memeorandum: Liberian Officials Identify Ebola Victim in Texas as Thomas Eric Duncan (Norimitsu Onishi/New York Times)

8:55 PM ET, October 1, 2014

Top Items:

Secret Service Chief Pierson Resigns Amid Security Gaps — Embattled U.S. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson, the first woman to lead the agency in charge of protecting the president, resigned amid mounting criticism over a series of security lapses. — Pierson stepped down only 18 months …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Washington Post, Hot Air, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and his vorpal sword

Owen Boss / Boston Herald:

Herald cartoonist apologizes for Obama cartoon — By: — Boston Herald cartoonist Jerry Holbert took to the airwaves this morning to apologize for a political cartoon that set off a social media firestorm after appearing on the paper's editorial page. — “I want to apologize to anyone …

Discussion: JIMROMENESKO.COM, Guardian, WBUR, abc30.com, Mediaite, bet.com and CNN

Boston Magazine:

EARLIER: — A political cartoon in Wednesday's Boston Herald is raising eyebrows and has people calling the newspaper “racist.” — The cartoon depicts President Barack Obama brushing his teeth in the bathroom of the White House, as the man recently accused of storming the building …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, theGrio, Americans Against the … and The Huffington Post

Everett Rosenfeld / CNBC:
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigns

Discussion: Associated Press and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:
‘Morning Joe’ Piles On The ‘Politically Correct’ Secret Service (VIDEO)

Discussion: Weekly Standard and Hullabaloo

CNN:
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigns

Discussion: Washington Monthly, bet.com and Taylor Marsh

New York Times:
Secret Service Director Resigns in Scandal Over Security Lapses

Discussion: Althouse

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
Dem on Secret Service director: ‘I think this lady has to go’

Discussion: Politico, ThinkProgress, Outside the Beltway, National Review, Hot Air and Raw Story

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:

NYT: Say, Why Don't Republicans Want President Obama to be Killed? — An extraordinary item from Peter Baker in the New York Times: … “Even”? Can it really be too difficult to recognize that citizens who strongly disagree with the president of the republic don't want him to be murdered?

Peter Baker / New York Times:
Showing Concern for the President, Even While Criticizing Him

Discussion: Power Line, Ed Driscoll, JustOneMinute, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, The Gateway Pundit, National Review, Hit & Run and Betsy's Page

Katherine Connell / National Review:
White House to Media: Sit Down and Don't Interview

Discussion: American Spectator

Rebecca Ballhaus / Wall Street Journal:

College GOP: Democrats Are Like a Bad Wedding Dress — The College Republican National Committee launched on Wednesday a nearly $1 million digital ad campaign across 16 states, aiming to draw young voters to the GOP with what the group's chief calls “culturally relevant” ad campaigns.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Free Beacon, Washington Monthly, BuzzFeed, Daily Kos, OnPolitics, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, Bloomberg View, Mediaite, Hullabaloo, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Shakesville

Suffolk University:

Kansas Poll Shows Independent Greg Orman Leading Incumbent Pat Roberts in U.S. Senate Race — Independent businessman and political enigma Greg Orman (46 percent) is leading three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts (41 percent) in the race for U.S. Senate in Kansas, with 11 percent undecided …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and National Review

Susan Page / Associated Press:

Poll: For the GOP — What's the matter with Kansas? — Greg Orman, an independent candidate who has never won political office, now leads veteran Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas by 46%-41% in the most surprising Senate race of the year, a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll finds.

Discussion: The Hill, Roll Call, Daily Kos, Washington Post, Business Insider and OnPolitics

Chris Cox / Facebook:

I want to apologize to the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community for the hardship that we've put you through in dealing with your Facebook accounts over the past few weeks.

Discussion: Mashable, New York Times, The Technology Chronicles, BuzzFeed, ThinkProgress, Transgender Law Center, LGBTQ Nation, Guardian, Raw Story, Towleroad News #gay, The Verge and Engadget

Julie Pace / Associated Press:

The Obama administration warned Israel on Wednesday that plans for a controversial new housing project in east Jerusalem would distance Israel from “even its closest allies” and raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians. — The strikingly sharp criticism …

Discussion: Politico

Joseph Miller / The Daily Caller:
Pentagon Official: The President Is Lying To America — About Us, And About ISIS

Discussion: Power Line, VodkaPundit and Hot Air

Norimitsu Onishi / New York Times:

Liberian Officials Identify Ebola Victim in Texas as Thomas Eric Duncan — MONROVIA, Liberia — A man who flew to Dallas and was later found to have the Ebola virus was identified by senior Liberian government officials on Wednesday as Thomas Eric Duncan, a resident of Monrovia in his mid-40s.

