memeorandum: U.S. details 9 Zika pregnancies: 2 abortions, 2 miscarriages, 1 baby with ‘severe microcephaly’ (Brady Dennis/Washington Post)

7:45 AM ET, February 27, 2016

Top Items:

Lindsey Ellefson / Mediaite:

The ‘Stump for Trump’ Girls Just Said on CNN That Marco Rubio Had ‘A Gay Lifestyle’ — You know those “Stump for Trump Girls, Lynette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson? Well, in case you don't follow them on Twitter and didn't get the memo, they were on CNN this morning.

Discussion: New York Times, ABC News, The Gateway Pundit, addictinginfo.org, Marco Rubio, CNN, Guardian, Raw Story, Politico, Business Insider, WBUR, Vox, Fox News Insider and Telegraph

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Chris Christie Endorses Donald Trump and Calls Marco Rubio ‘Desperate’ — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey endorsed Donald J. Trump on Friday, a major turn in a wild race and one that gives the New York businessman a significant boost as he heads into the pivotal “Super Tuesday” contests.

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:

Donald Trump Might Not Keep Paying for His Campaign Himself, Chris Christie Suggests — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey told his finance team late Friday that he anticipates that Donald J. Trump, who often boasts that he is funding his own campaign, will begin to solicit campaign contributions …

Discussion: CNN

Sean Sullivan / Washington Post:

Rubio and Trump now at war for the GOP's future — Marco Rubio and Donald Trump emerged Friday as the principal antagonists in an all-out brawl for the future of the Republican Party, as establishment opposition to the front-runner's candidacy started to crumble with a high-profile endorsement by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Discussion: Politico, ThinkProgressPage Array, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Balloon Juice and American Power

Brian Beutler / New Republic:

Marco Rubio's Trump Attacks Expose Uncomfortable Truths for the Right — They raise the question of how a crooked demagogue managed to commandeer the Republican Party, almost without trying. — If you scroll back through social media, a couple things about the commentariat's real-time reaction …

Ben Kamisar / The Hill: Rubio jokes that Trump may have wet his pants during debate

Jonathan Bernstein / BloombergView.com:
Trump's Debate Was a Disaster. If Voters Notice.

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Shadowproof, The Federalist, Diane Ravitch's blog, MarketWatch, New York Magazine and Mashable

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:
8 times Chris Christie suggested Donald Trump shouldn't be president

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, No More Mister Nice Blog, ABC News, Downtrend, Hit & Run, BuzzFeed, The Federalist, Jezebel, MichelleMalkin.com, The Resurgent, TODAY.com and The Week

Nick Gass / Politico:
Haley: I'll support Trump if it comes to that

Discussion: WYFF-TV, Mediaite and RedState

Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:
Marco Rubio: Says Donald Trump hired illegal workers “from Poland and he had to pay a million dollars …

Discussion: CNN, Hot Topics, TheStreet.com, The Daily Caller, Jezebel, Naked Politics and ImmigrationProf Blog

David Weigel / Washington Post:
Trump has bladder issues, suggests Rubio as he unleashes a torrent of attacks at first post-debate rally

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, Business Insider, Outside the Beltway and Hullabaloo

Leon H. Wolf / RedState:
This Epic Video Shows that Marco Rubio is Not Done Embarrassing Trump Yet

Discussion: The Lonely Conservative, Moe Lane and Shot in the Dark

John Koblin / New York Times:

Melissa Harris-Perry Walks Off Her MSNBC Show After Pre-emptions — In an unusually public flare-up, one of MSNBC's television personalities clashed with the network on Friday in a dispute about airtime and editorial freedom and said she was refusing to host the show that bears her name this weekend.

Discussion: BizPac Review, Mediaite, Hot Air, addictinginfo.org, Jezebel, Talking Points Memo, TVNewser, theGrio and The Last Tradition, more at Mediagazer »

Jamil Smith:

Melissa Harris-Perry's Email to Her #nerdland Staff — On Friday afternoon, media reports emerged about my friend Melissa Harris-Perry's refusal to host her eponymous weekend program on MSNBC on Saturday. I was one of the original producers on the show when it launched in 2012, leaving for another job in 2015.

