memeorandum: Ben Sasse under fire (Kyle Cheney/Politico)

3:55 PM ET, May 14, 2016

Top Items:

Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private — Interviews reveal unwelcome advances, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct by Mr. Trump over decades. — Donald J. Trump had barely met Rowanne Brewer Lane when he asked her to change out of her clothes.

Discussion: Gothamist, Althouse, Balloon Juice, Slate, Business Insider, Politicus USA, Refinery29, Politico, The Week and Washington Post

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Inside the GOP effort to draft an independent candidate to derail Trump — A band of exasperated Republicans — including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a handful of veteran consultants and members of the conservative intelligentsia — is actively plotting to draft …

Discussion: The Hill, Mediaite, Trail Blazers Blog, New York Magazine, Political Wire, Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Ben Sasse under fire — Sen. Ben Sasse's outspoken rejection of Donald Trump is roiling Nebraska Republican politics, and the discord is threatening to boil over at the state's GOP convention Saturday. — A prominent Nebraska political operative — who is the nephew of senior GOP Sen. Deb Fischer …

Discussion: RedState, JustOneMinute and The Daily Beast

David Niose / Salon:

This is one weak nominee: Hillary Clinton's problem isn't Bernie Sanders. It's Hillary Clinton — Clinton's camp thinks her résumé will be enough to carry her to the White House. No one should be that sure — No matter what you think about Hillary Clinton …

Discussion: Liberal Values and The Mahablog

Greg Bluestein / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Poll: Clinton vs. Trump a tossup in Georgia — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are locked in a statistical tie in Georgia, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll that laid bare the deep divide over the presidential race. — Trump's 4-point lead over Clinton …

Discussion: Politicus USA and Political Insider blog

Eddie Scarry / Washington Examiner:
Media lay the groundwork for Hillary, the victim

Discussion: RedState

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:
“Corrupt, Liar, Deceiver, Opportunist” - Focus Group OF WOMEN Rips Hillary Clinton (VIDEO)

Discussion: The American Mirror

David Caplan / ABC News:

Clinton Campaign Releases Video Slamming Trump's Refusal to Release Tax Returns — The Hillary Clinton campaign released a video online Saturday morning, questioning Donald Trump's refusal to release his tax returns, until he allegedly finishes being audited.

Discussion: Daily Mail

New York Times:

Donald Trump's Evasions on Taxes — American politics has some silly and outdated traditions, but the disclosure of income tax returns by contenders for the presidency isn't one of them. Beginning in 1952, candidates have been releasing their returns to assure voters that they have no conflicts …

Discussion: Vox, Independent Journal … and Politico

Los Angeles Times:
Endorsement For all her faults, Hillary Clinton is vastly better prepared than Bernie Sanders for the presidency

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and Guardian

New York Times:
Donald Trump on His Tax Rate: 'It's None of Your Business'

Discussion: BuzzFeed

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:

Reporter denies leaking ‘John Miller’ tapes, suggests Trump behind leaks — The reporter who spoke with Donald Trump — spokesman “John Miller” in the 1990s is suggesting Trump leaked the controversial audio tapes that may show him masqueraded as his own spokesman.

Discussion: Washington Post

Michael A. Cohen / BostonGlobe.com:

Trump offers a preview of his authoritarian presidency — Donald Trump says so many things that are offensive, incorrect, and dishonest that it is often impossible to keep up. In just the past few days, he's flip-flopped on his tax position, his support for raising the minimum wage, and his so-called Muslim ban.

Daily Mail:

The woman killed by doctors because she was obsessed with cleaning: Just one of growing numbers of Dutch people given the right to euthanasia because of mental, not terminal, illness — She is a conventional mother who enjoys life with her two children and husband in a farming town 100 miles away …

Discussion: Althouse

David Ferguson / Raw Story:

Kentucky woman says man beat her for looking too masculine — as people stood by and watched — DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW RAW STORY! — A Paintsville, Kentucky woman said that she was attacked and brutally beaten on Thursday for looking too masculine.

Niraj Chokshi / Washington Post:

‘Take it off! This is America!’: Man who yanked hijab pleads guilty to religious obstruction — Near the end of his Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago to Albuquerque in December, Gill Parker Payne decided he had to take action. — Seated a few rows in front of him was a woman he had never met before.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, U.S. Department of Justice, LawNewz and Eschaton

Bryce Covert / ThinkProgress:

Senior Trump Adviser Says Idea That Words Matter Is ‘Ridiculous’ — Donald Trump spent his first two weeks as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee changing his stances on a number of policy issues, sometimes multiple times. That got an interesting defense from one of his senior advisers on Friday.

Discussion: National Review

Jonathan Martin / New York Times:

Sheldon Adelson Is Poised to Give Donald Trump a Donation Boost — The casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson told Donald J. Trump in a private meeting last week that he was willing to contribute more to help elect him than he has to any previous campaign, a sum that could exceed $100 million …

Discussion: Fox News, Talking Points Memo, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Business Insider, The Gateway Pundit and Slantpoint

Sky News:

An elderly Buddhist monk has been hacked to death in a temple in Bangladesh, the latest in a spate of murders of religious minorities. — Police say there have been seven such murders in Bangladesh since the start of last month alone. — No group has yet said it carried out the murder …

Discussion: Jihad Watch

Mark Hensch / The Hill:

Scarborough: ‘Entire Democratic Party’ is against Sanders … MSNBC host Joe Scarborough says the entire Democratic establishment is against presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — “Bernie Sanders continues to outperform Hillary Clinton — in just about every poll in match-ups with Donald Trump

Awr Hawkins / Breitbart:

During a May 13 appearance on NBC's Today, Katie Couric previewed her upcoming gun control documentary by claiming a “silent majority” of gun owners want more gun control. — Couric said these things during an interview conducted by Matt Lauer, who began the interview by countering FBI statistics …

Discussion: Hot Air

German Lopez / Vox:

Nationwide marijuana legalization could produce up to $28 billion in yearly tax revenue — The government could make a lot of money by legalizing marijuana. But it's probably not as much money as you think. — That conclusion is based on a new report by the Tax Foundation.

Discussion: ACLU and Business Insider

Henry Bodkin / Telegraph:

Tiny origami robot can be injested to complete medical tasks without surgery — Play! — An ‘origami robot’ that can be swallowed in a pill and then sent on missions inside the body promises a revolution in internal treatment of the digestive system, scientists have claimed.

David Glasner / Uneasy Money:

Saving a Very Old Paper from Oblivion — I have just posted a paper ("How ‘Natural’ Is the Government Monopoly over Money") on SSRN. It's a paper I wrote about 28 years ago, shortly after arriving in Washington to start working at the FTC, for a Cato Monetary Conference on Alternatives to Fiat Money.

Discussion: bradford-delong.com