memeorandum: Rudderless Tea Party Searches For Meaning Five Years On (John Stanton/BuzzFeed)

7:20 PM ET, February 28, 2014

Top Items:

Michael Martinez / CNN:

Political tension grows in Ukraine's Crimea region — Armed men patrol outside the Simferopol International Airport in Ukraine's Crimea region on Friday, February 28. The gunmen, whom Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov called part of an “armed invasion” by Russian forces …

Discussion: kyivpost.com, Post Politics, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Mashable and Mediaite

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Close — President Barack Obama on Friday issued a blunt and direct warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin: stay out of Ukraine. — If not, he said, there will be consequences — though he didn't say what those might be. — “We are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken …

Discussion: Daily Kos

CNN: Palin on Ukraine: I told you so

Jay Newton-Small / TIME:
Senator John McCain: “We Are All Ukrainians”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Balloon Juice

Alan Yuhas / Guardian:
Obama: violation of Ukraine ‘would be deeply destabilizing’ - live updates

Discussion: Mashable, AEIdeas, The Dish and The Agonist

New York Times:
Obama Warns Russia Not to Intervene in Crimea

Discussion: kyivpost.com, Business Insider, Gawker, Hit & Run, WJLA-TV and Washington Post

Charles Krauthammer / National Review:
Putin's Ukraine Gambit

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, Associated Press, Taylor Marsh, Ed Driscoll, American Power, The Daily Beast and VodkaPundit

William J Clinton Presidential Library:

Formerly Withheld Documents — Please find below documents that were previously withheld under the Presidential Records Act for restrictions P2 (appointment to federal office) and/or P5 (confidential advice between the President and/or his advisors and between those advisors).

Discussion: Politico, Yahoo! News, Firedoglake, Fox News, Business Insider, Guardian, Associated Press, New York Times and Daily Kos

Hillary Clinton / CNN:

What we found in the Clinton documents — CNN is combing through 3,546 pages of documents released Friday by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. — They open a window into inner Clinton White House operations, and cover topics including the office of former first lady Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Politico, ABC News and The Lonely Conservative

David Nather / Politico:

How the Clinton White House bungled health care reform — Bill and Hillary Clinton understood individual members of Congress just fine. They just didn't get Congress. — That's the picture that emerges from the documents released by the Clinton presidential library Friday on their efforts to pass health care reform in the 1990s.

Discussion: Business Insider

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Paralyzed GOP Lawmaker On Medicaid Opposes Medicaid Expansion — More than a decade ago, Arkansas Rep. Josh Miller (R) was in a catastrophic car accident that broke his neck and left him paralyzed. Medicare and Medicaid paid the $1 million bill for his hospitalization and rehabilitation.

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Firedoglake, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and The Week

Max Brantley / ArkansasTimes:

Rep. Josh Miller, recipient of significant government assistance, opposes Medicaid expansion in Arkansas — The enlistment of roughly half the Republican legislative delegation in implementation of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion is remarkable. Republicans tend to fall by faith in opposition …

Discussion: Daily Kos, Americans Against the …, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line and The New Republic

Paul Waldman / American Prospect:

The Infinite Circle of Black Responsibility — In 2006, after being a United States senator for one year, Barack Obama made an appearance on Meet the Press. After talking about the Iraq War for a while, Tim Russert asked Obama this: “I want to talk a little bit about the language people …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Colorlines

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
O'Reilly To Valerie Jarrett: Get ‘Gangsta Rappers’ To ‘Knock It Off’ (VIDEO)

Discussion: ABC News, Hinterland Gazette and The Huffington Post

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

Noonan: America and the Aggressive Left — Half the country feels—and is—beset by government. That's not progress. — The constant mischief of the progressive left is hurting the nation's morale. There are few areas of national life left in which they are not busy, and few in which they're not making it worse.

