInsurance.com

The website eHealthInsurance.com has been successfully selling health insurance since 1998. The website is simple and easy to use.

However, when Obama created the Obamacare website, he chose to ignore the successful methods that are used by eHealthInsurance.com.

365) For two weeks, CNN reporter was never able to log in to Obamacare website

During the first two weeks of October 2013, a reporter from CNN repeatedly tried to log in to the Obamacare website, and was never able to log in.

366) Paid $500 per gallon for gasoline

In October 2013 it was reported that the Obama administration had paid $500 per gallon for gasoline.

367) Referred people to uncertified Obamacare “navigagtors” and “assisters”

In October 2013, the Obamacare website referred people to uncertified “navigagtors” and “assisters.”

368) While the Obamacare website was not working, 700 counterfeit Obamacare websites were working

It’s not Obama’s fault that criminals created 700 counterfeit Obamacare websites. However, it is interesting to note that while the Obamacare website was not working, those 700 counterfeit websites were working.

369) Asked Blue Cross Blue Shield not to release Obamacare exchange numbers

On October 22, 2013, three weeks after the failed Obamacare website went online, the Obama administration asked Blue Cross Blue Shield not to release information on the number of people who had signed up for their policies through the Obamacare website.

370) 100% of Senate Democrats up for reelection planned to support a delay in Obamacare’s individual mandate

On October 23, 2013, CNN’s Dana Bash tweeted:

“new: senior dem source tells me to expect every sen dem running in 2014 to back @JeanneShaheen proposal to delay #ACA enrollment deadline”

371) Sold aircraft carrier for scrap metal for one cent

In October 2013 it was reported that the Obama administration had sold the 1,067-foot long U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Forrestal for scrap metal for one cent, to a Texas company called All Star Metals.

372) Obamacare website gave wrong prices

In October 2013, CBS News reported:

A new online feature can dramatically underestimate the cost of insurance.

In some cases, people could end up paying double of what they see on the website.

Industry executives CBS News spoke with could not believe the government is providing these estimates, which they said were useless and could easily mislead consumers. They also said that the website repeatedly states the actual prices could be lower, but it makes no mention that they could be higher.

373) Obamacare website sent false information to insurance companies

In October 2013, it was reported that the Obamacare website was sending false information to insurance companies

374) Threatened to punish people for not buying health insurance from a website that wasn’t even working

The Obama administration threatened to impose tax penalties on people who did not buy health insurance from the Obamacare website, even though the website was not working.

375) In the first two weeks of the Obamacare website, “no more than 5,000” enrollees had successfully completed the enrollment process

Two weeks after the Obamacare website went online, it was reported that “no more than 5,000” enrollees had successfully completed the enrollment process.

376) Falsely said “No one is more frustrated than I am” regarding the Obamacare website

On October 21, 2013, regarding the failure of the Obamacare website, Obama said:

“No one is more frustrated than I am.”

Obama has absolutely no right to be “frustrated” about any of the Obamacare webstie’s problems, because he is the person who chose to cause those problems in the first place.

It was Obama who signed a 2,600 page law that he hadn’t read.

It was Obama who added an additional 20,000 pages of regulations that he hadn’t read to Obamacare without Congressional approval.

It was Obama who chose to hire cronies instead of competent programmers to create the Obamacare website.

It was Obama who waited until after the 2012 election to issue some of the main rules for the Obamacare website, which gave the programmers less than one year to comply with those rules, instead of the three and half years they would have had if Obama hadn’t waited.

It was Obama who falsely said that the price of annual family insurance premiums would fall by $2,500.

It was Obama who falsely told people that they could keep their insurance if they were happy with it.

It was Obama who gave employers a huge financial incentive to switch their full time employees to a part time, 29 hour week.

It was Obama who refused to fire Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius after the Obamacare website failed.

Every thing that’s bad about the Obamacare website is the direct result of choices that Obama made.

Obama has no right to be “frustrated” at the website’s failure.

You want to know the people who really do have the right to be “frustrated” at Obamacare’s problems? It’s the people who have opposed Obamacare from the start. It’s the people who predicted that these problems would happen. It’s the people who called the bluff from the very start on Obama’s many lies about Obamacare. These are the people who have the right to be “frustrated” at Obamacare’s problems.

And yet somehow, not only does Obama falsely say that he is “frustrated,” but he also falsely says that he is more frustrated than anyone else.

The people who are truly “frustrated” are the millions of people who were against Obamacare but are now being forced to participate in it.

Obama owns this – he created it. He has no right to be “frustrated” about it.

377) Obamacare website was built using 10-year-old technology

The Obamacare website was built using 10-year-old technology.

378) Required note from doctor for a mother to feed her own child

A federal preschool program sent a note home to the parents of the students. The note said:

Dear Parents,

I have received word from Federal Programs Preschool pertaining to lunches from home. Parents are to be informed that students can only bring lunches from home if there is a medical condition meriting a specific diet, along with a physicians note to that regard.

I am sorry for any inconvenience. If you have any questions concerning this matter, please contact [name redacted], the Health Coordinator for Federal Programs Preschool at [number redacted].

379) Obamacare website violates copyright laws

The Obamacare website violates copyright laws.

380) Repeatedly promised that the Obamacare website would be ready on October 1, 2013

This video shows Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, repeatedly promising that the Obamacare website would be ready on October 1, 2013.

381) Called the Obamacare website “the easiest, most consumer friendly website to use”

Beginnging at 0:44 in this video, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, calls the Obamacare website “the easiest, most consumer friendly website to use.”

382) Obamacare website had between 10 and 20 times as many lines of code as it should have had

The Obamacare website has 500 million lines of code.

Dave Kennedy, the CEO of information-security company Trusted Sec, said that a website for a project on the scale of Obamacare should actually have between 25 million and 50 million lines of code.

383) Jared Polis opposes delaying Obamacare’s individual mandate for the entire country, but favors such a delay for his own district

U.S. Congressional representative Jared Polis (Democrat-Colorado) voted against delaying Obamacare’s individual mandate for the entire country, but later requested such a delay for his own district.

When Polis requested a special delay for his own district, he said:

“We will be encouraging a waiver. It will be difficult for Summit County residents to become insured. For the vast majority, it’s too high a price to pay.”

384) Gave a no-bid contract to CGI Federal to build the Obamacare website

Obama gave a no-bid contract to CGI Federal to build the Obamacare website.

385) Broke promise to have Spanish version of Obamacare website up and running on October 1, 2013

Obama broke his promise to have a Spanish version of the Obamacare website up and running by October 1, 2013.

386) Broke promise that Spanish version of Obamacare website would be up and running by “mid October” 2013

After Obama broke his promise to have the Spanish version of the Obamacare website up running by October 1, 2013, his administration made a new promise to have it up and running by “mid-October.” However, Obama broke that promise too – as of October 25, 2013, the Spanish version of the website was still not up and running.

387) Fired an Obamcare phone operator for truthfully answering a caller’s question

In October 2013, a caller to the Obama phone line asked:

“Have you ever gotten anyone who really likes it yet?”

The phone operator, a woman named Earline Davis, answered:

“Um, not really.”

Davis was fired for her answer.

388) Gave contract for Obamacare website to Michelle Obama’s college classmate

Instead of having the Obamacare website built by someone who was qualified, Obama had it built by CGI Federal, a company that was run by Toni Townes-Whitley, who attended Princeton University with Michelle Obama.

389) Spent $634 million for Obamacare website as of October 1, 2013, even though it was only supposed to cost $94 million

The Obamacare website was originally supposed to cost $94 million. However, when it went online on October 1, 2013, it had already cost $634 million.

390) New York Times writer gave Obama a grade of ‘F’ for rollout of Obamacare website


On October 25, 2013, New York Times writer Uwe E. Reinhardt wrote:

“… who exactly should be assigned the F for the troubled rollout of HealthCare.gov?”

“Once elected, a president becomes chief executive of a giant federal enterprise. Anyone familiar with corporate management would have thought that for as ambitious and technically a complex project as the initial rollout of HealthCare.gov – so important to many uninsured Americans and so politically important to the White House – the chief executive would have remained in very close touch with the management team overseeing the project and thus would have been briefed daily or at least weekly on the progress of the project and especially on any problems with it.”

“… the blame for the disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov goes to its entire management team, to be sure, but primarily to the chief executive on top of that project. In my view, not only the proverbial buck stops on the chief executive’s desk, but, for the management of this particular project, the grade of F goes there as well.”

391) Said “Don’t believe what you’ve heard” regarding criticism of Obamacare

On October 25, 2013, regarding the various criticisms of Obamacare, Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius said:

“Don’t believe what you’ve heard.”

In other words, the Obama administration says we shouldn’t believe the Washington Post, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, Politico, the Wall St. Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, Investor’s Business Daily, Forbes, the BBC, Huffington Post, the Nation, Mother Jones, or New Republic.

