BULLETIN -- AP: “PAWNEE, Okla. -- One of the largest earthquakes in Oklahoma rattled the Midwest on Saturday from Nebraska to North Texas, and likely will turn new attention to the practice of disposing oil and gas field wastewater deep underground. The United States Geological Survey said a 5.6 magnitude earthquake happened at 7:02 a.m. Saturday in north-central Oklahoma, a key energy-producing region. That matches a November 2011 quake in the same region. No major damage was immediately reported. People in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Des Moines, Iowa; and Norman, Oklahoma, all reported feeling the earthquake. Dallas TV station WFAA tweeted that the quake shook their studios, too.” http://apne.ws/2cmKPwL
FLASHBACK -- “Weather Underground: The arrival of man-made earthquakes,” by Rivka Galchen in the New Yorker in the April 13, 2015 issue: “Until 2008, Oklahoma experienced an average of one to two earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or greater each year. (Magnitude-3.0 earthquakes tend to be felt, while smaller earthquakes may be noticed only by scientific equipment or by people close to the epicenter.) In 2009, there were twenty. The next year, there were forty-two. In 2014, there were five hundred and eighty-five, nearly triple the rate of California. Including smaller earthquakes in the count, there were more than five thousand. This year [2015], there has been an average of two earthquakes a day of magnitude 3.0 or greater.” http://bit.ly/1GgpAI0
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WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING -- The Chinese government got into a mini-brawl with White House senior staff and the press corps on the tarmac in Hangzhou, China!
Per the WSJ’s Carol Lee, the press pooler in Hangzhou: “A bit of chaos on the tarmac. Pool was brought under the wing of AF1 per usual but the scene was not per usual. There were no stairs to the top door to AF1, instead President Obama exited via the lower level stairs so pool could hardly see him, and only for a split second as he exited at 2:30pm. A member of the Chinese delegation was screaming at White House staff from the moment pool got onto the tarmac. He wanted [the] US press to leave. The Chinese had put up a blue rope under the wing so pool had to stand behind it.
“This man was demanding the pool, which was behind the blue rope, get away from the arrival scene altogether. At one point a White House official told him this was our president and our plane and the press wasn't moving. The man yelled, ‘this is our country.’ He yelled at another White House official and got testy with Susan Rice and Ben Rhodes, seeming to try to block them from walking closer to the arrival scene after they lifted the blue rope and walked to the other side of it, nearer to POTUS. The red carpet was lined on both sides with greeters so there was no ability for cameras to get a photo or video footage of POTUS greeting people as he walked to the presidential limo, which was at the end of the red carpet. Motorcade was rolling within minutes after that warm welcome. Thanks to Mark Landler for the assist.”
WaPo’s WILLIAM WAN: “A group of white house staff arriving in advance of president at the Westlake statehouse (along with pool press) were stopped at security checkpoint at gate. White house staff, protocol officers and secret service, trying to enter separately from press, spent 15 mins in heated arguments with chinese officials. US officials could be heard arguing in chinese with chinese security officials over how many americans could be allowed to go through security at a time. How many people the white house were allowed to be in building before the president’s arrival. Which US officials were on which list in a folder with a thick pile of name lists. ‘The president is arriving here in an hour’ one white house staffer was overheard saying in exasperation.
“As the disagreement escalated, a chinese official assisting the Americans grew angered by how guards were treating the white house staff and began yelling, nearly coming to blows with one of the chinese security officials. ‘You don't push people. No one gave you the right to touch or push anyone around,’ he yelled in chinese at one of the chinese security officials. Another chinese official trying to help US officials stepped between the two who were arguing once the security official began approaching, looking like he was going to throw a punch. ‘Calm down please. Calm down,’ pleaded a White House official. ‘Stop, please,’ said a foreign ministry official in chinese. ‘There are reporters here.’
“Once inside, white house press officers engaged in another fight over how many american journalists would be allowed. ‘You are only allowed 10,’ said a chinese official. ‘That’s not right,’ said a white house [press] official. 20 minutes before obama's arrival, us press officers were still arguing in the room where the two presidents would soon be meeting along with ban ki moon to talk of their cooperation. As US [officials] pleaded for two Us journalist left outside to be allowed to stand in the back of the room. ‘There's space. They are print reporters. They would just be just standing,’ said one white house press officer. It was a fight they did not win.” (They eventually made it in, per a subsequent pool report.) The Reuters writeup: http://reut.rs/2chOewg
THE BROOKLYN BLUES -- “F.B.I. Papers Offer Closer Look at Hillary Clinton Email Inquiry,” by NYT’s Eric Lichtblau and Adam Goldman (five columns, middle of A1, with print headline “F.B.I. Files on Email Inquiry Show Grilling on Clinton’s Judgment”): “The documents provided a number of new details about Mrs. Clinton’s private server, including what appeared to be a frantic effort by a computer specialist to delete an archive of her emails even after a congressional committee had requested they be preserved.
