memeorandum: Tighter Food Stamp Rules Crowded Soup Kitchens, Not Job Rosters (Campbell Robertson/New York Times)

11:50 AM ET, January 13, 2020

Top Items:

Cory Booker drops out of the presidential race — “I will carry this fight forward — I just won't be doing it as a candidate for president this year,” Booker told supporters in an email. — Sen. Cory Booker. D-N.J., announced Monday he is dropping out of the Democratic presidential race.

Discussion: The Root

Cory Booker / YouTube:

Thank You … “It's with a full heart that I share this news—I've made the hard decision to suspend my campaign for president. — I've said throughout this race that this election is not just a referendum on Donald Trump. It's a referendum on who we are and who we must be to each …

Discussion: New York Times and BuzzFeed News

ABC News:

Sen. Cory Booker suspends presidential campaign — The New Jersey senator struggled to break into the field's top tier. — Sen. Cory Booker suspended his presidential campaign Monday, the final act of a bid for the Democratic nomination defined by a persistent struggle to catch fire …

Sabrina Siddiqui / Wall Street Journal:
Sen. Cory Booker Suspends Democratic Presidential Campaign

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Washington Post:
Sen. Cory Booker exits the Democratic presidential primary, making the field less diverse

Discussion: Gothamist

Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
Cory Booker Runs Out of Time

Discussion: The Week

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico: Booker drops out of presidential race

Alexandra Jaffe / Associated Press:
Booker ends presidential bid after polling, money struggles

Discussion: Breitbart

NBC News:

Trump authorized Soleimani's killing 7 months ago, with conditions — The timing raises new questions about the Trump administration's stated justification for taking out the top Iranian general. — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump authorized the killing of Iranian …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, National Review, Talking Points Memo, Foreign Policy, The Independent, Reason, The American Independent, The Week, Politico, IJR, Raw Story, Mediaite and Daily Kos

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

Sanders surges as progressives flock to him over Warren — IOWA CITY, Iowa — Something's happening with Bernie Sanders that looked unlikely to many a few months ago: Progressive leaders and organizations are lining up behind him, not Elizabeth Warren, in the lead-up to voting.

Discussion: NBC News, Associated Press and MSNBC

Devan Cole / CNN: Bloomberg blasts role of early states in Democratic nominating process in CNN op-ed

Abby Livingston / The Texas Tribune:
With its 228 delegates and Super Tuesday slot, Texas looms in the presidential primary

Discussion: Politico

Jason Lange / Reuters:
'I'm spending all my money to get rid of Trump': Michael Bloomberg

Discussion: NBC News, Breitbart, MSNBC, Redstate, The Hill and Axios

CNN:
Michael Bloomberg: Starting with Iowa and New Hampshire hurts Democrats and helps Trump

Discussion: Axios and Washington Times

Steve Peoples / Associated Press:
2020 Watch: Will the debate provide any clarity?

Discussion: Reuters, The Hill, Politico and The Daily Beast

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:

John Roberts may be leading the Senate impeachment trial, but this woman is shaping it — In a small Capitol Hill office after President Donald Trump had been impeached and official Washington bolted town for the holidays, a three-person team gathered to dig through musty old law books and congressional records.

Discussion: Redstate

Alexi McCammond / Axios:
McConnell's comments on impeachment have alienated some Obama/Trump swing voters

Discussion: Raw Story

Pete Williams / NBC News: How Chief Justice John Roberts would preside over the politically charged Trump impeachment trial

Joanne Rosa / ABC News:

Abby Huntsman departing ‘The View’ to run father's Utah governor campaign — Huntsman began co-hosting “The View” in 2018. — Abby Huntsman announced that she's leaving “The View” to help run her father Jon Huntsman Jr.'s campaign for governor of Utah. — The 33 year-old daughter …

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Aurelie Corinthios / People.com:
Abby Huntsman Is Leaving The View After 2 Seasons to Help Run Her Dad's Gubernatorial Campaign

Discussion: Raw Story and Mediaite

Marianne LeVine / Politico:

How Schumer might get the last laugh on impeachment trial — Chuck Schumer lost the first impeachment trial battle to Mitch McConnell. But the Democratic leader and his party insist they can still win the war. — While Senate Majority Leader McConnell has locked up enough Republican votes …

Discussion: New York Times, Associated Press and The Week

Pete Williams / NBC News:

Supreme Court won't consider topless bans — A group with the motto “Free The Nipple” argued that the law violates the Constitution by treating men and women differently. — The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it will not take up a challenge to a city ordinance banning women from appearing topless in public.

