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Just days before President-elect Trump is sworn in, the Obama administration implemented on Tuesday a major regulation that will govern rates and payments to insurers under Obamacare. The rule, which sets the plans that can be sold on the Affordable Care Act's exchanges in 2018, is common and must be issued to give insurers an idea of what to expect for the coming coverage year. However, the Obama administration implemented the regulation much earlier than years past, and some in the GOP are worried it could complicate the incoming administration's efforts to provide regulatory relief to insurers.

For all President Obama’s claims to want a smooth transition to the new administration, his people have been laying plenty of land mines for Team Trump. Some are plainly Obama’s doing, from that anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution to slamming the door on Cuban refugees. But the nastier ones — the Justice Department inspector general probe of FBI chief Jim Comey’s announcements on the Clinton email investigation, and the leak about that “Russian dossier” — have more deniability. The Cuba move may be the most ironic, given fears on the left that Trump would close the door on refugees. Yet...

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Michelle Obama has already shot down suggestions that she’ll run for president, but that doesn’t mean she’ll stay out of the spotlight entirely. The Washington Post reported that the First Lady eventually plans to set up an office with a small staff. The office will be run by Obama’s deputy chief of staff, Melissa Winter, who Obama described in an email to the Post as one of her “most trusted advisors and dearest friends.” But first, Obama, who has used her post to advocate for education for women and girls and children’s health, plans to take a long break. Then,...

President Obama Holds his Final Press Conference The White House Start time 2:15 PM EST

Full title...............................'Being your First Lady has been the honor of a lifetime': Michelle Obama shares sweet message as she cuddles up to Barack to take in the view from the White House balcony one last time ...................With less than 48 hours left as First Lady, Michelle Obama spent much of her day on Wednesday soaking up the White House before she is forced to move out. First, she walked through its halls with family dogs Bo and Sunny, sharing a video of their jaunt on Twitter. The stroll appears to have ended in the Executive Residence where Mrs Obama cuddled...

The US government has given half a billion dollars to the UN’s Green Climate Fund, just three days before Donald Trump takes office. Barack Obama’s outgoing administration announced the contribution of $500m (£406m; €468m) on Tuesday, bringing the total funds to date to $1bn. Mr Obama pledged in 2014 to give $3bn to help tackle the effects of climate change in the poorest countries. Mr Trump has previously called global warming a hoax. The president-elect has also threatened to pull the US out of the Paris accord – a global agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions – and America’s commitment...

It is 2 days, 7 hours, 32 minutes, 55 seconds until the stuttering enemy-agent Muslim-excusing prancing pusillanimous embarrassing perpetually-aggrieved lawless defiling vote-faking unctuous careless warmongering hypocritical sniveling whining overreaching disreputable sulking treacherous squandering odious disgusting backstabbing election-corrupting robbery-inclined formulaic plundering indolent callous violence-agitating motherless-punk puerile intruding sickening wicked sullen wretched venal psychopathic grifting peculiar furious (and fast) gratuitously-opining lame-duck faithless charlatan spying-for-enemies shallow fake irrational mumbling imbecile dejected slothful acrimonious demanding trivial putz juvenile delinquent odiferous malicious reptilian detestable conniving Marxism-loving bastard peevish America-surrendering sly villainous undignified shameful touchy unwelcome exhausting abominable indecisive moronical stomach-turning depressed meddling corrupt predatory impoverishing...

Donald Trump will give his closely-watched Inaugural address this week. It will be a great one. Trust him. Fantastic even. Possibly beyond belief. Because he’s a great speech-giver. Everyone knows that. He does too. But before then, Barack Obama – remember him? – gave a farewell address to Americans, many of whom have stopped paying attention to a lame duck and all his goodbyes. Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/article126909469.html#storylink=cpy

CHICAGO (CBS) — Thousands of people lined up outside McCormick Place in the bitter cold Saturday morning to get free tickets to President Barack Obama’s farewell speech next week. The Obama administration finished distributing the tickets in less than three hours after the first ones were given out. Lines snaked through two buildings, and outside onto the plaza, with many people arriving before dawn. Some huddled under blankets over their heavy winter clothing, to keep warm amid single-digit temperatures. People waiting for tickets said they wanted to be part of history. “It’s well worth it. I got my golden ticket,...

