memeorandum: California creating mortgage fraud task force (Alejandro Lazo/Los Angeles Times)

7:45 AM ET, May 24, 2011

Top Items:

Jana Winter / Fox News:

EXCLUSIVE: Strauss-Kahn Told Maid 'Don't You Know Who I Am?' During Alleged Sex Attack — Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a New York City hotel maid, “Don't you know who I am! Don't you know who I am?” while pinning her down during the alleged sexual assault, law enforcement sources close to the investigation told FoxNews.com.

Discussion: Hot Air, No More Mister Nice Blog, Scared Monkeys, Gawker and Pajamas Media

Dominique Strauss-Kahn / Telegraph:

DNA samples confirm sperm traces on maid's dress — DNA samples taken in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case have confirmed traces of sperm on the maid's dress, according to reports. — Mr Strauss-Kahn has been indicted on seven charges. If he is convicted, he would face up to 25 years in prison

Discussion: The Raw Story, Patterico's Pontifications and FrumForum

Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Who Will Play Strauss-Kahn?

Discussion: Firedoglake, A Spork in the Drawer and Shakesville

Jacob Tomsky / New York Times:
Behind Closed, Sequentially Numbered Doors

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Mother Jones

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

GOP lawmaker says Sen. Scott Brown ‘should be ashamed of himself’ — Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) scolded the senator for opposing the House GOP budget from Rep. Paul Ryan. — An Illinois Republican on Monday said Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) should be “ashamed of himself” for opposing Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget plan.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Balloon Juice, AMERICAblog News, Boston Globe and National Review

Russell Berman / The Hill:

Cantor nudges Rep. Ryan to jump into 2012 White House race — Count House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) as one top Republican who'd like to see Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) jump into the presidential race. — Cantor responded immediately when asked Monday whether Ryan …

Discussion: The Politico, Texas on the Potomac, The Hill, The Nation, Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, Healthwatch, Booman Tribune, The Page and Prairie Weather

Erik Wasson / The Hill:
Budget director: Debt ceiling will be raised before it's reached

Discussion: FrumForum

Aharding / CNN:
Top Republican says Paul Ryan should run for president

Discussion: The Politico, Hot Air and PERRspectives

David G. Savage / Los Angeles Times:

Supreme Court orders California to release tens of thousands of prison inmates — The 5-4 decision represents one of the largest prison release orders in U.S. history. The court majority says overcrowding has caused ‘suffering and death.’ In a sharp dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia warns ‘terrible things are sure to happen.’

Discussion: PolitiCal, USA Today, SCOTUSblog, Wall Street Journal, 24Ahead, Opinion L.A., Doug Ross, The Reality-Based Community, Gawker, Blog of Rights, Hot Air, Truthdig, Balloon Juice, Newsy.com Videos Feed, The Daily Caller, CNN and The Lonely Conservative

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

State Secrets Block Resolution of Contractors' Suit, Justices Say — WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled that national security considerations made it impossible for it to take sides in a multibillion-dollar dispute between military contractors and the government.

Adam Liptak / New York Times:

Justices, 5-4, Tell California to Cut Prisoner Population — WASHINGTON — Conditions in California's overcrowded prisons are so bad that they violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, ordering the state to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates.

Discussion: KQED News Fix, Slate Magazine, Washington Post, PolitiCal, SCOTUSblog, ABCNEWS, Law Blog and Philly.com

Mike Lillis / The Hill:

Reid breaks with Obama on Israeli borders condition for peace settlement — Breaking with President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday urged a renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks without preconditions regarding borders. — Obama, in recent days …

Discussion: The Politico

Natasha Mozgovaya / Haaretz:
AIPAC chief: Obama should not be even-handed toward Israel and Palestinians

Discussion: Israpundit

Ron Radosh / Pajamas Media:
Eric Cantor Gives AIPAC Delegates a Lesson on which Political Party Really Supports Israel …

Discussion: Power Line, Elder of Ziyon and Weasel Zippers

Matthew Yglesias / Yglesias:
Bibi Netanyahu's Victory

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Mother Jones, Wall Street Journal and The New Republic

Associated Press:

FACT CHECK: Not the whole truth in Pawlenty claims — WASHINGTON (AP) — “Truth” was Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's buzzword Monday when he announced his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He said he will tell the truth about hard choices facing the nation while others …

