memeorandum: Kingston touts penny-pinching in new ad (Cameron Joseph/The Hill)

3:55 PM ET, March 20, 2014

Top Items:

Fred Kaplan / Slate:

How to Stop Putin in His Tracks — He knows he's weak. The West must show we know it, too. — Is the crisis in Ukraine almost over or just beginning? The answer depends on what Vladimir Putin really wants and what the West does next. — Fred Kaplan — FRED KAPLAN

Discussion: Washington Monthly, War on the Rocks, Taylor Marsh, CANNONFIRE, Outside the Beltway, The Monkey Cage, The Week, The Colorado Independent and CNN

Miriam Elder / BuzzFeed:

The New U.S. Sanctions Against Russia Are For Real — You may not have heard of them — but the new targets are Putin's actual inner circle. — The head of state-run monopoly Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin addresses a Franco-Russian Economic Forum on Nov. 28, 2013. — ERIC PIERMONT/AFP / Getty Images

Discussion: AMERICAblog News

U.S. Department of the Treasury:

Resource Center — Home » Resource Center » Financial Sanctions » OFAC Recent Actions » Ukraine-related Designations — Ukraine-related Designations — OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL — Specially Designated Nationals List Update The following individuals have been added to OFAC's SDN List:

Discussion: CNN, Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, State of the Union, The Daily Caller, WorldViews, Post Politics, Hot Air, Hinterland Gazette and New Atlanticist

Marco Rubio / Washington Post:
Making Putin pay

Discussion: Firedoglake, National Review, PostPartisan, Balloon Juice, The Fact Checker, New York Times and Borowitz Report, more at Mediagazer »

Mark Landler / New York Times:
U.S. and Russia Swap Sanctions Tit for Tat Over Crimean Crisis

Discussion: Fortune, Fox News and Daily Kos

Daniel Henninger / Wall Street Journal:
Henninger: American Fatigue Syndrome

Discussion: Fox News and Betsy's Page

Washington Post:
Obama doesn't grasp Putin's Eurasian ambitions

Discussion: International Business Times and Power Line

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Children Confirm Fred Phelps Dead At 84 — Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps died before midnight Wednesday at age 84, his children Tim Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper confirmed to Kansas news outlets. — Phelps's estranged son Nate had announced last weekend that the church founder …

Discussion: Kansas First News, KSHB-TV and No More Mister Nice Blog

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Scott Brown Awkwardly Finds Out That Obamacare Is Also Helping Republicans — Obamacare Saves Money Scott Brown Obamacare Obamacare New Hampshire Scott Brown Herb Richardson Chris Brown Obamacare Savings Fergus Cullen Affordable Care Act Barack Obama Scott Brown Obamacare Scott Brown Republicans …

Discussion: ABC News and Daily Kos

Dylan Scott / Talking Points Memo:

Scott Brown Confounded By Republican Who Benefitted From Obamacare — It seems Scott Brown, the once (and future?) U.S. senator, didn't have an answer when confronted with one of his fellow Republicans who has benefitted from Obamacare. — The Huffington Post flagged the Wednesday story from the Coos County Democrat.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

ACA at Age 4: More Disapproval than Approval — But Most Opponents Want Politicians to Make Law Work — As the four-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act approaches, the law remains unpopular with the public. Currently, 53% disapprove of the 2010 health care law while 41% approve of the law.

Discussion: CNN, Real Clear Politics and Post Politics

Politico:
Kos Folds Up the Big Tent

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Paige Winfield Cunningham / Politico: Pelosi: Health law is a ‘winner’ for Democrats

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Everything You Need To Know About The Supreme Court Taking On Birth Control — On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear two landmark cases about the validity of a rule under Obamacare that employer health plans must cover emergency contraceptives for female employees without co-pays.

