The following is a rundown of the day’s news drawn from other media sources with topics curated just for Money and Markets readers: Personal security and freedom, the Robert Gates memoir, and immigration.
Personal security and freedom
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Google Executive Pushes Edible ‘Authentication Microchip’
The head of Advanced Technology at Google-owned Motorola said at the All Things D11 Conference that the company was working on a microchip inside a pill that users would swallow daily to have their entire body act as a biological authentication system for cellphones, cars and other devices.
Florida’s Fort Pierce Police Department Unveils New Armored Vehicle
Police in Fort Pierce are now armed with a U.S. military surplus battle wagon: a six-wheel, 30-ton armored vehicle worth $700,000 — that the agency got for $2,000. “If you see my SWAT team roll up in this, it’s over, so just give up,” said Police Chief Sam Baldwin.
Carmakers Keep Data on Drivers’ Locations
A government report finds that major automakers are keeping information about where drivers have been — collected from onboard navigation systems. Owners of those cars can’t demand that the information be destroyed.
“Guccifer” Files Further Detail Hacking Spree
The hacking spree by “Guccifer,” the online outlaw who has bedeviled Colin Powell, members of the Bush and Rockefeller families, Obama administration officials and assorted other public figures, has been far more extensive than previously known.
Coroner: Priest Beaten to Death With Stake, Pipe
Gary Lee Bullock, 44, of Humboldt County, was charged with murder with a special allegation of torture. He is also charged with burglary, arson and auto theft. There was significant evidence at the scene to suggest he tried to set the house on fire.
Robert Gates memoir
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Robert Gates, Former Defense Secretary, Offers Harsh Critique of Obama’s Leadership
Obama, after months of contentious discussion with Gates and other top advisers, deployed 30,000 more troops in a final push to stabilize Afghanistan before a phased withdrawal. “I never doubted Obama’s support for the troops, only his support for their mission,” Gates writes.
Gates Slams Biden in Memoir, Reveals He Nearly Quit
Gates calls Biden “a man of integrity,” but questions his record. “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” Gates writes.
Hillary Clinton and Obama Admitted They Opposed Iraq Troop Surge Only to Look Good Politically
“To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying,” Gates said.
How Gates’ Memoir Could Haunt Hillary in 2016
This is Hillary Clinton we are talking about. And the criticism that has always haunted her is that everything she does is infused with politics — that there is no core set of beliefs within her but rather just political calculation massed upon political calculation.
The Quiet Fury of Robert Gates
“I had to avoid the partisan abyss in Congress, evade the single-minded parochial self-interest of so many members of Congress and resist the magnetic pull exercised by the White House, especially in the Obama administration, to bring everything under its control and micromanagement.”
Immigration
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Businesses and Unions Welcome Immigration
Despite the high unemployment rate, businesses are eager to get their hands on cheap labor. Unions, meanwhile, are prepared to accept a decline in workers’ wages over the next decade, in exchange for the millions of potential dues-paying members who would be brought into the country.
Christie Heralds DREAM Act as Message to Washington
The mood inside the elementary school auditorium that housed the event was triumphant, as a handful of speakers praised Christie and beseeched young immigrants to take advantage of the academic opportunity afforded to them under the law.
Chris Christie Just Made the Decision to Own Immigration Reform for 2016
About two hours after holding a ceremony signing New Jersey’s version of the “Dream Act,” Gov. Chris Christie tweeted a photo with one of the “Dreamers” the law will benefit, a New Jersey high school student who immigrated to the U.S. without authorization at a young age.
Poll: Three-Quarters of Brits Want Immigration Curbs
Although the number of people believing that immigration benefits the economy is marginally higher than two years ago, it is still a view held by less than a third of Britons, compared with almost half who see it as harmful.
Australia Sends in its Navy to Push Asylum-Seeker Boats Back to Indonesia
Boats carrying groups of about 45 Middle Eastern and North African asylum seekers were “pushed” back into Indonesian territory by the Australian navy. In the past six years, more than 50,000 have attempted the perilous voyage to Australian waters; more than 1,000 are believed to have drowned.
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