Smokin’ in the Newsroom: In a sign that marijuana is the new martini,The New York Times editorial board has endorsed legalized weed, saying simply, “The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.”

The Great Gray Lady says that after much debate its editorial board decided that the social and financial costs of law enforcement and incarceration are enormous while the ill effects of marijuana barely compare to alcohol and tobacco, which are legal.

In a closing snipe at the government, the editorial said, “We recognize that this Congress is as unlikely to take action on marijuana as it has been on other big issues. But it is long past time to repeal this version of Prohibition.”

MH17: Australia has sent 160 armed police officers and 40 soldiers to Ukraine to protect the crash site of Malaysian flight 17 and prevent further disturbance of the wreckage. The plane crashed 11 days ago and still no international agencies have taken control of the scene or begun an official investigation in embattled eastern Ukraine. Australia lost 38 citizens and residents in the crash.

A group of 30 unarmed Dutch police officers previously tried to reach the site but turned back because of fighting in the area.

From the Shores of Tripoli: The State Department evacuated the US embassy in Libya yesterday to protect the staff against increasing civil warfare. The embassy staff had to be driven out of the country because the airport has been wrecked in the fighting and is too dangerous.

Gaza: Israel extended a ceasefire for another 24 hours despite rocket fire coming from Gaza immediately at the end of yesterday’s 12-hour respite. But Israel said it would respond to any Hamas attacks and would continue to search out and destroy the tunnels coming from Gaza that are one of the primary targets of Israel’s military. Hamas at first resisted the extended ceasefire then agreed to it.

Yesterday the Palestinians collected at least 150 bodies from pulverized buildings and neighborhoods. Israel has destroyed as many as 500 homes and buildings, claiming they have targeted Hamas weapons caches and command centers located in residential areas.

Shotgun News: A federal judge has ruled that the District of Columbia’s complete ban on carrying a handgun in public is unconstitutional. The judge basically said that, given the constitutional right to own a gun, it’s unreasonable to limit a gun owner’s right to use it only for self-defense at home.

A Plus: An essay published in the New Republic has raised a ruckus over elite private universities … Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the like. William Deresiewicz, who graduated from Columbia and taught at Yale, wrote that the rigorous standards of admissions and the quest for perfect candidates, who got straight A’s and volunteered in Namibia while leading the volleyball team to a state championship, has created a high class of edu-zombies. He wrote, “Our system of elite education manufactures young people who are smart and talented and driven, yes, but also anxious, timid, and lost, with little intellectual curiosity and a stunted sense of purpose: trapped in a bubble of privilege, heading meekly in the same direction, great at what they’re doing but with no idea why they’re doing it.”

-30-