memeorandum: We Still Don't Know What $1.6 Trillion Bought Us (Andrew Flowers/FiveThirtyEight)

1:25 PM ET, September 18, 2014

Top Items:

Alexandra Jaffe / The Hill:

Left blasts Clinton in secret emails — Emails sent by liberal activists and obtained by The Hill reveal significant dissatisfaction with Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. — The critical messages about the former first lady show …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Taylor Marsh

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

Elizabeth Warren: It's “Fair” to Compare Israel to Nazis — Elizabeth Warren is a heroine to many liberals, who hope she will challenge Hillary Clinton from the left. Even apart from the concept of anyone being to Hillary's left, this seems bizarre to me.

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Isis / CNN:
Hambycast: Hillary Clinton's madcap media mob

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Democratic, Republican Party Favorable Ratings Now Similar — Ratings of GOP improve, but are still negative — PRINCETON, NJ — Americans' views of the Democratic and Republican parties are now similar, mainly because of their more positive ratings of the GOP.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, JustOneMinute, Politico, Real Clear Politics and New York Times

Ann Coulter / Official:

YOUR ‘TO DO’ LIST TO SAVE AMERICA — The most important words printed in The New York Times since “REAGAN EASILY BEATS CARTER” were from a front-page article last Sunday about how, after six years of Obama, the federal judiciary is now dominated by Democratic appointees.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run and Mediaite

Brent Budowsky / The Hill:

GOP peaked too soon — The danger to a political party when pundits almost unanimously predict a nation-shaking victory for that party is that, quietly and thoughtfully, voters concerned about the future of their families and country ask themselves: Will we be better off if this party wins complete control of Congress?

Peter Beinart / The Atlantic Online:
‘Security Moms’ Are Back—and That's Bad News for Democrats

Discussion: The American Interest Podcast, Fox News, The Dish, The Mahablog, Betsy's Page, No More Mister Nice Blog and USA Today

Guardian:

Scottish independence: voters turn out for Scotland's historic referendum - live — Rolling coverage throughout the day as Scotland votes to decide whether to stay part of the United Kingdom — Final poll puts yes on 47% and no on 53% — Andy Murray: Lets do this! — Are the Scots independent yet?

Discussion: National Review, dailyrecord and Business Insider

U.S. Air Force / af.mil:

AF to change instructions for oaths — WASHINGTON (AFNS) — The Air Force has instructed force support offices across the service to allow both enlisted members and officers to omit the words “So help me God” from enlistment and officer appointment oaths if an Airman chooses.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Outside the Beltway, ABC News, Business Insider, Religion Clause, Right Wing Watch and Mediaite

Abby Ohlheiser / Washington Post:
The Air Force will now allow airmen to omit ‘so help me God’ from enlistment oaths

Discussion: Liberaland

Andrew Flowers / FiveThirtyEight:

We Still Don't Know What $1.6 Trillion Bought Us — One of the biggest efforts the Federal Reserve has ever embarked on — a $1.6 trillion bond-buying program to stimulate the U.S. economy known as the third round of quantitative easing — is coming to an end next month.

Discussion: The Dish, New York Times, Bloomberg View and Washington Post

Scotsman:

Comment: The huge costs of Scotland getting small — AS THE SONG says, “Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.” The Scottish push for secession from the United Kingdom takes for granted the benefits of peaceful, deep, economic, social …

Discussion: Washington Post and Better Together Blog

Alan Cowell / New York Times: Scotland Heads to the Polls for Independence Vote

Emma Dumain / Roll Call:

Party Like it's 1994: Gingrich, DeLay Reunite With ‘Greatest Class’ — A half-dozen lawmakers joined nearly 40 former colleagues, including former speaker Newt Gingrich, inside the National Resources Committee hearing room to reminisce about one of the biggest “wave” elections in congressional history.

Discussion: Washington Post

Rick Gladstone / New York Times:

New ISIS Video Features British Hostage, John Cantlie, as Spokesman — Departing from its serial beheading videos of Western hostages that have outraged the world, the Islamic State released a new video on Thursday featuring a captive British journalist seated behind a desk …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Huffington Post, more at Mediagazer »

Murtaza Hussain / The Intercept:
Grand Theft Auto: ISIS?

Discussion: Hit & Run

Craig Timberg / Washington Post:

Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with search warrants — Apple said Wednesday night that it is making it impossible for the company to turn over data from most iPhones or iPads to police — even when they have a search warrant — taking a hard new line …

Discussion: The Hill, Hit & Run, Mashable, Computerworld, New York Times, Guardian, PandoDaily, The Verge and Prairie Weather

Milo Yiannopoulos / BREITBART.COM:

EXPOSED: THE SECRET MAILING LIST OF THE GAMING JOURNALISM ELITE — Several prominent gaming journalists across America are part of a secret mailing list on which they discuss what to cover, what to ignore, and what approach their coverage should take to breaking news, Breitbart can reveal.

Discussion: Raw Story and Vox Popoli

Bernie Becker / The Hill:

IRS commissioner: Our story isn't changing — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) commissioner denied Wednesday that his agency had an ever-shifting story when it came to former official Lois Lerner's missing emails. — Republicans weren't buying it. — John Koskinen, the IRS chief …

Patrick Howley / The Daily Caller: Koskinen: ‘Hard Drive Crashes Continue As We Speak’

Andy Kroll / Mother Jones:

Five Signs the Dark-Money Apocalypse Is Upon Us — Welcome to the Year of Dark Money. — It's the home stretch of the 2014 election season. No single theme or issue has dominated the midterms, but 2014 is on pace to be the Year of Dark Money. — Nonprofit groups, some well-known …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post and Prairie Weather

Edward-Isaac Dovere / Politico:

Democrats turn on Debbie Wasserman Schultz — Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is in a behind-the-scenes struggle with the White House, congressional Democrats and Washington insiders who have lost confidence in her as both a unifying leader and reliable party spokesperson …

Discussion: Associated Press, Power Line, Washington Post, Taylor Marsh, VodkaPundit, Capitol Report, BuzzFeed, Business Insider, MichelleMalkin.com, The Daily Caller, Ed Driscoll, American Power and Althouse

John Del Signore / Gothamist:

A NYC Bartender's Powerful Open Letter To The Hedge Funder Who Allegedly Grabbed Her Ass — A SoHo bartender is fed up with misogynistic bros treating her like a piece of meat, and she's written a powerful open letter to the hedge funder who she says grabbed her ass at work.

Discussion: Feministing and Shakesville

Pew Research Center:

Teaching the Children: Sharp Ideological Differences, Some Common Ground — Wide Gaps over Teaching Faith, Tolerance, Obedience — As the public grows more politically polarized, differences between conservatives and liberals extend their long reach even to opinions about which qualities …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Washington Post

Rich Lowry / Politico:

The Media's Absurd NFL Hysteria — Over the past few weeks, two sets of initials have dominated the news — ISIL and NFL — and the casual listener would be hard-pressed to decide which is more odious. — It's a wonder that President Barack Obama didn't include a passage in his speech …

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

Forgiving Biden — Media that lean left will react differently to their friends than to their enemies. — Vice President Joe Biden, who in our kingless nation has been sent to play the role of Britain's Prince Philip, condemned unscrupulous bankers earlier this week and, in doing so, caused something of a flap.

Discussion: Raw Story

Scott Wiener / The Huffington Post:

Coming Out of the PrEP Closet — Each morning, I take a pill called Truvada to protect me from becoming infected with HIV. This strategy, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, reduces the risk of HIV infection by up to 99 percent if the pill is taken once a day.