Good Sunday morning. Remember: tonight isn’t a school night. Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Packers play the Cowboys in Irving, Texas, at 4:40 p.m. on Fox, and Steelers play the Chiefs in Kansas City at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.
REP. JOHN LEWIS’S trilogy “March” has vaulted to No. 1 on Amazon ($29.99 -- http://amzn.to/2jdop4d) and is temporarily out of stock.
FOR GOOD MEASURE … -- @realDonaldTrump at 7:22 p.m.: “Congressman John Lewis should finally focus on the burning and crime infested inner-cities of the U.S. I can use all the help I can get!”
FIVE-COLUMN BANNER HEADLINE IN THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION -- “ATLANTA TO TRUMP: WRONG” http://bit.ly/2jMs2NT
DEMOCRATS are already fundraising off the John Lewis/Donald Trump dustup. THE APPEAL: “Today, Donald Trump attacked me on Twitter. He said that I'm ‘all talk’ and ‘no action.’ [NAME], I’ve been beaten bloody, tear-gassed, fighting for what’s right for America. I’ve marched at Selma with Dr. King. Sometimes that’s what it takes to move our country in the right direction. We refuse to stop now. We’re not done fighting for progress. We’re ready for the next four years. Are you with us? Join me and chip in whatever you can today to help Democrats stand up to injustice.” See the fundraising appeal http://politi.co/2iWsxVn
TRUMP has not announced how he will spend Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
ON FOX NEWS SUNDAY with CHRIS WALLACE ... --@FoxNewsSunday: “I have great respect for John Lewis.”-@mike_pence … @mike_pence on John Lewis’ ‘legitimate’ comments: It’s deeply disappointing to me, I hope he reconsiders it. … .@mike_pence tells Chris Wallace that he hopes Rep. John Lewis reconsiders his decision not to attend the inauguration. #FNS”
SEN. RAND PAUL told Jake Tapper on CNN's "State of the Union" that he'll vote for Rex Tillerson's confirmation, saying he was "very impressed."
SUNDAY BEST -- MIKE PENCE spoke to JOHN DICKERSON on CBS’ “FACE THE NATION”: DICKERSON: “[The] chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee has decided to investigate Russian meddling in the election. That includes any possible contact between the Russians trying to meddle and the Trump campaign. What's your reaction to that?” PENCE:“Well, I think the president-elect and I both welcome the Congress doing its oversight work in this and any other area. And we look forward to the results of their inquiry. But make no mistake about it. I think they'll find what the publicly released intelligence report showed before, is that there's no evidence of any impact on voting machines, that Donald Trump won this election fair and square.”
-- ON CONTACT WITH RUSSIANS: DICKERSON: “Did any advisor or anybody in the Trump campaign have any contact with the Russians who were trying to meddle in the election?” PENCE: “Of course not. And I think to suggest that is to give credence to some of these bizarre rumors that have swirled around the candidacy. And the fact that a few news organizations, not this one, actually trafficked in a memo that was produced as opposition research and associated that with intelligence efforts I think could only be attributed to media bias.”
-- ON TRUMP’S DIFFERENCE WITH CABINET PICKS: DICKERSON:“The picture that Donald Trump put forward about his view of Russia seems quite different than [incoming Secretary of Defense James Mattis and incoming Secretary of State Rex Tillerson] … My question is: If the American people are listening to Mr. Trump and listening to those men and, more importantly, countries overseas are listening, who's driving the bus? Mr. Trump or those two men?” PENCE: “Well, the great thing about being around Donald Trump is you never have any confusion about who's driving the bus, and where the buck stops, and who will make the final decision. I think as you hear the testimony of Rex Tillerson, of General Mattis, of Mike Pompeo, I think the American people will be greatly encouraged by the fact that the president-elect is assembling around him people of extraordinary background and capability who will bring their own experience and their own perspective to inform the president's decisions.”
-- BERNIE SANDERS spoke to GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS on ABC’S “THIS WEEK” --STEPHANOPOULOS: “A lot of Democrats are disturbed with the FBI Director James Comey, especially after he came up and briefings this week refused to answers questions about whether he’s investigating possible contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Some think he should even step down. Do you?” SANDERS: “I think that Comey acted in an outrageous way during the campaign. And, you know, no one can say that this was the decisive and this was what elected Trump, but clearly his behavior during the campaign in terms of what he said in the week or two before the election was unacceptable. And it is interesting that he is not doing investigations about the possible -- possible ties between Trump’s campaign and the Russians.” STEPHANOPOULOS: “Should he step down?” SANDERS: “I think he should take a hard look at what he has done. And I think it would not be a bad thing for the American people if he did step down.”
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- “The Trump Administration May Evict the Press from the White House,” by Peter Boyer in Esquire: “According to three senior officials on the transition team, a plan to evict the press corps from the White House is under serious consideration by the incoming Trump Administration. If the plan goes through, one of the officials said, the media will be removed from the cozy confines of the White House press room, where it has worked for several decades. Members of the press will be relocated to the White House Conference Center -- near Lafayette Square -- or to a space in the Old Executive Office Building, next door to the White House. ‘There has been no decision,’ Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, said about the plan ... But Spicer acknowledged that ‘there has been some discussion about how to do it.’ ...
“Spicer cast the possible relocation of the press corps as a matter, in part, of logistics. ‘There’s been so much interest in covering a President Donald Trump,’ he said. ‘A question is: Is a room that has forty-nine seats adequate? When we had that press conference the other day, we had thousands of requests, and we capped it at four hundred. Is there an opportunity to potentially allow more members of the media to be part of this? That’s something we're discussing.’ Another senior official, however, suggested a more pointed motivation for the move. According to the official, the potential relocation reflected a view within the transition team that coverage of Trump has been so hostile as to indicate that the press has abandoned its role as neutral observer. ‘They are the opposition party,’ a senior official says. ‘I want ‘em out of the building. We are taking back the press room.’” http://bit.ly/2jdrnpA
-- REINCE PRIEBUS tells CHUCK TODD on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “it hasn’t been determined” if the White House press corps will continue to work from the White House, but that the discussion has centered arond wanting to quadruple the number of reporters who can cover briefings. http://nbcnews.to/2jMBPn1
BOLD TAKE IN THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR -- “VP JOB A CHANCE TO SUCCEED, FAIL: Pence’s position is a huge opportunity, but carries big risks” http://bit.ly/2iWuXn5
L.A. TIMES FRONT -- “Trump’s approach might seem new, but Arnold Schwarzenegger tried it first. It was a disaster,” by Evan Halper: “Long before Schwarzenegger inherited the role of firing underperformers on camera, he was the one selling voters on a pledge to fire an underperforming government. Few politicians are better acquainted than Schwarzenegger with the fickleness of an electorate that propels an outsider with an outsized personality into high office. He experienced how swiftly a populist crowd-pleaser could go from harnessing rage to watching it ricochet in the wrong direction. Adoring crowds who reveled in his pledges to restore integrity and common sense to government turned on him when bureaucratic bloat failed to shrink. Much of what is playing out in Washington feels familiar to the Sacramento politicos who endured the tumult of Schwarzenegger’s first years as California governor.” http://lat.ms/2jdoll8 … A1 PDF http://bit.ly/2iWrPaA
