memeorandum: 200 Companies Speak Out Against Election Reform Efforts, Including PayPal, Dow, HP, Microsoft, Uber, Under Armour (IMN/Breaking911)

5:20 PM ET, April 5, 2021

Top Items:

Katie Hill / Vanity Fair:

Matt Gaetz Defended Me When My Nudes Were Shared Without My Consent. Now He's Accused of Doing Just That — Matt and I forged an unlikely friendship in Congress, and he was one of the few colleagues who spoke out after a malicious nude-photo leak upended my life.

Discussion: Insider, The Hill, Washington Post, Raw Story, Washingtonian, CNN, The Week and The Daily Beast

Rep. Matt Gaetz / Washington Examiner:

The swamp is out to drown me with false charges, but I'm not giving up — Washington scandal cycles are predictable, and sex is especially potent in politics. Let me first remind everyone that I am a representative in Congress, not a monk, and certainly not a criminal.

Discussion: NBC News, USA Today, The Hill, Insider, IJR, Law & Crime, New York Post, Talking Points Memo, The Intellectualist, Page Array, The Week, Florida Politics, Mediaite, Raw Story, Political Wire and The New Civil Rights Movement

New York Times:
A former aide said the F.B.I. questioned him in its inquiry into Matt Gaetz.

Discussion: The Hill, Northwest Florida Daily News, Washington Examiner, CNBC, Fox News, New York Post, Washington Times and Political Wire

Reuters:

Half of Republicans believe false accounts of deadly U.S. Capitol riot: Reuters/Ipsos poll — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event …

Discussion: Mediaite, Vanity Fair, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo, Forbes, POLITICUSUSA, Washington Examiner, Daily Kos, Mock Paper Scissors, Insider, Crooks and Liars, Bulwark+ and Political Wire

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

The eruption of fake GOP outrage at MLB is actually very clarifying — Opinion by — Here's a juxtaposition that neatly captures the state of today's GOP: Republican lawmakers are telling their voters to get angry at corporations that express support for the voting rights of African Americans …

Discussion: Salon, Bloomberg, Eater, Talking Points Memo and The Root

Jess Bravin / Wall Street Journal:

Supreme Court Dismisses Case on Trump Blocking Twitter Followers as Moot — Plaintiffs lawyer applauds precedent of lower-court ruling against ex-president; Justice Thomas criticizes Twitter's permanent ban of Trump after Jan. 6 — WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court Monday dismissed a lawsuit …

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Google wins big in Supreme Court clash with Oracle — The dispute was called the “copyright case of the century.” — Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. — Shwan Thew/EPA via Shutterstock — In the multi-billion Supreme Court clash between two titans of tech, Google emerged as the victor on Monday.

Discussion: Law & Crime, New York Post, Mercury News, Associated Press, Washington Post, Politico, 9to5Google, SCOTUSblog, Bloomberg, Deadline, Washington Examiner, The Verge, USA Today, CBS News and UPI, more at Techmeme »

Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:
Supreme Court Rejects Alex Jones's Bid to Overturn Sanctions for Rant Threatening Sandy Hook Families' Lawyer on His Show

Discussion: The Hill, Associated Press and Raw Story

Nicholas Rowan / Washington Examiner:
Supreme Court dismisses case challenging Trump Twitter blocks

Discussion: Associated Press, The Federalist, USA Today, Politico, Louder With Crowder, Reason, Florida Politics, Fox News, NBC News and Washington Post, more at Techmeme »

Tucker Higgins / CNBC:
Supreme Court erases ruling against Trump over his Twitter account

Discussion: CBS News, Outside the Beltway, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera and UPI

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
The Supreme Court vacates ruling that Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking people on Twitter.

