memeorandum: BRUNCH EDITION - 59 days to midterms — BENNY JOHNSON's new job - OBAMA PUNTS ON IMMIGRATION … (Mike Allen/Politico)

1:45 PM ET, September 6, 2014

Top Items:

Mike Allen / Politico:

BRUNCH EDITION - 59 days to midterms — BENNY JOHNSON's new job - OBAMA PUNTS ON IMMIGRATION — WENDY DAVIS discloses abortion of third daughter - JOE SCARBOROUGH signs NBC deal —CHRIS CHRISTIE is 52 — EXCLUSIVE: Benny Johnson, the BuzzFeed “viral politics editor” who was fired for plagiarism in July …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, MySanAntonio.com, The Raw Story, Gawker, The Huffington Post and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:

Christie's Trip Looks Like a Campaign for President — PUEBLA, Mexico — Perhaps it was the war room set up for Gov. Chris Christie's staff in a hotel here, filled at all hours with laptop-wielding aides and a generous supply of beef medallions with green peppers.

Discussion: The PJ Tatler

Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press:

WHITE HOUSE: OBAMA TO DELAY IMMIGRATION ACTION — WASHINGTON (AP) — Abandoning his pledge to act by the end of summer, President Barack Obama has decided to delay any executive action on immigration until after the November congressional elections, White House officials said.

Discussion: Power Line, National Review, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, The Week, Business Insider, Mediaite, Hot Air and Washington Times

Michael D. Shear / New York Times:

Obama Delays Immigration Action, Yielding to Democratic Concerns — WASHINGTON — President Obama has bowed to the concerns of Senate Democrats up for election this fall and will delay until late this year executive action that would reshape the nation's immigration system without congressional approval …

Discussion: Daily Kos and Business Insider

Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:

Legal memos released on Bush-era justification for warrantless wiretapping — The Justice Department released two decade-old memos Friday night, offering the fullest public airing to date of the Bush administration's legal justification for the warrantless wiretapping of Americans' phone calls and e-mails …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill and Hullabaloo

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

Obama Enlists 9 Allies to Help in the Battle Against ISIS — NEWPORT, Wales — President Obama escalated the American response to the marauding Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Friday, recruiting at least nine allies to help crush the organization and offering the outlines …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Post and defense.gov

Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:
Cruz Moves to Stop American ISIL Fighters from Reentering the U.S.

Discussion: Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Independent Journal Review

Brian Tashman / Right Wing Watch: Alan Keyes: Obama Is Funding ISIS To Wage ‘War On The People Of The United States’

Wall Street Journal:

Joan Rivers: The Entertainer — There was nobody like her. Some people are knockoffs or imitations of other, stronger, more vivid figures, but there was never another Joan Rivers before her or while she lived. She was a seriously wonderful, self-invented woman. — She was completely open and immediately accessible.

Discussion: neo-neocon, Ed Driscoll, Booman Tribune and Roger L. Simon

Stephen Ohlemacher / Associated Press:

IRS SAYS IT HAS LOST EMAILS FROM 5 MORE EMPLOYEES … WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS says it has lost emails from five more workers who are part of congressional investigations into the treatment of conservative groups that applied for tax exempt status. — The tax agency said in June …

Discussion: The Daily Caller and The PJ Tatler

Salvador Rizzo / New Jersey Online:

Fitch downgrades N.J. debt, saying Christie is repudiating his pension reform — Gov. Chris Christie, in Mexico this week on a trade mission, has been bedeviled by downgrades of New Jersey's credit rating this year. (Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger) — TRENTON — Wall Street analysts …

Discussion: EconomicPolicyJournal.com

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

Dana Perino Bashes Obama For Being Shown Walking Alone At Stonehenge — Were you, concerned American citizen, dismayed by those pictures of President Obama touring Stonehenge on Friday? Did it bother you that many of the photos showed Obama taking in the prehistoric structure by himself?

Discussion: Balloon Juice