memeorandum: New U.S.-Backed Alliance to Counter ISIS in Syria Falters (Ben Hubbard/New York Times)

11:30 AM ET, November 3, 2015

Top Items:

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

Obama mocks GOP hopefuls for CNBC snit — President Obama on Monday mocked Republican presidential candidates as thin-skinned for lashing out at CNBC over the network's handling of last week's primary debate. — “They say, 'when I talk to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin …

Discussion: Political Wire, The Week, ABC News and PoliticusUSA

Tierney Sneed / Talking Points Memo:

How The Debate Debacle Could Backfire On Republicans — A new round of chaos in the 2016 presidential primary has erupted, with a full-on revolt by GOP 2016ers against this cycle's debate structures. — After widespread frustration with the tough questioning candidates faced in last week's CNBC debate …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, CNN, Naked Politics and Washington Post

New York Times:

G.O.P.: Save Your Candidates From Themselves — Reeling after Mitt Romney's loss to Barack Obama in 2012, the Republican Party gathered for a soul-searching exercise called the Growth and Opportunity Project. — Project leaders surveyed thousands of Republican voters, technical experts and elected officials.

Discussion: Salon, Washington Post, Democratic Strategist and Poynter.

David A. Graham / The Atlantic:

The Republicans Debate Their Debates — The attempt by the Republican presidential candidates to wrest control of the primary debates away from news networks has, so far, mostly succeeded in highlighting internal divisions within the party. Whether it can produce debates that are more to their liking remains to be seen.

Discussion: Washington Post, TVNewser, Salon and Daily Kos

Robert Costa / Washington Post:
Trump's campaign says he'll negotiate directly with TV networks on debates

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
The Great Debate Debate Is Unraveling

Discussion: Mother Jones, Politico and US News

Hadas Gold / Politico:
GOP debate talks in disarray as consensus collapses

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CNNMoney, Daily Kos, Washington Post, TVNewser, Outside the Beltway, The Federalist, Towleroad and The Week

Mark Murray / NBC News:

NBC/WSJ Poll: Carson Surges Into Lead of National GOP Race — Ben Carson has surged into the lead of the Republican presidential race, getting support from 29 percent of GOP primary voters, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. — That's the highest percentage …

Michael Falcone / ABC News:

The Note: Can Jeb Fix It?

Discussion: The New York Observer and Politico

Niall Stanage / The Hill:

Ninety days until Iowa caucuses: Turmoil in the Republican race — With just 90 days left before the Iowa caucuses, the race for the Republican presidential nomination is wide open — and the party appears to be losing control of the process. — The last 48 hours have been characterized …

Patrick O'Connor / Wall Street Journal:
Ben Carson Vaults to Lead in Latest Journal/NBC Poll

Discussion: Washington Post, CNN, Fox News Insider, American Spectator, Outside the Beltway, The Week, Political Wire, RedState and Politico

John McCormick / Bloomberg Business: Ben Carson Is Taking Iowa One Church at a Time

Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project:

U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious — Modest Drop in Overall Rates of Belief and Practice, but Religiously Affiliated Americans Are as Observant as Before — Is the American public becoming less religious? Yes, at least by some key measures of what it means to be a religious person.

Discussion: Reuters, Truth Revolt, Joe.My.God., The Hugh Hewitt Show, Friendly Atheist, NPR and The Week

Mitch Smith / New York Times:

Illinois District Violated Transgender Student's Rights, U.S. Says — CHICAGO — Federal education authorities found on Monday that an Illinois school district had violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates in athletics …

Discussion: Weekly Standard, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hot Air and The American Conservative

Chicago Tribune:
Feds: Palatine district discriminated against transgender student by barring her from girls' locker room

Discussion: ACLU, Washington Post, cbs8.com, The Daily Caller, EAGnews.org, Common Dreams and The Gateway Pundit

New York Times:

In Religious Arbitration, Scripture Is the Rule of Law — A few months before he took a toxic mix of drugs and died on a stranger's couch, Nicklaus Ellison wrote a letter to his little sister. — He asked for Jolly Ranchers, Starburst and Silly Bandz bracelets, some of the treats permitted …

Discussion: Erick on the Radio, Crooked Timber, Friendly Atheist and Prairie Weather

Alison Elkin / Bloomberg.com news:

Charles Koch Says He, Brother Largely Fail at Influence-Buying — “So far we're largely failures at it, as you can tell,” Republican mega-donor Charles Koch says in interview on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” when asked if he is buying political influence and if that is at odds with his desire to end so-called corporate welfare.

