memeorandum: Is Trump Trying to Spread Covid-19? (Thomas L. Friedman/New York Times)

9:10 AM ET, June 17, 2020

Top Items:

Trump Considers Suing His Niece Over Her Tell-All Book, Saying She Signed an NDA — The president has long favored using legal threats to stop people from writing bad books about him. Going after his own family may be next. — This past Sunday, news broke that the president's niece …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Slate, Raw Story, The Western Journal and The Root

Adele-Momoko Fraser / NBC News:

Google bans two websites from its ad platform over protest articles — Google has banned two far-right websites from its advertising platform after research revealed the tech giant was profiting from articles pushing unsubstantiated claims about the Black Lives Matter protests.

New York Post: A fresh sign of Google's excessive power

David Harsanyi / National Review:
NBC News' Attempt to Demonetize The Federalist is Illiberal Insanity

Discussion: The Federalist, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, Big League Politics and Instapundit

Joseph Wulfsohn / Fox News:
NBC News under fire for apparently pushing Google to remove conservative sites from ad platform

Discussion: Instapundit

Chris Kahn / Reuters:

Biden opens 13-point advantage as Trump popularity drops to seven-month low: Reuters/Ipsos poll — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has opened up a 13-point lead over President Donald Trump - the widest margin this year - according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll …

Discussion: Political Wire and The Hill

Steven Shepard / Politico:

Trump has a point about the polls — As President Donald Trump tumbles in the polls and falls further behind Joe Biden, his campaign has returned to a familiar refrain: The polls are underestimating Trump's appeal again. — They have a point. — Pollsters aren't deliberately skewing …

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite and Slate

The Daily Beast:

Fauci: No Need for a Second Lockdown for COVID-19 — The infectious-diseases specialist doesn't think we'll have another New York City. But he's nervous about re-openings and said he personally wouldn't go to Trump's rallies. — With top officials in the Trump White House declaring …

Discussion: Mediaite and Axios

montgomeryadvertiser:

Montgomery City Council votes down mask ordinance, sends doctors out in disgust — Jackson Hospital pulmonologist William Saliski cleared his throat as he started describing the dire situation created by the coronavirus pandemic in Montgomery to its City Council before they voted on a mandatory mask ordinance.

Ben Kesslen / NBC News:

Aunt Jemima brand to change name, remove image that Quaker says is ‘based on a racial stereotype’ — The Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake mix will get a new name and image, Quaker Oats announced Wednesday, saying the company recognizes that “Aunt Jemima's origins are based on a racial stereotype.”

Discussion: Mercury News, WRIC-TV and Twitchy

Mike Pence / Wall Street Journal:

There Isn't a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’ — With testing, treatments and vaccine trials ramping up, we are far better off than the media report. — In recent days, the media has taken to sounding the alarm bells over a “second wave” of coronavirus infections. Such panic is overblown.

Discussion: Common Dreams, Financial Times, Associated Press, Raw Story, The Hill, Mediaite, Washington Post, KEYT-TV, Fox News, Daily Kos, IJR and Talking Points Memo

Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Trump scrambles to suppress inconvenient information with Bolton book and coronavirus

Discussion: Vanity Fair, Instapundit and KEYT-TV, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:
Mike Pence's abrupt Covid shift

Discussion: The Hill and Pajiba

Katie Shepherd / Washington Post:

An officer was gunned down. The killer was a ‘Boogaloo Boy’ using nearby peaceful protests as cover, feds say. — As protests gripped Oakland on May 29, a white van pulled up outside a federal courthouse. A door slid open, and a man peppered the two security officers outside with bullets, killing one and injuring the other.

Discussion: VICE, NBC News, Lawyers, Guns & Money and U.S. Department of Justice

Los Angeles Times: Suspect in killing of 2 Bay Area cops tied to right-wing Boogaloo group, prosecutors allege

Axios:

Scoop: Republican operatives launch pro-Biden super PAC — A group of prominent Republican operatives that includes former officials from the Trump and George W. Bush administrations are launching a super PAC to turn out GOP voters for Joe Biden in November, organizers tell Axios.

Discussion: The Hill

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
New ad by anti-Trump GOP group uses clip of president's slow walk at West Point

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA, Raw Story, Vanity Fair and New York Times

Harrison Grimwood Tulsa / Tulsa World:

COVID-19: Spike in new cases continues Tuesday, as Oklahoma reports another new high … Tuesday marked the highest single-day total yet in new COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma. — That count came on the heels of successive days in which the deadly disease has far exceeded peaks in April …

Discussion: Raw Story, CNN and New York Times

Associated Press:

Beijing's new outbreak raises fears for rest of the world — BEIJING (AP) — China raised its emergency warning to its second highest level and canceled more than 60% of the flights to Beijing on Wednesday amid a new coronavirus outbreak in the capital — a sharp pullback for the nation …

Discussion: Associated Press

CNN:

Buffalo protester Martin Gugino has a fractured skull and cannot walk — (CNN)Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was pushed by two Buffalo, New York, police officers earlier this month, has a fractured skull and is not able to walk, his lawyer said in a statement provided to CNN on Monday.

Discussion: The Intercept and Gothamist

Grant Schulte / Associated Press:

Nebraska Democrats renounce their Senate pick over comments — OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Democratic Party called on its U.S. Senate nominee to drop out of the race Tuesday after he made sexually repugnant comments about a campaign staffer in a group text with her and other staffers.

