THE VETTING - EXCLUSIVE - OBAMA'S LITERARY AGENT IN 1991 BOOKLET: ‘BORN IN KENYA AND RAISED IN INDONESIA AND HAWAII’  —  Note from Senior Management:  —  Andrew Breitbart was never a “Birther,” and Breitbart News is a site that has never advocated the narrative of “Birtherism.”

Encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin ‘avoidable,’ cops said in report  —  JACKSONVILLE - Newly released evidence in the case against George Zimmerman shows that Sanford Police believed the encounter between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was “ultimately avoidable,” if Zimmerman had …

Joe Ricketts Rejects Plan to Finance Anti-Obama Ads  —  Joe Ricketts, an up-by-the-bootstraps billionaire whose varied holdings include a name-brand brokerage firm in Omaha, a baseball team in Chicago, herds of bison in Wyoming and a start-up news Web site in New York, wanted to be a player in the 2012 election.

Florida Tries to Clear Illegal Voters From Rolls  —  MIAMI — In an attempt to clear the voter rolls of noncitizens, a move that had set off criticism and a threatened lawsuit, Florida election officials decided on Thursday to use information from a federal database to check a list of 182,000 voters …

GOP struggles to banish ghost of Jeremiah Wright  —  In a statement, Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades repudiates the plan being hatched by GOP operatives for an ad campaign tying Obama to Reverend Wright: … And that's good.  The problem, though, is that it turns out that Romney himself attacked Obama …

Boehner: Keeping any parts of Obama health law ‘unacceptable’  —  House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reiterated Thursday that he wants to repeal all of President Obama's healthcare law if the Supreme Court doesn't toss out the entire statute.  —  “We voted to fully repeal the president's healthcare law …

Donna Summer Dead — Disco Legend Dies After Battle with Lung Cancer  —  DEAD AT 63  —  EXCLUSIVE  —  9:27 AM PST- TMZ has learned ... Donna died from lung cancer.  Several sources are telling us Donna believed she contracted it by inhaling toxic particles after the 9/11 attack in New York City.

Apocalypse Fairly Soon  —  Suddenly, it has become easy to see how the euro — that grand, flawed experiment in monetary union without political union — could come apart at the seams.  We're not talking about a distant prospect, either.  Things could fall apart with stunning speed, in a matter of months, not years.

TED and inequality: The real story  —  Today TED was subject to a story so misleading it would be funny... except it successfully launched an aggressive online campaign against us.  —  The National Journal alleged we had censored a talk because we considered the issue of inequality “too hot to handle.”

Inside J.P. Morgan's Blunder  —  CEO Dimon Blessed the Concept Behind Disastrous Trades; ‘Blood in the Water’  —  J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Dimon had just committed the most expensive blunder of his 30-year career, failing to detect the risk of trades …

Facebook Raises $16 Billion in I.P.O.  —  Facebook pulled it off.  —  As investors raced to get shares, the sprawling social network raised $16 billion on Thursday, in an initial public offering that valued Facebook at $104 billion.  —  The I.P.O. signals a rapid evolution for the company.

Ben Stein: Obama's not very smart  —  Is President Obama smart?  Ben Stein wouldn't put his money on it.  —  During an appearance on Fox News, the economist and actor said he doesn't consider the president to be very intelligent.  —  “Barack Obama is a smart man, you would say that, right?” host Bill O'Reilly asked.

DCCC brings in record $6.5 million in April  —  The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) raised $6.5 million in April and has $25 million in the bank as it works to retake the majority in the House, according to fundraising figures obtained by The Hill.

Is Obama going to lose the Arkansas Democratic primary?  —  Via Jorge Bonilla in the Greenroom, who sounds the call for “Operation Razorback Chaos.”  Two words, my friends: Open primary.  —  It's magic time. … Wolfe opposes gay marriage so he's primed to benefit by drawing a contrast with O's recent “evolution.”

A Statement from Americans Elect  —  There is a desire among Delegates and millions of Americans who have supported Americans Elect to see a credible candidate emerge from this process.  —  However, the rules, as developed in consultation with the Americans Elect Delegates, are clear.