Kendra Marr / The Politico:
Pawlenty: ‘We may lose our country’

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Reaction, The Daily Caller, The Note, FrumForum, Maggie's Notebook, The Lonely Conservative and Outside the Beltway

Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC:
Pawlenty In Iowa: Phase Out Ethanol Subsidies

Discussion: The Reality-Based Community

Chris O'Shea / FishbowlNY:

White House Adds New Position to Deal with Unfavorable Online Media — The White House has named Jesse Lee to a new position within its communications department titled Director of Progressive Media & Online Response. According to The Huffington Post, Lee will essentially be responsible …

Discussion: Nice Deb, Weasel Zippers, FishbowlDC and JammieWearingFool

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:
White House Beefs Up Online Rapid Response

Discussion: Outside the Beltway and The Daily Caller

Alex Isenstadt / The Politico:

5 things to watch in the NY-26 vote — Tuesday's special election for a western New York congressional seat is positioned to become the first political measuring stick of the national debate over the Republican plan to rewrite Medicare. Democrat Kathy Hochul is narrowly leading the race …

Discussion: CNN

Rick Ungar / The Policy Page:
More Solid Proof That Obamacare Is Working

Discussion: Healthwatch, The Other McCain, Outside the Beltway and ECHIDNE of the snakes

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Special Election Warrants Caution for Forecasters — and for Republicans

Discussion: Washington Post, The New Republic, Weigel, Gawker and National Review

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Poll: Romney way ahead of GOP field in New Hampshire — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) enjoys more than triple the support of his next closest competitor in New Hampshire's Republican primary, according to a poll released Monday. — Thirty-two percent of New Hampshire's Republican voters …

Discussion: HotAirPundit and FrumForum

Aharding / CNN:
Daniels adviser: VP bid unlikely, but not ‘off the table’

Discussion: The Politico, The Note and White House Dossier

Cornell Law School:

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES — EDMUND G. BROWN, J r ., GOVERNOR OF CAL- — IFORNIA, et al ., APPELLANTS v. MARCIANO — PLATA et al. — on appeal from the united states district courts for the eastern district and the northern district of california

Discussion: TAPPED, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Unfogged and Althouse

Mary Clare Jalonick / Associated Press:

House GOP Proposes Budget Cuts To Domestic, Foreign Food Aid … John Boehner , Budget Cuts , Gop , Federal Budget , Boehner Budget Cuts , Domestic Aid Budget Cuts , Federal Budget Cuts , Food Aid Budget Cuts , Foreign Aid Budget Cuts , Gop Budget Cuts , House Gop Budget Cuts …

Discussion: Firedoglake and FrumForum

Katherine Dorsett / CNN:

Does having children make you happy? — Do kids bring happiness? Sociologists find that parents experience emotional distress more often than childless adults. — (CNN) — Thirty-one-year old Jessica Copeland says she knew by the time she was in high school that she never wanted to be a parent.

Discussion: The Right Coast and Shakesville

Colby Hall / Mediaite:

New York On Media Matters: ‘Responsible Arbiters’ Who ‘Deserve Credit’ For Glenn Beck's Exit? — In the political debates regularly covered here at Mediaite, this New York Magazine story would fairly be described as “the other story.” Not the explosive one on Roger Ailes and Fox News that we have …

Discussion: The Right Sphere, Pat Dollard, JammieWearingFool, The Caucus, Conservatives4Palin, The Moderate Voice and Althouse, more at Mediagazer »

Jeremy W. Peters / Media Decoder:

Frank Bruni Named Times Op-Ed Columnist — Frank Bruni, whose writing career at The New York Times has spanned two presidential campaigns, a pope and more than five years as chief restaurant critic, has been named an op-ed columnist. — Andrew Rosenthal, editor of the Opinion Pages …

Discussion: Gawker and FishbowlNY, more at Mediagazer »

Tanya Somanader / ThinkProgress:

Wisconsin Orders Recall Election For Three GOP State Senators — Despite massive protests, procedural obstacles, and restraining orders, the Wisconsin GOP hustled Gov. Scott Walker's (R) anti-union bill into law in March. Now, they're paying a steep political price.

Discussion: JSOnline and Alan Colmes' Liberaland