Cheat Sheet - Robots vs. (Illegal) Aliens

Today: Karzai Holds Secret Taliban Talks , Gov't to Hit Debt Ceiling in March , Inside China's Mistress Industrial Complex February 04, 2014 TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES 1. Robots Undercut the Case for More Immigrants If we're going to talk immigration reform, we also need to talk about how the rise of machines will replace humans, writes David Frum. Letting millions of people into America as robots wipe out their potential jobs in low-skilled work will only exacerbate inequality and poverty. Democrats and Republicans need to think harder about what problem they're trying to solve with immigration reform. Read it at The Daily Beast COVERT AFFAIRS 2. Karzai Holds Secret Taliban Talks Sleeping with the enemy in Afghanistan? The New York Times reports President Hamid Karzai has been holding secret conferences with the Taliban without involving the U.S. or Western allies. Karzai is struggling to arrange a peace deal with the Taliban, but has managed to further undermine an already-strained relationship with America, U.S. officials said. In the past few weeks, he has refused to sign a long-term security deal with the U.S. and pushed for the release of Taliban militants, which suddenly makes a whole lot of sense. Read it at The New York Times Déjà vu 3. Gov't to Hit Debt Ceiling in March Jack Lew says we're broke again. On Monday, the Treasury secretary told Congress that the U.S. government will run out of money—possibly as soon as mid-March—unless the debt ceiling is raised. The debt limit was suspended in October in the deal that reopened the government, but is set to be resurrected to its full $17.3 trillion standing on Friday. "Unlike other recent periods when we have had to use extraordinary measures to continue financing the government, this time these measures will give us only a brief span of time," Lew warned. Read it at The Washington Post PRETTY WOMAN 4. China's Booming Mistress Industry The latest Chinese luxury item is a designer-clad, college-educated mistress. The rise of the mistress class shows rapidly developing China is rushing into uncharted territory, write Junheng Li, Bethany Allen, and Ana Swanson. Chinese are struggling so much to keep up with the present, they don't have much time to consider the future. Read it at The Daily Beast TRANSPARENCY 5. Web Companies Reveal NSA Requests With the partial blessing of the federal government, major websites have started releasing data on the National Security Agency's requests about users. Last month, the government said companies could disclose more information regarding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court orders they receive. During the first half of 2013, between 15,000 and 15,999 Microsoft accounts, 9,000 and 9,999 Google accounts, and 5,000 to 5,999 Facebook accounts were subject to FISA requests. "We have not received the type of bulk data requests that are commonly discussed publicly regarding telephone records," Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith said. If you use Yahoo, though, the government apparently thinks you're up to no good: 30,000 to 30,999 of its accounts were subject to FISA content requests. Read it at Reuters MERCY Chris Brown Narrowly Avoids Jail Will continue rehab instead. REAL-LIFE KNIGHT RIDER Car-to-Car Talk Mandated by Feds Autos will speak to each other. SLICK Keystone Would Save 6 Lives a Year Says State Department report. VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS Gay-Marriage Ban Challenged in VA Court hearing starts. REAL ISSUES, PLEASE Conservatives Bash Coca-Cola Ad Some attack "It's Beautiful" ad. GET The Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of news and must-reads from across the Web. You'll love the featured original stories on politics, entertainment, and more from The Daily Beast's diverse group of contributors. GET Culture Beast Weekly cultural recommendations from The Daily Beast. BYU's War on Porn by Scott Bixby The White Collar Heroin Problem by Abby Haglage Bob Dylan's 115th Sellout by Michael Moynihan

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