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2:00 PM ET, May 16, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
The Hill:
GOP fiscal hawks sink key vote on Trump ‘big, beautiful bill’  —  Fiscal hawks on the House Budget Committee on Friday sunk a key vote on advancing the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that encompasses President Trump's legislative agenda, marking a stunning setback for the legislation.
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
Conservatives Block GOP Tax Megabill, Demand Changes  —  Republican holdouts in committee vote seek more savings from Medicaid, faster wind down of clean-energy breaks  —  WASHINGTON—House Republican spending hawks are demanding changes to the party's tax-and-spending bill …
Politico:
House budget panel rejects GOP megabill amid conservative opposition  —  Top Republicans are negotiating changes with irate conservative as they aim for passage next week.  —  The House Budget Committee voted against advancing the GOP's party-line tax and spending package Friday amid ongoing opposition from hard-line conservatives.
NBC News:
House Budget Committee rejects Trump agenda bill in major setback for GOP leaders
CNN:
GOP hardliners defy party leaders and Trump as they vote to block agenda
Julia Ornedo / The Daily Beast:
Kristi Noem Wants Migrants to Compete for Citizenship on New Reality Show  —  LET THE GAMES BEGIN  —  A Homeland Security official told the Daily Beast that the show is in the early stages of vetting, though approval has not been given—or denied.  —  Kristi Noem reportedly wants …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
DHS Is Considering Reality Show Where Immigrants Compete for Citizenship  —  'This isn't ‘The Hunger Games’ for immigrants,' says the producer behind the pitch  —  The Department of Homeland Security is considering being part of a television show in which immigrants would compete …
Isabel Van Brugen / The Daily Beast:   Producer Swears ICE Reality Show for Citizenship Won't Be a Complete Dystopian Nightmare
Washington Post:
Comey under investigation for ‘threat’ to Trump on social media, officials say  —  The Trump administration accused the former FBI director of insinuating a call to violence in his Instagram post, which he denied.  —  Trump administration officials said Thursday that they would investigate …
RELATED:
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
I Called the Constitution Police and They Say You're Going to Jail
Discussion: HuffPost and New Republic
Josh Meyer / USA Today:
Secret Service investigating ex-FBI Director James Comey's ‘8647’ Instagram post
Ross O'Keefe / Washington Examiner:
Comey's ‘8647’ message ‘concerns’ White House and prompts DHS investigation
Alex Gangitano / The Hill:
Trump: Comey post ‘meant assassination’
Nnamdi Egwuonwu / NBC News:
Former FBI Director James Comey under investigation for post seen as a potential threat to Trump's life
Politico:
The Biden question hanging over the 2028 field  —  Some Democrats argue their leaders aren't owning up to the truth about Biden — and risk keeping the issue alive indefinitely.  —  Joe Biden may have cost Democrats the White House in 2024.  Their inability to admit it, some Democrats fear, could hobble them in 2028.
RELATED:
Myles McCormick / Financial Times:
Joe Biden ‘redemption tour’ backfires as cognitive doubts resurface
Discussion: The Daily Beast
Reuters:
Exclusive: US aid cuts leave food for millions mouldering in storage  —  Food rations that could supply 3.5 million people for a month are mouldering in warehouses around the world because of U.S. aid cuts and risk becoming unusable, according to five people familiar with the situation.
Discussion: The Dispatch
RELATED:
Taiwo Adebayo / Associated Press:
Children die as USAID aid cuts snap a lifeline for the world's most malnourished
Discussion: Asterisk Magazine
Stephen I. Vladeck / New York Times:
The ‘Modest’ Ruling That Could Kneecap Our Legal System  —  It is often difficult to persuade anyone other than lawyers to care about the more technical, procedural minutiae of Supreme Court decisions.  But Thursday's oral argument in three Supreme Court cases challenging President Trump's efforts …
RELATED:
Vivian Nereim / New York Times:
‘He Gets Us’: Trump Makes a Splash in Saudi Arabia
Discussion: Raw Story
Kate Sullivan / Bloomberg:
Gold Palaces, Jet Deals and McDonald's: Trump at Home in Middle East
Discussion: Associated Press
Andrew Tangel / Wall Street Journal:
This Air-Traffic Controller Just Averted a Midair Collision.  Now He's Speaking Out.  —  Jonathan Stewart says controllers didn't walk off the job after recent FAA equipment outages; 'I don't want to be responsible for killing 400 people'  —  MALVERN, Pa.—Jonathan Stewart …
Discussion: New York Post, NPR and Fox Business
Adrian Carrasquillo / The Bulwark:
Exclusive: Trump's Losing the Latino Voters He Won in '24  —  DONALD TRUMP'S SUPPORT AMONG LATINO VOTERS, including those who voted for him in 2024, is fracturing, a new poll shared exclusively with The Bulwark found.  —  The poll by Equis Research, a Democratic group …
Associated Press:
Russia-Ukraine peace talks end after less than 2 hours  —  The first direct peace talks between Russia and Ukraine since the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion ended Friday after less than two hours, and a senior Ukrainian official said the Russian side introduced new “unacceptable demands.”
