memeorandum: U.S. justified in killing Osama Bin Laden (Jed Rubenfeld/Los Angeles Times)

1:40 PM ET, May 17, 2011

Top Items:

Rep. Paul Ryan Staying in House, Won't Run for U.S. Senate — Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is staying in the House, and won't run for the U.S. Senate, two well-placed GOP sources tell National Journal. — Ryan began informing close friends of his decision Tuesday and is expected to announce later in the day.

Discussion: Firedoglake, The Note, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Politico, Pajamas Media, JSOnline, The Raw Story, First Draft, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller and FrumForum

Aharding / CNN:

Gov. Nikki Haley hammers Gingrich over Medicare remarks — Dallas (CNN) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich might not want to count on a presidential endorsement from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. — In an interview with CNN Tuesday, Haley sharply admonished Gingrich for his comments …

Discussion: Cubachi, The Politico, ThinkProgress, ABCNEWS, The Hill, Blue Mass Group, Salon, Mediaite, Liberty Pundits Blog, The Blaze, TPMDC, GOP 12, Taegan Goddard's … and Pajamas Media

The Politico:

Thompson plans to run for Senate — Tommy Thompson, the Republican former Wisconsin governor and George W. Bush's first secretary of Health and Human Services, has told friends he plans to run for the open Senate seat in Wisconsin, according to top Wisconsin sources.

Discussion: JSOnline, Boston Globe, msnbc.com, The Caucus, TPMDC, The New Republic, Hot Air and The Greenroom

Wall Street Journal:

Gingrich to House GOP: Drop Dead — Newt undermines his former comrades on Medicare. — The Republican Presidential campaign is off to a slow start, but judging by the last week not slow enough. First Mitt Romney defends his ObamaCare prototype in Massachusetts, and now Newt Gingrich …

W. James Antle III / The Politico:

What Rand Paul could teach Ron Paul — Rep. Ron Paul (R- Texas) found himself in an unusual position at the South Carolina GOP presidential debate. According to most polls, Paul was the frontrunner of the five candidates on stage. Though some big names were missing, it signals how far Paul has come in four years.

Discussion: The Hill, Presidential Campaign, ABCNEWS and Barefoot and Progressive

Christian Heinze / GOP 12:
Angry Iowan gets in Newt's face

Discussion: The Daily Caller

host.madison.com:
RSS Govt-and-politics Ryan out, Thompson likely to run for Kohl's Senate seat

Discussion: The Nation

Rich Lowry / National Review:
Newt the Unreliable

Discussion: RushLimbaugh.com, CNN, O.KayHenderson.com, Washington Post, Daily Kos, TPMDC and Fox News Insider

Jeff Poor / The Daily Caller:
Krauthammer on Gingrich's presidential aspirations: 'Now it's over'

Discussion: The Page and Daily Kos

Los Angeles Times:

Schwarzenegger fathered a child with longtime member of household staff — His wife, Maria Shriver, moved out of their Brentwood mansion earlier this year after the former governor acknowledged the child was his. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Schwarzenegger Fathered Child With Employee

Discussion: Althouse, Mediaite and Gothamist

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi's district — Of the 204 new Obamacare waivers President Barack Obama's administration approved in April, 38 are for fancy eateries, hip nightclubs and decadent hotels …

Discussion: NO QUARTER, The Foundry, National Review, Hot Air, UrbanGrounds, The Lonely Conservative and AmSpecBlog

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:
Gov. Sarah Palin on Pelosi district's Obamacare waivers: ‘Seriously, this is corrupt’

Discussion: Pajamas Media, GOP 12, Conservatives4Palin and National Review

Matt Welch / Hit & Run:

BHL: France's National Disgrace — French “philosopher” Bernard Henri-Levy, the non-politician perhaps most responsible for getting NATO into war with Libya, has long been one of the West's most scarequote-worthy intellectuals. There was the quoting of a literary hoax to attack Immanuel Kant …

Discussion: National Review, New York Times, AMERICAN DIGEST, Feministe, Ideas Market, Fox News, The Daily Beast and The Smoking Gun

The Moderate Voice: Are Perp Walks Legal, Let Alone Constitutional?

Bernard-Henri Levy / The Daily Beast:
Bernard-Henri Lévy Defends Accused IMF Director

Discussion: The Lede, Salon, Outside the Beltway, Guardian, The Reality-Based Community, The Awl and DownWithTyranny!

Budget Committee:

Shared Scarcity versus Renewed Prosperity — Thank you so much, Anne, for the kind introduction. — I want to thank you all for inviting me to speak. It was especially gracious of you to host me, even though I'm a Packers fan and I assume most of you are Bears fans. — But that doesn't mean we can't work together.

