A.M. Links: Edward Snowden Speaks, V.A. Hospital ‘An Organized Crime Syndicate,’ Pro-Russian Forces Shoot Down Ukrainian Army Helicopter

• Edward Snowden sat down for a wide-ranging
  interview with NBC News. The U.S. government has “no idea what
  documents were taken,” he said. Meanwhile, Secretary of State John
  Kerry said Snowden
  should “man up and come back to the United States.”

• According to a whistleblower who works at a Veterans Affairs
  hospital in Texas, the place
  is run like “an organized crime syndicate…. People up on top
  are suddenly afraid they may actually be prosecuted and they’re
  pressuring the little guys down below to cover it all up.” As the
  V.A. scandal grows, calls are getting louder for embattled Veterans
  Affairs chief Eric Shinseki
  to resign.

• Pro-Russian forces near the eastern Ukraine town of Slaviansk
  
  shot down a Ukrainian army helicopter, killing 14.

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit
  has recognized a First Amendment right to film the police in
  public.

• Air pollution levels in London
  may be worse than those in Beijing.

• A new study finds that 30
  percent of the human population is overweight.

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