memeorandum: 2015 Was Hottest Year in Recorded History, Scientists Say (Justin Gillis/New York Times)

4:00 PM ET, January 20, 2016

Top Items:

Kyle Blaine / BuzzFeed:

So, Uh, Here's The Full Text Of Sarah Palin's Bizarre Trump Speech — “Thank you so much. It's so great to be here in Iowa. We're here just thawing out. Todd and I and a couple of our friends here from Alaska, lending our support for the next president of our great United States of America, Donald J. Trump.

Eun Kyung Kim / TODAY.com:
Donald Trump: Sarah Palin could ‘play a position’ in my administration

Discussion: RedState, Washington Post, Mediaite, Politico, CNN, NBC News, Anchorage Daily News, Conservative Review, AOL, Business Insider, Doug Ross, The Huffington Post, The Week, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Daily Kos

ABC News:
The Note: The Palin Factor

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Ben Kamisar / The Hill:
Trump wins endorsement of John Wayne's daughter

Discussion: Politico, Slantpoint and Daily Kos

Kimm Fesenmaier / The California Institute …:

Caltech Researchers Find Evidence of a Real Ninth Planet — Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth …

Discussion: Mother Jones, Slantpoint, Washington Post, EarthSky and NBC News

iopscience.iop.org:

EVIDENCE FOR A DISTANT GIANT PLANET IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM — Konstantin Batygin1 and Michael E. Brown1 — • © 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. • The Astronomical Journal, Volume 151, Number 2 — Export citation and abstract … CiteULike

Discussion: Astronomy Now and Mashable

Katherine Krueger / Talking Points Memo:
Astronomers Find Evidence Of Ninth Planet At Edge Of Solar System

Discussion: Washington Post and BostonGlobe.com

Joel Achenbach / Washington Post:
New evidence suggests a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system

Discussion: KVUE-TV, New York Times, NPR, Engadget and The Week

Justin Gillis / New York Times:

2015 Was Hottest Year in Recorded History, Scientists Say — Scientists reported Wednesday that 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history by far, breaking a record set only the year before — a burst of heat that has continued into the new year and is roiling weather patterns all over the world.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, ThinkProgress, Common Dreams, CNN, Gothamist, addictinginfo.org, Washington Post and The Week

Damian Carrington / Guardian:
2015 smashes record for hottest year, final figures confirm

Discussion: Mother Jones, NBC News, Washington Post, France 24 and Common Dreams

Andrew Restuccia / Politico: Scientists: 2015 was Earth's hottest year

Adam C. Smith / Tampa Bay Times:

Florida poll: Trump 48%!!, Cruz 16%, Rubio 11%, Bush 10% — Florida's Republican primary would be a Donald Trump blowout if held today, according to a Jan. 15-18 poll by Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative. Trump leads with a whopping 47.6 percent support …

Discussion: Breitbart, The Daily Caller, No More Mister Nice Blog and FiveThirtyEight

Florida Atlantic University:

Polls — Donald Trump has surged nearly 12 points in the last two months and is closing on half of the GOP vote in Florida, where Hillary Clinton has improved in all head-to-head matchups against GOP frontrunners — Trump leads the GOP field with 47.6 percent, followed by Ted Cruz at 16.3 percent …

Discussion: The Last Refuge, RedState and Naked Politics

Mark Murray / NBC News:
Bush, Rubio Have Spent $91M in Ads vs. Trump and Cruz's $8M

Discussion: Politico and Naked Politics

William La Jeunesse / Fox News:

Rifle capable of taking down helicopter found at ‘El Chapo’ hideout purchased through Fast and Furious program — A .50-caliber rifle found at Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman's hideout in Mexico was funneled through the gun-smuggling investigation known as Fast and Furious, sources confirmed Tuesday to Fox News.

