memeorandum: A New Magazine for Fans of the Vatican's Biggest Star (Elisabetta Povoledo/New York Times)

10:15 AM ET, March 5, 2014

Top Items:

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:

Hillary Clinton Compares Russia Moves To Nazi Aggression — Clinton draws a parallel between the Russian government's issuing passports in Ukraine and pre-World War II actions taken by Germany. The comments are Clinton's first since Putin's troops entered Ukraine on Saturday. — Olivier Douliery / MCT

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Taylor Marsh, Politico, Betsy's Page, Talking Points Memo, CNN, The Week, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon and RedState

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

How to Punish Putin — Ignore him. He's running a regional power and isn't half as smart as Cold Warriors think. — Here are the real lessons of the crisis in Ukraine: Russia is not a great power, and Vladimir Putin is hardly the master grand strategist that many American Cold Warriors have been weirdly eager to believe.

Discussion: The Federalist, ThinkProgress and Mediaite

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Why Putin Doesn't Respect Us — Just as we've turned the coverage of politics into sports, we're doing the same with geopolitics. There is much nonsense being written about how Vladimir Putin showed how he is “tougher” than Barack Obama and how Obama now needs to demonstrate his manhood.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Long Beach Press-Telegram:

Hillary Clinton compares Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine to Adolf Hitler's in Nazi Germany — (Photo by Brittany Murray/Long Beach Press Telegram) — LONG BEACH >> Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday compared recent actions by Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN, Post Politics, BuzzFeed, Real Clear Politics, Hot Air, Politico and Business Insider

Peter Baker / New York Times:
No Easy Way Out of Ukraine Crisis

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Fox News:
Putin's claim of no Russian troops in Crimea stuns Kerry

Discussion: Radio Free Europe/Radio … and The Agonist

Manny Fernandez / New York Times:

Texas G.O.P. Beats Back Challengers From Right — McALLEN, Tex. — Establishment Republican leaders on Tuesday defeated challenges from the right in a statewide primary election as conservatives inspired by Senator Ted Cruz largely failed to topple mainstream incumbents, and a race for lieutenant governor headed for a runoff.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, The Moderate Voice, The Hill and Brains and Eggs

Ben Jacobs / The Daily Beast:

Good Riddance to Steve Stockman, the Grifter Congressman Who Ran for Senate — The Texas Republican practically bilked his donors by running the most unserious campaign in recent American history. — Tuesday night will mark the end of one of the most stunningly dishonest political campaigns …

Discussion: Yahoo! News, The Daily Banter, Liberaland, TIME and PoliticusUSA

Jay Sekulow / Fox News:

Four questions Lois Lerner must answer about IRS scandal — On Wednesday Lois Lerner will be recalled to testify before Congress regarding her involvement in the ongoing IRS Tea Party targeting scandal. It's time for her to answer questions. — It's past time.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys

Politico:
John Cornyn crushes Steve Stockman; Ralph Hall forced into runoff

Discussion: CNN and Hot Air

BREITBART.COM:
TEA PARTY PATRIOTS: WE DID NOT ENDORSE STEVE STOCKMAN

Discussion: Business Insider, BOR and The Daily Beast

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Probe sought of CIA conduct in Senate study of secret detention program — WASHINGTON — The CIA Inspector General's Office has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations of malfeasance at the spy agency in connection with a yet-to-be released Senate Intelligence Committee report …

Discussion: The World's Greatest …, emptywheel, Hot Air and Mediaite

Mark Mazzetti / New York Times:

C.I.A. Employees Face New Inquiry Amid Clashes on Detention Program — WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency's attempt to keep secret the details of a defunct detention and interrogation program has escalated a battle between the agency and members of Congress and led to an investigation …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run, The Raw Story and Techdirt

Politico:

Why didn't the U.S. know sooner? — Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's history as a tough-as-nails leader bent on restoring Russia's sphere of influence, the U.S. intelligence community failed to read the signs when it came to Ukraine. — That has members of Congress asking …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, Fox News, The Reaction and Yahoo! News

