memeorandum: Cruz blasts Obama's ‘bathroom police’ efforts (Harper Neidig/The Hill)

5:35 PM ET, May 14, 2016

Top Items:

Inside the GOP effort to draft an independent candidate to derail Trump — A band of exasperated Republicans — including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a handful of veteran consultants and members of the conservative intelligentsia — is actively plotting to draft …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Hill, Mediaite, whorunsGov, AOL, Outside the Beltway, Trail Blazers Blog, New York Magazine, Political Wire and Hot Air

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Ben Sasse under fire — Sen. Ben Sasse's outspoken rejection of Donald Trump is roiling Nebraska Republican politics, and the discord is threatening to boil over at the state's GOP convention Saturday. — A prominent Nebraska political operative — who is the nephew of senior GOP Sen. Deb Fischer …

Discussion: RedState, JustOneMinute and The Daily Beast

New York Times:

Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private — Interviews reveal unwelcome advances, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct by Mr. Trump over decades. — Donald J. Trump had barely met Rowanne Brewer Lane when he asked her to change out of her clothes.

Discussion: Slate, The New Americana, Althouse, Gothamist, Politicus USA, AOL, Balloon Juice, Refinery29, The Week, Politico and Washington Post

David Niose / Salon:

This is one weak nominee: Hillary Clinton's problem isn't Bernie Sanders. It's Hillary Clinton — Clinton's camp thinks her résumé will be enough to carry her to the White House. No one should be that sure — No matter what you think about Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Liberal Values, The Mahablog and Washington Post

Ted Morgan / Salon:

This isn't how a democracy should work: How the media boosted Donald Trump and screwed Bernie Sanders — Voters want change. Elites in D.C. and the media — both liberal and conservative — are actively obstructing it — As this wildly unpredictable primary season heads toward the finish line …

Eddie Scarry / Washington Examiner:
Media lay the groundwork for Hillary, the victim

Discussion: RedState

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
“Corrupt, Liar, Deceiver, Opportunist” - Focus Group OF WOMEN Rips Hillary Clinton (VIDEO)

Discussion: The American Mirror

Los Angeles Times:
Endorsement For all her faults, Hillary Clinton is vastly better prepared than Bernie Sanders for the presidency

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications, Guardian and US News

Michael A. Cohen / BostonGlobe.com:

Trump offers a preview of his authoritarian presidency — Donald Trump says so many things that are offensive, incorrect, and dishonest that it is often impossible to keep up. In just the past few days, he's flip-flopped on his tax position, his support for raising the minimum wage, and his so-called Muslim ban.

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill: Reporter denies leaking ‘John Miller’ tapes, suggests Trump behind leaks

David Caplan / ABC News:

Clinton Campaign Releases Video Slamming Trump's Refusal to Release Tax Returns — The Hillary Clinton campaign released a video online Saturday morning, questioning Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, until he allegedly finishes being audited.

Discussion: Daily Mail

New York Times:
Donald Trump's Evasions on Taxes

Discussion: Vox, BuzzFeed, Independent Journal … and Politico

Chris Megerian / Los Angeles Times:

Welcome to a Bernie Sanders Wiccan ritual — Leigha Lafleur, holding a candle, leads a Wiccan ritual to support Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Friday in Portland. (Chris Megerian / Los Angeles Times) — Attending a rally for Bernie Sanders usually involves long lines …

Discussion: Mediaite

Daily Mail:

The woman killed by doctors because she was obsessed with cleaning: Just one of growing numbers of Dutch people given the right to euthanasia because of mental, not terminal, illness — She is a conventional mother who enjoys life with her two children and husband in a farming town 100 miles away …

Discussion: Althouse

David Ferguson / Raw Story:

Kentucky woman says man beat her for looking too masculine — as people stood by and watched — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — A Paintsville, Kentucky woman said that she was attacked and brutally beaten on Thursday for looking too masculine.

Greg Bluestein / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Poll: Clinton vs. Trump a tossup in Georgia — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are locked in a statistical tie in Georgia, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll that laid bare the deep divide over the presidential race. — Trump's 4-point lead over Clinton …

Discussion: Political Insider blog and Politicus USA

Alex Pfeiffer / The Daily Caller:
SHOCK POLL: Trump Leads Hillary Among Hispanic Voters [VIDEO]

Discussion: The Hill and RedState

Harper Neidig / The Hill:

Cruz blasts Obama's ‘bathroom police’ efforts — (R-Texas) blasted President Obama on Saturday over his administration's new guidelines advising public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity. — “The president issued a decree to every public school …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Bryce Covert / ThinkProgress:

Senior Trump Adviser Says Idea That Words Matter Is ‘Ridiculous’ — Donald Trump spent his first two weeks as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee changing his stances on a number of policy issues, sometimes multiple times. That got an interesting defense from one of his senior advisers on Friday.

Discussion: National Review

Reuters:

UK's Cameron struggles to make Britons believe his EU message: poll — Prime Minister David Cameron is struggling to convince voters he is telling the truth about why Britain should stay in the European Union and his main “Out” rival Boris Johnson is doing a better job, an opinion poll found.

Discussion: The Last Refuge

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:

Capitol Hill Newspapers, Once a Protected Class, Redefine Themselves — WASHINGTON — When Neetzan Zimmerman arrived at The Hill as its first director of audience development in January 2015, he found a publication largely unchanged since its heyday as a scrappy weekly for Washington's deal makers.

Niraj Chokshi / Washington Post:

‘Take it off! This is America!’: Man who yanked hijab pleads guilty to religious obstruction — Near the end of his Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Albuquerque in December, Gill Parker Payne decided he had to take action. — Seated a few rows in front of him was a woman he had never met before.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, U.S. Department of Justice, LawNewz and Eschaton

Emily Smith / Page Six:

Cannes hotel guests in a panic over false terror alert — MORE FROM: — Wealthy guests at the exclusive Hotel du Cap in Antibes during the Cannes Film Festival were terrified when men wearing what looked like suicide vests arrived by boat bearing a black, ISIS-like flag.