memeorandum: White House Seeks to Limit Health Law's Tax Troubles (Robert Pear/New York Times)

7:15 PM ET, January 31, 2015

Top Items:

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Rand Paul slams Bush ‘hypocrisy’ on pot — DALLAS — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) accused Jeb Bush of hypocrisy after The Boston Globe reported the former Florida governor was a heavy marijuana smoker while at an elite prep school. — Bush opposed a Florida medical marijuana ballot initiative …

Discussion: Power Line, Mediaite and BostonGlobe.com

Catherine Thompson / Talking Points Memo:

Jeb Bush's Former Classmates Say He Was A Hash-Smoking Bully — Thanks to the Boston Globe, we know what it's like to get high with Jeb Bush. — The newspaper spoke with several of Bush's former classmates from the elite Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., who portrayed the former Florida governor as a stoner and a bit of a bully.

Discussion: Raw Story

Michael KranishGLOBE / BostonGlobe.com:

Jeb Bush shaped by troubled Phillips Academy years — Possible presidential candidate had tumultuous four years at Andover school

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Daily Mail, Liberal Values, Reuters, Outside the Beltway, US News and Washington Post

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
G.O.P. Campaigns Scramble to Add Romney Donors

Discussion: JustOneMinute

Robert Pear / New York Times:

White House Seeks to Limit Health Law's Tax Troubles — WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials and other supporters of the Affordable Care Act say they worry that the tax-filing season will generate new anger as uninsured consumers learn that they must pay tax penalties and as many people struggle …

Discussion: RedState and The PJ Tatler

Tom Jackman / Washington Post:

John B. Geer had hands up when shot by Fairfax County police, documents show — John B. Geer stood with his hands on top of the storm door of his Springfield townhouse and calmly said to four Fairfax County police officers with guns pointed right at him: “I don't want anybody to get shot . . .

Discussion: CBS DC

Javier Manjarres / Shark Tank:

DNC Chair Breaks With Obama On Islamic Terrorism, Calls Out MSNBC For Biased Reporting [Audio) — In an audio filed obtained by the Shark Tank, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) spoke to a group of Jewish Americans in South Florida, joking about how one of the reasons she actually joined …

Discussion: Mediaite, Truth Revolt and The Daily Caller

BBC:

Greece economy: Merkel rules out more debt relief — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out cancelling any of Greece's debt, saying banks and creditors have already made substantial cuts. — But Mrs Merkel told the Die Welt newspaper she still wanted Greece to stay in the eurozone.

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, The Last Refuge, The Gateway Pundit and NPR

Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Europe's Greek Test

Discussion: Washington Post

Washington Post:

CIA and Mossad killed senior Hezbollah figure in car bombing — On Feb. 12, 2008, Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah's international operations chief, walked on a quiet nighttime street in Damascus after dinner at a nearby restaurant. Not far away, a team of CIA spotters in the Syrian capital was tracking his movements.

Discussion: Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, emptywheel, The Times of Israel and Instapundit

CNN:

Mary Cheney: Why is drag ‘socially acceptable’ and blackface isn't? — Washington (CNN)Mary Cheney wants to know why it isn't “socially acceptable” for a white person to “put on blackface and act out offensive stereotypes of African-Americans” if drags queens are allowed to imitate female stereotypes?

Discussion: Raw Story, Mediaite, Advocate and Towleroad News #gay

Tara Culp-Ressler / ThinkProgress:

The Next Anti-Abortion Strategy Lurking Around The Corner — In what could represent their next major effort to dismantle the protections under Roe v. Wade, abortion opponents are laying the groundwork for a new attack on reproductive rights that borrows a page out of their old playbook.

Discussion: Hullabaloo and LifeSiteNews

Reiji Yoshida / Japan Times latest:

Islamic State releases purported Goto execution video — The Islamic State group posted a new video on the Internet Sunday claiming it has killed Japanese hostage Kenji Goto and showing what appears to be the beheaded body of the freelance journalist who went missing in Syria last fall.

Discussion: Gretawire and Scared Monkeys

CNN:

Whitney Houston's daughter found unresponsive, taken to hospital — Story highlights — (CNN)Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was found unresponsive Saturday morning in a bathtub full of water in Roswell, Georgia, police in that Atlanta suburb said.

Discussion: Joe. My. God. and Scared Monkeys