memeorandum: President Biden Announces Key Administration Nominations in National Security (The White House)

6:00 PM ET, April 23, 2021

Top Items:

Steven Perlberg / Insider:

The New York Times is readying a big newsletter push as Substack tries to poach its top writers with advances worth hundreds of thousands — The New York Times is readying a newsletter push as Substack comes after top journalists. — Substack offered opinion writer Liz Bruenig a $200,000 advance, double her Times salary.

Discussion: Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Will Oremus / Slate:

What Substack Is Really Doing to the Media — This week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg granted a rare, live, hourlong interview to a tech journalist, where he revealed the company's plans for a slew of new audio products. Normally, such a scoopy, wide-ranging interview would be a coup for the media company that landed it.

Discussion: Techonomy and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »

Axios:

Scoop: Caitlyn Jenner makes it official for California governor — Former Olympic decathlete and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner has filed her initial paperwork to run for governor of California and will officially announce her bid later today, her campaign tells Axios.

Mike Levine / ABC News:

After Chauvin's conviction for Floyd murder, DOJ weighs charging him for 2017 incident involving Black teen: Source — The judge in Chauvin's murder trial didn't let lawyers bring up the incident. — DOJ reportedly looking into 2017 incident between Chauvin and Black teen

Discussion: Fox News, Joe.My.God., Insider, TheGrio, The Intellectualist and Raw Story

Robert A. George / Bloomberg:

Police Reformers Need to Pick Their Battles — The conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd owes a lot to social media, which brought before millions of eyes the mobile-phone footage of a brave Black teenager named Darnella Frazier.

Discussion: Townhall, Washington Examiner and Washington Post

Lou Raguse / KARE-TV:
'I wish it didn't have to happen': Alternate juror reflects on Derek Chauvin trial

Discussion: The Federalist, Page Array, Breitbart, New York Times, BizPac Review, TheBlaze, Washington Examiner, Twitchy, Summit News, Townhall and The Daily Caller

Jonathan VanBoskerck / Orlando Sentinel:

I love Disney World, but wokeness is ruining the experience | Commentary — My family and I have been loyal Disney customers for decades. We vacation at Disney World every year. We take a Disney cruise every year or two. Consequently, we spend way too much money in Orlando.

Discussion: Mediaite, Deadline, Raw Story and Gothamist

New York Times:

A C.D.C. panel recommends J.&J. shots restart with a label noting the risk of very rare blood clots. — A panel of advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday voted to recommend lifting the pause on the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine for all adults and adding …

Discussion: The Guardian, Fox News, Just The News, The Verge and NPR

Helen Branswell / STAT:
CDC advisory panel backs J&J's Covid-19 vaccine, clearing way for pause to be lifted

Discussion: The Hill, ABC17NEWS, WISH-TV, KHON2 and WHDH-TV

Politico:
White House writes off Johnson & Johnson vaccine after string of production failures

Discussion: Axios, Washington Examiner, Townhall, HotAir and New York Times

CNN:
US has more than 9 million Johnson & Johnson doses ready to go if pause lifts

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, New York Post, Mercury News, Talking Points Memo, ABC17NEWS and UPI

Andrew Solender / Forbes:

GOP Sen. Ron Jonhson Criticizes ‘Big Push’ To Get Everyone Vaccinated — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) on Thursday questioned the “big push” to ensure everyone is vaccinated against coronavirus, putting him at odds with many of his Senate Republican colleagues who have attempted to close the partisan gap in vaccination rates.

Discussion: NBC News, New York Magazine, Washington Post, Mediaite, The Week, HotAir, Daily Kos, Vanity Fair, Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, Raw Story, Joe.My.God., Insider, Hackwhackers, WisPolitics.com and The Intellectualist

Cassidy Morrison / Washington Examiner:
Ron Johnson ‘highly suspicious’ of federal vaccination push

Discussion: ABC News, HuffPost, CNN, The Hill, Associated Press and IJR

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Democrat Joe Manchin says there's one GOP senator he'd endorse ‘in a heartbeat’ — Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin bucked his own party's political operation in 2020 by endorsing a Republican. Now, he's doing it again. — The West Virginia senator is backing Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski's reelection bid …

Discussion: CNN, Forbes, IJR, Must Read Alaska, Breitbart, The Hill, The Daily Caller, Washington Post, CBS News, HotAir and Talking Points Memo

Billy House / Bloomberg:
Manchin Urges Focus on ‘Conventional’ Infrastructure

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart and Political Wire

NBC News:
Republicans say Newsom recall is all about the virus. That's not how it started

Discussion: Reason

Tom LoBianco / Insider:

Donald Trump plots temporary move from Mar-a-Lago north to New Jersey — The Trump National Golf Club Bedminster will serve as the former president's summer base. — Expect New Jersey to become the new center of Republican politics for a few months. — Trump will gain easy access …

Discussion: Raw Story, Breitbart, Joe.My.God., Mediaite, Balloon Juice and The Daily Beast

CNN:

Gaetz probe includes scrutiny of potential public corruption tied to medical marijuana industry — Women detail late-night parties with Gaetz — (CNN)Federal authorities are looking into whether a 2018 trip to the Bahamas involving Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz and several young women …

Discussion: Insider, Forbes, Raw Story and Joe.My.God.

Rana Ayyub / TIME:

‘This Is Hell.’ Prime Minister Modi's Failure to Lead Is Deepening India's COVID-19 Crisis — Ayyub is an Indian journalist and the author of Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up — Dr. Jalil Parkar, one of India's leading pulmonologists, wears his exhaustion on his face.

Discussion: BBC, NDTV.com, The National Interest, HotAir, The Guardian and The Daily Beast

Hans Nichols / Axios:

Biden will unveil eye-popping new tax rates for wealthiest Americans — Officials haven't made clear whether the rate would apply in 2021 or 2022.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal and Media Matters for America

U.S. Department of Justice:

Florida Family Indicted for Selling Toxic Bleach as Fake “Miracle” Cure for Covid-19 and Other Serious Diseases, and for Violating Court Orders — Defendants Accused of Attempting to Avoid Government Regulation by Selling Products Through a Company They Deceptively Named “Genesis II Church of Health and Healing”

Discussion: The Daily Caller

Jacqueline Alemany / Washington Post:

Power Up: Biden scores record high approval rating among young voters, according to new poll — It's Friday. We made it. It's still National Park Week - hope everyone can get a little fresh air this weekend. This is the Power Up newsletter; thanks for waking up with us. See you on Monday.

Discussion: Opinion Today, The Hill and POLITICUSUSA

Harvard University:
Youth Poll — A national poll of America's 18-to-29 year olds released today by the Institute …

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, The American Independent, Raw Story and NPR

The White House:

President Biden Announces Key Administration Nominations in National Security … WASHINGTON - Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve in key national security positions in his Administration. — Brenda Sue Fulton …

The Times of Israel:

Dozens hurt, arrested in Old City clash as extremist Jews chant ‘Death to Arabs’ — Arab counter-protesters also skirmish with police trying to keep groups apart; 105 Palestinians, 20 officers injured as cops use water cannons, stun grenades against rock throwers — 1,840 shares

Discussion: BBC, Al Jazeera, New York Times, ABC17NEWS, The Daily Caller, The Globe Post and Haaretz

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

Tim Scott often talks about his grandfather and cotton. There's more to that tale. — My grandfather “suffered the indignity of being forced out of school as a third-grader to pick cotton, and never learned to read or write. ... Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.”

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Free Beacon, The Hill, TheBlaze, Fox News, RedState, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Federalist, Townhall, Axios, Twitchy and NPR

Brad Schrade / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Businesswoman image key to Marjorie Taylor Greene's rise — Marjorie Taylor Greene relentlessly repeated her central argument: Democrats were destroying the country, and she was ready to fight them.In stump speeches and on social media posts, in television ads and on campaign signs …

Discussion: Raw Story and Political Wire

Bloomberg:

Rich Americans Face Biden Tax Hike With Anger, Denial and Grief — Investors irked by plan for capital gains tax of up to 43.4% — The proposal strikes at the heart of widening U.S. wealth gap — Charles Myers was sitting in a first-class seat on a flight from New York to Dallas when his phone started blowing up Thursday.

