memeorandum: Iranian Officials Ask Kerry About Republicans' Letter (Michael R. Gordon/New York Times)

11:30 AM ET, March 17, 2015

Top Items:

Bernard Avishai / New Yorker:

Israel's New Political Center — Israel's last pre-election poll shows that Isaac Herzog, the head of the Zionist Union—a center-left coalition of the Labor Party and former Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni's Hatnuah—is likely to win twenty-four seats or more, opening a four seat lead …

Discussion: Slate, Taylor Marsh, The Atlantic Online, New York Times and Washington Post

Haaretz:
LIVE BLOG: Netanyahu: The right-wing is in danger - Arabs are voting in droves

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico and NPR

Barak Ravid / Haaretz:
Netanyahu: If I'm elected, there will be no Palestinian state

Discussion: The Reaction, Bloomberg View, National Review, The Atlantic Online, US News, ThinkProgress, New York Magazine, New York Times, The Times of Israel, Hullabaloo, The Daily Caller and No More Mister Nice Blog

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

Israel's Gilded Age — Why did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel feel the need to wag the dog in Washington? For that was, of course, what he was doing in his anti-Iran speech to Congress. If you're seriously trying to affect American foreign policy, you don't insult the president …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, The Nation, Lawyers, Guns & Money and PoliticusUSA

Brendan James / Talking Points Memo:
Chuck Norris Cuts Last-Minute Campaign Video For Netanyahu (VIDEO)

Discussion: JP Updates, The Gateway Pundit, Scared Monkeys and The Reaction

Cortney O'Brien / Townhall.com:

Michelle Obama on ‘Hard’ Life at the WH: We Can't Open Windows — The First Lady visited the “Ellen Show” today and lamented to Ellen Degeneres just how ‘hard’ her life is in the White House. … She explained in more detail. … Outside the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue walls is just as rough.

Discussion: E! Online and The Gateway Pundit

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:
Secret Service Wants a Fake White House to Help Protect the Real One

Discussion: Politico and The Verge

Marc Perkel / Dvorak News Blog:

BREAKING NEWS: Spam Filtering Service had access to Clinton Classified Emails — Not often do we break news on Dvorak News but today we do. Hillary Clinton used a spam filtering service MxLogic to filter her spam and viruses. What this means is - employees at MxLogic, now owned by McAfee …

Discussion: Liberal Values, RedState and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

CNN:

Poll: Hillary Clinton's email divides public - CNN.com — Unfavorable views of Hillary Clinton are on the rise and perceptions of her as “honest and trustworthy” have dropped following the revelation that while serving as secretary of state she used a personal email address and home-based server to conduct State Department business.

Discussion: The Week, Hot Air, Politico, Talking Points Memo and OnPolitics

Erin Calandra / WJAC-TV:

Penn State fraternity suspended after secret Facebook discovered — STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A Penn State fraternity is suspended after police said they created a secret Facebook page where they posted offensive pictures. — We got our hands on the search warrant.

Discussion: WPXI-TV, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Jezebel, KTLA and New York Magazine

Jonathan Capehart / Washington Post:

'Hands up, don't shoot' was built on a lie — The late evening of Aug. 9, 2014, I couldn't sleep. I was due to substitute-anchor MSNBC's “UP with Steve Kornacki” and should have been asleep. But after looking at my Twitter feed and reading the rage under #Ferguson, I felt compelled to type …

Discussion: Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Instapundit

Daniel Rivero / Fusion:
Down nearly 50 percent since Michael Brown's death, new data show.

Discussion: The Other McCain, Ed Driscoll and The Gateway Pundit

CNN:

Official: United flight turns around after passenger runs up aisle yelling ‘jihad’ — Story highlights — (CNN)A United Airlines flight had to make a U-turn in the sky after an unruly passenger ran toward the cockpit screaming “jihad, jihad,” according to a government official with direct knowledge of the incident.

Discussion: Fox News Insider, ABC News, Mediaite and Scared Monkeys

Starbucks Newsroom:

What ‘Race Together’ Means for Starbucks Partners and Customers — It began with one voice — As racially-charged tragedies unfolded in communities across the country, the chairman and ceo of Starbucks didn't remain a silent bystander. Howard Schultz voiced his concerns with partners …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, CNNMoney, USA Today, BuzzFeed, Washington Post, Politico, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mashable, The Week and The PJ Tatler

David Stout / TIME:

Mitt Romney to Fight Evander Holyfield in Charity Bout — “It will either be a very short fight, or I will be knocked unconscious” — Forget about Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, the real fight of the century is scheduled for May 15 when Mitt Romney enters the ring to battle Evander Holyfield in Salt Lake City.

Discussion: American Spectator, Outside the Beltway and New York Magazine

Salt Lake Tribune:
WWW.SLTRIB.COM — I've learned the real reason why Mitt Romney chose …

Discussion: ABC News, ABC News, Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, OnPolitics, The Week, Mediaite, Politico and Talking Points Memo

Arizona Capitol Times:

Arizona judges can't do only opposite-sex marriages, ethics opinion says — Arizona judges who perform wedding ceremonies are being told that they cannot turn away gay couples who want to marry. — An opinion issued by a state judiciary ethics advisory committee said rejecting same-sex couples …

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Mike Cason / al.com:
Alumni won't leave millions to University of Alabama because of state's war on same-sex marriage

Discussion: Advocate and Joe. My. God.

Jeb Lund / Rolling Stone:

None Dare Call It Treason: Tom Cotton, Iran and Old GOP Ideas — The letter sent by 47 Republican Congressmen to the Iranian government is part of a long history of right-wing mayhem — Two weeks before freshman Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and 46 Senate Republican co-signatories sent …

Discussion: The Mahablog and Hullabaloo

Adam B. Lerner / Politico:
Tom Cotton calls for defense spending boost

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Little Green Footballs and The Daily Caller

Kendall Breitman / Politico:

Oregon pioneers automatic voter registration — Oregon became the first state to automatically register Americans to vote on Monday. — A new bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown “puts the burden of registration on the state instead of voters,” according to the Associated Press.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Shelby Sebens / Reuters:
Oregon Governor Signs Sweeping Automatic Voter Registration Into Law

Discussion: Hot Air

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

Iranian Officials Ask Kerry About Republicans' Letter — LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Iranian officials questioned Secretary of State John Kerry about a letter that Tom Cotton of Arkansas and 46 other Republican senators issued last week arguing that a potential nuclear accord would not be binding unless it was approved by Congress.

Discussion: Politico, Daily Kos and The Week

James Hohmann / Politico:

Scott Walker denies ethanol flip-flop — Scott Walker freely admits that he has shifted to the right on immigration over the past two years, aligning himself with the GOP base, but the Wisconsin governor was adamant Monday night that he has not also flip-flopped on ethanol.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Hot Air and The PJ Tatler

Naomi Martin / Crime Blog:

Family releases video of Dallas police fatal shooting of mental patient — A newly released video of a fatal shooting by Dallas police shows the moments that led to a mentally ill man's death as he held a screwdriver. — Two Dallas police officers shot Jason Harrison, 38, at his home on June 14.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Raw Story and The Gateway Pundit

Tom Schatz / The Hill:

The Federal Housing Administration, the next housing crisis? — Two oversight hearings on the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) have helped shed light on an agency that runs a $1 trillion mortgage insurance program originally designed to help low- and moderate-income individuals buy a house …

Kelsey Stein / al.com:

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's son arrested, charged with drug possession in Troy — The son of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was arrested Sunday for drug possession near the scene of an attempted break-in, court records show. — Caleb Moore, 24, was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana.

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story, Joe. My. God., Mediaite, Liberaland, Jezebel, Hinterland Gazette, The Moderate Voice, FreakOutNation, Talking Points Memo and Towleroad News #gay

Dan Metcalfe / Politico:

Hillary's Email Defense Is Laughable — I should know—I ran FOIA for the U.S. government. — Lead image by Getty. — I thought when I retired from the Justice Department in 2007, I was done with records-related scandals. By that point, I had spent more than a quarter-century …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Hot Air

ESPN:

SF's Borland quits over safety issues … BERKELEY, Calif. — San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland, one of the NFL's top rookies the past season, told “Outside the Lines” on Monday that he is retiring because of concerns about the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma.