memeorandum: Jeb Jumps In — Jeb Bush, presidential candidate. (Jonathan Bernstein/Bloomberg View)

5:30 PM ET, December 16, 2014

Top Items:

Jeb Bush / Facebook:

A Note from Jeb Bush — Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! — Like many of you, our family was blessed with the opportunity to gather together over the recent Thanksgiving holiday. — Columba and I are so proud of the wonderful adults our children have become, and we loved spending time with our three precious grandchildren.

Brian Beutler / The New Republic:

Jeb Bush Is Running for President, But Obama Has Already Destroyed His Candidacy — Because the right never trusted him, Mitt Romney spent the entire 2012 presidential primary burnishing his conservative credentials, and spent much of the general election on unsure footing …

Discussion: New York Times, Bloomberg Politics, Washington Post, Naked Politics, Mashable and The Huffington Post

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:
Poll: Jeb Bush is a front-runner — but an underwhelming one

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Bloomberg View and Balloon Juice

Danny Vinik / The New Republic:
Jeb Bush Just Flushed Marco Rubio's 2016 Hopes Down the Toilet

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Post, Political Wire and New York Magazine

Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg View:
Jeb Jumps In — Jeb Bush, presidential candidate.

Discussion: Vox, ABC News, Washington Post, The Hill and Booman Tribune

John McCormick / Bloomberg Politics:
Jeb Bush Says He Will ‘Actively Explore’ Presidential Run

Discussion: Guardian, Washington Post, Politico, New York Times, Talking Points Memo, Business Insider, CNN, Wall Street Journal and Althouse

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Rand Paul On Jeb Bush Exploring 2016 Bid: ‘The More The Merrier’

Discussion: OnPolitics

Jonathan H. Adler / Washington Post:

District court declares Obama immigration action unconstitutional — Earlier Tuesday, a federal court in Pennsylvania declared aspects of President Obama's executive actions on immigration policy unconstitutional. — According to the opinion by Judge Arthur Schwab, the president's policy goes …

Discussion: American Spectator, Power Line, Daily Signal, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Hinterland Gazette, Reason, Hot Air, National Review, The PJ Tatler and Questions and Observations

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:

BREAKING: Republican Judge Strikes Down Obama's Immigration Order — In an extraordinary opinion that transforms a routine sentencing matter into a vehicle to strike down a politically controversial policy, a George W. Bush-appointed judge in Pennsylvania declared President Obama's recently …

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Daily Kos

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

Federal Judge Declares Obama's Immigration Action Unconstitutional — A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled on Tuesday that President Barack Obama's recent executive actions on immigration are unconstitutional. — “The Court holds that the Executive Action is unconstitutional because it violates …

Seung Min Kim / Politico:
Senate confirms ICE head

Discussion: ImmigrationProf Blog

Daniel Strauss / Talking Points Memo:

'Oh God It's Mom': Brother Operatives Get Surprise C-SPAN Caller — C-SPAN guests usually go on prepared for the occasional offensive question from a caller but when Dallas and Brad Woodhouse went on to Washington Journal Tuesday they got something different: a call from their mother.

Discussion: BuzzFeed and Outside the Beltway

Abby Ohlheiser / Washington Post:

Hero mom calls into CSPAN to berate her arguing pundit sons — Democrat Brad Woodhouse and Republican Dallas Woodhouse received a surprise during their joint appearance on C-SPAN when their mother called into scold them for fighting over the holidays. (C-SPAN)

Discussion: Tech Times, New York Magazine, New York Times, Jezebel, Washington Free Beacon and UPROXX

Manu Raju / Politico:

Ted Cruz apologizes to colleagues over antics — Ted Cruz privately apologized to GOP senators Tuesday for interrupting their holiday schedules by his surprise tactics that effectively brought the Senate into session over the weekend. — According to five senators who attended Tuesday's caucus lunch …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, National Review, Daily Kos and Political Wire

Sen. Ted Cruz / Politico:

What Really Happened This Weekend — Why I tried to block Obama's amnesty. — For the past week, Sen. Harry Reid has worked hard to prevent a vote on President Obama's illegal executive amnesty. Finally, after considerable turmoil this weekend, we were able to force a vote.

