memeorandum: A Pro-Austerity Chart, and Why the President Is Touting It (David Dayen/Firedoglake)

2:10 PM ET, May 17, 2012

Top Items:

G.O.P. ‘Super PAC’ Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama — WASHINGTON — A group of high-profile Republican strategists is working with a conservative billionaire on a proposal to mount one of the most provocative campaigns of the “super PAC” era and attack President Obama in ways that Republicans have so far shied away from.

Guy Benson / Townhall.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Romney ‘Repudiates’ Conservative Group's Planned Rev. Wright Attacks — In an exclusive interview with Townhall, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney rebuked a conservative group that is reportedly planning to assail President Obama over his 20-year relationship …

Discussion: msnbc.com, ABCNEWS, The Caucus, Mediaite, Hot Air, Washington Post, American Prospect, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, The Daily Caller, The Maddow Blog, Guardian, Mother Jones, The Page, The Gateway Pundit and Business Insider

Dylan Byers / Politico:

Statement: Ricketts rejects ‘Ricketts plan’ — Brian Baker, president of the Ending Spending Action Fund, has released the following statement on behalf of Joe Ricketts, the conservative billionaire behind the proposal to attack President Obama's connections to Rev. Jeremiah Wright,:

Discussion: nation.foxnews.com and CBS Chicago

Michael D. Shear / The Caucus:

Romney Raises $40.1 Million in April, Nearly Matching Obama — Mitt Romney almost matched President Obama in fund-raising during April after securing his party's presidential nomination and joining forces with the Republican National Committee, the campaign will announce on Thursday.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, RedState, Media Decoder, Taylor Marsh, Hot Air, Campaign 2012, ABCNEWS, americanthinker.com, White House Dossier, New York Times, Connecting.the.Dots and Washington Post

Alexander Burns / Politico:

Ricketts flack says Wright attack plan has been rejected — TD Ameritrade billionaire and super PAC financier Joe Ricketts has rejected a plan to attack President Barack Obama for his association with the firebrand preacher Jeremiah Wright, according to a spokesman for Ricketts.

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland

New York Times:
‘Super PAC’ Plan to Link Obama to Rev. Wright

Discussion: Washington Post and The Stranger …

Politico:
Romney repudiates Jeremiah Wright plan

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Washington Wire, msnbc.com and The Raw Story

Jeremiah Wright / CNN:
Billionaire denounces potential Rev. Wright ad

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Caucus and ThinkProgress

Jake Tapper / ABCNEWS:
McCain, Romney Camps Decry Super-PAC Proposal to Attack Obama on Rev. Wright

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Post and Daily Kos

ABCNEWS:

Senators to Unveil the ‘Ex-Patriot Act’ to Respond to Facebook's Saverin's Tax ‘Scheme’ — Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has a status update for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin: Stop attempting to dodge your taxes by renouncing your U.S. citizenship or never come to back to the U.S. again.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, TechCrunch, Mediaite, PoliticsPA, LewRockwell.com Blog, Clayton Cramer's Blog, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Campaign 2012

Quentin Hardy / New York Times:

A Facebook Co-Founder Reflects on the Path Forward — Eduardo Saverin can escape the United States, but he can't slip Facebook. — “Everything I do in my personal life, in my professional life, it's completely there,” said Mr. Saverin, a Facebook co-founder, in his first major interview.

Discussion: Politico, CNNMoney.com, Mashable!, The Caucus, TechCrunch, DealBook, New York Magazine, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Talking Points Memo and Balloon Juice

Alicia M. Cohn / The Hill:
Dems take aim at Facebook founder for renouncing citizenship

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Bloomberg and New York Magazine

Kyle Clark / KUSA-TV:

Rep. Mike Coffman: Obama in his heart ‘not an American’ — “I don't know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don't know that,” Coffman said. “But I do know this, that in his heart, he's not an American. He's just not an American.”

Discussion: Washington Monthly, ThinkProgress, Addicting Info, Livewire, Mediaite, The Raw Story, New York Magazine and Alan Colmes' Liberaland

Sabrina Tavernise / New York Times:

WASHINGTON — After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the United States. — Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July …

Discussion: The Wire, Real Time Economics, The Daily Dish, Outside the Beltway, pandagon.net, Vox Popoli, Gawker, The Gateway Pundit, rightwingwatch.org and National Review

Washington Post:

Census: Minority babies are now majority in United States — For the first time in U.S. history, most of the nation's babies are members of minority groups, according to new census figures that signal the dawn of an era in which whites no longer will be in the majority.