“In a 3½-hour interview with the Justice Department’s top counterintelligence officials on July 2, Mrs. Clinton defended her handling of the private email system by repeatedly saying she had deferred to the judgment of her aides, an F.B.I. summary of the interview showed.
“Among the other key findings in the F.B.I. documents: Mrs. Clinton regarded emails containing classified discussions about planned drone strikes as “routine.” She said she was either unaware of or misunderstood some classification procedures. Colin L. Powell, a former secretary of state, had advised her to “be very careful” in how she used email...After being shown one email that was redacted from the public release of her emails, Mrs. Clinton ‘stated deliberation over a future drone strike did not give her cause for concern regarding classification,’ according to the F.B.I. summary of the interview.” http://nyti.ms/2bLqDbM
-- “6 Things We Learned in the F.B.I. Clinton Email Investigation,” by NYT’s Adam Goldman and Mike Schmidt: “New details about the deletion of Mrs. Clinton’s emails...Mrs. Clinton relied on her staff to know what was classified … Colin Powell had told Mrs. Clinton to ‘be very careful’...Some of Mrs. Clinton’s closest aides were unaware of the server...Mrs. Clinton had taken her BlackBerry into prohibited areas … Mrs. Clinton had used a lot of electronic devices to send emails.” http://nyti.ms/2cmFAgA
--The 12 juiciest bits, via POLITICO’s Nick Gass: http://politi.co/2c88za4
--TRUMP responds on Philadelphia’s WCAU, via CBS’s embed extraordinaire Sopan Deb, referring to the fact that Clinton told the FBI she thought the letter ‘C’ was “referencing paragraphs marked in alphabetical order”: “She didn’t know what the letter C was. Now, she did fail her bar exams in Washington, D.C., so maybe she wouldn’t, I don’t know. But to think that Hillary Clinton doesn’t understand what the letter C is … Why don’t they have tape recordings of this meeting?” http://bit.ly/2bXLfsa
HOW IT’S PLAYING, national and swing-state edition -- WaPo, “FBI documents reveal new details on Clinton email -- STAFF AT TIMES IGNORED STATE DEPT. RULES -- Investigators uncovered a disorganized system” http://bit.ly/2c16BrI …Cleveland Plain Dealer (using NYT story), “FBI files offer new details on inquiry Clinton questioned about her judgment” http://bit.ly/2bT6ECq … Denver Post(banner headline, five columns across the top), “E-mail details released … FBI documents include no big revelations but show carelessness by Clinton, staff” http://bit.ly/2cmFOnJ … Miami Herald, “A look inside the FBI’s files on Clinton’s email -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s interview with the FBI over her private email server was recounted in a summary released Friday.”http://bit.ly/2bTmoHo
Note: The Clinton/FBI story did not appear on the front page of many papers around the country, including the Cincinnati Enquirer, Arizona Republic, LA Times, the Sun Sentinel (of south Florida), Des Moines Register, Detroit Free Press, Charlotte Observer and Salt Lake Tribune.
Good Saturday morning. Good news from Capital Weather Gang if you’re in D.C.:“D.C.-area forecast: Hermine begins its dance with the region, worst impacts staying east.” http://wapo.st/2bLv86v Enjoy the long weekend.
WHAT BROOKLYN HOPES YOU’RE READING -- “Trump pays IRS a penalty for his foundation violating rules with gift to aid Florida attorney general,” by WaPo’s David Fahrenthold: “Donald Trump paid the IRS a $2,500 penalty this year, an official at Trump’s company said, after it was revealed that Trump's charitable foundation had violated tax laws by giving a political contribution to a campaign group connected to Florida’s attorney general. The improper donation, a $25,000 gift from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, was made in 2013. At the time, Attorney General Pam Bondi was considering whether to investigate fraud allegations against Trump University. She decided not to pursue the case.” http://wapo.st/2bJZ8cJ
-- @NickMerrill (Clinton’s traveling press secretary): “After weeks of dead-end insinuations abt @ClintonFdn, IRS fines Trump for pay-to-play. Network news mentions? Zero.”
DICTATOR UPDATE -- Dead: Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov. Alive: Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.
TRUMP IN PHILLY -- “Not a bigot, Trump tells black audience in Philly, with protests outside,” by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Chris Brennan: “Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump told a handful of African Americans in North Philadelphia on Friday that he is not a bigot, and blamed the media for portraying him that way, according to people who attended a private event.” http://bit.ly/2c2g1SP
-- A1 of the Philly Inquirer banner: “Trump Reaches Out -- He told a black audience in N. Phila. that he is not a bigot -- Mayor Kenney ‘is doing a terrible job,’ candidate says.” http://bit.ly/2cnTdyG
-- Trump on Philadelphia radio: “I think you’re going to have to have [stop and frisk]. So many people are being killed in Philadelphia that it’s actually incredible when you look at the stats.”
