Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
11:30 AM ET, May 12, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
New York Times:
U.S. and China Agree to Temporarily Slash Tariffs in Bid to Defuse Trade War  —  The 145 percent U.S. tariff on Chinese goods will come down to 30 percent for 90 days, while the two sides continue talks aimed at resolving their differences.  —  The United States and China said Monday …
RELATED:
Sam Meredith / CNBC:
U.S. and China agree to slash tariffs for 90 days in major trade breakthrough … WATCH NOW  —  The U.S. and China on Monday agreed to temporarily suspend most tariffs on each other's goods in a move that shows a major thawing of trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
A Garish, Outlandish, Stunningly Corrupt Act  —  Happy China Trade Thaw Day to those who celebrate!  The United States and China agreed overnight to suspend many of the tariffs put in place after Donald Trump's “Liberation Day,” which had ground trade between the two nations to a virtual standstill.
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Heather Stewart / The Guardian:
Trump might claim China tariff victory - but this is Capitulation Day
Landon Mion / Fox Business:
US, China announce reduced tariffs for 90 days after trade talks
Lisa Mascaro / Associated Press:
House Republicans unveil Medicaid cuts that Democrats warn will leave millions without care  —  House Republicans unveiled the cost-saving centerpiece of President Donald Trump's “ big, beautiful bill ” late Sunday, at least $880 billion in cuts largely to Medicaid to help cover the cost of $4.5 trillion in tax breaks.
RELATED:
Brett Guthrie / Wall Street Journal:
A Common Sense Budget Reconciliation Bill  —  My committee's legislation supports U.S. innovation, strengthens Medicaid, and ends Green New Deal-style waste.  —  When President Trump took the podium for his Second Inaugural Address, he promised a “revolution of common sense” …
Sahil Kapur / NBC News:
Fight over Medicaid cuts heats up as House Republicans release bill  —  The legislation includes work requirements, stricter eligibility checks, citizenship verification and new limits on federal funding for Medicaid to states.  It met swift Democratic opposition.
Discussion: Washington Examiner and NOTUS
Josh Hawley / New York Times:
Don't Cut Medicaid  —  Polls show Democrats down in the dumps at their lowest approval level in decades, but we Republicans are having an identity crisis of our own, and you can see it in the tug of war over President Trump's “one big, beautiful bill.”  The nub of the conflict …
Discussion: The Guardian, Raw Story and The Cause
Wall Street Journal:
Trump Says He Will Sign Executive Order Aimed at Lowering Drug Prices
Punchbowl News:
5/12/25 ☀️ AM:
Discussion: RedState
Politico:   Playbook: Trump cuts a deal with China
Barak Ravid / Axios:
Hamas to release Israeli-American hostage as gesture to Trump  —  Hamas said Sunday it will release Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who has been held for over 550 days, as part of an effort to reach a ceasefire deal and resume humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Auction to Dine With Trump Creates Foreign Influence Opportunity … The sale of face-to-face access to President Trump using the Trump family's own cryptocurrency has done more than benefit him financially, though it has certainly done that.  —  Mr. Trump announced last month that leading buyers …
Fox News:
House Democrat calls for ‘immediate’ ethics probe of Qatari plane gift to Trump  —  A Democratic congressman is calling for an ethics investigation over President Donald Trump's plans to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar that would temporarily serve as Air Force One before being allotted …
RELATED:
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Trump scrambles to defend luxury jet from Qatar he'll use as Air Force One
Kaitlan Collins / CNN:
Trump to accept luxury jet from Qatar to use as Air Force One
John Eligon / New York Times:
White South Africans Granted Refugee Status by Trump Leave for U.S.  —  Dozens of Afrikaners who claim discrimination in their home country left Johannesburg on Sunday.  Their departure for the U.S. came as the Trump administration was halting virtually all refugee admissions.
RELATED:
Stephen Semler / Popular Information:
Inside Trump's $1 trillion military bonanza  —  The White House recently released a preview of Donald Trump's 2026 budget request, with the full proposal expected later this month.  For now, topline figures for broad government functions are available and not much else.
RELATED:
Abdallah Fayyad / Vox:   Trump is hoping to quietly gut the social safety net
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
The Federalist Society is surprisingly ambivalent about Trump  —  Few organizations have profited as handsomely off of President Donald Trump's rise to power as the Federalist Society, a kind of bar association for right-wing lawyers.  —  “We're going to have great judges, conservative …
Troy Closson / New York Times:
Flights Could Be Disrupted Across U.S., Transportation Secretary Warns  —  After a series of problems at Newark Liberty International Airport, the secretary, Sean Duffy, said he would meet with airline leaders on Wednesday to plan to scale back Newark flights.
Politico:
Tech companies have a big remote worker problem: North Korean operatives  —  Cybersecurity firms say that the intricate scam to amass funding for North Korea's weapons program is happening “on a scale we haven't seen before.”  —  A growing number of the nation's top tech firms …
Richard Steigmann-Gall / Society for US …:
“The Wolves Came”: Richard Steigmann-Gall on Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins's *Did it Happen Here?  Perspectives on Fascism and America*  —  Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins has edited a book which he hoped would finally put to bed the hotly contested Fascism Debate that arose from Trump's 2016 candidacy …
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
Building a new home for data-driven political journalism  —  In this post, I announce a new paid membership program for Strength In Numbers and write down my mission and goals for this data-driven news website.  If you've found this work valuable so far, now's the time to support it and help grow the business.
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 11:30 AM ET, May 12, 2025.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 See Also: 
memeorandum: site main
memeorandum River: reverse chronological memeorandum
memeorandum Mobile: for phones
memeorandum Leaderboard: memeorandum's top sources
 
