JACKSON, MS—In an effort to make certain that physicians who perform the procedure are fully qualified to do so, a new state law passed Tuesday will require Mississippi doctors to climb an 18-foot wall before entering any medical facility providing abortions.

The Clinic Fortification and Physician Excellence Act calls for the construction of concrete barriers nearly two stories tall and 4 feet thick around all clinics offering abortion services, and for physicians working at these sites to scale such barricades unassisted, a landmark piece of legislation that supporters hailed as a victory for women’s health.

“No woman, in this state or any other, should ever receive care from a medical professional incapable of climbing an 18-foot wall,” said Governor Phil Bryant, adding that it was “ridiculous” that women had been living in a place where doctors could perform abortions without first surmounting an obstacle approximately three times their height. “Any physicians lacking the necessary upper body strength to pull themselves up and over an 18-foot wall have no business performing such a potentially dangerous procedure.”

“This law is shamefully overdue,” Bryant added. “I’m sorry the women of Mississippi had to wait so long.”

Authorization for the clinic walls reportedly sailed through the state legislature and was quickly signed by Gov. Bryant, despite failed amendments from a small group of Democrats that would have reduced the wall’s height and allowed doctors to use assistive devices such as ladders or grappling hooks. According to sources, only the planting of thick, thorny shrubbery along the base of both sides of the wall was removed from the final version of the legislation.

Ian Millhiser @imillhiser

I'm hearing that the Fourth Circuit just voted to UPHOLD the Obamacare subsidies struck down by those two GOP judges this morning.

Ian Millhiser @imillhiser

Here is the opinion of the Fourth Circuit UPHOLDING the Obamacare subsidies struck by the DC Circuit

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/king_usca4_20140722.pdf

MANHATTAN — American flags were removed from atop the Brooklyn Bridge's two towers Tuesday morning and replaced by white flags, sources said.

Police were checking surveillance footage from the bridge after images of the white flags hit social media about 7 a.m., sources said.

"Why are there white flags on top of the Brooklyn Bridge?" City Council member Mark Weprin tweeted at 9:34 a.m.

It was not immediately clear how the white flags, which are usually a military symbol for surrender, got there.

Witnesses reported seeing NYPD counter terrorism officers heading up the stairs to the bridge about 9:30 a.m.

“To my question about a technical task—what exactly should be written in the comments—a young guy, a coordinator, told me, briefly and clearly, that they were having busy days at the moment and that yesterday they all wrote in support of [Moscow acting mayor Sergei] Sobyanin, while ‘today we shit on Navalny,’” she wrote on her VKontakte [ed: a Russian social network] page.

According to Lvova, each commenter was to write no less than 100 comments a day, while people in the other room were to write four postings a day, which then went to the other employees whose job was to post them on social networks as widely as possible.

Employees at the company, located at 131 Lakhtinsky Prospekt, were paid 1,180 rubles ($36.50) for a full 8-hour day and received a free lunch, Lvova wrote.

According to the poll, just 19% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Russia, down from 41% in February. Fifty-seven percent of the public saw Russia in a positive way in a 2011 CNN/ORC survey.

Seventy-eight percent of those questioned say they have an unfavorable opinion of Russia, a surge of 23 percentage points since February. Only 40% of Americans in the 2011 CNN poll had a negative view of Russia.

"Negative views of Russia are up across the board, but some of the biggest changes come among women and younger Americans," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

"A bare majority of Americans under the age of 50 had a favorable view of Russia in February, but now that number has dropped 27 points. That may be due to the fact that older Americans are more likely to remember the Cold War and take a less optimistic view of Russia. Positive views of Russia are also down 26 points among women, compared to 18 points among men," Holland added.

Fifty-six percent of the public said it is very likely that rebel groups launched the missile that brought down Flight 17, according to the survey. Another 24% believe that it's somewhat likely and only one in seven think it's unlikely.

It was part of an evil American plan to instigate war with Russia.

The passengers were already dead when the plane took off.

Ukrainian dispatchers ordered the plane to reduce its altitude before it was shot down.

Ukrainian forces were actually gunning for Putin's plane, which looks similar to MH17, but instead hit the Malaysian airliner.

Pro-Russian rebels did actually shoot down an aircraft, — only it wasn't MH17, it was the real culprit behind the crash — a Ukrainian fighter jet.

If you live in Russia, these are the stories you're hearing about the fatal July 17 crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was responsible for the deaths of 298 passengers. They're coming from state-funded news outlets like Russia Today, Vesti and Life News, which are often used as glorified Kremlin mouthpieces.

Appearing Monday on "Fox & Friends," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voiced confidence that he'll win his reelection bid in November.

The Kentucky Republican warned that "every crazy liberal" is sending money to his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes.

"We're going to win. It's big race," he said. "When you're the leader of one of the parties in the Senate, you're a big target for the other side. Every crazy liberal in the country knows who I am and they're sending money to my opponent."