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12:50 PM ET, May 16, 2025

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 Top Items: 
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 …
Discussion: The Hill and Newsweek
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, New Republic and Raw Story
Josh Meyer / USA Today:
Secret Service investigating ex-FBI Director James Comey's ‘8647’ Instagram post
Alex Gangitano / The Hill:
Trump: Comey post ‘meant assassination’
Ross O'Keefe / Washington Examiner:
Comey's ‘8647’ message ‘concerns’ White House and prompts DHS investigation
Nnamdi Egwuonwu / NBC News:
Former FBI Director James Comey under investigation for post seen as a potential threat to Trump's life
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.
RELATED:
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.
Associated Press:
Trump's big bill faces next hurdle in Congress as GOP conservatives warn they may vote against it
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:
Jeet Heer / The Nation:
The Biden Scandal Goes Well Beyond the Aging Cover-Up  —  The former president's stubbornness and narcissism led to disastrous Trump victory.  —  Bluesky  —  Pocket  —  Democrats have long needed an honest reckoning with Joe Biden's failed presidency, which ended with his humiliating decision …
Myles McCormick / Financial Times:
Joe Biden ‘redemption tour’ backfires as cognitive doubts resurface  —  Democrats unsettled by books revealing former US president's mental decline as he battled Donald Trump in 2024  —  Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free  —  Your guide to what Trump's second term means for Washington, business and the world
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 …
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
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 …
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
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: The Hill, CNN, CBS News and Al Jazeera
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:
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 …
RELATED:
Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Trump's firing of FEMA director unsettles GOP senators
Discussion: Raw Story
Jo Black / BBC:
Cut-price Magna Carta ‘copy’ now believed genuine  —  A manuscript once considered an unofficial copy of Magna Carta is now believed to be a genuine version and “one of the world's most valuable documents”, according to UK academics.  —  Harvard Law School paid $27.50 (then about £7) …
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 …
Sarah Mervosh / New York Times:
Some Republicans Push to Put School Desegregation Officially in the Past  —  Louisiana officials want to overturn the remaining federal desegregation orders in their state.  They may find allies in the Trump administration.  —  Republican leaders in Louisiana are pushing to end the last remnants …
Discussion: Plain Dealer and Raw Story
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 …
Teo Armus / Washington Post:
Afrikaner resettled by Jewish-affiliated group denies antisemitism claims  —  Charl Kleinhaus, one of about 60 Afrikaners resettled as refugees under an executive order, said his social media posts were being taken out of context.  —  Just two days after arriving in the United States …
New York Times:
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything  —  The U.S. is slashing funding for scientific research, after decades of deep investment.  Here's some of what those taxpayer dollars created.  —  Science seldom works in straight lines.
Discussion: UPI
Greg Olear / PREVAIL:
Ramble On: Sadness and the Sinking Ship (video)  —  Here is today's morning ramble:  —  Every piece at PREVAIL is free to read and always will be.  No paywalls, ever.  Your generous support keeps it that way.  Thank you!  —  And here is the transcript, edited for clarity:  —  Good morning.
Kaanita Iyer / CNN:
CNN to air George Clooney's ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ Broadway play live on June 7  —  CNN will exclusively televise actor George Clooney's record-breaking Broadway show “Good Night, and Good Luck,” on Saturday, June 7, the network announced Thursday.  —  The limited-run play's penultimate performance …
Washington Post:
Big U.S. cities grew in 2024, reversing covid-era population declines  —  Census Bureau data found most major cities increased in population, reversing a downward trend sparked by pandemic deaths and people fleeing for smaller towns.  —  Populations in major American cities have bounced …
Discussion: Oregonian
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.
Discussion: Bloomberg and The Kyiv Independent
Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams:
2nd-Place Runner in High School Race Rips Maine GOP Lawmaker for Attacking Trans Winner  —  A high school runner in Maine who finished second to a transgender competitor at a recent track meet said this week that a Republican state lawmaker's “hateful” crusade targeting trans athletes …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Dominick Mastrangelo / The Hill:
Gutfeld knocks Springsteen for Trump criticism in UK
Francis Fukuyama / Persuasion:
Why Liberals Must Not Give Up Hope
Discussion: Reuters
Reuters:
Exclusive: Trump administration defunds autism research in DEI and ‘gender ideology’ purge
Discussion: Scientific American and Jacobin
McKay Coppins / The Atlantic:
The Visionary of Trump 2.0 … The opening act of Donald Trump's second term was defined …
Discussion: The Guardian and Salon
Kate Sullivan / Bloomberg:
Gold Palaces, Jet Deals and McDonald's: Trump at Home in Middle East
Discussion: Associated Press
Jack Cashill / American Thinker:
If Walz Were a Real Man, He Would Pardon Derek Chauvin
 Earlier Items: 
Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
America needs more stay-at-home parents
Sharon Otterman / New York Times:
He Denounced the Gaza War at Graduation. N.Y.U. Withheld His Diploma.
Stephen Robinson / Public Notice:
The bribe in the sky  —  🛫 ☁️ 🛬 With corporate outlets obeying in advance …
Mark Olalde / ProPublica:
Trump Asked EPA Employees to Snitch on Colleagues Working on DEI Initiatives. They Declined.
Discussion: Democracy Docket
Tal Axelrod / Axios:
Why Trump's second 100 days matter more
 

 
From Mediagazer:

Mike Vorkunov / New York Times:
With RSNs weakened due to cord-cutting, a look at how the NBA and teams are handling local broadcasts, as some turn to streaming and others buy their local RSNs

Alexandra Alter / New York Times:
ByteDance's publishing imprint 8th Note Press began informing writers and agents in late May that it was closing and returning publication rights to authors

Satviki Sanjay / Bloomberg:
Kantar: the share of Indians consuming media exclusively on mobile phones grew to 23% in Q1 2025, up from 15% in Q1 2023, as TVs stay unaffordable for many

 
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