memeorandum: State Dept Won't Call Taliban Murder of American Contractors ‘Terrorism’ (Brendan Bordelon/National Review)

1:35 PM ET, January 31, 2015

Top Items:

Michael KranishGLOBE / BostonGlobe.com:

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

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Althouse, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Business Insider and FOX News Radio

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: Daily Mail, Reuters, US News, Outside the Beltway and Washington Post

Michael Kruse / Politico:
Jeb ‘put me through hell’

Discussion: Balloon Juice

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, Advocate and Towleroad News #gay

Reihan Salam / Slate:

The Upper Middle Class Is Ruining America — And I want it to stop. — I first encountered the upper middle class when I attended a big magnet high school in Manhattan that attracted a decent number of brainy, better-off kids whose parents preferred not to pay private-school tuition.

Discussion: Althouse and New York Times

Derek Hunter / Townhall.com:

Shoveling Science — Were you hit this week by all the climate change? We here in the Baltimore/Washington area received just a light dusting, but Boston was covered in it. Actually, thanks to the mainstream media, the whole nation was covered in climate change.

New York Times:

A Strained Alliance: Obama-Netanyahu Rift Grew Over Years — WASHINGTON — For six years, the pattern has been the same. A dispute between American and Israeli leaders spills out into the open. Analysts declare the relationship in crisis. Then the two sides try to tamp down emotions …

Discussion: The Times of Israel, Sky Dancing, Politico and Washington Post

Jerusalem Post:
Obama has agreed to 80 percent of Iran's demands in nuclear talks, Israeli officials tell Ch. 10

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Israel Matzav, Hot Air, “The Lid” and Ed Driscoll

Matt Wilstein / Mediaite:

Michael Moore: Clint Eastwood Once Threatened to Kill Me — Does this explain why Michael Moore has been so critical of American Sniper? In a long Facebook post Thursday night, the filmmaker recounted the time 10 years ago this month that Clint Eastwood allegedly threatened to kill him.

Discussion: FOX News Radio

Michael Moore / Facebook:
The Day Clint Eastwood Said He Would “Kill” Me, 10 Years Ago This Week

Discussion: TheBlaze.com, Scared Monkeys, Talking Points Memo, Addicting Info, The Daily Caller and Raw Story

Matt ViserGLOBE / BostonGlobe.com:

Mitt Romney will not run for president in 2016 — WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney told his supporters Friday that he will not run for president a third time in 2016, abruptly ending a three-week flirtation that illuminated a conflict between his White House dreams and the prospect of a highly taxing campaign …

Discussion: National Review and Mediaite

Joshua Green / Bloomberg Business:
Scott Walker is Out of Mitt's Shadow—But Staying In the Spotlight Is A Challenge

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Althouse and Politico

The Huffington Post:
Obama Mocks Mitt Romney For Being ‘Suddenly Deeply Concerned About Poverty’

Discussion: Truth Revolt, Hot Air, CBS DC, Washington Post and CNN

Anthony Watts / Watts Up With That?:

Time Magazine's Jeffrey Kluger writes what might possibly be the stupidest article about climate ever - climate change causes volcanoes — The stupid, it burns like a magnesium flare. — Excerpt from the article: … Riiight. — Here's the money quote:

Discussion: Climate Depot

Brendan Bordelon / National Review:

State Dept Won't Call Taliban Murder of American Contractors ‘Terrorism’ — In the latest round of verbal gymnastics over the Taliban, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused to categorize the murder of American civilians at Kabul International Airport an act of “terrorism.”

Discussion: Washington Times, BizPac Review, The PJ Tatler, Washington Post and American Spectator

Alison Flood / Guardian:

George RR Martin's The Winds of Winter: no plans for publication in 2015 — Fans face a long wait for the sixth novel in the bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series, but a new edition of three previously anthologised novellas set in the Game of Thrones world is due in October

Discussion: Mashable, Gawker, Vox Popoli and Towleroad News #gay

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Bernie Sanders is right to be outraged — Bernie Sanders is in his natural state - of agitation. — It's just 9 a.m., but the socialist senator, contemplating a presidential run as a Democrat or as a populist independent, is red in the face and his white hair askew.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice