memeorandum: House Passes Bill to Completely Ban Taxpayer Funding of Abortions (Steven Ertelt/LifeNews.com)

10:00 AM ET, January 23, 2015

Top Items:

King Abdullah, a Shrewd Force Who Reshaped Saudi Arabia, Dies at 90 — King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who came to the throne in old age and earned a reputation as a cautious reformer even as the Arab Spring revolts toppled heads of state and Islamic State militants threatened the Muslim establishment …

Discussion: Hit & Run, Guardian, The Intercept, NPR, Politico, The White House, New York Magazine, Outside the Beltway and Business Insider

Associated Press:

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah dead at 90 — Saudi King Abdullah speaks before a meeting in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia on June 27, 2014. — RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi state TV says King Abdullah, the powerful U.S. ally who joined Washington's fight against al-Qaida and sought to modernize the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom has died.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE and FOX News Radio

Wall Street Journal:

Saudi King's Death Clouds Already Tense Relationship With U.S. — Decision-Making in Riyadh Could Become More Cautious, Collective — U.S. officials worry that the death of Saudi King Abdullah ushers in a period of new uncertainty in a key relationship that already was tense.

Discussion: New York Times, The Hugh Hewitt Show, “The Lid”, Fox News and NPR

Washington Post:
Saudi King Abdullah's death sets up complex succession process

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Business Insider, Gawker, The Daily Caller and The Huffington Post

Angus McDowall / Reuters:
Saudi King Abdullah dies, new ruler is Salman

Discussion: Business Insider and The PJ Tatler

Jonathan Karl / ABC News:

EXCLUSIVE: Marco Rubio Moves Toward 2016 Presidential Bid … Sen. Marco Rubio has begun taking concrete steps toward launching a presidential bid, asking his top advisors to prepare for a campaign, signing on a leading Republican fundraiser, and planning extensive travel to early-voting states in the coming weeks, ABC News has learned.

Discussion: Israel Matzav, OnPolitics, Associated Press, Hot Air and Naked Politics

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
Three GOP Presidential Hopefuls to Appear on Panel Moderated by ABC's Jonathan Karl

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Times, Hot Air and ABC News

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

A Republic of Disrespect — America's partisan divisions spread to international relations. — It's odd in Washington now. There's a lot of claiming of authority and no taking of responsibility. — The president gave his State of the Union address, and of course the TV ratings were bad …

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Julie Pace / ABC News:
Obama to Pass on Meeting Netanyahu During Washington Visit

Discussion: The Hill

Susan Heavey / Reuters:
U.S.'s Kerry, like Obama, will not meet with Israel's Netanyahu during visit

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

A Scorsese Documentary on Bill Clinton Is Stalled — Martin Scorsese has tackled the mob, the Dalai Lama and the real-life Wolf of Wall Street. — But Mr. Scorsese appears to have met his match in Bill Clinton. — The filmmaker's partly finished documentary about Mr. Clinton …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, Mediaite and Washington Free Beacon

Steven Ertelt / LifeNews.com:

House Passes Bill to Completely Ban Taxpayer Funding of Abortions — The House today approved legislation that will put in place a complete ban on taxpayer funding of abortions that ensures abortions are not directly funded in any federal governmental program or department.

Discussion: Women of Grace, The Daily Caller and The Gateway Pundit

Jennifer Bendery / The Huffington Post:
Republicans Include Tax Hike In Latest Abortion Bill

Discussion: Daily Kos, Washington Post and PoliticusUSA

Laura Bassett / The Huffington Post:
House Passes Anti-Abortion Bill On Anniversary Of Roe v. Wade

Discussion: Truth Revolt and Daily Kos

Gabriel Sherman / New York Magazine:

People Are Talking About Michael Bloomberg Buying the New York Times, Including Michael Bloomberg — If the former mayor tries, it won't be without its challenges. — Shares — For years now, it has been speculated in media circles that Mike Bloomberg could be a white knight and save the New York Times.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, more at Mediagazer »

New York Times:

After Arrest, New York Speaker Sheldon Silver Should Step Down — As astonishing as it was to see Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the New York Assembly, surrender to the F.B.I. on corruption charges this morning, it is even more incredible that he can choose to go on serving in his job …

Discussion: Gothamist

New York Times: After Sheldon Silver's Arrest, Predicting ‘Chaos’ in Albany Power Balance

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Inside The GOP Meltdown On Abortion And Rape — Tens of thousands of Americans descended on Washington for the annual March For Life on Thursday only to see House Republicans melt down over their signature issue: abortion. — A symbolic messaging bill to ban abortion after 20 weeks …

Discussion: The Other McCain, neo-neocon, ThinkProgress, BuzzFeed, Washington Post and Washington Examiner

David Weigel / Bloomberg Politics:
Anti-Abortion Activists Rise Up Against House Republicans' ‘Pain-Capable’ Fumble

Discussion: Washington Post, Hot Air, LifeNews.com, NPR, National Review, Bloomberg, Washington Times, RedState, Religion News Service, Daily Kos, Fusion, Jezebel, The Other McCain and Outside the Beltway

Russell Berman / The Atlantic Online:

Will Democrats Spoil Obama's Trade Initiatives? — There's at least one big piece of President Obama's agenda where Republicans aren't his problem—Democrats are. — For years, GOP leaders have practically begged the president to make an aggressive push for new trade deals …

Discussion: msnbc.com

David Edwards / Raw Story:

GOP rep.: Keep minimum wage low ‘for minorities’ who aren't worth more than $7 an hour — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock said on Thursday that the minimum wage should not be raised because low pay was necessary for minorities …

Discussion: Daily Kos, New York Times and Balloon Juice

Mario Draghi / ECB:

Introductory statement to the press conference (with Q&A) — Jump to the transcript of the questions and answers — Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-President and I are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. Let me wish you all a Happy New Year.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Business Insider, Bloomberg View, Washington Post, Calculated Risk and NPR

Nicky Woolf / Guardian:

Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months for ‘merely linking to hacked material’ — The journalist and former Anonymous member is also ordered to pay nearly $900,000 in what he calls a ‘dangerous precedent’ for indicting hacktivists — In a rebuke to a legion of online supporters …

Discussion: Ghosts of Tom Joad, The Other McCain, Boing Boing, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Gawker, Hit & Run and The Agonist, more at Mediagazer »

Tom Steyer / The Huffington Post:

Tom Steyer … Like all Americans, I care passionately about the American Dream — both the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and also the opportunity for our country to fulfill its promise: to do what's right (whatever it takes) and lead the world.

Discussion: OnPolitics, Washington Free Beacon, Sacramento Bee, Politico, Roll Call, Wall Street Journal, Talking Points Memo, Lawyers, Guns & Money, American Power and New York Times

Ron Fournier / National Journal:

Here's How Hillary Clinton Will Distance Herself From Barack Obama — She may have tipped her hand in a post-State of the Union tweet. — Anybody wondering how Hillary Clinton would distance herself from President Obama in 2016 needs only to parse her post-State of the Union tweet:

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Free Beacon, Hot Air, US News, The Daily Caller and Washington Post

Mark Hemingway / Weekly Standard:

The ‘American Sniper’ Freakout — Why the left can't tolerate this movie. — “So-called ‘sand movies,’ the term Hollywood sometimes uses for films set in Afghanistan and Iraq, have a terrible box office track record,” noted the New York Times. Or rather, they had a terrible box office track record.

Politico:

Watchdog group: Gohmert improperly used campaign funds — A liberal watchdog group has filed an ethics complaint against Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert alleging that he improperly used campaign funds to cover his expenses from a recent trip to London. — In a filing with the Office …