memeorandum: The Pandemic in the U.S. Has Vastly Improved. For These Families, the Worst Has Just Begun. (Sarah Mervosh/New York Times)

9:35 AM ET, June 1, 2021

Top Items:

Li Zhou / Vox:

What Chuck Schumer can learn from Harry Reid — “I think the biggest lesson is never trust Republicans,” says one of Reid's former staffers. — By the time he decided to “go nuclear” on filibusters for most presidential appointees, Harry Reid had had it with Republicans.

Amy Gardner / Washington Post:
After defeating restrictive voting bill, Texas Democrats send loud message: ‘We need Congress to do their part’

Discussion: NBC News, Politico, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Daily Kos, Common Dreams, Raw Story, Bangor Daily News, Associated Press, New York Times, CNN, Talking Points Memo, BizPac Review and The Root

Sam Brodey / The Daily Beast:
Joe Manchin: Deeply Disappointed in GOP and Prepared to Do Absolutely Nothing

Discussion: CNN, Daily Kos and Crooks and Liars

Nicholas Fandos / New York Times:
Voting Rights Bill Falters in Congress as States Race Ahead

Discussion: Fox News, Just The News, No More Mister Nice Blog and Jezebel

Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine:

The GOP Has Discovered Joe Biden's Political Superpower — Something strange has been happening to my in-box. It's still a wasteland, a ghastly stream of spam and requests from an endless array of politicians and political organizations. But the GOP fundraising emails — usually the loudest …

Discussion: CNN and Raw Story

David Johns / The Hill:

Critical race theory is under attack — One hundred years ago today, mobs of armed white supremacists violently attacked and killed Black residents and destroyed Black businesses in Tulsa, Okla., in the Greenwood District. — The Tulsa Race Massacre is one of the most devastating …

Discussion: Just Security, Hackwhackers and Jewish Journal

DeNeen L. Brown / Washington Post: In Tulsa, solemn remembrances of a century-old race massacre by survivors and descendants

DeNeen L. Brown / Washington Post: His arrest sparked the Tulsa Race Massacre. Then Dick Rowland disappeared.

Politico:

Republicans fear Trump will lead to a ‘lost generation’ of talent — As Donald Trump ponders another presidential bid, top Republicans have grown fearful about what they're calling the party's “lost generation.” — In conversations with more than 20 lawmakers, ex-lawmakers, top advisers and aides …

Discussion: Wall Street Journal, Raw Story, PRESS RUN, Crooks and Liars, BizPac Review, HotAir and New York Times, more at Mediagazer »

Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:

Echoing QAnon forums, Michael Flynn appears to suggest a Myanmar-style coup should happen in the United States — (CNN)Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, appeared to endorse a Myanmar-style coup in the United States on Sunday.

Discussion: The Hill, Dallas Morning News, HuffPost, Washington Post, Salon, Informed Comment, Raw Story, Insider, Just An Earth-Bound Misfit, I and Washington Examiner

Khaleda Rahman / Newsweek:
Michael Flynn Could Face Court Martial for Myanmar Coup Remark: Ex-Trump Official

Discussion: BizPac Review, Raw Story, Slate, UncoverDC and Crooks and Liars

David Gilbert / VICE:
QAnon's Wildest Moments From Their Massively Disturbing Conference

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider, Forbes and Raw Story

Tracy Connor / The Daily Beast:
Michael Flynn Calls for Myanmar-Style Coup in the U.S.

Discussion: Mediaite and Raw Story

Annie Linskey / Washington Post:

Ahead of Tulsa trip, Biden to unveil plans to reduce Black-White wealth gap — President Biden plans to unveil a set of policies intended to narrow the wealth gap between Black and White Americans in a speech he's set to deliver Tuesday in Tulsa, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the massacre …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, National Review, Hackwhackers and Associated Press

The White House:
FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Build Black Wealth and Narrow the Racial Wealth Gap

Discussion: Insider

DW.COM:

Belarus enacts new rules restricting citizens from leaving — Minsk's border agency has announced new rules that will make it nearly impossible to leave the country. As citizens attempt to flee Belarus, longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko appears to be closing all the exits.

Jonathan Allen / NBC News:

Trump's back. Here's what his re-entry means for 2024. … WASHINGTON — Defeated presidents usually go away — at least for a long while. Not Donald Trump. — Trump returns to the electoral battlefield Saturday as the marquee speaker at the North Carolina Republican Party's state convention.

Discussion: Raw Story

Washington Post:

Anthony Fauci's pandemic emails: ‘All is well despite some crazy people in this world’ — Fauci's correspondence from March and April 2020, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, offers a peek into his world during the frantic early days of the coronavirus crisis

Kayla Epstein / Insider:

Low-paid Capitol Hill staffers are moonlighting for Starbucks and Door Dash. They're fed up with unlivable salaries that hinder diversity and kneecap careers. — Hill staffers have put up with low wages for years. Some start in the high $20,000s. — Powerful Congress members …

Discussion: Insider

Maggie Severns / Politico:

An Evangelical Battle of the Generations: To Embrace Trump or Not? — For years, there was an adage around Liberty University that if God split Jerry Falwell in half, you would have his sons Jerry and Jonathan. — Jerry Jr. inherited his father's desire to be a force in American politics …

Discussion: Raw Story

Kamala Harris / Forbes:

Kamalanomics: Vice President Harris Outlines Her Vision Of Inclusive Entrepreneurship — The pandemic has prompted a surge in entrepreneurship, voluntary and involuntary. The United States' first female, Black and Asian-American vice president shares her ideas in an exclusive essay for Forbes …

Discussion: The Hill

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Maureen Dowd Talks ‘Mare of Easttown’ With Kate Winslet — The star of ‘Mare of Easttown’ is back on the sides of buses. Without airbrushing. — Philly's a tough town. — If there's a quintessential story about the City of Brotherly Love, it's this one: In 2015 …

Discussion: IndieWire, Insider, Variety and The Daily Beast

Patrick Svitek / The Texas Tribune:

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vows to defund state Legislature after voting restrictions bill fails, threatening salaries — “No pay for those who abandon their responsibilities,” Abbott tweeted Monday. — Copy link — Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday he would veto the section of the state budget …

Discussion: NBC News, Off the Kuff, UPI, Raw Story, HuffPost, The Hill, RedState, NPR, Washington Times, Townhall, New York Post and Political Wire

Politico:

Put Trump on the ballot in '22? No thanks, some Dems say — As Donald Trump cannonballs back into national headlines more scandal-ridden than ever, it turns out that Republicans aren't the only ones who don't want to fixate on the former president. Many House Democrats feel the same way.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog and The American Spectator

Washington Examiner:

The public school system had stopped teaching children long before the pandemic — If the academic year now ending has taught us anything, it's that the public school system would rather indoctrinate than educate its students. — The school system was created to teach students academically and morally …

Dave Lawler / Axios:

World anxiously waits to see where Biden will send America's vaccines — The U.S. is about to pivot from hoarding vaccines to sharing them globally, and countries around the world are trying to secure their places in line. — Why it matters: President Biden has promised to donate 80 million doses by the end of June.

Discussion: Associated Press

Martin Pengelly / The Guardian:

Fox News host Sean Hannity wrote Trump 2020 campaign ad, book claims — Hannity worked on ‘swamp creature’ ad that ran during Hannity's show, according to Mike Bender's Frankly, We Did Win This Election — The Fox News host Sean Hannity was criticised for appearing at a Trump rally in 2018 …

Tucker Higgins / CNBC:

Supreme Court will soon release a potentially pivotal decision for LGBT rights — The Supreme Court is expected to release a decision in the coming days that could provide the first glimpses of how its 6-3 conservative majority will shape the future of LGBT rights.

Discussion: Political Wire

Will Sommer / The Daily Beast:

Neighbors Fear Bear-Themed Compound Will Be Next Ruby Ridge — Alt-right comedian Owen Benjamin wants to create a “refuge” for his “internet friends” in Idaho. His neighbors, however, worry the rural site will become a scary militia haven. — An alt-right comedian's plans for a remote patch …

Discussion: Raw Story

Eric Foner / The Nation:

The Gilded Age's Democratic Contradictions — The New Party Bosses — How did our once-raucous party system become the pacified purview of elites? — In “The Four Lost Men,” an elegiac short story written in the 1930s about his dying father's memories of life in post-Civil War America …

New York Post:

Hunter Biden's laptop keeps damning Joe, but most media just ignore it — Hunter Biden's laptop continues to yield damning information that shows his dad, President Joe Biden, played a significant and knowing role in his son's sleazy influence-peddling. And while the media efforts to pretend …

Discussion: Washington Examiner

Sarah Mervosh / New York Times:

The Pandemic in the U.S. Has Vastly Improved. For These Families, the Worst Has Just Begun. — Families losing a loved one to the coronavirus now described a surreal, lonely kind of grief, as the threat from the pandemic lessens in the United States. — After more than a year …