memeorandum: Obama signs VAWA, hails law as ‘victory’ for violence victims (Justin Sink/The Hill)

6:10 PM ET, March 7, 2013

Top Items:

Obama Administration Responds To Rand Paul On Drones — The U.S. government cannot target an American citizen who is not engaged in combat on American soil, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday during his daily press briefing. — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New Republic, The Huffington Post, The Impolitic, Hit & Run, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Firedoglake, Mother Jones, The Maddow Blog, Lawfare and FP Passport

Wall Street Journal:

Rand Paul's Drone Rant — Give Rand Paul credit for theatrical timing. As a snow storm descended on Washington, the Kentucky Republican's old-fashioned filibuster Wednesday filled the attention void on Twitter and cable TV. If only his reasoning matched the showmanship.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Wire, First Read, Hot Air, PoliticusUSA, msnbc.com, Business Insider, Mediaite, The Raw Story, The Week, The Daily Caller, National Review, TheBlaze.com and American Spectator

Grace Wyler / Business Insider:

IT'S WAR: John McCain And Lindsey Graham Just Ripped Into Rand Paul On The Senate Floor — U.S. Sen. John McCain blasted fellow Republican Rand Paul on the Senate floor this morning for his 13-hour filibuster to block John Brennan's confirmation as CIA Director. — “Calm down, Senator,” McCain said, in an apostrophe to Paul.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Washington Times, Hit & Run, The Week, The Hinterland Gazette, American Spectator, No More Mister Nice Blog and Weasel Zippers

Joel Gehrke / Washington Examiner:

White House, Holder respond to Rand Paul: ‘The answer is no’ … Attorney General Eric Holder wrote Sen. Rand Paul,R-Ky., to confirm that President Obama does not have the authority to kill an American on U.S. soil in a non-combat situation, Obama's spokesman announced today.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Michelle Malkin, Mediaite, The PJ Tatler, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, National Review, American Spectator, Weekly Standard, ProfessorBainbridge.com and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Senator Ted Cruz:

Press Release of Senator Cruz … WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) today introduced legislation to prohibit drone killings of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil if they do not represent an imminent threat. — “Our Constitution restrains government power,” Cruz said.

Discussion: Jihad Watch, Weasel Zippers and National Review

David Taintor / Talking Points Memo:

McCain, Graham Slam Rand Paul's ‘Ridiculous’ Filibuster — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on Thursday went after Sen. Rand Paul's talking filibuster of CIA director nominee John Brennan, calling the Kentucky Republican's claim that the U.S. could have hypothetically conducted a drone strike on Jane Fonda during the Vietnam War “ridiculous.”

Discussion: American Spectator

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:

McCain, Graham lambast ‘ridiculous’ drone filibuster by Paul — Two veteran GOP senators say Sen. Rand Paul “cheapened” the debate over drone policy with “ridiculous” arguments in his filibuster on Wednesday. — A day after the Paul filibuster made headlines, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) …

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Wired, Hot Air, Hullabaloo and The Week

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Harry Reid Winks At Revisiting Filibuster Reform — Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) nearly 13-hour long talking filibuster in protest of the Obama administration's drone policy instantly made him a folk hero with the right. But the spectacle also provided a healthy dose of oxygen to reignite the cause of filibuster reform.

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, The Monkey Cage, The Maddow Blog, A plain blog about politics, Hullabaloo and Mother Jones

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Holder's Letter to Rand Paul: ‘No,’ the U.S. Can't Use Drone to Kill Citizen Not Engaged in Combat on U.S. Soil — Eric Holder responds to Rand Paul's filibuster with this letter: … Here's an image of that letter: — UPDATE: Apparently, the White House and Justice Department failed …

Discussion: Washington's Blog, The Jawa Report, Washington Times and Hot Air

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
John Brennan confirmed as CIA director following White House drone statement

Discussion: The Dish, New York Times, News Desk, Pew Research Center, The Fix, The Plum Line, p m carpenter's commentary, Post Politics, Daily Kos and Shakesville

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
Obama Has No Authority For Drone Strikes Against Americans On U.S. Soil, White House Says

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Business Insider and Shakesville

Politico:
Rand Paul's moment

Discussion: Right Turn, Outside the Beltway and News Desk

Amy Argetsinger / The Reliable Source:
Rand Paul fears for Jane Fonda

Discussion: The Fix, Washington Post, Lynn Sweet, Post Politics and Shakesville

David Weigel / Slate:
Everybody Loves Filibusters

Discussion: New York Times, msnbc.com, The Atlantic Online, The Week and Associated Press

Jack Kim / Reuters:

North Korea warns U.S. of preemptive nuclear strike — SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea threatened the United States on Thursday with a preemptive nuclear strike, raising the level of rhetoric while the U.N. Security Council considers new sanctions against the reclusive country.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Gateway Pundit

Harry Hawkins / The Sun:
north korea says it will launch nuclear attack on america

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Vodkapundit

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

The GOP's easy route to victory in fiscal fight — It's this: Republicans are not going to get the serious entitlement cuts they say they want unless they agree to new revenues. — To put this in another way, there is no imaginable scenario in the next three years, and probably beyond, under which Republicans win a total victory.

