Check out Mini-memeorandum for simple mobiles or memeorandum Mobile for modern smartphones.
8:50 AM ET, May 12, 2026

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
Jen Rice / Democracy Docket:
Supreme Court greenlights 11th-hour Alabama redistricting plan for 2026 election  —  The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has allowed Alabama to select a different map for this year's congressional elections in a stunning, last-minute move to interfere with another state primary election that has already begun.
RELATED:
Associated Press:
Supreme Court halts order for Alabama to use US House map with 2 largely Black districts  —  The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set the stage for Alabama to get rid of one of two largely Black congressional districts before this year's midterm elections, creating an opening for Republicans …
New York Times:
Virginia Officials Ask Supreme Court to Restore Voting Map Drawn by Democrats
US Department of Justice:
Arcadia Mayor Federally Charged with Acting as Illegal Agent of the People's Republic of China  —  For Immediate Release  —  U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California  —  LOS ANGELES - The mayor of Arcadia has been charged in federal court with acting as an illegal agent …
RELATED:
Marc Sternfield / KTLA:
California mayor accused of working as a covert agent for China  —  The mayor of Arcadia, California, Eileen Wang, abruptly resigned Monday as federal prosecutors announced she had been charged with acting as a covert foreign agent for China.  —  Wang has agreed to plead guilty …
Andy Craig / The UnPopulist:
The VRA Ruling Might Have Handed Republicans a Weapon to Attempt a Jan. 6-style Midterm Coup  —  An outlandish scenario to refuse to seat newly elected blue state representatives just became more plausible  —  Republicans have been throwing everything they can at the 2026 midterms …
Wall Street Journal:
The U.A.E. Has Been Secretly Carrying Out Attacks on Iran  —  One strike in April hit an oil refinery on Iran's Lavan Island  —  DUBAI—The United Arab Emirates has carried out military strikes on Iran, people familiar with the matter said, casting the Gulf monarchy as an active combatant …
RELATED:
Wall Street Journal:
U.S. and Iran Are Locked in a Stalemate That's Neither Peace Nor War
Discussion: The Hill and IJR
Politico:
Trump officials pitch GOP on ballroom funds  —  Presented by IN TODAY'S EDITION:  — Trump's gas tax holiday faces headwinds  — Dems grasp for redistricting silver lining  — MAHA's junk food assault stalls on the Hill  —  Administration officials are trying …
RELATED:
Politico:
Trump's gas tax holiday pitch faces early Capitol Hill headwinds
Discussion: PoliticusUSA, Mediaite and Scripps News
Wall Street Journal:
Trump's Complaints About Iran War Leaks Prompt Aggressive DOJ Investigations  —  President Trump privately complained to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about media leaks in the wake of the Iran war last month, according to administration officials familiar with the matter …
RELATED:
Devlin Barrett / New York Times:
Justice Dept. Subpoenas Wall Street Journal in Leak Investigation
Discussion: Raw Story
Li Yuan / New York Times:
China Increasingly Views Trump's America as an Empire in Decline  —  For decades, many Chinese viewed the United States with a mix of admiration, envy and resentment.  President Trump's volatile second term shattered that image.  —  When President Trump visited China in late 2017 …
Discussion: American Greatness
RELATED:
Gideon Rachman / Financial Times:
A weakened Trump arrives at Xi's court
Samuel Benson / Politico:
This moderate Republican senator is already eyeing the exits 16 months into his term … Curtis, who replaced former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) last year, has a reputation as a pragmatic dealmaker and moderate voice from his three terms in the U.S. House.  But after seeing Washington grow …
Discussion: NewsMax.com and Raw Story
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Key Republican faces Democratic calls to resign over radio interview  —  Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) is facing calls to resign from Democratic colleagues who say she expressed agreement with a radio host's remark that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) should get his “cotton-picking hands off of Virginia.”
RELATED:
Greg Sargent / New Republic:
Trump Wins Big as Virginia Dems Won't Go Nuclear to Save 4 House Seats  —  Top Virginia Democrats have decided against exercising a controversial procedural end run around last week's state Supreme Court ruling that struck down their redistricting, which wiped away a gain of four House seats …
Minho Kim / New York Times:
Kari Lake, Who Led Effort to Shutter Voice of America, Is Named Ambassador to Jamaica  —  Ms. Lake tried and failed to fire hundreds of Voice of America journalists and to cut funding for other federally funded news groups like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
RELATED:
Aaron Pellish / Politico:
Trump nominates Kari Lake and Doug Mastriano to diplomatic posts
Discussion: NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit
Paige Winfield Cunningham / NOTUS:
One in Five HealthCare.gov Enrollees Dropped Insurance Coverage This Year  —  More Americans are dropping out of health care marketplaces than usual, after Congress let pandemic-era Affordable Care Act subsidies lapse.  — Copy  —  The numbers are bearing out what many lawmakers feared …
Discussion: ACA Signups
Reuters:
Exclusive: FBI questions CIA officers over Russia assessment in Brennan probe, sources say  —  The FBI has begun interviewing current and former CIA employees as part of the Department of Justice's investigation into ex-CIA director John Brennan over his role in an intelligence finding …
Discussion: NewsMax.com and The Gateway Pundit
The White House:
Nominations and Withdrawal Sent to the Senate  —  NOMINATIONS SENT TO THE SENATE:  —  Francis Brooke, of Virginia, to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.  —  Cameron Hamilton, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security.
Associated Press:
Survey work begins for contested Trump Triumphal Arch project in Washington  —  Workers began preliminary surveys and testing Monday of the proposed site of a Triumphal Arch sought by President Donald Trump, the latest step in plans for the contentious project in the nation's capital.
Discussion: Washington Examiner
Greg Rosalsky / NPR:
The economic chilling effect of Trump's immigration crackdown  —  Shortly after Inauguration Day in 2025, Planet Money visited Little Village, a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood in Chicago.  It felt oddly quiet for what was usually a bustling part of the city, almost like a ghost town.
Erica Orden / Politico:
Top federal prosecutor in New York committed misconduct, watchdog says … A request for comment left with Sarcone's office wasn't immediately returned.  —  Though the letter didn't disclose the conduct in question, a complaint by the watchdog organization, Campaign for Accountability …
Paul Dallison / Politico:
Rod Stewart praises King Charles for putting ‘little ratbag in his place’ on US trip  —  Do Ya Think I'm Being Mean About Donald Trump?  Yes.  —  Legendary singer Rod Stewart appeared to diss Donald Trump during a meeting with King Charles.  —  During an event in London to mark …
Discussion: Blue Virginia and HuffPost
Bloomberg:
Navy Plans to Buy 15 Costly Trump-Class Battleships by 2055  —  The US Navy said it plans to buy at least 15 new battleships endorsed by President Donald Trump over the next 30 years, according to its new shipbuilding plan, marking a deeper commitment than previously revealed to what could be the costliest warship ever produced.
Discussion: The War Zone, NOTUS and USNI News
Noah Berlatsky / Public Notice:
Farmers are rightfully pissed at Trump  —  From diesel to tariffs, the GOP is doing everything it can to turn the Midwest blue.  —  PN is supported by paid subscribers.  Become one ⬇️  —  A couple weeks ago, Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the country …
Thomas Frank / Politico:
Trump picks Cameron Hamilton to run FEMA  —  The president nominated the man he fired as leader of the nation's disaster agency a year ago.  —  Cameron Hamilton testifies on Capitol Hill last year before he was fired as acting administrator of FEMA.  President Donald Trump nominated him Monday to lead the agency again.
Josephine Walker / Axios:
Trump and Rubio's escalating rhetoric show a Cuba invasion could be imminent … - The U.S. imposed additional sanctions on Havana last Thursday, prompting the country's foreign minister to describe the measures as a “collective punishment of a genocidal nature.”
 
 
 Archived Page Info: 
This is a snapshot of memeorandum at 8:50 AM ET, May 12, 2026.

View the current page or another snapshot:


 
 Who's Hiring in Media? 
 
 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: 
Washington Free / The Washington Free Beacon:
Abigail Spanberger's Faceplant
Jennifer Scholtes / Politico:
Why MAHA isn't breaking through on Capitol Hill
Discussion: Raw Story
Luke Barr / ABC News:
Kash Patel set to testify on Capitol Hill amid controversies
Discussion: CNN
Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Third federal appeals court rejects ICE's mandatory detention push
Carol Rosenberg / New York Times:
Judge Again Delays Guantánamo's First Death-Penalty Terror Trial
 Earlier Items: 
Elena Moore / NPR:
New poll finds a majority of Americans unsure if attempts on Trump's life were real
theRighting:
Traffic to Truth Social Soars 45% in April While Other News Websites Decline
 

 
From Techmeme:

OpenAI:
GPT-5.6 Sol matches Mythos Preview on ExploitBench, adds Ultra mode with subagents for complex workflows, and max reasoning for deep problem-solving

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple's 14" and 16" OLED touch screen MacBook Pros will be powered by the existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips and have an updated industrial design

Dean W. Ball / Hyperdimensional:
How US federal AI policy has gone from implausibly libertarian to increasingly draconian and opaque, and how to fix it, including using independent auditors

 
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