memeorandum: Upset Republican donors: Have we wasted our money? (Jonathan Swan/The Hill)

7:15 PM ET, January 13, 2016

Top Items:

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:

Nikki Haley: Donald Trump has contributed to ‘irresponsible talk’ — South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley defended her response to Tuesday's State of the Union, confirming to TODAY's Matt Lauer she was referring to Donald Trump as one of the “angriest voices” she mentioned.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, CNN, US News, The Hill, Washington Post, NPR, Real Clear Politics, The National Interest, New York Times, Yahoo Politics, Washington Times, NBC News, Daily Kos, Business Insider, Mashable and Speaker.gov

Allahpundit / Hot Air:

Nikki Haley: Damn right I was criticizing Trump in my SOTU rebuttal last night — Granted, there's not much for a Republican to say about Obama's policies in year eight that hasn't been said before, but we're in a weird place when the GOP's SOTU rebuttal is essentially a rebuttal of the GOP frontrunner.

Discussion: RedState, Washington Monthly, The Great Debate, National Review, Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Post, The Last Refuge, The Daily Caller and NBC News

NPR:
Transcript: Gov. Nikki Haley's Republican Address To The Nation

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Talking Points Memo, ATTN, Mediaite, Breitbart, New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, The Resurgent, RedState, Florida Politics, Informed Comment, addictinginfo.org, The Last Refuge and The Gateway Pundit

Julia Hahn / Breitbart:
Republican Party Uses State of the Union Response to Attack Donald Trump

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, Politico, The Gateway Pundit, WREG-TV, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and RedState

Esther Yu-Hsi Lee / ThinkProgress:
The English And Spanish Versions Of The GOP SOTU Response Were The Same, Except On Immigration

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Naked Politics, Daily Kos, Vox and Raw Story

John Nolte / Breitbart:
Nikki Haley Confirms She Targeted Donald Trump In SOTU Response; GOP Leaders Approved

Discussion: The Last Refuge, Vox Popoli and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Caitlin Cruz / Talking Points Memo:
Steve King: Nikki Haley Could Be ‘Face’ Of GOP Because 'She's Beautiful'

Discussion: New York Times, AMERICAblog NewsAMERICAblog … and Political Wire

Cristina Marcos / The Hill: Rep. Steve King: Haley can be face of GOP because she's ‘beautiful’

David French / National Review:

Iran's Propaganda Victory in One Illegal Image — Here it is: — This photograph violates international law. Article 13 of the Geneva Convention (III), governing the treatment of prisoners of war, requires Iran to protect prisoners against “insults and public curiosity.”

Discussion: Reuters, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, The Federalist, Associated Press, Washington Times, USA Today, Instapundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, alicublog, Wall Street Journal, Power Line, neo-neocon and New York Times

New York Times:

Iran's Swift Release of U.S. Sailors Hailed as a Sign of Warmer Relations — TEHRAN — Iran's release of 10 United States Navy sailors on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after they were detained on the Persian Gulf, is being hailed in both countries as a sign that their relations have evolved since …

Daniel W. Drezner / Washington Post:

Anatomy of a moment in macho foreign policy posturing — In thinking about U.S. foreign policy, it's always best to count to 10 slowly before speaking. — An ongoing theme of Spoiler Alerts' foreign policy coverage is that a lot of allegedly smart people don't say terribly smart things when a foreign policy crisis is occurring.

Discussion: Politico, Vox, Breitbart, War on the Rocks, USNI News, WAVY-TV and American Spectator

CNN:
10 U.S. sailors detained by Iran freed

Discussion: The Resurgent, The Daily Caller, Politico, Farsnews, Progressives Today, Consortiumnews.com, Right Wing Watch, Little Green Footballs, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, The Last Tradition, Pamela Geller and Power Line

BBC:
US apologises for Iran naval incursion - Revolutionary Guards

Discussion: The Last Refuge, Mediaite, The Right Scoop, Front Page Magazine, Walid Shoebat, Washington Free Beacon and The Gateway Pundit

Joe Pompeo / Politico:

Al Jazeera America shutting down — Al Jazeera, which made a massive investment in covering the United States less than three years ago, is slamming the brakes on its American operation. — Al Jazeera America, a cable news channel that debuted in August 2013, is shutting down.

Discussion: RedState, Al Jazeera English, Truth Revolt, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Times and The Week, more at Mediagazer »

John Koblin / New York Times:

Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April — The cable news channel Al Jazeera America, which debuted in 2013 to great fanfare when it promised to cover American news soberly and seriously, is shutting down at the end of April. The move was announced at a companywide meeting on Wednesday.

