memeorandum: White House grapples with reports of labor shortage, inflation as recovery picks up steam (Washington Post)

5:35 PM ET, May 5, 2021

Top Items:

The GOP is at a turning point. History is watching us. … Liz Cheney, a Republican, represents Wyoming's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House. — In public statements again this week, former president Donald Trump has repeated his claims that the 2020 election was a fraud and was stolen.

Discussion: NBC News, USA Today, The Hill, Bloomberg, Forbes, Breitbart, Raw Story, Associated Press, Townhall, America, America and Orange County Register

Politico:

Cheney isn't fighting McCarthy push to replace her in leadership — Liz Cheney is not fighting to hold onto her job as House GOP conference chair, even as top Republican leaders openly campaign to replace her in the No. 3 spot. — To the frustration of many fellow Republicans …

Discussion: The Hill, Donald J. Trump, CBS News, Washington Examiner, CNN, Tangle, IJR, Insider, Roll Call, Washington Post, The 19th, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, New Republic, Associated Press, Truth and Consequences, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA, Reuters and Salon

Burgess Everett / Politico:

Ernst defends fellow Republican leader Cheney — but calls for intra-GOP peace — INDEPENDENCE, Iowa — Sen. Joni Ernst doesn't agree with Liz Cheney's opposition to former President Donald Trump. The Iowa Republican still says her fellow GOP leader has the right to stand her ground.

Discussion: Fox News, National Review, The Hill, Washington Examiner, HotAir, Talking Points Memo and Townhall

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

The effort to dump Liz Cheney is the consequence of a party that lost its way — The growing effort to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from the third-ranking Republican leadership position in the House further accelerates her party's full capitulation to Donald Trump's big lie about the 2020 election.

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

How GOP rage at Liz Cheney makes a future stolen election more likely — Rep. Liz Cheney's fate appears sealed: Republicans are set to oust the Wyoming Republican as the No. 3 in the House GOP leadership, and will most likely replace her with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, whose loyalty to Donald Trump remains unquestioned.

Discussion: Insider, USA Today, Axios, Politico, Zandar Versus The Stupid, CNN, Forbes, IJR, Bloomberg, Patterico's Pontifications, Mediaite, The American Conservative, Michael-In-Norfolk and National Review

The Daily Beast:
Trump, GOP Leaders, and Even Liz Cheney Allies Say She Is a ‘Dead Woman Walking’

Discussion: OpenSecrets.org, The Hill, CNN and The Federalist

Brian Schwartz / CNBC:
Liz Cheney's top donors stand with her despite Republicans' push to oust her from House leadership

Discussion: USA Today, The American Independent, Fox News, Slate, VICE, The Hill, NPR, New York Times, Associated Press, POLITICUSUSA, NBC News and Washington Times

Allahpundit / HotAir:
Report: Trump, McCarthy, Scalise all back Elise Stefanik to replace Cheney in caucus leadership

Discussion: HuffPost, Washington Post, National Review, Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, Wall Street Journal and The National Interest

Eli Yokley / Morning Consult:
McConnell Is Rebounding With Republicans as He Looks ‘to the Future’

Discussion: The Hill, Townhall and Political Wire

Oversight Board:

Oversight Board upholds former President Trump's suspension, finds Facebook failed to impose proper penalty — The Board has upheld Facebook's decision on January 7, 2021, to restrict then-President Donald Trump's access to posting content on his Facebook page and Instagram account.

