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5:15 PM ET, March 5, 2014

Top Items:

Meet The 7 Democrats Who Just Voted Down A Civil Rights Nominee For Supporting Civil Rights — Civil Rights nominee Debo Adegbile speaks before the Supreme Court — Debo Adegbile, who previously served as the acting head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, is one of the nation's top civil rights attorneys.

Discussion: New York Times, National Review, Hullabaloo, Senator Christopher …, Roll Call, Right Wing Watch and Hot Air

Ramsey Cox / The Hill:

Senate rejects Obama nominee who defended cop killer — The Senate voted 47-52 Wednesday to reject controversial nominee Debo Adegbile as an assistant attorney general. — Seven Democrats voted against moving forward with President Obama's nomination of Adegbile, which the Fraternal Order …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Lonely Conservative and Balloon Juice

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Democrats help block Obama's DOJ pick

Discussion: The Heritage Foundation

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Senate Rejects Obama Nominee Linked to Abu-Jamal Case

Discussion: The Plum Line, Bloomberg View and Weekly Standard

Susan Davis / USA Today:
Senate blocks Obama nominee over Mumia Abu-Jamal case

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Free Beacon, The Fix and Jammie Wearing Fools

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

Ranking Dem Flips Out At IRS Hearing After Issa Cuts His Mic — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) had looked forward to Wednesday. — The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee planned to haul former IRS official Lois Lerner back before the committee.

Discussion: Mediaite, ThinkProgress, Americans Against the … and The Raw Story

Fox News:

Issa, Cummings clash at hearing after ex-IRS official Lerner takes 5th — A House hearing on the IRS targeting scandal rapidly broke down into a heated and deeply personal argument between a top Democrat and Republican, moments after former IRS official Lois Lerner once again invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, National Review, PoliticusUSA, CBS DC, MichelleMalkin.com, NewsBusters and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Jay Sekulow / Fox News:
Four questions Lois Lerner must answer about IRS scandal

Discussion: Scared Monkeys

McClatchy Washington Bureau:

Probe: Did the CIA spy on the U.S. Senate? — 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 into the CIA's secret detention …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Dish, The Week, Hot Air, The World's Greatest …, emptywheel, Shakesville, Gawker, Mediaite and ACS Blog

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: The Raw Story, Liberaland, The Daily Beast, Techdirt, Hit & Run, Prairie Weather, Talking Points Memo, Discourse.net and The Week

Spencer Ackerman / Guardian:
Obama knew CIA secretly monitored intelligence committee, senator claims

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Hot Air, Hullabaloo, Techdirt and emptywheel

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: Questions and Observations and National Review

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: Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg View, The Week, The Dish and The Federalist

Natalie DiBlasio / USA Today:

Facebook cracks down on gun posts, sales — Facebook is cracking down on gun-related posts. — The social media giant is blocking minors from seeing postings of gun sales and will take down sales that don't require a background check or cross state lines.

Discussion: protein wisdom and Washington Free Beacon

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 …

Alex Seitz-Wald / NationalJournal.com:
Democrats Put Hillary Clinton at Risk by Dismissing Benghazi Criticism

Discussion: Bloomberg View, Daily Kos, The Week, CBS DC, USA Today, CNN, Politico and TheBlaze.com

Ruby Cramer / BuzzFeed:
Hillary Clinton Compares Russia Moves To Nazi Aggression

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

Bloomberg:

Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation — When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state's minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn't been borne out.

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Mark S. Mellman / The Hill:
Max support for minimum wage

Discussion: CNN and Hullabaloo

Politico:

Ted Cruz congratulates John Cornyn — Ted Cruz left Sen. John Cornyn a voice mail late Tuesday night, congratulating him on his win over Rep. Steve Stockman in the Texas Republican Senate primary, according to the junior senator's office. — Cruz refused to endorse Cornyn ahead of the GOP primary …

Discussion: CNN, RedState, OnPolitics, Post Politics and Hot Air

Manny Fernandez / New York Times:
Texas G.O.P. Beats Back Challengers From Right

Discussion: NBC News, The Hill, American Prospect, Talking Points Memo, Prairie Weather, Brains and Eggs, Washington Monthly and Politico

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: The Daily Caller, Politico, ThinkProgress, The Fix, The Plum Line, Post Politics, Outside the Beltway, The Dish, Daily Kos, Mediaite, Washington Blade, Human Rights Campaign Blog, Towleroad News #gay, Shakesville, Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire, Wonkblog and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Israel Defense Forces / IDF Blog:

IDF Intercepts Iranian Shipment of Missiles to Terrorist Organizations in Gaza — The IDF intercepted an attempt to smuggle an Iranian shipment of advanced weaponry intended for terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip. The operation took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Discussion: The Long War Journal, Israel Matzav and Jihad Watch

Dan Williams / Reuters:
Israel says seized Gaza-bound rocket shipment from Iran

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Right Turn

Kyle Whitmire / al.com:

Rep. Alvin Holmes says white Republican lawmakers would abort mixed-race grandchildren (audio) — MONTGOMERY, Alabama — A debate Tuesday over a bill to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected turned to race after Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Indian Springs, compared her bill to Brown vs. the Board of Education.

Discussion: NY Daily News, Talking Points Memo, protein wisdom, The Daily Caller, Liberaland and The Raw Story

Yahoo! News:

Michele Bachmann: Jan Brewer wrong to veto Arizona's ‘anti-gay’ bill — Rep. Michele Bachmann is “sorry” that Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a controversial bill in Arizona that would have allowed businesses to legally refuse service to same-sex couples because of religious objections.

Discussion: The Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, ABC News and Towleroad News #gay

ThinkProgress:

Pope Francis Suggests Support For Civil Unions — CREDIT: Catholic Church of England and Wales — In an interview published Wednesday, Pope Francis appeared to support governments that recognize civil unions to provide non-traditional couples with access to benefits:

Discussion: Feed RSS, Liberal Values, Advocate and Eschaton

Brandon Rittiman / KUSA-TV:
Hickenlooper quietly comes out for same-sex marriage

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Advocate, ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay and The New Civil Rights Movement

Peter Weber / The Week:

Watch The Daily Show ask Fox News why the poor shouldn't eat seafood — On Tuesday night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart focused on Republican opposition to food stamps. The stated reason for opposing aid to the hungry is food stamp fraud, Stewart noted, before indulging in a little bit of light debunking.

Discussion: The Raw Story

RT:

Estonian Foreign Ministry confirms authenticity of leaked call on Kiev snipers — Estonian foreign ministry has confirmed the recording of his conversation with EU foreign policy chief is authentic. Urmas Paet said that snipers who shot at protesters and police in Kiev were hired by Maidan leaders.

Discussion: Mediaite and BuzzFeed