BRACE FOR IMPACT -- “Beijing Says ‘One China’ Policy Isn’t Negotiable: Donald Trump said Friday he wasn’t committed to longstanding policy on Taiwan,” by WSJ’s Te-Ping Chen in Beijing: “China’s foreign ministry issued a thinly veiled rebuke of Donald Trump, following a statement by the U.S. president-elect that the ‘One China’ policy -- which has underpinned bilateral ties for almost four decades -- was negotiable.... Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the policy was the foundation of U.S.-China ties and was nonnegotiable. ‘There is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China,’ Mr. Lu said in a statement that was posted on the foreign ministry’s website on Saturday. ‘In order to avoid disruption to the sound and steady development of the China-U.S. relations and bilateral cooperation in key areas, we urge relevant parties in the U.S. to fully recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan question, approach Taiwan-related issues with prudence and honor the commitment made by all previous U.S. administrations,’ the statement said.” http://on.wsj.com/2iualkU
WAPO’S PAUL KANE: “What to do -- and what not to do -- as a Trump Cabinet nominee” http://wapo.st/2iqnhgA
JMART IN PHOENIX on A21 of the NYT: “When He Goes Low, They Go … Where? Democrats Mull How to Confront Trump”: “As the candidates for chairman of the Democratic National Committee gathered here for a forum on Saturday, they wrestled with a vexing question: how to confront the asymmetrical political warfare of President-elect Donald J. Trump. Be strategic, the candidates advised, and do not take him up on every feud. ‘If you try to go tweet-to-tweet with him, more often than not you’re not going to succeed,’ said Thomas E. Perez, the secretary of labor, warning about going to ‘a knife fight with a spoon.’ Sally Boynton Brown, the executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party, invoked what she called ‘Psychology 101’ for narcissists. Every response to Mr. Trump’s provocations, she warned, risks helping him ‘grow more powerful.’ And Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., said simply, ‘We’re going to need to be smarter than just talking about how bad he is.’” http://nyti.ms/2jmMpUR
SCOOP -- “Peter Thiel considering bid for California governor,” by Alex Isenstadt, the pride of Piedmont, Calif.: “Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and outspoken Donald Trump supporter, is considering a 2018 bid for California governor, according to three Republicans familiar with his thinking. Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, has been discussing a prospective bid with a small circle of advisers, including Rob Morrow, who has emerged as his political consigliere. Morrow has worked at Clarium Capital, the San Francisco-based investment management firm and hedge fund that Thiel started. Those who have been in touch with the 49-year-old entrepreneur are skeptical that he’ll enter the race. He is a deeply private figure, and California is unfriendly territory for a Republican – particularly a pro-Trump one. The president-elect won just over 30 percent of the vote there.” http://politi.co/2jM4Yii
OBAMA LEGACY PROJECT -- “With days left in office, President Obama ushers in dozens of policies. But will they stay seated?” by WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis: “In the past week, the Obama administration overturned a decades-old policy toward Cuban immigrants, forged two major agreements to address racial bias in big-city police departments and approved an unexpected cut in mortgage insurance premiums for hundreds of thousands of low-income and first-time home buyers. Officials even made time, after years of lobbying, to add the rusty patched bumble bee to the list of endangered species. In the final days before President Obama leaves office, administration officials are rushing to complete dozens of tasks that will affect millions of lives and solidify the president’s imprint on history. But in many cases, their permanence is uncertain, and President-elect Donald Trump is already pledging to undo some of them after taking office.” http://wapo.st/2iySHjw
FOR YOUR RADAR -- “Facebook rolls out fake-news filtering service to Germany: Fact-checking tools come as Merkel warns about Russian hacking ahead of elections,” by FT’s Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco: “The world’s largest social network is bringing its test of fake-news filtering tools to Germany in the coming weeks after the spread of false stories such as one claiming that Germany’s oldest church was set on fire by a mob of a thousand people. German users of the social network will now be able to report a story as fake and it will be sent to Correctiv, a third-party fact checker. If the fact checker discovers it is fake, the story will be flagged as ‘disputed’, with an explanation. Disputed stories will not be prioritised by the news feed algorithm and people will receive a warning if they decide to share it. A Facebook spokesman said the company had been in discussions with German media and publishing groups and was working to get more partners on board. ‘Our focus is on Germany right now but we’re certainly thinking through what countries will unveil next,’ he said.” http://on.ft.com/2jxJciH
LAST NIGHT’s SNL “COLD OPEN”: “President-elect Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) holds his first press conference since getting elected”: “On January 20th, I, Donald J. Trump, will become the 45th president of the United States. And then two months later, Mike Pence will become the 46th. I am so excited to live in the White House. I’m even going to have a little pet like all the presidents do. Bill Clinton had socks. Barack Obama had Bo. And I’ll have Paul Ryan. I’m not gay but I cannot wait to give it to that man for four years. ... Who is excited for my inauguration day? [Whoops and cheers] Yes, thank you to those people over there who I definitely did not pay to do that.” 8-min. video http://bit.ly/2jl22MZ
-- KATIE COURIC podcast with Alec Baldwin http://bit.ly/2jkMJng
US WEEKLY: “Melania Trump Will Have a Glam Room With Photo Studio Lighting in the White House,” by Rose Walano: “Melania Trump has yet to move into the White House, but according to her makeup artist, Nicole Bryl, one bit of interior design planning is definite: She'll have her own glam room. ‘There will absolutely be a room designated for hair, makeup and wardrobe,’ Bryl, who has worked with Trump for more than a decade and helped ‘soften’ her look during her husband Donald Trump's presidential campaign, tells Stylish. ‘Melania wants a room with the most perfect lighting scenario, which will make our jobs as a creative team that much more efficient, since great lighting can make or break any look.’” http://usm.ag/2jldCrr
THE OPPOSITION -- “Warren embraces her role as a top Democratic foil to Trump,” by AP’s Steve LeBlanc in Boston: “Donald Trump’s election has propelled Sen. Elizabeth Warren into an even sharper partisan spotlight as she embraces her role as a top Democratic foil to the Republican president-elect. In just the past few weeks, Warren has penned a scathing 16-page critique of Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos; grilled his pick for housing secretary, Ben Carson; co-sponsored legislation requiring the president and vice president to disclose and divest any potential financial conflicts of interest; and signed onto legislation to block the creation of a federal religious registry. The Massachusetts Democrat is leaning on every lever of power she has — from her fundraising prowess to her social media accounts — to position herself as a leading voice of a party in political exile.” http://apne.ws/2jMtzn4
WHAT CHAPPAQUA IS READING -- cover of NYT Sunday Styles, “Wait. Is That Hillary Clinton? Let’s Go Say Hi,” by Laura Holson (print headline: “Not Quite a Victory Tour. But ….”): “Many people might have expected Mrs. Clinton to hole up in her Westchester County compound for months after a brutal campaign season and election loss to her Republican rival, President-elect Donald J. Trump. But in recent weeks, Mrs. Clinton has emerged from the Chappaqua woods with her husband and family in tow, much to the delight of New Yorkers who have embraced her as a battle-scarred heroine, and seem to want to help the former Democratic presidential candidate get over her election blues.” http://nyti.ms/2jSO1Xx
HOTTEST TAKE -- ADAM GOPNIK on NewYorker.com, “The Music Donald Trump Can’t Hear”: “The best way to be sure that 2017 is not 1934 is to act as though it were. We must learn and relearn that age’s necessary lessons: that meek submission is the most short-sighted of policies; that waiting for the other, more vulnerable group to protest first will only increase the isolation of us all. We must refuse to think that if we play nice and don’t make trouble, our group won’t be harmed. Calm but consistent opposition shared by a broad front of committed and constitutionally-minded protesters -- it’s easy to say, fiendishly hard to do, and necessary to accomplish if we are to save the beautiful music of American democracy.” http://bit.ly/2jxzkp9
2017 WATCH -- “Ed Gillespie jets around Virginia to kick off GOP gubernatorial bid,” by WaPo’s Laura Vozzella: “Republican Ed Gillespie barnstormed Virginia on Saturday in a sign of early financial strength in the 2017 governor’s race, winging across the commonwealth in a borrowed plane with a message of economic opportunity and an up-by-the-bootstraps biography. … The fly-around — something more typically seen in the final days of a governor’s race, not 10 months out — will be followed by a four-day RV tour across the state … The splashy kickoff could help set Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman and counselor to President George W. Bush, apart from lesser-funded rivals. He will also use it to reintroduce himself to voters who, he conceded, may have only a vague memory of him as the guy who almost unseated Sen. Mark R. Warner (D) in 2014.” http://wapo.st/2jn892N
FOGGY BOTTOM WATCH -- “Back on the Mekong Delta, John Kerry meets a man who once tried to kill him and finds exoneration,”by WaPo’s Carol Morello in Ca Mau, Vietnam: “It could have been 1969 again as Secretary of State John F. Kerry stood on the bow of the small boat chugging up the Bay Hap River on Saturday, the wind billowing his sleeves and his eyes darting left and right toward banks shrouded in dark foliage. As a young Navy lieutenant, Kerry commanded a Swift boat along this stretch of churning brown waters in the middle of a free-fire zone. Here, he earned a Silver Star for his heroics when he leapt ashore after an ambush to pursue a fleeing Viet Cong with a grenade launcher and shot him dead. Now, some 48 years later and with the rapid approach of sunset on a political career spanning almost four decades, Kerry was about to be yanked back to that time, and come face-to-face with a Viet Cong soldier who had taken part in the ambush.” http://wapo.st/2jkTxkO
A NOTE FROM WALL STREET -- “Eric Cantor: What the Obama Presidency Looked Like to the Opposition: He started with an outstretched hand. Then that changed” in the NYT: “Next week, Donald J. Trump will assume office as the 45th president of the United States. He will govern with Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Democratic leaders must decide whether they will offer solutions that they hope won’t be rejected out of hand by Republicans, or whether they want to oppose everything that comes down the pike. If they choose the former, President Trump will have to decide whether to work to include them in the governing process.
“It is too early to say what choices each side will make, but we know what’s in store for our country if the Democrats opt for pure obstruction or if Mr. Trump and Republicans exclude the minority from policy decisions. We’ll get four years of hyper-partisanship and further erosion of public confidence in our governing institutions. As Americans witness the swearing in of a new president this week, it’s another reminder that our founding fathers wanted elections to have consequences, but they also created a system that requires factions to work together even after a decisive election. It is my hope that the new president and leaders in Congress live up to our founders’ expectations.” http://nyti.ms/2iz1wJU
SHEPARD FAIREY has a new Kickstarter project called “We The People” that’s already raised over $730,000 (the original goal was $60,000): “[T]he idea is to take a full page color ad out in the Washington Post on inauguration day that serve as protest posters. It’s kind of a fun hack to get around the rule against large size signs at the inauguration.” http://kck.st/2jmEfvF
MEDIAWATCH -- TOM HANKS guest hosted this week’s episode of NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”, riffing on the glut of political news in Peter Sagal’s place. http://n.pr/2iz5vpP … Chicago Tribune piece on the show http://trib.in/2iWmxft
DESSERT -- “The big top comes down: Ringling Bros. circus is closing,” by AP’s Tamara Lush: “After 146 years, the curtain is coming down on ‘The Greatest Show on Earth.’ ... The iconic American spectacle was felled by a variety of factors ... Declining attendance combined with high operating costs, along with changing public tastes and prolonged battles with animal rights groups all contributed to its demise. ... Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season and will perform 30 shows between now and May. Major stops include Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn. The final shows will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7 and in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21.” http://apne.ws/2iWazT1
-- @HowardMortman: “#RIP @RinglingBros ...April 5, 1995: When circus visited Congress, @newtgingrich was honorary ringmaster”: Video http://cs.pn/2jlcbcv
CLICKERS -- “Here’s Everything And Everyone Trump Has Attacked On Twitter Since The Election,” by BuzzFeed’s David Mack: http://bzfd.it/2jMedPy
--“You Draw It: What Got Better or Worse During Obama’s Presidency” – NYT: http://nyti.ms/2iqgjZ6
BONUS GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:
--“This 3,500-Year-Old Greek Tomb Upended What We Thought We Knew About the Roots of Western Civilization,” by Jo Marchant in Smithsonian: “The recent discovery of the grave of an ancient soldier is challenging accepted wisdom among archaeologists.” http://bit.ly/2jNpMdj
--“A Night at the Facebook Hotel,” by Jason Gilbert in Contently: “‘Welcome to the Facebook Hotel!’ he said. ‘Your dog died six years ago today!’ After forcing me to look at four photos of my departed dog as a puppy, he handed over my room key. I stepped onto the elevator with a familiar face—a friend from high school jazz band? Or maybe a former weed dealer? I couldn’t be sure.” http://bit.ly/2j9dBnU
--“The Secret Source of Putin’s Evil,” by Peter Savodnik in Vanity Fair: “It’s not the K.G.B., or the Cold War. It’s decidedly more Pushkin-esque, or Peter the Great, than that.” http://bit.ly/2ilEKa9 (h/t TheBrowser.com)
--“How Designers Engineer Luck Into Video Games,” by Simon Parkin in Nautilus Magazine: “The responsibilities and challenges of programmed luck.” http://bit.ly/2jNrn2F (h/t Longform.org)
--“The Detective of Northern Oddities,” by Christopher Solomon in Outside Magazine: “When a creature mysteriously turns up dead in Alaska—be it a sea otter, polar bear, or humpback whale—veterinary pathologist Kathy Burek gets the call. Her necropsies reveal cause of death and causes for concern as climate change frees up new pathogens and other dangers in a vast, thawing north.” http://bit.ly/2jgf1iT
--“Neil Kornze: The Man Cementing Obama’s Public Lands Legacy,”by Abraham Streep in Men’s Journal: “For three years the guy ushered in a significant shift on 245 million acres of public land, an area that is larger than Germany and includes Utah’s Grand Staircase Escalante Monument, Washington’s San Juan Islands, and Browns Canyon, a rafting and hiking paradise just outside the adventure hub of Salida, Colorado.” http://mjm.ag/2jdfpwb
--“The Preposterous Success Story of America’s Pillow King,” by Josh Dean in Bloomberg Businessweek: “Former drug addict Mike Lindell’s multimillion-dollar idea came to him in a dream.” http://bloom.bg/2jsBdnf
--“Sons of the Iranian Revolution,” by Karim Sadjadpour in The Atlantic: “Rafsanjani, Khamenei, and the friendship-cum-rivalry that shaped a country.” http://theatln.tc/2jgURVp
--“Chomsky, Wolfe and me,” by Daniel Everett in Aeon Magazine: “I took on Noam Chomsky’s ideas about language and unleashed a decade of debate and ridicule. But is my argument wrong?” http://bit.ly/2jgVBKq
--“The Concussion Diaries: One High School Football Player’s Secret Struggle with CTE,” by Reid Forgrave in GQ: “Zac Easter knew what was happening to him. He knew why. And he knew that it was only going to get worse. So he decided to write it all down—to let the world know what football had done to him, what he’d done to his body and his brain for the game he loved. And then he shot himself.” http://bit.ly/2ilIV5y(h/t Longreads.com)
--“When the Chinese Were Unspeakable,” by Ian Johnson in the N.Y. Review of Books, reviewing “The Killing Wind: A Chinese County’s Descent into Madness During the Cultural Revolution,” by Tan Hecheng: “The killings were aimed at eliminating a class of people declared to be subhuman. They were organized by committees of Communist Party cadres who ordered the murders to be carried out in remote areas. To make sure revenge would be difficult, officials ordered the slaughter of entire families, including infants”. http://bit.ly/2jsDgYA ... $33.20 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2jxEuSj
--“How Albert Woodfod Survived Solitary,” by Rachel Aviv in The New Yorker: “As one of the Angola 3, he was in isolation longer than any other American. Then he came home to face his future.” http://bit.ly/2iqh9oE
--“‘Hope is an embrace of the unknown’: Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times” – The Guardian: “We may be living through times of unprecedented change, but in uncertainty lies the power to influence the future. Now is not the time to despair, but to act.” http://bit.ly/2ilCSOJ
--“George Plimpton and Papa in Cuba,” by Joel Whitney in Guernica Magazine: “When Ernest Hemingway agreed to his famous Paris Review interview, he had no idea he’d be helping the CIA.” http://bit.ly/2jgKukz (h/t ALDaily.com)
--“Ulysses,” by Edmund Wilson in the July 5, 1922 issue of The New Republic: “The New Republic’s review of James Joyce’s Ulysses.” http://bit.ly/2jNzUCP ... $4 on Amazon http://amzn.to/2iqzUs4
SPOTTED -- Roy and Abby Blunt getting off the shuttle from New York Saturday afternoon. Sen. Blunt helped Abby put her coat on when they stepped off the plane ... Joe Biden at Church of the Annunciation’s 5:30 p.m. mass Saturday … Tony Dolan yesterday at Cafe Milano … Ryan Williams and Kam Mumtaz (making a state visit) at brunch yesterday at Barcelona on 14th Street
OUT AND ABOUT -- Long time Playbooker Heath Clayton of Deloitte celebrated his 30th birthday two weeks early on Saturday night at Bar Dupont with friends and fellow Bush 43 White House alums. On his actual birthday Heath will be arriving in Goa, India to celebrate with close friends as he achieves his goal of visiting 100 countries before his 30th birthday. SPOTTED last night: Blaine Rummel, Bill Eggers, Morgann Rose, John McConnell, R. Clark Cooper, Nate Osburn, Rusty Pickens, David Edmund Black, Benjamin Tomchik, Tug Peterson, and Ravi Singh.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD: CBS News’ “Face the Nation” senior producer Jill Jackson, and David Jackson, comms director at the National Association of Counties, have welcomed Claire Suzanne Jackson, who joins big sister Mila. Claire arrived last night, twelve hours before air time. Pic http://bit.ly/2jMihPu
WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- “Jonathan Capehart and Nick Schmit: One Transition Speeds Another,” by Jacob Bernstein in the N.Y. Times Sunday Styles “Vows” column: “It isn’t often that you get to see a former attorney general of the United States cry, but there was Eric H. Holder Jr. on Jan. 7, standing in a small room in the Jefferson hotel in Washington, dabbing his eyes with a hankie. ... [T]he grooms who stood before him are friends of his. One was Jonathan Capehart, 49, the Pulitzer Prize-winning opinion writer for The Washington Post. The other was Nick Schmit, 36, the assistant chief of protocol at the State Department, where he served under Secretaries John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. And befitting a Washington power couple, their story is filled with A-list political names.”With 7 pix on one page http://nyti.ms/2iu4wE0
--“Kate Nocera, Michael Case” – Times: “Ms. Nocera, 33, ... is the Washington bureau chief for BuzzFeed News. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts and received a master’s degree in journalism from the City University of New York. ... The bride’s father [Joe] was until Jan. 3 a sports business columnist for The New York Times and has been a columnist for the newspaper’s opinion page. He is now a columnist for Bloomberg in New York. ... Mr. Case, 31, is the director of design operations in Washington for Vox Media ... He graduated from SUNY Geneseo, and received a master’s degree in political management from George Washington University. ... The couple met through Tinder in 2014.” With pic http://nyti.ms/2jmQGYb ... Pic of the couple’s first dance http://bit.ly/2jxLVZI
SPOTTED: Joe Nocera (of course), Rosie Gray, Sarah Kliff (a birthday girl today), Michael Ramlet, Kelsey McKinney, Jenny Towns, Valerie Lapinski
REMEMBERING IRWIN ISAACSON, JR., father of Walter -- Times-Picayune’s John Pope: “Irwin Isaacson Jr., an engineer on projects that included the Superdome, the World Trade Center and the Rivergate, died Wednesday ... of a heart attack at Touro Infirmary. He was 91. A lifelong New Orleanian, Mr. Isaacson was president and chairman of Weil and Moses Inc., where he worked for most of his career, said his son Walter Isaacson, president and chief executive officer of the Aspen Institute.” http://bit.ly/2jdnpgD
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- The Ninth Annual Congressional Hockey Challenge has been scheduled for Thursday, March 2 at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Reps. Pat Meehan (R-Pa.), Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) and Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) are expected to suit up for Team Lawmaker, along with several ringers from the Canadian Parliament. Team Lobbyist will defend their 2016 title on the backs of veteran players Seth Webb (Google), Nick Lewis (UPS), Kathleen Black (Coca-Cola), and George Lowe (American Gas Association). The charitable event has raised and disbursed over $800,000 for hockey-related charities since 2008, and is supported by the NHL and the Washington Capitals. http://bit.ly/2jn3m1t
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Karl Beckstein, campaign strategist at APCO Worldwide and former NH state director for Rubio, who celebrated with friends last night at Union Pub (hat tip: Jon Conradi)
BIRTHDAYS: Jeremy Diamond, who celebrated with low-key drinks in NYC with friends (h/t Ali Vitali) … White House Social Secretary Deesha Dyer ... Mark Penn, president and managing partner of private equity firm The Stagwell Group, focused on the marketing services industry, is 63 … Bush 43 WH alum Scott Stanzel, now in PR at Amazon.com … AP alum Chuck Babington, now at Wave Communications, is 63 ... New Yorker staff writer Jon Lee Anderson ... Lorraine Voles, VP of external relations at GWU, celebrating at Carl’s – dancing on the bar of course (h/ts Jon Haber and Teresa Vilmain) ... Pat White, president of ACT for NIH ... Adam Levine, of Mercury, not the Voice, and a Bush WH, NBC and ABC alum (h/ts Dick Keil and Blain Rethmeier) ... Valeri Vasquez, ex CAP and State and now a Cal grad student, is 31 (h/t Dan) ... Politico’s Lisa Zamosky ... Lisa Garcia, former USTR Chief of Staff, Kerry 04 alum, currently getting things done in the TX State Capitol (h/t Amy Brundage) … Carol Kellermann, president of the Citizens Budget Commission (h/t Haber) ... Rebecca Haller, Politico’s director of audience insights and research, celebrating in Paris at all of Sherman’s favorite spots (hubby tip: Matt) ... Sam Schulz, editor at Bloomberg and alum of Politico and NBCUniversal ... Politico’s Dale Bishop … Joe Fuld, founder of the Campaign Workshop (h/t Sean Johnson) ... The Washington Institute’s Alison Percich ...
… Sarah Kliff, deputy managing editor for visuals at Vox.com and an “Obsessive dog owner,” per her Twitter … Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) is 55 ... Katherine LaBeau, associate at Perkins Coie and an OMB alum … Sadie Belle, daughter of Tali Stein and Mo Elleithee ... Jonathan Lynn, head of comms at the IPCC and a Reuters alum, is 62 … Claire DeMatteis, Esq., long-time senior counsel to VP Biden when he was in the U.S. Senate and now EVP and chief counsel at Global Kompass Strategies, Inc. ... Sarah Svoboda, formerly of the NewsHour and Bloomberg, now a DC-based producer for BBC News (h/t Ben Chang) ... Amb. Stuart E. Eizenstat is 74 ... Doug Gottlieb, basketball analyst for CBS Sports, is 41 (h/ts Jewish Insider) ... Christopher Nulty, public affairs lead for Eastern North America at Airbnb and a Yahoo and SEIU alum … Daniel Arkin, the morning editor at NBC News Digital ... Mike Hoffman, executive editor and marketing director at TandemNSI … Jonny Hiler, Rex’s dad and LD for Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Stephen Lewis, producer for MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” ... Lisa (Burgess) Belot, comms manager at Sprint and a U.S. Chamber alum (h/t Doug Michelman, who was a birthday boy yesterday) ... Melissa Green, alum of Peter Orszag and Rahm and now a partner at Rational360 … David Agnew, managing director of Macquarie Group’s Infrastructure & Real Assets division and an Obama W.H. alum … Emily Bradley, director of strategic comms at the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and a “Face the Nation” alum … Joe Coletti, business strategist in U.S. Municipal Finance at RBC Capital Markets and a vet of McCain N.H. and Ohio … Teresa Sadaba Garraza … Eliza Pink … Bob Brammer (h/ts Teresa) … Jordan Ray … Gregory Ehrlich … Erin Matticola … Alex Xu, founder of Baoism Group ... Erin Lardy … James Thompson is 27 … Sean Tuohey ... Toni Verstandig … Todd McKinley … Israr Khan ... Chad Lowe is 49 ... NFL quarterback Drew Brees is 38 ... Pitbull is 36 ... Skrillex is 29 (h/ts AP)