RUSSIAN-OWNED MEGAYACHT makes its way to Palm Beach as Trump readies for Florida -- WHAT AMERICA IS READING -- WH aides give up on trying to control Trump’s Twitter -- TOM RICKS: Why I left Washington Presented by Amazon

Driving the Day

WHAT AMERICA IS READING -- ANNISTON STAR (Alabama): “Moore’s poll numbers down in allegations’ wake” http://bit.ly/2iuF2cA … DENVER POST: “Tax bill’s winners, losers: Ultra-wealthy do well under plan passed by House this week” http://bit.ly/2jD90i1 … DETROIT FREE PRESS: “Rep. Dingell: I was also harassed … She says ‘prominent’ person touched her as allegations mount in D.C.” http://bit.ly/2hJiPdZ …

… CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: “‘Trickle-down’ idea floats back up: GOP says corporate tax cuts would speed growth despite spotty record” http://bit.ly/2mFjjTS … AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: “White House relief plan gets panned: Abbot, other Texas leaders blast $44 billion disaster aid proposal” http://bit.ly/2itI40E … PALM BEACH POST: “Russian oligarch’s huge yacht docks at Port of Palm Beach: No word on whether Roman Abramovich will meet with Trump” http://bit.ly/2lXAawG

-- FASCINATING, via today’s Palm Beach Post’s front page: “Days before President Trump flies into town for Thanksgiving, one of the world’s most expensive yachts, owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, sailed into the Port of Palm Beach Friday afternoon.

“The 533-foot Eclipse, valued at $400 million to $500 million, comes equipped with a pool, helipad, submarine and room for a crew of 92, according to marine websites. It made its way past The Bahamas and docked at 1:15 p.m, taking the slip normally reserved for the Grand Celebration, a cruise ship currently on hurricane-relief duty in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. Originally booked to stay through Dec. 5, the Eclipse may have to leave Dec. 1, as it is being followed by the 644-foot World, billed as ‘the largest private residential ship on the planet,’ which is scheduled to arrive that day.

“Where will the Eclipse go? According to the MarineTraffic app, she plans to head south on the Intracoastal Waterway, toward downtown West Palm Beach. Note to Transportation Security Administration: That would put a Russian submarine within a mile or so of the winter White House.” http://bit.ly/2AbRhp1

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TALKER -- TOM RICKS in FOREIGN POLICY: “Babylon Revisited: Melancholy Thoughts After a Short Trip to Washington, D.C.: As a young reporter in political Washington in the late 1980s, I noticed that there was a type of person who thrived in the driven, transactional environment of the capital.” http://atfp.co/2yXIIKh

HARDSHIP ASSIGNMENT -- JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEX BURNS in Austin: “Republican Governors’ 2018 Dilemma: What to Do About Trump?” http://nyti.ms/2zNR8HS

Good Saturday morning. REALITY FINALLY SETS IN -- “Aides give up on trying to control Trump’s tweets,” by Annie Karni: “When candidate Donald Trump waged a Twitter war against Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who rebuked him from the stage of the Democratic National Convention, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were sent in for a ‘tough love talk’ about the efficacy of the tweets, two former campaign officials recalled. Controlling potentially damaging tweets was a job left mostly to the legal team in the early days of the administration. Former attorneys Marc Kasowitz and Jay Sekulow gave Trump one simple rule to guide his tweeting habit: don’t comment online about the Russia investigation.

“‘The message was, tweet about policy, tweet about politics, but don’t attack the special counsel,’ recalled another former aide. None of the advice seemed to have any lasting effect on a president who views his own impulses as a virtue. And these days, the staff has basically stopped trying: there is no character inhabiting the West Wing who is dispatched to counsel the president when he aims the powerful weapon of his Twitter feed at himself.” http://politi.co/2AYJPdQ

NYT’S PETER BAKER -- “In Mocking Franken Over Claims of Sexual Misconduct, Trump Joins a Debate He Started”: “[T]he notion that Mr. Trump himself would weigh in given his own history of crude talk about women and the multiple allegations against him surprised many in Washington who thought he could not surprise them anymore. A typical politician with Mr. Trump’s history would stay far away from discussing someone else’s behavior lest it dredge his own back into the spotlight. But as Mr. Trump has shown repeatedly during his 10-month presidency, he is rarely deterred by conventional political wisdom even as he leaves it to his staff to fend off the cries of hypocrisy.