Discussion: Nebraska Democratic Party, KEYT-TV, Raw Story, TheBlaze, National Review, IJR, The Daily Caller, The Hill and Washington Post

Josh Christenson / Washington Free Beacon:
Nebraska Dem Refuses to Bow Out of Senate Race Amid Sexual Harassment Scandal

Discussion: Omaha World-Herald and NBC News

Mark Joyella / Forbes:

Tucker Carlson Is Most-Watched Host In Cable News For Last Week — With an average total audience of four million viewers, Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson finished the week of June 8 through June 14 as the most-watched host in all of cable news, despite the decision by some advertisers …

Media Matters for America: Tucker Carlson assures his viewers they “are not crazy” for watching his show

Thomas L. Friedman / New York Times:

Is Trump Trying to Spread Covid-19? — Does he start each day wondering what expert advice to ignore next? — When the full record of the coronavirus in America is written, historians may argue that President Trump's biggest mistake was not what he failed to do in early 2020 …

USA Today:

Mark Zuckerberg: Historic Facebook campaign will boost voter registration, turnout and voices — The 2020 election is going to be unlike any other. It was already going to be a heated campaign, and that was before the pandemic — and before the killing of George Floyd and so many others forced us yet again …

Discussion: Vox, BuzzFeed News, Variety, About Facebook, CNBC, Washington Times, The Verge, WCDC-TV, Mashable, The Guardian and New York Post, more at Techmeme »

Wall Street Journal:

Justice Department to Propose Limiting Internet Firms' Protections — The action follows President Trump's executive order seeking to weaken broad immunity enjoyed by Facebook, Twitter and other platforms — WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is set to propose a roll back of legal protections …

more at Techmeme »

Addy Baird / BuzzFeed News:

A Woman And 15 Of Her Friends Have The Coronavirus After One Night Out — They had been “doing everything the right way,” the woman told a local news outlet. “And then the first night we go out, Murphy's Law, I guess.” — Copy … A Florida woman and 15 of her friends …

Discussion: WJXT-TV, Mashable and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Jonathan Lemire / Associated Press:

Lafayette Square could decide Trump's legacy — and election — NEW YORK (AP) — Charlottesville. Helsinki. The children in cages at the Mexican border. — And now Lafayette Square. — Only a few legacy-defining moments have clung to President Donald Trump, who often appears …

Arizona Republic:

‘I am taken aback’: Here's why Arizona's COVID-19 trajectory is concerning — From the perspective of Arizona emergency room physician Dr. Murtaza Akhter, the COVID-19 pandemic here could be even worse than the state's numbers are showing. — “I am taken aback.

DW.COM:

Berlin authorities placed children with pedophiles for 30 years — The ‘Kentler Project’ in West Berlin routinely placed homeless children with pedophile men, assuming they'd make ideal foster parents. A study has found the practice went on for decades. — Starting in the 1970s psychology …

Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal:

Pressure Builds on Trump Administration to Name PPP Borrowers — SBA faces demands from government auditors, media companies and Democratic and GOP lawmakers — WASHINGTON—Pressure is building on the Trump administration to disclose the names of borrowers that received loans through …

James Stout / Popular Mechanics:

How to Topple a Statue Using Science — It hasn't been a great past few weeks for statues. — to — , people all over the world have been grappling with the — legacy of racism — by tossing their grappling hooks around the heads of — problematic monuments

Discussion: Twitchy and Althouse

Gabby Orr / Politico:

Trump turns to establishment players to offset his renegade instincts — Nearly two years after boasting that his gut tells him “more sometimes than anybody else's brain,” President Donald Trump is ditching his go-it-alone approach — hoping the instincts and experiences of seasoned Republican players …

Discussion: Raw Story

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

‘We just need a win’: The left unites to take down Eliot Engel — Desperate for victory after watching the presidential nomination slip through their fingers, progressives have found a new cause to rally around. — Across the country, they're channeling their grief, volunteer muscle …

Discussion: American Prospect, Raw Story and The Intercept

Tamar Lapin / New York Post:

Ex-Bumble Bee CEO gets 3 years for tuna price-fixing scheme — Now he'll be the one spending time in the can. — The former CEO of Bumble Bee Foods on Tuesday was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to fix the price of canned tuna.

Christine Stapleton / Palm Beach Post:

Trump golf club asks Palm Beach County for rent relief — In a June 5 letter to the county, finance director of Trump International Golf Club cited the “significant impact” caused by county's order shutting parks and golf courses during the pandemic. — President Donald Trump's golf club …

Discussion: Politico and Raw Story

New York Post:

De Blasio, Cuomo are making children bear the worst of the lockdowns — Videos circulating on social media recently show New York City Parks employees welding shut a playground in the heart of Hasidic Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We have seen footage of the New York Police Department and NYC Parks …

Discussion: Gothamist and TheBlaze

Daniel J. Myers / The Atlantic:

Getting ‘Tough’ on Protests Is Counterproductive — As Americans have taken to the streets, protesting the killing of George Floyd, Donald Trump has repeatedly urged police to “dominate the streets,” pressing law-enforcement agencies and the military to act aggressively against the protesters.