The Upper Middle Class Is Ruining America  —  And I want it to stop.  —  I first encountered the upper middle class when I attended a big magnet high school in Manhattan that attracted a decent number of brainy, better-off kids whose parents preferred not to pay private-school tuition.

Jeb Bush shaped by troubled Phillips Academy years  —  Possible presidential candidate had tumultuous four years at Andover school

A Strained Alliance: Obama-Netanyahu Rift Grew Over Years  —  WASHINGTON — For six years, the pattern has been the same.  A dispute between American and Israeli leaders spills out into the open.  Analysts declare the relationship in crisis.  Then the two sides try to tamp down emotions …

Shoveling Science  —  Were you hit this week by all the climate change?  We here in the Baltimore/Washington area received just a light dusting, but Boston was covered in it.  Actually, thanks to the mainstream media, the whole nation was covered in climate change.

Michael Moore: Clint Eastwood Once Threatened to Kill Me  —  Does this explain why Michael Moore has been so critical of American Sniper?  In a long Facebook post Thursday night, the filmmaker recounted the time 10 years ago this month that Clint Eastwood allegedly threatened to kill him.

Scott Walker is Out of Mitt's Shadow—But Staying In the Spotlight Is A Challenge  —  In a D.C. speech, the Wisconsin governor expands his presidential case.  —  Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was the breakout star of last weekend's Iowa Faith and Freedom Summit, elbowing aside bigger names …

Time Magazine's Jeffrey Kluger writes what might possibly be the stupidest article about climate ever - climate change causes volcanoes  —  The stupid, it burns like a magnesium flare.  —  Excerpt from the article: … Riiight.  —  Here's the money quote:

Mary Cheney: Why is drag ‘socially acceptable’ and blackface isn't?  —  Washington (CNN)Mary Cheney wants to know why it isn't “socially acceptable” for a white person to “put on blackface and act out offensive stereotypes of African-Americans” if drags queens are allowed to imitate female stereotypes?

George RR Martin's The Winds of Winter: no plans for publication in 2015  —  Fans face a long wait for the sixth novel in the bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series, but a new edition of three previously anthologised novellas set in the Game of Thrones world is due in October

State Dept Won't Call Taliban Murder of American Contractors ‘Terrorism’  —  In the latest round of verbal gymnastics over the Taliban, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused to categorize the murder of American civilians at Kabul International Airport an act of “terrorism.”

'Kill our pilot and we'll execute ALL your prisoners': Jordan ‘says it will hang its ISIS captives’ if airman hostage is dead  —  Jordan has threatened to fast-track the execution of a would-be suicide bomber the Islamic State is trying to free if the terror group kills its captured pilot, it was reported today.

Europe's Greek Test  —  In the five years (!) that have passed since the euro crisis began, clear thinking has been in notably short supply.  But that fuzziness must now end.  Recent events in Greece pose a fundamental challenge for Europe: Can it get past the myths and the moralizing …