memeorandum: NASA restores communication with International Space Station (David Ariosto/CNN)

3:00 PM ET, February 19, 2013

Top Items:

Obama, the puppet master — President Barack Obama is a master at limiting, shaping and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House. — Not for the reason that conservatives suspect: namely, that a liberal press willingly and eagerly allows itself to get manipulated.

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Ed Henry: 'This isn't about a golf game' — White House Correspondents Association president Ed Henry is standing by his complaints about the lack of press access to President Obama, pushing back against critics who say he and his fellow White House correspondents are just “whining” and don't respect the president's privacy.

Discussion: TVNewser, Sky Dancing, The Week, Mediaite, p m carpenter's commentary, ABCNEWS and The Impolitic

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Report: New Simpson-Bowles plan

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Slate and alan.com

Paul Waldman / American Prospect:
White House Reporters versus the Obama Administration

Discussion: Politico, Daily Mail and Hullabaloo

Politico:
Erskine Bowles pessimistic about a ‘grand bargain’

Discussion: Paul Krugman

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:
Simpson, Bowles to offer new $2.4 trillion deficit-reduction plan

Discussion: Politico

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Marco Rubio: The Electable Conservative? — Some commentators have expressed surprise upon learning about the very conservative voting record of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union address last week.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, neo-neocon, Stanford University Dept …, Tampa Bay Times, p m carpenter's commentary and TheBlaze.com

Joe Scarborough / Politico:
Tearing down the conservative echo chamber

Discussion: TVNewser

Molly K. Hooper / The Hill:

Who's afraid of the sequester's ax? Not us, say Republican lawmakers — House GOP lawmakers say they do not fear political blowback if Congress fails to prevent $85 billion in automatic spending cuts from triggering in two weeks. — The cuts known as the sequester are almost certain …

Discussion: The Maddow Blog, Right Turn and The Plum Line

Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama says sequester would take ‘meat cleaver’ to government

Discussion: Politico

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:
Obama Turns Up Pressure for Deal on Budget Cuts

Discussion: Daily Kos

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:
Obama presses Congress for stopgap sequester fix

Discussion: The Fix, Forbes, Post Politics and Prairie Weather

momentoftruthproject.org:

A BIPARTISAN PATH FORWARD TO SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE — Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson are co-chairs of the Moment of Truth project and formerly co-chaired the President's bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. — The United States faces two big risks …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, CRFB.org, Jared Bernstein, Business Insider, Hullabaloo, msnbc.com and Wonkblog

Damian Paletta / Wall Street Journal:
Simpson and Bowles Offer Up Deficit Fix

Discussion: CNNMoney.com and Business Insider

First Read:
First Thoughts: Here comes the bully pulpit

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Taegan Goddard's … and The Maddow Blog

Alana Goodman / Washington Free Beacon:

Report: Hagel Said Israel Headed Toward Apartheid, Netanyahu a ‘Radical’ — Secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel said Israel is on its way to becoming an apartheid state during an April 9, 2010, appearance at Rutgers University, according to a contemporaneous account by an attendee.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Right Turn, Weasel Zippers, BuzzFeed, The Fix, Daily Kos, National Review, Algemeiner.com, The Daily Caller and The Other McCain

Bret Stephens / Wall Street Journal:
Filibuster Hagel — If Republicans refuse, they won't be standing …

Discussion: Right Turn

Jennifer Kabbany / The College Fix:

Prof Strips, Shows 9/11 Footage, Impales Stuffed Animal (VIDEO) — A science professor at Columbia University on Monday began a quantum mechanics lecture by stripping into his boxers and eating a banana while rap music played in the background. — Then it got weird.

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Daily Caller, Mediaite and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:

Like a Swarm of Lethal Bugs: The Most Terrifying Drone Video Yet — An Air Force simulation says researchers are at work on killer robots so tiny that a group of them could blend into a cityscape. — Science writer John Horgan's feature on the many ways drones will be used in coming years …

Discussion: The Week

John Horgan / National Geographic Magazine:
Drones May Be Watching You — Unmanned aircraft have proved …

Discussion: ANIMAL, Mediaite, Mashable! and emptywheel

Kenneth P. Vogel / Politico:

Tea party group pictures Rove in Nazi uniform — A top tea party group is taking its clash with Karl Rove to a new level, sending out a fundraising email Tuesday featuring a photoshopped image of the GOP operative in an SS uniform. — “Wipe the Smirk Off Karl Rove's Face,” …