Discussion: Associated Press

DNyuz:
In McGahn Case, an Epic Constitutional Showdown

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Simon Kennedy / Bloomberg:

Middle Age Misery Peaks at Age of 47.2, Economist Says — New study says ‘happiness curve’ exists around the world — Research has relevance because of focus on mental health — Middle age is miserable, according to a new economic study which pinpoints 47.2 years old as the moment of peak unhappiness in the developed world.

David Rohde / New Yorker:

William Barr, Trump's Sword and Shield — The Attorney General's mission to maximize executive power and protect the Presidency. — Last October, Attorney General William Barr appeared at Notre Dame Law School to make a case for ideological warfare. Before an assembly of students and faculty …

Discussion: Raw Story

Aaron Gordon / VICE:

Mass Panic: It's Not Clear That Colorado's Mystery Drones Even Exist — It all started on December 23 when the Denver Post reported on “a band of large drones” flying over Phillips and Yuma counties in northeast Colorado. Phillips County Sheriff Thomas Elliott, as relayed by the Denver Post …

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump's ‘four embassies’ claim utterly falls apart — The Trump administration has struggled to justify the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani from the jump. And now the one justification presented publicly by President Trump has utterly fallen apart.

Discussion: Raw Story, IJR, Patterico's Pontifications, The Hill, Slate, Common Dreams and Talking Points Memo

Washington Post:
Killing of Soleimani reflects an aggressive national security team not inclined to curb Trump

Discussion: The Week and Raw Story

Griff Witte / SFGATE:

McConnell walks impeachment tightrope — FLORENCE, Ky. - It is not easy these days to lose as a Republican running in ruby-red Kentucky. But that is what happened here in November in the governor's race, when the caustic incumbent managed to alienate enough of his base to fall just short.

Discussion: Politico, The Hill and Washington Post

Roger Friedman / Showbiz411:

UPDATING Oscar Nominations: Snubs Include JLo, Beyonce, Eddie Murphy, “1917” for Editing, No Women Directors, “The Farewell,” “Cats,” Just 1 African American Nominee — The 2020 Oscar nominations are here. Snubs include Jennifer Lopez for “Hustlers.” Eddie Murphy for “Dolemite” and everything for that movie.

Discussion: alicublog

Jonathan D. Salant / New Jersey Online:

Van Drew's choice to run his campaign is now leading the charge to beat him — WASHINGTON — Josh Roesch is playing a major role in South Jersey's hot congressional race. But it's different than the one he thought he'd signed up for. — Roesch, who grew in Stow Creek …

Discussion: The Hill

Jerry Zremski / The Buffalo News:

Behind the Collins scandal: How one phone call devastated two families — Chris Collins, his wife Mary, son, Cameron, and daughter Caitlin, in happier times when he won his 2012 congressional primary. Now all, plus Cameron's fiancé and future in-laws, must deal with the fallout from the insider trading convictions.

CNN:

James Fallows' thought experiment about Trump — James Fallows asks the audience to “try to think of a personality like the one who's currently in the White House in any other position of responsibility,” and asks, “would you want somebody with this kind of temperament to be in a position …

Discussion: HuffPost

James C. Goodale / The Hill:

Will alleged CIA misbehavior set Julian Assange free? — A few days before Christmas, Julian Assange testified to a Spanish court that a Spanish security company, UC Global S.L., acting in coordination with the CIA, illegally recorded all his actions and conversations, including with his lawyers …

Martin Robinson / Daily Mail:

THE HRH QUESTION — Harry and Meghan wish to continue to undertake duties on behalf of the Queen and for that they will need titles. — They could voluntarily relinquish their HRHs and retain their courtesy titles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, given by the Queen.

Discussion: Fox News, The Daily Beast, The US Sun and The Times

Stamford Advocate:

The Republican case for Biden — It isn't easy to support a Democrat after an attachment to Republican politics that began when I watched the 1992 GOP convention at age 12. Eventually I worked on Capitol Hill as a Republican senior counsel for the House Financial Services Committee …