Discussion: Rumproast, Taylor Marsh, Fox News, The Dish, Gawker, TheBlaze.com and Betsy's Page

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:

Hidden camera footage surfaces of Supreme Court debate — Hidden camera footage of what appeared to be Supreme Court proceedings from earlier this week surfaced on Thursday, offering one the of the first public recordings of the High Court's proceedings. — A video posted on YouTube …

Discussion: New York Times, NewsBusters, Althouse, Bangor Daily News and The Verge

Paul Mirengoff / Power Line:
Election law experts join in the denuniciation of IRS's attempt to curb free speech

Discussion: Beltway Insiders, Center for Competitive … and The Heritage Foundation

Matt Higgins / CBS DC:

Cruz: ‘I Am Absolutely Convinced We Are Going To Repeal Every Single Word Of Obamacare’ — WASHINGTON (CBS DC/AP) — Tea Party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz is still holding out hope that President Barack Obama's health care law will be repealed. — The Republican senator from Texas …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Daily Kos and Liberaland

John Stanton / BuzzFeed: Rudderless Tea Party Searches For Meaning Five Years On

Greg Hampikian / New York Times:

When May I Shoot a Student? — BOISE, Idaho — TO the chief counsel of the Idaho State Legislature: — In light of the bill permitting guns on our state's college and university campuses, which is likely to be approved by the state House of Representatives in the coming days …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
Professor Asks Idaho Lawmakers For The Green Light To Shoot A Student

Discussion: Idaho Statesman and The Raw Story

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

NPR whitewashes past of anti-gay Holocaust-revisionist hate group leader — National Public Radio's Michel Martin did a segment on — That's it. — No mention of the fact that Lively was labeled a Holocaust revisionist by HateWatch for his “thoroughly-discredited” 1995 tome …

Discussion: Right Wing Watch

Religion:
Uganda Punishing Gays: ‘Sodomy Is Not A Human Right’ Says Evangelical Leader

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and Right Wing Watch

WorldViews:

Syrian extremists amputated a man's hand and live-tweeted it — The extremist Syrian group deemed too radical even for al-Qaeda performed what may have been a Twitter first Friday: live-tweeting the amputation of a hand. — The amputation took place in the remote rural town of Maskaneh …

Discussion: Jihad Watch, The Jawa Report and FishbowlDC

Nicole Flatow / ThinkProgress:

Homeowner Who Shot Unarmed Elderly Man With Alzheimer's Wandering His Property Won't Be Charged — The Walker County, Ga., District Attorney said Friday he will not press charges against the homeowner who shot and killed an elderly man wandering on his property. 72-year-old Ronald Westbrook …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Glenn Kessler / The Fact Checker:

The missing context in yet another AFP ad featuring yet another Obamacare victim — “I was diagnosed with lupus when I was 27. Lupus is an autoimmune disorder. It's dramatically affected my life. I voted for Barack Obama for president. I thought that Obamacare was going to be a good thing.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:

Dumb, Uneducated, And Eager To Deceive: Media Coverage Of Religious Liberty In A Nutshell — In the aftermath of the abominable media coverage of Arizona's religious liberty bill, an editor shared his hypothesis that journalists care about freedom of speech and of the press because they practice them.

Discussion: Religion Dispatches, Washington Monthly, Jon Swerens, his vorpal sword, National Review and Spiritual Politics

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

Outrage Over Sexist Remarks Turns Into a Political Fund-Raising Tool — In the past few months, Republicans have called Wendy Davis, a Democratic candidate for Texas governor, “Abortion Barbie,” likened Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Senate candidate from Kentucky, to an “empty dress,” …

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA, Jammie Wearing Fools and The Reaction

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:

Arizona Bill Allowing Refusal of Service to Gays Stirred Alarm in the G.O.P. — When Gov. Rick Scott of Florida was asked early Wednesday whether he supported Arizona legislation that would make it easier for business owners to refuse service to gay people on religious grounds, he demurred, saying he was unfamiliar with the bill.

Discussion: The Plum Line, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, DownWithTyranny! and PoliticusUSA