392) Closed a public beach and prevented a private charity from raising money for art in the schools

For the past 30 years, a privately run charity in San Francisco called Leap has had a charity event where they build sand castles to raise money to support art in the schools. In 2012, this contest raised more than $250,000 for art in the schools.

However, during the October 2013 government shutdown, Obama closed the public beach where the charity event was to take place, and prevented it from happening.

393) Monitored phone calls of 35 world leaders

In October 2013, it was reported that the Obama administration had monitored the phone calls of 35 world leaders.

394) Refused to answer question about whether or not Obama administration had monitored Angela Merkel’s phone

In October 2013, the New York Times wrote:

… yesterday, Der Spiegel reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Mr. Obama “for a thorough explanation of serious indications that U.S. intelligence agencies had declared her private mobile phone to be a target in their operations.”

The White House press secretary, Jay Carney said, “The president assured [Merkel] that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications” of the chancellor.” Please note: IS not monitoring and WILL NOT monitor. The allegation, unaddressed, was that the United States HAD been monitoring her calls (until it was caught in the act).

395) Hacked the email of Mexican presidential candidate

In October 2013, it was reported that the Obama administration had hacked the email account of Mexican presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, who later won the election.

396) Illegally seized documents from reporter Audrey Hudson

Audrey Hudson is a reporter who lives in Shady Side, Maryland. In 1986, her husband, Paul Flanagan, was convicted of resisting arrest. Because of this, he is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.

In August 2013, federal agents entered their home, with a warrant that specifically said they were allowed to search for firearms. However, the federal agents illegally seized documents that belonged to Hudson, which were not listed on the warrant.

397) Required law abiding citizens to purchase insurance coverage for treatment for heroin addiction

Obamacare requires law abiding citizens to purchase coverage for treatment for heroin addiction.

398) Required men to purchase insurance coverage for maternity care

Obamacare requires men to purchase coverage for maternity care.

399) Obamacare website could not even handle “just a few hundred people” at the same time

The Washington Post reported that during testing, the Obamacare website could not even handle “just a few hundred people” at the same time.

400) Falsely blamed the Obamacare webstie’s problems on too much traffic

The Obama administration blamed the problems of the Obamacare website on too much traffic.

However, the Washington Post reported that during testing, the Obamacare website could not even handle “just a few hundred people” at the same time.

In addition, CBS News quoted Luke Chung, an online database programmer who supports Obamacare, as saying the following about the Obamacare website:

“It wasn’t designed well, it wasn’t implemented well, and it looks like nobody tested it… It’s not even close. It’s not even ready for beta testing for my book. I would be ashamed and embarrassed if my organization delivered something like that.”

451) Obama falsely said “In the first month alone, we’ve seen more than 100 million Americans already successfully enroll in the new insurance plans”

On November 18, 2013, Obama said:

“In the first month alone, we’ve seen more than 100 million Americans already successfully enroll in the new insurance plans.”

In reality, the actual number was 106,185.

452) Jessica Sanford, whom Obama had cited as an Obamacare success story, later said she could not afford to buy an Obamacare policy

Jessica Sanford is a a self-employed single mother from Washington state, who earns slightly less than $50,000 a year, and has not had health insurance for 15 years.

On October 21, 2013, Obama cited Sanford as an Obamacare success story, because she would be able to purchase an Obamacare policy for herself and her son for only $169 per month.

However, a month later, it was reported that the Obamacare website had quoted the wrong price for Sanford. Her true, actual price was $621. She said that she could not afford this, and that she would just pay the penalty instead.

453) Video shows students at historically black college complaining that Obamacare caused them to lose their insurance

Bowie University is a historically black college in Maryland. This video shows students from the college complaining about how Obamacare caused them to lose their insurance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPuFt6g_0a8

454) “Obama brings chilling effect on journalism”

In October 2013, Associated Press reported:

Obama brings chilling effect on journalism

A report finds the U.S. government’s aggressive prosecution of leaks and efforts to control information are having a chilling effect on journalists and government whistle-blowers.

The Committee to Protect Journalists released its first examination of U.S. press freedoms Thursday, focusing on changes under the Obama administration.

Leonard Downie Jr., a former executive editor of The Washington Post, wrote the 30-page analysis entitled “The Obama Administration and the Press.” Downie interviewed reporters and editors who described a chilling effect in which “government officials are increasingly afraid to talk to the press.”

Those suspected of discussing classified information are subject to investigation, lie-detector tests and scrutiny of telephone and email records.

455) Sued a trucking company that fired Muslim truck drivers for refusing to drive trucks carrying alcoholic beverages

In May 2013, the Obama administration sued Star Transport, Inc., a trucking company based in Morton, Illinois, because it fired Muslim truck drivers who had refused to drive trucks that were carrying alcoholic beverages.

456) Gave personal information of thousands of bookstore customers to dozens of federal agencies

In November 2013, it was reported that the Obama administration had given the names, social security numbers, and other personal information of thousands of bookstore customers to dozens of fedeal agencies, including the IRS, CIA, NSA, and FDA.

457) Created fake unemployment statistics before the 2012 election

Soon before the 2012 election, the Obama administration created fake statistics to make the unemployment rate appear lower than it actually was.

458) “White House blocks access to Obama events, news groups say”

In November 2013, McClatchy reported:

White House blocks access to Obama events, news groups say

The nation’s largest news organizations lodged a complaint Thursday against the White House for imposing unprecedented limitations on photojournalists covering President Barack Obama, which they say have harmed the public’s ability to monitor its own government.

The organizations accuse the White House of banning photojournalists from covering Obama at some events, and then later releasing its own photos and videos of the same events.

“Journalists are routinely being denied the right to photograph or videotape the president while he is performing his official duties,” according to a letter the organizations sent to the White House. “As surely as if they were placing a hand over a journalist’s camera lens, officials in this administration are blocking the public from having an independent view of important functions of the executive branch of government.”

“You are only seeing what they want you to see,” said Lucy Dalglish, the dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

the news organizations stressed that they’re referring only to presidential activities of a “fundamentally public nature,” not private or restricted events, including ones that may affect national security.

Examples cited in the letter are Obama’s meetings with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on July 10, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on July 29 and Pakistani human rights activist Malala Yousafzai on Oct. 11.

In each case, journalists weren’t allowed – and sometimes were unaware – of the event. The White House later released written summaries of the events, along with photos taken by a government photographer.

On Thursday, the presidents of the American Society of News Editors and the Associated Press Media Editors sent a letter to their members urging them to stop using handout photos and video from the White House.

“We must accept that we, the press, have been enablers,” the letter says. “We urge those of you in news organizations to immediately refrain from publishing any of the photographs or videos released by the White House, just as you would refuse to run verbatim a press release from them.”

Harry Walker, the director of the McClatchy-Tribune Photo Service, said opening access to events was “the foundation for journalism, not just photojournalism.”

The letter was signed by 38 news organizations, including all the major broadcast and cable networks, wire services, online services and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and the McClatchy Co., which owns 30 daily newspapers across the nation.

459) Three days after the Egyptian government murdered dozens of Egyptian civilians, the Obama administration announced it would give military aid to the Egyptian government, which, soon afterward, murdered hundreds of additional Egyptian civilians


On April 12, 2013, it was reported that the Obama administration had just given four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, and that it had also given them eight others on earlier dates.

On July 8, 2013, it was reported that the Egyptian government had murdered at least 51 Egyptian civilians who had been protesting against the Egyptian government.

Three days later, it was reported that the Obama administration would be giving four additional F-16 fighter jets to the Egyptian government.

On July 27, 2013, it was reported that the Egyptian government had murdered at least 72 additional Egyptian civilians who had been protesting against the Egyptian government.

On August 15, 2013, it was reported that the Egyptian government had murdered more than 600 additional Egyptian civilians who had been protesting against the Egyptian government.

460) Spent $1.5 million to help women in Brazil quit smoking

In August 2013, it was reported that the Obama administration would be spending $1.5 million to help women in Brazil quit smoking.

461) “NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds”

In August 2013, the Washington Post reported:

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order.

The NSA audit obtained by The Post, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications.

462) Announced plans to illegally regulate greenhouse gas emissions without approval from Congress

In August 2013, the Obama administration announced that it planned to regulate greenhouse gas emissions without approval from Congress. Without approval from Congress, Obama’s actions would be illegal.

463) Refused to answer question about whether or not people who don’t buy insurance should be put in jail

The Obama administration argued in front of the Supreme Court that the Obamacare mandate was a tax. Obama hired 16,500 new IRS agents to run Obamacare. In this video, ABC News asked Obama whether or not he thinks that people who don’t buy insurance should be put in jail. Obama refused to answer the question. Even after the interviewer asked Obama the question a second time, Obama still refused to answer it.

