Sacked: Baltimore running back Ray Rice was fired by the Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after the release of a video showing him knocking out his then fiancée in a hotel elevator. Rice had been previously suspended after the posting of a video showing him dragging the unconscious Janay Palmer out of the elevator. But a fuller version of the incident shows Palmer striking rice on the way to the elevator, and hitting him again before he delivers one knockout punch that drops her to the floor.

As brutal as the punch is Rice’s casual behavior as he tries to get his fiancée out of the elevator without any concern for how badly she may have been hurt.

Rice married Palmer after the incident and publicly apologized, but the NFL was attacked for the lightness of his penalty and Commissioner Roger Goodell recently laid down strict punishments for domestic violence by players. Although Rice had already been punished by the league, the blunt violence shown in the most recent video put the NFL and the Ravens in an untenable position with Rice.

Iraq: Parliament approved a power-sharing cabinet to be led by the country’s new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. He’s trying to form a government that brings together the Sunni and Kurdish minorities with the Shiite majority. But Abadi did not name Defense and Interior ministers, the two most important and politically sensitive security posts, as Iraq is threated by ISIS terrorists trying to carve out a new country.

President Obama is expected today to reveal his strategy for dealing with ISIS, which could involve a long air campaign.

Ebola: The epidemic is spreading “exponentially” in Liberia with thousands of new cases expected in coming weeks, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO notes that 152 healthcare workers have been infected and 79 have died. “Every infection or death of a doctor or nurse depletes response capacity significantly.” At least 2,100 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, but nearly 1,000 of the deaths have been in Liberia.

Greenhouse: Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have grown at their fastest rate since 1984, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The organization says the growth of co2 indicates the need for a global climate treaty. Scientists say the spike is caused in part by a mystery; the earth’s biosphere is not re-absorbing co2 as much as it once did. Whether this is cyclical or a serious change, they don’t know.

MH17: Dutch experts say the Malaysian airliner that came down in eastern Ukraine was hit by “numerous objects” that “pierced the plane at high velocity”. That fits with the general belief that the airliner was shot down with a Russian-made missile. The report says there was no evidence of a technical flaw in the aircraft or human error.

Center Court: Croatia’s Marin Cilic won three straight sets from Japan’s Kei Nishikori to take his first Grand Slam tennis title at the US Open yesterday. Celic was only the 14^th seed in the tournament.

Professional Football: After just two years of a four-year suspension from post-season play, Penn State football was reinstated by the NCAA. The organization cited progress Penn State has made reforming its athletics since the Jerry Sandusky child molesting scandal that struck under the leadership of the late coach and football god Joe Paterno.

Fair and Balanced: Following the news on the NFL’s Ray Rice, the funny boys at Fox & Friends ran down a brief criticism yesterday of women who stay with their men after getting beaten up. “It sends a bad message.”

Noting that Ray Rice’s fiancée was beaten in an elevator, Brian Kilmeade said, “I think the message is, take the stairs.” Co-host Steve Doocey rejoined, “The message is, when you’re in an elevator, there’s a camera.”

One of those generic Fox blondes was sitting between the two men during this conversation and she said nothing. Now there’s a message for you.

-30-