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9:05 AM ET, May 15, 2020

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 Top Items: 
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:
“Obamagate” Is Niche Programming for Trump Superfans  —  Donald Trump will not shut up about Barack Obama—not now, not ever.  On Thursday morning, amid the gravest economic crisis in a century and a deadly pandemic that will have killed more than a hundred thousand Americans by the end of this month …
RELATED:
Washington Post:
How a Flynn theory became central to the Trump reelection campaign  —  On the day Attorney General William P. Barr moved to drop criminal charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn, again winning the adulation of President Trump, he was paid a special visit.
Lee Smith / New York Post:
Who, O, who can the Flynn leaker be?  —  Who leaked to The Washington Post the fact that Michael Flynn had spoken to the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition?  The phone call was not unusual — but leaking information about it was a felony.
Discussion: New York Times, NPR and Law & Crime
Maxwell Tani / The Daily Beast:   The New CBS Reporter Driving Democrats—and Some of Her Own Colleagues—Crazy
Ed Mazza / HuffPost:
Barack Obama Speaks Out After Mitch McConnell Tells Him To Keep His ‘Mouth Shut’  —  The former president calls for “better policy decisions” on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.  —  Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday urged a better government response to the coronavirus pandemic …
Discussion: Washington Examiner, NBC News and IJR
RELATED:
Jordain Carney / The Hill:
McConnell says Obama administration ‘did leave behind’ pandemic plan  —  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday walked back comments made earlier this week, where he said the Obama administration didn't leave behind a “game plan” for a pandemic.
Discussion: Axios and Washington Post
Paul LeBlanc / CNN:
McConnell admits he was wrong to say Obama administration failed to leave a pandemic playbook  —  (CNN)Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell conceded Thursday night that he was wrong to claim that the Obama administration had not left behind a plan to deal with a pandemic in the US.  —  “I was wrong.
Jerry Lambe / Law & Crime:
Michael Flynn's Fired Lawyers Just Filed Court Papers to Reappear in His Case  —  The federal judge overseeing Michael Flynn's criminal prosecution has directed the law firm that Flynn fired to reappear as an interested party in the controversial proceeding.  On Thursday, that firm complied by filing a notice of appearance.
Discussion: Power Line and The Gateway Pundit
RELATED:
Kimberley A. Strassel / Wall Street Journal:   Barr vs. the Beltway
JONATHAN TURLEY:
Judge Sullivan To Consider Perjury Charge Against Flynn
New York Times:
De Blasio Relies on Aide Who Saw ‘No Proof’ Closures Curb Virus  —  The head of New York City's public hospitals pushed to keep the city open in early March.  Now Mayor de Blasio has put him in charge of contact tracing, deepening a rift with the Health Department.
Politico:
How Burr's stock scandal shocked the Senate  —  The Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday met as usual in a classified room in the Capitol.  During the meeting, Chairman Richard Burr discussed the next time the secretive panel would gather.  —  Less than 24 hours later …
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Cathy Young / Quillette:
Tara Reade's Dubious Claims and Shifting Stories Show the Limits of #BelieveWomen  —  Last year, a then-56-year-old California woman named Tara Reade publicly accused Joe Biden of sexual assaulting her in 1993.  The issue caused an awkward rift among Democrats, one that has only widened since Biden became …
RELATED:
The Lancet:
Reviving the US CDC  —  The Lancet  —  The COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen in the USA with 1  ·3 million cases and an estimated death toll of 80 684 as of May 12.  States that were initially the hardest hit, such as New York and New Jersey, have decelerated the rate …
Discussion: Raw Story and The Daily Wire
Politico:
‘They are angry’: Pandemic and economic collapse slam Trump across Rust Belt  —  The Industrial Midwest was always going to be a battleground in November.  —  The region is now becoming a new front line for Americans' lives and livelihoods as coronavirus hot spots proliferate and jobless rates spiral.
Washington Post:
A majority of Americans going to work fear exposing their household to the coronavirus  —  Even as most Americans spent the past two months hiding indoors, Damion Campbell has been rushing into retail and grocery stores in Columbia, S.C., each day.  —  The 45-year-old owns …
Brian Klaas / Washington Post:
We need to prepare for the possibility of Trump rejecting election results  —  Since 2017, so many events in U.S. politics that were previously unthinkable have come to pass.  Don't believe me?  A few days ago, the president of the United States baselessly accused a cable television host …
Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Coronavirus is now invading Trump counties in the swing states  —  The novel coronavirus continues to shift our political geography.  The latest development: It's now penetrating counties in the battleground states that were carried by President Trump, which raises the possibility …
Mara Gay / New York Times:
Coronavirus Is Making Young People Very Sick.  I Was One of Them.  —  Young, healthy people like me are getting very, very sick from the disease caused by the coronavirus.  —  Ms. Gay is a member of the editorial board.  —  The day before I got sick, I ran three miles, walked 10 more …
Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money
Emily Smith / Page Six:
Law firm hackers double ransom demand, threaten Donald Trump  —  The ransom demand for the secret files of a cyber-attacked lawyer to A-list stars has doubled to $42 million — as the hackers now threaten to reveal “dirty laundry” on President Donald Trump in just a week if they are not paid in full.
Hannah Sampson / Washington Post:
Meet the people who can't wait to get back on a cruise ship  —  Amber O'Hara was stuck at sea.  But that didn't ruin her appetite for another cruise.  —  The Golden, Colo., retiree had been aboard the Azamara Pursuit for nearly two weeks when the industry decided to pause operations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
New York Times:
U.S. Navy Releases Videos of Unexplained Flying Objects … The incidents in the videos were investigated by a little-known Pentagon program that for years looked into reports of unidentified flying objects, the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.
Arizona Republic:
Mark Kelly's business subsidies, ties to Chinese tech firm under fire  —  Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly has cast himself as a successful astronaut-turned-entrepreneur who has made millions from good investments and generous speaking fees.  —  Republicans are now hitting Kelly …
Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg:
Does Donald Trump Want to Be Re-Elected?  —  The president's inattention to the coronavirus doesn't suggest someone desperate to win in November.  —  It's becoming more and more obvious that President Donald Trump has simply stopped dealing with the coronavirus pandemic …
Discussion: Washington Post
Politico:
Florida man beats Covid, for now  —  Presented by The Mortgage Bankers Association  —  FROM THE NON-FRONTLINES — Good evening, and greetings from Florida, where we feel the need to inform you that it's not a post-apocalyptic hellscape of coronavirus infection and cadavers stacked like cordwood.
Discussion: Breitbart
Oliver Darcy / CNN:
Top health officials vanish from national TV interviews as White House refocuses messaging  —  New York (CNN Business)The nation's top physicians have stopped appearing on national television for interviews as the White House exerts increased control over communications during the coronavirus pandemic …
Discussion: VICE
Associated Press:
Tensions rise as Texas governor readies to lift more rules  —  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Two weeks into the reopening of Texas, coronavirus cases are climbing.  New outbreaks still crop up.  And at Guero's Taco Bar in Austin, which offers the occasional celebrity sighting …
Salena Zito / Washington Examiner:
Trump to Salena Zito: 'Joe has absolutely no idea what's happening'  —  ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania — President Trump, speaking to the Washington Examiner ahead of an event at a medical supply facility in this key swing state, took aim at Joe Biden's mental faculties, at one point claiming …
Washington Post:
CDC offers brief checklists to guide businesses, schools and others on reopening  —  With hundreds of millions of people still seeking advice on resuming their lives safely, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a scant six pages of recommendations Thursday to guide schools …
Erik Ortiz / Yahoo News:
ACLU sues Betsy DeVos over new campus sexual assault rules  —  revised federal guidelines on how sexual assault allegations should be handled on college and K-12 campuses is the target of a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, claiming the changes would “inflict significant harm” on victims and “dramatically undermine” their civil rights.
Discussion: The Hill and Twitchy
Jessica Donati / Wall Street Journal:
Ex-Green Beret Thought U.S. Supported Failed Venezuela Raid, Family Says  —  Luke Denman's loved ones plead for State Department's help after mission ends in disaster  —  WASHINGTON—Luke Denman, a former Green Beret, was searching for meaning after serving in places including Iraq …
Jessica Taylor / The Cook Political Report:
Georgia Senate's Perdue Moves to Lean Republican  —  Both Georgia Senate seats are on the ballot this fall, but the regularly scheduled race where Republican Sen. David Perdue is seeking a second term has been overshadowed by the special election in the state, with appointed …
Edward-Isaac Dovere / The Atlantic:
It's Time to Take Biden-Warren Seriously  —  The coronavirus has transformed Joe Biden's campaign, and his search for a running mate.  And it has transformed Elizabeth Warren's chances of being picked for the job.  —  The Massachusetts senator and the former vice president don't have much of a personal relationship.
Discussion: NPR
CNBC:
White House preparing executive order requiring certain essential drugs be made in U.S., sources say  — The White House is preparing an executive order which will require certain essential drugs be made in the U.S., sources told CNBC on Thursday.  — One of the sources told CNBC's Kayla Tausche …
Discussion: NPR and The Hill
Jonathan V. Last / The Bulwark:
How Brad Parscale Conned Donald Trump  —  What if the Trump campaign's digital operation is a Potemkin Death Star?  —  1. Trump Digital  —  A lot has been written about the Trump campaign's super-sophisticated digital operation.  I am . . . not skeptical, exactly.  But let me say this:
Paul Krugman / New York Times:
Covid-19 Reality Has a Liberal Bias  —  Unfortunately, the virus doesn't care about political spin.  —  On Tuesday, the U.S. government's top experts warned that Covid-19 was by no means under control, and that premature easing of social distancing could have disastrous consequences.
Frank Rich / New York Magazine:
‘Obamagate’ Means Trump Is Desperate  —  Most weeks, New York Magazine writer-at-large Frank Rich speaks with contributor Alex Carp about the biggest stories in politics and culture.  Today, Trump's “Obamagate” conspiracy theory, COVID-19's spread across the country, and Joe Biden's basement-bound campaign.
 
