memeorandum: Pope Francis on his Pontificate to date (Vatican Radio English)

8:30 PM ET, March 13, 2015

Top Items:

James Hohmann / Politico:

POLITICO Caucus: Iran-letter backlash spreads to early states — ‘Policywise, the deal Obama is trying to cut is a bad one. Politically speaking, however, the letter has been a disaster.’ — One-third of Republican insiders believe that Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and his GOP colleagues …

Discussion: Political Wire, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos and Hullabaloo

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post:

Tom Cotton picked apart by Army general over ‘mutinous’ Iran letter — The open letter to the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran signed by 47 senators and instigated by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was a stunning breach of protocol. One so outrageous that my former colleagues at the New York Daily News dubbed the signers “traitors.”

Discussion: Mediaite, Jay Bookman, Raw Story and CNN

Nick Gass / Politico:

Obama ‘embarrassed’ for GOP senators who signed Iran letter — President Barack Obama says he's “embarrassed” for the 47 Republican senators who signed a letter to Iranian leaders earlier this week. — “I'm embarrassed for them. For them to address a letter to the ayatollah who they claim …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Power Line, neo-neocon, New York Magazine, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Kos, New Atlanticist, American Spectator, Associated Press and Shakesville

Heidi Przybyla / Bloomberg Business:

GOP Senator Says Letter Shouldn't Have Been Addressed to Iran's Leaders — The letter 47 Republicans sent earlier this week warning against a nuclear deal President Barack Obama is negotiating with Iran probably shouldn't have been addressed to the regime's leaders, said Senator Ron Johnson, who signed the letter.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Federalist, New York Magazine, PoliticusUSA, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, Washington Post and Politico

VICE News:
President Barack Obama: The VICE News Interview (Trailer)

Discussion: Political Wire and Twitchy

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:
Obama Just Plain ‘Embarrassed’ For GOP Over Iran Letter (WATCH)

Discussion: FreakOutNation

Mark Hensch / The Hill:
GOP senator has one ‘regret’ over Iran letter

Discussion: Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo

Adam C. Smith / Tampa Bay Times:

Here's what Scott Walker has to say about Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio — We sat down this morning with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is making his first New Hampshire campaign swing as a likely presidential candidate this weekend along with Jeb Bush. Naturally we asked him how he can compete …

Discussion: National Review, Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, Washington Times, JSOnline, Politico, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, Fox News, The Week, Business Insider and Althouse

Ezra Klein / Vox:

Hillary Clinton isn't running unopposed. She's just crushing the competition. — Jonathan Bernstein and Reihan Salam have written two smart articles on the Democratic presidential primary — or lack thereof — that are best read in tandem. Bernstein's article is meant to explain why it looks …

Discussion: Washington Post, Salon, Hot Air, Slate and The PJ Tatler

Julie Spatacean / Shift Washington:

More Seattle restaurants close doors as $15 minimum wage approaches — Seattle's $15 minimum wage law goes into effect on April 1, 2015. As that date approaches, restaurant across the city are making the financial decision to close shop. The Washington Policy Center writes that …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Questions and Observations, Hit & Run and Althouse

Washington Policy Center:
Seattle's $15 wage law a factor in restaurant closings

Discussion: Moe Lane and ProfessorBainbridge.com

Kelly Weill / Capital New York:

Edits to Wikipedia pages on Bell, Garner, Diallo traced to 1 Police Plaza — Computers operating on the New York Police Department's computer network at its 1 Police Plaza headquarters have been used to alter Wikipedia pages containing details of alleged police brutality, a review by Capital has revealed.

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, Common Dreams, ThinkProgress, Gothamist, The Verge, Daily Kos, News One, The Week, Talking Points Memo, Gawker and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Top State Dept. officials' work emails not automatically archived before February — The admission by spokeswoman Jen Psaki is another blow to Hillary Clinton. — Hillary Clinton's explanation for her use of a personal email account while she served as secretary of state suffered another blow Friday …

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, Washington Post, Newsmax, RealClearPolitics Videos, Associated Press, Hot Air, The Right Scoop, National Review and The Hill

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

Morning Plum: Chaos in Congress is about to get a lot crazier — The quote of the week, one that will likely reverberate through the halls of Congress for many months to come, is this one from GOP Rep. Charlie Dent, lamenting the inability of the House GOP caucus to unite behind, well, anything at all:

Discussion: The Hill, The Week, Balloon Juice and Hullabaloo

Philip Pullella / Reuters:

Pope, on anniversary, says believes he will have short pontificate — (Reuters) - Pope Francis said in an interview published on Friday he believes his pontificate will be short and that he would be ready to resign like his predecessor rather than ruling for life.

