memeorandum: Michael Mulgrew defends Common Core: ‘You sick people need to deal with us and the children that we teach’ (Ben Chapman/NY Daily News)

11:25 AM ET, August 9, 2014

Top Items:

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Obama on America and the World — President Obama's hair is definitely grayer these days, and no doubt trying to manage foreign policy in a world of increasing disorder accounts for at least half of those gray hairs. (The Tea Party can claim the other half.)

Discussion: Power Line, RT, NewsBusters, The Daily Caller, National Review, The Times of Israel, TalkLeft and Prairie Weather

New York Times:

Preventing a Slaughter in Iraq — The catastrophe of Iraq has been growing steadily worse for weeks, but by Thursday, it became impossible for the United States and other civilized nations to ignore it. Iraq's bloodthirsty Sunni extremists were threatening the extermination of tens …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, JustOneMinute, Talking Points Memo, Defense One, Daily Kos, RedState, Guardian and The Atlantic Online

Washington Post:

Obama's authorization of Iraq airstrikes isn't connected to a coherent strategy — PRESIDENT OBAMA was right to order military action to prevent a potential genocide in northern Iraq and to stop forces of the al-Qaeda-derived Islamic State from advancing on Baghdad or the Kurdish capital of Irbil.

Discussion: National Review, Yahoo! News, The Agonist, The New Republic, Hit & Run, Power Line, American Spectator, White House.gov Blog and BBC

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:

McCain Calls Obama's ‘Pinprick’ Iraq Strikes ‘Meaningless’ and ‘Almost Worse Than Nothing’ — President Obama's limited strikes on ISIS in northern Iraq are “pinpricks” that are “meaningless” and “worse than nothing,” according to one of his fiercest foreign policy critics, Sen. John McCain.

Discussion: National Review, Hot Air, Mediaite and The Daily Caller

VICE News:
The Islamic State (Part 1)

Discussion: Telegraph, Business Insider, Reuters, Washington Post and Lawfare, more at Mediagazer »

Jacob Siegel / The Daily Beast:
Obama's Iraq Plan Has a Killer Flaw—and Airstrikes Alone May Not Save It

Discussion: The American Conservative, Hot Air, New Yorker, Business Insider, his vorpal sword, Washington Post, National Review, Democracy in America, The Moderate Voice, Informed Comment, The Dish, Spectator, Saudi Gazette, VodkaPundit and Talking Points Memo

Jamie Weinstein / The Daily Caller:
ISIS Threatens America: ‘We Will Raise The Flag Of Allah In The White House’

Discussion: CNN, Telegraph, Business Insider and Western Journalism

Ben Chapman / NY Daily News:

Michael Mulgrew defends Common Core: ‘You sick people need to deal with us and the children that we teach’ — The wild remarks came during last month's American Federation of Teachers convention in Los Angeles. ‘You sick people need to deal with us and the children we teach. Thank you very much!’

Discussion: The Daily Caller and National Review

Eugene Volokh / Washington Post:

May the government try John Hinckley for James Brady's murder? — John Hinckley Jr. arrives at U.S. District Court in Washington on Nov. 18, 2003. Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an attempt to impress Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster, who he had been writing poems …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and Mashable

Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:

Coroner Is Said to Rule James Brady's Death a Homicide, 33 Years After a Shooting — WASHINGTON — The death this week of James S. Brady, the former White House press secretary, has been ruled a homicide 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, police department officials here said Friday.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and Althouse

Eleanor Clift / The Daily Beast:

Obama Outlines His Post-Presidency — With prospects for major legislation nonexistent, Obama is looking to plant seeds that he hopes his successors can cultivate. — President Obama spent much of his first term fending off criticism that he hadn't done enough for the black community …

Kristina Wong / The Hill:

Left frets over Iraq mission creep — The president's expansion of the U.S. military mission in Iraq is conjuring up two dirty little words for anti-war Democrats: Mission creep. — Just two months ago, when Obama announced he was going to send up to 300 American troops to Iraq …

Discussion: RedState

Lizette Alvarez / New York Times:

Florida Redraws an Election Map That Was Ruled to Be Unconstitutional — MIAMI — With Florida's election schedule in disarray after a judge ruled the state's congressional map unconstitutional, state lawmakers moved one step closer to resolving the uncertainty during a special session on Friday in Tallahassee.

Ahiza Garcia / Talking Points Memo:

Husband Of Connecticut Judicial Candidate: ‘I Am Pro-White’ — A Democratic candidate for a judicial seat in Plainfield, Conn. was forced to answer questions about her husband this week after a watchdog group exposed his ties to the white supremacist movement.

Discussion: One People's Project … and Mindweapons in Ragnarok

The Bulletin:
Probate candidate's husband admits to history with white supremacy movement

Discussion: Mindweapons in Ragnarok, Liberaland, The Raw Story and Mediaite

Alan Blinder / New York Times:

Tiny Lead for Incumbent in Tennessee Primary Vote — MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Less than two years after tawdry details of his divorce and extramarital relationships burst into public view, Representative Scott DesJarlais, Republican of Tennessee, held a minuscule advantage on Friday …

Tennessean.com:

'SNL's Victoria Jackson falls to incumbents — Victoria Jackson, the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member who has made a name for herself as an active tea party participant, conservative activist and outspoken opponent of President Barack Obama, has lost her bid to win a spot on the Williamson County Commission.

Discussion: Victoria Jackson, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway and The Raw Story