Donald Trump: How did Barack Obama get into Ivies?  —  ‘How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?’  Trump asked.  AP Photo  —  Donald Trump is upping the ante against President Barack Obama's legitimacy, raising questions on Monday night about how the president was admitted to two Ivy League schools.

Paul Krugman: For entitlement reform before he was against it  —  Not that you needed any more evidence that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is a flip-flopping charlatan, but here's the latest.  —  Today, he assails GOP proposals to raise the Medicare age and, by extension, the Social Security retirement age.

RNC Chairman dismisses birther talk  —  Washington (CNN) - Donald Trump has spent weeks raising questions about President Barack Obama's birth certificate, but Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday that so-called “birther” claims are a distraction from more pressing issues facing the nation.

Donald Trump Loves Jefferson Davis  —  Or at least, his retirement home.  I'm doing some digging into Republican candidates' positions on and involvement in the arts, so on a whim, I Nexised “Donald Trump donated.”  Turns out the Donald ponied up $25,000 for the post-Katrina restoration of Beauvoir …

Obama revealed: A moderate Republican  —  America is mired in three wars.  The past decade was the hottest on record.  Unemployment remains stuck near 9 percent, and there's a small, albeit real, possibility that the U.S. government will default on its debt.  So what's dominating the news?

Behind A Major Law Firm's Decision To Ditch Its Defense Of DOMA  —  When the Atlanta-based law firm King & Spalding announced on April 18 that it would represent the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act …

Financiers Switch to GOP  —  Hedge-Fund Titans Who Backed Democrats Open Their Wallets for Republicans  —  Hedge-fund managers made a big bet on Barack Obama and other Democrats in 2008.  Now, with the 2012 contest gearing up, some prominent fund managers have turned their backs on the party and are actively supporting Republicans.

Why Republicans May Be Skipping 2012 Presidential Run  —  Haley Barbour's decision to forego a run for the presidency in 2012 puts him in the company of a half dozen top Republicans who have considered — and rejected — a challenge to President Obama next year.  —  The question is: why?

High gas prices cut into driving habits — and Obama's approval rating  —  Soaring gasoline prices are biting into household incomes and nibbling at Americans' fuel consumption — and support for President Obama, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

College Teams, Relying on Deception, Undermine Gender Equity  —  Ever since Congress passed the federal gender-equity law known as Title IX, universities have opened their gyms and athletic fields to millions of women who previously did not have chances to play.

GOP's gamble on the budget pays off, so far  —  WASHINGTON — A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that House Republicans, who took a political risk in passing a controversial budget blueprint last week, have survived so far with some key advantages intact as Congress moves toward the debate …

'I'm a Shell Oil creation,' says EPA chief  —  EPA chief Lisa Jackson said Tuesday that Shell Oil — which has butted heads with the Environmental Protection Agency over a range of issues — financed her undergraduate education.  —  The company gave Jackson a scholarship to Tulane University, where she got her undergraduate degree.

U.S. Effort to Remove Drug CEO Jolts Firms  —  A government attempt to oust a longtime drug-company chief executive over his company's marketing violations is raising alarms in that industry and beyond about a potential expansion of federal involvement in the business world.

Don't laugh at Paul  —  Ron Paul's not as big of a joke as people think.  —  Do I think he has a serious chance at the Republican nomination?  Not really.  But I think he could play a much bigger role in the race than people might expect.  Consider some of these recent poll numbers:

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The Limits of School Reform  —  I find myself haunted by a 13-year-old boy named Saquan Townsend.  It's been more than two weeks since he was featured in The New York Times Magazine, yet I can't get him out of my mind.  —  The article, by Jonathan Mahler, was about the heroic efforts …

Messina: Obama 2012 will be run as ‘an insurgent campaign’ — Barbour feared race about race that GOP couldn't win - Boehner to Obama: ‘Grow up’ — Marc Short joins Team Koch - Rob Collins free agent  —  Good Tuesday morning.  Mississippi Gov. HALEY BARBOUR's decision not to seek …

Campaign to bar Syria from UN human rights body  —  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Human rights groups and a growing number of governments are working to prevent Syria from being elected to the U.N.'s top human rights body, as President Bashar Assad's security forces crack down on pro-democracy protesters.

NLRB will sue Ariz., SD over union laws  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Labor Relations Board says it will move ahead with lawsuits seeking to invalidate state constitutional amendments in Arizona and South Dakota that require workers to hold secret ballot elections before a company can be unionized.

Another life line for Death Row cop-killer Mumia abu Jamal  —  1980s Death Row cop-killer Mumia abu Jamal, darling of the progressive Left, will get yet another day in court: … Yes, they called him a “death row activist.”  —  Only marginally less obnoxious than when AFP called him a “human rights campaigner.”

More Than 1 Billion People Are Hungry in the World  —  But what if the experts are wrong?  —  For many in the West, poverty is almost synonymous with hunger.  Indeed, the announcement by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2009 that more than 1 billion people are suffering …

Scott Brown gets Democratic challenger  —  Democratic activist Alan Khazei announced Tuesday that he will vie for his party's nomination to face Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R).  —  Khazei, co-founder of the non-profit group City Year, posted the announcement on his website and said he is holding a kickoff event in Boston.