memeorandum: Australia's Conservatives Win Surprise Election Victory (Wall Street Journal)

2:10 PM ET, May 18, 2019

Top Items:

Australia Election Results: Prime Minister Scott Morrison Seizes a Stunning Win — SYDNEY, Australia — Scott Morrison, Australia's conservative prime minister, scored a surprise victory in federal elections on Saturday, propelled by a populist wave — the “quiet Australians,” he termed it …

Discussion: Washington Post and The Gateway Pundit

Steven Hayward / Power Line:

Breaking: Big Election Upset in Australia — Australia held a national election yesterday which all of the polls predicted for weeks would be won handily by the Labour Party. The ruling Liberal Party (which is the conservative party in Australian politics because they still understand …

Discussion: Agence France-Presse and Washington Post

NEWS.com.au:
Scott Morrison clinches unlikely victory over Bill Shorten in bombshell election result

Discussion: The American Conservative

Michael Heath / Bloomberg:
Ex-Australian PM Abbott Loses Seat in ‘Unprecedented’ Defeat

Discussion: BBC and The Guardian

Wall Street Journal:
Australia's Conservatives Win Surprise Election Victory

Discussion: twitchy.com

Bret Stephens / New York Times:

Dear Millennials: The Feeling Is Mutual — Joe Biden dares to take offense at those who specialize in being offended. — Earlier this month, a video of Joe Biden saying he had “no empathy” for “the younger generation” that “tells me how tough things are” resurfaced on social media.

Discussion: Mediaite

Jill Filipovic / New York Times:
Does Anyone Actually Want Joe Biden to Be President?

Discussion: Opinion Today

Molly Nagle / ABC News:
Joe Biden heads to Philadelphia to give pitch on uniting the country

Discussion: Axios and One America News Network

CNN:

Flynn contacted GOP Mueller critic while cooperating with special counsel — Why Mueller cares about Michael Flynn (2018) — Washington (CNN)While he was cooperating with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn contacted at least …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, New York Post, emptywheel, Mediaite and Raw Story

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Amid cooperation bid, Flynn messaged top Mueller critic in Congress

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Darren Samuelsohn / Politico:
Mueller's House testimony likely off until at least June

Discussion: Conservative News Today

Kevin Poulsen / The Daily Beast:

The Hell of Working at Trump's New Favorite Network — Conspiracy theories, racist outbursts, and a whole lot of Putin love. Working for the far-right One America News Network was a deeply weird experience, former employees say. — Ernest Champell realized there was something unusual …

Discussion: Raw Story

Sydney Ember / New York Times:

‘I Did My Best to Stop American Foreign Policy’: Bernie Sanders on the 1980s — In an interview, one of the leading candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination discusses his long-held opposition to war and his support for socialist leaders. — As Burlington's mayor from 1981 to 1989 …

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Bernie Sanders Wants to Destroy the Best Schools Poor Urban Kids Have — Bernie Sanders today is announcing the foundation of his K-12 education plan, which is to crack down on public charter schools. If enacted, the Sanders plan would snuff out one of the most successful social policy innovations …

Discussion: CNN, Conservative News Today and Outside the Beltway

Rashaan Ayesh / Axios:
Bernie Sanders unveils plan to reform public education system

Discussion: BuzzFeed News and Joe.My.God.

Adam Kelsey / ABC News:
Sen. Bernie Sanders' education plan nixes for-profit charter school funding

Discussion: Vox, The Week and Citizen Times

Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:

'It's entirely inappropriate': Trump shot a political video on Air Force One — Seated behind a desk on Air Force One, the presidential seal over his left shoulder, President Trump shot a short video Thursday, blasting New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's entry into the 2020 race.

Discussion: Law & Crime, Political Wire and Daily Kos

Dave Goldiner / New York Daily News:
President Trump's Air Force One video trashing Mayor Bill de Blasio may have violated law

Discussion: PJ Media Home, New York Times and Daily Wire

CBS News:

Democratic governor ready to sign Louisiana abortion ban bill — Nearly three decades ago, when Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' wife was 20 weeks pregnant with their first child, a doctor discovered their daughter had spina bifida and encouraged an abortion. They refused.

Melinda Deslatte / Associated Press:
Louisiana governor breaks with Democratic Party on abortion

Discussion: twitchy.com and Fortune

Morgan Gstalter / The Hill:
Dem Louisiana governor prepared to sign fetal ‘heartbeat’ ban

Discussion: Fox News and twitchy.com

Washington Post:

Acting secretary blocked Stephen Miller's bid for another DHS shakeup — An attempt by President Trump's senior adviser Stephen Miller to engineer a new shake-up at the Department of Homeland Security was blocked this week by Kevin McAleenan, the department's acting secretary …

Discussion: Politico, The Week, CNN and Mediaite

Lisa de Moraes / Deadline:

Fran Lebowitz Apologizes After Telling Bill Maher U.S. Should Give Donald Trump To Saudis Who Killed Khashoggi — Fran Lebowitz said she regrets that “everyone misinterpreted” her comment onb Bill Maher's Real Time Friday night, when she suggested the U.S. turn President Donald Trump …

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Joe.My.God., Washington Free Beacon, twitchy.com and Althouse

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
Trump ‘deserves’ Khashoggi treatment, Maher guest Fran Lebowitz says before backpedaling

Discussion: Conservative News Today and IJR

Rachel Frazin / The Hill:

Trump admin not sending migrants to Florida after backlash — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not plan to send migrant families to Florida after reports about a Trump administration proposal resulted in backlash from local and state officials this week.

Discussion: Orlando Sentinel and IJR

New York Times: Trump Administration Flying Migrants Out of Texas to Ease Overcrowding at Border

Fedor Indutny / BostonGlobe.com:

Mayor Pete and the Order of the Kong: How Buttigieg's Harvard pals helped spur his rise in politics — A tired-looking Senator Ted Kennedy was nearing the end of a question-and-answer session with students at Harvard's Institute of Politics when a young man in a white button-down shirt approached the microphone.

New York Times:

Austria Appears Headed for Snap Election After Vice Chancellor Resigns Over Video Sting — BERLIN — Austria appeared on Saturday to be headed for snap elections after the country's far-right vice chancellor resigned over a secretly filmed video that showed him promising government contracts …

Discussion: NPR, Hullabaloo, Bloomberg and Politico

Anne Applebaum / Washington Post: How Europe's ‘Identitarians’ are mainstreaming racism

Rachel Frazin / The Hill:

USGA investigates after golf scores ‘erroneously’ recorded for Trump — The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) says it is looking into unflattering golf scores that it said were “erroneously” recorded for President Trump this week. — Scores of 101, 100, 108 and 102 were posted Friday under …

Discussion: Fox News

Aída Chávez / The Intercept:

A Genuine Populist is Running for West Virginia Governor. His Donor Rolls Broke the State's Campaign Finance Software. — When Stephen Noble Smith's campaign sought to present its 62-page finance filings to the West Virginia secretary of state, something went wrong.

Frank Figliuzzi / NBC News:

AG Barr's FBI investigation, President Trump and the threat from within — By perpetuating Trump's falsehoods about the FBI and Mueller's report, Barr has become the kind of threat capable of doing severe harm. — On Monday, Attorney General William Barr, acting more like defense counsel …

Jonathan Cohn / HuffPost:

Why This Political Fight In Michigan Should Matter To Democrats Everywhere — It's a test of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's leadership — and whether her party can convince voters better public services are worth higher taxes. — WARREN, Mich. ― Mechanic Jay Buni knows all about the …

Alex Spence / BuzzFeed:

Researchers Say Many Of The Brexit Party's Twitter Followers Aren't Behaving Like Genuine Voters — High volumes. Short intervals. Odd times of day. Twitter thinks this is the online behaviour of regular British voters, but researchers have raised doubts.