memeorandum: DNA Evidence Clears Two Men in 1983 Murder (New York Times)

2:25 PM ET, September 3, 2014

Top Items:

Dexter Filkins / New Yorker:

The Death of Steven Sotloff — In the final moments before an ISIS executioner beheaded the American journalist Steven Sotloff, the masked man offered up, in an English accent, a message to his viewers: “We take this opportunity to warn those governments that enter this evil alliance of America …

Discussion: neo-neocon, The Dish, PJ Media, No More Mister Nice Blog and Prairie Weather, more at Mediagazer »

Kendall Breitman / Politico:

Geraldo Rivera: Behead the ISIL ‘butchers’ — Fox News' Geraldo Rivera called on President Barack Obama on Wednesday to “behead the ISIS butchers.” — “Morning, the president finally declared our strategic goal to ‘degrade and destroy’ ISIS,” Rivera wrote on Twitter. The tweet continued: “We must hold him to it.

Discussion: Twitchy, Mediaite and The Huffington Post

Jesse Byrnes / The Hill:

Kerry calls Sotloff murder a ‘punch to the gut’ — The brutal execution of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff by Islamic militants was a “punch to the gut,” Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday. — “For so many who worked so long to bring Steven and the other Americans home safely, this was not how the story should've ended.

Jonathan Topaz / Politico:
Biden: ISIL will reside in hell

Discussion: National Review

Debra Kamin / The Times of Israel:
Steven Sotloff, killed by Islamic State, had deep roots in Israel

Discussion: Politico and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

Justin Sink / The Hill:
‘We will not be intimidated’ by ISIS

Discussion: Power Line

Josh Rogin / The Daily Beast:
After Steven Sotloff Murder, Congress Demands a Vote on Obama's ISIS War

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times, Yahoo! News and Weekly Standard, more at Mediagazer »

The Hill:
Lawmakers to Obama: Hit ISIS

Discussion: ABC News, Hot Air and The Daily Beast

Kathleen Hennessey / Los Angeles Times:
Obama: Video of slain journalist is authentic, U.S. won't be intimidated

Discussion: Fox News, New York Times, The Week, Gawker, Hot Air, Wall Street Journal and The New Republic, more at Mediagazer »

Yitzhak Benhorin / Ynetnews:
Steven Sotloff, journalist executed by ISIS, was Israeli-American

Discussion: Business Insider, Politico, New York Times and Israel Matzav

Scott Clement / Washington Post:

New poll says large majority of Americans believe Redskins should not change name — (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post) — A large but shrinking majority of Americans say the Washington Redskins should not change their team's name, according to a poll released Tuesday finding …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, NewsBusters, Washington Free Beacon, Booman Tribune and ESPN

Erica Ritz / TheBlaze.com:
Why Glenn Beck Said Hillary Clinton ‘Will Be the Next President of the United States’

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, Capitol Report, CNN, Booman Tribune, Politico and Talking Points Memo

ESPN:
Poll: 71 percent say keep Redskins

Discussion: NewsBusters, National Review, ABC News and Hot Air

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Phil Robertson's Plan For Combating ISIS: ‘Convert Them Or Kill Them’ — “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson put forward a strategy Tuesday for combating militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria: “convert them or kill them.” — Robertson was asked to opine on Fox News' …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Daily Kos and Gawker

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:
Phil Robertson Tells Hannity How He'd Combat ISIS: ‘Convert Them or Kill Them’

Discussion: Politico, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and The Huffington Post

Tom Lyden / myfoxtwincities.com:

EXCLUSIVE: ISIS fighter worked at Minneapolis airport — He was the second known American killed while fighting for ISIS in Syria, and the second from Minnesota — and a Fox 9 exclusive uncovering his employment history is raising a few eyebrows. — An airport is probably the last place anyone …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mediaite, The Blotter and Business Insider

Jessica Roy / New York Magazine:

Columbia Student Will Carry a Mattress Everywhere Until Her Alleged Rapist Is Expelled — Emma Sulkowicz staged the piece of performance art as a protest against Columbia's handling of her sexual-assault case. — 1.9k — Shares — 1.8k — Emma Sulkowicz says she was raped …

Discussion: TIME, ThinkProgress, Gothamist, Columbia Daily Spectator, The Daily Caller, Jezebel, The Raw Story, Guardian and Inside Higher Ed

Office of Media Relations:

Economy Will Drive Midterm Elections, GW Battleground Poll Shows — Voters Remain Unhappy with President and Congress — MEDIA CONTACTS: — Jason Shevrin: 202-994-5631, jshevrin@gwu.edu — Emily Grebenstein: 202-994-3087, emgreb@gwu.edu — WASHINGTON—An overwhelming majority …

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Free Beacon and Taegan Goddard's …

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Our Senate model is moving in Democrats' direction all of a sudden. Why?

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg View and Democracy in America

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Sen. Coburn: Let's change Constitution — Sen. Tom Coburn is pushing for a national convention to amend the Constitution. — The Oklahoma Republican, who has grown disenchanted with gridlock in Washington, will officially launch his effort after he retires from the Senate in a few months.

Pew Research Center:

Who runs for office? A profile of the 2% — There are 90,107 government units in the U.S. — everything from county governments (3,031) to independent school district governments (12,880), according to 2012 Census Bureau data. Some governments have appointed officials …

Discussion: Washington Post

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry / The Week:

Why so many Christians won't back down on gay marriage — A traditional view of marriage is about much more than today's politics. It's deeply woven into the 2,000-year-old ethic at the heart of our faith. — A majority of Americans already favor same-sex marriage …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Ready, Aim, Fire. Not Fire, Ready, Aim. — President Obama has been excoriated for declaring that “we don't have a strategy yet” for effectively confronting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. In criticizing Obama for taking too much time, Representative Mike Rogers …

Discussion: NationalJournal.com, Gawker and JustOneMinute

Chris Geidner / BuzzFeed:

Louisiana Marriage Ban Is Constitutional, Federal Judge Rules — “The State of Louisiana has a legitimate interest under a rational basis standard of review for addressing the meaning of marriage through the democratic process.” The first federal court ruling upholding a ban in the past year.

Discussion: ACS Blog and Daily Kos

TIME:

5 Feminist Myths That Will Not Die — If we're genuinely committed to improving the circumstances of women, we need to get the facts straight — Much of what we hear about the plight of American women is false. Some faux facts have been repeated so often they are almost beyond the reach of critical analysis.

Discussion: The Other McCain

Kaitlin Stack Whitney / The Atlantic Online:

The Secret Pot-Growing Operations in America's Cornfields — On any given weekday in the summer, you will find me walking through fields counting bugs. In fact, it's my job: I'm an ecologist studying the communities of insects that live in agricultural landscapes.

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:

Screw Politics, Obama Should Act On Deportations as Soon as Possible — If the trial balloons the White House floated late last week reflect President Obama's true thinking, then Senate Democrats have frightened him out of his pledge to curb deportations of unauthorized immigrants with deep roots in the United States this month.

Discussion: Washington Post, RedState and Hullabaloo