memeorandum: Climate Change Threatens to Strip the Identity of Glacier National Park (Michael Wines/New York Times)

4:45 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, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Time, American Spectator, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, BillMoyers.com, National Review 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, New York Times, Time, Mashable, The PJ Tatler and Mediaite

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

Discussion: NBC News, BuzzFeed and US News

ABC News:
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Step Down

Discussion: Politico, Associated Press and abc7news.com

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

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

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: theGrio, New York Magazine and Politico

Lee Enterprises / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Darren Wilson has married his girlfriend

Discussion: Gawker and New York's PIX11

Kevin Cirilli / The Hill:
Giuliani: Ferguson debate misdirected

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Washington Post:
In Ferguson, media's long vigil is welcomed by some, wearing on others

Discussion: Politico, The Huffington Post, Balloon Juice, NOLA River and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

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, Political Wire and FOX News Radio

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

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

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Al Sharpton: Rand Paul's outreach to blacks could hurt Democrats in 2016

Discussion: Mediaite

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

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

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

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, Liberaland and Raw Story

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: Gawker, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, Raw Story and Colorlines

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

Adrian Carrasquillo / BuzzFeed:

Poll: Latino Voters Overwhelmingly Support Obama's Immigration Actions — The first poll of Latino voters since Obama's executive actions, first given to BuzzFeed News, shows that nearly 90% support his move, while 80% think it would be a mistake for the GOP to oppose them. — AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Discussion: Daily Kos, PoliticusUSA, Political Wire and Outside the Beltway

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:

20 Ways Media Completely Misread Congress' Weak-Sauce Benghazi Report — On September 11, 2012, Islamist militants attacked U.S. complexes in Benghazi, Libya. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed, the first U.S. Ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979. Three other men were killed and 10 were injured.

Discussion: New York Magazine, BREITBART.COM, The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, Mediaite and Jay Bookman

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

Matt Friedman / New Jersey Online:

Rape by fraud? N.J. lawmaker introduces bill to make it a crime — Assemblyman Troy Singleton (D-Burlington) has introduced a bill to create the crime of ‘rape by fraud’ (Assembly Democrats' website) — TRENTON — Imagine this: A man woos a woman to bed with tales of his riches, fast cars and a vacation home in Monaco.

Discussion: Hot Air and Raw Story

NBC News:

‘Unconscionable’: Dyson and Giuliani Argue Over Race — The author and the former mayor got into a heated exchange over race and policing in America.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Politico, Colorlines, theGrio, RealClearPolitics Videos and Talking Points Memo