Discussion: Downtrend, Mashable, Politicus USA, Mediaite, Business Insider and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Robert Reich / Facebook:

I endorse Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. He's leading a movement to reclaim America for the many, not the few. And such a political mobilization - a “political revolution,” as he puts it -\-\ is the only means by which we can get the nation back from the moneyed interests …

Discussion: Raw Story, Slantpoint and Vox Popoli

Lachlan Markay / Washington Free Beacon:

Feds Flag Thousands of Illegal Bernie Sanders Contributions — Thousands of contributions to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign in January violated federal campaign finance laws, election regulators said on Thursday. — The Federal Election Commission sent a letter …

Discussion: National Review

Bernie Sanders:
Sanders Voted for 1994 Crime Bill to Support Assault Weapons Ban, Violence Against Women Provisions

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Vox

Ian Tuttle / National Review:

Yes, Trump University Was a Massive Scam — Many people believe that higher education is a de facto scam. Trump University, Donald Trump's real-estate institution, was a de jure one. — First thing first, Trump University was never a university. When the “school” was established in 2005 …

Discussion: Raw Story, Patterico's Pontifications, LawNewz, Yahoo Politics and RedState

Alexander Burns / New York Times:
Group to Air Ads Featuring Ex-Students Saying Trump University Deceived Them

Discussion: Newsmax, RedState and Hot Air

A Current Affair / 9news.com.au:

Queensland man has spent ‘$100,000’ contesting $250 speeding ticket — A Queensland man who has allegedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars contesting a $250 speeding fine has vowed to become the first person to contest a speeding ticket in the High Court of Australia.

Discussion: Sputnik International and FOX31 Denver

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:

What happens when Hillary Clinton crashes a bachelor party? She's in the photos. — Candidates battle for young black votes — The campaign trail has taken Hillary Clinton through coffee shops and bakeries, diners and ice cream parlors, stands at state fairs where they fry things that shouldn't be fried.

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, BizPac Review, Politico, PAPERMAG and Tennessean.com

Brady Dennis / Washington Post:

U.S. details 9 Zika pregnancies: 2 abortions, 2 miscarriages, 1 baby with ‘severe microcephaly’ — At least two pregnant women in the United States infected with the Zika virus have chosen to have abortions in recent months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday, while two others have suffered miscarriages.

David Brooks / New York Times:

The Governing Cancer of Our Time — We live in a big, diverse society. There are essentially two ways to maintain order and get things done in such a society — politics or some form of dictatorship. Either through compromise or brute force. Our founding fathers chose politics.

Discussion: Salon, Slantpoint and Daily Kos

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

IRS Commissioner Says Donald Trump's Audit Scenario ‘Rare’ — It's “rare” for an individual taxpayer to be audited every year, as Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he has, said John Koskinen, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.

Discussion: Mediaite

Naomi Jagoda / The Hill:
IRS: Nothing prevents Trump from releasing tax returns

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Hot Air

Adam Harrington / CBS New York:

Yoko Ono Taken To Hospital From Upper West Side Home — NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Yoko Ono was removed from her Upper West Side home Friday evening for what was initially reported to be a possible stroke — though her publicist later said she was suffering from the flu.

Discussion: Page Six, Pitchfork and The FADER

Isabel Kershner / New York Times:

She Was Asked to Switch Seats. Now She's Charging El Al With Sexism. — JERUSALEM — Renee Rabinowitz is a sharp-witted retired lawyer with a Ph.D. in educational psychology, who escaped the Nazis in Europe as a child. Now she is about to become a test case in the battle over religion …

Discussion: The Times of Israel, Above the Law and Jezebel

Ramesh Ponnuru / National Review:

Maryanne Trump Barry vs. Samuel Alito on Abortion — From last night's debate: … I think Trump doesn't know what he's talking about, starting with the fact that judicial opinions and bills are not the same thing. — What Cruz has mentioned in the past is Judge Maryanne Trump Barry's opinion …

Discussion: Independent Journal Review, Power Line and LifeNews.com