The Supreme Court’s ruling on the fate of President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law will be announced on Thursday, the last day of the high court term, the court said on Monday.
While you’re waiting on Thursday’s ruling, be sure to check out ten things that you should miss if Obamacare goes away.
Tara Culp-Ressler at ThinkProgress:
A powerful installation on the National Mall today is meant to call attention to the nation’s current drop-out rate: the 857 desks represent the number of students who drop out of high school in the United States every single hour, according to the College Board’s calculations.
Earlier this month, my brother travelled to South Sudan to document the North Sudanese government’s killing of the people who live in the Nuba mountains via bombings and starvation.
He’s just released the first trailer for his documentary, and its stirring.
One of the nation’s largest insurers said early Monday it would continue to follow some of the rules in the federal health law that are already in effect, including keeping young adults up to age 26 on their parents’ plans and ending lifetime dollar limits, no matter what the Supreme Court decides.
Sadly, UHC hasn’t hit a homerun here:
United stopped short of saying it would continue to accept all children, no matter if they had a pre-existing medical condition. The federal law says insurers cannot reject children up to age 19 simply because they have a medical condition.
Mitt Romney’s new iPhone app allows users to put a banner over their photo, showing their support for the jackass millionaire business tycoon presidential candidate.
One small hitch showed up, however. The app misspells America. Seriously.
Of course, there’s a tumblog for this recently-born meme. Here’s mine.
Got three minutes? If you do, you can learn the history of Europe. via @johnroderick
Victoria Kim for the LA Times:
Four current and former Transportation Security Administration screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
So, handicapped kids can’t get through airport security without being harassed and embarrassed, but if you have some cash, drugs can.
Chris Morran at the Consumerist:
The tiny (potential) terrorists of the world continue to wreak havoc at airport security checkpoints. We already brought you the story of the 4-year-old who dared to hug her grandmother in view of TSA screeners, and now comes the tale of a 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy whose crutches and leg braces reportedly confounded security personnel at JFK Airport.
As I’ve mentioned before, my son has partial hemiplegia due to his brain cancer, and walks (with a limp) with a brace on his left leg. If we ever had an issue at an airpot like this family did, I would lose my shit.
H.R. 3523 fails to provide authorities to ensure that the Nation’s core critical infrastructure is protected while repealing important provisions of electronic surveillance law without institutingcorresponding privacy, confidentiality, and civil liberties safeguards. For example, the billwould allow broad sharing of information with governmental entities without establishingrequirements for both industry and the Government to minimize and protect personallyidentifiable information. Moreover, such sharing should be accomplished in a way that permitsappropriate sharing within the Government without undue restrictions imposed by private sector companies that share information.
Scott Wilson at The Washington Post:
President Obama issued an executive order Monday that will allow U.S. officials for the first time to impose sanctions against foreign nationals found to have used new technologies, from cellphone tracking to Internet monitoring, to help carry out grave human rights abuses.
Social media and cellphone technology have been widely credited with helping democracy advocates organize against autocratic governments and better expose rights violations, most notably over the past year and a half in the Middle East and North Africa.