memeorandum: A Long, Long Look at Obama's Life, Mostly Before the White House (Michiko Kakutani/New York Times)

1:15 PM ET, May 2, 2017

Top Items:

Jimmy Kimmel Reveals Details of His Son's Birth & Heart Disease … Jimmy and his wife Molly welcomed their second child together, William “Billy” Kimmel. At three days old, Billy had successful open heart surgery at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and is now home with his family.

Discussion: Mother Jones, ABC News, Joe.My.God., Vox, Washington Post, STAT and Boing Boing

Margaret Hartmann / New York Magazine:

Jimmy Kimmel Might Have Struck the Final Blow Against the GOP Health-Care Plan — After weeks of negotiations, last week House Republicans reached a compromise that they said could finally allow them to repeal and replace Obamacare. It involves letting states opt out of certain Obamacare provisions …

Discussion: Washington Post, Shakesville, Politico, Vox and Axios

Scott Wong / The Hill:

Former GOP chairman ‘cannot support’ new healthcare bill — Former House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) told GOP leadership he cannot support the revised GOP health care bill, Upton said in a local radio interview on Tuesday. — Upton told Michigan's WHTC that the deal struck …

Discussion: Axios, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones and Daily Kos

NBC News:

GOP Health Care Bill: A Running Count of Republicans Voting No on Round Three — House Republicans are ready for round three. — Feeling close to having enough support to pass its embattled health care bill, the party has revved up its whip operation in the hope of getting a vote on the amended plan this week.

Discussion: Vox, New York Magazine, New York Times and CNN

Sarah Kliff / Vox:
Trumpcare's long odds in the Senate, explained by a Republican senator

Discussion: Politico and Hit & Run

Jonathan Cohn / HuffPost:
Republican Says Obamacare Repeal Will Help People Who Have ‘Done Things The Right Way’

Discussion: The Atlantic, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Raw Story, Talking Points Memo and ThinkProgress

Aaron Blake / Washington Post: Jimmy Kimmel's powerful, heartfelt Obamacare plea crystallizes the GOP's dilemma

Josh Dawsey / Politico:
GOP suffers surprise defection on Obamacare repeal

Discussion: The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Axios, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Common Dreams, The Hill, CNN, The Week, Daily Kos, NBC News, Mother Jones, Political Wire, Business Insider and Bloomberg

Matt Fuller / HuffPost:
GOP Says It's Getting Close On Health Care, But The Votes Still Aren't There

Discussion: Bloomberg, Business Insider, Daily Kos, New York Magazine and NBC News

New York Times:

Ivanka Trump's West Wing Agenda — A month before Donald J. Trump was elected president, he and his aides watched his daughter's coolly composed surface crack open. — Inside Trump Tower, the candidate was preparing for a debate when an aide rushed in with news that The Washington Post …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Axios, Business Insider, Raw Story, The Week, AOL and Eschaton

Jennifer Senior / New York Times:
Having Trouble Having It All? Ivanka Alone Can Fix It

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jill Disis / CNNMoney:
Ethics office says it wasn't consulted about Ivanka Trump job

Discussion: Raw Story

Wall Street Journal:

Trump Adviser Jared Kushner Didn't Disclose Startup Stake — Investments show ties to Goldman Sachs, George Soros and Peter Thiel as well as a number of loans — Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and senior adviser, didn't identify on his government financial disclosure form …

Discussion: Business Insider, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Axios, The Week and Raw Story

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:

Report: Kushner didn't disclose investment in startup with Goldman Sachs, Soros links — Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner failed to disclose his stake in a real-estate startup with ties to Goldman Sachs and billionaire investor George Soros, according to a new report in The Wall Street Journal.

Discussion: RedState

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

Trump's dizzying day of interviews — President Donald Trump questioned why the Civil War— which erupted 150 years ago over slavery — needed to happen. He said he would be “honored” to meet with Kim Jong-Un, the violent North Korean dictator who is developing nuclear missiles and oppresses his people …

Discussion: New York Times, CNN, The Guardian, Portland Mercury, Taylor Marsh, TheBlaze, Outside the Beltway, Balloon Juice, Raw Story, Daily Kos, The Week, Washington Free Beacon, Talking Points Memo, Politicus USA, Political Wire, Mediaite, USA Today and Reuters

Veronica Stracqualursi / ABC News:
The Note: For whom the president saves his praises

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller, Raw Story and Business Insider

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:

One Move That Could Solve the GOP's Tax-Cut Math Problem (Maybe) — Some Republicans weigh 15-year, 20-year or 30-year budget window to let Congress pass longer temporary tax cut — WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has said he wants to cut taxes, big-league, and Republicans …

Discussion: Vox, New York Magazine, New York Times, Mother Jones and Political Wire

Julie Hirschfeld Davis / New York Times:
Trump Says U.S. Needs Government ‘Shutdown’

Discussion: ABC News, Talking Points Memo, RedState, Vox, Washington Post, Political Wire, Morning Consult, New York Magazine, Hot Air and NBC News

Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:
Trump: The US government needs a good ‘shutdown’ if Senate rules don't change

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic, Power Line and Talking Points Memo

Seung Min Kim / Politico: Dawdling Congress tests Trump's patience

Matt Wilstein / The Daily Beast:

Stephen Colbert Demolishes Trump for Insulting ‘Face The Nation’ Host John Dickerson … President Donald Trump insulted Face The Nation host John Dickerson and Stephen Colbert is pissed. — As the Late Show host explained in his monologue on Monday, during his CBS colleague's Sunday morning interview …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, twitchy.com, Hot Air, TheBlaze, The Gateway Pundit, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, RedState, Washington Free Beacon, Patterico's Pontifications and New York Times

Bob Nightengale / USA Today:

Orioles' Adam Jones berated by racist taunts at Fenway Park — BOSTON — Baltimore Orioles All-Star center fielder Adam Jones was berated by racist taunts at Fenway Park while a bag of peanuts was thrown at him Monday night, calling it one of the worst cases of fan abuse he has heard in his career.

