memeorandum: To Save Democracy, We Need a Few Good Dictators (Robert D. Kaplan/Bloomberg)

7:25 PM ET, April 1, 2022

Top Items:

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Scoop: Jen Psaki planning to leave White House this spring for MSNBC gig — White House press secretary Jen Psaki is in exclusive talks with MSNBC to join the network after she leaves the White House around May, according to a source close to the matter.

Politico:

Why Biden's jobs boom isn't translating — Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. — The U.S. unemployment rate hit 3.6 percent today, as 431,000 jobs were added during the month of March.

David Folkenflik / NPR:
Jen Psaki leaving the White House for MSNBC this spring

Discussion: UrduPoint News, The Daily Caller, New York Post, Washington Examiner and The Wrap

New York Times:
Jen Psaki Is Said to Be in Talks to Join MSNBC

Discussion: HotAir, Deadline, USA Today, The Gateway Pundit, Insider and Washington Times

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:

Manchin: Biden's repeal of Title 42 order ‘a frightening decision’ — Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Friday slammed President Biden's decision to rescind Title 42, a Trump-era health order used to rapidly deport people who cross the border without authorization as “a frightening decision” …

Discussion: Real News Revolt, Iowa Capital Dispatch, National Review, Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Bloomberg, America's Voice, EL PAÍS in English, Ace of Spades HQ and Todd Starnes

Adam Shaw / Fox News:
Manchin calls Biden lifting Title 42 border policy ‘frightening decision’

Discussion: Politico, ABC News, Breitbart, Washington Times, National Review, Roll Call, The Daily Caller and The Hill

Department of Homeland Security:
Statement by Secretary Mayorkas on CDC's Title 42 Order Termination

Discussion: Associated Press, CBS News, The Daily Caller, Al Jazeera, Townhall, Los Angeles Times and BorderReport

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
CDC Orders — To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and help our country cope during the pandemic …

Discussion: Breitbart and USA Today

Fox News:
Biden immigration decision could make midterm climate even tougher for Democrats

Discussion: National Review and Washington Times

Conn Carroll / Washington Examiner:
Democrats can't run from Biden's border crisis

Discussion: spectatorworld.com and Townhall

Laurel Wamsley / NPR:
The U.S. is ending its pandemic border rules. It could mean a surge in migration

Discussion: The Hill, NBC News, Reason, Sacramento Bee, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Crux Now and CNN

CDC:
CDC Newsroom — CDC Public Health Determination and Termination of Title 42 Order

Discussion: CNBC, Common Dreams, New York Times, Fox News, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, UPI, The Last Refuge, New York Post and The Guardian

New York Times:

Amazon Workers on Staten Island Vote to Unionize in Stunning Win for Labor — Despite heavy lobbying by the company, workers at the facility voted by a wide margin for a union. It was seen as a rebuke of the company's treatment of its employees. — Workers at Amazon's massive warehouse …

Discussion: The Public's Radio, THE CITY, HuffPost, TheBlaze, Common Dreams, ABC7, Payday Report, Bangor Daily News, Joe.My.God., CBS News, Political Wire, NPR and Kevin Drum

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon workers on Staten Island vote for company's first unionized warehouse in U.S.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Register, UPI, TheStreet, Washington Post, Raw Story, The Nation, Common Dreams, Occupy Democrats, TechCrunch and NPR, more at Techmeme »

THE CITY:
Amazon Warehouse Workers Win Historic Union Vote on Staten Island

Discussion: Payday Report, About Amazon, VICE, UPI, Jezebel, Rolling Stone, CBS News, Jacobin and Politico

Harold Meyerson / American Prospect:
A Generational Worker Revolt Hits Its Stride

Discussion: Mother Jones

Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Amazon workers vote to unionize Staten Island warehouse

Discussion: NPR, National Review, The Hill, Wired, Washington Examiner, CNBC and Raw Story

CNN:

GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker has been overstating his academic achievements for years — (CNN)For years, Herschel Walker has told the same inspiring story: that he graduated in the top 1% of his class at the University of Georgia. He's told the story, according to a review …

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

Natalie Allison / Politico:
‘The baggage is too heavy’: GOP foes tee up last-ditch effort to sink Herschel Walker

Discussion: NPR, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, Letters from an American, Joe.My.God., Raw Story and CNN

Associated Press:

Jan. 6 panel puts Garland in ‘precarious’ spot, ups pressure — WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are increasingly going public with critical statements, court filings and more to deliver a blunt message to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice.

Discussion: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Occupy Democrats and Slate

Tierney Sneed / CNN:
Garland says the only pressure DOJ feels on January 6 probes is to ‘do the right thing’

Discussion: Raw Story

William Vaillancourt / Rolling Stone:

Ginni Thomas Pushed Trump to Hire Someone the White House Suspected Was a Foreign Spy — The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas gave the former president “insane and unworkable” lists of people he should fire and hire, according to a new report from The Daily Beast

Discussion: Washington Post, Insider and Blue Virginia

The Daily Beast:

Inside Ginni Thomas' ‘Insane’ Hiring Memos for Trump — Ginni Thomas' suggested hires included known bigots and at least one suspected foreign spy, sources say. — Years before she became one of then-President Donald Trump's most prominent coup supporters, Ginni Thomas was already notorious …

Discussion: National Memo, Talking Points Memo, Insider, Joe.My.God. and Raw Story

Brent Lang / Variety:

Will Smith Resigns From Academy Over Chris Rock Oscars Slap Backlash … Will Smith, facing possible expulsion or suspension after he assaulted Chris Rock during last Sunday's Oscars telecast, has instead resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Discussion: Rolling Stone, Washington Examiner, Forbes, IndieWire, The Wrap, NBC New York, Deadline, New York Post and The Sun, more at Mediagazer »

Matt Labash / Slack Tide:
Slap Happy: Who Needs Punched In The Mouth?

Discussion: Fox News, Yahoo News and The Time of Monsters

Michael Ames / New Yorker:

A New Video Shows a Missing American Hostage Pleading for Help in Taliban Custody — Senator Tammy Duckworth called for the Biden Administration to free an Afghan drug trafficker in exchange for the release of the American engineer Mark Frerichs, who was kidnapped in Afghanistan.

Discussion: Associated Press, The Hill, TheBlaze and CNN

Jake Tapper / CNN:
Exclusive: Biden administration secures release of Afghan-American Naval reservist who was held by Taliban

Discussion: HotAir, The Hill, Al-Monitor and Washington Examiner

BBC:

Ukraine war: Gruesome evidence points to war crimes on road outside Kyiv — Footage of Russian troops shooting a man with his hands up on a highway outside Kyiv at the beginning of March was shared around the world. Now the Russians have been pushed out of the area and the BBC's Jeremy Bowen …

Discussion: Associated Press, Oil Change International, Just An Earth-Bound Misfit, I and The Intercept

New York Times:

Ukrainian helicopters strike an oil depot in Russia, an official there says. — A bus convoy left Mariupol, but a Red Cross team could not reach city, bombarded by Russian forces, to aid a larger evacuation. Ukrainian helicopters carried out the first airstrike on Russian territory since the war began.

Discussion: BBC, Politico, Bloomberg, New York Post, Washington Post, UPI, Associated Press, The Western Journal, The Guardian and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

David Lat / Vicky Ward Investigates:

Minute-by-Minute: Inside The Out-Of-Control Protest at Yale Law School — On March 10, 2022, a protest at Yale Law School—just ranked (again) this week as the #1 law school in the U.S.—got horrendously out of hand. — The background: Yale's Federalist Society had invited two lawyers …

Discussion: Reason

Mike Allen / Axios:

Peter Baker, Susan Glasser to publish sweeping history of Trump presidency — Peter Baker and Susan Glasser will be out Sept. 20 with a sweeping history of the Trump presidency, “The Divider,” billed as “an ambitious first cut at this historical moment.” — The backdrop: Baker …

Timothy P. Carney / Washington Examiner:
Trump ripped off his White House photographer because he rips off everyone who gets close to him

Discussion: YouTube, IJR and The Guardian, more at Mediagazer »

Financial Times:

Roman Abramovich's $1bn five-yacht fleet revealed — Latest vessel's discovery highlights veil of secrecy over sanctions-hit oligarch's assets — Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns or is linked to a collection of five yachts estimated to be worth almost $1bn, including several vessels …

Discussion: New York Post

Moriah Balingit / Washington Post:

‘A cry for help’: CDC warns of a steep decline in teen mental health … The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of an accelerating mental health crisis among adolescents, with more than 4 in 10 teens reporting that they feel “persistently sad or hopeless,” …

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Reuters, Centers for Disease Control …, Political Wire and Washington Examiner

Rachel M. Cohen / The Intercept:

At a Pivotal Moment, Democrats Failed to Modernize Elections … Throughout 2020, as then-President Donald Trump issued baseless claims of voter fraud, local election officials called on the federal government to spend more to ensure a secure election season.

Discussion: Raw Story and NPR