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April 03, 2014 | | Tragedy Five years ago, a soldier killed 13 of his own at Fort Hood. Wednesday it happened again. An Iraq veteran undergoing evaluation for PTSD shot and killed three people, then himself, after wounding 16. Jacob Siegel reports that the motive for the soldier, identified by the Pentagon as Specialist Ivan Lopez, remains unknown. According to the base's commander, Lopez self-reported a traumatic brain injury upon returning from combat. SNEAKY Using front companies with a Cayman Islands bank account, the U.S. Agency for International Development, not the CIA, created a social-media project that starting in 2010 aimed to sow disruption in Cuba. The plan was to use "non-controversial content" like news on soccer and music via text messaging to get around Cuba's Internet restrictions. Unbeknownst to the Cubans, the U.S. government and its contractors were snatching up their private data to use it for political purposes. USAID, which is known for overseeing the distribution of billions of aid dollars, defended itself, saying, "We work all over the world to help people exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms, and give them access to tools to improve their lives and connect with the outside world." However, as Sen. Patrick Leahy pointed out, there was little to protect unknowing young Cubans who were now associated with U.S. government activity. DADDY WARBUCKS The Supreme Court's decision Wednesday striking down a cap on contribution limits marks the end of an era for campaign-finance laws. Jonathan Rauch writes it's actually become too hard for politicians to raise money and liberals should actually embrace the change. After all, the old laws did little to curb corruption. Instead, we should let people give $1 million to candidates (instead of $2,600) and radically strengthen disclosure laws. FINGER IN EYE Iran's nomination of Hamid Aboutalebi to be United Nations ambassador has set off a ripple of anger in Washington, as Aboutalebi was part of the Muslim student group that took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. During the seizure, 52 Americans were held for 444 days. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said at a briefing that the move "would be extremely troubling… we've raised our serious concerns about this possible nomination with the government of Iran." Aboutalebi says he had limited involvement with the hostage-taking group. Sen. John McCain had strong words for the nomination, declaring it was "a really kind of an in-your-face action by the Iranian government." IRON CURTAIN Russia's actions in Ukraine are not only affecting global relations, but outer space ones as well. An internal NASA memo states "Given Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, until further notice, the U.S. government has determined that all NASA contacts with Russian government representatives are suspended, unless the activity has been specifically excepted." The U.S. will suspend some space-related activities, including travel to Russia, teleconferences, visits by Russian government officials to NASA facilities, and exchange of emails with Russian officials. Ongoing International Space Station activities are permitted. | | 
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