RELATED:
Reuters:
Russia and Ukraine to hold first direct peace talks in over 3 years
Ben Johansen / Politico:
Trump administration terminates nearly 600 Voice of America employees  —  It's a part of an ongoing battle with VOA, as Trump has described the news network as “anti-Trump.”  —  Voice of America is once again feeling the heat.  —  Nearly 600 contractors for VOA, the government-funded news network …
Discussion: Washington Times
RELATED:
Anna Merlan / Mother Jones:
The Hyper-Aggressive, Comically Loyal Government Flacks Who Talk Like Trump  —  Spokespeople are defending the administration in a language pioneered by the president.  —  In March, Axios reported that Donald Trump's Oval Office had begun to resemble an Oscar night gift suite …
Paul Krugman:
The Trade War Isn't Over  —  Look at the numbers, not the vibes  —  Monday morning I woke up to an urgent text from Robin, who is still visiting friends in Europe: “You have to look at the news NOW.”  Sure enough, Donald Trump had suddenly slashed his tariff on China from 145 percent to 30 percent.
Discussion: Politico, The Hill, CBS News, CNN and Al Jazeera
Wall Street Journal:
Donors Promised ‘VIP Experience’ to Military Events With Trump  —  Top donors to a committee supporting events celebrating America's 250th birthday will receive special access to a military parade and other festivities  —  Donors are being offered a “dedicated VIP experience” …
Discussion: Daily Kos and CBS News
Rolling Stone:
Sean Combs Allies Are Actively Working for a Trump Pardon  —  Longtime Combs associates have spent months cozying up to Trump officials to lay groundwork for clemency pleas … It may be on to something.  —  Combs, who was charged last September, is currently on trial in the Southern District …
Discussion: Daily Mail
Bridget Brink / Detroit Free Press:
I was U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.  I resigned because of Trump's foreign policy.  —  I just came home to Michigan from three years in the toughest job of my life ― serving as the American Ambassador to Ukraine ― supporting our democratic ally against brutal, unprovoked aggression by Russia.
Default:
The Law Firms' Deals with Trump are Even Riskier Than They Seem  —  By settling with Trump, law firms have much more than a moral stain to worry about.  —  nkorpett  —  nkorpett.bsky.social  —  Meet The Authors … We're living in a world where allusions to Shakespeare's famous …
Discussion: New York Times and E&E News
Charlotte Klein / New York Magazine:
The Opinion That Ate the Paper  —  Under Kathleen Kingsbury, the Times' “Opinion” section has doubled in size.  What kind of publication is she building?  —  In the summer of 2020, as James Bennet, the head of the New York Times' “Opinion” section, was being forced to resign, his deputy …
New Jersey Globe:
McIver set to be charged over Delaney Hall incident  —  Habba could announce charges against Newark Democrat as early as today  —  The Justice Department plans to bring charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) following a scuffle with federal immigration agents last week …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Alicia Wallace / CNN:
Americans' optimism about the economy is at a near-record low
Discussion: Associated Press
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
Gutfeld knocks Springsteen for Trump criticism in UK
Francis Fukuyama / Persuasion:
Why Liberals Must Not Give Up Hope
Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump administration defunds autism research in DEI and ‘gender ideology’ purge
Discussion: Scientific American and Jacobin
Washington Post:
Big U.S. cities grew in 2024, reversing covid-era population declines
Discussion: Oregonian
Greg Olear / PREVAIL:
Ramble On: Sadness and the Sinking Ship (video)
McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
The Visionary of Trump 2.0 … The opening act of Donald Trump's second term was defined …
Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian and Salon
 Earlier Items: 
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Trump's firing of FEMA director unsettles GOP senators
Discussion: Raw Story
New York Times:
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
Discussion: UPI
Mark Olalde / ProPublica:
Trump Asked EPA Employees to Snitch on Colleagues Working on DEI Initiatives. They Declined.
Sarah Mervosh / New York Times:
Some Republicans Push to Put School Desegregation Officially in the Past
Discussion: Plain Dealer and Raw Story
Jo Black / BBC:
Cut-price Magna Carta ‘copy’ now believed genuine
Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams:
2nd-Place Runner in High School Race Rips Maine GOP Lawmaker for Attacking Trans Winner