memeorandum: Stephen Fry explains what he would say if he was ‘confronted by God’ (Heather Saul/The Independent)

10:05 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

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

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

Discussion: Hot Air, CNN, Politico, The Daily Beast, JustOneMinute, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post

Heather Saul / The Independent:

Stephen Fry explains what he would say if he was ‘confronted by God’ — Staunch atheist Stephen Fry left a television host stunned when he explained what he would say if he was “confronted by God”. — The actor and author, who recently married his partner Elliot Spencer …

Discussion: FOX News Radio

Jennifer Jacobs / Des Moines Register:

Scott Walker leads tight GOP pack in new Iowa Poll — In a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll of likely Republican caucusgoers, Rand Paul is just a point behind. With Mitt Romney out, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush round out the top tier. The Register — CONNECT

Discussion: Bloomberg Business, Washington Post and Political Wire

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: The PJ Tatler and RedState

Sean Kelly / opposingviews.com/homepage.xml:

Man Claims To Have Spotted Bigfoot At Prospect Park In New York City (Video) — A man in New York City claimed that he spotted Bigfoot, the mythical ape, walking through Brooklyn's Prospect Park. — Russell Strark captured the moment in a YouTube video filmed Tuesday.

Daily Mail:

Woman says she was pushed to the floor by a GHOST after security cameras filmed her being thrown to the floor when nobody was near her in Chile — A woman claims to have been pushed to the floor by a ghost after cameras caught her being thrown to the floor despite there being no-one around.

Discussion: FOX News Radio

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: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Truth Revolt

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

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

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