Discussion: Issues, Insider, CNBC, One America News Network and Reuters

Rosalind Helderman / Washington Post:

Arizona judge orders pause in Republican-backed recount of ballots cast in Maricopa County last fall — A judge in Arizona Friday ordered a temporary pause in an extensive effort to recount ballots from the November election hours after the process began, citing concerns about whether …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit and Twitchy

New York Times:

U.K. Far Right, Lifted by Trump, Now Turns to Russia — The anti-Islam agitator Tommy Robinson struck gold in America. Keeping it might require help from Moscow, where other British far-right activists are also finding friends. — LONDON — Two days after supporters …

Adam Klasfeld / Law & Crime:

Oath Keeper's Chilling Exchange About Nancy Pelosi Keeps Him Behind Bars in Capitol Siege Case — An Oath Keepers leader's chilling correspondence with another person who allegedly fantasized about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's “head rolling down the front steps” persuaded a federal judge …

Washington Post:

Ted Cruz maintains ties to right-wing group despite its extremist messaging — On Aug. 4, 2019, the day after a gunman who had posted a hateful diatribe against Hispanics fatally shot 23 people at an El Paso Walmart, a leader of a tea party group in Texas said on Facebook …

Discussion: Raw Story, The Guardian and Political Wire

Politico:

It's been exactly one year since Trump suggested injecting bleach. We've never been the same. — One year ago today, President Donald Trump took to the White House briefing room and encouraged his top health officials to study the injection of bleach into the human body as a means of fighting Covid.

Discussion: Raw Story, Joe.My.God. and Mediaite

Bobby Burack / OutKick:

Tucker Carlson Goes One-on-One With OutKick — Tucker Carlson sat down, one on one with OutKick for a deep conversation about the problems that face our country. We got into what we are told to believe, the lies we hear, and who we are as a country. We also discuss the media's role and their fear of the word “why.”

Discussion: The Daily Caller and Twitchy

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Jolt: Herschel Walker rumors blocking top Republicans in Senate race — The former Bulldog great Herschel Walker is still making noise about a U.S. Senate bid, floating the possibility of a campaign against Democrat Raphael Warnock to a growing number of media outlets while refusing …

Discussion: TheGrio, Daily Kos, Media Matters for America, Lawyers, Guns & Money, thedispatch.com and CNN

Anita Kumar / Politico:

The border turned out to be a better attack on Biden than even Republicans thought — When Donald Trump took his final trip as president to the southwest border in January, the publicly stated purpose was to tout his record. Privately, however, his Republican allies had hatched a plan …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Townhall, Daily Kos, Foreign Policy, The Sun, DCReport.org, American Thinker, allsides.com, Raw Story, Roll Call, Crooks and Liars, Advancing American Freedom, The Wrap and FiveThirtyEight

Washington Post:

Senate committee to take up Biden judicial nominees in preview of potential Supreme Court fight — The Senate Judiciary Committee will take its first look next week at President Biden's initial batch of judicial nominees in what could serve as a preview of the next battle over the Supreme Court …

Discussion: POLITICUSUSA and The Hill

Rich Mendez / CNBC:

MIT researchers say you're no safer from Covid indoors at 6 feet or 60 feet in new study challenging social distancing policies — An MIT study showed that people who maintain 60 feet of distance from others indoors are no more protected than if they socially distanced by just 6 feet.

Pete Williams / NBC News:

Justice Dept. now expects to charge more than 500 in Capitol riot probe … The Justice Department has notified federal judges in Washington that it expects to charge more than 500 people with taking part in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. — “Over 400 individuals have been charged …

Discussion: Joe.My.God.

Brian Contreras / Los Angeles Times:

How Trump's zombie Facebook page became a weird internet memorial — At first glance, Donald Trump's Facebook page seems like it's been dead for months. — The former president's last post is dated 3:14 p.m. Jan. 6, 2021, the afternoon of the Capitol riots, as he called for “everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful.”