A.M. Links: U.S. Blames Russia For Creating Conditions for Likely Accidental Downing of Malaysia Flight, International Flights to Israel Canceled After Hamas Rocket Lands Near Airport, Lois Lerner Hard Drive Scratched But Not Destroyed

U.S.
intelligence officials blamed
Russia for creating the “conditions” under which Malaysian Air
Flight MH-17 was shot down but indicated pro-Russia separatists in

Ukraine likely downed the flight by mistake.
International flights to and from
Israel are being canceled, with the
Federal Aviation Administration banning them for 24 hours,
after a rocket launched from Gaza landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben
Gurion International Airport. Israeli airline El-Al will continue
to operate flights and former New York City mayor
Michael Bloomberg will be flying to Israel to demonstrate that
it’s safe. John
Kerry, meanwhile, is back in the region for more
diplomacy.
The hard drive containing
Lois Lerner e-mails of interest to House investigators may not
have been destroyed after all—an Internal Revenue Service tech
expert now says the drive was merely scratched.
The Tea Party-backed
Barry Loudermilk defeated 2008 Libertarian presidential
candidate and former Republican representative Bob Barr in a
Republican congressional primary run-off in Georgia. On the GOP’s
senate side, businessman
David Purdue defeated longtime representative Jack
Kingston.
The
New York Police Department will be retraining all of its
officers after a man a group of officers tried to subdue with a
chokehold died. The police commissioner also said he wouldn’t be
surprise if the federal government brought civil rights charges
against the cops involved.
Sixty seven percent of voting respondents in a Rasmussen poll
said
Americans were more divided now than they were four years
ago.