memeorandum: Conflicting Assertions Over an Electric Car Test Drive (Margaret Sullivan/New York Times)

11:05 AM ET, February 15, 2013

Top Items:

Meteorite hits central Russia, more than 500 people hurt — (Reuters) - More than 500 people were injured when a meteorite shot across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to Earth, shattering windows and damaging buildings.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, The Gateway Pundit, The Verge, Mashable! and The Week

BBC:

Meteor strike injures hundreds in central Russia — The BBC's Daniel Sandford says people described a ball of fire in the sky — A meteor crashing in central Russia's Ural mountains has injured at least 500 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings.

Discussion: alan.com, Voice of Russia, News, NBCNews.com, Mediaite, AMERICAblog, Macleans.ca and NBC Southern California

New York Times:

Meteor Fragments Are Said to Rain Down on Siberia — MOSCOW — Bright objects, apparently debris from a meteor, streaked through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across a vast territory. Russia's Interior Ministry said more than 1,000 people …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, The Maddow Blog, rubber hose, IHT Rendezvous, The BRAD BLOG, The Lede, Washington Free Beacon, The Agonist and Hit & Run

Daily Mail:

Moment meteorite exploded in the sky above Russian town as doctors treat 950 people injured when sonic boom shattered windows — A terrifying meteorite shower left more than 950 people injured, buildings devastated and the mobile network wiped out when it hit Russia this morning.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared and Bob Owens

Phil Plait / Slate:

BREAKING: Huge Meteor Blazes Across Sky Over Russia; Sonic Boom Shatters Windows [UPDATED] — Still frame from a dashcam video of a huge meteor over Russia. … Apparently, at about 09:30 local time, a very big meteor burned up over Chelyabinsk, a city in Russia just east of the Ural mountains …

Discussion: Quartz and The Maddow Blog

Cosmic Log / NBCNews.com: ‘Panic’ as streaking meteor injures hundreds in Russia

Paul Owen / Guardian:
Meteorite over Russia injures hundreds

Discussion: Russian Machine Never Breaks, WorldViews, The PJ Tatler, ANIMAL and Hot Air

Howard Amos / Guardian:
Meteorite explosion over Chelyabinsk injures hundreds

Discussion: TechCrunch and Quartz

Associated Press:
Meteor falls in Russia's Chelyabinsk region; 700 injured

Discussion: WorldViews

Guardian:
Meteorite explosion over Russia injures hundreds

Discussion: TechCrunch

CNN:
Meteor blast injures hundreds

Discussion: The Jawa Report and This Just In

Hayes Brown / ThinkProgress:

McCain Says He's Opposing Hagel Because Hagel Was Mean To Bush — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told us how he really feels about Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel on Fox News this afternoon, saying “people don't forget” when you cross your own party. — Speaking to Fox News host Neil Cavuto …

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Maddow Blog, The National Memo, Booman Tribune, The Atlantic Online, Slate and Shakesville

Paul Kane / Washington Post:

Senate Republicans filibuster Hagel nomination — Senate Republicans delivered a sharp rebuke to President Obama on Thursday when they began a filibuster of Chuck Hagel's nomination as secretary of defense. — The confirmation process stalled Thursday when GOP senators deprived Hagel …

Discussion: Politico, msnbc.com, New York Times, The Fix, The Atlantic Online, The Daily Caller, TalkLeft, Outside the Beltway and Post Politics

Politico:

Why President Obama went all-in on Chuck Hagel — President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have fiercely defended the nomination of Chuck Hagel, despite advisers and Hill Democrats who questioned the move and predicted a firestorm, according to Democratic sources.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and The Week

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Why Republicans are filibustering Chuck Hagel

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Politico, Slate, No More Mister Nice Blog, CNN, alan.com, Red Alert Politics, Right Turn and Hot Air

Washington Post:
Senate Democrats to force vote to end debate on Hagel nomination

