memeorandum: Puppy killed when used as weapon by man in beating of girlfriend in Kalamazoo (Rex Hall Jr/MLive.com)

2:45 PM ET, January 21, 2015

Top Items:

The White House / Medium:

President Obama's State of the Union Address—Remarks As Prepared for Delivery — There is a ritual on State of the Union night in Washington. A little before the address, the White House sends out an embargoed copy of the President's speech to the press (embargoed means that the press can see the speech …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Firedoglake, Yahoo! News, Slate, The Atlantic Online, The New Republic, theGrio, No More Mister Nice Blog, RedState, TPNN, US News, Climate Etc., Bloomberg View, Advocate, Guardian, Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Washington Post, RH Reality Check, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Glittering Eye, Mashable, Hit & Run, BuzzFeed, Mondoweiss, ThinkProgress, The Huffington Post, Taylor Marsh, Poynter, The Week, Shakesville, Outside the Beltway, Bloomberg Politics, Crux, USA Today, The Daily Caller, Scared Monkeys, Feministing, Addicting Info, Engadget, Daily Signal, ImmigrationProf Blog, The Verge, Gigaom, NBC News, Bold Nebraska, BillMoyers.com, Politico, Gawker, Power Line, Hinterland Gazette, Esquire, White House.gov Blog, Washington Monthly, Weekly Standard and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, more at Mediagazer »

Ezra Klein / Vox:

The most important sentence in Obama's 2015 State of the Union — 1) The most striking sentence in President Obama's 2015 State of the Union came near the start: “Tonight, we turn the page.” — 2) It is the seventh year of Obama's presidency. But it's the first in which the economy is no longer in crisis.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Barack Obama's disconnected, out-of-touch, in-denial State of the Union — Perhaps the most striking thing about the 2015 State of the Union address was not the president at the podium but the audience in the seats. The joint session of Congress listening to President Obama Tuesday night …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, Hot Air and Bloomberg Politics

John Podhoretz / New York Post: A fantasy for tweens: Obama's State of the Union Address

The White House:
Remarks by the President in State of the Union Address | January 20, 2015

Discussion: Inside Higher Ed, Bloomberg View, Hit & Run, USA Today, The Huffington Post, Power Line, Colorlines and Just Security

CNN:
CNN/ORC Poll: SOTU more popular than last year

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Huffington Post and The Week

Washington Post:
Transcript: Obama's State of the Union address 2015

Discussion: Power Line and Informed Comment

New York Times:
At the State of the Union, a President Outgunned in Congress Is Still Combative

Discussion: Washington Post, The Moderate Voice, Firedoglake and The Week

Emily Atkin / ThinkProgress:

Republicans Post Doctored Version Of State Of The Union, Censor Facts On Climate Change — House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). — CREDIT: AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File — The official website for House Republicans has posted on YouTube a doctored version of President Obama's State …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Raw Story and Daily Kos

Jake Sherman / Politico:

Boehner invites Netanyahu to speak to Congress — The speaker says he didn't consult with the White House. — Speaker John Boehner has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to a joint session of Congress about Iran next month, a move sure to inflame the Obama administration …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Associated Press, National Journal, The Daily Banter, The Week, Truth Revolt, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Guardian

Donna Cassata / Associated Press:

Rebuffing President Barack Obama on Iran, House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday he had invited Israel's prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress next month about the threats from Tehran and radical Islam. — The Republican leader released a letter extending the invitation to Benjamin Netanyahu for Feb. 11.

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, ThinkProgress, Washington Post, Balloon Juice, ABC News and Hot Air

Jim Rutenberg / New York Times:

The Megyn Kelly Moment — On a gray Wednesday in November, the Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly and four producers gathered around a conference table on the 17th floor of the News Corporation building in Manhattan. They were there to plan the 281st episode of “The Kelly File,” …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Mediaite, TVNewser, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine and Jezebel, more at Mediagazer »

Chris Mortensen / ESPN:

11 of 12 Pats footballs underinflated — The NFL has found that 11 of the New England Patriots' 12 game balls were inflated significantly below the NFL's requirements, league sources involved and familiar with the investigation of Sunday's AFC Championship Game told ESPN.

Discussion: USA Today, Mashable, ProFootballTalk, The Daily Caller, Bloomberg View, Balloon Juice, Althouse, BostonGlobe.com, New York Post, U-T San Diego stories, WISH-TV and WTVR-TV

Adam B. Lerner / Politico:

Rep. Steve King decries ‘deportable’ in Michelle Obama's balcony — Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) railed against President Obama via Twitter only hours before this Tuesday's State of the Union speech, referring to an undocumented immigrant scheduled to sit with the first lady during the speech as “a deportable.”

Discussion: ABC News, The Hill and Religion News Service

Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal:
Obama Snubs Calls for Campaign Finance Curbs

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Daily Beast

Jeff Shesol / New Yorker:
Will the Roberts Court Strike Down Another Campaign-Finance Law?

Discussion: msnbc.com, Constitutional Law Prof Blog, Associated Press, USA Today and Election Law Blog

Cristina Marcos / The Hill:

Joni Ernst goes folksy in GOP response — Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) focused on the GOP's policy priorities for the new Congress, rather than making a direct response to President Obama's proposals, in her party's official response Tuesday night. — Ernst, a freshman senator who just won election …

Discussion: Des Moines Register, US News, ABC News and Politico

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Full Text of Republican Response to State of the Union

Discussion: FreakOutNation, Vox, The Daily Caller, Daily Kos, Raw Story, Twitchy, Mediaite and Scared Monkeys

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
On terrorism, the State of the Union is strangely quiet

Discussion: Gallup, Reuters and New York Times

Rex Hall Jr / MLive.com:

Puppy killed when used as weapon by man in beating of girlfriend in Kalamazoo — KALAMAZOO, MI - In November, Timothy Tucker punched his girlfriend in the face and then pummeled her with the couple's two-week-old puppy to the point that the small animal defecated on the woman and died.

Discussion: Raw Story, KTLA and Addicting Info

Greg Bluestein / Political Insider blog:

Nathan Deal's mysterious overseas adventure — Gov. Nathan Deal skipped town over the weekend for an economic development trip. Just where he went is being treated like a state secret. — Gov. Nathan Deal/AJC file — His office won't disclose where the state's top elected official journeyed or whom he visited.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Politico, Gawker and Hinterland Gazette

Kate Connolly / Guardian:

Photograph of Germany's Pegida leader styled as Adolf Hitler goes viral — Lutz Bachmann, said by German intelligence services to be a target for Islamist terrorists, posted the picture on Facebook — A photograph of the leader of a growing “anti-Islamisation” movement in Germany styled …

Discussion: Reuters and The Dish

Michael Falcone / ABC News:

Joe Biden Reveals ‘There Is A Chance’ He Would Challenge Hillary Clinton … With the 2016 presidential election season heating up and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton considered the presumptive front-runner for the Democratic nomination if she decides to jump into the race …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, Washington Post, The Huffington Post and New York Times

Brendan James / Talking Points Memo:

Santorum: The Pope Is ‘Difficult To Listen To’ Sometimes — Ex-senator and onetime GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum has nearly reached his wits end after yet another statement by Pope Francis that has rankled conservatives. — In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday …

Emily DeVoe / WECT-TV:

Veteran slammed with nasty note for parking in reserved spot — When Mary Claire Caine walked outside after finishing her routine grocery trip to Harris Teeter Friday, she couldn't believe what she found plastered to the front window of her car. — As a veteran of the Air Force who served …

Discussion: Raw Story, Telegraph and Addicting Info

Mark Walsh / SCOTUSblog:

View from the Courtroom: Disruption from the gallery on 5th anniversary of Citizens United — A handful of spectators disrupted the opening of Wednesday morning's Supreme Court session by rising one by one from their seats to shout protests over the Citizens United decision and other populist themes …

Discussion: Right Now

Sharon Cotliar / People.com:

Chelsea Clinton Shares Her Mommy Routines with Baby Charlotte (VIDEO) — New mom Chelsea Clinton talks about bonding with her baby Charlotte - “I'm so happy being a mom” - and shares why she's so passionate about talking, reading and singing to her baby, in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE …

Discussion: OnPolitics, Politico, Washington Post and The Other McCain

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

A Tale of Two Pegs — I'm still in Hong Kong, and there's a curious discussion here about the upward collapse of Switzerland's peg to the euro. You see, by the numbers Switzerland's monetary situation pre-collapse and Hong Kong's now look remarkably similar.

Discussion: Marginal REVOLUTION

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

The remarkable confidence of Barack Obama — Seventy seven days ago, Barack Obama's party lost control of Congress — largely due to his unpopularity nationwide. You'd have never known it watching the president deliver his sixth State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night.

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine and Mediaite

Emily Heil / Washington Post:

Another SOTU, another nap for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needs to buy colleagues Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy some drinks — or maybe a cup of coffee, spiked with Red Bull. — The pair sat flanking the 81-year-old justice during President Obama's State …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, American Spectator, RedState and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:

Obama Is Finally Having the Reagan Moment He Dreamed About for Years — These are lines President Barack Obama hoped to deliver years ago. — “The verdict is clear,” he said in Tuesday night's State of the Union address. “Middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works.