Washington Post:

Support for same-sex marriage hits new high; half say Constitution guarantees right — Half of all Americans believe that gay men and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll in which a large majority also said businesses should not be able …

Discussion: Politico, The Plum Line, Mediaite, Shakesville, Towleroad News #gay and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire

Jeff Weiner / Orlando Sentinel:

Wife says Alan Grayson shoved her during domestic incident — Judge issues temporary injunction after wife's allegations against U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando. — A judge has granted a temporary protective injunction against U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, after his wife filed paperwork accusing …

Discussion: Real Clear Politics, Twitchy, The Raw Story, Hinterland Gazette, OnPolitics, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Fox News, BizPac Review, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo and NewsBusters

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

Media Matters Launches ‘Mythopedia’ Fact Check Tool Ahead Of CPAC — Media Matters for America is releasing a sort of Wikipedia for conservative misinformation. — The site, Mythopedia, which was shared with TPM ahead of its release, is meant to be an online compendium of truths and lies pedaled by conservatives.

Discussion: ABC News

Bloomberg:

U.S. Stock Futures Little Changed After ADP Jobs Report — U.S. stock-index futures were little changed, after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed to a record, as investors weighed a private report showing hiring grew less than estimated last month. — Smith & Wesson Holding Corp …

Discussion: Bloomberg View

James Hohmann / Politico:

Scott Brown denies tweet he's running — Scott Brown on Tuesday night denied a Fox News anchor's tweet that he has decided to run for Senate in New Hampshire. — Greta Van Susteren posted just after 7:30 p.m. ET that “I am told this is certain” the former Massachusetts senator is launching …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, TheBlaze.com and The Huffington Post

Katie Glueck / Politico:

Kinky Friedman makes Texas runoff — Richard “Kinky” Friedman, a humorist and county music singer, got one step closer Tuesday to adding another line to his resume: agriculture commissioner of Texas. — It's highly unlikely that the colorful candidate will go on to win a statewide position …

Discussion: The Reaction

Elisabetta Povoledo / New York Times:

A New Magazine for Fans of the Vatican's Biggest Star — ROME — Just a few days short of the first anniversary of Pope Francis' election, there is fresh evidence that his honeymoon with the public persists: He is getting his own magazine. — The 68-page Il Mio Papa (My Pope) …

Discussion: TheBlaze.com and The Week

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Reid escalates feud with Koch brothers — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday accused the Koch brothers of unlawful business practices in an effort to portray the conservative billionaires as election-year bogeymen. — Reid charged that Charles and David Koch …

Discussion: Jammie Wearing Fools

Denise Gellene / New York Times:

Sherwin B. Nuland, ‘How We Die’ Author, Dies at 83 — Dr. Sherwin B. Nuland, a surgeon and author who drew on more than 35 years in medicine and a childhood buffeted by illness in writing “How We Die,” an award-winning book that sought to dispel the notion of death with dignity and fueled …

Discussion: Marginal REVOLUTION

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The Real Poverty Trap — Earlier I noted that the new Ryan poverty report makes some big claims about the poverty trap, and cites a lot of research — but the research doesn't actually support the claims. It occurs to me, however, that the whole Ryan approach is false in a deeper sense as well.

Discussion: The Federalist, cbpp.org, Marginal REVOLUTION and The Fiscal Times

New York Times:

A Standoff of Lawyers Veils Madoff's Ties to JPMorgan Chase — It remains one of Wall Street's most puzzling mysteries: What exactly did JPMorgan Chase bankers know about Bernard L. Madoff's Ponzi scheme? — A new government document explains why — five years after Mr. Madoff's arrest spotlighted …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg View and naked capitalism

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Hillary Clinton's Strengths: Record at State, Toughness, Honesty — But Benghazi Seen as Top Negative — If she runs for president in 2016, Hillary Clinton would bring a number of potential strengths to the race, from her tenure as secretary of state to her perceived toughness and honesty.