memeorandum: Animal Farm Comes to Arizona (Jeffrey Lord/American Spectator)

3:55 PM ET, January 25, 2011

Top Items:

Judicial arrogance — With startling arrogance and audaciously twisted reasoning, two appellate judges ignored more than 100 years of legal precedent, invented a new definition of “residency” and ordered Rahm Emanuel off the Feb. 22 mayoral ballot. — With the election just four weeks away …

Discussion: The Caucus, NBC Chicago, CBS Chicago, Big Government, Pirate's Cove and New York Times

Abdon M. Pallasch / Chicago Sun Times:

Supreme Court: Emanuel stays on ballot while his case is considered — The Illinois Supreme Court has ordered the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to put Rahm Emanuel's name back on the mayoral ballot. — The court has not decided whether to hear Emanuel's appeal …

Discussion: Politics Daily, Mediaite, Lez Get Real, TPMDC, Swampland, Political Byline, Election Law and Clout St

Mary Ann Ahern / NBC Chicago:

Court Will Hear Rahm's Case — To view this video you must to have Flash Player 9.0 or later installed. Click to download the most recent version of Flash. — The Illinois Supreme Court will consider Rahm Emanuel's appeal. — Earlier today, the court granted Emanuel a partial stay, putting him back on the mayoral ballot.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin

Abdon M. Pallasch / Chicago Sun Times:

Supreme Court will hear appeal of ruling knocking Emanuel off ballot — The Illinois Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear the appeal of a court decision that knocked Rahm Emanuel out of the mayoral race. — Earlier Tuesday, the Supreme Court ordered the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners …

Discussion: Firedoglake and Weasel Zippers

David Kidwell / Chicago Tribune:
Judges who ruled against Emanuel once slated by pol backing Chico

Discussion: Guardian

First Read / msnbc.com:
Ill. court issues stay; Rahm back on the ballot

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Jennifer Epstein / Reuters: Obama wants Rahm Emanuel back on the Chicago mayor ballot

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:
Emanuel takes steps to stay in Chicago mayoral race

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, CNN and TPMDC

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Breaking: Rahm back on ballot

Discussion: HillBuzz.org

Lbentzterp / CNN:
Emanuel narcissistic, opponents tell court

Discussion: The Politico and Ben Smith's Blog

Jake Tapper / Political Punch:

President Obama to Propose Partial Budget Freeze and Earmark Ban Tonight* — Pursuing a path of deficit reduction and government reform, President Obama will tonight in his State of the Union address call for a ban on earmarks and he will propose a five year budget freeze …

Discussion: The Note, TalkLeft, protein wisdom, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Michelle Malkin, Top of the Ticket, Wonkette, FITSNews, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Liberal Values, Washington Wire, TPMDC and Pajamas Media

Ezra Klein:

What the speech has done already — The president won't give his annual State of the Union address until later tonight, but in an important way, the speech has already worked. For the past week or so, news report after news report has dutifully relayed the argument the president is planning …

Discussion: Blue Virginia

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Pelosi spurns Cantor on seating — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) invited Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to sit next to him at the State of the Union address — but the former House Speaker says she's already committed. — “I thank @GOPLeader for his #SOTU offer …

Discussion: HotAirPundit and Weasel Zippers

Lbentzterp / CNN:
Pelosi not sitting with Cantor, despite his invitation

Discussion: The Note, The Hill, The Politico, Wonk Room and The Political Carnival

Alan Colmes' Liberaland:
Michele Bachmann Not Doing Republicans A Favor By Giving Tea Party SOTU Response

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Fix, The Plum Line and Weigel

First Read / msnbc.com:
Cantor invites Pelosi to sit together at SOTU

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Weigel

New York Times:

Broad Protests Across Egypt Focus Fury on Mubarak — CAIRO — Thousands of people calling for the end of the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak clashed with riot police in this Egyptian capital on Tuesday, on a day of some of the most serious civil unrest in recent memory here.