Discussion: The Fix, DownWithTyranny!, The Plum Line, The Lonely Conservative, LewRockwell.com Blog, The Mahablog, The Dish and Taking Note

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
G.O.P. Senators Block Vote on Defense Post for Hagel

Discussion: NBC Politics, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Week, The Agonist, Mother Jones, Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, Weasel Zippers, dotCommonweal, NewsBusters, Talking Points Memo, Salon, Washington Monthly, The Reaction, NationalJournal.com, Outside the Beltway, The Plum Line and Politico

Justin Sink / The Hill:
White House endorses Senate sequester plan, urges House Republicans to act

Discussion: The Reaction

Jennifer Medina / New York Times:

Over a Decade, Maureen O'Connor Spent $1 Billion on Bets — LOS ANGELES — A former mayor of San Diego spent the last decade wagering more than a billion dollars at casinos across the country, eventually liquidating her savings, auctioning her belongings, selling off real estate …

Discussion: The Week, Patterico's Pontifications, The Daily Caller and The Other McCain

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Pelosi: Congressional pay cut undermines dignity of the job — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she opposes a cut in congressional pay because it would diminish the dignity of lawmakers' jobs. — “I don't think we should do it; I think we should respect the work we do …

Discussion: Right Turn, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, The PJ Tatler, Weasel Zippers and The Lonely Conservative

Judicial Watch:

JW Releases Confidential USDA Videos Revealing “Cultural Sensitivity Training” Program … Videos Reveal Indoctrination Program Requiring USDA Staffers to Bang on Tables, Chant, “The pilgrims were illegal aliens” — (Washington, DC) - Judicial Watch today released previously unseen USDA videos revealing …

Discussion: Power Line, The Lonely Conservative and Washington Examiner

Caroline May / The Daily Caller:
Confidential, expensive USDA sensitivity training: ‘The Pilgrims were illegal aliens’ [VIDEOS]

Discussion: The Volokh Conspiracy and The Right Scoop

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:

Rahm Emanuel May Be Toying With 2016 Presidential Run — Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel might make a go for 2016, two well-connected Democrats tell Lloyd Grove—as long as Hillary doesn't. And the potty-mouthed Chicago mayor could win. — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel …

Discussion: Ballot Box and Weasel Zippers

Lynn Sweet / Chicago Sun Times: Rahm throws water on claim he is considering a presidential run

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Rubio and the Zombies — The State of the Union address was not, I'm sorry to say, very interesting. True, the president offered many good ideas. But we already know that almost none of those ideas will make it past a hostile House of Representatives. — On the other hand, the G.O.P. reply …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Prairie Weather

Paul Steinhauser / CNN:

First on CNN: New player in gun control ad wars — Washington (CNN) - MoveOn.org is moving into the TV fight over curbing gun violence. — The progressive group will announce Friday that it's going up with a television commercial that goes after members of Congress who accept donations from the National Rifle Association.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Daniel Strauss / The Hill: Obama to press gun control during visit to Chicago's South Side

John M. Broder / Wheels:

That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn't — The Model S at the Tesla Supercharger in the Interstate 95 service plaza in Milford, Conn. — Elon Musk , the chief executive of Tesla Motors, has now responded in detail to the account of my test drive of his Model S electric car …

Discussion: CNNMoney.com, The Raw Story, Wired, Green Car Reports, TechCrunch, Wonkblog, Erik Wemple, Gawker, Guardian and The Verge, more at Mediagazer »

Margaret Sullivan / New York Times:
Conflicting Assertions Over an Electric Car Test Drive

Discussion: Dave Winer, Poynter, The Atlantic Wire, Wired, Brad DeLong and The Daily Caller, more at Mediagazer »

Jonathan Martin / Politico:

Lone Star rising — AUSTIN, Texas — California fancies itself as a trendsetter and Florida prizes its claim as a microcosm of America. — But when it comes to politics — both present-day battles and future trends — ground zero right now is the fastest-growing of the mega-states: Texas.