Discussion: Liberaland and Political Wire

Vatican Radio English:
Pope Francis on his Pontificate to date

Discussion: USA Today, New York Times, Crux, ABC News and National Review

Erica Ritz / TheBlaze.com:

Glenn Beck Makes Big Announcement: NRA Told Me It's Opening Ethics Investigation Into Grover Norquist — Glenn Beck said Friday that NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told him the organization is opening an ethics investigation into Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, WND, Right Wing Watch and The Right Scoop

Wilson / Glenn Beck:
Does this progressive GOP leader have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood?

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller

Keaton Fox / okcfox.com:

SAE board hires attorney to explore possible legal action against OU, Boren — NORMAN - — The board of the OU chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon voted late Thursday to hire attorney Stephen Jones to “protect the integrity” of the chapter and it's members, Jones tells Fox 25.

Discussion: Washington Post, PoliticusUSA and Mediaite

M.DeLaTorre / KFOR-TV:
OU SAE to sue university, possibly President Boren

Discussion: Gawker, Liberaland, FreakOutNation, The Daily Caller, ThinkProgress and Talking Points Memo

Matt Flegenheimer / New York Times:

The Wet Wipes Box Says Flush, but the New York City Sewer System Says Don't — With its sewer system under siege, tallying millions of dollars in equipment damage across its underground maze, New York City is confronting a menace that has gummed the gears of plumbing networks around the world: the common wet wipe.

Discussion: Gothamist and Raw Story

Neil MacFarquhar / New York Times:

Putin Has Vanished, but Rumors Are Popping Up Everywhere — MOSCOW — Where's Putin? — It was the question preoccupying Moscow and much of Russia on Friday, as speculation mounted about why President Vladimir V. Putin had not been seen in public since last week.

Discussion: Reuters, Business Insider and NPR

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Seinfeld Nears Streaming Video Deal, Yada Yada Yada — “Seinfeld” is about to become master of a whole new domain: the Internet. — Sony Pictures Television, a unit of Sony Corp., is in advanced talks to sell reruns of the hit 1990s NBC sitcom to an online video service …

Discussion: The Week, The Verge and Mediaite

Karina Catellani / Latin WE:

OPEN APOLOGY TO FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA FROM RODNER FIGUEROA — I offer my sincere apology for an unfortunate comment I made about a make-up artist's depiction of you on Univision's show “El Gordo y La Flaca” yesterday. It was clearly in bad taste and misunderstood.

Discussion: Washington Post, NPR, Twitchy, Mediaite, Politico, TMZ.com, Liberaland, OnPolitics, Talking Points Memo and The Huffington Post

Joan Walsh / Salon:

“A lot of us are disappointed and angry”: Martin O'Malley sounds off to Salon — Martin O'Malley is having kind of a moment. — The former Maryland governor, who's exploring a run for the 2016 Democratic nomination, still doesn't break single digits in polls.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Slate, Althouse, Moe Lane and Politico

Joanna Walters / Washington Post:

An 11-year-old reported being raped twice, wound up with a conviction — Almost seven years ago, a troubled 11-year-old girl reported that she had been raped — twice — in her Northwest Washington neighborhood. Despite medical evidence of sexual assault, records show that no suspects …

Discussion: Raw Story and Prairie Weather

al.com:

Alabama House passes contentious marriage bill after four hours of debate — After nearly four hours of debate, the Alabama House on Thursday passed a bill that gives judges, ministers and other officiants the right to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies.

Discussion: Advocate, Yahoo! News, Politico and Towleroad News #gay

Eli Lake / Bloomberg View:

U.S. Exaggerates Islamic State Casualties — The war against the Islamic State has killed thousands of fighters and even some mid-level battlefield commanders, but the organization's senior leadership and nerve center remain largely untouched, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials.

Discussion: Fox News, Washington Post and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Bill Rigby / Reuters:

Exclusive: Microsoft's digital assistant to head to Android, Apple devices — (Reuters) - Microsoft is working on an advanced version of its competitor to Apple's Siri, using research from an artificial intelligence project called “Einstein.” — Microsoft has been running its …

Discussion: Mashable, The Verge and Polygon