--THE REALITY: Philadelphia homicide stats. 2012: 331 … 2013: 246 … 2014: 248 … 2015: 280. 2016: homicides up by 8% compared to this day in 2015.
TRUMP TO MICHIGAN -- “Donald Trump to visit Detroit church today in appeal to black voters,” by the Detroit Free Press’s Kathleen Gray: “The presidential campaign descends on Michigan this Labor Day weekend with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump headed to Detroit today to court the votes of African Americans. And former President Bill Clinton will speak at the annual Labor Day festivities in Detroit in an attempt to secure the union vote for his wife — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Details have been scarce and sometimes contradictory for the Trump visit. The campaign's official website didn't include the trip to the Great Faith Ministries International church in Detroit on its schedule, and campaign officials still hadn't provided details for the trip by late Friday afternoon….In Michigan, among African Americans statewide, Clinton is getting 91% of the vote in the latest poll from the Lansing-based polling firm EPIC/MRA. That poll was conducted last month. In Detroit, where the sample size is much smaller and the margin of error is greater, she gets 92% of the vote with 8% of those surveyed undecided.” http://on.freep.com/2bTnS4n
-- FREE PRESS A1 banner headline -- “Trump wants to use Detroit, black voters” http://bit.ly/2bToC9N
ALSO HAPPENING TODAY -- Mike Pence is in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
WHAT TRUMP TOWER IS READING -- “Clinton isn’t doing better than previous Democrats with Latinos — even against Trump,” by WaPo’s Abby Phillips: “In Nevada and Florida, the two battleground states with the highest Latino populations, the Democratic nominee remains locked in a close race with Trump. Clinton is polling about the same as Democrats in previous contests among Latinos nationally, apparently gaining no ground from Trump’s historic unpopularity. The close polls in Nevada and Florida have prompted Clinton’s allies to begin spending money targeting Hispanic voters in those states. The campaign itself will also begin airing Spanish-language ads in battleground states after Monday.
“But some Democratic strategists fear that Clinton has already missed a unique opportunity and warn that counting on Hispanic voters to turn out just because they hate Trump is not a reliable strategy. Unlike President Obama four years ago, Clinton has run virtually no Spanish-language television ads in the general election, with the exception of a spot that aired during a one-day soccer event.” http://wapo.st/2co0XRc
DEBATE PREP -- “Commission names moderators for presidential debates,” by Hadas Gold: “NBC’s Lester Holt, ABC’s Martha Raddatz, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Fox News’ Chris Wallace and CBS’ Elaine Quijano will moderate presidential and vice presidential debates this fall, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Friday. Holt, anchor of NBC’s ‘Nightly News,’ will moderate the first debate at Hofstra University in New York on Sept. 26, which will be a traditional debate divided into six segments of 15 minutes each on major topics to be determined by Holt.” http://politi.co/2c2KqmC
--GREAT DETAIL from John Koblin and Jeremy Peters in the NYT: “Competing interests and political agendas on all sides made the decision of selecting moderators difficult. Hillary Clinton, whose campaign objected to the involvement of anyone from Fox News, according to a person directly involved in the negotiations, needs to avoid having the debate turn into a televised catharsis for doubts about her honesty and likability. Her opponent, Donald J. Trump, has an interest in maintaining his adversarial relationship with the media, which he uses as fodder for his arguments that the entire political system is conspiring to defeat him … Complicating matters further, Mr. Trump has a long and chilly relationship with one of the co-chairmen of the commission, Frank Fahrenkopf. In particular, Mr. Fahrenkopf and Mr. Trump butted heads over Mr. Trump’s unwillingness to pay dues to the [gaming association].” http://nyti.ms/2cxI9Aj
BAILEY’S UPDATE -- “Tensions Deepen Between Donald Trump and R.N.C.,”by NYT’s Alex Burns and Maggie Haberman: “[S]enior advisers to Mr. Priebus and Mr. Trump have collided over the turbulence in the campaign, the senior Republicans said. Mr. Trump’s top policy adviser questioned Mr. Priebus’s competence in a caustic email this week after the Phoenix speech. And Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Mr. Priebus’s chief of staff clashed in a tense meeting over the use of the committee’s war chest.
“Within Mr. Trump’s circle, there is impatience with what advisers view as a cautious and conventional party bureaucracy, ill-equipped to accommodate Mr. Trump’s improvisational style. At times, Trump aides have vented that frustration in language that was contemptuous of Mr. Priebus, a genial Wisconsin lawyer who has been chairman for five years. When Mr. Trump’s immigration speech this week spurred resignations from the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Trump, a party-backed group, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers lashed out at Mr. Priebus in an email to the campaign staff. ‘The RNC needs to take control of this situation and quickly,’ wrote Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior policy adviser, who often travels with the candidate.
