Goaded by American hawks and Russia’s intervention, Pentagon boss Carter quietly breaks the news of mission creep: boots on ground….--Lindsay Graham and other hawks demand bigger US military intervention, but won’t debate or authorize it
--Iran agrees to join Vienna talks about Syria with US and Russia
--commentary in NY Times, Guardian and VICE agree that Obama’s strategy is incoherent, but downplay escalation of US involvement
--following last week’s deadly earthquake, Taliban takes over northern Afghanistan province
--Netanyahu continues provocations, orders “status review” of Palestinians in East Jerusalem
--University of California regents will re-work proposed policy to suppress pro-Palestinian speech on campus, after Israel supporters say it’s not tough enough
--Charlie Savage at NY Times discloses that 4 lawyers in Obama administration secretly wrote legal opinions to rationalize the killing of bin Laden
--former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert pleads guilty to one charge, sealing the coverup of much greater crimes
--federal judge blocks Alabama law to defund Planned Parenthood, because there is no legal basis for it
--federal judge in NY slams “Justice” Dept. for demanding that Apple unlock phone of crime suspect like they’ve done before; Apple is now resisting
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