memeorandum: Crimeans begin voting on Russia referendum (Washington Post)

10:00 AM ET, March 16, 2014

Top Items:

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Dems in Distress — WASHINGTON — Scott Brown, the Republican who admitted he wore pink leather shorts on his first date with his wife-to-be, is back. — And Democrats are scared to death. — It's not that Democrats are particularly scared that the 54-year-old former Massachusetts senator …

Discussion: Power Line and PoliticusUSA

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:

Scott Brown fires up Senate fight — Scott Brown's decision to explore a Senate run in New Hampshire has implications beyond just the borders of the Granite State. — The former Massachusetts senator's decision not only gives Republicans their best shot at taking down Sen. Jeanne Shaheen …

Yahoo! News:

Crimea holds referendum to split from Ukraine — Simferopol (Ukraine) (AFP) - Crimeans took to the polls on Sunday for a referendum on breaking away from Ukraine to join Russia that has precipitated a Cold War-style security crisis on Europe's eastern frontier.

Discussion: Liberaland and The Week

Washington Post:

Crimeans begin voting on Russia referendum — SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine — Crimeans started voting on their future Sunday after a hasty and one-sided campaign featuring intimidation and heavy-handed tactics that blocked most voters from hearing a vision for any alternative other than unification with Russia.

Discussion: The New Republic and Washington Monthly

Washington Post:
Tensions mount as Crimea prepares for referendum

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Week

New York Times:

Plane Deliberately Diverted, Malaysia Says — SEPANG, Malaysia — Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia announced on Saturday afternoon that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 left its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing as the result of deliberate action by someone aboard.

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette, AMERICAblog News, Towleroad News #gay, Gawker, Blogcritics, Yahoo! News, Wall Street Journal, Scared Monkeys, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Mashable and CANNONFIRE

Daily Mail:

Doomed airliner pilot was political fanatic: Hours before taking control of flight MH370 he attended trial of jailed opposition leader as FBI reveal passengers could be at a secret location — Police are investigating the possibility that the pilot of missing Flight MH370 hijacked his own aircraft in a bizarre political protest.

Discussion: Wired, Telegraph, Reuters, Guardian and The Gateway Pundit

Chico Harlan / Washington Post:
Missing airliner may have flown on for 7 hours

Discussion: Guardian, neo-neocon, Israel Matzav, Power Line, The Week, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler and Wall Street Journal

American Prospect:

Piketty's Triumph — Three expert takes on Capital in the Twenty-First Century, French economist Thomas Piketty's data-driven magnum opus on inequality. — Jacob Hacker, Paul Pierson, Heather Boushey, Branko Milanovic — In the 1990s, two young French economists then affiliated …

Cathleen Decker / Los Angeles Times:

In old memo, a glimpse of conflict ahead for Hillary Clinton? — Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton in January at the swearing-in of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Newly released Clinton White House documents may signal conflict ahead as Hillary Clinton considers her own presidential run.

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Why millennials have abandoned Obama — The day before the Iowa caucuses in 2008, I wrote about the massive crowds of young people at Barack Obama rallies, noting that his candidacy would collapse “if they don't show up.” — The next night, after Obama's victory celebration in Des Moines …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Bloomberg:
Plouffe Sees ‘Screaming Siren’ Party Warning in Florida

Discussion: New York Times, Mediaite and Talking Points Memo

Oliver Bullough / The New Republic:

Sleepless in Simferopol — No one knows what Putin will do after Sunday's election. The fear is familiar to Crimea's Tatars. — SIMFEROPOL, CRIMEA — No one has any idea what President Vladimir Putin will do after Crimea votes on Sunday to join Russia.

Andrew Lynch / fox4kc.com:

California gun store owner refuses to give ATF his customer list — OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KSWB) — The owner of an Oceanside store that sells various gun parts to build a rifle from scratch refused to turn over his customer list when he was raided by federal agents Wednesday.

Discussion: BizPac Review, Right Wing News, The Gateway Pundit and The Daily Caller

Peter Schroeder / The Hill:

Durbin, McCain: Send weapons to Ukraine — A pair of senators, including a close ally to President Obama, is calling on the White House to send arms to Ukraine. — Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), currently visiting Ukraine, said the U.S. should supply …

Discussion: kyivpost.com, his vorpal sword, CNN, Taylor Marsh, Hinterland Gazette and The Moderate Voice

Tom Kertscher / PolitiFact:

In Context: Were Paul Ryan's poverty comments a ‘thinly veiled racial attack’? — The backlash to comments U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan made about poverty and inner-city residents suggested that the former vice-presidential candidate had been bigoted. — U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Mahablog