Discussion: Townhall.com, RedState, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Daily Wire, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, The Resurgent, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Daily Caller, The Right Scoop, Washington Free Beacon, BizPac Review, Patterico's Pontifications and Politico

Kevin Johnson / USA Today:
Judge rejects privilege claim in ‘Fast and Furious’ inquiry

Discussion: American Spectator

Amy Chozick / New York Times:

'90s Scandals Threaten to Erode Hillary Clinton's Strength With Women — This month, Lena Dunham, wearing a red, white and blue sweater dress with the word “Hillary” emblazoned across the chest, told voters how Hillary Clinton had overcome sexism in her political career.

Discussion: RedState, Power Line, Truth Revolt, Mediaite, Daily Wire, Breitbart, Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Caller, JustOneMinute, New York Times, Althouse, The Week and CNN

Kirsten Powers / USA Today:

Can Hillary take ‘13 Hours’ of truth? — Audiences can decide who to believe about Benghazi — self-serving bureaucrats or the men who lived through it. — Democratic partisans have seized on the new movie 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, which portrays the fateful night …

Discussion: Power Line and The Hill

Ted Nugent / Facebook:
Our unholy rotten soulless criminal America destroying government …

Discussion: Salon and CBS DetroitCBS Detroit

Sara Jerde / Talking Points Memo:
Nugent Calls For Obama, Clinton To Be ‘Hung’ Over Benghazi ‘Treason’

Discussion: Mediaite

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Alarmed Clinton Supporters Begin Focusing on Sanders's Socialist Edge — Democrats backing Hillary Clinton, nervously eyeing Senator Bernie Sanders's growing strength in the early nominating states, are turning to a new strategy to raise doubts about his candidacy, highlighting his socialist beliefs …

CNN:
CNN/WMUR poll full results: New Hampshire Democrats - CNNPolitics.com

Discussion: USA Today, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Daily Wire, YouGov US Opinion Center News, Scared Monkeys, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo, Vox, Taylor Marsh, New Jersey News …, Hot Air, The Right Scoop, Liberal Values, PoliticusUSA and Business Insider

Harold Meyerson / American Prospect: Can Democrats Channel America's Discontent?

James Fallows / The Atlantic:

Why Twitter Doesn't Work with Sarcasm, Chap. 823 — Here's an illustration of something I understood in principle but have been reminded of in specific. — In the wee hours of last Friday night, I finally finally finally said adieu to a long story that will be in the March issue of the magazine.

Discussion: Althouse

GQ:

The Confessions of R. Kelly — Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (effective 1/4/2014) and Privacy Policy (effective 1/4/2014).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with prior written permission of Condé Nast.

Discussion: Guardian, Mediaite, AOL, Mashable, Slantpoint and The Week

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Strategist: Trump Supporters Are ‘Single Men Who Masturbate To Anime’ — While explaining that he believes that Donald Trump's success in the Republican party does not mean that establishment conservatism is dying, GOP strategist Rick Wilson dismissed the “childless single men” who support Trump's presidential bid.

Discussion: Althouse

Rand Paul / Facebook:

Electing Gollum should not be our objective — One candidate on this national stage wants you to give him power. He tells you he is rich, so he must be smart. — If you give him power he claims he will fix America, but there is another tradition in America.

Discussion: The Slot, Wall Street Journal and Mother Jones

Jonathan Swan / The Hill:

Donors changing tune on Trump — Republican donors are quietly coming around to the idea that Donald Trump could be their party's nominee for president. — While many major Republican donors still cannot abide the idea of Trump as their party's 2016 standard-bearer …

Discussion: Hot Air, RedState, Washington Post and Daily Wire

WTTW Chicago Tonight / Chicago Tonight:

“Chicago Tonight” has learned that Gov. Bruce Rauner and top Republican leaders are planning to introduce legislation aimed at an emergency financial takeover of the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. This comes in light of an imminent $500 million shortfall within the Chicago Public Schools system.

Discussion: Chicago Tribune, Raw Story and Diane Ravitch's blog

Jason Horowitz / New York Times:

As Supreme Court Clerk, Ted Cruz Made Death Penalty His Cause — The memos of Supreme Court clerks evaluating death row petitions usually consist of a brief review of the facts and then a dispassionate legal analysis as to whether the court should hear the case. — Not so for Ted Cruz.

Discussion: The Slot and The Week