memeorandum: Obama's condemnation of Ferguson, Missouri, during UN talk was a mistake (Richard Grenell/Fox News)

9:55 AM ET, September 25, 2014

Top Items:

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

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: Liberaland

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Kay Hagan's Surprising Strength — If there is any state where the Democrats are defying expectations — and where Republicans should be kicking themselves — it's North Carolina. — This spring, North Carolina looked like the obvious sixth pickup state for the Republicans, just enough to take the Senate.

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico and Prairie Weather

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: Gawker, Mediaite 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: Unfogged

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 and Above the Law

Kevin D. Williamson / National Review:
‘We Only Whisper It’ — Justice Ginsburg sings another verse of “Kill the Poor”

Discussion: Hot Air, Politico, Firedoglake, Outside the Beltway, The Federalist and Elle

Karen Tumulty / Washington Post:

Iraq looms large again for Hillary Clinton as she weighs another White House bid — When Hillary Rodham Clinton sat down on a Manhattan stage with CNN's Sanjay Gupta, the planned topic for discussion was babies' brains and how to improve infant development around the globe.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

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

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

Dan Merica / CNN:
Hillary Clinton stands with Obama on airstrikes, arming Syrian rebels

Discussion: Politico and Washington Post

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.

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

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

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

Michael Tomasky / The Daily Beast:

Obama's Iraq Is Not Bush's Iraq — The war against ISIS may fail. But morally, it's the opposite of Bush's war, and if it succeeds, it will do so for precisely that reason. — Last week, a Politico reporter phoned me to ascertain my thoughts on the new war.

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

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

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

Suzy Khimm / msnbc.com:

How DC's conservative elite view liberals — What do conservatives think of liberals today? — Here's the view from the Heritage Foundation: Liberalism creates self-indulgent, licentious hedonists willing to cede every other kind of freedom to an increasingly authoritarian government.

Discussion: American Prospect, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hit & Run, Balloon Juice and National Review

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

Michael Lewis / Bloomberg View:

Occupational Hazards of Working on Wall Street — A few times in the past several decades it has sounded as if big Wall Street banks were losing their hold on the graduates of the world's most selective universities: the early 1990s, the dot-com boom and the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis (Teach for America!).

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

Scott Bauer / Associated Press:

Federal Court Lifts Injunction In Walker Investigation — MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a lower court's ruling halting an investigation into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and more than two dozen conservative groups for alleged illegal campaign activity.

Discussion: BobCesca.com

David / Latest from Crooks and Liars:

Family Says Louisiana Deputy Shot 14-year-old ‘Four Or Five Times In The Back’ — Louisiana State Police were investigating on Wednesday after a Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's deputy fatally shot a 14-year-old boy. — Louisiana State Police were investigating on Wednesday …

Discussion: Hinterland Gazette

Jesse Paul / Denver Post:

HUNDREDS OF JEFFCO STUDENTS WALK OUT IN LARGEST SCHOOL BOARD PROTEST — Jefferson County high school students protested for the third straight day after students from Chatfield High School and Dakota Ridge High School left classes in protest of school board decisions and proposals, September 24, 2014.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Firedoglake, Chalkbeat Colorado and New York Times

Adam Kredo / Washington Free Beacon:

Obama Praises Muslim Cleric Who Backed Fatwa on Killing of U.S. Soldiers — President Barack Obama favorably quoted and praised on Wednesday in his speech before the United Nations a controversial Muslim cleric whose organization has reportedly endorsed the terror group Hamas and supported …

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