Discussion: NBC News, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, CBS Chicago, Deadspin, The Root, TMZ.com and CBS Philly

Gene Maddaus / Variety:

Wilbur Ross Says Syria Missile Strike Was ‘After-Dinner Entertainment’ at Mar-a-Lago — Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference on Monday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recalled the scene at Mar-a-Lago on April 6, when the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping was interrupted by the strike on Syria.

Discussion: CNN, AOL, The Guardian, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, Shakesville, USA Today, Politicus USA, RT, The Hill, Mediaite, New York Magazine, The Daily Caller, The Week, KTLA, Talking Points Memo and Raw Story

Greg Bluestein / Political Insider blog:

Poll: Ossoff in dead heat with Handel in Georgia's 6th — An internal poll conducted for Democrat Jon Ossoff's campaign shows him locked in a dead heat with Republican Karen Handel in the June 20 runoff to represent Georgia's 6th District. — The poll was conducted by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Politicus USA, Political Wire, Talking Points Memo and Zpolitics

Greg Bluestein / Political Insider:
Jon Ossoff's campaign readies a $5.2M ad blitz

Discussion: Daily Kos and Political Insider blog

Mollie Hemingway / The Federalist:

Coup Against Jim DeMint Threatens To Tear Apart Heritage Foundation — There are two narratives being spun about the current turmoil at the Heritage Foundation. Last week, Politico reported that the non-profit conservative foundation's board planned to permanently oust former Sen. Jim DeMint …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, RedState and Washington Examiner

Rosie Gray / The Atlantic: The Fight for Control of the Heritage Foundation

Kelsey Snell / Washington Post:

Democrats confident they can block Trump's agenda after spending-bill win — Democrats believe they have set the stage to block President Trump's legislative priorities for years to come by winning major concessions in a spending bill to keep the government open.

Discussion: Hot Air, TheBlaze, Politico, The Rush Limbaugh Show, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, TheStreet, Fox News Insider, The Last Tradition and Political Wire

Josh Magness / McClatchy Washington Bureau:
No money for Trump's wall, plus 6 other GOP issues missing from $1T spending bill

Discussion: Power Line and The Last Tradition

Emily Smith / Page Six:

Megyn Kelly will travel to Russia for Putin — MORE FROM: … Megyn Kelly is getting off to a great start at NBC. Page Six has exclusively confirmed that she will travel to Russia next month to moderate a session with President Vladimir Putin at a key international conference.

Discussion: Mediaite, AOL and Washington Free Beacon

Jason Leopold / BuzzFeed:

“If You Keep F**king With Mr. Trump We Know Where You Live” … When Donald Trump's — casino business went bankrupt in 2009, a lawyer whose clients stood to lose more than a billion dollars told police and the FBI that he got a menacing phone call from a man with a thick New York accent who threatened his family.

Discussion: BillMoyers.com, Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

Dan Merica / CNN:

Pro-Trump farmers now worry he was serious about NAFTA repeal — Washington (CNN)Bob Hemseath, whose corn-farming business hinges on the whims of mother nature, is comfortable with uncertainty. — But as the fourth-generation farmer heads onto his northeast Iowa farm for the 2017 planting season …

Tommy Christopher / Shareblue:

Rep. Cummings busts Pence: “I warned the vice president directly” about Michael Flynn — Among the many scandals dogging Donald Trump's administration is the failure to properly vet disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who had ties to foreign governments and received payments …

Discussion: Hullabaloo

Pat Pheifer / Star Tribune:

Minnesota GOP, DFL rebuke racist Facebook post about Ellison — State Republican and DFL leaders condemned Facebook post, which was removed. — The Facebook page from Minnesota's Seventh Congressional District Republican Party on Monday night featured a post with racist …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, City Pages and Washington Times

Jim O’Sullivan / BostonGlobe.com:

Speculation is stirring about a Seth Moulton presidential bid — He has won praise from a neoconservative magazine editor, taken star turns on HBO and “This American Life,” and likened President Trump's political ascendance to that of Adolf Hitler's. — Just months into his second term …

Washington Times:

A pity party for the unloved press — ANALYSIS/OPINION: — There was a broken heart for every wine glass and beer bottle at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night, where the White House Correspondents Association dined at their slimmed-down annual imitation of Hollywood glitz, grandeur and glamour.

Michiko Kakutani / New York Times:

A Long, Long Look at Obama's Life, Mostly Before the White House — The Making of Barack Obama — 1,460 pages. William Morrow. $45. — “Rising Star,” the voluminous 1,460-page biography of Barack Obama by David J. Garrow, is a dreary slog of a read: a bloated, tedious and …