Discussion: NPR, Amy Howe, Variety, The Federalist, New York Post, Slate, Associated Press, Forbes, Insider, Deadline, The Wrap, CNN and Washington Times, more at Mediagazer »

Adam Liptak / New York Times:
An Extraordinary Winning Streak for Religion at the Supreme Court

Discussion: National Review, Friendly Atheist, Eschaton and New York Times

National Review:

60 Minutes' Dishonest DeSantis Hit Job — CBS tried to manufacture a Ron DeSantis scandal where none exists. It failed miserably. — There is no more accurate way of describing last night's 60 Minutes segment on Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida than as a political hit job.

Discussion: The Daily Wire, Washington Examiner, RedState, Fox News, Louder With Crowder, OutKick, USA Today, TheBlaze, Crooks and Liars, HuffPost, Townhall, The Hill and Insider

HotAir:
“60 Minutes Should Be Ashamed”: Dem Palm Beach County Mayor Says CBS Smeared Ron DeSantis With Publix Segment

Discussion: National Review, Mediaite, The Federalist, wtsp.com, Townhall, Breitbart, The Daily Caller and Fox News

Sharyn Alfonsi / CBS News:
How the wealthy cut the line during Florida's frenzied vaccine rollout

Discussion: RedState, Tampa Bay Times, The Federalist, Washington Examiner, Fox News, American Thinker, Axios, HotAir, The Week, The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Reason, Raw Story, The Root, Orlando Weekly and IJR

republicanleader.senate.gov:

McConnell: Corporations Shouldn't Fall for Absurd Disinformation on Voting Laws — 'There is no consistent or factual standard being applied here. It's just a fake narrative gaining speed by its own momentum... Businesses must not use economic blackmail to spread disinformation and push bad ideas …

Discussion: Washington Post, National Review, The Daily Caller, IJR, Breitbart, Insider, One America News Network, HotAir, Axios, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Mock Paper Scissors and Townhall

Lisa Mascaro / Associated Press:
After new law, McConnell warns CEOs: ‘Stay out of politics’

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and The Daily Caller

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

Republicans Love Infrastructure, Unless It's Paid For, or Not Paid For — Republican Senators say they would love to pass a big infrastructure bill. They are publicly begging Joe Biden to stop his partisan strategy and sit down with them to negotiate a bill both parties can support.

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, Breitbart, Washington Times, HotAir, POLITICUSUSA and The American Independent

Andrea Shalal / Reuters:
Biden says no evidence higher corporate taxes will drive companies abroad

Discussion: CNBC and The Daily Caller

Paul Waldman / Washington Post:
GOP claims about ‘real infrastructure’ are silly. Why are media playing along?

Discussion: Insider, Simple Justice and Raw Story

Jim Geraghty / National Review:

Why Is Major League Baseball Expected to Boycott Georgia, While Other Businesses Aren't? — This Thursday, the PGA Tour and Masters Tournament will begin in Augusta, Ga., despite the National Black Justice Coalition calling upon the PGA Tour and Masters Tournament to pull the upcoming event …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Power Line, The Federalist, The Athletic and HotAir

Quint Forgey / Politico:
Texas governor rejects first-pitch invite over MLB's All-Star snub

Discussion: CBS News, Fox News, The Hill, Mediaite, OutKick, IJR, TheBlaze, New York Post, Houston Public Media, TMZ.com and The Texas Tribune

U.S. Senator for Florida, Marco Rubio:
Rubio Asks MLB Commissioner if He'll Give Up Augusta Golf Membership

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Two Dem senators balk at Biden's new spending plan — Joe Manchin wants his party's leaders and President Joe Biden to make significant changes to their sweeping new tax-and-spend legislation — and he's got other Democratic senators with him. — The West Virginia Democrat is readying …

Discussion: Washington Examiner and Washington Free Beacon

Zachary Evans / National Review:
Manchin Comes Out against Biden Infrastructure Bill

Discussion: New York Post, TheBlaze, The Daily Caller and The Week

Bloomberg:
Manchin Balks at Biden's Corporate Tax Increase, Favors 25% Rate

Discussion: Politico, The Hill, Forbes, Townhall and IJR

Arkansas Online:

Governor vetoes transgender bill, calls measure a ‘product of the cultural war’ — Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Monday afternoon he vetoed a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth. — Hutchinson, a Republican, said he believed House Bill 1570 interfered with the relationship between doctors and patients.

