Top Items:
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
RELATED:
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, PoliticusUSA, National Review, 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
Four questions Lois Lerner must answer about IRS scandal
Discussion:
Scared Monkeys
Patrick Howley / The Daily Caller:
Lois Lerner fears for her life if she testifies at Wednesday's oversight hearing
Lois Lerner fears for her life if she testifies at Wednesday's oversight hearing
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo
ThinkProgress:
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:
National Review, Hullabaloo, Roll Call, Right Wing Watch, Senator Christopher … and Hot Air
RELATED:
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
Democrats help block Obama's DOJ pick
Discussion:
The Heritage Foundation
Susan Davis / USA Today:
Senate blocks Obama nominee over Mumia Abu-Jamal case
Senate blocks Obama nominee over Mumia Abu-Jamal case
Discussion:
Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, Washington Free Beacon, The Fix and Jammie Wearing Fools
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 …, Gawker, Mediaite, emptywheel, Shakesville and ACS Blog
RELATED:
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, Talking Points Memo, Prairie Weather, Discourse.net and The Week
Spencer Ackerman / Guardian:
Obama knew CIA secretly monitored intelligence committee, senator claims
Obama knew CIA secretly monitored intelligence committee, senator claims
Discussion:
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
RELATED:
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 Week, The Federalist and The Dish
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:
Talking Points Memo, CNN, Associated Press, CANNONFIRE, American Spectator, WorldViews, CBC News, Post Politics, Business Insider, The Fix, Right Turn, Hullabaloo, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, Fox News, OnPolitics, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, National Review, Politico, Real Clear Politics, Washington Post, Hot Air and Pew Research Center …
RELATED:
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
RELATED:
Brandon Rittiman / KUSA-TV:
Hickenlooper quietly comes out for same-sex marriage
Hickenlooper quietly comes out for same-sex marriage
Discussion:
The Daily Caller, Advocate, ThinkProgress, Towleroad News #gay and The New Civil Rights Movement
Elisabetta Povoledo / New York Times:
A New Magazine for Fans of the Vatican's Biggest Star
A New Magazine for Fans of the Vatican's Biggest Star
Discussion:
TheBlaze.com, The Week and Marginal REVOLUTION
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
RELATED:
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 …
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
RELATED:
Dan Williams / Reuters:
Israel says seized Gaza-bound rocket shipment from Iran
Israel says seized Gaza-bound rocket shipment from Iran
Discussion:
Weekly Standard and Right Turn
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
RELATED:
Manny Fernandez / New York Times:
Texas G.O.P. Beats Back Challengers From Right
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
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
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:
Talking Points Memo, ABC News, The Raw Story and Towleroad News #gay
Natalie Villacorta / Politico:
Barbara Bush cancels New York Times — Former first lady Barbara Bush says that The New York Times will do “anything to make news” and she has canceled her subscription. — During an interview that aired Wednesday on Fox, the former first lady was asked if she had seen Times columnist …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Post Politics, Mediaite, Fox News Insider and Business Insider
Tyler Cowen / Marginal REVOLUTION:
The new Paul Ryan report on poverty and safety net programs — I read much of the document last night, here are a few comments: — 1. The so-called “war on poverty” has gone better than most of this document would appear to suggest, although this ends up being acknowledged in the appendix on poverty measures.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, The Week, cbpp.org, jaredbernsteinblog.com, The National Memo, The Fiscal Times and New York Times
RELATED:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
The Real Poverty Trap
The Real Poverty Trap
Discussion:
BillMoyers.com, The Federalist, The Mahablog and Washington Post