memeorandum: The Memo: The Obamas unbound, on race (Niall Stanage/The Hill)

3:00 PM ET, May 9, 2021

Top Items:

Melinda Gates Was Meeting With Divorce Lawyers Since 2019 to End Marriage With Bill Gates — Melinda Gates had discussions with divorce lawyers in October 2019 around when Bill Gates's ties to Jeffrey Epstein became public — The split between Bill and Melinda Gates, announced last week, has been in the works for a long time.

Discussion: New York Post and LifeZette

Mychael Schnell / The Hill:

Kinzinger compares Republican Party to the Titanic — Share to Facebook Share to Twitter — GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) on Sunday compared the Republican Party to the Titanic amid an internal battle surrounding Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and the push to oust her from her GOP leadership position.

Discussion: Insider, Occupy Democrats, IJR, The Daily Caller and LifeZette

Cameron Cawthorne / Fox News:

Rep. Jim Banks: Liz Cheney ‘failed’ in House GOP leadership role — Banks says Republicans are unified to oppose Biden's ‘radical’ agenda — Republicans are unified in mission to oppose ‘radical’ Biden agenda: Rep. Banks — Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., on Sunday said that Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming has …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Daily Beast, New York Post, The Moderate Voice, The Hill, Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell safe in power, despite Trump's wrath

Discussion: CBS News, USA Today, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo, Political Irony, CNN, POLITICUSUSA, NBC News and Raw Story

Sandra Tan / Buffalo News:

Free beer offer results in more vaccinations than all Erie County first-dose clinics last week — The idea of getting vaccinated had been rolling around in the back of Tyler Morsch's mind for weeks. As a 28-year-old, he didn't feel in any particular danger, but he finally decided …

Discussion: Balloon Juice

Dana Goldstein / New York Times:

Schools Are Open, but Many Families Remain Hesitant to Return — Even as fears of the coronavirus abate, many students are continuing to opt out of in-person learning. Some school leaders are trying to woo — or push — them back. — Pauline Rojas's high school in San Antonio is open.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and Twitchy

Stef W. Kight / Axios:

The next political battleground: school boards — The debate over coronavirus precautions and school reopening has fueled a surge of new candidates for school boards across the country. — Why it matters: What was traditionally a nonpartisan, hyper-local role is now at center of a swirling national political debate.

E.J. Dionne / Washington Post:

Tory lessons for Republicans — Opinion by — Local and regional election results across Britain last week hold lessons for American politicians. Not least is this: A Trumpist Republican Party that had taken the coronavirus pandemic more seriously and had delivered tangible benefits …

Discussion: BBC

Emilio Casalicchio / Politico:
UK Labour descends into civil war after dismal election results

Discussion: The Guardian, The Nation, Talking Points Memo, LabourList and Political Wire

Tony Romm / Washington Post:

GOP governors slash jobless aid to try to force more Americans to return to work — Arkansas, Montana and South Carolina have acted in recent days to end extra $300 weekly payments to unemployed Americans, even as the Biden administration maintains generous benefits are not deterring people from seeking work

Discussion: CBS News, No More Mister Nice Blog, Insider, Lawyers, Guns & Money, BizPac Review and Zandar Versus The Stupid

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

Larry Krasner deserves a second term as Philly district attorney | Endorsement — The Democratic primary for Philadelphia district attorney has been drawing national attention, and understandably so. Aside from its colorful main characters — an incumbent DA who's a national icon in progressive circles …

Will Bunch / The Philadelphia Inquirer: Police robbed these Black men of their lives, too, but we're not talking about this

Jesse Naranjo / Politico:

Fauci predicts ‘dramatic difference’ in pandemic outlook if more are vaccinated — Top Biden health adviser Anthony Fauci on Sunday predicted that the country's coronavirus situation will be dramatically different a year from now if larger proportions of the population are vaccinated.

Discussion: CNN and National Review

Davone Morales / ABC News:
Vaccinations are the ‘end game’ to the COVID-19 crisis in India: Fauci

Discussion: The Hill and Fox News

Jesus Jiménez / New York Times:

2 Oklahoma Boys Pulled From Class for ‘Black Lives Matter’ T-Shirts — In addition to the disciplinary action they have faced, the boys' mother said that at least one of her three sons has been bullied because of the shirts. — Two brothers, 8 and 5, were removed from their Oklahoma …

Discussion: The Hill

Associated Press:

Former Delaware Governor Pierre ‘Pete’ Du Pont IV Dies — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (The Associated Press) — Wilmington, Del. (AP) — Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV, a former Delaware governor and congressman who sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 86.

Discussion: The Hill, New York Times and USA Today

Niall Stanage / The Hill:

The Memo: The Obamas unbound, on race — Share to Facebook Share to Twitter — Former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama are more willing than ever to speak frankly about race. — At one time, political risk — and a guaranteed storm of criticism …

Amity Shlaes / The Hill:

Biden as the new FDR: It's the same old bad deal for jobs — Share to Facebook Share to Twitter — President Biden doesn't want merely to showcase Franklin Roosevelt. He wants to replicate him. As President Roosevelt once did with the New Deal, Biden intends to spend to spur growth …

Washington Post:

As convention ends, Virginia Republicans wait for governor nominee to emerge — Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly labeled a list of candidates running for the Republican nomination for attorney general of Virginia as lieutenant governor candidates. The article has been corrected.

Discussion: Blue Virginia

Graham Moomaw / Virginia Mercury: ‘Tired of getting whupped’: GOP convention voters offer competing visions for a red Virginia

Ted Cruz / Wall Street Journal:

Your Woke Money Is No Good Here — Corporations have taken advantage of Republicans for too long. I won't take their PAC dollars anymore. — Georgia's new election law runs 98 generously spaced pages. A fast reader can get through it in one sitting. If you're the CEO of a major corporation …

Discussion: New York Magazine

Christina Zhao / MSN:

Birthing People's Day? Cori Bush Debate Rages Into Mother's Day Weekend — An online debate sparked by Missouri Democratic Congresswoman Cori Bush calling women “birthing people” has raged on into Mother's Day weekend. — On Thursday, Bush drew praise and criticism after she used the term …

Discussion: Raw Story and Crooks and Liars

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:

Democrats renew effort to get Donald Trump's financial records — House committee is arguing to federal judge that with Trump out of office, he no longer has a viable claim to withhold materials — A powerful Democrat-led House committee is pushing a federal judge to order Donald Trump …

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

South Carolina may bring back electric chair, once used to execute a 14-year-old boy later exonerated — Barely 5 feet tall and not yet 100 pounds, George Stinney Jr. sat so small in the electric chair that the straps were too big to contain him. — The 14-year-old had to sit on books for his head to reach the headpiece.

Chip Somodevilla / ABC News:

‘This Week’ Transcript 5-9-21: Dr. Anthony Fauci, Fatima Goss Graves, Diane Swonk & Lareina Yee — This is a rush transcript of “This Week” airing Sunday, May 9. — Vaccinations are ‘end game’ to COVID-19 crisis in India: Fauci … ANNOUNCER: “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” starts right now.

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Examiner, HotAir and Fox News

Emily Peck / New York Times:

How Child Care Went From ‘Girly’ Economics to Infrastructure — Experts who sounded the alarm about the care economy were often shunted to the side of policy discussions. Not anymore. — When the economist Nancy Folbre got a call from the MacArthur Foundation in 1998, she was expecting rejection …

Jonathan Turley / The Hill:

Free Speech Inc.: The Democratic Party finds a new but shaky faith in corporate free speech — Share to Facebook Share to Twitter — After Facebook's oversight board this week upheld the social media giant's continuing ban of former President Trump, the response of Rep. Ilhan Omar …

Discussion: Fox News

Ido Efrati / Haaretz:

Israel's Active COVID Cases Fall Below 1,000 for the First Time in Over a Year — On Saturday only 17 new coronavirus cases were identified - a tiny 0.2 percent out of 11,500 tests administered that day — The number of people with coronavirus infection in Israel dipped to 985 on Sunday - the lowest it's been in 14 months.