--- title: Morning Must Reads: May 22 description: In the News: Thai army stages military coup; Women are winning Senate primaries, but aren't running; Tech companies drop support for USA Freedom Act; and TIME's new issue canonical: https://time.com/108746/morning-must-reads-may-22/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-22T11:46:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:59:32.257Z article:section: Politics og:title: Morning Must Reads: May 22 og:description: In the News: Thai army stages military coup; Women are winning Senate primaries, but aren't running; Tech companies drop support for USA Freedom Act; and TIME's new issue og:url: https://time.com/108746/morning-must-reads-may-22/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Morning Must Reads: May 22 twitter:description: In the News: Thai army stages military coup; Women are winning Senate primaries, but aren't running; Tech companies drop support for USA Freedom Act; and TIME's new issue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Morning Must Reads: May 22 > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 22, 2014 11:46 AM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan May 22, 2014 11:46 AM UTC * It’s time for some perspective on the VA \[[TIME](http://time.com/108499/veterans-affairs-health-problems-investigation/)\] * Anatomy of a Veterans’ Affairs scandal \[[Politico](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/veterans-administration-scandal-106982.html?hp=t1)\] * Thai army declares military coup: “In order for the situation to return to normal quickly and for society to love and be at peace again … and to reform the structure of the political, economic and social structure, the military needs to take control of power,” \[Thailand’s Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha\] said in the televised announcement.\[[Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/22/us-thailand-protest-idUSBREA4J0HN20140522)\] * With new bill, abortion limits spread in the South \[[NYT](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/us/politics/new-bill-spreads-abortion-limits-in-south.html?rref=homepage&module=Ribbon&version=origin®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Home%20Page&pgtype=article)\] * House Democrats join select committee on Benghazi to “defend the truth” \[[CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-join-benghazi-investigation-to-defend-the-truth/)\] * “By agreeing to join the House GOP’s Benghazi investigation after contemplating a boycott, Democrats are taking a serious risk. The benefit is that Democrats will have a (limited) say over the investigation and an opportunity to defend Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others during the committee’s hearings. The risk — and it’s a major one — is that Republicans can now tout the “bipartisan” nature of the inquiry and any of its findings.” \[[TIME](http://time.com/108002/hillary-clinton-benghazi/)\] * White House threatens veto over Guantanamo limits: “If this year’s Defense Authorization bill continues unwarranted restrictions regarding Guantanamo detainees, the President will veto the bill,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Wednesday evening. \[[Politico](http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2014/05/white-house-again-threatens-veto-over-guantanamo-limits-188997.html?hp=l5)\] * Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer auditions as Hillary Clinton’s populist challenger \[[WSJ](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304178104579534112388261686?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304178104579534112388261686.html)\] * Women are winning Senate primaries this year—but not many of them are running \[[Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/05/22/women-are-winning-senate-primaries-this-year-but-not-many-of-them-are-running/)\] * House to vote on “watered-down” surveillance limits \[[The Hill](http://thehill.com/policy/tech/206907-house-to-vote-on-watered-down-surveillance-limits)\] * “The Reform Government Surveillance coalition—whose members include Google, Facebook, Microsoft, AOL, Apple, Twitter, LinkedIn, DropBox, and Yahoo—issued a statement Wednesday announcing it was pulling its support of the USA Freedom Act….’The latest draft opens up an unacceptable loophole that could enable the bulk collection of Internet users’ data,” the coalition said. “While it makes important progress, we cannot support this bill as currently drafted and urge Congress to close this loophole to ensure meaningful reform.'” \[[National Journal](http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/google-facebook-warn-nsa-bill-wouldn-t-stop-mass-surveillance-20140521)\] TIME’s new issue: What’s prettier in print * [The Cutting-Edge Medicine saving preemies ](http://time.com/108708/the-cutting-edge-medicine-saving-preemies/)by Jeffrey Kluger * [VA Chief Eric Shinseki (Still) Must Go](http://time.com/108109/shinseki-still-must-go/) By Joe Klein * [How I Learned to Stop Fretting and Just Raise the Kids](http://time.com/108699/stop-fretting-raise-the-kids/) by Kristin van Ogtrop * [Narendra Modi: The New Face of India](http://time.com/108689/narendra-modi-the-new-face-of-india/) by Krista Mahr * [Rafael Nadal’s High Aces](http://time.com/108687/rafael-nadals-high-aces/) by Sean Gregory * [Tom Steyer: Green Giant](http://time.com/108706/tom-steyer-green-giant/) by Bryan Walsh ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/108746/morning-must-reads-may-22/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/108746/morning-must-reads-may-22/"},"headline":"Morning Must Reads: May 22","datePublished":"2014-05-22T11:46:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:59:32.257Z","description":"In the News: Thai army stages military coup; Women are winning Senate primaries, but aren't running; Tech companies drop support for USA Freedom Act; and TIME's new issue","url":"https://time.com/108746/morning-must-reads-may-22/","keywords":["Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Morning Must Reads","caption":"Capitol","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/morning-must-reads/","name":"Morning Must Reads"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/108746/morning-must-reads-may-22/","name":"Morning Must Reads: May 22"}}]}] ```