Understanding What Hamas Wants  —  Five observations about the Gaza conflict, including praise for an ex-president's insight into the particular nature of Hamas' evil  —  1. We can thank former President Bill Clinton for perfect clarity in his comments about the chaos and horror of Gaza.

Could southern black voters save the Senate for Democrats?  —  Yes, that could happen.  Nate Cohn has a terrific piece today arguing that, for the first time since Reconstruction, southern black voters could be pivotal to the outcome of a national election.  That would be the battle for the Senate this fall:

Cover-up: Ukraine rebels destroying all links to MH17 air atrocity  —  UN demands full inquiry but armed Russian separatists block access to crash site amid confusion over black boxes  —  Russian separatist groups in eastern Ukraine are hastily covering up all links to the Buk missile battery suspected …

Downing of Malaysia Jet Is a Call to End Ukraine Conflict  —  Growing casualties on the ground, a major escalation of American sanctions against Russia, a military plane shot down and now the appalling destruction of a Malaysian jetliner with 298 people on board, shot by a surface-to-air missile.

For the G.O.P., Fine Line Seen on Migration  —  WASHINGTON — In 1996, when a surge in illegal immigration collided with the overheated politics of a presidential election, Republicans demanded a strict crackdown.  —  They passed a measure in the House that would have allowed states …

Bodies rained down on Ukraine village after plane disaster  —  (Reuters) - First came the loud explosion that made buildings rattle: then it started raining bodies.  —  One of the corpses fell through the rickety roof of Irina Tipunova's house in this sleepy village, just after Malaysia …

The Pentagon's War Against Climate Change  —  U.S. conservatives make at least two arguments against action on climate change: We don't have enough conclusive evidence to prove it is happening, and even if we did, the cost of cutting our carbon emissions would be too high.

Elizabeth Warren's 11 Commandments of Progressivism  —  Watch Elizabeth Warren give a speech to her fold, and you realize she's one of the rare Democrats who can excite her base in the same way Ted Cruz or Dr. Ben Carson can excite their own.  As Politico's Katie Glueck wrote on Friday …

Report: ‘Vast majority’ of asylum claims granted  —  BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL CONGRESS IMMIGRATION NATIONAL SECURITY BORDER SECURITY HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE LAW  —  Democrats who oppose changing the law to allow quicker removals of families and unaccompanied young people illegally crossing …

298 souls on MH17 have paid the price for Obama's “flexibility” [VIDEO]  —  Back in his first term, while taking part in a global nuclear security summit in South Korea — and believing the microphones were off -President Barack Hussein Obama was caught leaning over to then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev …

John le Carré on Philip Seymour Hoffman  —  I reckon I spent five hours at most in Philip Seymour Hoffman's close company, six at a pinch.  Otherwise it was standing around with other people on the set of “A Most Wanted Man,” watching him on the monitor and afterward telling him he was great …

Microsoft layoffs hit D.C. office  —  Microsoft's massive layoffs have hit the company's Washington policy office.  —  Five policy and government relations staffers were let go in a restructuring process that hit both Microsoft and its subsidiary Nokia.  —  Positions held by Nokia lobbyist …