Charlie Warzel / Galaxy Brain:

Trump's New Blog Is a Trap — The only way to win is not to play … A Quick Thought on Facebook's Oversight Board Decision — This morning the Board delivered its long-awaited decision with this slippery, misleading headline: Oversight Board upholds former President Trump's suspension …

Discussion: Politico, CNBC, New York Times, Mediaite, POLITICUSUSA, Insider, HotAir and HuffPost

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Facebook Oversight Board Upholds Social Network's Ban of Trump — A company-appointed panel ruled that the ban was justified at the time but added that the company should reassess its action and make a final decision in six months. — SAN FRANCISCO — A Facebook-appointed panel of journalists …

Discussion: LGBTQ Nation, Insider, CBS News, Breaking News USA, IJR, Progressive Eruptions, Florida Politics, Occupy Democrats, Bloomberg, Breitbart, Talking Points Memo, Fox 8 Cleveland WJW, Althouse, ABC7 and The Daily Beast

New York Times:
Facebook Ban Hits Trump Where It Hurts: Messaging and Money

Discussion: Political Wire and Axios

Henry Farrell / Washington Post:
Facebook's Oversight Board upheld the ban on Trump, but it didn't like how Facebook banned him

Discussion: Politico, Fox News, The Verge, NPR, Atlantic Council, Louder With Crowder, IJR, CBS News and New Republic

Michael Kruse / Politico:
The Facebook Ban Hurt Trump in Surprising Ways

Discussion: Washington Examiner, The Guardian, Washington Post, The Western Journal and Wall Street Journal, more at Techmeme »

Washington Post:
Facebook's Oversight Board upheld the social network's decision to ban Trump

Discussion: Joe.My.God., Wall Street Journal, The Week, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, East Bay Times, The Root, The American Independent, USA Today, Snopes.com, NewsOne, KNWA FOX24, ABC7, WGN-TV, Variety, Associated Press and Jezebel, more at Mediagazer »

Annie Nova / CNBC:

Federal judge overturns national eviction ban — A federal judge struck down on Wednesday the national eviction moratorium, potentially leaving millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes. — Housing advocates have said that the national ban is necessary to stave off …

Discussion: The Hill, HotAir, The Root, New York Post, The Week and Raw Story

Cassidy Morrison / Washington Examiner:
Judge overturns federal pandemic eviction moratorium

Discussion: ABC News and The Federalist

Kyle Swenson / Washington Post:
Federal judge vacates CDC's nationwide eviction moratorium

Discussion: TheBlaze, Reuters, Los Angeles Blade and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Brittany Bernstein / National Review:
Federal Judge Tosses National Eviction Moratorium

Discussion: New York Times and Patterico's Pontifications

Doug Palmer / Politico:

Biden team says it supports waiving patent protections on Covid-19 vaccines — The United States said on Wednesday that it backs waiving valuable patent and other intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines to help expand production of the life-saving shots worldwide.

Discussion: HuffPost, NPR, Washington Examiner, CBS News, ABC News, CNN and National Review

CNBC:
U.S. backs waiving patent protections for Covid vaccines, citing global health crisis

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Insider, The Week, The Intellectualist, ABC7, UPI, Breitbart and Washington Times

New York Times:
The Biden administration says it will support lifting patent protections to help produce more vaccines globally.

Discussion: Bloomberg, NBC News, The Hill, CNN, Gizmodo, Forbes and Political Wire

Brad Stone / Bloomberg:

The Untold Story of How Jeff Bezos Beat the Tabloids — When a gossip rag went after the CEO, he retaliated with the brutal, brilliant efficiency he used to build his business empire. In an exclusive excerpt from the new book Amazon Unbound comes an unrivaled tale of money, sex, and power.

more at Mediagazer »

Jessica M. Goldstein / Washingtonian:

The Awkward Feeling of Rooting for the White House Press Secretary — Half of America is smitten with Jen Psaki, while a swath of the White House press corps sounds quite taken with how polite she is. — In her first three months on the job, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has yet …

Discussion: Mediaite

Tia Mitchell / Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

AJC Poll: Georgians narrowly back Biden, but state remains polarized on many issues — EXCLUSIVE — Six months after the 2020 elections, a new poll suggests Georgians like the way President Joe Biden is responding to the coronavirus pandemic, but they are more divided on his economic proposals …

Discussion: Breitbart and The Hill

Paul Steinhauser / Fox News:
Majority of Georgians oppose moving of MLB All-Star Game from state: poll

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

Neal Rothschild / Axios:

Trump's spell over the media broke once he lost his megaphones — Social media interactions about former President Trump have fallen 91% since January, according to exclusive data from NewsWhip. — Why it matters: When Trump lost his social media accounts, he lost his once-immense power …

Discussion: Mock Paper Scissors, more at Mediagazer »

Wall Street Journal:

Peloton Recalls All Treadmills as CEO Apologizes — Home-fitness company now offering customers refunds, halts sales of Tread+ machine — Peloton Interactive Inc. has agreed to recall its treadmills, and its chief executive apologized for the company's initial refusal to comply …

Discussion: CBS News, New York Post and TMZ.com

Lauren Thomas / CNBC:
Peloton recalling all treadmills after reports of injuries, one death

Discussion: U.S. Consumer Product …, Gizmodo, CBS Chicago, KTVX-TV, CBS Philly, ABC News, Forbes, Jezebel, Fox 8 Cleveland WJW, FOX40, AppleInsider, CBS San Francisco and UPI

Jonathan Blitzer / New Yorker:

A Mother, Separated from Her Children at the Border, Comes Home — The Biden Administration has begun a massive effort to reunite more than a thousand families torn apart by Trump. — For the past two years, Keldy Mabel Gonzáles Brebe de Zúniga kept a daily ritual.

Seth Borenstein / Associated Press:

Nature at its craziest: Trillions of cicadas about to emerge — COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — Sifting through a shovel load of dirt in a suburban backyard, Michael Raupp and Paula Shrewsbury find their quarry: a cicada nymph. — And then another. And another. And four more.

Discussion: Al Jazeera, The Daily Caller and Fox 8 Cleveland WJW

Albert Hunt / The Hill:

What's really going on down in Georgia — Share to Facebook Share to Twitter — Georgia's Republican state legislature — after an election fueled by a huge Black turnout that helped elect a Democratic president and two Democratic U.S. Senators for the first time in a quarter century …

Discussion: MinnPost and Digby's Hullabaloo

Signal Blog:

The Instagram ads Facebook won't show you — Companies like Facebook aren't building technology for you, they're building technology for your data. They collect everything they can from FB, Instagram, and WhatsApp in order to sell visibility into people and their lives.

Discussion: Gizmodo, Washington Post, MacRumors, The Indian Express and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »

Alix Culbertson / Sky News:

UK to send two Royal Navy ships to Jersey after France threatens blockade of island port — France has threatened to cut off Jersey's electricity as it says fishing licences are being granted with conditions not agreed. — Created with Sketch. — The UK is sending two Royal Navy ships to Jersey …

Discussion: BBC, Bloomberg, Politico and Mercury News

Alec MacGillis / ProPublica:

Kushner Companies Violated Multiple Laws in Massive Tenant Dispute, Judge Rules — Judge finds Kushner-owned management company charged “deceptive” fees to thousands of tenants, in lawsuit filed after ProPublica found widespread problems in their apartments.

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

There's an Extremely Stupid Reason Congress Doesn't Want a Good IRS — Yesterday, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen noted that, in this decade, uncollected federal taxes will amount to roughly $7 trillion. Former IRS commissioners Fred Goldberg and Charles Rossotti have calculated that …

Washington Post:

White House grapples with reports of labor shortage, inflation as recovery picks up steam — Biden administration officials are hearing from a range of voices about economic pressures — Senior Biden economic officials have in recent weeks been peppered by complaints from restaurant groups …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Insider

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:

Strongmen who got cozy with Trump get the cold shoulder from Biden — The Biden administration has zinged Russia and China over human rights and alleged thuggery against their neighbors, cut off some arms sales to Saudi Arabia, and stiff-armed Turkey's increasingly authoritarian leader.

Discussion: Washington Examiner and National Review

Larry McShane / New York Daily News:

Please buy this newspaper: A Daily News reporter begs a local owner to rescue the tabloid from Alden Global Capital — Like any good tabloid headline, it's simple, snappy and succinct: DAILY NEWS NEEDS NEW OWNER. — And not just any owner: a New York owner, someone who knows the city …

Discussion: CNN and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »