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.
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.
Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst thinks states can nullify federal laws. 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.
Jon Stewart goes off on Israeli criticism of John Kerry: ‘What the F*ck?’ Watch.
Some of us think bringing AR-15s to the airport to pick up your spouse is probably a bad idea. But if you’re going to make it legal, this might be something to think through. Peter Steinmetz was arrested at Sky Harbor International Airport not because – as far as we know – he was threatening to shoot anyone but because “the way he was carrying it” scared a mother and teenage daughter who thought he was pointing it at them.
Boehner: Impeachment is ‘scam’ for Dems to raise money. Also we may have to impeach the president.
This chart shows how Tea Party strength is actually fairly low in the key Senate races in play this year. But it’s also just a cool interactive chart that tells you how popular the Tea Party is in your county. Check it out.
Meet the anonymous Twitter users who brought down Buzzfeed editor Benny Johnson.
Democrats and Republicans are locked in an election aimed rhetorical war over whether the GOP House will impeach Obama. But when I saw the news last night about the sweeping move on immigration President Obama is considering, it immediately occurred to me: this is like waving a red cape in front of the Impeachment Caucus in the House. So could it happen? Absolutely. Sahil Kapur explains the dynamics and why, yes, it could definitely happen.