Discussion: PostPartisan and New Republic

Jim Messina / CNN:
Why we're raising money to support Obama agenda

Discussion: Sunlight Foundation Blog, Politico, Mother Jones, The Hill, Washington Free Beacon, Roll Call and American Spectator

First Read / NBCNews.com:
First Thoughts: A tale of two Senates

Discussion: American Prospect, ABCNEWS, First Read, Daily Kos and CNN

Kyle Balluck / The Hill:

Republicans emerge from Obama dinner optimistic about deficit deal — Senate Republicans are more optimistic about the prospect of a grand bargain on the deficit after an intimate dinner with President Obama Wednesday evening in downtown Washington. — Obama and a dozen Republicans discussed …

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, The Caucus, The Moderate Voice, Politico, The Week, Taylor Marsh, The Hill, Washington Monthly, Right Wing News, The Maddow Blog, Booman Tribune and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

ThinkProgress: Paul Ryan Balances New Budget By Embracing Obama Policies

Glenn Thrush / Politico:
Obama invites Paul Ryan to lunch

Discussion: The Caucus, National Review, Hot Air, CNN, The Hinterland Gazette, The Week, The Hill, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice and Wall Street Journal

Eriq Gardner / Hollywood Reporter:

Al Gore Sued Over Current TV Sale to Al Jazeera (Exclusive) — A $5 million lawsuit claims Gore was “adamant” about not selling his network to oil-rich Qataris but had a “change of heart,” then stiffed the man who came up with the idea for the deal. — Current TV's $500 million sale …

Discussion: NewsBusters, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, TVNewser, National Review, Politico and Washington Free Beacon, more at Mediagazer »

Devin Leonard / Businessweek:

How Disney Bought Lucasfilm—and Its Plans for ‘Star Wars’ — One weekend last October, Robert Iger, chief executive officer of Walt Disney (DIS), sat through all six Star Wars films. He'd seen them before, of course. This time, he took notes. Disney was in secret negotiations to acquire Lucasfilm …

Discussion: FirstShowing.net, Outside the Beltway and Deadline.com

Dylan Byers / Politico:
Disney CEO rebuffs bias complaints

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Mediaite

Chris Christie / CNN:

TRENDING: Poll: Clinton, Christie fare best in possible 2016 showdowns — Washington (CNN) - Hillary Clinton vs. Chris Christie. — It's an intriguing 2016 presidential showdown. — Follow @politicalticker — And according to a new national poll, Clinton would come out on top in such a hypothetical matchup.

Discussion: Politico

Dan Amira / New York Magazine:
Hispanic Voters Vastly Prefer Hillary Clinton Over Marco Rubio

Discussion: msnbc.com, Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA, Prairie Weather and No More Mister Nice Blog

Donovan Slack / Politico:

Source: Preparations underway for Obama vacation on Martha's Vineyard — President Obama and his family are likely headed to Martha's Vineyard for a summer sojourn again this year. — A source tells POLITICO that the Secret Service has started booking accommodations on the toney island off the Massachusetts coast.

Discussion: Boston Herald, National Review, Hot Air, NBCNews.com, Weasel Zippers and New York Times

Thomas B. Edsall / Opinionator:

The War On Entitlements — The debate over reform of Social Security and Medicare is taking place in a vacuum, without adequate consideration of fundamental facts. — These facts include the following: Two-thirds of Americans who are over the age of 65 depend on an average annual Social Security benefit …

Discussion: CEPR, Hullabaloo, The Hill, The Impolitic, Washington Monthly and USA Today

Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Times:

L.A.'s walking dead — Most Angelenos couldn't summon the energy to cast a ballot. That doesn't have to continue. — Olga Korn, 86, votes in Encino on Tuesday. She was among just 16% of L.A. residents who did. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times / March 5, 2013) — Mark the date, remember the day.

Discussion: L.A. NOW

Dan Friedman / NY Daily News:

New York National Rifle Association official barred from carrying a gun — An order of protection stemming from a domestic disturbance at his Long Island home in 2010 prevents Richard D'Alauro, the NRA's field representative for the city and its suburbs, from carrying the weapons.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Daily Kos and The Immoral Minority

Conor Friedersdorf / The Atlantic Online:

A Devastating 26-Word Challenge to President Obama's Leadership — A single sentence from Senator Ron Wyden sums up the radicalism of the administration's national-security policies. — Reuters — When Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, stopped by the Senate floor Wednesday to help …