This Blood Libel Brought to You by the West  —  Following a rash of criticism from U.S. Jewish groups, a Palestinian nonprofit funded by Western governments has apologized for accusing Jewish people of using “Christian blood” during the Passover holiday.  —  Miftah, a Palestinian nonprofit group founded …

Casey: I support gay marriage  —  Sen. Bob Casey has announced his support for gay marriage in an interview with The Morning Call.  (AFP/GETTY IMAGES / April 1, 2013)  —  WASHINGTON - Sen. Bob Casey told The Morning Call on Monday he now supports same-sex marriage.

Arizona Congressman Opposes His Own Son's Marriage Equality  —  Matt Salmon and his boyfriend Kent Flake (2010)  —  When Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) came out for marriage equality last month, he largely attributed his change of position to his gay son and his desire to support him.

James E. Hansen Retiring From NASA to Fight Global Warming  —  James E. Hansen, the climate scientist who issued the clearest warning of the 20th century about the dangers of global warming, will retire from NASA this week, giving himself more freedom to pursue political and legal efforts to limit greenhouse gases.

US Navy shifts destroyer in wake of North Korea missile threats  —  The U.S. Navy is shifting a guided-missile destroyer in the Pacific to waters off the Korean peninsula in the wake of ongoing rhetoric from North Korea, U.S. defense officials said.  —  The USS McCain is capable of intercepting …

Big Agriculture flexes its muscle  —  Yet for all the anger — and belated legal reviews — no one can truly be surprised by the packers' success nor Monsanto's.  Indeed the collapse of the traditional appropriations process in Congress may magnify the power of single-interest lobbies …

It Took Obama 15 Tries To Sink A Basket On White House Court Monday  —  “Oh man,” Obama said.  —  Image by Jason Reed / Reuters  —  WASHINGTON — President Obama did not have a great day on the White House basketball court Monday.  —  During the White House Easter Egg Roll …

The Simple Reason Why Goodreads Is So Valuable to Amazon  —  Amazon is the king of online booksellers and, by most accounts, the most feared player in publishing.  Yet last week it shelled out a reported $150 million to buy up Goodreads, a social network for book nerds with a devoted but far from enormous 16 million members.

Justin Amash: The House's new Ron Paul  —  When it comes to the House of Representatives, Justin Amash is the new Ron Paul.  —  The Michigan congressman, only 32, sees himself as a leader of “the second generation” of Paulites in the lower chamber.  Sen. Rand Paul moved quickly to present himself …

Lady Gaga turned down $1 million to perform at RNC … Not even a million dollars could convince Lady Gaga to perform at last summer's Republican National Convention.  —  The snub by the pop star is included in a lawsuit filed by a powerful Republican nonprofit fundraising organization …

Lawsuit over health care tax could kill ‘Obamacare’  —  “Obamacare” looks increasingly inevitable, but one lawsuit making its way through the court system could pull the plug on the sweeping federal health care law.  —  A challenge filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation contends …

NPR's First Person Shooter Fantasy  —  Before your read this story keep in mind that the killer at Sandy Hook was addicted to violent video games.  So of course NPR decides that violent first-person shooter video games are great art.  Well .... this one is because it's irresistible to the NPR producers.

Choice of Plans Under Health Law Delayed for Small Firms  —  WASHINGTON — Unable to meet tight deadlines in the new health care law, the Obama administration is delaying parts of a program intended to provide affordable health insurance to small businesses and their employees — a major selling point for the health care legislation.

Connecticut lawmakers agree on tough gun control bill  —  Connecticut lawmakers announced a deal Monday on what they called some of the toughest gun laws in the country that were proposed after the December mass shooting in the state, including a ban on new high-capacity ammunition magazines …

Environmentalists to news networks: cover climate change more, skeptics less  —  Invoking news coverage of recent extreme weather events, environmentalists are urging the public to sign a petition to pressure major television networks to do more coverage of climate change.

Obama to Unveil Initiative to Map the Human Brain  —  President Obama on Tuesday will announce a broad new research initiative, starting with $100 million in 2014, to invent and refine new technologies to understand the human brain, senior administration officials said Monday.

Judge: Stockton, Calif., Can File for Bankruptcy  —  A judge accepted the California city of Stockton's bankruptcy application on Monday, making it the most populous city in the nation to enter bankruptcy.  —  U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein said the bankruptcy declaration was needed …

On China's State-Sponsored Amnesia  —  IN March 2012 I met Torbjorn Loden, the Swedish professor of Chinese language and culture, in Hong Kong.  He told me that while briefly teaching at Hong Kong's City University he asked the 40 students from China in his class what they knew about the June 4 Incident …

March was bloodiest month in Syria war: rights group  —  (Reuters) - March was the bloodiest month yet in Syria's two-year conflict, with more than 6,000 people killed, a third of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.  —  The group opposes President Bashar al-Assad …

Human Rights Campaign Statement on March 27 Events  —  In the midst of a tremendously historic week for our community, two unfortunate incidents at the United for Marriage event at the Supreme Court last week have caused pain in the community.  In one case, a trans activist was asked to remove …

Lessons From a Comeback  —  Modern movement conservatism, which transformed the G.O.P. from the moderate party of Dwight Eisenhower into the radical right-wing organization we see today, was largely born in California.  The Golden State, even more than the South, created today's religious conservatism …

Elizabeth Colbert Busch Cleans Her (Twitter) House Before Special Election  —  Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the Democratic nominee for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District, deleted more than 500 tweets from her campaign Twitter account this morning.  Colbert Busch will face the winner …

Bill tying student performance to welfare benefits advancing in Legislature  —  NASHVILLE — Legislation to cut welfare benefits of parents with children performing poorly in school has cleared committees of both the House and Senate after being revised to give the parents several ways to avoid the reductions.