* The Social Security Administration and Veterans Affairs are taking steps to provide some recognition of same-sex couples. * South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has declined to veto penalties for college assigning "gay-themed" books in the 2014 state budget. * Concerned for female students' future in the workplace,
* Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists "locked in fierce fighting" in the east of Ukraine. * Before Cheney's allowed to criticize Obama for blunders in Iraq, a preface is due to explain his contribution. * See also: Celebrity confessions strung together to create an Übersinner. * Jamelle Bouie on
* Iraqi Kurds, who have long wanted their own state, may finally have their chance as Iraq tears itself apart. * Late historian Cherie Woodworth tackles the question of Yiddish’s origins. * If Scotland votes for its independence in an upcoming referendum, its best choice of currency would be Norway’s krone.
* While you weren't paying attention: Four Russians toilet-paper the US embassy in Moscow. * Primer on Russia's proxy war in Ukraine. * Somali-linked Islamist militants kill at least 15 in second night of attacks on Kenya's coast. * Austin is America's 10th-most
* Their only protection was a sheet, painted with the words “children, children, children,” that was taped around the minivan. * The crisis in Iraq has brought about unprecedented levels of post-1979 US-Iran cooperation. * Palestinian woman plants flowers in tear gas grenades. * On the life of Haruki Murakami. * Some pig:
* Sunni fighters captured two more Iraqi towns overnight in a "lightning sweep" towards Baghdad. * Sixty-five-year-old woman stayed in her house for two years because of the violence in Homs, Syria. * Newsweek journalist finds inanity in George Will's archive. * Brief history of the fiasco
* Mass shootings in the US aren't on the rise—media coverage of mass shootings is. * Last month, the Iraqi government fruitlessly asked US to airstrike militants. * Related: Dexter Filkins on Iraq. * After more than 50 years of boots-on-the-ground intervention, the US should reconsider its military-
* To stock cheap shrimp at Walmart and Costco, Asian "ghost ships" use slave labor. * Why Cantor lost his primary to the Tea Party: Maybe immigration, likely his DC insider status, possibly Obama. * There have been at least 74 school shootings in the US since Sandy Hook. * You can
Here comes summer, when the yoke of responsibility loosens. We all have our past indiscretions, but they’re too sordid to sign our names to—so we’ve removed the names and rearranged the text to protect the guilty.
* Democrats say broad acceptance of the need to fight climate change makes a carbon plan a winning issue. * President Obama just did something he hasn’t done in years: speak frankly and passionately about his views on climate change. * More than one-quarter of Israelis want to get rid of