Discussion: Booman Tribune, National Review, Feministe and Althouse

Hope Yen / Associated Press: Census: Minorities now surpass whites in US births

DealBook:

JPMorgan's Trading Loss Is Said to Rise at Least 50% — The trading losses suffered by JPMorgan Chase have surged in recent days, surpassing the bank's initial $2 billion estimate by at least $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the losses. — When Jamie Dimon …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Firedoglake, Bloomberg, ThinkProgress, TBIJ, naked capitalism, The Baseline Scenario, Economix, BillMoyers.com, New York Times, Business Insider, The Raw Story, New York Magazine, A Blog For All and ourfuture.org/blogs_chrono/*

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Elizabeth Warren Expresses No Confidence in Current Bank Accountability Measures

Discussion: Livewire, The Boston Globe and Ballot Box

New York Post:

RFK Jr.'s wife hangs herself — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Mary arrive at Sen. Ted Kennedy's funeral in 2009. — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s estranged wife, Mary, who battled her husband's rumored philandering by turning to alcohol and prescription drugs, hanged herself in a barn …

Discussion: americanthinker.com, Althouse, iOwnTheWorld.com and Gothamist

Serge F. Kovaleski / New York Times:

Trayvon Martin Case Shadowed by Series of Police Missteps — SANFORD, Fla. — The killing of Trayvon Martin here two and a half months ago has been cast as the latest test of race relations and equal justice in America. But it was also a test of a small city police department that does …

Discussion: the daily howler, Prairie Weather, Business Insider, Taylor Marsh and Fox News

msnbc.com:
Trayvon Martin killed by single gunshot fired from ‘intermediate range,’ autopsy shows

Discussion: Little Green Footballs

Bloomberg:

Military Detention Law Blocked by New York Judge (Update 2) — Opponents of a U.S. law they claim may subject them to indefinite military detention for activities including news reporting and political activism persuaded a federal judge to temporarily block the measure.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Business Insider and Associated Press

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
Federal court enjoins NDAA

Discussion: The Hill, Firedoglake, Lawfare, Guardian, Unqualified Offerings, emptywheel and The Volokh Conspiracy

Kiki Von Glinow / The Huffington Post:

Donna Summer Dead: Queen Of Disco Dies At 63 … FOLLOW: — Video, Bad Girls, Celebrity Deaths, Donna Summer, Donna Summer 63, Donna Summer Cancer, Donna Summer Dead, Donna Summer Dies, Donna Summer Disco, Donna Summer Songs, Hot Stuff, Love To Love You Baby, Queen Of Disco, Slideexpand, Celebrity News

Discussion: TMZ.com, The Moderate Voice and Gawker

David Dayen / Firedoglake:

A Pro-Austerity Chart, and Why the President Is Touting It — This chart, put together by Michael Linden at the Center for American Progress, shows the Obama Administration's performance on fiscal policy over his term in office. It shows that spending, taxes and the deficit are all lower …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, BBC and Bark Bark Woof Woof

Jon Ralston / Las Vegas Sun Blogs:

RNC, Romney campaign will erect new organization to bypass state GOP — UPDATE: Late yesterday, GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, trying to slow down any move to make the party irrelevant, worked with the RNC and released a statement designed to undercut the Clark County party's call …

Discussion: Washington Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Ballot Box, Politico and Hot Air

Alexander Burns / Politico:
Romney and RNC raise $40.1 million in April

Discussion: Daily Kos

Jim Tankersley / NationalJournal.com:

Too Hot for TED: Income Inequality — If you're plugged into the Internet, chances are you've seen a TED talk - the wonky, provocative web videos that have become a sort of nerd franchise. TED.com is where you go to find Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg explaining why the world has too few female leaders …

Discussion: Restoration Roundtable, Ezra Klein, Wonkette, Gawker, Mother Jones, The Raw Story, The Stranger …, Business Insider, Balloon Juice and Guardian

Reuters:

Plans to strike Iran “ready,” says U.S. Israel envoy — JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. plans for a possible military strike on Iran are ready and the option is “fully available”, the U.S. ambassador to Israel said, days before Tehran resumes talks with world powers which suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear arms.

Discussion: The Hill, National Review and emptywheel

Associated Press:

Massachusetts marks 8th anniversary of same-sex marriages — BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts is marking eight years since it became the first state in the country where same sex couples could legally wed. — Thursday marks the anniversary of the day when the historic Supreme Judicial Court ruling took effect and couples could marry.

Discussion: ThinkProgress