memeorandum: Opinion Too many Americans are still in covid denial (Michael Gerson/Washington Post)

9:10 AM ET, May 20, 2022

Top Items:

Rich McHugh / Insider:

A SpaceX flight attendant said Elon Musk exposed himself and propositioned her for sex, documents show. The company paid $250,000 for her silence. — A flight attendant for SpaceX said Elon Musk asked her to “do more” during a massage, documents show. — The billionaire founder exposed …

New York Times:

New Evidence Shows How Russian Soldiers Executed Men in Bucha — Witness testimony and videos obtained by The New York Times show how Russian paratroopers executed at least eight Ukrainian men in a Kyiv suburb on March 4, a potential war crime. — THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS IMAGES OF GRAPHIC VIOLENCE.

Discussion: Wall Street Journal and Al Jazeera

Mark Trevelyan / Reuters:

Struggling in Ukraine, Russia paves way to sign up over-40s for army — In a sign of Russia's urgent need to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, parliament said on Friday it would consider a bill to allow Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to sign up for the military.

Discussion: New York Times, Washington Examiner, Radio Free Europe/Radio … and Wall Street Journal

CNN:

US intel skeptical Putin will be swayed by Russian public opinion over war in Ukraine — US intelligence officials are skeptical that any change in Russian public opinion against the Kremlin's war in Ukraine - even a dramatic one - would have an effect in persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin …

Discussion: New York Times and Wall Street Journal

New York Times:
What Is America's Strategy in Ukraine?

Discussion: inhofe.senate.gov, РИА …, Washington Examiner and Washington Times

Mike Stone / Reuters:
Exclusive: U.S. aims to arm Ukraine with advanced anti-ship missiles to fight Russian blockade

Discussion: National Review, News Items, Politico, The Guardian, Inquirer News, NBC Chicago and Political Wire

Yaroslav Trofimov / Wall Street Journal:
In a Ukrainian Town, a Collaborator Who Worked With the Russians Now Faces Justice

Discussion: Reuters and New York Times

NBC News:

Trump washes hands of Perdue in Georgia as his campaign limps into final stretch — Dark on TV. Trailing badly in polls. Written off by Republican political insiders nationally and in Georgia. — Former Sen. David Perdue's once-spirited primary challenge to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp appears …

Discussion: Raw Story, Insider, WSB-TV and Vanity Fair

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Trump's real win-loss record — With help from Eli Okun and Garrett Ross — DRIVING THE DAY — SIREN FOR DEMS — Democrats' expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of the year — and many in the party are worried that Congress will fail to renew them, Adam Cancryn and Megan Messerly report.

Discussion: New York Times, Raw Story and CNN

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Jolt: Republicans running against Herschel warn: 'He can't win.' — The Republicans running against Herschel Walker for U.S. Senate are crisscrossing the state this week, looking for every vote they can get and making a similar argument: Walker can't win in a November general election …

Kyle Cheney / Politico:

Eastman provides new details of Trump's direct role in legal effort to overturn election — John Eastman, the attorney who architected Donald Trump's last-ditch legal strategy to overturn the 2020 election, revealed Friday that he routinely communicated with Trump either directly or via …

Discussion: CNN and Raw Story

Politico:
Jan. 6 committee evidence includes official White House photos from day of Capitol riot

Discussion: Raw Story

Hugo Lowell / The Guardian:
Congress members led ‘reconnaissance tours’ of Capitol before attack, evidence suggests

Holly Otterbein / Politico:

Oz, McCormick unleash army of lawyers in Pa. Senate race — PHILADELPHIA — Dr. Mehmet Oz is still ahead by a whisker in Pennsylvania's razor-thin Senate GOP contest. But David McCormick is slowly chipping away at his lead, and both sides are preparing for a drawn-out vote-counting process marked …

Discussion: Alabama Daily News, The Daily Wire, Power Line, Breitbart, PennLive, Washington Post, Raw Story, Raw Story, New York Times, Articles Archive, HotAir, WITF, Insider, Associated Press, Washington Monthly and Puck

Wall Street Journal:
Welcome to Stop the Steal, Pennsylvania Primary Edition

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Liberty Nation's Newsletter and PolitiFact

Lis Smith / Washington Post:

Opinion This is not the time to change how we talk about abortion — Democratic strategist Lis Smith was a senior adviser to Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign, and is the author of the forthcoming book, “Any Given Tuesday.” — We need to talk about how we talk about Roe.