Discussion: Politico, CNN, JustOneMinute, The PJ Tatler and Mediaite

Matt Campbell / Matt Campbell's Blue Hog Report:

BREAKING: Leslie Rutledge's Voter Registration Canceled; Candidacy Now In Question — And you thought the DHS rumors were troubling. — According to multiple reports — the veracity of which I have no reason to doubt, but the confirmation of which I will have to wait until 8am tomorrow to confirm …

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times

Salon:

Gun nuts' tragic confusion: Why “open carry” groups don't get police brutality — To their credit, some gun groups were upset when John Crawford was shot by cops. The problem is their odd reasoning — After finally being allowed to view the video of the police shooting of a man in an Ohio Wal-Mart …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Ravi Somaiya / New York Times:

New York Times Plans Cutbacks in Newsroom Staff — The New York Times plans to eliminate about 100 newsroom jobs, as well as a smaller number of positions from its editorial and business operations, offering buyouts and resorting to layoffs if enough people do not leave voluntarily, the newspaper announced on Wednesday.

Discussion: Liberaland, Poynter, New York Times, The Huffington Post, Bloomberg View, PandoDaily, Reuters, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, National Review and Mashable, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Michael Dunn found guilty of 1st-degree murder in loud-music trial — Jacksonville, Florida (CNN) — Jurors found Michael Dunn guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday in the 2012 shooting death 17-year-old Jordan Davis. — Dunn's parents were in the courtroom for the verdict.

Discussion: KTLA and Mediaite

Stevie Poole / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal:

State Sen. Perry discusses morals in inaugural speech — Perry: ‘The biggest challenge we face is the spiritual battle for the spirit of this nation and the soul of its people’ — After placing his hand on the Bible and taking the oath of office, state Sen. Charles Perry compared what he called the …

Discussion: Raw Story and Talking Points Memo

Charles Franklin / Marquette Law School Poll:

New Marquette Law School Poll finds Walker leading in race for Wisconsin governor; attorney general race remains tied — Clarification on margin of error in the Marquette Law School Poll … MILWAUKEE - A new Marquette Law School Poll in the Wisconsin governor's race finds Republican …

Discussion: Associated Press, Hot Air, Watchdog.org and Althouse

Michael O'Connell / Hollywood Reporter:

Fox News Nabs Historic Cable Ratings Victory — FNC celebrates a quarter with the most-watched primetime across the cable dial, while MSNBC slides below CNN in the demo — No one would say the summer of 2014 suffered any shortage of breaking news. — From the crisis in Ferguson, Mo. …

Discussion: Hot Air

Thomas B. Edsall / New York Times:

Are Liberals Fund-Raising Hypocrites? — Let's imagine that Republicans swept the 2012 elections and were now in control not merely of the House but of the presidency and the Senate, too. — Now let's take it one step further and say that by using the filibuster the Democratic minority …

Discussion: Hullabaloo and Washington Post

Kimberly Kindy / Washington Post:

Grand jury considering the Ferguson shooting is being investigated for misconduct — The St. Louis County prosecutor's office is investigating an accusation of misconduct on the grand jury that is hearing the case against the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

USA Today:

Officials: Second person being monitored for Ebola — DALLAS — Health officials are closely monitoring a possible second Ebola patient who had close contact with the first person to be diagnosed in the U.S., the director of Dallas County's health department said Wednesday.

Discussion: Hot Air, The Atlantic Online, TheBlaze.com, The Last Refuge, The PJ Tatler and Weekly Standard

Thomas K. Lindsay / The Hill:

Two years after college, too many grads are still ‘adrift’ — The higher-education world was rocked three years ago by the publication of the landmark study of collegiate learning, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa.

Discussion: National Review

Ari Phillips / ThinkProgress:

35,000 Walrus Converge On Alaska Beach As Sea Ice Retreats — In this aerial photo taken on Sept. 27, 2014, and provided by NOAA, some 35,000 walrus gather on shore near Point Lay, Alaska. Pacific walrus looking for places to rest in the absence of sea ice are coming to shore in record numbers on Alaska's northwest coast.

Discussion: Guardian, FOX31 Denver and TheAustralian