memeorandum: Virginia Senate Sneaks Through Gerrymandering Bill While Country Watches Inauguration (Annie-Rose Strasser/ThinkProgress)

3:20 AM ET, January 22, 2013

Top Items:

Obama's Startling Second Inaugural — This was the most sustainedly “progressive” statement Barack Obama has made in his decade on the national stage. — I was expecting an anodyne tone-poem about healing national wounds, surmounting partisanship, and so on.

Discussion: Wonkblog, The New Republic, The Democratic Daily, ProfessorBainbridge.com, CANNONFIRE, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Hullabaloo, The Hinterland Gazette, No More Mister Nice Blog and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

New York Times:

Obama's Second Inaugural Speech — The following is a transcript of President Obama's second inaugural speech: — MR. OBAMA: Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, Members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: — Each time we gather to inaugurate a president …

Discussion: Esquire, Daniel W. Drezner, Taylor Marsh, Power Line, Talking Points Memo, The Reality-Based Community, CNN, Firedoglake, Weekly Standard, Little Green Footballs and Gawker

Kevin Robillard / Politico:

First inaugural use of the word ‘gay’ — President Barack Obama on Monday became the first president to use the word “gay” in an inaugural address in reference to sexual orientation, making two references to gay rights as he began his second term. — “Our journey is not complete until …

Discussion: The Fix, ABCNEWS, Weasel Zippers, Truthdig, The Atlantic Online, New York Magazine, Reuters, ABCNEWS, Associated Press and CNN

Washington Post:
President Obama's second inaugural address (Transcript)

Discussion: PostPartisan, The Fix, News Desk, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, The Hinterland Gazette and National Review

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online:
Obama's Second Inaugural

Discussion: Guardian

Zack Ford / ThinkProgress:
How Obama Made His Second Inaugural Address A Landmark Moment For LGBT Equality

Discussion: Addicting Info and The Agonist

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Obama Lays Out Liberal Vision at Inauguration

Discussion: Reuters, Outside the Beltway, CNN, Guardian, Talking Points Memo, Los Angeles Times and American Power

President Barack Obama / The Atlantic Wire:
Read and Watch Obama's Second Inaugural Address

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Agonist, Blue Virginia and Spectator

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:

Virginia Senate Sneaks Through Gerrymandering Bill While Country Watches Inauguration — While the eyes of the nation were turned toward President Barack Obama's second inauguration on Monday, the Virginia State Senate managed to hurriedly pass a bill that would redistrict the state's senate seats.

Discussion: Gin and Tacos, The PJ Tatler and Balloon Juice

Lowkell / Blue Virginia:

BREAKING: While Dems Distracted by Inauguration, Virginia Senate GOP Stages a Coup — You don't get more slimy, sneaky, underhanded, etc. than this (great work by Ben Tribbett alerting us to what was going on in the following series of Facebook updates): — “Wow- Republicans in the Virginia Senate …

Discussion: Mercury Rising, Daily Kos and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Virginia GOP Pulls ‘Dirty Trick’ On Inauguration Day — Democrats in Virginia are accusing state Republicans of taking advantage of a prominent civil rights leader's trip to Washington for the presidential inauguration to pull a “dirty trick” in order to take control of the state Senate in the 2015 elections.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Jawa Report and Discourse.net

Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Va. Republicans push through rewrite of Senate districts — Senate Republicans this afternoon pushed through a surprise rewrite of the 2011 redistricting plan that erases a Democratic seat in western Virginia and creates a sixth majority black district that would be located between Petersburg and Danville.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette

Ben Shapiro / BREITBART.COM:

EXCLUSIVE: MARK LEVIN'S INAUGURAL DAY MESSAGE— FIGHT! — As President Barack Obama prepares for his inauguration, Breitbart News sat down with radio talk show host Mark Levin, the bestselling author of the blockbusters Liberty and Tyranny, Ameritopia, Men in Black, and Rescuing Sprite.

Discussion: Doug Ross

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:

Obama Becomes A “Great” President — And Republicans start looking for ways to embrace him. Liberals should be prepared to lose him. — Image by Pool / Reuters — This time about 12 years from now, President Tagg Romney will, with a mixture of exasperation and amusement …

Discussion: Gawker, Washington Examiner, nation.foxnews.com and The Daily Dish

U.S. News:

Where's Mitt? In warm, sunny California — It's chilly on the Capitol steps today, but that's no problem for Mitt Romney. — The former Republican presidential contender is spending Inauguration Day at his home in La Jolla, Calif., where it's sunny with a forecasted high of 73 degrees.

Discussion: TBogg, New York Magazine, Addicting Info and National Review

Aliyah Frumin / msnbc.com:
Where in the world is Mitt Romney? (Hint: Not in D.C.)

Discussion: Mediaite and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Matt Hadro / NewsBusters:

Giddy CNN Correspondent: ‘I Feel Like I Should Pinch Myself Right Now’ — CNN correspondent Jim Acosta was positively giddy while covering President Obama's inauguration parade on Monday afternoon, and didn't hold back his feelings on-air. — “You know, I feel like I should pinch myself right now, Wolf.

Discussion: NewsBusters, American Power, Michelle Malkin, The Other McCain, The Lonely Conservative, NewsBusters blogs and Poor Richard's News

Michael Falcone / ABCNEWS:

Colin Powell Slams ‘Idiot Presentations’ by Some Republicans, Urges GOP Leaders to ‘Speak Out’ — In an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos during ABC's special inauguration day coverage this morning, former Secretary of State Colin Powell lashed out at people …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and ABCNEWS

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

Teenager Accidentally Kills Brother While Playing With Mother's Gun — A 14-year-old in Henry County, Georgia unintentionally shot and killed his 15-year-old brother early Saturday morning while playing with his mother's gun, according to police. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wall Street Journal:

Support Grows for Roe v. Wade — Seven in 10 Americans believe Roe v. Wade should stand, according to new data from a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, as the landmark Supreme Court abortion-rights ruling turns 40 on Tuesday. — That is the highest level of support for the decision …

Discussion: American Power

Bloomberg:

Obama's Bogus Journey — By Ramesh Ponnuru 2013-01-21T22:26:38Z — The world will little note nor long remember anything President Barack Obama said in his second inaugural address; still less will it remember any of the gushing encomiums his admirers in the press reliably produce …

Discussion: Brad DeLong

Daily Mail:

Wanted: ‘Adventurous woman’ to give birth to Neanderthal man - Harvard professor seeks mother for cloned cave baby — His ambitious plan requires a human volunteer willing to allow the DNA to be put into stem cells, then a human embryo — They're usually thought of as a brutish, primitive species.

Discussion: Maggie's Farm, Addicting Info, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Althouse, Forbes and Mediaite

Philip Klein / Washington Examiner:

Two lines that sum up Obama's presidency … President Obama's Second Inaugural Address was devoid of memorable lines, but for me, two of them jumped out: “We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief …

Discussion: Hot Air, Business Insider, The National Memo and Patterico's Pontifications

Caitlin McDevitt / Reuters:

Joan Rivers: First lady's new 'do is a 'don't' — Hollywood fashion critic Joan Rivers does not approve of first lady Michelle Obama's newly cut bangs. — “Today starts President Obama's next four years in the White House,” Rivers tweeted Monday. “Let's hope the same isn't true about the first lady's new hairdo.”

Discussion: Addicting Info

Manu Raju / Politico:

Lunching with frienemies: A taste of bipartisanship — Maybe it was the lobster tails — or the sparkling wine. — But for a few brief moments on Monday, President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans actually seemed to enjoy each other's company over an elaborate three-course lunch …

Discussion: CNN