memeorandum: Government's Empty Buildings Are Costing Taxpayers Billions (Laura Sullivan/NPR)

8:15 PM ET, March 13, 2014

Top Items:

Ezra Klein's Queer New Hire — Brandon Ambrosino (Photo Courtesy of Media Matters) — On Tuesday, former Washington Post pundit (and Prospect alum) Ezra Klein sent a shock wave through the gay community by announcing he had hired gay anti-gay apologist Brandon Ambrosino to join him at Vox Media …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Equality Matters, The Huffington Post, Booman Tribune and Talking Points Memo

Mark Joseph Stern / Slate:

Vox's Unbelievably Terrible New Hire — On Wednesday, Ezra Klein's new media venture, Vox, announced that it had hired Brandon Ambrosino as a writing fellow, presumably to cover the LGBTQ beat. Vox likely thought that by hiring Ambrosino, the outlet would be introducing a brash, unconventional new voice to a broader audience.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Equality Matters

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

Hipster Homophobia: Ezra Klein's Vox hires Falwell-loving gay-bashing “gay” — Ezra Klein's new Web media venture, Vox.com, has just hired a controversial gay-bashing “gay” named Brandon Ambrosino to write for the new online publication. (Vox on Facebook, Vox on Twitter.)

Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Gawker and The Daily Caller

Ana Marie Cox / Guardian:

Paul Ryan's ‘inner city’ comment might mean he's racist, but he sure is classist — Does he think black people are lazy? He definitely thinks poor people are. And laws reinforce lawmakers with logic like that. — “We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, The Reality-Based Community, PolicyShop, Daily Kos, Firedoglake and The Daily Beast

ThinkProgress:

Ryan Defends Comments On Lazy ‘Inner City’ Men — Rep. Paul Ryan's claim that young “inner city” men are “not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work” because they rely on government assistance has sparked outrage from a growing number of Democratic lawmakers …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, PoliticusUSA, alicublog, The Raw Story, Liberaland and The Reaction

Lauren Victoria Burke / Crew of 42:
Paul Ryan: Inner City Comments Had “Nothing to Do Whatsoever With Race”

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, ThinkProgress and Roll Call

Jamelle Bouie / The Daily Beast:
What Paul Ryan Gets Wrong About ‘Inner-City’ Poverty

Discussion: National Review and ThinkProgress

McKay Coppins / BuzzFeed:
Paul Ryan Says His Controversial Comments About Inner-City Poor Were “Inarticulate”

Discussion: Politico, Mediaite, The Moderate Voice, The Week, Booman Tribune and Crew of 42

ThinkProgress:
Paul Ryan Backpedals, But Doesn't Apologize, For Comments About Lazy ‘Inner City’ Men

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Liberaland

Karl Rove / Wall Street Journal:

Karl Rove: GOP, Beware of Tuesday's Victory — David Jolly's Florida win shows that opposition to ObamaCare alone won't be enough in November.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Betsy's Page, Taylor Marsh, The Huffington Post and Washington Monthly

Bloomberg:
Americans Stick With Obamacare as Opposition Burns Bright

Discussion: Daily Kos, The Dish, Business Insider, Liberaland and Taegan Goddard's Wonk Wire

Alec Macgillis / The New Republic:
Obamacare Is Hurting Democratic Candidates Because Republicans Are Hurting Obamacare

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, National Review, Democratic Strategist, Los Angeles Times, The Week Magazine and The Plum Line

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:
A Post-Mortem on the Fla. Special Election

Discussion: VodkaPundit

Lizette Alvarez / New York Times:
Health Law Tied to G.O.P. Victory in Florida Race

Discussion: Forbes, The Fix, Politico, No More Mister Nice Blog, Booman Tribune, Althouse, Washington Monthly, The Heritage Foundation and The Hill

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Morning Plum: Why Dems are tying Republicans to the Koch brothers — The Dem strategy of tying Republican Senate candidates to the Koch brothers continues to be portrayed simplistically, as little more than an effort to tar Republicans with the image of distant and menacing plutocrats.