 Subscribe: 
memeorandum RSS feed
memeorandum on Mastodon
 
 
 More Items: 
Courtney Kube / NBC News:
Pentagon spent at least $21 million on flights to Guantanamo, which currently holds 32 migrants
Discussion: The Independent
Jennifer Rubin / The Contrarian:
Trump and his Henchmen lash out when they lose...
Discussion: Politico
Clare Malone / New Yorker:
Is Jeff Bezos Selling Out the Washington Post?
New York Times:
Here Is Everything That Has Changed Since Congestion Pricing Started in New York
Discussion: New Jersey Online
President Donald J. Trump / The White House:
Joint Statement on U.S.-China Economic and Trade Meeting in Geneva
Adam Liptak / New York Times:
A Warning From Justice Souter: Democracy Is in Peril
Discussion: Raw Story
Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
The new pope is latest sign that the world rejects Trumpism
Zack Beauchamp / Vox:
Americans have tuned out Gaza at the worst possible moment
Discussion: The Dispatch
 Earlier Items: 
Thibault Spirlet / Business Insider:
Elon Musk says the US is running a ‘quiet trial’ of Trump's $5 million gold card for the ultrawealthy
Discussion: Newsweek, LewRockwell and Fortune
Bethany McLean / Business Insider:
‘A flashing red light’: how Donald Trump Jr. is cashing in on his dad's presidency
Victor Davis Hanson / American Greatness:
The Decivilizing of America … Secure borders and stationary populations were considered …
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Digging into the math of a study attacking the safety of the abortion pill
Discussion: The Guardian
Nicholas Bagley / Divided Argument:
Defanging NEPA  —  Can you buy your way out of judicial review?  —  The House Natural …
Giovanna Coi / Politico:
US popularity collapses worldwide in wake of Trump's return
Discussion: Reuters
Walter Olson:
Will we allow ICE to behave as a secret police?
Discussion: The Daily Wire
Matt O'Brien / Associated Press:
Trump administration fires top copyright official days after firing Librarian of Congress
 

 
From Techmeme:

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Sources: Meta is considering deep budget cuts to its metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely including layoffs as early as January

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams

Will Oremus / Washington Post:
Two studies suggest AI chatbots can shift political views more effectively than TV campaign ads, especially by presenting many claims, regardless of accuracy

 
Sister Sites:

Techmeme
 Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web
Mediagazer
 Top news and commentary for media professionals from all around the web
WeSmirch
 The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page