Jon Stewart goes off on Israeli criticism of John Kerry: ‘What the F*ck?’ Watch.
From the Associated Press …
Residents of Mosul have watched helplessly as extremists ruling the northern Iraqi city blew up some of their most beloved landmarks and shrines to impose a stark vision of Islam. Next up for destruction, they feared: the Crooked Minaret, a more than 840-year-old tower that leans like Italy’s Tower of Pisa.
But over the weekend, residents pushed back. When fighters from the Islamic State group loaded with heavy explosives converged on the site, Mosulis living nearby rushed to the courtyard below the minaret, sat on the ground and linked arms to form a human chain to protect it, two residents who witnessed the event told The Associated Press on Monday.
They told the fighters, If you blow up the minaret, you’ll have to kill us too, the witnesses said.
Read the rest here.
Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst thinks states can nullify federal laws. Watch.
North Carolina AG says his office will stop defending the state’s same-sex marriage ban in the Courts after today’s Virginia ruling because, under current law (the emerging judicial consensus over the meaning of Windsor) there just aren’t any arguments left to make.
US officials are “fuming” in the AP’s words at the barrage of Israeli criticism of Secretary of States John Kerry. But as Chemi Shalev notes in Haaretz, there’s a deeper backstory. Nothing gets the Obama administration’s ire up like the perception (very often grounded in reality) that Netanyahu and his government ministers are trying to scuttle his initiatives by inveigling themselves into domestic partisan conflict in the US. Specifically, using GOP proxies as cut-outs to push back against the President’s initiatives.
Satanists cite Hobby Lobby decision for exemption to anti-abortion laws.
The momentum is moving so fast against same sex marriage bans they’re now striking them down by batch. Today, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Late Update: There seems to be uncertainty about whether this ruling applies beyond Virginia. We’ll update you as we know more.
Trustees say Obamacare will help extend the solvency of Medicare.
Mississippi Governor (R) blames Obamacare for rising rate of uninsured in his state after blocking most implementation of Obamacare in his state.