Discussion: USA Today, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, The Verge, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Pamela Geller, ProFootballTalk and Althouse

CNNMoney:
Al Jazeera America to shut down in April

Discussion: Al Jazeera America, RT, Instapundit and American Spectator, more at Mediagazer »

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:

Iowa Poll: Cruz holds 3-point lead as Trump attacks — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz remains the top pick among likely caucusgoers in the latest Iowa Poll. Political reporter Jennifer Jacobs and political columnist Kathie Obradovich provide analysis.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Business, Breitbart, ABC News, Outside the Beltway, Mother Jones, NBC News, Washington Post, The Resurgent, The Daily Caller, National Review, Mediaite, Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg.com, The Week and The Hill

Dara Doyle / Bloomberg Business:
Trump New Favorite to Take Republican Nomination, Betfair Says

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire, The Resurgent and The Week

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:
Rand Paul Flips: Yeah, I Guess I'd Support Trump As The Nominee

Discussion: The Bob and Chez Show

William Jordan / YouGov US Opinion Center News:
In G.O.P. image race, “strong” tops “conservative”

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, TheBlaze.com, Political Wire, Hot Air, The Week and BuzzFeed

Steven Shepard / Politico:
Rand Paul mounts last-minute push to get back on main debate stage

Discussion: Business Insider, Washington Post, NBC News, The Resurgent and The Daily Caller

Luke Hammill / Oregonian:

Rancher: 'I didn't know anything' about Bundy entering property, destroying fence — “They didn't have my permission to do anything.” - rancher Tim Puckett, referring to Ammon Bundy's group. — BURNS — Tim Puckett, the rancher whose cattle graze private rangeland adjoining …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Guardian and Associated Press

Les Zaitz / Oregonian:
‘Every gun in house is loaded’ — scare tactics rattle residents near Oregon occupation

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Betsy Hammond / Oregonian:
Self-appointed ‘judge’ arrives in Burns to ask local residents to charge government officials with crimes

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

CNN:

Bernie Sanders may break health care pledge — Keene, New Hampshire (CNN)Bernie Sanders could break his pledge to release details on how he would pay for his health care plan before the Iowa caucuses, according to a top aide. — His campaign released details Wednesday of how Sanders …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, New York Times, TaxVox and RedState

ABC News:

The Note: When Chelsea Attacks — Hillary Clinton this morning defended her daughter's attacks against her Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders' single-payer health care plan, despite criticism the remark was inaccurate. “You know, I adore my daughter and I know what she was saying,” …

Discussion: Bloomberg.com, Politico, The Hill, Bernie Sanders, Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

Chris Bodenner / The Atlantic: What If Bernie Sanders Is the Democrats' Best Bet? Cont'd

Melinda Henneberger / Roll Call:

Pelosi: I'm Not for Abortion on Demand — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sees the recent Republican attempt to defund Planned Parenthood as an “insult to the intelligence and judgment of women.” — Asked if she had watched any of the undercover sting videos of Planned Parenthood …

Discussion: RedState, ABC News, LifeNews.com and National Review

Jennifer Haberkorn / Politico:
NARAL dings Pelosi on abortion rhetoric

Discussion: Hullabaloo, National Review and LifeNews.com

Jonathan Swan / The Hill:

Upset Republican donors: Have we wasted our money? — Major GOP donors and fundraisers are wondering whether they're wasting their money on super-PACs. — They say they're not ready to abandon the super-PACs, but they're starting to look for ways to make them more effective during …

Discussion: RedState, Politico, Hot Air and Mediaite

Eli Stokols / Politico:
Republicans warn Bush team against harming Rubio

Discussion: ABC News, Daily Kos, Florida Politics, Political Wire, The Daily Caller, New York Times and Hot Air

Michael Quander / WREG-TV:

Employees caught doing hair in Waffle House kitchen — FORREST CITY, Ark. — A couple of Forrest City Waffle House customers said they got more than expected with their meals early Friday morning. — “He was just coughing. Cough. Cough. Making noises like that,” Antonio Robinson said.

Discussion: theGrio and FOX31 Denver

Ezra Klein / Vox:

This is what makes Republicans and Democrats so different — MSNBC asked Benjy Sarlin, its reporter on the Republican race, and Alex Seitz-Wald, its reporter on the Democratic race, to flip jobs for a week and write up what they learned. Their conversation is worth reading in full, but something Sarlin wrote caught my eye:

Discussion: The Moderate Voice and MSNBC

The White House:

Remarks of President Barack Obama - State of the Union Address As Delivered — The White House is once again making the full text of the State of the Union widely available online. The text, as prepared for delivery, is also available on Medium and Facebook notes, continuing efforts …

Discussion: RedState, Post and Courier, MSNBC, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Common Dreams, Bloomberg View, The Week, Watchdog.org, Associated Press, Outside the Beltway and Politico

Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart:
Fact Check: Top 10 Lies in Obama's State of the Union

Discussion: Fox News, New York Post, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, New York Times and Washington Post

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

White House pledges ‘audacious’ executive action in 2016 — President Obama will roll out a bold set of executive actions during his final year in office, his top adviser said Wednesday. — “We'll do audacious executive action throughout the course of the rest of the year, I am confident of that …

Discussion: RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and Shakesville