Discussion: RedState, No More Mister Nice Blog, BillMoyers.com and Daily Kos

Lachlan Markay / Washington Free Beacon:
Mary Landrieu's Koch Problem

Discussion: OpenSecrets.org and The PJ Tatler

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
GOP Plots New Round Of Hostage-Taking To Stop Obamacare

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Burgess Everett / Politico:
Jobless deal came down to wire

Discussion: Daily Kos and CNN

Andy Pasztor / Wall Street Journal:

Missing Airplane Flew On for Hours — Engine Data Suggest Malaysia Flight Was Airborne Long After Radar Disappearance, U.S. Investigators Say — U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 stayed in the air for about four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location …

CNN:
Officials: Malaysian plane may have flown long after last contact

Discussion: ABC News, The Verge, Associated Press, Guardian, The Daily Caller, Towleroad News #gay and Gawker

Scott Wilson / Washington Post:
White House: Hunt for missing airliner may extend to Indian Ocean

Discussion: Guardian, Erik Wemple, Hot Air and Mashable

Benjamin Goad / The Hill:

Business groups stunned as Obama gives millions overtime — Business groups and congressional Republicans are blasting regulations President Obama will announce Thursday that could extend overtime pay to as many as 10 million workers who are now ineligible for it.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, Questions and Observations, neo-neocon, Hot Air, Shakesville and The PJ Tatler

Deirdre Walsh / CNN:

Boehner invites Pope to address Congress — (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner marked Pope Francis' first anniversary Thursday by extending an open invitation to him to address a joint meeting of Congress. — Boehner, who is Catholic, noted in a statement that the Argentinian was the first Pope “to hail from the Americas.”

Discussion: Politico, Wall Street Journal and Weekly Standard

McClatchy Washington Bureau:
Despite vows of help, White House withholds thousands of documents from Senate CIA probe

Discussion: thenation.com/blogs/163255, ThinkProgress, The Intercept, The Hill, Guardian, susiemadrak.com, Hit & Run, The Dish, his vorpal sword, Liberaland, The Raw Story, The Week, Hot Air and Reuters

Deirdre Walsh / CNN:
Pelosi: Alleged CIA spying on Senate committee ‘appalling’

Discussion: Politico

New York Times:

Russia Massing Military Forces Near Border With Ukraine — MOSCOW — Russia's Defense Ministry announced new military operations in several regions near the Ukrainian border on Thursday, even as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany warned the Kremlin to abandon the politics of the 19th …

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard, Hit & Run, Guardian, Business Insider, The Daily Caller, Outside the Beltway, The PJ Tatler, Reuters, VodkaPundit, Real Clear Politics and New York Magazine

KXAN-TV:

Austin woman, man from the Netherlands killed in downtown crash — AUSTIN (KXAN) - Rashad Charjuan Owens, 21, the driver in a deadly downtown wreck who police suspected of driving drunk, will be charged with two counts of capital murder and 23 counts of aggravated assault with a vehicle …

Discussion: New York Times, Towleroad News #gay, The PJ Tatler, The Week and theGrio

Quinnipiac News + Events:

Release Detail — March 13, 2014 - Clinton Up As Obama, Christie Crash In Iowa, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Democrat Braley Leads In U.S. Senate Race — In an early look at the 2016 presidential race in Iowa, Secretary Clinton leads Gov. Christie 48 - 35 percent, reversing a 45 …

Discussion: CNN, NBC News, Post Politics, OnPolitics, PoliticusUSA, Daily Kos, Outside the Beltway, Politico, Real Clear Politics, Washington Free Beacon and Taegan Goddard's …

Noah Rothman / Mediaite:

Ron Paul: Putin Has ‘Law on His Side’ with Crimean Invasion — Former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) appeared on the Fox Business Network's The Independents on Wednesday night where he was asked for his thoughts about the worsening situation in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Liberaland and Hit & Run

Jeff Goodell / Rolling Stone:

Bill Gates: The Rolling Stone Interview — The richest man in the world explains how to save the planet — At 58, Bill Gates is not only the richest man in the world, with a fortune that now exceeds $76 billion, but he may also be the most optimistic. In his view, the world …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Politico and The Daily Caller

Andrew Johnson / National Review:

Chris Matthews: ‘The Senate Goes’ — Chris Matthews is already bracing for a disappointing November for Democrats, and he sees little that can be done to change that outcome. — “It's going to be very hard to hold the Senate — I think the Senate goes,” he said on Morning Joe on Thursday.

Discussion: NewsBusters and Hot Air

CRFB.org:

Administration Does About-Face on Fate of ACA Cost-Sharing Subsidies — The administration's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its report to Congress on Monday detailing the sequester's impact on mandatory spending programs for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015, and it shows a notable …

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, The Heritage Foundation, Wonkblog, Weekly Standard and ThinkProgress