Discussion: NBC News, The Plum Line and Liberaland

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:
Supreme Court faces wave of free-speech cases from conservatives

Discussion: Hit & Run

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

CNN's Don Lemon: ‘Is It Preposterous’ to Think a Black Hole Caused Flight 370 to Go Missing? — CNN's Don Lemon has been entertaining all sorts of theories about the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, including the chance something “supernatural” happened, but on Wednesday night …

Discussion: Watts Up With That?, Ed Driscoll, BuzzFeed, Red Alert Politics, Moonbattery, National Review, Shakesville, The Raw Story, Business Insider, Talking Points Memo and AMERICAN DIGEST, more at Mediagazer »

Nick R. Martin / Talking Points Memo:
WTF CNN, Part II

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Verge and The Huffington Post

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:

Reporter: WH Press Secretary Gets Questions from Reporters Before Press Briefing — A CBS reporter from Arizona reveals that President Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, receives questions from the press in advance of his daily press briefing. In fact, she says, the reporters often receive …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Daily Caller, NewsBusters, Twitchy, Post Politics and The Gateway Pundit

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Reporters Held to 4 Minutes With President By Countdown Clock, Looming Aide, and Standing Up

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air and Althouse

New York Post:

Teen sneaks past guard to reach WTC spire — A New Jersey teen captivated by 1 World Trade Center sneaked out of his home in the dead of night, got past the wall of security — and a sleeping guard — making it all the way up to the spire, The Post has learned.

Discussion: Politicker, ABC News, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Gawker, The Week, The Raw Story and Fox News Insider

BBC:

Australia plane searchers investigate debris — Amsa's John Young said the objects spotted were a “reasonable size” — Australia is investigating two objects seen on satellite images that could potentially be linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, officials say.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, KING-TV and Hinterland Gazette

ABC News:
Search Drastically Narrows in Hunt for Lost Plane

Discussion: Washington Post, Telegraph, AMERICAblog News, Scared Monkeys and CNN

Eric Lach / Talking Points Memo:

NJ Attorney General To State Police: Stop Taking Photos Of Christie Protestors — New Jersey's acting Attorney General on Wednesday ordered the State Police to stop taking pictures of protestors at Gov. Chris Christie's (R) town hall meetings, according to The Newark Star-Ledger.

Discussion: Politicker NJ

Jenna Portnoy / New Jersey Online:
Attorney General to State Police: Stop photographing protesters at Chris Christie town halls

Discussion: CNN and Post Politics

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

This Video Of Rep. John Lewis Dancing To “Happy” Is The Best Thing You Will See Today — A video uploaded late Wednesday night shows Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, dancing to Pharrell's “Happy.” A spokesman for the congressman didn't immediately return a request …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Creative Loafing Atlanta and Mediaite

Brookings Institute:

Are the Long-Term Unemployed on the Margins of the Labor Market? — ABSTRACT — The short-term unemployment rate is a much stronger predictor of inflation and real wage growth than the overall unemployment rate in the U.S. Even in good times, the long-term unemployed are on the margins …

Discussion: New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Wonkblog

Jonathan Oosting / MLive.com:

Right to Life: Gary Peters ‘wants to make sure abortion is accessible and cheap for his daughters’ — Students from Michigan State University and Lansing Community College protest the state's new abortion insurance law outside of the state Capitol on Tuesday, March 18.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

ThinkProgress:
Lawmaker Accused Of Opposing Michigan's Rape Insurance Law To Keep Abortion ‘Cheap For His Daughters’

Discussion: MLive.com

Michael S. Teitelbaum / The Atlantic Online:

The Myth of the Science and Engineering Shortage — Everyone knows that the United States has long suffered from widespread shortages in its science and engineering workforce, and that if continued these shortages will cause it to fall behind its major economic competitors.

Discussion: Daily Kos and The Glittering Eye

Dylan Byers / Politico:

‘Meet The Press’ finishes distant third — NBC's “Meet The Press” finished a distant third-place in both total viewers and the 25-54 demo this week, according to newly released Nielsen ratings. The poor showing marked the program's fourth consecutive week out of first-place on both fronts.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Huffington Post