memeorandum: Stay Sane America, Please! (David Brooks/New York Times)

10:30 AM ET, January 26, 2016

Top Items:

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz Soar, G.O.P. Leaders' Exasperation Grows — DES MOINES — Republican leaders are growing alarmed by the ferocious ways the party's mainstream candidates for president are attacking one another, and they fear that time is running out for any of them to emerge …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Power Line

David Brooks / New York Times:

Stay Sane America, Please! — In January of 2017 someone will stand at the U.S. Capitol and deliver an Inaugural Address. This is roughly the place where Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan once stood. I am going to spend every single day between …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Washington Post

David Brody / blogs.cbn.com:

Brody File Video Exclusive: Ted Cruz's Plea To Iowa Pastors At Private Meeting: Stop Trump! — In video obtained exclusively by The Brody File, Ted Cruz says it's up to Iowa pastors to stop Donald Trump from winning the Iowa Caucus or the billionaire from New York will be, unstoppable.

Discussion: RedState, Politico and The Daily Caller

Nick Gass / Politico:

Trump: Ted Cruz ‘looks like a jerk’ — For Donald Trump, in some ways, Ted Cruz “looks like a jerk.” — The heated personal rhetoric directed by Trump at Cruz cranked up another few degrees on Tuesday morning, with the Manhattan business mogul unloading on his Republican rival in back-to-back morning show interviews.

Discussion: Political Wire

Ryan Struyk / ABC News:

Donald Trump Says Ted Cruz Is Telling ‘Lie After Lie’ — Less than one week before the pivotal Iowa caucuses, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said that his rival Sen. Ted Cruz is “just saying lie after lie” about his record. — “He's so nervous,” Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos …

Discussion: Politico, Political Wire, Associated Press and abc13.com

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:
Trump: Establishment rallying behind me to stop ‘nasty’ Cruz

Discussion: ABC News, Politico, Washington Post, CNN, The Liberty Zone, Hot Air and Washington Examiner

Andrew Kaczynski / BuzzFeed:
Heidi Cruz Is Asked On The Radio If She Is “Sleeping With An Immigrant”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Mediaite

Nate Cohn / New York Times:
Why a Trump Victory in Iowa Would Matter So Much

Discussion: Hot Air

Dylan Matthews / Vox:

We checked if 2,000 voters recognized the 2016 candidates' faces. Here's what we found. — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are by far the most recognizable faces in the 2016 race, a poll conducted by Morning Consult and Vox has found. — Ninety-six percent of respondents to the online poll …

Discussion: Politico

CNN:

CNN/ORC Poll: Donald Trump dominates GOP field at 41% — Washington (CNN)Donald Trump has hit a new high in the race for the Republican nomination, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, with more than 4-in-10 Republican voters nationwide now saying they back the billionaire.

Discussion: Washington Post, Fox Business, Des Moines Register, Business Insider, NBC News, Althouse, Washington Times and Outside the Beltway

Ramesh Ponnuru / BloombergView.com:

Cruz-Hating Republicans Need a Reality Check — Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. This sound aphorism may have a less pithy political corollary: Never attribute to strategy what can be explained by emotion. — Only this truth can help us understand …

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Washington Post, Mickey Kaus and Business Insider

BostonGlobe.com:
Republicans should vote for John Kasich in New Hampshire

Discussion: abc13.com, Washington Post, Politico and FishbowlDC

Nick Gass / Politico:
Poll: Evangelicals flocking to Trump

Discussion: RedState and Political Wire

Brian Rogers / Houston Chronicle:

Harris grand jury indicts pair behind Planned Parenthood videos — A Harris County grand jury probe into Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast ended Monday with the indictments of two anti-abortion activists. — David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were both indicted for tampering with a governmental record.

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon, Political Insider blog, Shakesville, The Week, The Center for Medical …, Raw Story, Washington Post and Daily Kos

Manny Fernandez / New York Times:
2 Abortion Foes Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are Indicted

Discussion: USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Raw Story, RH Reality Check, Prairie Weather, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, The Hill, The Daily Signal, JustOneMinute and Mother Jones

The Federalist:
Houston Grand Jury Indicts David Daleiden For Organ Trafficking, Issues No Charges Against Planned Parenthood

Discussion: abc13.com, ThinkProgress and Little Green Footballs

Fox News:
Grand jury in Texas indicts activists behind Planned Parenthood videos

Discussion: Truth Revolt and The Last Refuge

Valerie Lawhorn / Houston Public Media:
Grand Jury Takes No Action Against Planned Parenthood In Houston, Two Videographers Indicted

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Daily Caller and NPR

Barack Obama / Washington Post:

Why we must rethink solitary confinement — Barack Obama is president of the United States. — In 2010, a 16-year-old named Kalief Browder from the Bronx was accused of stealing a backpack. He was sent to Rikers Island to await trial, where he reportedly endured unspeakable violence …

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, New York Times, The Reality-Based Community, Politico, Business Insider, Mother Jones, NPR, The Week, Raw Story, Balkinization and NBC News

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:
Obama bans solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight and Balloon Juice

Brian Beutler / New Republic:

Is Nominating Bernie Sanders a Worthwhile Gamble? — Hillary Clinton's supporters have yet to make a persuasive case that Sanders is too great a risk. — For the better part of a year, Bernie Sanders enjoyed a polite if slightly bemused welcome from the non-radical quarters of the Democratic firmament.

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, MSNBC, Common Dreams, No More Mister Nice Blog and Slantpoint

Joe Battenfeld / Boston Herald:
Clinton losing support among N.H. Dems, Sanders ahead by 16

Discussion: WBUR and Political Wire

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
A remarkably moving thing happened at a Bernie Sanders rally today in Iowa

Discussion: Hot Air, New York Times, The Daily Caller, Vox, Politico, Business Insider and Taylor Marsh

Oren Liebermann / CNN:

Au revoir and shalom: Jews leave France in record numbers — Ashdod, Israel (CNN)Yoav Krief remembers the day he knew it was time to move to Israel: January 9, 2015. — It was a Friday. Four Jews had just been killed in the Hyper Cacher, a kosher supermarket in Paris, two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack.

Joseph Rose / Oregonian:

Watch: Oregon militant challenges Chris Christie to sumo wrestling to end standoff — An armed protester at the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge says the militants will end their standoff if Chris Christie can beat him in one round of sumo wrestling. (YouTube)

Discussion: New Jersey Online, Political Wire, PoliticusUSA and Talking Points Memo

Jacob Bojesson / The Daily Caller:

15-Year-Old Refugee Brutally Kills His Swedish Care Taker In Stabbing — A 15-year-old refugee was charged with murder Monday after allegedly stabbing a 22-year-old female employee of a refugee center in Sweden. — The incident took place at small refugee home outside the city of Gothenburg …

Discussion: Pamela Geller and The Libertarian Republic

Nicolle Wallace / New York Times:

Sarah Palin, Rage Whisperer — DONALD J. TRUMP has made a shrewd bet. For the first time since he descended an escalator in Trump Tower last June to announce that this time, he really was running for president, he ceded control of his campaign message. He handed the Trump-bedecked podium over to Sarah Palin.

Discussion: Politico

Ed Henry / Fox News:

Video suggests Clinton shared info that ‘would never be on an unclassified system’ normally — A 2013 video, obtained exclusively by Fox News, raises fresh questions about how Hillary Clinton handled sensitive information at the State Department. — In the video, veteran diplomat Wendy Sherman reveals …