Discussion: Political Wire

Nick Gass / Politico:
Koch brothers: We're ‘failures’ at changing America

Discussion: EcoWatch and addictinginfo.org

Sewell Chan / New York Times:

Ahmad Chalabi, Iraqi Politician Who Pushed for U.S. Invasion, Dies at 71 — Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who from exile helped persuade the United States to invade Iraq in 2003, and then unsuccessfully tried to attain power as his country was nearly torn apart by sectarian violence, died at his home in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Discussion: Associated Press, Mother Jones, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Balloon Juice

Perry Chiaramonte / Fox News:

Dashcam video undermines Texas prof's claim of racial profiling, says chief — A Texas journalism professor's explosive charge that police hassled her for “walking while black,” a claim lodged in a guest column in the state's biggest newspaper, doesn't square with the videotape, according to the police chief.

Discussion: Daily Mail, The Daily Caller, mrctv.org/videos and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

Janet Hook / Wall Street Journal:

Clinton's Explanations on Benghazi Attacks Winning Over Voters — WSJ/NBC Poll — Hillary Clinton has put to rest many voters' questions about her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted after her 11-hour appearance before a House investigative panel last month.

Discussion: The Week

Carrie Dann / NBC News:
Hillary Clinton Increases Her Lead Over Bernie Sanders

Discussion: Politico

Timothy Cama / The Hill:

TransCanada asks Obama to suspend review of Keystone XL pipeline — The company seeking to build the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline is asking the Obama administration to pause the process for reviewing its permit. — TransCanada Corp., which until recently repeatedly pressured President Obama …

Discussion: Bloomberg.com news, Reuters and Politico

Amy Harder / Wall Street Journal:
TransCanada Requests Suspension of U.S. Permit for Keystone XL Pipeline

Discussion: Vox, The Daily Caller, The Verge, The Week and The Moderate Voice

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Franken gets serious about flipping Senate to Democrats — On a recent October afternoon, Democratic Sen. Al Franken mistakenly ambled toward the Mansfield Room, where the party in control — namely Republicans — meets weekly to hash out strategy. — “I keep thinking we're in the majority …

Discussion: NBC News

Lisa Belkin / Yahoo:

Being married to Bernie — From the stage at the first Democratic presidential debate, nearly all the candidates opened with talk about their families. — “My wife, Hong, came to this country as a refugee from war-torn Vietnam,” said Jim Webb, who then went on to name his five children …

Ben Hubbard / New York Times:

New U.S.-Backed Alliance to Counter ISIS in Syria Falters — EIN EISSA, Syria — After abandoning its last effort to train and arm Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State, the Obama administration has turned to a newly announced alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces, to beat the jihadists in northern Syria.

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, Algemeiner.com, Washington Free Beacon, War on the Rocks and ThinkProgress

David Corn / Mother Jones:

Ben Carson on Americans: “Many of Them Are Stupid.” — When retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the current GOP 2016 front-runner, campaigns, he routinely pitches “common sense solutions from We the People.” But it seems the candidate who celebrates a cheerful and straightforward populism …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

NBC News:

Satellite Shows Heat Flash When Russian Metrojet Plane Crashed, But No Missile: U.S. Officials — While many have speculated that a missile may have struck a Russian commercial airliner that went down over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, U.S. officials are now saying satellite imagery doesn't back up that theory.

Discussion: BBC, Al Jazeera English, Guardian, Associated Press, Telegraph, The Week and Slantpoint

Ashley Feinberg / Gawker:

Jeb Bush Borrowed His New Slogan From England's Most Notorious Child Abuser — To most American voters (especially the younger ones), Jeb Bush's new slogan will mostly just sound uninspired, and slightly reminiscent of Bob the Builder. But for pretty much anyone even mildly aware …

Discussion: CANNONFIRE, Raw Story, Daily Kos and Balloon Juice

Ian M. Smith / The Hill:

Leaked DHS memo shows Obama might circumvent DAPA injunction — A newly leaked internal DHS memorandum produced for an off-the-record agency conclave reveals that the Obama administration is actively planning to circumvent a federal court injunction that suspended part of last November's deferral-based amnesty initiative.

Discussion: Algemeiner.com, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, RedState, Immigration Reform Law … and Patterico's Pontifications