Yesterday's decision by the Supreme Court regarding Hobby Lobby is potentially problematic for American women, of course. But politicians on both sides of the aisle like it just fine. It's a rallying cry for both parties' bases, mere months before Democrats and Republicans are hoping to gain (or hold) ground in the Senate. Remember: Washington isn't as much about moral or conscientious rule making as it is about horserace politics.
Heavy fighting, again, in Eastern Ukraine: The country's president called off a cease-fire with rebels, saying the temporary stay was accomplishing nothing. Russia hasn't been working to defuse the situation in good faith, he says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, brings out the old rhetorical cudgel, comparing the situation in Ukraine to those in Syria and Iraq, and dropping one of his greatest hits: calling Ukrainian forces "neo-nazis."
The on-again, off-again cycle of conflict in the West Bank is on the upswing, as three recently kidnapped Israeli teens are found dead.
Summer's first toasty day brought with it summer's first fatal drive-by shooting. A 24-year-old man named Andrew Coggins Jr. was killed in the afternoon attack Monday—the latest in what police are describing as an uptick in violence. (They've been doing that a lot in recent years.)
The recent outcry and eventual big-money deal around a Google executive's proposed demolition of a West Hills home wasn't a one-off. Just last month, Northwest neighbors stepped up with mounds of cash to lure a house away from demolition. Something similar happened in Eastmoreland in April. It's a nice last-ditch effort if you're moneyed enough to live in a tony 'hood, but impossible in the vast majority of other Portland neighborhoods where old housing stock is increasingly being scrapped and replaced.
Good news for a former NYC cop who, graphically and frequently, fantasized about kidnapping, torturing, killing, and eating women!(But bad news for NYC's women.) He's had his most serious conviction overturned, since a federal judge ruled Gilberto Valle's obsession was all online chatter, anyway. Actually, the judge called Valle's activity "deeply disturbing misogynistic chats and emails written by an individual obsessed with imagining women he knows suffering horrific sex-related pain, terror and degradation." One tidbit to tack on to that creepy terror: Prosecutors said Valle took steps to research potential victims in a police database—a conviction the judge in the latest ruling didn't overturn.
Not so anti-war, anymore: Japan's Prime Minister has drastically increased the situations in which he can wield the pacifist nation's big, idle military.
When "Man Vs. Food" becomes "Man Vs. Internet," Adam Richman's new show gets cancelled.
The USA faces Belgium in the World Cup this afternoon, 1 pm. Cast aside your tasks accordingly.
It will be HOT, today. Don't count on Max trains running with any kind of predictability this afternoon.
You don't need to watch this evening's newscasts, if you're the type who does. Here they are, at 9 am. All of them.