Amy B Wang / Washington Post:
Oklahoma lawmakers pass bill banning abortions after ‘fertilization’

David Gilbert / VICE:
CPAC Head Promotes Abortion Ban to Stave Off ‘Great Replacement’

Discussion: The Daily Beast, HuffPost, Mediaite, Townhall and Vox

Tyler Pager / Washington Post:

Pentagon spokesman Kirby moving to White House in senior communications role — Pentagon spokesman John Kirby will move to the White House in a senior communications role, according to two people familiar with the personnel move. — Kirby's move to the White House comes after Karine Jean-Pierre took …

Discussion: Mediaite, CBS News, NBC News, WTOP News, Washington Examiner, CNN, Washington Times and The Hill

Annie Linskey / Washington Post: Biden's protection from covid: Few close contacts

Nicholas Riccardi / Associated Press:

Biden's approval dips to lowest of presidency: AP-NORC poll — President Joe Biden's approval rating dipped to the lowest point of his presidency in May, a new poll shows, with deepening pessimism emerging among members of his own Democratic Party. — Only 39% of U.S. adults approve …

Discussion: Political Wire

Hannah Natanson / Washington Post:

This Florida teacher married a woman. Now she's not a teacher anymore. — MIAMI — Nicolette Solomon felt her mother's words come through the phone and settle, heavy, in her stomach. — It was January, and her mother was talking about a new bill, just proposed in the Florida legislature …

Dylan Smith / Yellowhammer News:

Mitch McConnell-aligned super PAC drops $2M against Mo Brooks in U.S. Senate race — Alabama's 2022 race for the U.S. Senate has proven that there is no love lost between U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:
Mitch McConnell Dings ‘Isolationist’ Rand Paul: ‘Tiny Percentage of the Senate Republican Conference’

Discussion: The Hill and CNN

NBC News:

Michigan election chief: Trump suggested I be arrested for treason and executed — Jocelyn Benson said she was told that the former president made the remark in a White House meeting. A Trump spokesman accused Benson of lying. — Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's top election official …

Discussion: CNN, Mediaite, Insider, Washington Examiner, The Gateway Pundit, Raw Story and HotAir

CNN:

Former Attorney General William Barr tentatively agrees to give sworn testimony to January 6 committee — (CNN)Former Attorney General William Barr has “tentatively agreed to give sworn testimony behind closed doors” to the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection …

Discussion: HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, New Republic, Axios, Raw Story, CBS News, Breitbart, The Hill, Raw Story and CNBC

Michael Gerson / Washington Post:

Opinion Too many Americans are still in covid denial — When Johns Hopkins University announced that the United States had surpassed 1 million deaths from covid-19, I was recovering from my first (and hopefully last) bout of the disease. I had prepared as much as I could — shout-out to Pfizer …

New York Times:
Here's Why Tallies of U.S. Covid Deaths Aren't All the Same

Discussion: WebMD Health

Mara Hvistendahl / The Intercept:

FBI Provides Chicago Police With Fake Online Identities for “Social Media Exploitation” Team … Brian Campbell couldn't sleep. It was May 31, 2020, and demonstrations sparked by the murder of George Floyd were spreading around the world. Before going to bed, the Chicago Police Department officer …

David French / The Atlantic:

Murder Is Downstream From Misinformation and Hate, and Everybody Knows It — Actions are tied to ideas, and if ideas are toxic, then actions can kill. … There's something incredibly frustrating about America's extremism debate. There are truths we all know, but we just don't want to apply them consistently.

Josh Margolin / ABC News:

2 Secret Service employees being sent home from South Korea ahead of Biden's arrival after alleged incident: Sources — Agency spokesman told ABC News they'll be “placed on administrative leave.” — Two Secret Service employees — an agent and an armed physical security specialist …

Discussion: The Daily Wire

Alan Feuer / New York Times:

Group Chat Linked to Roger Stone Shows Ties Among Jan. 6 Figures — The roster of participants highlights how Mr. Stone, the pro-Trump political operative, was involved with a strikingly large number of people who sought to overturn the 2020 election. — It was known as F.O.S. …

Discussion: Raw Story

Michael Luciano / Mediaite:

Tucker Carlson Says Buffalo Shooting Suspect Not Motivated by ‘Hateful Right-Wing Rhetoric,’ But ‘Mental Illness’ — Tucker Carlson scoffed at the idea that the 18-year-old White man who wrote racist screeds before allegedly murdering 10 Black people in a Buffalo grocery store was motivated by “hateful right-wing rhetoric.”

Discussion: BizPac Review, The Daily Beast, The Root and Associated Press

New York Post:

James Baker buries Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann in probe — WASHINGTON, DC — A former FBI official delivered devastating testimony Thursday against former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann — saying he's “100% confident” the defendant denied acting …

Politico:

An Obamacare fiasco could blow up on Democrats right before the midterms — A little over a year ago, President Joe Biden signed into law a massive expansion of financial aid designed to bolster the Affordable Care Act and make health insurance more affordable for millions.

Discussion: HotAir

Zach Montellaro / Politico:

Trump's bid to control election offices hits first battleground — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will soon face voters for the first time since he refused then-President Donald Trump's pressure to “find” votes to overturn the 2020 election results.

Discussion: Fox News and Washington Post