memeorandum: The Clinton team is following reporters to the bathroom. Here's why that matters. (Chris Cillizza/Washington Post)

10:50 AM ET, September 25, 2014

Top Items:

John Monk / The State:

VIDEO RELEASED: SC trooper charged with felony in shooting at traffic stop over seat belt violation — COLUMBIA, SC — An S.C. trooper who stopped a man for a seat belt violation outside Columbia and then shot him - apparently without provocation - was arrested Wednesday and charged with assault …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mediaite, Gawker, Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA, Hinterland Gazette and addictinginfo.org

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:

Yep, We Need Dashcams — This video will blow your mind. — On the plus side, the officer in question was fired from the South Carolina Highway Patrol and has now been charged with aggravated assault. But here's the story (with video). White Highway Patrol officer stops a black man for a seat belt violation outside Columbia, SC.

Discussion: WLTX-TV and Unfogged

Economist:

Mission relaunched — The fight against Islamic State will help define America's role in the world — FOR more than three years, Barack Obama has been trying to avoid getting into a fight in Syria. But this week, with great tracts of the Middle East under the jihadist's knife, he at last faced up to the inevitable.

Josh Gerstein / Politico:
Obama's exceptional U.N. address

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

George E. Condon Jr / National Journal: Six Speeches, and the Evolution of a President

Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:
Obama Praises Muslim Cleric Who Backed Fatwa on Killing of U.S. Soldiers

Discussion: Betsy's Page, The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air, Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs and American Spectator

Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:
Obama's Iraq Is Not Bush's Iraq

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Washington Monthly, The Dish and New York Times

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Jeb Bush Returns to Fray and Finds Going Rough — GREENSBORO, N.C. — In one of his first public appearances of the 2014 campaign, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida had a vivid preview Wednesday of the challenges he would face with his party's conservative base should he seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Liberaland and Prairie Weather

Nate Cohn / New York Times:
Kay Hagan's Surprising Strength

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and Prairie Weather

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

Romney 2016 is for real — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL 2016 ELECTIONS MITT ROMNEY — Is Mitt Romney, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination and lost in 2008, ran again and won the nomination but lost the general election in 2012, really thinking about running yet again for president in 2016?

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Outside the Beltway

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

The Clinton team is following reporters to the bathroom. Here's why that matters. — Amy Chozick is the reporter tasked with covering the Clintons — and the runup to the now-almost-inevitable Hillary Clinton presidential bid — for the New York Times. Sounds like a plum gig, right?

Discussion: Shakesville, Hot Air and Washington Free Beacon, more at Mediagazer »

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:
Iraq looms large again for Hillary Clinton as she weighs another White House bid

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Jeff Greenfield / The Daily Beast:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Levels With Us on Why She's Not Retiring — No, she doesn't think she's immortal. She knows that Obama couldn't get a liberal on the Court. So she's toughing it out for now. — There's a phrase judges use in an opinion that any lawyer instantly recognizes as a sure sign …

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Amy Davidson / New Yorker:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Retirement Dissent

Discussion: SCOTUSblog, Hot Air, Politico, National Review, Firedoglake, Above the Law and Outside the Beltway

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Fox Hosts Dub Female Fighter Pilot Who Bombed ISIL ‘Boobs On The Ground’ (VIDEO) — Two male co-hosts of Fox News' “The Five” cracked sexist jokes Wednesday about the United Arab Emirates' first female fighter pilot. — Kimberly Guilfoyle took a moment to salute Major Mariam Al Mansouri …

Discussion: Raw Story

Rob Davis / Oregonian:

Forest Service says media needs photography permit in wilderness areas, alarming First Amendment advocates — The U.S. Forest Service has tightened restrictions on media coverage in vast swaths of the country's wild lands, requiring reporters to pay for a permit and get permission before shooting …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Fox News, CBS San Francisco, The Daily Caller and Hit & Run

New York Post:

Zoo in coverup after groundhog dropped by de Blasio dies — Mayor Bill de Blasio couldn't hold onto the Staten Island Zoo's squirming groundhog. — Mayor Bill de Blasio has groundhog blood on his hands! — A week after Hizzoner dropped Staten Island Chuck in front of a crowd of spectators on Feb. 2 …

Discussion: Politico, Gawker, Gothamist and Mediaite

Franklin Doloquee / allAfrica.com:

Liberia: Dead Ebola Patients Resurrect? — Two Ebola patients, who died of the virus in separate communities in Nimba County have reportedly resurrected in the county. The victims, both females, believed to be in their 60s and 40s respectively, died of the Ebola virus recently …

Discussion: Vox Popoli

Dave Nagle / ESPN MediaZone:

ESPN Statement on Bill Simmons — “Every employee must be accountable to ESPN and those engaged in our editorial operations must also operate within ESPN's journalistic standards. We have worked hard to ensure that our recent NFL coverage has met that criteria.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Deadspin, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Los Angeles Times, Guardian, ThinkProgress, The Big Lead, CBS DC, Inside TV, Raw Story, Business Insider, SBNation.com, The Huffington Post, The Daily Banter, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Balloon Juice, more at Mediagazer »

Ashe Schow / Washington Examiner:

This Democrat likes spending your taxes, but doesn't like paying hers — BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL TAXES NEW HAMPSHIRE CAMPAIGNS — Marilinda Garcia, a GOP millennial candidate for Congress in New Hampshire, accuses incumbent Rep. Ann Kuster, D-N.H., of spending constituents' taxes while avoiding paying her own.

Discussion: RedState

Richard Grenell / Fox News:

Obama's condemnation of Ferguson, Missouri, during UN talk was a mistake — President Obama spoke Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly in his annual foreign policy address to the world body. Speaking after the Brazilian president but before Uganda's leader …

Discussion: The White House, his vorpal sword and Wall Street Journal

Leslie SalzilloFollow / Daily Kos:

Rush Limbaugh Must Be Terrified - He's Releasing Secret ‘Facts’ About StopRush — Rush Limbaugh, bless his cold little heart, claims he has cracked a major mystery. As he spews, he basically acknowledges the power of what some would call his strongest nemesis - a grassroots organization called StopRush.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Daily Signal and Rush Limbaugh

Theodore Dalrymple / City Journal:

The Reeducation of Dinesh D'Souza — Crime is not disease. — Reading the New York Times account this morning of the sentence passed on Dinesh D'Souza—the filmmaker, writer, and outspoken critic of President Obama—for violating the laws relating to campaign finance …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler and Gothamist

Mike Hayes / BuzzFeed:

Missouri Police Wear “I Am Darren Wilson” Bracelets To Ferguson Protest — Missouri Highway Patrol Commander calls bracelet “an individual statement” by the officers. — An Instagram photo posted by MediaBlackOutUSA appears to show a “I Am Darren Wilson” bracelet worn by police …

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette, Raw Story and Gawker

Agence France-Presse:

Ukraine to shut Russia border, seek EU membership — Dmitry Zaks — Kiev (AFP) - President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday ordered a temporary closure of Ukraine's porous border with Russia and voiced plans to apply for EU membership in 2020 as part of his ex-Soviet country's Westward shift.

Discussion: Hot Air