Pressure On to Arm Syrian Rebels, DOJ Steps Up Search for Radicalized Americans, Microsoft Buys Minecraft: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: kenming_wang / photo on flickr

  The White House is pressuring Congress to authorize arming and training Syrian rebels, possibly as part of a federal funding bill.

• The Department of Justice is starting a pilot program to try to discourage Americans from joining terrorist groups like ISIS and going to war overseas. Given the general failure of the federal government's war on drugs, we can probably look forward to some really stupid messaging. The program is also about catching them before they (allegedly) strike, so maybe we should be worried about more ginned up "sting" operations against loners and losers.
• Microsoft has purchased the studio that created Minecraft for $2.5 billion. Remember when the creator of Minecraft got angry when virtual reality headset maker Oculus Rift sold out to Facebook? Good times.
• British Prime Minster David Cameron is begging Scotland voters to choose against independence, comparing it to a "painful divorce," as though there would be no possibility for things like trade and immigration between the two of them.
• A new, strict dress code at a Staten Island school has resulted in hundreds of detentions over the past two weeks over things like too-short shorts, hoodies, and sunglasses. The school, by the way, has no air conditioning and the area had been suffering from a heat wave.
• Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democrat challenging Sen. Mitch McConnell in Kentucky, is running as far away from President Barack Obama as she can for her race, going so far as to engage in skeet shooting in her ads.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.