Discussion: National Review, News Desk, Boing Boing and Tablet Magazine

BBC:
Cairo protest: Clashes on Egypt's ‘day of revolt’

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Little Green Footballs, Informed Comment and The Awl

Dan Murphy / Christian Science Monitor:
Inspired by Tunisia, Egypt's protests appear unprecedented

Discussion: Telegraph, Taylor Marsh, The Moderate Voice, BlogPost and AmSpecBlog

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:

Various matters — (updated below) — The combination of a mild (I'm hoping) flu and the all-consuming fixation by many on Obama's speech tonight makes this a good time to raise several discrete matters worth noting: — (1) Last month, The New York Times' Charlie Savage reported that the DOJ …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Independent, Lez Get Real, Balloon Juice and Guardian

Jim Miklaszewski / msnbc.com:
NBC: U.S. can't link accused Army private to Assange

Discussion: Firedoglake, Threat Level, Guardian, Runnin' Scared, Associated Press, Balloon Juice, Informed Comment, Raw Story, The Nation, Emptywheel, Outside the Beltway, Human Rights Now and The Politico

Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
NY Times considers creating an ‘EZ Pass lane for leakers’

Discussion: PostPartisan, Guardian, News Desk and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Lbentzterp / CNN:

Bachmann says she's “not in competition with Paul Ryan” — Washington (CNN) - Representative Michele Bachmann tells CNN at the top of her post State of the Union speech she will announce that her remarks are not the official Republican response. — She says she's spoken with Representative Paul Ryan …

Discussion: HotAirPundit

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:
CNN justifies airing Bachmann speech: “Tea Party has become major …

Discussion: GOP 12, Politics Daily, Weigel and The Hill

Simmi Aujla / The Politico:
Bachmann: SOTU rebuttal is not a ‘competition’ with Ryan

Discussion: Cubachi, Crooks and Liars, USA Today, Washington Monthly, CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Plum Line and Pajamas Media

New York Times:

'98 Embassy Bomber Is Sentenced to Life Without Parole — Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the first former Guantánamo Bay camp detainee to be tried in the civilian court system, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for his role in the 1998 bombings of two United States Embassies in East Africa.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Jawa Report, Washington Post, The Investigative Project …, National Review and Balloon Juice

Associated Press:

Guantanamo detainee gets life for embassy bombings — Tanzanian was convicted on one count in 1998 al-Qaida attacks in Africa — Below: — NEW YORK — A judge on Tuesday handed down a life sentence against the first Guantanamo detainee to have a civilian trial.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Hill

The Hill:

GOP to push for D.C. gay marriage ban — House conservatives say they will pursue legislation that would ban gay marriage in the nation's capital. — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), told The Hill that he will push for a vote on the controversial issue in the 112th Congress.

Discussion: HillBuzz.org, Outside the Beltway, Lez Get Real, Pam's House Blend, Wonk Room, AMERICAblog Gay, The Moderate Voice and Balloon Juice

Alex Wagner / Politics Daily:

House Approves Spending Cuts in Largely Symbolic Vote … In a highly partisan vote, the House passed 256 to 165 a nonbinding measure to block additional government spending and reduce the federal budget to pre-stimulus 2008 levels. — The bill also would give Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) …

Discussion: The Hill and The Daily Caller

Lisa Mascaro / Los Angeles Times:
Republicans wrestle with dissent on budget cuts

Discussion: The Agonist

Teri Buhl / The Atlantic Online:

E-mails Show Bear Stearns Cheated Clients Out of Billions — Lawsuit alleges the bank took extreme measures to defraud investors, and now JPMorgan may be on the hook Former Bear Stearns mortgage executives who now run mortgage divisions of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America …

Discussion: The Big Picture

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

“History tells us” something that history doesn't tell us, say sociologists stumbling to protect Frances Fox Piven. — Here's the expression of “outrage” by the officers of the American Sociological Association: … So vigorous debate about Piven's ideas is really important …

Discussion: Instapundit, The Wire, Don Surber, Daily Pundit, American Power, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Anchoress and Pajamas Media

Ross McGuinness / Metro.co.uk:

Dentist uses sexy dresses to distract patients — Advanced drugs can cure many ills, new technology can revolutionise surgery but sometimes a low-cut, sorry lo-tech, solution is all you need - one dentist has bought herself and her ten nurses tight-fitting, cleavage-maximising dresses to distract worried patients while they work.

Discussion: The Daily Caller and JammieWearingFool

Reuters:

Financial Crisis Commission Finds Cause For Prosecution Of Wall Street — The bipartisan panel appointed by Congress to investigate the financial crisis has concluded that several financial industry figures appear to have broken the law and has referred multiple cases to state or federal authorities …

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, New York Times, Reuters, Wonk Room, Corrente, naked capitalism, Sunlight Foundation Blog and Calculated Risk

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Not The U.N.'s Most Helpful Employee — It turns out that “Palestine expert” on the UN Human Rights Council, the law professor Richard Falk, is something of a 9/11 Truther (sorry, Troofer). Here is what Falk had to say about 9/11 on his blog: … This has brought forth a strong condemnation …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hot Air and The Washington Note