Live in Chicago

President Obama referred to himself 75 times in his farewell address Tuesday night, according to a review of his prepared remarks by The Daily Caller. Obama heavily promoted the speech, penning a blog post about it and appearing in a promotional video in the days leading up to the address.

How can we miss him when he won't go away? Last night in Chicago, Obama was lucky he didn't throw out his shoulder from patting himself on the back so much. [Snip] "Hello Chicago," he began. "It's good to be home." Home? His first lie, at 9:02 p.m.. "We have shown the capacity to change." As we did on Nov. 8. And now, Jan. 20 will mark the end of an error. Ten minutes in, he finally got around to blaming Bush. In a rush, Obama mentioned how he "shut down Iran’s nuclear capacity without firing a shot." Yeah, right....

Because of the extraordinary courage of our men and women in uniform. Because of our intelligence officers and law enforcement and diplomats who support our troops. no foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland these past eight years. And although Boston and Orlando and San Bernardino and Fort Hood remind us of how dangerous radicalization can be, our law enforcement agencies are more effective and vigilant than ever. We have taken out tens of thousands of terrorists, including Bin Laden. The global coalition we're leading against ISIL has taken out their leaders and taken...

President Barack Obama and the First Lady are saying their final goodbyes with one final star-studded party. Pharrell and Solange were said to have performed at the event that had celebrities dotting the dance floor until the early hours of the morning. The bash was well attended by artists, philanthropists, activists, and executives, many of whom made the trip to Washington D.C. just to saw their farewells to the beloved first family

Get ready...folks.....Obama Farewell Speech Tickets to be handed out to the public on Saturday at 8:00 AM in Chicago!!! One ticket per person...free of charge!!! Millions of Obamabots are frothing with glee...."NOT" over getting tickets and attending the great send off...which I suspect will mirror the miserable one Obama just received from the USA military forces!!! Hint...folks...I will not be in that waiting line!!! Methinks...Barry is in for a rude awakening!!!!

I love a good real estate analogy, so naturally I had to admire the way Erick Erickson, the conservative blogger, recently described the last-minute flurry of actions emanating from the Obama White House. “Obama and John Kerry,” Erickson tweeted, “are like tenants who trash a place as they are being evicted.” Except, in this case, the analogy is a few degrees off. The president isn’t really trashing anything. It’s more like he’s hurriedly adding the bold, modernist touches his landlord always resisted — repainting walls, recessing lights, tearing up carpets and restaining floors — in hopes that the guy who’s...

Wednesday on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show,” conservative political commentator and former staffer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan Pat Buchanan said President Barack Obama was acting with “bitterness” when today at a meeting on Capitol Hill he told Democrats to resist helping Republicans replace his signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act. Buchanan said, “I think what you are seeing here — If that is an accurate report of what he said — Here is a guy who really feels he’s been rejected and repudiated. I’m astonished he’s letting it show like this. As a departing president I...

President Obama has issued 145 “midnight” regulations with a cost of more than $21 billion since the election of Donald Trump, the most by a lame-duck president in a generation, a study has found. The conservative American Action Forum said Thursday that Mr. Obama’s rules, issued from Nov. 8 through Dec. 31 of last year, include 31 “economically significant” regulations with a cost of at least $100 million each.

When Obama hasn’t been busy fighting against the jobs-creating energy industry or unjustly preventing development on millions of acres of land, he’s been pardoning or commuting the sentences of more than 1,300 convicted criminals, including 395 who were serving life sentences. In 2016 alone, Obama pardoned more than 1,000 people, and on December 19, he broke the record for most clemencies granted by a president in a single day, when he shortened the sentences of 153 convicts. By pardoning and commuting the sentences of more than 1,300 people who were found to have broken the law, Obama has effectively undermined...