464) An estimated 70% of California doctors will not participate in Obamacare

In December 2013, the California Medical Association estimated that 70% of California doctors would not be participating in Obamacare.

465) California’s Obamacare website gave out the contact information of tens of thousands of people without their permission

In December 2013, it was reported that California’s Obamacare website had given private insurance agents the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of tens of thousands of people without their permission.

466) Made it easy for a future Republican President to give every U.S. citizen a permanent Obamacare waiver, without approval from Congress

The President does not have any legal authority to change the law without those changes first being approved by Congress. However, this list contains many examples of Obama making changes to Obamacare without approval from Congress. Some of these changes involve Obama giving Obamacare waivers to unions who supported the passage of Obamacare. Other changes include Obama delaying certain parts of Obamacare. Obama made these changes illegally, because they were not approved by Congress. With a small number of exceptions, Democrats have not criticized Obama for doing this.

Therefore, in the future, if a Republican President were to give permanent Obamacare waivers to every U.S. citizens without approval from Congress, the vast majority of Democrats would be hypocrites if they objected to

Alison Lu was in shock on election night. The Harvard Business School student had voted for Hillary Clinton, and she couldn't fathom how Donald Trump had managed to win the presidency.

She opened her Facebook page searching for answers, but she didn't find any Trump-supporting friends. "None of them [Trump voters] showed themselves on my Facebook feed," she says.

Lu, like many Americans, was living in a self-selected social media world of like-minded people. The Pew Research Center has found that about two-thirds of adults get news from social media. Analysts have blamed technology for creating an online echo chamber.

But if technology created this problem, can it also help fix it? That's the question the tech industry, including a couple of entrepreneurs and researchers, is trying to answer.

Connecting to find civil offline conversation

Henry Tsai had worked in Silicon Valley for the past few years before coming to Harvard Business School.

"The day after the election, it was clear that discourse in this country was maybe not where we want it to be," Tsai says. "There's a lot of either demonizing or dismissiveness."

He had this idea of bringing people together from opposing political views. In a burst of late-night inspiration, along with some help from a friend studying computer science at MIT, he created Hi From The Other Side.

The goal is to take two people from different sides of the political spectrum — a Donald Trump supporter and a Hillary Clinton supporter — match them up, introduce them and allow them to talk to each other in real life.

"It's not only to bring people together, but, more importantly, bringing them together in a way that's productive or civil," Tsai says.

And that's exactly what Lu wanted as she tried to make sense of things after the election. "At that time, there was a general sense of helplessness on my end," she says. "I just wanted to do something to try to help me just understand."

Lu, 27, was one of the first Hi From The Other Side users. She was matched up with Dennis O'Brien, a 26-year-old in New Hampshire working in IT security.

O'Brien had voted for Trump, in part, because he hates the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare.

But after the election, he remembers seeing young women crying. "All these people were legitimately terrified," he says. "And, I couldn't quite wrap my mind around why."

The next day, he saw a blurb about Hi From The Other Side on Facebook, and he clicked on it. O'Brien figured "what the heck" — he could meet someone new and learn what's going through that person's mind. Think of it as going on a blind date to talk politics.

Lu and O'Brien were introduced to each other over email and agreed to meet up in person on a Tuesday night at a burger place in Cambridge.

"We were there for like two hours," O'Brien recalls.

O'Brien didn't know what to expect.

"I was really hoping that I just wouldn't get an extremist to talk to, someone who's like 'Hillary or death,' " he says.

But luckily, he says, Lu "wasn't crazy."

"There was never a moment where I felt stupid or I felt like I was an idiot, and likewise, toward her — I never thought she was anything more than a normal person," O'Brien says.

Lu laughed and recalled her first impression of meeting O'Brien.

"He's not like a racist, bigoted [person] like I think the stereotype of some Trump supporters are," she says. "I think what helped was also we were able to find a little bit of common ground."

The two found a bit of common ground on climate change. But they both realized they also probably just have different priorities.

"I really wouldn't say that our conversation changed each other's minds at all, but it was valuable to have that new perspective," Lu says.

About 4,500 people have signed up to be matched, according to Tsai, and recently, his nascent startup formed a limited collaboration with Starbucks.

Tsai's project is essentially an online platform, but he admits that for it to work people have to move the conversation offline and meet in real life (or at least via video chat).

Lu and O'Brien agree.

"I think social media just helps reinforce the hate; it just pushes everybody apart," O'Brien says. "Because when I see something [online] I'm not talking to a person, I'm just typing a bunch of letters in a message."

