Today’s Links: November 26, 2012

OPINION

PAUL HOWARD and STEPHEN PARENTE: “ObamaCare Faces the Implementation Iceberg
“Defenders of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, can be forgiven for some post-election triumphalism. But their joy is likely to be short lived. Because the law put off implementation of most key provisions until after the 2012 election, voters cast their ballots on November 6 without knowing what Obamacare’s true effect will be on their tax bills, insurance costs, or access to care.”

BENJAMIN WALLACE-WELLS: “The Truce On Drugs
“Marijuana has remained mostly illegal, even as many Americans have come to consider it harmless and normal, and so it now occupies a uniquely ambiguous place in American law and life. There are a few places in the United States that have been known for decades for marijuana—far-northern California, Kentucky—where people are comfortable with sedition, and willing to live outside of the law. But during the last decade, as growing and selling marijuana began to edge out of the shadows, these places have become the sites of this country’s first experiments with tacit decriminalization. And so the business has shifted, too. ‘We have to face facts,’ says a veteran California grower named Anna Hamilton. ‘We are in a commodity business.'”

WILL OREMUS: “That Facebook Copyright Notice Is Still a Hoax”
“Back in June, the hoax capitalized on people’s uncertainty over Facebook’s debut as a publicly traded company, which in itself had no bearing on users’ privacy rights or copyright protections. This time it’s playing on people’s confusion about Facebook’s proposed changes to its terms of service. The proposed changes are real, but no status update that you post will have any bearing on how they affect you.”

NEWS

LEGAL – Court Rejects Plea to Block Taping of Police
“The Supreme Court has rejected an Illinois prosecutor’s plea to allow enforcement of a law aimed at stopping people from recording police officers on the job.”

HEALTHCARE – Supreme court revives challenge to Obama health law
“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday revived a challenge to President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms, allowing a Christian college to pursue litigation raising First Amendment objections to a law that the court mostly upheld in June.”

DRONES – Human rights groups condemn White House drone “rulebook”
“Antiwar and human rights groups have reacted with ire to news, reported by the New York Times, that the Obama administration has sought to codify its drone program.”