--- title: Morning Must Reads: August 12 description: The Comic Who Was Hamlet Robin Williams, who died on Monday at 63, "spoke in tongues," writes TIME's Richard Corliss. "Any language or accent, any... canonical: https://time.com/3103634/morning-must-reads-august-12/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T14:46:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:37:08.063Z article:section: Politics og:title: Morning Must Reads — August 12 og:description: The Comic Who Was Hamlet Robin Williams, who died on Monday at 63, "spoke in tongues," writes TIME's Richard Corliss. "Any language or accent, any... og:url: https://time.com/3103634/morning-must-reads-august-12/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Morning Must Reads — August 12 twitter:description: The Comic Who Was Hamlet Robin Williams, who died on Monday at 63, "spoke in tongues," writes TIME's Richard Corliss. "Any language or accent, any... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Morning Must Reads: August 12 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 12, 2014 2:46 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 12, 2014 2:46 PM UTC [The Comic Who Was Hamlet](http://time.com/3102058/robin-williams-dead-remembrance-richard-corliss/) Robin Williams, who died on Monday at 63, “spoke in tongues,” writes TIME’s Richard Corliss. “Any language or accent, any human or mammal or alien, geysering nonstop shtick of the highest order, leaving viewers astonished, thrilled and wearied” [A Supreme Court Vacancy?](http://time.com/3102043/obama-supreme-court-senate-ginsburg-breyer/) President Barack Obama explicitly suggested for the first time the possibility of a Supreme Court vacancy during his final two years in office [Politics Adds to Chaos in Iraq](http://time.com/3102356/baghdad-power-struggle-adds-to-chaos-in-iraq/) Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is adding fuel to the fire in Iraq by refusing to make way for Haidar al-Abadi, nominated this week as his successor [Police, Protesters Clash After Missouri Teen’s Death](http://time.com/3103283/ferguson-st-louis-michael-brown-protests-tear-gas/) Officers in Ferguson, Mo., outside of St. Louis, used tear gas and fired “beanbag rounds” on Monday night in a bid to disperse a crowd that had gathered over mounting discontent following the fatal shooting by police of unarmed teenager Michael Brown [Fear and Rumors Are Fueling Ebola’s Spread](http://time.com/3092855/ebola-fear-rumors/) The epidemic shows no sign of stabilizing as the death toll passes 1,000 in the afflicted countries, where health professionals fighting the disease say unsubstantiated rumors, “cures” and confusing messages are making progress more difficult [Same-Sex Marriage Ban Survives Challenge in Tennessee](http://time.com/3101571/tennessee-same-sex-marriage-rulings/) Tennessee’s same-sex marriage ban has survived a constitutional challenge in court. A judge ruled that “neither the Federal Government nor another state should be allowed to dictate to Tennessee what has traditionally been a state’s responsibility” [GOP Presidential Hopefuls Flood Iowa](http://time.com/3100921/iowa-presidential-campaign-republican-rand-cruz-rubio-perry/) The next presidential election is more than two years away, but seven big name Republicans and would-be candidates, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have already visited the state this month to road-test their messages [Rights Group: Likely Crimes Against Humanity in Egypt](http://time.com/3103130/hrw-likely-crimes-against-humanity-in-egypt/) A year-long probe into the “brutal” crackdown that followed the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, leaving at least 1,150 people dead, has Human Rights Watch calling for an inquiry into a number of top military and security officials [Department Stores Aren’t Dead Yet](http://fortune.com/2014/08/12/department-stores/?xid=timerail) It’s easy to pick on department stores, with their passé business model and aging customer base, but ones like Macy’s and J.C. Penney have staged a comeback that has made them and others vital to big-name brands who rely on shopper traffic [Lyft Accuses Uber of Canceling More Than 5,000 Rides](http://time.com/3102548/lyft-uber-cancelling-rides/) Ride-sharing company Lyft has accused its main competitor Uber of ordering and canceling 5,560 rides since October. Uber vehemently denies the allegations and says that those making the calls must have been regular passengers and not Uber employees [Russian Intervention in Ukraine Likely, Says NATO Chief](http://time.com/3102512/nato-russian-military-intervention-iukraine/) NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that a humanitarian-aid convoy dispatched on Tuesday from Moscow to the separatist-held city of Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, could be a cover for military support to besieged rebels [Ed Harris to Play ‘Distillation of Pure Villainy’ on HBO](http://time.com/3101438/ed-harris-westworld/) The Oscar-nominated actor joins an all-star cast including Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Shannon Woodward and others, in the sci-fi-western thriller _Westworld_, based on the 1973 film by Michael Crichton [_Get_ ](http://time.com/politicsemail)[TIME](http://time.com/politicsemail)[_’s_ ](http://time.com/politicsemail)[_The Brief e-mail every morning in your inbox_](http://time.com/politicsemail) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3103634/morning-must-reads-august-12/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3103634/morning-must-reads-august-12/"},"headline":"Morning Must Reads: August 12","datePublished":"2014-08-12T14:46:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:37:08.063Z","description":"The Comic Who Was Hamlet Robin Williams, who died on Monday at 63, \"spoke in tongues,\" writes TIME's Richard Corliss. \"Any language or accent, any...","url":"https://time.com/3103634/morning-must-reads-august-12/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/morning-must-reads/","name":"Morning Must Reads"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3103634/morning-must-reads-august-12/","name":"Morning Must Reads: August 12"}}]}] ```