WALL STREET IS TAKING OVER AMERICA’S PENSION PLANS →

Coverage of the midterm elections has, understandably, focused on the shift in political power from Democrats toward Republicans. But behind the scenes, another major story has been playing out. Wall Street spent upwards of $300M to influence the election results. And a key part of its agenda has been a plan to move more and more of the $3 trillion dollars in unguarded government pension funds into privately managed, high-fee investments — a shift that may well constitute the biggest financial story of our generation that you’ve never heard of.

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In many cases, the decision to invest state pension money in alternative investments of questionable value seems to have been driven less by concern for the welfare of future pensioners (gasp!) than by political considerations and the concerted efforts of financial industry lobbyists. The simple fact is that these investments are not very good. While they offer lucrative fees for Wall Street middlemen, they have been shown to oftensignificantly underperform against the market.

Obama’s Trojan Horse? →

Right-wing claims aside, the president’s immigration order won’t give voting rights to unauthorized immigrants. But it could bolster Democratic standing with Latinos, Asians, and other groups with deep ties to immigrant communities. Or, if that’s too much, it could at least reverse the slide—on the eve of this year’s midterm elections, just 63 percent of Latinos leaned toward or identified with the Democratic Party, down from 70 percent in 2012.

Best forecast I've read yet.

In a Shift, Obama Extends U.S. Role in Afghan Combat →

President Obama decided in recent weeks to authorize a more expansive mission for the military in Afghanistan in 2015 than originally planned, a move that ensures American troops will have a direct role in fighting in the war-ravaged country for at least another year.

Mr. Obama’s order allows American forces to carry out missions against the Taliban and other militant groups threatening American troops or the Afghan government, a broader mission than the president described to the public earlier this year, according to several administration, military and congressional officials with knowledge of the decision. The new authorization also allows American jets, bombers and drones to support Afghan troops on combat missions.

Fairness in Ferguson: The grand jury system is corrupt, and the Darren Wilson case shows how to fix it. →

...Ultimately, whether Officer Wilson is indicted or not, McCulloch’s decision to throw open the grand jury’s doors to all the relevant evidence should cause us to reconsider the current relationship between prosecutors and their grand juries.

Undocumented Immigrants Aren’t Who You Think They Are →

The perception of U.S. immigration hasn’t kept up with the fast-changing reality. Immigration from Mexico has been falling for several years, for example, and new arrivals are now more likely to come from Asia than from Latin America. Meanwhile the U.S. Latino population is increasingly native-born.

As the influx of new unauthorized immigrants has slowed, the unauthorized population as a whole has become, in Pew’s words, "more settled." The typical unauthorized immigrant has been here for nearly 13 years, up from about 9 years in 2007. Only 16 percent have been here under five years — an important cutoff because Obama’s plan doesn’t apply to anyone who’s been here for less time than that.

Obama acts on immigration, announcing decision to defer deportations of 4 million →

Which seems, at a lay reading, to be legal.

NIH and FDA Toughen Rules on Reporting Medical Trials →

...As evidence, they cited a study conducted at Yale University in 2012. Researchers studied a sample of trials using NIH money and found that fewer than half had results published within 30 months of the trials’ end.

Under a pair of related proposals announced by NIH officials, researchers will be given specific guidelines on which trials are covered by the rules and which penalties will be levied against researchers who fail to comply. The current law is not specific, NIH officials said. That has left researchers uncertain­—or able to claim uncertainty—about the law’s exact requirements.

About 50% of YouTube's views come from mobiles or tablets →

Not something I normally post in this space, but I find it interesting enough to break my usual rules (minimal inside-tech news that doesn't have larger policy relevance). This is a significant change in the way people and technology interact around storytelling. I would love to know which countries are showing the highest (and lowest) mobile usage.