memeorandum: Rand Paul Shows Early Strength in New Hampshire Poll (John McCormick/Bloomberg Politics)

3:50 PM ET, November 24, 2014

Top Items:

Helene Cooper / New York Times:

Hagel Said to Be Stepping Down as Defense Chief Under Pressure — WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down under pressure, the first cabinet-level casualty of the collapse of President Obama's Democratic majority in the Senate and a beleaguered national security team …

Jim Miklaszewski / NBC News:

Forced Out: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Step Down — According to one senior official, “He wasn't up to the job.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Time, American Spectator, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, BillMoyers.com, The Daily Caller, National Review, Mediaite and Betsy's Page

David Weigel / Bloomberg Politics:
John McCain: Chuck Hagel ‘Was Up to the Job’

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, No More Mister Nice Blog, National Review, Washington Post, Hot Air, Mediaite, Time, Mashable and The PJ Tatler

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:
How Do You Spell Scapegoat? H-A-G-E-L

Discussion: NBC News, BuzzFeed and New York Times

ABC News: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Step Down

CNN: Chuck Hagel Fast Facts

Washington Post:

Grand jury reaches decision in case of Ferguson officer — A grand jury has reached a decision on whether to indict Darren Wilson, the white Ferguson, Mo. police officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager sparked days of turbulent protests, sources close to the process said.

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, The Daily Banter and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

USA Today:

Reports: Ferguson grand jury has made decision — Evidence presented to the grand jury in Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson's case may or may not be released after their decision is released. It's up to the judge to make the evidence available. VPC — A St. Louis County grand jury …

Discussion: National Review

Brian Stelter / CNNMoney.com:

Exclusive: Why TV anchors met secretly with Ferguson officer who shot Michael Brown — Practically every journalist covering the death of Michael Brown would like to interview Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed Brown. — In the pursuit of that interview …

Discussion: New York Magazine, theGrio and Politico

CNN:

Ferguson grand jury announcement expected Monday — Ferguson, Missouri (CNN) — Law enforcement authorities in Ferguson are prepared for a wide range of public reaction expected to follow the announcement of the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown shooting, Missouri Public Safety Director Daniel Isom said Monday on CNN.

Discussion: Liberaland, New York Times, Little Green Footballs, Washington Post, Hot Air, naked capitalism, Q13 FOX News and The PJ Tatler

Lee Enterprises / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Darren Wilson has married his girlfriend — • By Christine Byers cbyers@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8087 — CLAYTON • Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson married his girlfriend, also a Ferguson police officer, on Oct. 24. — Wilson, 28, wed Barbara Spradling, 36, in Overland.

Discussion: Gawker and New York's PIX11

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:
Giuliani: Ferguson debate misdirected

Discussion: Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Police: Woman Saying She's ‘Ready For Ferguson’ Shoots, Kills Self By Accident — St. Louis police were investigating an incident in which a woman waving a gun inside a vehicle and saying she was “ready for Ferguson” apparently shot herself in the head by accident, CNN reported Sunday.

Discussion: Mediaite and Booman Tribune

Shimon Prokupecz / CNN:

Police: Woman allegedly kills herself with gun bought to prepare for Ferguson unrest — St. Louis (CNN) — A woman appears to have accidentally fatally shot herself in the head with a gun bought to prepare for possible Ferguson-related unrest, according to sources briefed on the police investigation.

Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Gawker, Time, Raw Story and Liberaland

David Sims / The Atlantic Online:

The Gospel of Rudy Giuliani — On Sunday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani went on Meet the Press to discuss the killing of Michael Brown. Giuliani offered the kind of candor and tough talk that almost made him president: … Yes. It's almost as if killers tend to murder people who live near them.

Discussion: Mediaite

Danielle Paquette / Washington Post:
Giuliani: 'White police officers wouldn't be there if you weren't killing each other.'

Discussion: Mediaite, LiberalAmerica.org, Hot Air, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, New York Magazine, Gawker and TalkLeft

John McCormick / Bloomberg Politics:

Rand Paul Shows Early Strength in New Hampshire Poll — Republican Rand Paul is showing early strength for a possible 2016 presidential bid in the first primary state, where a Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm New Hampshire Poll shows him running slightly ahead of more established names.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, NOLA River, Washington Post, US News, OnPolitics, FOX News Radio and Political Wire

Lucy McCalmont / Politico:
N.H. poll: Romney leads GOP field

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Erin Alberty / Salt Lake Tribune:

Killings by Utah police outpacing gang, drug, child-abuse homicides — 1. Officer Bron Cruz' body camera shows him beginning to raise his gun toward Dillon Taylor as Taylor walks away. 2. Taylor continues to face away from Cruz. Cruz can be heard ordering Taylor, “Get your hands out, now.”

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice and Raw Story

William H. Frey / The New Republic:

The Suburbs: Not Just for White People Anymore — The new racial dynamics of the American dream, in three eye-opening graphics — The classic image of an American metropolis was that of a polyglot city surrounded by mostly white suburbs—the “chocolate city/vanilla suburbs” of the 1950s and 1960s …

Discussion: Washington Monthly

Olivia Nuzzi / The Daily Beast:

Rand Paul Declares War on ISIS—and Allows Boots on the Ground — The Kentucky senator, seeking to define himself as a foreign-policy heavyweight ahead of 2016, will introduce a measure in the Senate next month declaring war on the terror group. — “The most important” part of Rand Paul's assessment of …

Discussion: Hit & Run, FOX News Radio and Political Wire

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:
Rand Paul Calls for a Formal Declaration of War Against ISIS

Discussion: New York Magazine, The Dish, CNN, Hot Air, Time and National Review

John Fund / National Review:

Lincoln — or Schoolyard Bully? — Even some of Obama's allies cast a cold eye on his penchant for lawmaking. — President Obama held a private screening of the Steven Spielberg movie Lincoln at the White House in late 2012, and an ABC News reporter tweeted that Obama was “incredibly moved” …

Discussion: Scared Monkeys and Shot in the Dark