Discussion: Daily Signal, Slantpoint and Talking Points Memo

Politico:

Ted Cruz reignites GOP civil war — Republican senators pounded Ted Cruz over the weekend, lashing him for his procedural tactics and ultimately voting in large numbers against his immigration gambit. — Now, Cruz's allies off Capitol Hill are looking for revenge. — Story Continued Below

Discussion: NewsMax.com, National Journal, Trail Blazers Blog, Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo

New York Times:

Pakistani Taliban Attack on Peshawar School Leaves 145 Dead — Aftermath of School Attack in Pakistan Aftermath of School Attack in Pakistan — The scene on Tuesday in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan after more than 100 people were killed in a Taliban attack on a school. — Video by Quynhanh Do on

Discussion: emptywheel, Reuters, The Daily Beast, Informed Comment, Lawfare, Pakistan Today, The Dish, Booman Tribune, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Outside the Beltway, NPR and Balloon Juice

Lianna Brinded / International Business Times:
Peshawar school attack: Taliban ‘burn teacher alive in front of pupils and behead children’

Discussion: Creeping Sharia, protein wisdom, Daily Mail and The PJ Tatler

Tim Craig / Washington Post:
Pakistani forces reclaim school after ‘horrific’ Taliban attack kills at least 141

Discussion: Power Line, Weekly Standard and The Jawa Report

Jibran Ahmad / Reuters:
Over 120 Pakistanis, mostly children, killed in Taliban high school attack

Discussion: Fox News, The Long War Journal, BARE NAKED ISLAM, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, Shakesville, Gawker and Scared Monkeys

Bloomberg:

Russian Rate Jump Fails to Stop Ruble Crash — The ruble plummeted into a freefall, losing as much as 19 percent as panic swept across Russian financial markets after a surprise interest-rate increase failed to stem the run on the currency. — The ruble plunged to as weak as 80.10 per dollar …

Discussion: Bloomberg, Vox, New York Times, New York Magazine, Booman Tribune, Gigaom and NPR

Matt O'Brien / Washington Post:
Sorry, Putin. Russia's economy is doomed

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Tim Duy's Fed Watch, Financial Times, New York Times, Reuters, Quartz, MarketWatch and The Dish

BBC:
Russian rouble in free-fall despite shock 17% rate rise

Discussion: Bloomberg View, Breakingviews, Slate and National Review

Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
Russia's Steep Rate Increase Fails to Stem Ruble's Decline

Discussion: Slate, Outside the Beltway, Bloomberg, Mashable, Bloomberg View, NPR and Gawker

BuzzFeed:

Seth Rogen And James Franco Cancel All Press Appearances In Light Of “The Interview” Threats — The stars of Sony's upcoming film pulled out of all planned media appearances on Tuesday. The two were scheduled to appear at a live BuzzFeed Brews to answer questions about the Sony hack and their controversial film.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Gawker, Mashable and The Verge

Alex Stedman / Variety:
Seth Rogen and James Franco Cancel All Media Appearances for ‘The Interview’

Discussion: The Verge, Mediaite, KTLA, The PJ Tatler, UPROXX and Gawker, more at Mediagazer »

Brent Lang / Variety:
Sony Hackers Threaten 9/11 Attack on Movie Theaters That Screen ‘The Interview’

Discussion: Newsweek, Power Line, UPROXX, The Gateway Pundit, Gigaom and Gawker

Ken Kurson / The New York Observer:

EXCLUSIVE: New York Mag's Boy Genius Investor Made It All Up — In an exclusive Observer interview, Mohammed Islam, said to have investment returns of $72 million as a hs senior, admits he invented the whole story — Damir Tulemaganbetov and Mohammed Islam (r) in the office of 5WPR …

New York Magazine:
An Apology to Our Readers — A story in <em>New York</em>'s most recent issue was false.

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, Gawker, JIMROMENESKO.COM, UPROXX, Twitchy, The PJ Tatler, Gothamist and Business Insider, more at Mediagazer »

Evan Halper / Los Angeles Times:

Congress quietly ends federal government's ban on medical marijuana — Tucked deep inside the 1,603-page federal spending measure is a provision that effectively ends the federal government's prohibition on medical marijuana and signals a major shift in drug policy.

Discussion: Liberal Values

Tony Newman / The Huffington Post:
More Nails in the Drug War Coffin: Top Stories of 2014

Discussion: KTLA

Agoldberg / The Smoking Gun:

“Witness 40”: Exposing A Fraud In Ferguson — TSG probe unmasks grand jury witness who spun fabricated tale — The grand jury witness who testified that she saw Michael Brown pummel a cop before charging at him “like a football player, head down,” is a troubled, bipolar Missouri woman …

Discussion: Liberaland, The Huffington Post, Hit & Run, Hinterland Gazette, Mediaite and Raw Story

Aleksander Chan / Gawker:
Report: Darren Wilson's Key Witness Lied About Everything

Discussion: iotwreport.com

Eric Bradner / CNN:

McConnell: Keystone bill first up in new Senate — Washington (CNN) — The Republican-led Senate plans to force a showdown with President Barack Obama over the Keystone XL pipeline as soon as new members take office in January. — Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell …

Discussion: Political Wire