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12:40 PM ET, May 21, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Charles Gaba / ACA Signups:
Surprise!  GOP Medicaid Massacre bill is also a Medicare Massacre bill!  —  Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Brendon Boyle, on MSNBC last night:  —  Rep. Boyle: The one thing I would point out, though, is this bill is actually significantly worse [than the GOP's ACA repeal attempt in 2017] …
Discussion: KFF, Politico and New Republic
RELATED:
Ben Leonard / Politico:
Wealthy gain, low-income people lose from GOP megabill, analysis finds  —  The report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is already fueling Democratic accusations that the legislation is a giveaway to the rich.  —  Tax cuts in House Republicans' megabill would lead to increased assets …
Discussion: Bloomberg, The Hill, HuffPost and E&E News
Washington Post:
Trump and GOP's tax bill would force cuts to Medicare, CBO says  —  Some $500 billion in cuts to Medicare could be avoided if Congress instructs the White House budget office to disregard the reconciliation package's debt impact.  —  President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans' mammoth tax …
Discussion: Wall Street Journal and The Hill
Steve Benen / MSNBC:
Budget office: Republicans' megabill would give to the rich and take from the poor  —  If GOP officials are looking for good news in the Congressional Budget Office's new report on the party's reconciliation package, they won't find any.  —  Common sense might suggest that congressional Republicans …
Washington Post:
Divided House GOP tries to push Trump's tax bill over the finish line
Michael Gold / New York Times:
House G.O.P. Races to Revamp Major Policy Bill, Grasping for Votes to Pass It
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Trump's $4 trillion deficit bomb
Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Economic Agenda Hinges on Tax Bill That Divides His Own Party
NBC News:
Justice Department pulls civil rights investigations into local police departments  —  The Trump administration's move is shutting down investigations into the practices of several local departments and whether they were violating civil rights.  —  WASHINGTON — The Justice Department …
RELATED:
ABC News:   Justice Department to drop police reform agreements with Louisville, Minneapolis
Scott Macfarlane / CBS News:   Changes at Trump's Justice Department could shift which local police agencies get federal grants
Anusha Mathur / Washington Post:
Gerry Connolly, congressman who protected federal workforce, dies at 75  —  The nine-term Virginia Democrat pushed back against the Trump administration's efforts to strip protections from civil servants and federal unions.  —  Gerry Connolly, a Democratic congressman who played a large part …
RELATED:
Melissa Quinn / CBS News:
Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly dies at 75
Discussion: NBC News, UPI, PoliticusUSA and Mediaite
Susan Heavey / Reuters:
Democratic US Representative Connolly dies, his family says
New York Times:
Judge Orders U.S. to Keep Custody of Migrants Amid Claims They Were Sent to South Sudan  —  In a chaotic hearing, Trump administration officials told a federal judge they did not know where a plane of deportees was going.  The judge raised the possibility that he could order its return.
RELATED:
Camilo Montoya-Galvez / CBS News:
U.S. put Asian migrants on deportation flight to South Sudan, lawyers allege
David Kurtz / Talking Points Memo:
Judge Threatens DHS Officials With Contempt Over Migrant Removals To South Sudan
Discussion: The Hill
Chiara Eisner / NPR:
Diseases are spreading.  The CDC isn't warning the public like it was months ago  —  To accomplish its mission of increasing the health security of the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that it “conducts critical science and provides health information” to protect the nation.
Discussion: Raw Story
Alexandra Hutzler / ABC News:
Trump to host South Africa's president amid tensions over US resettlement of white Afrikaners  —  Trump claims a “genocide” is taking place, which South Africa disputes.  —  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the media during a press briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, April 24, 2025.
RELATED:
New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: President and South African Leader Meet at White House
New York Times:
Official Pushed to Rewrite Intelligence So It Could Not Be ‘Used Against’ Trump  —  An assessment contradicted a presidential proclamation.  A political appointee demanded a redo, then pushed for changes to the new analysis, too.  —  New emails document how a top aide to Tulsi Gabbard …
Discussion: New Republic, SpyTalk and Reuters
RELATED:
Devlin Barrett / New York Times:
Justice Dept. Opens Inquiry Into Cuomo, Singling Out Another Political Target  —  After killing a criminal case against Mayor Eric Adams, the Trump administration has begun investigating his chief rival in the New York City mayoral race over his testimony about the pandemic.
Reuters:
Exclusive: Hacker who breached communications app used by Trump aide stole data from across US government  —  A hacker who breached the communications service used by former Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz earlier this month intercepted messages from a broader swathe of American officials …
George Joseph / The Guardian:
Revealed: UnitedHealth secretly paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers  —  A Guardian investigation finds insurer quietly paid facilities that helped it gain Medicare enrollees and reduce hospitalizations.  Whistleblowers allege harm to residents  —  UnitedHealth Group …
Indradip Ghosh / Reuters:
Weak US economic outlook persists despite brief trade truce with China: Reuters poll  —  The outlook for the U.S. economy remains weak despite a temporary cooling of the U.S.-China trade war, a Reuters poll of economists showed, with a debate over the country's fiscal health hanging in the balance.
Financial Times:
Russian-linked Ukrainian politician shot dead in Spain  —  A former high-ranking Ukrainian politician connected to the country's ousted pro-Russian president was shot dead on Wednesday outside an exclusive international school near Madrid, according to Spanish and Ukrainian authorities.
Debra Cassens Weiss / ABA Journal:
Proposal to limit courts' contempt power, part of spending bill, is ‘terrible idea,’ Chemerinsky says  —  A budget bill by the U.S. House of Representatives contains a “stunning” provision that would limit federal courts' ability to hold government officials and other litigants in contempt …
Liz Dye / Public Notice:
DOJ politicization escalates with bogus arrest of congresswoman  —  🏛️ ⚖️ 👩🏻‍⚖️ With corporate outlets obeying in advance, supporting independent political media is more important right now than ever.
Alex Roarty / NOTUS:
Jared Golden Trails Paul LePage in a New GOP Poll  —  The Congressional Leadership Fund poll also found a Republican leading a generic ballot in the district 47% to 38%.  — Copy  —  Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine opted to run for reelection rather than for governor or Senate …
Wall Street Journal:
Inside Kristi Noem's Polygraph Operation  —  The information that DHS employees are accused of sharing with media often isn't classified  —  WASHINGTON—In a small interrogation room in Virginia with a one-way mirror, employees from across the Department of Homeland Security are being summoned and hooked up to a polygraph machine.
Leigh Kimmins / The Daily Beast:
Musk Insults Interviewer for Daring to Ask About His Big DOGE Promise  —  TOUCHY SUBJECT  —  Musk said the cost-cutting task force would save $2 trillion.  By its own estimate, just $160 billion has been saved.  —  A defensive Elon Musk shut down an interviewer by saying …
Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Gizmodo, Blaze Media and RedState
Melissa Repko / CNBC:
Target cuts sales outlook as retailer blames tariff uncertainty and backlash to DEI rollback … Target on Wednesday cut its full-year sales outlook, as executives said weaker discretionary spending, consumer uncertainty about tariffs and backlash to the company's rollback of key diversity …
Jamelle Bouie / New York Times:
Trump Is Waging War on the Future  —  It's fitting that a political movement whose slogan is the backward looking “Make America Great Again” — and whose tribune, Donald Trump, appears to live in an eternal 1990 of his own mind — is waging war on the American future.  —  This war has four theaters of conflict.
Washington Post:
A Kansas family farm, barely getting by, grapples with Trump's cuts  —  National correspondent Annie Gowen and staff photographer Ricky Carioti have documented rural communities throughout the Midwest.  They spent days in northeast Kansas this spring, interviewing and photographing the Thomases …
Discussion: Raw Story
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
JD Vance on His Faith and Trump's Most Controversial Policies  —  On this episode of “Interesting Times,” Ross Douthat interviews Vice President JD Vance about the Trump administration's deportations, the tariff backlash and how Vance's faith influences his politics.
Discussion: Axios, New York Post and Raw Story
Reuters:
US to appoint Thomas Barrack as special envoy for Syria, sources say  —  The United States will appoint President Donald Trump's longtime friend and current U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Thomas Barrack, as a special envoy for Syria, a person with direct knowledge of the matter and a diplomat in Turkey said.
 
