NATIONAL

“It’s September 28th, 2015. My head is swimming, labeling TracPhones (burners), one per contact, one per day, destroy, burn, buy, balancing levels of encryption, mirroring through Blackphones, anonymous e-mail addresses, unsent messages accessed in draft form. It’s a clandestine horror show for the single most technologically illiterate man left standing. At 55 years old, I’ve never learned to use a laptop. Do they still make laptops? No fucking idea! It’s 4:00 in the afternoon. Another gorgeous fall day in New York City. The streets are abuzz with the lights and sirens of diplomatic movement, heads of state, U.N. officials, Secret Service details, the NYPD. It’s the week of the U.N. General Assembly. Pope Francis blazed a trail and left town two days before. I’m sitting in my room at the St. Regis Hotel with my colleague and brother in arms, Espinoza.” – Sean Penn/Rolling Stone

“Just at the moment when Hillary Clinton started tearing into Bernie Sanders’ warning that there’s no ‘magic wand’ to fix Washington, President Barack Obama showed up for his State of the Union to brag about how well he’s waved his.” – Politico

“Iran’s Revolutionary Guard released 10 U.S. Navy sailors who were detained after two small Riverine boats crossed into Iranian territorial waters, the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday.” – Fox News

“Perhaps no pollster in the nation is more respected on her home turf than Ann Selzer, the Iowa pollster for the Des Moines Register, who among other famous victories broke from the pack to nail Joni Ernst’s margin of victory in 2014. So while the polling averages are generally your best bet, whenever Selzer delivers a new Iowa Caucus poll, it’s worth listening. This morning she released her first DMR/Bloomberg News poll in a month, and it shows Ted Cruz clinging to a 25-22 lead over Donald Trump, with Marco Rubio inching ahead of Ben Carson (who led in Iowa in October) 12-11.” – Red State

“Donald Trump was one of the people she singled out as one of the ‘angriest voices’ in the country during her Republican response to Tuesday night’s State of the Union, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley acknowledged Wednesday.” – Politico

“The two main goals of the primary process – whether in a presidential or other race – are to choose the best candidate to do the job, and the candidate with the best chance of winning the job. Less than three weeks from the Iowa Caucus and less than a month from the New Hampshire Primary, we have reached a time for choosing. That choice involves a careful and serious weighing of those two objectives. Unlike in past years, the GOP’s conservative and moderate wings are both still divided, although the options are narrowing. With my first choice (Bobby Jindal) out of the race, I believe the choice for conservatives comes down to Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz – and the best candidate remaining, on balance, is Rubio. Today, I will begin a series of posts explaining why, beginning with the question of Rubio’s experience. Subsequent chapters will focus on Rubio’s salesmanship, his conservatism, and his electability.'” – Red State

“Even as Don­ald Trump holds com­mand­ing leads in pres­id­en­tial polling, I’ve main­tained that an es­tab­lish­ment can­did­ate still has the in­side track to win­ning the nom­in­a­tion. As my Cook Polit­ic­al Re­portcol­league Dav­id Wasser­man out­lined, the rules of the game are de­signed to fa­vor the suc­cess of more-mod­er­ate can­did­ates. If Trump or Ted Cruz wins the early-state con­tests, the pro­por­tion­al rules of al­loc­at­ing del­eg­ates will pre­vent either from run­ning up the score. And the win­ner-take all rules for many of the more mod­er­ate “blue” states on March 15 and bey­ond should fa­vor a more prag­mat­ic Re­pub­lic­an down the stretch—at least on pa­per.” – National Journal

“It’s no secret that immigration is transforming politics in the western world.” – The Week

“Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa stepped out of the House chamber where the State of the Union address was about to take place Tuesday, electing to pray in the members’ chapel during the speech due to President Barack Obama’s stance on abortion.” – The Blaze

“MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’ host Chris Matthews argued President Obama ‘tried to avoid’ talking about Iran to help get better headlines during MSNBC’s coverage of the State of the Union on Tuesday.” – Breitbart

LOUISIANA

“Louisiana has unseated Mississippi as the worst state, according to Politico Magazine’s latest ranking of the states based on factors like education, health, wealth, crime, unemployment and death.” – The Advocate Blogs

“‘According to the President’s speech the next 11 months of his time in office will be more of the same – including sidestepping Congress to push through his own policies'” – Congressman John Fleming/ The Dead Pelican

 

“That’s the question I’ve heard over and over again after my loving husband C.B. Forgotston died on the morning of Jan. 3. He shot and killed himself.” – E.J. Forgotson/Forgotson.com

“Many are pleading for help in St. Mary Parish for the public to report signs of animal cruelty.  Investigators with the Humane Society of Louisiana say animal cruelty is on the rise, not only in St. Mary parish, but across the state.” – KATC.com

“Gov. John Bel Edwards will greet President Barack Obama this week when he arrives in Baton Rouge, where he is set to speak to a high school.” – WDSU.com

“President Barack Obama came full circle Tuesday evening (Jan. 12).” – NOLA.com

“As Governor John Bel Edwards begin his first full day in office, he made a potentially big move for the state’s future.” – KALB.com

“The success of the Clean Air Act and similar European laws in scrubbing the atmosphere of sulfate and other aerosol particles may have helped increase the sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a stronger Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a key climate researcher said Monday (Jan. 11).” – NOLA.com

“If Gov. John Bel Edwards gets his way, Louisianians will be able to use public assistance funds to purchase medically prescribed marijuana.” – The Red Schtick

“A former employee of an Iberia Parish nonprofit that works to redevelop rural communities was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in prison and ordered to perform 600 hours of community service for embezzling roughly $90,000 from the organization.” – The Baton Rouge Advocate