memeorandum: Ramadi Grapples With Scars of War After Its Return to Iraqi Hands (Ben Hubbard/New York Times)

2:45 AM ET, January 8, 2016

Top Items:

Randy Billings / The Portland Press Herald:

LePage makes racially charged comment at Bridgton meeting — A Republican critic of the governor calls the remark during a town hall meeting with residents Wednesday ‘one of the most offensive statements yet from this Governor.’ — Gov. Paul LePage made a racially charged comment in Bridgton …

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Banter, New York Times, The Week, Little Green Footballs, addictinginfo.org, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Mashable, No More Mister Nice Blog and Balloon Juice

Alan Pyke / ThinkProgress:

Governor Delivers Racist Rant At Public Meeting — Drug dealers with stereotypically black names are importing heroin to Maine and leaving pregnant white women behind when they leave the state again, Gov. Paul LePage (R) told a town hall meeting on Wednesday.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Guardian and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Ldutson / Get Right:
LePage: “These types of guys” impregnating white women in Maine

Discussion: WABI-TV

WRTV-TV:

Trooper prays with driver upset over his daughter's cancer diagnosis — BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It can be stressful enough to see a police car behind you, but imagine getting pulled over after learning your child is dying from cancer. — Rodney Gibson was driving on SR 37 in Monroe County Monday …

Discussion: fox8.com, WTVR-TV and fox13now.com

Avianne Tan / ABC News:

Indiana Cop Brings Speeding Driver to Tears With Prayer Rather Than Ticket — A speeding truck driver was recently surprised by the kindness of an Indiana state police officer who chose to pray with him rather than ticket him. — Rodney Gibson said he was so upset this past Monday …

Discussion: The Last Tradition

David French / National Review:

It's a Bad Day for the Clintons When Vox Fairly Explains the Rape Allegation Against Bill — I must admit, when I clicked this morning on Vox's “explainer” of Juanita Broaddrick's rape allegation against Bill Clinton, I expected a whitewash. I was wrong. Not only did Dylan Matthews …

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo and Vox

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:
From Whitewater to Benghazi: A Clinton Scandal Primer

Discussion: USA Today, Associated Press, RedState, Politico and New York Times

Kendall Breitman / Bloomberg Business:

Cruz: McCain Questions Citizenship Because He Secretly Backs Rubio — The Texas senator's rebuttal comes hours after McCain said during a Phoenix radio interview that Cruz's birth abroad and his eligibility to become president is “worth looking into.” — Ted Cruz responded to John McCain questioning …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Breitbart, The Atlantic, Washington Post, RedState, BuzzFeed, WORLD, Politico, Hot Air, CNN and The Daily Caller

Steven Nelson / Associated Press:

Congressman Readies Ted Cruz Eligibility Lawsuit With Eye on Mom — A Florida Democrat and some Obama “birthers” agree about Cruz. — Yo mama so Canadian? Ted Cruz says he's eligible for the presidency, but others disagree. — Billionaire businessman Donald Trump suggested this week …

Discussion: Washington Post, Bloomberg Business, Breitbart, Slate, U.S. News, BuzzFeed, Hot Air, US News, Mediaite, Power Line and Talking Points Memo

Jonah Goldberg / Townhall.com:

The Term ‘Neocon’ has Run its Course — In interviews and on the stump, Sen. Ted Cruz likes to attack President Obama, Hillary Clinton and “some of the more aggressive Washington neocons” for their support of regime change in the Middle East. — Every time we topple a dictator, Cruz argues …

Discussion: LewRockwell

Rich Lowry / Politico:

Ted Cruz Is Nixon, Not Goldwater — The lazy conventional wisdom is that Ted Cruz is the new Barry Goldwater doomed to suffer an electoral landslide defeat should he win the Republican nomination. — Not only is this wrong about Cruz's general-election chances, it may compare Cruz to the wrong 20th-century Republican forebear.

Discussion: The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Rush Limbaugh, Bloomberg.com, The Resurgent and New York Times

Ben Schreckinger / Politico:

Trump disrupts Sanders' stronghold — Burlington, Vt. — Donald Trump's Thursday night rally has created the biggest political fracas here since 1981, when in the midst of the Cold War the city elected a socialist mayor named Bernard Sanders. — Ahead of Trump's visit …

Discussion: ABC News

Nik DeCosta-Klipa / Boston Globe:
Watch: Donald Trump supporters tear up 'America's Already Great' sign at Lowell rally

Discussion: Mediaite, Raw Story, Hartford Courant, addictinginfo.org and Joe.My.God.

Barack Obama / New York Times:

Guns Are Our Shared Responsibility — THE epidemic of gun violence in our country is a crisis. Gun deaths and injuries constitute one of the greatest threats to public health and to the safety of the American people. Every year, more than 30,000 Americans have their lives cut short by guns.

Discussion: Power Line, Hollywood Life, Politico, The Daily Caller, NBC News, Business Insider, all, The Week, Moe Lane, Washington Post and Florida Politics

Catherine E. Shoichet / CNN:

Feds arrest two Middle East refugees on terror-related charges — (CNN)U.S. federal authorities arrested two refugees on terror-related charges Thursday. — The arrests in Sacramento and Houston did not appear to be directly related, but the cases had several similarities.