 
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 More Items: 
New York Times:
Russia Used Brazil to Create Deep-Cover Spies
The Guardian:
Israel-Gaza war live: more than 80 killed in latest strikes as aid deliveries condemned as ‘ridiculously inadequate’
Discussion: Al Jazeera
Morgan Phillips / Fox News:
China accuses US of ‘turning space into a warzone’ with Trump's Golden Dome missile defense project
Adrian Carrasquillo / The Bulwark:
Like ‘The Hunger Games,’ But for Immigrants
Discussion: USA Today and HuffPost
Washington Post:
Congresswoman's charges fuel claims of intimidation of Trump critics
Jennifer Rubin / The Contrarian:
The Spanish Historical Lesson
Cas Mudde / The Guardian:
The real story isn't young men supposedly voting far right. It's what young women are up to
Discussion: Fortune
 Earlier Items: 
Philip Bump / Washington Post:
The conspiracy theory that broke Dan Bongino
Discussion: New Jersey Online and The Bulwark
Washington Post:
Musk was once a political force on X. Now he's back to business.
Michael Gold / New York Times:
Noem Incorrectly Defines Habeas Corpus as the President's Right to Deport People
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Netflix agrees to buy WBD's studios and streaming business in an $82.7B cash-and-stock deal; the transaction is expected to close after Q3 2026

The Guardian:
Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands exit Eurovision after Israel received an all-clear to compete; the BBC and Germany's SWR plan to participate

Foo Yun Chee / Reuters:
The EU fines X €120M for breaching online content rules, the first fine under the DSA, citing issues including the deceptive design of its blue checkmarks

 
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