Discussion: JSOnline, The Incidental Economist, Macro and Other Market Musings, The Lonely Conservative, National Review, Pundit & Pundette, Wonk Room, American Spectator and The Politico

Paul Krugman:

Do Do That Voodoo — So Paul Ryan gave his big speech defending his plan — and demonstrated, in case you were wondering, that there's no there there (and there never was). — Remember how everyone declared that Ryan was a serious person, truly willing to face up to our deficit problem?

Discussion: EconomicPolicyJournal.com, Firedoglake and Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality …

Patrick Gavin / The Politico:

CINDY CRAWFORD FLIP-FLOPS FOR MITT ROMNEY — During her modeling career, Cindy Crawford was skilled at switching outfits. Now, she's switching presidential candidates, it seems. — Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Mitt Romney, took to Twitter Monday to oh-so-subtly boast that Team Romney …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Don Surber, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit, GOP 12, Ballot Box and The Daily Caller

Christina Wilkie / The Hill:
Cindy Crawford now backing Romney?

Discussion: The Politico, Pirate's Cove and New York Magazine

Bruce Bartlett / Economix:

The Real Social Security and Medicare Problem (and a Doable Fix) — Bruce Bartlett has served as an economic adviser in the White House, the Treasury Department and Congress. — On Friday, the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare systems issued their annual reports for 2011.

Discussion: Opinionator, The Daily Dish and The Incidental Economist

Buffalo News:
Corwin TV ad accused of making bogus claims

Discussion: TPMDC, Washington Post, Capital Tonight and The Rothenberg Political …

Associated Press:

Sources: Navy SEALs Knew Bin Laden Mission Was One-Shot Deal — WASHINGTON — Those who planned the secret mission to get Usama bin Laden in Pakistan knew it was a one-shot deal, and it nearly went terribly wrong. — The U.S. deliberately hid the operation from Pakistan …

Discussion: FrumForum, Betsy's Page and Pajamas Media

Salman Masood / New York Times:

Pakistan and NATO Forces Exchange Fire — ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani ground troops opened fire on two NATO helicopters that crossed into Pakistan's airspace from Afghanistan early Tuesday morning, the Pakistani Army said in a statement. A firefight then briefly erupted between NATO forces …

Discussion: JOSHUAPUNDIT, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, Mudville Gazette and Jihad Watch

Sharon LaFraniere / New York Times:
Pakistan's Prime Minister Visits China

Discussion: Prairie Weather and The Reaction

Jordan Fabian / The Hill:

GOP congressman wants clean debt-limit vote to show lack of support — A Republican congressman on Tuesday pressured leadership to hold a clean vote on raising the debt ceiling in order to show Democrats it cannot pass the House. — Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), an outspoken second-term lawmaker …

Discussion: The Politico, AmSpecBlog and The Hill

Darren Goode / The Politico:
Democrats want gas price-fixing probe

Discussion: The Note, The Hill and Daily Kos

The Huffington Post:

Confidential Federal Audits Accuse Five Biggest Mortgage Firms Of Defrauding Taxpayers [EXCLUSIVE] … WASHINGTON — A set of confidential federal audits accuse the nation's five largest mortgage companies of defrauding taxpayers in their handling of foreclosures on homes purchased …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Credit Slips, naked capitalism, Suburban Guerrilla, DownWithTyranny! and RADAMISTO

Gretchen Morgenson / New York Times:
New York Investigates Banks' Role in Financial Crisis

Discussion: Law Blog, New York Magazine, CBS New York, ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*, Truthdig, The Politico, Prairie Weather, naked capitalism and Firedoglake

Peter Svensson / Associated Press:

LED bulbs hit 100 watts as federal ban looms — NEW YORK - Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January. — Their demonstrations at the LightFair trade show …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Moonbattery, Pirate's Cove, The Lonely Conservative and Balloon Juice

Christian Heinze / GOP 12:

Fred Malek on the 2012 field — GOP veteran big-wig, Fred Malek , dished on the 2012 field on The Daily Rundown today. — On Newt Gingrich's spat with Paul Ryan: … But Malek added that Newt was still a viable contender. — On Sarah Palin, whom he forged a fairly close, professional friendship with since 2008:

The Atlantic Online:

Obama's Left Flank — In this Chris Hedges piece, Cornel West attacks Obama for betraying progressives, and then descends into some really personal, embittered invective: … There's a lot in there about Obama's inability to return phone-calls, ("I said a prayer on the phone for him, especially before a debate.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Jack & Jill Politics, Truthdig and The Daily Dish

Jed Rubenfeld / Los Angeles Times:

U.S. justified in killing Osama Bin Laden — Under any sane construction of the laws of war, his killing was lawful regardless of whether he ‘raised his hands in surrender’ or whether U.S. troops weren't to give him the chance. — In this photo released by the White House …

Discussion: Sense of Events