Today's edition of quick hits:
* Ferguson: "Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday ordered the Missouri National Guard to withdraw from Ferguson, where they had been in place since Monday. The move came just after a brief altercation occurred between a state senator and a county spokesperson near St. Louis."
* Middle East: "About 10,000 mourners on Thursday buried three senior commanders of the armed wing of Hamas who were killed in a predawn airstrike by Israel, the most significant blow to the group's leadership since Israel's operation in Gaza began more than six weeks ago."
* This seems like quite an admission: "A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June -- the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip."
* Ebola: "American doctor Kent Brantly and missionary Nancy Writebol, both of whom contracted Ebola while treating infected Liberian patients, have been released from an Atlanta hospital. Writebol was discharged from Emory University Hospital on Tuesday, and Brantly was released on Thursday."
* ISIS: "Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday afternoon that it would not be possible to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria without attacking its fighters in Syria."
* It's a good thing the right was wrong about the auto-industry rescue: "[T]he number of cars coming off our assembly lines just reached its highest level in 12 years."
* No one knows why this is happening, though most agree it's good news: "For five years now, America's teen birth rate has plummeted at an unprecedented rate, falling faster and faster. Between 2007 and 2013, the number of babies born to teens annually fell by 38.4 percent, according to research firm Demographic Intelligence. This drop occurred in tandem with steep declines in the abortion rate."
* Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) hasn't just earned a reputation for his fierce anti-immigration position; he also seems to have a strong aversion to the Congressional Black Caucus.
* A city councilman in Missouri apologized this week for posting racist anti-Obama messages online. In an unfortunate choice of words, councilman Peter Tinsley's defense was he was "a very active Republican" when he published the offensive content.
* Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was asked this week about House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) chain smoking and whether he ever asks Boehner to refrain. "No," Ryan said. "But I try to sit as far away from him as I can in meetings that I know are going to be stressful. I just hate getting that smell in my clothes." I knew I'd eventually agree with Ryan about something.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread