memeorandum: Trump praises Australia's universal health care after Obamacare repeal (Ben Westcott/CNN)

3:55 PM ET, May 5, 2017

Top Items:

David Wasserman / The Cook Political Report:

House 2018: Rating Changes in 20 Districts — Republicans' 217-213 passage of the American Health Care Act on Thursday guarantees Democrats will have at least one major on-the-record vote to exploit in the next elections. Although it's the first of potentially many explosive votes …

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, The Atlantic, New York Magazine and Rewire

Chris Cillizza / CNN:

About that Rose Garden health care photo with all the white guys.... (CNN)House Republicans marched to the White House on Thursday afternoon to celebrate their victory: Passage of the American Health Care Act. — President Trump welcomed them with a Rose Garden celebration.

Discussion: The Atlantic and Hullabaloo

Carl Hulse / New York Times:

G.O.P. Cheers a Big Victory. But Has It Stirred a 'Hornet's Nest'? — WASHINGTON — No one knows better than House Democrats how a contentious health care vote can exact a steep political price — losing control of the House in the first midterm election of an untested new president's tenure for example.

Discussion: Daily Kos, Raw Story, Taylor Marsh and The Week

Scott Lemieux / Lawyers, Guns & Money:
A Few Grafs That Explain Why America Hates Vacuous Political Reporting

Discussion: CNN, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Talking Dog, Washington Examiner, Washington Monthly, Balloon Juice, Talking Points Memo and New York Times

Caitlin MacNeal / Talking Points Memo:
Cook Report Moves 20 House Seats In Dems' Favor After O'Care Repeal Vote

Discussion: Washington Post and The Week

Ashley Parker / Washington Post:

White House fires its chief usher — the first woman in that job — The White House has fired its chief usher, Angella Reid, the first woman and second African American to hold the position. — When the White House residence staff arrived at work Friday morning, they were told that Reid …

Discussion: CNN, Politico, Talking Points Memo, New York Times, New York Magazine, The Root, Shareblue, The Week, The Daily Caller and Axios

Elizabeth Nolan Brown / Hit & Run:

No, the AHCA Doesn't Make Rape a Preexisting Condition — The latest less-than-truthful meme about Republicans' Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA), passed by the U.S. House on Thursday, is that it makes rape a “preexisting condition” for health-insurance purposes.

Discussion: Shareblue, National Review, Vox, CNN, Business Insider, Refinery29, DCReport.org, New York Magazine, Slate and Mashable

New York Times:
In Rare Unity, Hospitals, Doctors and Insurers Criticize Health Bill

Discussion: Washington Monthly, CNN, Common Dreams, Daily Kos, The Week, New York Magazine, Political Wire, Politico and Outside the Beltway

Bloomberg:
Senate Moves Obamacare Repeal to Slow Lane After House Squeaker

Discussion: Mother Jones and Marginal REVOLUTION

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:
AHCA is a betrayal of all the GOP's promises on health care

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, New York Magazine, New York Times, Media Matters for America, Washington Post, NPR, The Moderate Voice, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Atlantic, The Week, No More Mister Nice Blog, Los Angeles Times and The Daily Signal

Lena H. Sun / Washington Post:

Anti-vaccine activists spark a state's worst measles outbreak in decades — MINNEAPOLIS — The young mother started getting advice early on from friends in the close-knit Somali immigrant community here. Don't let your children get the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella — it causes autism, they said.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and Outside the Beltway

Aaron Blake / Washington Post:

Trump's forbidden love: Single-payer health care — President Trump claimed a victory Thursday after the House approved a more free-market approach to health care. — Then he capped it off by praising a country with government-run, universal health care.

Discussion: Hot Air, Common Dreams, Red Alert Politics, New York Magazine, Talking Points Memo, CBS Philly and New York Times

Ben Westcott / CNN:
Trump praises Australia's universal health care after Obamacare repeal

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Politico, Washington Post, Vox, Media Matters for America, ThinkProgress, Scared Monkeys, Joe.My.God., The Gateway Pundit, FiveThirtyEight, Patterico's Pontifications, FOX6Now.com and The Root

John Kartch / Americans for Tax Reform:
List of Obamacare Taxes Repealed

Discussion: Power Line, The Daily Caller and The Last Tradition

Matt Shuham / Talking Points Memo:
HHS Secretary On Premium Hikes For The Older: 'Somebody's Going To Pay'

Discussion: Daily Kos

Tom Kludt / CNNMoney:

Fox News trying to pull Jesse Watters from Bill O'Reilly comedy tour — This is why Bill O'Reilly was fired — Bill O'Reilly says his former protege at Fox News, Jesse Watters, will continue to make a series of public appearances with him this year. Fox News has other ideas.

Discussion: Mediaite

Denis Slattery / New York Daily News:
Mayoral candidate Bo Dietl admits Fox News hired him to dig up dirt on women making sexual harassment claims

Discussion: Political Wire

New York Times:

Second Chance for ‘Obamacare’ Repeal. And for Reince Priebus. — WASHINGTON — The Republican health care overhaul might never become law, but it has already changed the life of one American: Reince Priebus, who knew it was his best and perhaps last hope of becoming an empowered White House chief of staff.

Discussion: Politico, The Week and ABC News

Josh Dawsey / Politico:

'The White House just couldn't let this go' — Donald Trump had had it. — The Obamacare repeal bill that the president had just boasted was on the cusp of passage was suddenly in trouble again, and the president demanded to talk to the influential congressman who dropped a bombshell hours earlier …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Shakesville, Axios and Hit & Run

Mercury News:

Lawsuit: Boys endured public shaming, violence following racist Instagram incident — ALBANY — Four Albany High School juniors punished for their roles in a racist Instagram posting incident have sued the school district and administration, alleging their free speech rights were violated …

Discussion: KRON4.com, IJR, AOL and CBS San Francisco

Associated Press:
California students sue after being suspended for ‘liking’ racist posts

Discussion: TheBlaze

Derek Hawkins / Washington Post:
Does the First Amendment protect ‘liking’ a racist Instagram post? Some Calif. students say it does.

Discussion: The Root and Althouse

Jerry Zremski / The Buffalo News:

Watch: Chris Collins admits he didn't read health care bill — WASHINGTON - Rep. Chris Collins told CNN that he didn't read the entire Republican health care bill that the House passed Thursday. — And then he told The Buffalo News that he was unaware of a key provision in the bill …

Discussion: Shareblue, ThinkProgress, Congressman Chris Collins, Syracuse Post-Standard, Business Insider, The Week, Washington Post, ACASignups.net, Daily Kos, Raw Story, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, CNN and CNBC

Nikita Vladimirov / The Hill:

Judicial Watch: Two Trump trips to Mar-a-Lago cost more than $1 million — The conservative legal watchdog organization Judicial Watch says President Trump's flights to the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for two weekends in February and March cost taxpayers $1,281,420.

Discussion: Washington Post and Judicial Watch

Jfarrell / Judicial Watch:
Judicial Watch: Court Rules State Department Must Release Clinton Emails Detailing Obama Response to Benghazi

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and Washington Free Beacon

Derek Hawkins / Washington Post:

Islamic State magazine steers followers to U.S. gun shows for ‘easy’ access to weapons — In August, a former Islamic State recruit caused a stir when he described how the terrorist organization sought to exploit America's lax gun laws. — “They say the Americans are dumb …

Discussion: Defense One and twitchy.com

New York Times:

Senate Asks Trump Associates for Records of Communication With Russians — WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee, seeking to accelerate its broad investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election, has asked a number of high-profile Trump campaign associates to hand …

Discussion: The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, Occupy Democrats, Business Insider and Axios

Jia Tolentino / New Yorker:

Ivanka Trump Wrote a Painfully Oblivious Book for Basically No One — Ivanka Trump, a daughter of and aide to the man whose election drove women to mount the largest protest in American history, has published a new book. It's about how women can best achieve personal satisfaction and professional success.

Discussion: The Atlantic, CNN, Talking Points Memo, NPR, PerezHilton, EW.com, NBC News and BizPac Review

Nikita Vladimirov / The Hill:
State Dept. takes down retweet promoting Ivanka Trump's book

Discussion: RedState, ABC News, AOL and Mediaite

Kim Bell / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Protester featured in iconic Ferguson photo found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound — Edward Crawford died overnight.

Discussion: Daily Mail, NBC News, Washington Post, The Root, Shakesville, The FADER and Mediaite

Dan Merica / CNN:

Deputy press secretary substitutes for Spicer — Washington (CNN)White House press secretary Sean Spicer won't be at the podium Friday, but he doesn't have the day off. — Sarah Huckabee Sanders, President Donald Trump's deputy White House press secretary, will do her first on-camera briefing …

Discussion: Mediaite, Joe.My.God. and Washington Free Beacon

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:
Trump: I'm staying at NJ golf club to avoid disrupting NYC, save money

Discussion: Daily Kos, Politicus USA, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, CBS New York, TheBlaze and Joe.My.God.

Dan Morse / Washington Post:

Rape charges to be dropped against immigrant teens in Md. case — Maryland prosecutors will drop rape and sex offense charges against two immigrant teens accused of attacking a 14-year-old classmate in a high school bathroom stall, according to attorneys in a case that shocked local parents …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Hit & Run and Washington Free Beacon

Dan Diamond / Politico:

Trump budget would effectively kill drug control office — President Donald Trump's fiscal 2018 budget would cut about 95 percent of funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, effectively ending its mission as the lead agency in charge of combating the opioid crisis and other drug epidemics …

Discussion: Vox, Washington Post, Axios, Occupy Democrats, Mediaite, Hit & Run and Washington Free Beacon

Juan Forero / Wall Street Journal:

Venezuela Is Starving — Once Latin America's richest country, Venezuela can no longer feed its people, hobbled by the nationalization of farms as well as price and currency controls. The resulting hunger and malnutrition are an unfolding tragedy.

Discussion: Hot Air