memeorandum: Cedarville 2nd Graders Shown Racial Slur-Laced Martin Luther King Video (5NEWSOnline.com)

12:30 PM ET, January 23, 2015

Top Items:

Obama to Netanyahu: Stop pushing Congress toward new sanctions on Iran - Diplomacy and Defense — Obama, Biden and Kerry would shun Israeli prime minister during his visit to Washington on March; ‘Netanyahu spat in our face. There will be a price,’ U.S. official says.

Discussion: Hot Air, Wall Street Journal, Antiwar.com Original, “The Lid”, Talking Points Memo, Patterico's Pontifications, Balloon Juice, Israel Matzav, National Review and Telegraph

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

The Times of Israel:

Netanyahu ‘spat in our face,’ White House officials say — Incensed diplo-speak makes way for anger over PM's uncoordinated Congress address, as Washington promises premier will pay a price — The White House's outrage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to speak before Congress in March …

Discussion: Truth Revolt and The PJ Tatler

Russell Berman / The Atlantic Online:
Will Democrats Spoil Obama's Trade Initiatives?

Discussion: msnbc.com

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

Discussion: The Hill

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:

GOP strategist with Iowa ties joins Team Scott Walker — The team that is building Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's political organization for a possible presidential campaign has brought on a GOP strategist with Iowa ties: David Polyansky. — Polyansky, a Texan who played senior roles …

Discussion: The Hill, Washington Monthly, National Review, JSOnline, Fox News, Political Wire and Prairie Weather

James Hohmann / Politico:

Steve King for a day — Democrats seize on an event being hosted by immigration lightning rod Steve King. — Democrats are looking to turn a weekend event in Iowa being hosted by immigration lightning rod Steve King into a spectacle that sets the GOP further back with Latinos ahead of the 2016 campaign.

New York Times:
Conservative Gathering in Iowa Offers Platform to Several Possible 2016 Contenders

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show and National Review

New York Times:

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

Wall Street Journal:
Saudi King's Death Clouds Already Tense Relationship With U.S.

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

Associated Press:
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah dead at 90

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, CANNONFIRE, Reuters and FOX News Radio

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

Discussion: The Daily Beast, The Great Debate, Hot Air, Guardian, The Dish, Business Insider, Gawker, The Huffington Post and The Daily Caller

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: Christian Science Monitor, Business Insider, The PJ Tatler, Booman Tribune, Israel Matzav, OnPolitics, Naked Politics, Associated Press, Hot Air, Washington Times and Shakesville

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: The Dish, Talking Points Memo, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Times, Mediaite and National Journal, more at Mediagazer »

Nick Bryant / Gawker:

Flight Logs Put Clinton, Dershowitz on Pedophile Billionaire's Sex Jet — Bill Clinton took repeated trips on the “Lolita Express”—the private passenger jet owned by billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein—with an actress in softcore porn movies whose name appears in Epstein's address book under an entry for …

Discussion: RedState, The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit, iotwreport.com, Raw Story and CBS Philly

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: Politico, Gawker, Weekly Standard and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

5NEWSOnline.com:

Cedarville 2nd Graders Shown Racial Slur-Laced Martin Luther King Video … CEDARVILLE (KFSM) - Cedarville school administrators say they are trying to figure out what to do after second-graders were shown an inappropriate video about Martin Luther King, Jr., that includes several instances of racial slurs and inappropriate language.

Discussion: Raw Story, FreakOutNation and Addicting Info

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.

Tracy Walsh / Talking Points Memo:

Glenn Beck To Pope Francis: I Need To Teach You About Capitalism — Conservative talk-show host Glenn Beck said Thursday that he wants to give Pope Francis a lesson in free-market economics. — Speaking on “The Glenn Beck Program” on his own network The Blaze, Beck said the pope's experiences …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

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: Firedoglake, BillMoyers.com, The Other McCain, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Boing Boing, Gawker, Hit & Run and The Agonist, more at Mediagazer »

Sarah Wheaton / Politico:

Rape controversies return to haunt GOP — Party still struggles over abortion language. — “I believe our heart is in the right place, and we're standing up for what is right. But I think in order to be able to have that conversation with the American people, we have always got …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Washington Post

Department of Homeland Security:

DHS Releases 2014 Travel and Trade Statistics — WASHINGTON—DHS today released its 2014 year-end comprehensive travel and trade-related statistics from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). — “DHS employees stand on the front lines protecting …

Discussion: Politico, The TSA Blog and NPR

Jason Howerton / TheBlaze.com:

Sarah Palin on New GOP Majority: 'It's Not Just the New England Patriots Who Are Dealing with Deflated Balls' — Editor's Note: — TheBlaze's coverage of the SHOT Show is sponsored by CDNN Sports and the U.S. Concealed Carry Association. — LAS VEGAS — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin declined …

Discussion: Truth Revolt, Addicting Info, TPNN and Mediaite

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

Top Republican Senator Explains Why The Supreme Court Challenge To Obamacare Is Garbage — Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is one of six Republican senators who joined an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to gut one of the core provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Fox's Kurtz: Obama YouTube Interview Was ‘Beneath the Dignity of the Office’ — President Obama did an interview earlier today with three very popular YouTube celebrities. The press corps was somewhat flabbergasted by this, given the president's reticence to engage with them more.

Discussion: Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Hit & Run, FreakOutNation and Washington Free Beacon, more at Mediagazer »

Reuters:

U.S. pulls more staff from Yemen embassy amid deepening crisis — (Reuters) - The United States has pulled more staff out of its embassy in Yemen, U.S. officials said on Thursday as Washington scrambled to cope with the collapse of a government that had been a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda.

Discussion: Hot Air, The PJ Tatler and CBS News