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May 23, 2014 | | SENTINELS The footage is ominous. They come from the sky—unmanned aircraft equipped with deadly robotic weapons. They scan the horizon for their targets, lock in, and then plummet to earth, killing a bunch of people who may or may not deserve it. No, it's not video of a drone strike in Pakistan, it's the new X-Men blockbuster, Days of Future Past. Underneath its comic book action and time-travel shenanigans, the film inarguably questions the use of military robots. Andrew Romano asks: Is Hollywood finally turning against Obama? WHO WANTS IT Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is reportedly handing over control of the team to his estranged wife, Shelly Sterling, so that she can negotiate the forced sale of the team with the NBA. On Monday, the NBA took its ban on Sterling a step further, charging him with damaging the league and setting a hearing for a vote by team owners on Donald Sterling's future. The scandal-tarred billionaire had originally declared his intent to fight to hold on to the team but changed his mind this week. REPENT The head of the Catholic Church is on his way to the Middle East right now and he needs to do more than photo-ops, writes Evan Gahr. The pontiff will meet with Israeli leaders and Jerusalem's grand mufti, who has a history of anti-Semitism. Will Francis confront him? NEW SCANDAL Another V.A. hospital has come under fire for covering up abuse, just as the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a wide-ranging investigation on Thursday. Miami's V.A. hospital is being accused of drug dealing, patient abuse, and other crimes by a V.A. law enforcement officer. Thomas Fiore says that after he reported the problems to superiors, instead of being allowed to investigate as a detective, he was reassigned to clerical work. This move, he says, was an act of retaliation. He alleges that the Miami facility allows drug dealing among patients and failing to prevent abuse and even death. Fiore claims he was encouraged to come forward after he saw a federal report this spring detailing many of his complaints about the drug rehabilitation center at the Miami V.A. TRAGIC Detroit's abortion rate has reached a staggering 31 percent, new data shows. A total of 5,693 of Detroit's 18,360 pregnancies in 2012 ended in abortion, while the entire state of Michigan had 22,699 abortions out of 160,219 pregnancies in the same year. The increase in Detroit comes as abortion rates across the U.S. have flatlined or decreased. "We're seeing a picture that looks more like some third-world country than someplace in the United States," said Dr. Susan Schooley, chairwoman of the Department of Family Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital. Part of Detroit's increase, experts say, is thanks to rising poverty. It's no coincidence the abortion rate peaked in 2008—the worst part of the Great Recession—when 42 percent of women who had abortions were living in poverty. Decreased funding for family planning and contraceptive funding in Michigan is seen as a contributing factor: The budget fell from $5 million to $700,000 in the past seven years, leaving 80,000 people without free family-planning aid. | | 
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