Discussion: CNN, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, The Gateway Pundit, The 19th and ABC News

Samantha Schmidt / Washington Post:
Arkansas governor vetoes bill banning medical treatments for transgender youths

Discussion: NBC News, New York Times, Associated Press, Politico, The Guardian, National Review, Insider and Raw Story

Orion Rummler / Axios:
Arkansas Gov. vetoes bill banning gender-affirming care for trans kids, calling it “extreme”

Discussion: The Hill, Daily Kos and ArkansasTimes

New York Times:

White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort — Millions of white evangelical adults in the U.S. do not intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19. Tenets of faith and mistrust of science play a role; so does politics. — Stephanie Nana, an evangelical Christian in Edmond …

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and TheBlaze

Washington Post:

A QAnon revelation suggests the truth of Q's identity was right there all along — The extremist movement's leader had purported to be a top-secret government operative. But a possible slip-up in a new documentary about QAnon suggests that Q was actually Ron Watkins, the longtime administrator of the 8kun message board.

Discussion: Raw Story and Althouse

Wall Street Journal:

The New Shortage: Ketchup Can't Catch Up — The pandemic turned restaurants into takeout specialists, boosting demand for the condiment; ‘Everyone out there is grabbing for ketchup’ — Supply chain problems are reaching into a far corner of the business universe: Ketchup packets.

The New York Times Company:

Frank Bruni Stepping Down as Columnist; Named Endowed Chair at Duke University — Frank is joining Duke University as an endowed chair in journalism in June. He will no longer be a columnist but will continue to write his newsletter and will remain a contributing Opinion writer.

Discussion: The Hill

Brian Slodysko / Associated Press:

Corporations gave over $50M to voting restriction backers — WASHINGTON (AP) — When executives from Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines spoke out against Georgia's new voting law as unduly restrictive last week, it seemed to signal a new activism springing from corporate America.

Discussion: The Root, Common Dreams and Daily Kos

David Gelles / New York Times:
Inside Corporate America's Frantic Response to the Georgia Voting Law

Discussion: New Republic, Vanity Fair, IJR, Commentary Magazine and Deadline

Ryan Mills / National Review:

Small-Time Landlords Struggle to Keep the Lights on as ‘Devastating’ Eviction Moratorium Continues — Stephanie Graves had a decision to make: buy new signage so she could open the pool at one of her apartment complexes, or pay the electric bill. She couldn't afford both. — Ultimately, it wasn't a hard decision.

Discussion: HotAir and One America News Network

Judd Legum / Popular Information:

Facebook pledged to suspend political donations, then quietly funneled $50,000 to GOP group pushing voter suppression laws — On January 11, Facebook announced that “following last week's awful violence” it was suspending donations from its political committee “for at least the current quarter, while we review our policies.”

Discussion: Raw Story and Media Matters for America, more at Techmeme »

Nick Paton Walsh / CNN:

Satellite images show huge Russian military buildup in the Arctic — (CNN)Russia is amassing unprecedented military might in the Arctic and testing its newest weapons in a region freshly ice-free due to the climate emergency, in a bid to secure its northern coast and open up a key shipping route from Asia to Europe.

Discussion: New York Post and The National Interest

Newsweek:

McDonald's, Other CEOs Tell Investors $15 Minimum Wage Won't Hurt Business — Big restaurant chains are telling investors that a national minimum wage hike wouldn't be a big deal—even as their corporate lobbying groups in Washington fight plans for a $15 minimum wage.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Philly may have just revolutionized evictions | Editorial — Philadelphia is on the verge of upending evictions as we know them.Last Wednesday, the Municipal Court of Philadelphia, which houses landlord-tenant court, released a new order following the extension of the CDC's nationwide eviction moratorium through June.