“Describing the Hispanic Republicans who resigned in dismay as ‘professional amnesty lobbyists,’ Mr. Miller asked, ‘Can Reince do his job?’” http://nyti.ms/2c2HxSX
DETAILS, DETAILS -- “Trump surrogate admits falsifying biographical claims,” by CNN’s Sophie Tatum: “South Carolina preacher Mark Burns, who regularly introduces Trump at his campaign events, had listed on his church's website that he had a Bachelor of Science degree and served six years in the Army Reserve. Burns, however, was never in the Army Reserve. He was in the South Carolina National Guard, from which he was discharged in 2008, CNN found.
“As far as a Bachelor’s degree, North Greenville University told CNN he only attended the school for one semester. Burns admitted that he did not finish his degree when CNN asked him about it. When CNN confronted Burns about the various professional and social exaggerations he had featured on his biography, Burns first said the page had ‘obviously’ been either ‘manipulated or either hacked or added.’ But the site host, Wix, said there was no evidence of a hack.
“‘This is not fair at all,’ Burns told Blackwell during the interview. ‘I thought we were doing a profile and all of a sudden you’re here to try to destroy my character.’”http://cnn.it/2c2LR4u
MOOD MUSIC – MOLLY BALL in TheAtlantic.com, “Donald Trump and the Politics of Fear”: “‘People are scared,” Donald Trump said recently, and he was not wrong. Fear is in the air, and fear is surging. Americans are more afraid today than they have been in a long time: Polls show majorities of Americans worried about being victims of terrorism and crime, numbers that have surged over the past year to highs not seen for more than a decade. Every week seems to bring a new large- or small-scale terrorist attack, at home or abroad. Mass shootings form a constant drumbeat. Protests have shut down large cities repeatedly, and some have turned violent. Overall crime rates may be down, but a sense of disorder is constant.
“Fear pervades Americans’ lives—and American politics. Trump is a master of fear, invoking it in concrete and abstract ways, summoning and validating it. More than most politicians, he grasps and channels the fear coursing through the electorate. And if Trump still stands a chance to win in November, fear could be the key.” http://theatln.tc/2bLpUYi
WHAT BROOKLYN WANTS YOU TO READ, PART II -- “How the Press is Making the Clinton Foundation into the New Benghazi,” by Paul Glastris in the Washington Monthly: “Did donors to the Foundation get special access to the secretary and the department as a result of their donations? If they did get special access, did they receive any favors? Did Hillary or her staff do anything illegal, unethical, or contrary to U.S. interests or administration policy? The good news is that as a result of these investigations we can now answer those questions pretty definitively: no, no, and no. The bad news is that the press doesn’t seem to want to take ‘no’ for an answer, even if the answer is based on the evidence of its own reporting.’” http://bit.ly/2cmIOQY
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- “House Speaker Paul Ryan to shore up GOP war chest in Greenwich,” by Neil Vigdor in the Connecticut Post: “Ryan … will command $41,100 per plate for dinner Sept. 19 at the Conyers Farm estate of Clifford Asness, the billionaire founder of the Greenwich hedge fund AQR Capital Management.” http://bit.ly/2clDBMk
FOR THE RECORD -- GEORGE SHULTZ AND HENRY KISSINGER: “We are not making any endorsement in the current presidential election. We are dedicated to fostering a bipartisan foreign policy and we will devote ourselves to this effort now and after the election.”
HILL WATCH -- “Charlie Crist’s last shot at redemption,” by Heather Caygle in St. Petersburg, Florida: “Charlie Crist just can’t help himself. If there’s an election — he’s not especially picky about the race, whether it’s for governor, the Senate or the House, or the party, Republican, Democrat or independent, he’s tried them all — his name will be on the ballot. The former governor of Florida, Crist has been perpetually running for one office or another for the past 25 years. But the personal stakes of his current race for Congress, in a district where he once played quarterback for his high school football team, are higher than ever … ‘Truly, for him, this is win or go home,’ said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, a Florida operative who advised Crist in his last governor’s race but isn’t involved in this campaign.” http://politi.co/2cmPluY
BACK TO SCHOOL READS -- "Why parents are getting angrier: ‘Children are bored out of their skulls with real life’: Mike Fisher shows parents how to deal with their rage. He’s busier than ever – partly because children would rather be on social media or gaming,” by The Guardian’s Nicola Skinner: “Over two decades, Mike Fisher has seen first-hand the effect of anger on children and their parents. Since setting up the British Association of Anger Management in 1999, he has worked with tens of thousands of people, helping them to manage and understand their anger. For the past 13 years he has also delivered one-day workshops specifically aimed at parental anger, for Ealing council in west London. The course is always heavily oversubscribed.” http://bit.ly/2c9wZQB
THE NEW GILDED AGE: “Back-to-School Divide: $195 Headbands and $1 Glue Sticks,” by the NYT’s Rachel Abrams: “The fashion brand Kate Spade is most known for luxury handbags. But it is also banking on gold-accented staplers, monogrammed planners and $30 ballpoint pens to help buoy sales during the increasingly important back-to-school shopping season. The discount retailer Dollar Tree is also expecting students and their parents to lift sales, particularly after an unusually weak second quarter. But instead of fancy notebooks, it is focusing on the other end of the price spectrum, like $1 packs of tape, glue sticks and pencils. As the income gap in the United States has turned into a chasm, luxury and discount retailers have become increasingly deft at attracting people at the separate ends of the income spectrum. Stores positioned for the middle, like traditional department stores, have struggled by comparison.” http://nyti.ms/2cnYGWa
TWO TAKES ON MOTHER TERESA -- who will become a SAINT today. NYT: “A Critic’s Lonely Quest: Revealing the Whole Truth About Mother Teresa,” by Kai Schultz in Kolkata, India: “Taking on a global icon of peace, faith and charity is not a task for everyone, or, really, hardly anyone at all. But that is what Dr. Aroup Chatterjee has spent a good part of his life doing as one of the most vocal critics of Mother Teresa. Dr. Chatterjee, a 58-year-old physician, acknowledged that it was a mostly solitary pursuit. ‘I’m the lone Indian,’ he said in an interview recently. ‘I had to devote so much time to her. I would have paid to do that. Well, I did pay to do that.’” http://nyti.ms/2c2I9HT
--WSJ: “Mother Teresa’s Other Lifework: Corporate Chieftain of a Global Religious Order: Missionaries of Charity’s strong corporate culture would be the envy of many global firms; one of the largest women’s religious orders in the Catholic Church,” by Francis X. Rocca in Vatican City: “Mother Teresa’s clear vision, personal charisma and sheer force of will—all inseparable from her deep religious commitment—allowed her to succeed where many charitable organizations, both religious and secular, have failed...Starting the Missionaries of Charity with only 12 followers in 1950, the diminutive nun built a global network whose members today number more than 5,600, running hospices, homeless shelters and homes for the mentally ill and many other services in 139 countries, making it one of the largest women’s religious orders in the Catholic Church. By the 1990s, more than one million volunteers had worked for the Missionaries.” http://on.wsj.com/2ccNw4G
DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK -- “Trey Radel to host SWFL radio show Daybreak again,” by Naples Daily News’ Alexandra Glorioso: “Radel, who resigned his congressional seat in the wake of a cocaine scandal, will return to the radio job he had before politics, hosting the Daybreak for Fox 92.5. ‘As I’ve grown older — maybe not always wiser, but older — and been through what I’ve been through, I don’t feel any obligation whatsoever to give out garbage political talking points … especially Republican talking points,’ Radel said.” http://bit.ly/2c84ORV
GABE SHERMAN on the cover of N.Y. Mag, “Fox and Prey -- Roger Ailes and the rot at America’s most powerful news network” (online headline: “The Revenge of Roger’s Angels”: How Fox News women took down the most powerful, and predatory, man in media”: “Taking on Ailes was dangerous, but [Gretchen] Carlson was determined to fight back. She settled on a simple strategy: She would turn the tables on his surveillance. Beginning in 2014 ... Carlson brought her iPhone to meetings in Ailes’s office and secretly recorded him saying the kinds of things he’d been saying to her all along. ‘I think you and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago, and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better. Sometimes problems are easier to solve’ that way, he said in one conversation. ‘I’m sure you can do sweet nothings when you want to,’ he said another time. ...
