memeorandum: Votes tabulated over controversial seal, as The Daily Show visits the Village of Whitesboro (Skyler Srivastava/WKTV-TV)

1:40 PM ET, January 12, 2016

Top Items:

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Obama, Democrats at odds before State of the Union address — Tensions between liberal Democrats and President Obama are bubbling up as the president heads to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to deliver his final State of the Union address to a restless Congress.

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Bloomberg Business, Taylor Marsh and Hot Air

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:

President Obama on Donald Trump: ‘Talk to me if he wins’ — President Obama, on the eve of his final State of the Union address, rejected the message Donald Trump has capitalized on in his presidential campaign. — “The message that Donald Trump's putting out has had adherence a lot of times during the course of our history.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, Hot Air, Politico and Political Wire

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Kim Davis to attend State of the Union — The Kentucky clerk briefly jailed last year for refusing to hand out marriage licenses to gay couples is slated to attend President Obama's final State of the Union address, a source has confirmed to The Hill. — Kim Davis will attend Obama's …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Vox, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Post, Hot Air and Daily Kos

Eric Bradner / CNN:

Obama goes it alone in his last State of the Union — What to Watch for in Obama's Final State of the Union — Barack Obama's final State of the Union won't have the traditional laundry list of requests for Congress — Washington (CNN)The White House says President Barack Obama's State …

Discussion: RedState, FIRST FREEDOM and Daily Kos

Paul Bedard / Washington Examiner:

War over gay marriage to play out at SOTU — Share Tweet Reddit Digg Mail Print SMS More — President Obama's effort to stack the audience with those who support his causes at his last State of the Union Address is being rebuffed by conservatives inviting guests that challenged Obamacare and gay marriage.

Discussion: Towleroad, PinkNews, The Week, Mashable, Mediaite, The White House and Joe.My.God.

CBS News:
CBS/NYT Poll: Americans divided on Obama job performance in final year

Discussion: Politico

Deirdre Shesgreen / Cincinnati.com:
Obergefell to be Obama's guest at final State of the Union

Discussion: Right Wing Watch, CNN and Vox

Sean Rayford / Associated Press:
Ben Carson Calls For Investigation Of Muslim Guests Attending State Of The Union

Discussion: Daily Kos

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Balancing Terror and Reality in State of the Union Address

Discussion: FOX News Radio, Washington Free Beacon and Mediaite

Matthew Yglesias / Vox: Obama has a good record to brag about tonight, but people still hate the government

Meredith Shiner / Yahoo Politics:
Obama, with an eye toward history, will give a different kind of State of the Union

Discussion: Politico

CNN:

Biden says Obama offered financial help amid son's illness — Washington (CNN)As his eldest son faced the prospect of resigning as Delaware's attorney general amid health concerns, Vice President Joe Biden received an offer that floored him: financial support from his boss, President Barack Obama.

Discussion: Yahoo Politics, Washington Monthly, Mother Jones, BuzzFeed, NBC News, New York Times, The Week and Mashable

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Trump/Cruz Close in Iowa; Birther Issue Could Hurt Cruz; Sanders Gaining on Clinton — PPP's newest Iowa poll continues to find a very close Republican race in the state- Donald Trump's at 28% to 26% for Ted Cruz, 13% for Marco Rubio, 8% for Ben Carson, and 6% for Jeb Bush.

Discussion: Political Wire and PoliticusUSA

CNN:

Biden praises Sanders on income inequality, calls Clinton ‘relatively new’ to the fight — Washington (CNN)Vice President Joe Biden offered effusive praise for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders Monday, lauding Hillary Clinton's chief rival for doing a “heck of a job” …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Power Line, NBC News, American Spectator, Truth Revolt, Politico and Weekly Standard

New York Times:

Hillary Clinton Races to Close Enthusiasm Gap With Bernie Sanders in Iowa — DES MOINES — Iowa Democrats are displaying far less passion for Hillary Clinton than for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont three weeks before the presidential caucuses, creating anxiety inside the Clinton campaign …

Discussion: Business Insider, Politico, Washington Post, Hullabaloo, Washington Free Beacon, Truth Revolt and Althouse

ABC News:
The Note: Trump, Clinton Trade Insults

Discussion: Yahoo Politics

Los Angeles Times:

Supreme Court conservatives appear ready to overturn mandatory union fees — People participate in a Jan. 11 rally at the Supreme Court in Washington as the justices heard arguments in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Assn. — Reporting from Washington

Discussion: Washington Post, USA Today, SCOTUSblog, The Hill, CNN, Breitbart, Wall Street Journal and Power Line

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:
Supreme Court Strikes Down Florida “Jury Recommendation” Death Sentencing Scheme

Discussion: USA Today, The Marshall Project and SCOTUSblog

Megan McArdle / Bloomberg View:
You Can't Be Neutral in a Public-Sector Union

Discussion: Cato Institute, Forbes, SCOTUSblog, The Daily Signal and ThinkProgress

Skyler Srivastava / WKTV-TV:

Votes tabulated over controversial seal, as The Daily Show visits the Village of Whitesboro — WHITESBORO, NY - It's been debated for more than 55 years: The Village of Whitesboro's historic seal that depicts a white settler wrestling with a Native American. — Tonight, January 11, the issue went to a residential vote.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Associated Press

Elizabeth Doran / Syracuse Post-Standard:
Whitesboro residents vote to keep controversial ‘racist’ village seal

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, WCDC-TV, lohud.com, New York Daily News, Outside the Beltway, Fusion and Refinery29

Speisa:

German police: It's an Arab rape game called Taharrush, and now it has come to Europe — After the NYE mass assaults against women in several European cities, the German Federal Criminal Police Office, BKA, now say that the Arab “rape game” Taharrush has established itself in Europe.

Discussion: Walid Shoebat, The Gateway Pundit and Israel Matzav

Daily Mail:

RISE IN MIGRANTS LEAVING GERMANY FOLLOWING COLOGNE SEX ATTACKS — Germany has started sending a growing number of migrants back to Austria since the New Year's Eve sex attacks in Cologne shocked the country. — Some of the departing migrants said they did not want asylum in Germany …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

The Local:
‘We told you so,’ Eastern Europe tells Germany

Discussion: Vlad Tepes

Deborah Yetter / Courier-Journal:

Bevin notifies feds he'll dismantle kynect — FRANKFORT, Ky. Following through on a campaign pledge, Gov. Matt Bevin has notified federal authorities he plans to dismantle kynect, Kentucky's health insurance exchange created under the Affordable Care Act. — The decision drew immediate fire …

Discussion: NPR and Talking Points Memo

Richard Alba / American Prospect:
Why Republicans Wouldn't Actually Repeal Obamacare

Discussion: Washington Post, BarbWire.com, Bloomberg View and The Hill

Marc Randazza / Popehat:

Twitter Takes a Side in the Culture Wars - Lies About It — Twitter announced that in order to combat abuse and harassment on its increasingly unpopular online platform, that it would enact new rules and regulations that would hopefully get control of things. The stated mission was to cut down on loosely-defined “harassment.”

Discussion: Fusion and Re/code

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:

Sanders: Law enforcement should handle campus rape — Bernie Sanders called for all rape accusations on college campuses to be handled through law enforcement, a controversial stance that puts him at odds with many advocates. — Decrying rape and sexual assault on campuses as an “epidemic …

Julian Hattem / The Hill:

Feds to process emails from Clinton aide Abedin for release — The State Department has agreed to comb through 29,000 pages of emails from a top aide to Hillary Clinton and release batches of those emails every month. — In a federal court filing on Monday, the department said it would process …

Discussion: RedState