"Flip" your feed to find common interests

But while Tsai wanted to move the conversation off social media, Deb Roy and his team at the Laboratory for Social Machines in the MIT Media Lab were intrigued by the possibility of creating a more tolerant world within those platforms.

In addition to his MIT job, Roy is the chief media scientist at Twitter. During the election, Roy had access to the entire fire hose of Twitter data, meaning he tracked essentially every tweet about presidential politics in the country.

To Break Through The News Feed Echo Chamber, Political Opinion Writers Read Opposing Voices
He noticed clusters of people, self-segregating based on their politics. And as he and his team looked at this big data, they wondered: What if you could flip your Twitter feed and see the world through someone else's eyes?

"And, what if some of the things you experience actually aren't so different, aren't so foreign, aren't so disconnected from your interests?"

To answer some of those questions, Roy and his team created an online tool: a Google Chrome extension called FlipFeed.

FlipFeed has a collection of accounts that span the political arena.

"We didn't want to pigeonhole you," Roy says. "So if you flip your feed a few times, you'll just naturally start sampling different parts of the political spectrum."

Roy doesn't know what impact, if any, this MIT lab experiment could have. He acknowledged the entire experience could be "really alienating to people." He says FlipFeed downloads are "in the thousands," but he points out — it wasn't created as a consumer product, it was a "tiny little lab project."

The major hitch is that all these tech experiments take effort from users. Maybe a lot of us are content to passively roam around our own social media bubbles.

We have another one.
Back on subject.


"China will be allowed to build hundreds of additional coal plants," Trump said. "So we can’t build the plants, but they can, according to this agreement."

"The murder rate in our country is the highest it’s been in 47 years."

Blatantly false.

"Just arrived in Italy for the G7. Trip has been very successful. We made and saved the USA many billions of dollars and millions of jobs," Trump tweeted.

"Dems want billions to go to Insurance Companies to bail out donors," Trump said in an April 30 Tweet.

"If you were a Christian in Syria it was impossible, at least very, very tough to get into the United States. If you were a Muslim, you could come in, if you were a Christian, it was impossible."
There is zero evidence to support this claim

"We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College."

He ranked 13th from the bottom on electoral college

Another one. SAD

Back on track:
"No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days," Trump told an audience in Kenosha, Wis.

"The weak illegal immigration policies of the Obama Admin. allowed bad MS 13 gangs to form in cities across U.S. We are removing them fast!" Trump tweeted April 18.

"Beyonce and Jay Z, I like them, I like them," Trump told the crowd. "And you know what they do? I get bigger crowds than they do. It's true. I get far bigger crowds."

A blatant lie even if you accept his lie about the number of people he gets (which is false, but still smaller than a jayz or beyonce crowd)

"You have to go back and look and study and see what happened," Trump said at a rally in Hershey, Pa., later that evening. "They never moved the camera and (Obama) spent so much time screaming at a protester, and frankly it was a disgrace."

This was the opposite of what happened

"I have to put up with some of the most dishonest people in the world — the media," Trump told a crowd in Pensacola, Fla. "They never shows crowds like that — look at that, it goes all the way back. They never show crowds. They don't show crowds."

At the same time, the news stations showed the crowds.

Boy,you and Victor have got it rough....always "THINKING" your the smartest guys in the room

President Donald Trump lashed out at CNN New Day anchor Chris Cuomo for failing to get tough with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn. Cuomo had interviewed Blumenthal after the senator made headlines by saying that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch had told him he was "disheartened" by the president’s dismissive comments about federal judges.

Blumenthal drew Trump’s wrath first. The president tweeted, "Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?"

Cuomo’s turn came next. After he spoke with Blumenthal, Trump tweeted on Feb. 9, 2017, "Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave "service" in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!"

.... being the smartest guy in the room and pointing out the cheeto-jesus's lies shouldn't really be related.

why do you think they are related?

I kind of expect people of reasonably average intelligence could spot his lies.

You're giving some of these posters too much credit.

No I'm not.

I'm not expecting them to spot his lies

Wow! I am the only one that wishes Kawaksback never learned to cut and paste?

I realize it is MUCH simpler than speaking for himself - but Jesus!



Let’s just have a moment of reality check on this though - Trump has told us that his statement are only “ideas” and that he get to change his mind all he wants. So if you think he is making promises - you are wrong.

They are not lies - you just don’t understand that they are just ideas that he is floating to see what people think or because they feel good - or because the stupid will, are you ready......take him at his word.