The following is a rundown of the day’s news drawn from other media sources with topics curated just for Money and Markets readers: Obamacare, personal security and freedom, and immigration!
Obamacare
New Glitch With Obamac are Website Could Squeeze Consumers
Healthcare.gov may be working better and somewhat faster for consumers attempting to enroll in plans, but a new wrinkle has emerged: there is no payment mechanism for insurers to get cash from federal government subsidies.
Video Called ‘Forget About the Price Tag’ Wins Prize for Promoting Obamacare
HHS’s grand prize-winning video, announced Monday by the White House, features a young woman named Erin McDonald singing an Obamacare-loving version of Jessie J’s hit single “Price Tag.”
Some Reid Staffers Are Exempt From Obamacare Exchanges
Reid is the exception among the other top congressional leaders. GOP House Speaker John Boehner, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have all directed their staffs to join the exchange, their aides said.
Obama Calls on Bartenders to Host Happy Hours for Obamacare
During today’s White House Youth Summit, President Obama called on young people to do whatever they can to promote his signature health-care law — including plying their customers with cheap booze.
Less Than a Third of Uninsured Young People Say They’ll Sign Up for Obamacare
Fewer than one-third of young, uninsured Americans say they are leaning toward enrolling in a health-care plan under the new Obamacare exchanges — a number that, if it holds, would present huge problems for the new law.
Personal security and freedom
NSA Tracking Cellphone Locations Worldwide, Snowden Documents Show
The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials.
Councilwoman Blames ‘Knockout’ Attacks on Tension between Blacks and Jews
The alleged “knockout” attacks on Jewish residents of Crown Heights may stem from ongoing racial tension between the neighborhood’s black and Jewish communities, a newly elected Brooklyn politician said.
Stolen Cobalt-60 Found in Mexico; Curious Thieves Likely Doomed
The carjackers who set off international alarm bells by absconding with a truckload of highly radioactive material most likely had no idea what they were stealing and will probably die soon from exposure.
Tweeters to be Offered Legal Tips to Avoid Lawsuits
The guidelines, which will be posted on a case-by-case basis, aim to avoid a repeat of several high-profile incidents this year where Tweeters have fallen foul of the law.
Dementia Epidemic Looms with 135 Million Sufferers Seen by 2050
“If we look into the future, the numbers of elderly people will rise dramatically. It’s vital that the World Health Organization makes dementia a priority, so the world is ready to face this condition.”
Drones
Google Puts Money on Robots, Using the Man Behind Android
If Amazon can imagine delivering books by drones, is it too much to think that Google might be planning to one day have one of the robots hop off an automated Google Car and race to your doorstep to deliver a package?
Mommy, the Drone’s Here!
If you aren’t nervous enough reading about 3-D printers spitting out handguns or Google robots with Android phones, imagine the skies thick with crisscrossing tiny drones.
Hacker Develops Super-Drone to Hack, Hijack Other Drones
“How fun would it be to take over drones, carrying Amazon packages … or take over any other drones, and make them my little zombie drones,” author asked rhetorically in a blog post published Monday.
Drones — the Secret Weapon in the Hunt for Feral Pigs
Internationally, the trade group said drones have already been used in a number of unorthodox ways, including to arrest a leader of Mexico’s infamous Los Zetas gang, to identify illegal fishermen in Australia and to monitor radiation at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.
Smart Watch Lets Parents Track Kids
This Christmas, some parents are going high-tech and getting their child a watch that tracks their every move. It’s called the FiLIP: a watch and phone with GPS geared at kids 4 to 11 — before they are ready for a smart phone.
Best wishes,
The Money and Markets Team