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Sacramento Bee:
Iraqi immigrant arrested in Sacramento, suspected of lying about ties to ISIS

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Jihad Watch

Nathan McDermott / BuzzFeed:

Huckabee: Evangelical Leaders Won't Endorse Me Because I'll “Slay The Dragon” — Mike Huckabee said in an interview on Wednesday that evangelical groups won't support his presidential campaign out of fear they would no longer be able to fundraise if Christian policies were to actually be put in place.

Discussion: Hot Air and RedState

Kyle Mantyla / Right Wing Watch:
A Dejected Mike Huckabee Is Now Just Burning Bridges With The Religious Right

Discussion: Fox News, Raw Story, Booman Tribune, addictinginfo.org and Joe.My.God.

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Exclusive: House Republicans recruited Carson for Speaker — House Republicans reached out to GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson in 2014 about replacing John Boehner as Speaker of the House, Carson told The Hill on Thursday. — “They were looking for an alternative …

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

Des Moines Register:
Last Slide — Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson …

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, Wall Street Journal, addictinginfo.org, Mediaite, Mashable, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Daily Kos and Joe.My.God.

CBC News:

Snowy owl spotted soaring by Montreal traffic camera — White and black-spotted bird spreads its wings against snowy backdrop — Spectacular images of a snowy owl in flight have been captured by Transport Quebec's traffic camera along Montreal's Highway 40.

Discussion: Mashable, WHNT-TV, WGN-TV and WCMH-TV

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:

Donald Trump On Rubio's Boots: “Those Heels Were Really Up There” — “It helps to be tall.” — Donald Trump said Thursday that Marco Rubio might have been better off not rocking the shiny black boots with a heel that has had his opponents cracking jokes all week.

Discussion: Fox News, Politico, Hot Air, Naked Politics, ABC News and Hullabaloo

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Planned Parenthood to give Clinton its first-ever primary endorsement — Planned Parenthood is throwing its support behind Hillary Clinton, delivering what will be the organization's first-ever endorsement in a presidential primary. — “Let's be clear — reproductive rights and health …

Discussion: Truth Revolt, Progressives Today, ABC News, RedState and BizPac Review

Amy Chozick / New York Times:
Planned Parenthood, In Its First Primary Endorsement, Backs Hillary Clinton

Discussion: LifeNews.com, CBS News, Towleroad, Mother Jones and The Week

Eliza Collins / Politico:

Bush declines 4 times to commit to endorsing Trump — Jeb Bush ripped Donald Trump as an “isolationist” in a radio interview on Thursday, and repeatedly declined to support him if he's the Republican nominee. — “Trump is an isolationist. And I think it's dangerous in this world.

Bloomberg Business: Greenberg's Big Donation to Bush Super-PAC Was Made ‘Months Ago’

Tricia Bishop / Baltimore Sun:

Do you know the gun owners in your circle? … It's inevitable when my husband and I visit family these days that the subject of violence in Baltimore comes up. Often, I'm the one who raises it. But when it came up last week on a trip to see my parents in Georgia, I got my back up.

Discussion: New York Times, twitchy.com, Hot Air, Progressives Today and The Liberty Zone

Joshua Brustein / Bloomberg Business:

U.S. Marshals Raid Hoverboard Booth at CES — The maker of the Onewheel electric skateboard called in federal marshals to shut down the booth of a company making a similar product. — On Thursday afternoon, two U.S. federal marshals showed up at the Consumer Electronics Show to conduct a raid.

Discussion: Business Insider, Engadget, The Verge and Gizmodo

Wall Street Journal:

Missing U.S. Missile Shows Up in Cuba — Inert Hellfire missile sent to Europe for a training exercise makes mysterious trip, sparking concerns over loss of military technology — An inert U.S. Hellfire missile sent to Europe for training purposes was wrongly shipped from there to Cuba in 2014 …

Discussion: MichelleMalkin.com and Washington Times

Jason Hancock / Kansas City Star:

Missouri bill defines sex between lobbyists, lawmakers as a gift — Lobbyists would have to disclose sexual relations with a lawmaker or their staff to the Ethics Commission — The 2016 Legislative session began Wednesday … JEFFERSON CITY — Lobbyists who have sex with a Missouri lawmaker …

Discussion: Columbia Daily Tribune, addictinginfo.org, RedState, Nashville Scene, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Political Wire, The Week, Washington Free Beacon and Moe Lane

Alex Belth / Esquire:

The Candidate We Love to Hate and Hate to Love — Hillary Clinton has changed greatly over the past twenty-five years of public service, as First Lady, then Senator, then Secretary of State, and now presidential front-runner. No one has tracked that evolution more closely …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

New York Times:

52 Places to Go in 2016 — A metropolis that has it all. — An ancient wine region gets a stunning update. — The Mediterranean on a dime. — Visit the U.S. Virgin Island's quiet corner before big development. — A century of protecting America's magnificence.

Discussion: WOOD-TV, City Desk and CBS Detroit

Anahad O'Connor / New York Times:

New Dietary Guidelines Urge Less Sugar for All and Less Protein for Boys and Men — New federal dietary guidelines announced on Thursday urge Americans to drastically cut back on sugar, and for the first time have singled out teenage boys and men for eating too much meat.

Discussion: Tech Insider and Gizmodo

Betsy Hammond / Oregonian:

Supreme Court already ruled that feds rightly own occupied refuge — After a night of paranoia over rumors that warrants were out for the arrest of militants who have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Ammon Bundy and his group backed off the warrant claims and said they have evidence …