Discussion: msnbc.com and Washington Examiner

Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box:
Tea Party challenger to McConnell emerging

Discussion: Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune, WHAS, CNN, First Read, Firedoglake and Prairie Weather

Jimmy Vielkind / Capitol Confidential:

Christie: 'I'm not much different from Andrew Cuomo' — This week's edition of the Glens Falls Chronicle features an interview with Larry Bulman, former Saratoga County Democratic chairman and a South Glens Falls native who, in his new job as political director for the United Association of Plumbers …

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:
Quote of the Day — “I'm not much different from Andrew Cuomo.

Discussion: protein wisdom and The Spectacle Blog

New York Times:

Chinese Army Unit Is Seen as Tied to Hacking Against U.S. — On the outskirts of Shanghai, in a run-down neighborhood dominated by a 12-story white office tower, sits a People's Liberation Army base for China's growing corps of cyberwarriors. — The building off Datong Road …

Discussion: WorldViews, Firedoglake, DealBook, Lawfare, ABCNEWS, BBC, Boing Boing, News Desk, Digital Dao, TechCrunch, Telegraph, Hot Air, KTOO, The Week, AllThingsD, Gothamist, Crooks and Liars, CNN, Mashable!, Business Insider, Gawker, msnbc.com, Global Public Square and The Reaction

Celia Llopis-Jepsen / Topeka Capital-Journal:

Bill asks teachers to question climate change in class — HB2306 calls climate change ‘scientific controversy’ — With the Kansas State Board of Education preparing to vote on new science standards this year, the House Education Committee has introduced a bill asking schools to include evidence …

Discussion: alan.com

Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress: Kansas Bill Would Require Teachers To Misinform Students About Climate Change

Sam Baker / The Hill:

Supreme Court to hear RNC suit challenging campaign finance limits — The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider whether certain limits on campaign contributions are too low — or altogether unconstitutional. — The court said it would hear a case, filed by the Republican National Committee …

Discussion: Politico and CNN

Fredreka Schouten / USA Today:
Supreme Court to hear case on campaign donation limits

Discussion: NBCNews.com and Hot Air

Greg Hinz / Chicago Business:

Illinoisans back gay marriage 50-29: Crain's/Ipsos poll — Most Illinois residents want the Legislature to legalize same-sex marriage in the state, according to the latest results of the Crain's/Ipsos Illinois Poll. — The survey of 600 adults found that 50 percent support the gay-marriage bill …

Discussion: The Dish and Towleroad News #gay

Jonathan Lloyd / NBC Southern California:

Four Dead After OC Shootings, Carjackings — Four people are dead after a series of shootings and carjackings near freeways in Orange County that began after the shooting death of a woman at a home in Ladera Ranch. — Map: Shooting Investigation Locations

Discussion: Daily Mail, NBCNews.com, BBC, The Hinterland Gazette and Gawker

New York Times:

Pistorius Denies Murdering Girlfriend — PRETORIA, South Africa — Facing a charge of premeditated murder in the death of his girlfriend, Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee track star and one of the world's best-known athletes, denied on Tuesday that he intended to take her life when he opened fire …

Discussion: Gawker, The Week, The Hinterland Gazette, NBCNews.com, Scared Monkeys, Towleroad News #gay, The Truth About Guns, Mediaite and Althouse

David Brooks / New York Times:

What Data Can't Do — Not long ago, I was at a dinner with the chief executive of a large bank. He had just had to decide whether to pull out of Italy, given the weak economy and the prospect of a future euro crisis. — The C.E.O. had his economists project out a series of downside scenarios …

Discussion: Paul Krugman and Economist's View

David Ariosto / CNN:

NASA restores communication with International Space Station — (CNN) — NASA restored communication with the International Space Station on Tuesday after connections went dark following a routine computer software update. — Before the fix, the space agency said the craft was able …

Discussion: The Raw Story, The Daily Caller and This Just In

Justin Sink / The Hill:

Scott Brown blames phone for unusual ‘Bqhatevwr’ tweet — Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) for the first time addressed questions over a series of hastily deleted early morning Twitter messages posted last month, denying he was intoxicated at the time. — “Anyone ever hear of pocket tweet, pocket dial?

Discussion: CNN and Politico