 
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 More Items: 
Kendall Karson / ABC News:
Large majority of Americans say country lags in testing availability: POLL
Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:
Scenes From the Class Struggle in Lockdown
Associated Press:
Trump eyes older voters in Florida for any sign of faltering
Michael Gerson / Washington Post:
Who needs science when we have Trump's tremendous instincts?
Matthew Continetti / Washington Free Beacon:
The Teflon Campaign  —  It was congresswoman Pat Schroeder …
CNN:
Nursing home workers warned government about safety violations before Covid-19 outbreaks and deaths
Discussion: American Prospect
Michael Laris / Washington Post:
Battered by upheaval, novelist Yu Lihua told raw stories from a speckled blue desk
Discussion: CNN
 Earlier Items: 
Politico:
A metrics-obsessed White House struggles to define success on coronavirus
Discussion: Raw Story
Colby Itkowitz / Washington Post:
Obama's former aides angry, hurt over Ronny Jackson's embrace of Trump's conspiracy theories
Discussion: Raw Story, IJR and The Hill
William Mersey / New York Daily News:
Congratulations, Paulie: An ex-cellmate wishes the best to Paul Manafort
John Hudson / Washington Post:
Democrats scrutinize State Department plan to overhaul Social Security
The Hill:
Trump says testing may be ‘frankly overrated’
Discussion: Mediaite and Breitbart
David Welch / Bloomberg:
Michigan Cancels Legislative Session to Avoid Armed Protesters
 

 
From Techmeme:

Financial Times:
Sources: the US FTC plans to investigate allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software to prevent customers from leaving Azure

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
The EU fines Meta €797.72M for tying Facebook Marketplace to Facebook and “imposing unfair trading conditions” on other online classified ads service providers

Maxwell Zeff / TechCrunch:
OpenAI says the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS can now read code from some developer-focused apps, including VS Code, Xcode, TextEdit, Terminal, and iTerm2

 
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