memeorandum: Beneath Joe Biden's Folksy Demeanor, a Short Fuse and an Obsession With Details (New York Times)

3:50 PM ET, May 14, 2021

Top Items:

A cop's anger at GOP lies about Jan. 6 should put Republicans on the defensive — Opinion by — As the despicable GOP whitewashing of the Jan. 6 insurrection continues apace, House Democrats are set to force a vote on the creation of a commission to examine the assault.

Discussion: Associated Press, Daily Kos, USA Today, Talking Points Memo, Washington Times, MinnPost and Political Wire

Axios:

Democrats open to user fees for infrastructure deal — Some Senate Democrats are open to paying for a compromise infrastructure package by imposing user fees, including increasing the gas tax and raising money from electric car drivers through a vehicle-miles-traveled charge.

Discussion: Washington Examiner, CNBC, Reason, Wall Street Journal, Daily Kos, Bloomberg and Washington Post

Benjy Sarlin / NBC News:
What do Republicans want on the economy? They're not sure anymore

Discussion: New Yorker, Fox Business, The National Interest and No More Mister Nice Blog

CNN:
House strikes deal to create independent January 6 commission

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Politico, POLITICUSUSA and IJR

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:
Liz Cheney doesn't go far enough

Discussion: IJR, USA Today and The Hill

Emily Brooks / Washington Examiner:
House GOP elects Stefanik to replace Cheney as conference chairwoman

Discussion: Fox News, ABC News, New York Magazine, Human Events, CBS News, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Forbes, The Daily Caller, Roll Call, BizPac Review, New York Post, Political Wire, LifeZette and Politico

CNN:

Since-deleted video shows Marjorie Taylor Greene harassing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's office during 2019 Capitol Hill visit — (CNN)Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene confronted Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outside the House chamber on Wednesday afternoon.

Politico:
Riot revisionism, hallway aggression, squashed alliances: The House nears a Cold War

Discussion: Mother Jones, Washington Examiner, The US Sun, RedState, Los Angeles Times, The Federalist, The Intellectualist and Joe.My.God.

MSNBC:
Rep. Greene ‘aggressively confronts’ Rep. Ocasio-Cortez in halls of Congress

Discussion: LifeZette, Raw Story and HuffPost

New York Times:

Beneath Joe Biden's Folksy Demeanor, a Short Fuse and an Obsession With Details — As Mr. Biden settles into the office he has chased for more than three decades, aides say he demands hours of debate from scores of policy experts. — WASHINGTON — The commander in chief was taking his time, as usual.

Discussion: Louder With Crowder, The Week, Breitbart and Althouse

BuzzFeed News:

We Found Joe Biden's Secret Venmo. Here's Why That's A Privacy Nightmare For Everyone. — BuzzFeed News found President Joe Biden's Venmo account after less than 10 minutes of looking for it, revealing a network of his private social connections, a national security issue for the United States …

Kelly Tyko / USA Today:

Trader Joe's is one of the first stores to drop mask requirement for fully vaccinated customers after CDC mask update — Trader Joe's has updated its mask policy and will not require customers who are fully vaccinated to wear a mask. — The specialty supermarket is believed …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, KIFI-TV and Reason

David Rutz / Fox News:
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on new CDC guidelines: Need to ‘rewire’ myself to not see unmasked people as ‘a threat’

Discussion: BizPac Review, IJR and Twitchy

New York Times:
Hundreds of Epidemiologists Expected Mask-Wearing in Public for at Least a Year

Discussion: The Atlantic, WBUR, HotAir and Japan Times

Jason Campbell / Media Matters for America:
Fox News says new CDC recommendations on mask wearing are just a distraction

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner and CNBC

Charles C. W. Cooke / National Review:
There's No Vaccine Against the Irrational Fear of Monsters

Discussion: Washington Post, Twitchy, HuffPost and New York Times

abc7NY: Mask-wearing update in NY, NJ and CT: What to know

Sheera Frenkel / New York Times:

Lies on Social Media Inflame Israeli-Palestinian Conflict — Misinformation has flourished on Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and other social media about the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. — In a 28-second video, which was posted to Twitter this week by a spokesman …

Discussion: Arab Gulf States Institute …, Jewish Currents and Jewish Telegraphic Agency

David Harris:

An open letter to Trevor Noah — I just watched your 10-minute monologue on the Israeli-Hamas conflict for your popular television program “The Daily Show” (May 11). — Frankly, it wasn't easy viewing. In fact, I began talking back to the screen, but, obviously, to no avail, so I chose instead to write you this open letter.

Hagai El-Ad / Washington Post:
Israel has chosen a two-tiered society. Violence is the inevitable result.

Discussion: Jewish Currents, The Nation and The National Interest

Nicholas Waller / New Europe:
Gaza media rules

Discussion: Algemeiner.com

Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:

Former Gaetz Confidant Pleads Guilty and Agrees to Cooperate — Joel Greenberg, a former tax collector in Florida, admitted to sex trafficking a minor and agreed to help in prosecutions of others. — A former confidant of Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Daily Beast, CNN, The US Sun, The Intellectualist, Joe.My.God., Mediaite, The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, The Week, New York Post, Political Wire, CBS Miami and Washington Examiner

Orlando Sentinel:
Joel Greenberg to plead guilty to 6 counts, cooperate with federal investigators in plea agreement

Discussion: Florida Politics

Insider:
Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg will plead guilty to 6 felony counts including sex trafficking, wire fraud, and identity theft

Discussion: Bloomberg, CNN, Talking Points Memo, The US Sun, HotAir, The Daily Beast, Raw Story, Mock Paper Scissors, CNBC and Orlando Sentinel

CNN:

Congressional Democrats have a 100% vaccination rate — Washington (CNN)Although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors except under special circumstances …

Discussion: Insider, The American Independent, Washington Post, The Hill, HotAir, Bloomberg, The Gateway Pundit, Mediaite, Daily Kos, Joe.My.God. and KIFI-TV

David Mastio / USA Today:

After ousting Liz Cheney, Republicans prove they're a bigger threat than 9/11 hijackers — The Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump is like throwing gasoline on a fire. It guarantees further violence. — The only person who clearly died from the violence on Jan. 6 …

Discussion: The Federalist, Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Twitchy and Los Angeles Times

Clara Hill / Yahoo News:
Liz Cheney calls for criminal investigation into Trump in first interview since being ousted

Discussion: New York Daily News, Persuasion, Raw Story, Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Associated Press and New York Times

Mikael Thalen / The Daily Dot:

Trump hotel purposely spiked prices to keep out QAnon supporters, hacked police data reveals — The Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. purposely spiked its prices in March in an effort to keep out supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, hacked police data reveals.

Department of Homeland Security:

Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland — The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States. The Homeland is facing threats that have evolved significantly …

Dara Bitler / FOX31 Denver:

Suzanne Morphew's husband, accused in her murder, charged with submitting presidential ballot in her name — CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo. — Prosecutors have filed new charges against Barry Morphew, alleging the man accused of murdering his missing wife submitted a presidential ballot in her name.

Discussion: MSNBC, Raw Story, Insider, Law & Crime, The US Sun, Joe.My.God. and FOX21 News Colorado

Politico:

'Doesn't matter': Democrats reject GOP's debt limit demands — Senate Republicans dramatically changed their party rules to take a hard line on the debt limit in the coming months. Democrats don't care. — In fact, the Democratic majority says it has no intention of negotiating …

Discussion: Hartford Courant, The Daily Beast, HotAir, Democracy Docket, Daily Kos and Raw Story

Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:

Trump Considers Contenders to Be His New Social-Media Outlet After Big Tech Crackdown — CloutHub and Skylab Apps are among companies vying to work with the former president, who was sidelined by Facebook and Twitter — Donald Trump, sidelined by Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. …

Discussion: Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Chad Arthur / Democracy Corps:

Home → Battleground Surveys → Trump's Engaged Party Defining The Battle For 2022 — We conducted a large, mostly cell phone survey with an oversample of Republicans in the 2022 battleground for the U.S. Senate, governorships, and House, and it is painfully clear Don-ald Trump …

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Adam S. Minsky / Forbes:

College Cancels Student Loan Debt Using Money From Biden's Stimulus Bill — President Biden's recent stimulus bill provided funding for colleges and universities to cancel student loan debt, and some student loan borrowers are beginning to see the benefits.

Discussion: Delaware State University, The National Interest and Insider

American Greatness:

House Republicans Defy the January 6 Narrative — The script about that day might have been concocted by Democrats and the media but the true account of what happened before, during, and after is still being written. — It's about time. — U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) …

Discussion: Washington Post, CNBC and New York Times

Deadline:

‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ Cancels This Week's Show After HBO Host Tests Positive For Covid-19 — EXCLUSIVE: HBO has scrapped this week's episode of Real Time with Bill Maher after the comedian tested positive for Covid-19. Maher, who is vaccinated and asymptomatic, tested positive during …

Discussion: CBS News, TMZ.com, InsideHook, Breitbart, Mediaite, OutKick, Vanity Fair and Variety

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: It's not a civil war; it's a purge — DRIVING THE DAY — Thursday was historic: America broke the back of the pandemic. New cases are at an eight-month low. Deaths are at a 10-month low. Best of all, if you're vaccinated, you can take off your damn mask.

Discussion: National Review, Slate, Raw Story and The Hill

David Leonhardt / New York Times:

A C.D.C. About-Face — The C.D.C. responds to scientific evidence and says vaccinated people rarely need masks. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is finally catching up to the science. — For months, research about Covid-19 has pointed to two encouraging patterns.

Discussion: HotAir, Balloon Juice, Outside the Beltway, NPR and The Daily Beast

Melissa Roberto / Fox News:

Ted Cruz fires back at Seth Rogen for ‘fascist’ comments, slams Biden's ‘disastrous policies’ in the process — The ‘Long Shot’ actor called the lawmaker a ‘terrible man’ — Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for May 13 — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday fired back at actor Seth Rogen …

Discussion: RedState, The Daily Caller, Newsbusters and IJR