Rich Karlgaard, Forbes
Facebook‘s shares have been dead in the water for the last 12 months. Private investors had already bid up Facebook to a $100 billion value a year ago.

Paul Mirengoff, Power Line
The Washington Post has obsessed over an incident in which Mitt Romney allegedly cut the hair of a fellow high school student. The mainstream media paid plenty of attention to George W. Bush’s “irresponsible youth,” and speculated about whether he had used cocaine. Yet, the MSM has essentially ignored Barack Obama’s admission in his autobiography of cocaine use, of attending Socialist seminars while in college, and of being drawn as a young man to Marxists and Communists.

Lee Habeeb, National Review
She didn’t see it coming. One day, Oprah Winfrey turned around, and her nationally syndicated show was sliding in the ratings, and her audience was fleeing en masse. And it happened soon after a day she thought was one of the best in her life.Isn’t that how all the giants fall? When they least expect it?It was the day Oprah announced she was backing the African-American candidate, then-senator Barack Obama, over the highly qualified and experienced woman candidate, then-senator Hillary Clinton.

Kyle Smith, New York Post
This island off the course of northwest Europe is turning out to be an excellent viewing platform for three blockbuster shows this summer: Queen Elizabeth’s 60th anniversary Jubilee, the London Olympics and the implosion of Europe.The group of countries using the euro as a joint currency is “a burning building with no exits,” says Britain’s foreign minister William Hague. The Europeans with flames lapping around their ankles are the Greeks, but the whole continent is about to feel the burn.

John Kass, Chicago Tribune
To our most gracious foreign guests from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization:(This includes world leaders, dignitaries, generals, distinguished diplomats and all you foreign spymasters who think you're fooling somebody by posing as a low-level clerk carrying the bags.)Welcome to the City by the Lake.You'll spend much time over the coming weekend trapped on Security Island, which our officials call McCormick Place. But beyond the hordes of protesters and phalanxes of police, there's a city out there called Chicago.

Craig Melvin, MSNBC
Politico's Manu Raju appeared on MSNBC this afternoon to talk with guest host Craig Melvin about a possible racial element behind five black members of Congress being targeted in an ethics investigation. MSNBC's Melvin seemed caught up with the racial aspect in the case."Are black lawmakers being unfairly targeted for ethics investigations in Congress?" he asked Raju.

Tim Stanley, Telegraph
Whatever you think of Breitbart.com’s punishing vetting process, it has exposed just how little work the mainstream media did in investigating candidate Obama back in 2008. Not all of Team Breitbart’s revelations have been election-deciders, but they have often been stuff that a simple Google would have uncovered. If they revealed tomorrow that he’d had his own cross-dressing-themed sitcom on primetime TV in the 1980s, I wouldn’t be surprised.The latest find is a fascinating inversion of the birther conspiracy. Breitbart.com has...

Hugh Hewitt, Townhall
These quotes are from my interview Wednesday with Bloomberg View's Jonathan Alter, the transcript of which is here.Rev. Jeremiah Wright is relevant again, and about to get even more relevant, and it will be hard for the MSM which loved the 50-year old story of alleged bullying at Cranbrook to ignore the details of what happened 50 months ago. Alter is a strong supporter of Obama and a very smart guy, and he knows this re-emergence of Wright is very bad news for the president. His dismissal of the story is a cue for every other MSM lefty.

John Nichols, The Nation
Voters across Europe are rejecting politicians who have placed the mania for deficit cutting above all other needs, and the mainstream media are beginning to echo the mood, with even The Economist arguing that austerity is “strangling the eurozone’s chances of recovery.” As deeply flawed as the European experiment with austerity has been, however, at least it is commonly understood as a policy response to serious fiscal challenges. It’s different in the United States, where there has been little honest debate about the reasons for or the failures of...

Jim Geraghty, National Review
I would underline that Obama is using a familiar strategy because it’s not really clear that he’s ever had to use any other one. Once he won the Democratic primary for his State Senate seat in 1996, he had the seat for life, representing Hyde Park, an ultra-liberal neighborhood. He lost a House bid in 2000 against Democrat Bobby Rush, and then his next genuinely difficult fight was the 2004 Senate primary… when revelations from sealed divorce records doomed his best-funded opponent. Many of you are thinking, ‘wait, Jim, no, you’re thinking of...

Geoff Shepard, RealClearPolitics
Jeff Himmelman’s revelation in his April 29th New York Magazine article ("Red Flag in the Flowerpot") -- that Carl Bernstein really had interviewed a Watergate grand juror -- is breath-taking in its implications. It’s not just that Woodward and Bernstein have lied about this for 40 years, it's that interference with a grand jury threatens the integrity of our judicial system.Himmelman was researching Ben Bradlee’s papers for his authorized biography of the flamboyant Washington Post editor ("Yours in Truth, a Personal Portrait of Ben...

Nate Silver, NYT
We are beginning to see more national surveys now, including this week’s New York Times/CBS News poll, that show Mitt Romney with a slight lead over President Obama in the general election matchup. There are also a number of polls that put Mr. Obama slightly ahead. But Mr. Obama’s lead does seem to have narrowed — from about three or four points in an average of national polls a month or two ago to more like a point or so in surveys today. 

Valerie Jarrett, Huff Post
The passage of the Violence Against Women Act nearly two decades ago was an historic moment for America's women and girls. The law gave women new legal protections that help ensure their safety.Last month, Democratic and Republican Senators came together to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. The bill they approved would address the high rates of domestic violence committed against Native American women, ensure that LGBT victims have access to services, and make college campuses safer places to live and study.

Steve Kornacki, Salon
At the very least, the Republican Party base's revolt against its own establishment cost the GOP a 50-50 Senate tie in 2010, with primary voters forcing unelectable nominees on the party in three races that it had otherwise been on course to win. A decent case can be made that the uprising actually cost Republicans outright Senate control.And now the same thing may be happening all over again, with Nebraska joining a growing list of unexpected 2012 Senate battlegrounds "“ at least for the moment. 

Aaron Blake, Washington Post
President Obama said in an interview airing Tuesday that he will win reelection this year.“I’m going to win,” he said in an interview with ABC’s “The View,” which was taped Monday.Obama acknowledged continued difficulties with the economy present a challenge for his campaign, but also said that the election should be a choice between candidates. He said he hopes American voters will make a decision between his and Mitt Romney’s visions for the country.

Ezra Klein, Washington Post
According to Best Lawyers — “the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession” — Emmet Bondurant “is the go-to lawyer when a business person just can’t afford to lose a lawsuit.” He was its 2010 Lawyer of the Year for Antitrust and Bet-the-Company Litigation. But now, he’s bitten off something even bigger: bet-the-country litigation.Bondurant thinks the filibuster is unconstitutional. And, alongside Common Cause, where he serves on the board of directors, he’s suing to have...

Jon Meacham, Time
For me, perhaps the most striking tactical story of the 2008 presidential campaign was the surprising reaction to Barack Obama in the American South. As a native of the region, I was long skeptical about the Illinois Senator’s viability in the Old Confederacy and thus about his national viability.

Gay, Hirschhorn & Nestel, Daily
Mitt Romney, seen visiting a Lutheran church in New Hampshire, may not want to talk about his good works for fear of highlighting his Mormonism.

Mohamed El-Erian, Financial Times
Extreme political dysfunction is now undermining a Greek economy already hobbled by imploding consumption, explosive joblessness,...

Nicholas Kristof, New York Times
THIS is a Mother’s Day tribute to a mighty woman and to the doctor who gave her back her life — and also a celebration of a grand new women’s hospital that you as readers helped to build.The woman is Mahabouba Mohammed, an Ethiopian who was raped at about age 13. She gave birth alone: after many days of labor, the baby was stillborn and she suffered an obstetric fistula. 

Alana Goodman, Commentary

Veronique de Rugy, Examiner
Austerity is destroying Europe, we are told. In fact, this "anti-austerity" slogan is supposedly an important reason for defeat of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and for the victory of newly elected socialist Francois Hollande.

Agiesta & Raum, Associated Press
By Jennifer Agiesta and Tom Raum - May 11, 2012WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans are growing more pessimistic about the economy and handling it remains President Barack Obama's weak spot and biggest challenge in his bid for a second term, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.And the gloomier outlook extends across party lines, including a steep decline in the share of Democrats who call the economy "good," down from 48 percent in February to just 31 percent now.Almost two-thirds of Americans — 65 percent — disapprove of Obama's handling of gas...

David Weidner, MarketWatch