“Fox News also obtained the phone records of journalists, by legally questionable means. According to two sources with direct knowledge of the incident, [Dianne] Brandi, Fox’s general counsel, hired a private investigator in late 2010 to obtain the personal home- and cell-phone records of Joe Strupp, a reporter for the liberal watchdog group Media Matters. (Through a spokesperson, Brandi denied this.) In the fall of that year, Strupp had written several articles quoting anonymous Fox sources, and the network wanted to determine who was talking to him. ‘This was the culture. Getting phone records doesn’t make anybody blink,’ one Fox executive told me.” http://nym.ag/2bHNjUx ... The killer cover http://nym.ag/2bMGEvB
DEEP DIVE -- LA Times, “a mystery in six parts”: “FRAMED -- She was the PTA mom everyone knew. Who would want to harm her?” http://lat.ms/2bXOIad
MEDIAWATCH – “Steve Bannon’s ‘tough love’: Former Breitbart employees paint a scathing portrait of Donald Trump’s new campaign chief,” by Hadas Gold: “Two recounted Bannon’s use of nicknames for his staff -- cruel pejoratives that implied they were ‘expendable, low-life creatures,’ as one former employee characterized it. ‘Grundoon,’ the gibberish-speaking diapered groundhog from the comic strip Pogo, was a favorite, one former staffer said: ‘It refers to a low-life, a low-intelligence worker.’” http://politi.co/2bJXK9P
CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker – 12 funnies http://politi.co/2bTnNxz
GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman, filing from Vineyard Haven, Mass.:
--“Abandoned in Iraq: Inside Two Soldiers’ Harrowing Escape,” by Seth Harp in Rolling Stone: “The true story of U.S. soldiers left for dead in Iraq, their epic battle for survival, and the military cover-up that kept them silent – until now.” http://rol.st/2bHNX9u
--“Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis – one of the greatest love letters ever written,” by Colm Tóibín in The Guardian: “Written towards the end of Wilde’s incarceration, De Profundis is bitter, seductive, hurt and passionate. Ahead of a public reading, Colm Tóibín visits the cell in which Wilde put pen to paper.” http://bit.ly/2cf1NfW
--“Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists Are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom,” by Richard Grant in Smithsonian: “The Great Dismal Swamp was once a thriving refuge for runaways.” http://bit.ly/2bYf5jg (h/t TheBrowser.com)
--“Lost cities #1: Babylon – how war almost erased ‘mankind’s greatest heritage site,’” by Justin Marozzi in The Guardian: “In the first of a 10-part series, Justin Marozzi tells the story of this once-mighty city in Iraq – a microcosm of human history. Besieged by wars and weather, ‘restored’ by Saddam Hussein, what has become of mystical Babylon?” http://bit.ly/2bHLMh3
--“When Intervention Works: The Instructive Case of Sierra Leone,” by David H. Ucko in WarOnTheRocks.com: “[W]hile there is good reason for humility, some interventions do work. In some cases, deployed forces meet their objective, military and political efforts are integrated, and peace is crafted out of war. It can happen…” http://bit.ly/2bYgMNO
--“Attack of the Killer Robots,” by Sarah A. Topol in BuzzFeed: “Forget about drones, forget about dystopian sci-fi — a terrifying new generation of autonomous weapons is already here. Meet the small band of dedicated optimists battling nefarious governments and bureaucratic tedium to stop the proliferation of killer robots and, just maybe, save humanity from itself.” http://bzfd.it/2bYfG4q
--“Louise Fresco recommends the best books on Food” – FiveBooks.com: “Most people are illiterate when it comes to food, their views based on a combination of personal beliefs, semi-truths and not fully substantiated scientific claims. Dutch food and agricultural scientist, and author, Louise Fresco, picks five books to help us better understand the food we eat.” http://bit.ly/2c6NNro
--“Twilight of the Four Seasons,” by Gary He and Matt Buchanan in Eater: “The final days and nights of the most important restaurant of the twentieth century.” http://bit.ly/2bHQikE (h/t Longreads.com)
--“The iBrain is Here and It’s Already Inside Your Phone,” by Steven Levy on Backhannel: “An exclusive inside look at how artificial intelligence and machine learning work at Apple.” http://bit.ly/2bHQFvl
--“The Real-Life Superhero Who Beats the Cops to Bike Thieves,” by Christopher Solomon in Outside Magazine: “Bike Batman was just an average-seeming guy in Seattle who liked to ride his bicycles. He had no inkling to become a vigilante who would face off against criminals while armed with little more than a smartphone, some spare time, and a pair of brass balls. But sometimes in life, the cape finds you.” http://bit.ly/2ckTjY7
--“Inside the Federal Bureau Of Way Too Many Guns,” by Jeanne Marie Laskas in GQ: “There’s no telling how many guns we have in America—and when one gets used in a crime, no way for the cops to connect it to its owner. The only place the police can turn for help is a Kafkaesque agency in West Virginia, where, thanks to the gun lobby, computers are illegal and detective work is absurdly antiquated. On purpose. Thing is, the geniuses who work there are quietly inventing ways to do the impossible.” http://bit.ly/2c05IyP
--“The Audacious Plan to Save This Man’s Life by Transplanting His Head,” by Sam Kean in September’s Atlantic: “What would happen if it actually works?” http://theatln.tc/2bYiEGm
--“The Disastrous $45 Million Fall of a High-End Wine Scammer,” by Michael Steinberger in Bloomberg Businessweek: “Premier Cru’s John Fox got his clients rare vintages at deep discounts when they purchased cases on ‘pre-arrival.’ Then a few too many failed to arrive.” http://bloom.bg/2bQcNBb
GREAT WEEKEND LISTENS, curated by Jake Sherman, filing from Westlake Village, California:
--Grateful Dead, today in 1977 in Englishtown, New Jersey. http://bit.ly/2bTomaJ Classic Dead, classic show from one of the best years in their history.
--Phish in 2012 in Commerce City, Colorado. In honor of their three-night stand there this weekend, we go back to the archives for one of their best Colorado shows. http://bit.ly/2chSFHo Listen to the “Sand.”
PRESIDENT’S WEEK AHEAD – “On Monday, the President will attend G20 sessions and a G20 working lunch before participating in the closing ceremony for the G20 summit. Afterward, the President will hold a press conference before departing China en route Vientiane, Laos. ... On Tuesday, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with President Bounnhang Vorachith of Laos and attend an official state luncheon. In the afternoon, the President will deliver remarks. Later in the afternoon, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. ...
“On Wednesday, the President will tour the COPE Visitor Centre, where he will deliver remarks. Afterward, the President will travel to Luang Prabang, Laos, where he will tour Wat Xieng Thong Buddhist Temple and participate in a YSEALI town hall. The President will then return to Vientiane. In the evening, the President will attend an ASEAN gala dinner. ... On Thursday, the President will attend a U.S.-ASEAN meeting. Afterward, the President will participate in an EAS family photo then attend the EAS summit. In the afternoon, the President will hold a press conference before departing Laos en route Yokota, Japan and Anchorage, Alaska on the way back to Washington, DC. On Friday, the President will return to Washington, DC.”
SPOTTED: Jessica Biel on an AA flight from DCA to St. Louis. Per our tipster: “The flight was grounded first because of weather and then because the First Officer ‘timed out’ and they had to find another one. We were four hours delayed and she waited it out just like the rest of us.”
JOHN DICKERSON on with Stephen Colbert! http://bit.ly/2bTkLJO
TRANSITIONS -- David Boyajian -- a McCain ‘08, Romney ‘12 and Bloomberg LP alumnus -- is starting business school at Georgetown.
BIRTHDAYS: CNN’s Brian Stelter, the pride of Damascus, Maryland, is 31 ... Rick Perlstein is 47 ... Shawn Sachs, CEO of Sunshine Sachs … John Mercurio, managing director of Purple Strategies … Politico’s Carly Sandstrom and Todd Lindeman …Kim Rubey, head of comms at Airbnb ... Jonathan Silver, clean energy investor and managing director at Tax Equity Advisors and former Obama staffer ... Rita Hite, EVP at the American Forest Foundation (h/ts Jon Haber) ... John Zogby is 68 ... Time’s Edward Felsenthal ... CBS News campaign journalist Erica Brown, covering Tim Kaine ... Sarah Belknap, director of platform partnerships at Targeted Victory and an i360 alum (h/t fiance Kevin Curran) ... Lucia Alonzo, director at Podesta Group (bro tip: Austin) ... WSJ’s Kristina Peterson ... Mari Manoogian ... Dominic K. Hawkins, associate at SKDKnickerbocker ... Gary Zaetz is 62 ... Graeme Crews of Florida Dems and a Hillary for America and Donna Brazile alum … NBC News’ Adam Reiss ... Gillian Turner of the Jones Group and a Fox News contributor
… Romney alum Alex McConnell of UPS Public Affairs (h/t his podmates for life) ... Samuel Lea ... Hillary Allen of Rep. Norton’s office ... John McDonald, LA for Sen. Burr ... Mara Stark-Alcala, press secretary for Senate Approps ... former Rep. Thomas Reynolds (R-NY) is 66 ... former Rep. Michael Barnes (D-MD) is 73 ... former Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.) is 8-0 ... Thomas Caballero is 45 ... Joshua Gross, LD for Rep. Jeff DUncan ... Flin Hyre of Sen. Roberts’ office ... Kathi Wise, scheduler for Sen. Barrasso ... Jon Corley, press secretary for Rep. Mac Thornberry ... Bob Simmons, Republican staff director for House Armed Services, is 61 ... former Rep. Michael Huffington (R-Calif.) is 69 ... former Rep. Joseph Kolter (D-PA) is 9-0 ... former Rep. Joe Hoeffel (D-PA) is 66 (h/ts Legistorm) ... Melinda Warner, senior comms director at National Congress of American Indians ... Mary Moffitt … Joshua Morin … Sophie Pink … Adam Ezring … Doug Herman (h/ts Teresa Vilmain) … Mary C. Curtis, Roll Call columnist and NPR contributor ... Kaoru Okamura is 52 ... Liz Hitchcock ... AFSCME’s Tiffany Ricci ... Mohammad Naeem Sidhu ... Scott Horwitz ... “Beetle Bailey” cartoonist Mort Walker is 93 ... Charlie Sheen is 51 ... Olympic snowboarder Shaun White is 3-0 ... hip-hop singer August Alsina is 24 (h/ts AP)
THE SHOWS from @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:
--NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Mike Pence (taped in Columbus, Ohio)... Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Roundtable: Alex Castellanos, Chris Cillizza, VotoLatino president and CEO Maria Teresa Kumar and Kristen Welker
--ABC’s “This Week”: Tim Kaine ... Kellyanne Conway... Democratic pollster Marie Omero and Republican pollster and ABC News contributor Kristen Soltis Anderson. Roundtable: Matthew Dowd, LZ Granderson, Steve Inskeep and Julie Pace
--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Chris Christie... Jeff Flake... new results from the CBS News 2016 “Battleground Trackers” polls from Pennsylvania and North Carolina with CBS News’ Anthony Salvanto ... author Alberto Gonzales. Roundtable: Susan Page, Jamelle Bouie, Molly Ball and Ramesh Ponnuru
--“Fox News Sunday”: Jill Stein ... Ben Carson ... Roundtable: Brit Hume, Anne Gearan, George Will and Neera Tanden
--Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” (10am ET / 9am CT): Gary Johnson (taped)... Susan Ferrechio... Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu (taped) (substitute anchor: Fox News’ Gregg Jarrett)
--Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” (SUN 11am ET / 10am CT): Heidi Przybyla... Sarah Isgur Flores... Ruth Marcus ... Daily Beast columnist Keli Goff ... Amy Holmes ... Gayle Trotter ... Chris Wallace
--CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King (SUN 8am ET): Roundtable: Ashley Parker, Dan Balz, Sara Murray and Abby Phillip
--CNN’s “State of the Union” (9am ET / 12pm ET): Rudy Giuliani ... Tom Perez ... Jeff Flake. Roundtable: Bakari Sellers, Andre Bauer, Kirsten Powers and The LIBRE Initiative’s Rachel Campos-Duffy
--CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” (SUN 10am, 1pm ET): President Barack Obama (taped) ... former Mexican foreign minister and New York University’s Jorge Castañeda... Jibo, Inc. founder and chief scientist and MIT’s Cynthia Breazeal
--CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: (SUN 11am ET): Glenn Beck ... roundtable: Mark Leibovich, Soledad O’Brien and Jacob Weisberg ... Miami Herald executive editor Aminda Marques Gonzalez and Cincinnati Enquirer editor Peter Bhatia
---C-SPAN: “The Communicators” (SAT 6:30pm ET): Author and UNC’s Daniel Kreiss (“Prototype Politics: Technology-Intensive Campaigning and the Data of Democracy”) (from Chapel Hill, NC) ... “Newsmakers” (SUN 10am ET): Bill Cassidy, questioned by AP’s Andrew Taylor and BuzzFeed’s John Stanton ...“Q&A” (SUN 8pm & 11pm ET): Author and Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton (“Clean House: Exposing our Government’s Secrets and Lies”)
--MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton”: (SUN 8-9am ET): Sean “Diddy” Combs... ImpactNetwork founder Bishop Wayne Jackson ... MSNBC contributor Robert Traynham ... Krystal Ball ... Sergeant Shriver National Center on Poverty Law housing justice director Kate Walz... East Chicago Housing Complex resident Shaunte O’Berry
--“MSNBC Live”: (SUN 9-10am ET): The Hill’s Niall Stanage ... MSNBC contributor Robert Traynham ... Jonathan Alter
--MSNBC’s “AM Joy”: (SUN 10am-12pm ET): Joan Walsh... Reason Magazine’s Matt Welch... MSNBC terrorism analyst Malcolm Nance... Rolling Stone’s Greg Palast... author J.D. Vance (“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis”)... Public Religion Research Institute CEO Robert P. Jones ... Krystal Ball ... Bendixen & Amandi International’s Fernand Amandi ... Columbia University’s John McWhorter
--“MSNBC Live”: (SUN 12pm-2pm ET): Susan Del Percio ... Howard Dean ... author and Inside the Pentagon executive producer Kirk Wolfinger (“The Coming Collapse of China”) ... Anne Gearan ... former Bush White House black outreach director Paris Dennard ... Change Agent Consortium spokesman David Bullock
--PBS’s “To the Contrary” with Bonnie Erbé: (airs all weekend): Rebroadcast of special episode: Diversity in the Foreign Service
--Sinclair’s “Full Measure” with Sharyl Attkisson (SUN 10am ET on WJLA and airing on Sinclair stations nationwide): Americans with health insurance provided through work have reason to be concerned about the upcoming Obamacare “Cadillac Tax.” It could be the reason your employer cancels your insurance. Sharyl tells the amazing story of how White House advisers sold Obamacare to the American public. And “Full Measure” examines how the U.S. is beefing up forces in Eastern Europe to counter what some feel is a new threat from Russia. Correspondent Scott Thuman reports from the frontlines with U.S. NATO troops in Estonia. And Sharyl sits down with John McCain to discuss so called runaway spending by the U.S. government. McCain says he’s found 51 examples of taxpayer waste totaling $27 billion dollars.
--Hearst / Sony’s “Matter of Fact” with Fernando Espuelas (airing Sunday in most markets, check local listings): Carmel, IN Mayor Jim Brainard and West Sacramento, CA Mayor Chris Cabaldon ... Baltimore May Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett ... Indian Head, MD Mayor Brandon Paulin ... special message from Soledad O’Brien, who premiers as the new host for season two Sept. 10-11 (substitute host: Jessica Gomez)