“‘Like everything else Trump touches, he hijacks it with his chronic dishonesty and childishness,’ said Mark Salter, a longtime adviser to Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. ‘The intense, angry and largely ignorant tribalism afflicting our politics predates Trump’s arrival on the scene. But he has infused it with a psychopath’s inability to accept that social norms apply to him.’” http://nyti.ms/2hJ8PkX

CLINTON WEIGHS IN ON FRANKEN, MOORE -- “Clinton blasts Trump and Moore over sexual misconduct allegations,” by Cristiano Lima: “Hillary Clinton slammed President Donald Trump and Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on Friday over their alleged sexual misconduct, criticizing them for not ‘accepting responsibility’ and ‘apologizing’ for their reported transgressions as Sen. Al Franken did. Clinton said that Franken, who was accused this week of groping a female broadcaster in 2006, acted responsibly by owning up to his actions and publicly apologizing for them — a far cry from the response given by Trump and Moore, she said.

“The former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee said that Franken’s request to have the Senate ethics panel investigate his sexual misconduct ‘is the kind of accountability I’m talking about.’ ‘I don’t hear that from Roy Moore or Donald Trump,’ she added during an interview with New York’s WABC radio. ‘Look at the contrast between Al Franken, accepting responsibility, apologizing, and Roy Moore and Donald Trump, who have done neither.’” http://politi.co/2hzuE2m

-- CLINTON ON TRUMP’S PRESIDENCY: “Trump ‘has disgraced the office’ … Asked whether there was anything she admired about the Trump’s tenure in office thus far, Clinton replied: ‘No. The answer is absolutely no.’ ‘I didn’t think he’d be as bad as he turned out to be,’ she added.”

TRUMP RESPONDS -- @realDonaldTrump at 8:31 a.m.: “Crooked Hillary Clinton is the worst (and biggest) loser of all time. She just can’t stop, which is so good for the Republican Party. Hillary, get on with your life and give it another try in three years!”

ABOUT THOSE GILLIBRAND-CLINTON COMMENTS -- “Gillibrand remark on Clinton resignation shocks Democrats,” by Gabe Debenedetti in New York: “Kirsten Gillibrand is having a moment, whether she meant to or not. Going where no other prominent Democrat had before on Thursday evening by declaring that Bill Clinton should have resigned the presidency during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the New York senator and potential 2020 presidential contender yet again found herself the face of a national conversation with the potential to dominate headlines and divide her party. ...

“The longtime Clinton ally’s answer to the New York Times question neatly encapsulated how Gillibrand has placed herself front-and-center on the dominant issue of the day, even if it forces a debate her own party is uncomfortable confronting. And it highlighted the political dexterity that her critics and rivals often deride as opportunism: A former conservative Blue Dog House member, Gillibrand has reinvented herself as a leading progressive and face of the Trump resistance ahead of a potential presidential run.” http://politi.co/2hzVmIj



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SHOW ME THE MONEY -- “Roy Moore scandal ignites fundraising explosion for Democratic challenger Doug Jones,” by NBC News’ Alex Seitz-Wald: “The Roy Moore scandal has unleashed a torrent of online donations to Democrat Doug Jones, who was collecting around $250,000 per day in its immediate aftermath ... Democrats may end up in the unlikely situation of dramatically outspending the GOP in the Senate contest in deep red Alabama now that national Republicans have abandoned Moore.” http://nbcnews.to/2zSy4FM

PRESIDENT TRUMP WEIGHS IN ON BIG GAME CONTROVERSY -- @realDonaldTrump at 7:47 p.m.: “Put big game trophy decision on hold until such time as I review all conservation facts. Under study for years. Will update soon with Secretary Zinke. Thank you!” Trump also retweeted Greta Van Susteren and Piers Morgan this morning supporting his decision on trophy hunting.

-- STATEMENT FROM INTERIOR SECRETARY RYAN ZINKE: “President Trump and I have talked and both believe that conservation and healthy herds are critical. As a result, in a manner compliant with all applicable laws, rules, and regulations, the issuing of permits is being put on hold as the decision is being reversed.”

IT’S ALL ABOUT THAT BASE -- “Trump adds five conservatives to list of possible Supreme Court picks,” by Reuters’ Jim Oliphant and Andrew Chung: “In a move certain to please conservatives, President Donald Trump on Friday added five names to his list of candidates for a prospective U.S. Supreme Court vacancy as he presses ahead with a campaign to move the federal judiciary to the right. Two of them are appellate judges who were nominated by Trump earlier this year and confirmed by the Senate: Amy Coney Barrett and Kevin Newsom. Another, Brett Kavanaugh, sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, long viewed as a stepping-stone to the high court. The others were Britt Grant, a Georgia Supreme Court justice, and Patrick Wyrick, a Oklahoma Supreme Court justice.” http://reut.rs/2yVce3h

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE -- “Trump still loves polls,” by Josh Dawsey and Steven Shepard: “As a TV host, Donald Trump loved ratings. As president, he loves polls—as long as they show him on the upswing. He crowed on Twitter hours after landing back in Washington from his 12-day Asia tour about his Rasmussen number—46 percent—noting it was ‘one of the most accurate’ in 2016, and decried ‘fake news’ polls showing his approval in the 30s while also suggesting, with no evidence, that ‘some people’ think his numbers could be in the 50s. (The Rasmussen poll sank to 42 percent on Friday.)

“Aides in the White House often show Trump polls designed to make him feel good, according to aides and advisers. Usually they’re the ones that focus just on voters who cast ballots for him in 2016 or are potential Trump supporters —Trump’s base—but occasionally include public polls like Rasmussen, depending on what the numbers say. ‘You know, I thought that he’d be a little less in campaign mode than he’s been. I think he’s never really kind of gotten out of campaign mode and I thought he might,’ said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump adviser. ‘I guess it’s his judgment that that’s what he has to do but that’s surprised me a little bit.’” http://politi.co/2jAobZp

A PROBLEM FOR REPUBLICANS -- “In towns and cities nationwide, fears of trickle-down effects of federal tax legislation,” by WaPo’s Renae Merle and Peter Jamison: “[I]n small towns and thriving cities, in Republican- and Democratic-leaning states, local leaders are warning that the $1.5 trillion tax legislation moving through Congress threatens to undermine their ability to raise money for government services, including police and schools. The Republican measures would eliminate or severely curtail taxpayers’ ability to lower their federal tax bill by deducting the cost of their state and local taxes. Without that offset, local leaders say, taxpayers will begin to seek relief closer to home, potentially making it more difficult to provide basic services.” http://wapo.st/2j6vAeX

FOR YOUR RADAR -- AP at 9:01 a.m.: “PARIS (AP) - Lebanon’s Hariri says he is returning to his country, confirms he is resigning amid political tensions.”

ANOTHER TWIST IN THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION -- “Congressional aides may have answers on pro-Russia GOP platform change,” by Kyle Cheney: “As U.S. investigators probe whether President Donald Trump’s campaign orchestrated a Russia-friendly change to the Republican Party platform last summer, three senior Capitol Hill aides — including Speaker Paul Ryan’s chief of staff — may have answers about how the episode unfolded. The three staffers, who have not been accused of any wrongdoing, advised the GOP convention's platform committee on foreign policy matters and had front-row seats when a low-profile group of delegates, acting in conjunction with Trump campaign officials, spiked a proposal urging a tougher U.S. policy against Russian aggression in Ukraine.

“That change has drawn scrutiny from the House and Senate intelligence committees as they investigate whether any Trump campaign officials cooperated with Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Some witnesses say they expect it to become a topic of interest in special counsel Robert Mueller’s parallel criminal probe. Spokespeople for the offices of two of the staffers told POLITICO they have not been in contact with Mueller or his team. But Ryan's top aide, Jonathan Burks, would neither confirm nor deny whether he had heard from the special counsel: ‘I’m not going to have any comment,’ he said.” http://politi.co/2A7atUM

-- “Moscow meeting in June 2017 under scrutiny in Trump probe,” by AP’s Desmond Butler, Mary Clare Jalonick and Eric Tucker: “Earlier this year, a Russian-American lobbyist and another businessman discussed over coffee in Moscow an extraordinary meeting they had attended 12 months earlier: a gathering at Trump Tower with President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and his then-campaign chairman. The Moscow meeting in June, which has not been previously disclosed, is now under scrutiny by investigators who want to know why the two men met in the first place and whether there was some effort to get their stories straight about the Trump Tower meeting just weeks before it would become public ... Congressional investigators have questioned both men — lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin and Ike Kaveladze, a business associate of a Moscow-based developer and former Trump business partner — and obtained their text message communications.” http://bit.ly/2hKpTqC

KEEPING HIS SENSE OF HUMOR -- @charlie_savage: “At Mayflower Hotel, Sessions jokes: ‘Is Ambassador Kislyak in the room before I get started? Any Russians? Anybody been to Russia? Got a cousin in Russia?’ #FedSoc2017”. 30-second video http://bit.ly/2A9Cvz7

HMM -- “U.S. Flagged Russian Firm Kaspersky as Potential Threat as Early as 2004,” by WSJ’s Paul Sonne: “A Russian cybersecurity firm whose products current and former U.S. officials suspect Moscow has used as a tool for spying was flagged by U.S. military intelligence as a potential security threat as early as 2004, according to new information the Defense Department provided to Congress. ... The DIA ‘began producing threat reporting referencing Kaspersky Lab as a threat actor as early as 2004,’ according to the email, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, raising questions about why other federal agencies continued to use the firm’s products.” http://on.wsj.com/2mCiHyl

JARED WATCH -- “Kushner failed to disclose outreach from Putin ally to Trump campaign,” by NBC News’ Ken Dilanian and Carol E. Lee: “President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, failed to disclose what lawmakers called a ‘Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite’ involving a banker who has been accused of links to Russian organized crime, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News. An email chain described Aleksander Torshin, a former senator and deputy head of Russia’s central bank who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as wanting Trump to attend an event on the sidelines of a National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in May 2016 ... The email also suggests Torshin was seeking to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official during the convention, and that he may have had a message for Trump from Putin ...

“Kushner rebuffed the request after receiving a lengthy email exchange about it between a West Virginia man and Trump campaign aide Rick Dearborn ... Kushner responded to the email by telling Dearborn and the handful of other Trump campaign officials on the email that they should not accept requests from people who pretend to have contacts with foreign officials to aggrandize themselves ... ‘Pass on this,’ Kushner responded ... ‘A lot of people come claiming to carry messages. Very few we are able to verify. For now I think we decline such meetings.’” http://nbcnews.to/2AamRDs

-- “Kushner attorney fires back at Senate Judiciary Committee,” by CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Evan Perez: “In a letter Friday to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and ranking Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, attorney Abbe Lowell wrote that there were no ‘missing documents’ as the committee has alleged, while criticizing the panel's leaders for going to the media on Thursday with their accusations ‘I would have assumed that, if there were any questions about our productions or exchanges, that would have been communicated to me directly before you made this a media event,’ Lowell wrote.” http://cnn.it/2isWU7A

PUTTING THE SQUEEZE ON MIDDLE EAST PEACE -- “U.S. puts Palestinians on notice: D.C. office may be shuttered,” by AP’s Josh Lederman and Matt Lee: “The Trump administration put the Palestinians on notice Friday that it will shutter their office in Washington unless they’ve entered serious peace talks with Israel, U.S. officials said, potentially giving President Donald Trump more leverage as he seeks an elusive Mideast peace deal. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has determined that the Palestinians ran afoul of an obscure provision in a U.S. law that says the Palestine Liberation Organization’s mission must close if the Palestinians try to get the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israelis for crimes against Palestinians. A State Department official said that in September, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas crossed that line by calling on the ICC to investigate and prosecute Israelis.

“But the law leaves the president a way out, so Tillerson’s declaration doesn’t necessarily mean the office will close. Trump now has 90 days to consider whether the Palestinians are in ‘direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel.’ If Trump determines they are, the Palestinians can keep the office. The official said it was unclear whether the U.S. might close the office before the 90-day period expires, but said the mission remains open at least for now.” http://bit.ly/2yTYzcS

-- “The Mooch is headed to Israel just weeks after ‘tone-deaf’ Holocaust poll,” by Page Six’s Kevin Dugan: “A month after Anthony Scaramucci’s ‘media venture’ posted a tasteless poll on the Holocaust, the short-lived White House communications director is taking a four-day trip to Israel, The Post has learned. ‘I’ll meet everybody,’ he told The Post on Friday, hours before he was to take off. ‘I’m having dinner with Dave Friedman, the ambassador, who’s a great friend of mine.’ The one-time hedgie is also heading to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial site in Jerusalem, he said.” http://pge.sx/2j6XJCy

CLICKER – “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker, whose birthday is today -- 17 keepers http://politi.co/2AQIdlU



Playbook Reads

PHOTO DU JOUR: Maryland lacrosse player Dylan Maltz (right) of Ashburn, Va., shows off his pro-Trump tie to President Donald Trump as the president meets with NCAA championship teams at the White House on Nov. 17. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

THE GRINCH -- “CIA nixes holiday party invites for media,” by Ali Watkins: “CIA Director Mike Pompeo has opted not to invite reporters to the CIA’s annual holiday party this year, ending a years-long streak of inviting the intelligence press corps to the upscale event. The event has historically provided a rare opportunity for reporters to mingle with agency officials who typically shun or avoid them — but that the idea has been nixed by Pompeo, who has been openly critical of the news media, was hardly surprising. ... The party, held in the agency’s iconic headquarters lobby, is also a famously bizarre Washington exercise. Reporters, closely minded by the CIA’s press staff, are able to mingle in the hors d’oeuvres line with station chiefs, foreign partners and occupants of the CIA’s executive offices.” http://politi.co/2zPqD48

BRETT TALLEY PROFILE – “Law clerk by day, ghost hunter by night, now Trump’s judiciary nominee,” by WaPo’s Robert O’Harrow Jr.: “Few in memory have been nominated with credentials quite like those of [Brett] Talley, 36, an Alabama native, a political speechwriter, an author of horror books and a fledgling lawyer who has never tried a case. In 2009 and 2010, he was a member of the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, a volunteer operation that since the early 2000s has held all-night vigils and used infrared cameras, handheld sensors and other devices to search for spectral entities in plantation mansions, abandoned hospitals and other buildings. ... In 2014, when he was a speechwriter on Capitol Hill, Talley took a Post reporter ghost hunting in a District cemetery.” http://wapo.st/2ze5jGK

NOT THE ONION – “Candidate for Ohio governor reveals sexual past on Facebook,” by AP’s Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus: “A state Supreme Court justice running for governor volunteered candid details of his sexual past on Facebook on Friday, saying he was taking a swipe at the ‘media frenzy’ over sexual misconduct. Democrat William O’Neill’s post was immediately attacked as inappropriate and led to calls for his ouster. In it, he wrote that he has been ‘sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females,” including ‘a gorgeous blonde’ with whom he ‘made passionate love’ in a hay loft and a ‘drop dead gorgeous red head’ from Cleveland.” http://bit.ly/2zPfuAH

WES GOODMAN UPDATE -- “How a conservative group dealt with a fondling charge against a rising GOP star,” by WaPo’s Kimberly Kindy and Elise Viebeck: “On a fall evening two years ago, donors gathered during a conference at a Ritz-Carlton hotel near Washington to raise funds for a 31-year-old candidate for the Ohio legislature who was a rising star in evangelical politics. Hours later, upstairs in a hotel guest room, an 18-year-old college student who had come to the event with his parents said the candidate unzipped his pants and fondled him in the middle of the night.

“The frightened teenager fled the room and told his mother and stepfather, who demanded action from the head of the organization hosting the conference ... Tony Perkins, president of the Council for National Policy [and head of the Family Research Council] ... Goodman, 33, abruptly resigned this week after state legislative leaders learned of what the House speaker called ‘inappropriate behavior related to his state office.’ Local media outlets have reported the behavior involved a consensual sexual encounter with a male visitor in his legislative office.” http://wapo.st/2AYMkgf

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP -- “Rep. Gianforte’s account to police on assault of reporter appears to contradict his later apology,” by WaPo’s Ellie Silverman: “Documents released by law enforcement officials in Montana on Friday show that Greg Gianforte, then the Republican candidate in the state’s special congressional election, told police in May that a reporter from the Guardian had grabbed his wrist during a physical altercation at his campaign headquarters, blaming the ‘liberal media’ for ‘trying to make a story.’ His statement appears to contradict the apology he later issued to Ben Jacobs, saying the reporter ‘did not initiate any physical contact with me,’ raising questions about whether the congressman was truthful with authorities. Travis Hall, a spokesperson for Gianforte, referred The Washington Post to a statement given to the Associated Press, in which he said the information in the documents was ‘nothing new.’” http://wapo.st/2jyIgPE



VALLEY TALK -- “The TED talks empire has been grappling with sexual harassment, interviews and internal emails show,” by WaPo’s Elizabeth Dwoskin and Danielle Paquette: “[B]ehind the scenes, TED owner Chris Anderson and other senior officials [has] been grappling with accusations for much of the year that their own conferences, famed for turning short speeches by leading figures into viral videos, had not been a safe place for women — and that the atmosphere of predatory male behavior was getting worse. At least five people, including a past main stage speaker, told TED officials that they were harassed or groped during the organization’s flagship conference in Vancouver in April.” http://wapo.st/2iu1DWJ

-- “Y Combinator Cuts Ties With Peter Thiel After Ending Part-Time Partner Program,” by BuzzFeed’s Ryan Mac: “Billionaire venture capitalist and Facebook board member Peter Thiel is no longer affiliated with startup accelerator Y Combinator, according to an edited company blog post. Thiel was formerly a part-time partner with the accelerator.” http://bzfd.it/2zNwd7C

CHRIS FRATES talks to former Obama WH ethics czar and Amb. Norm Eisen about “suing Trump, returning to his mother’s homeland as ambassador after she was driven out and sent to Auschwitz by the Nazis, and being the inspiration for a Jeff Goldblum character.” “Politics Inside Out with Chris Frates” airs today at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m., and Monday at 2 p.m. on SiriusXM channel 124 and on demand on the SiriusXM app. Clips for Playbookers: Eisen on resisting Trump https://goo.gl/vhTdtd ... Finding Nazi artifacts in the U.S. ambassador’s house in Prague https://goo.gl/BnchFU ... Goldblum https://goo.gl/HF8J8A

MEDIAWATCH -- “The Kochs Are Inching Closer to Becoming Media Moguls,” by NYT’s Sydney Ember and Ken Vogel: http://nyti.ms/2mACNsE

-- “Daily Beast among digital sites eyeing sale,” by CNN’s Dylan Byers: “Digital media is facing a reckoning. The start-ups that were once the darlings of the industry are facing budget shortfalls and revenue declines as they struggle to survive in an over-saturated market where Google and Facebook lay claim to the vast majority of ad dollars. Now, the bubble is bursting and many of these companies are looking to sell. In the latest evidence of volatility, CNN has learned that IAC is entertaining potential buyers for The Daily Beast, the news and opinion site launched nearly a decade ago by former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown.” http://cnnmon.ie/2ze19yu

-- CHRIS WALLACE in WaPo, “The media is giving up its place in our democracy”: http://wapo.st/2jzPyTf

-- TYLER BRULE’s final FT column http://on.ft.com/2zRvgZy

LATE-NIGHT BEST -- BILL MAHER’s segment last night pushing back against efforts to conflate Al Franken’s action with the sexual abuse allegations facing Roy Moore, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Donald Trump and others. 7-min. video http://bit.ly/2AWQ7Lc

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman, filing from Middleburg, Virginia:

-- “Your Reckoning. And Mine,” by Rebecca Traister in NYMag: “As stories about abuse, assault, and complicity come flooding out, how do we think about the culprits in our lives? Including, sometimes, ourselves.” http://bit.ly/2zMLsOp

-- “The Tech Industry’s Gender-Discrimination Problem,” by the New Yorker’s Sheelah Kolhatkar: “The dramatic imbalance in pay and power has created the conditions for abuse. More and more, women are pushing for change.” http://bit.ly/2A7pcyZ

-- “How One Woman’s Digital Life Was Weaponized Against Her,” by Brooke Jarvis in Wired – per Longform.org’s description: “After the relationship ended, the harassment began.” http://bit.ly/2hJ1uBT

-- “The Meaning of Sharp Power,” by Christopher Walker and Jessica Ludwig in Foreign Affairs: “Over the past decade, China has spent tens of billions of dollars to shape public opinion and perceptions around the world, employing a diverse toolkit that includes thousands of people-to-people exchanges, wide-ranging cultural activities, the development of media enterprises with global reach, and educational programs. The most notable of these is the ever-expanding network of Confucius Institutes.” http://fam.ag/2zOSvWc

-- “The Lost Genocide,” by Doug Bock Clark in Longreads: “Why the United Nations may never be able to prosecute the Rohingya genocide.” http://bit.ly/2yTOcWw

-- “On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality,” by Phil Christman in the Hedgehog Review -- per ALDaily.com’s description: “What’s it like to be from “an abstract nowhere”? Midwesterners have a regional identity built on the idea of unqualified normality. But that isn’t as simple as it sounds.” http://bit.ly/2AXOnRW

-- “Avengers in Wrath: Moral Agency and Trauma Prevention for Remote Warriors,” by Dave Blair and Karen House on Lawfare – per TheBrowser.com’s description: “We think of remote drone pilots as somewhat akin to high-powered video-gamers, wreaking havoc on a screen. And perhaps they are. But they experience their role as something much closer to real-world combat and killing. The imperative is not ‘kill or be killed’, as it would be in localised combat, but rather, ‘kill or someone else will be killed’ — and the stress is almost as great. ‘A world without your fire support could easily become a world without your comrades.’” http://bit.ly/2zSat8e

-- “Iraq’s Surprise: The Persistence of Democracy,” by Yaroslav Trofimov on the cover of WSJ’s Review section: “Long fractured, the country stands out in the Middle East for maintaining free elections and a robust press.” http://on.wsj.com/2hJP2Sk

-- “The Brothers Who Bought South Africa,” by Matthew Campbell and Franz Wild in Bloomberg Businessweek: “The continent’s most important economy now appears to function for the benefit of one powerful family.” https://bloom.bg/2j37KAO

-- “Two Murder Convictions for One Fatal Shot,” by Ken Armstrong in The New Yorker: “In dozens of criminal trials, prosecutors have put the same gun in the hands of more than one defendant.” http://bit.ly/2zcvmhe

-- “The myth of the male bumbler,” by Lili Loofbourow in The Week: “Allow me to make a controversial proposition: Men are every bit as sneaky and calculating and venomous as women are widely suspected to be.” http://bit.ly/2zPE4Br

-- “Rug Money,” by the Weekly Standard’s Alice B. Lloyd: “Paul Manafort ruined a solid scam, says former middleman for Iranian regime, as well as IRS and Treasury agents.” http://tws.io/2jyDbHd

-- “How Did Two All-Americans Fall In With ISIS?” by Mike Mariani in Psychology Today – per Longform.org’s description: “In 2015, two bright Mississippi State college students started dating. Months later, they were planning their life together—alongside ISIS.” http://bit.ly/2j3W695

--“How an Atlanta power couple’s business has heightened Hollywood and Silicon Valley’s piracy anxieties,” by LATimes’ Ryan Faughnder: http://lat.ms/2jBOf6m

-- “Spurned by ESPN, Barstool Sports Is Staying on Offense,” by Jay Caspian Kang in tomorrow’s NYT Magazine: “There exists a swarm of angry sports fans who maintain that they do not want to talk about Colin Kaepernick or the national anthem, and Barstool has cleared a space for them to gather and talk, mostly, about just how much they don’t want to talk about politics. They claim to be an overlooked majority — the vast market inefficiency that will richly reward anyone who will let them watch their games, memes and funny videos without having to feel bad about themselves. Barstool is their safe space.” http://nyti.ms/2hHvY7k



Playbook Reads

SPOTTED: Stephen Miller dining at DBGB last night in City Center ... Larry Rasky, Dick Keil and Mark Paustenbach at the Dead & Co. show last night at the TD Garden in Boston ... Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) on an early Friday morning United flight to Cleveland from DCA

REMEMBERING BOBBY BAKER – WaPo’s Jon Thurber: “Bobby Baker, a protege of future president Lyndon B. Johnson whose career of wealth and privilege came crashing down in an influence-peddling scandal, died Nov. 12 -- his 89th birthday -- in St. Augustine, Fla. Mr. Baker [was] once the most influential staffer in the U.S. Senate ... ‘Mr. Baker, I understand you know where the bodies are buried in the Senate. I’d appreciate it if you’d come to my office and talk with me,’ the newly elected Sen. Johnson (D-Tex.) said in his first telephone conversation with Mr. Baker in late 1948. Mr. Baker was just 20 at the time and a staffer for the Senate leadership ... His vast knowledge of the operations of the Senate and his facility in the art of accommodation — moving pet legislative projects ahead for some senators or helping fulfill the proclivities of others for drink, sex or cash — would make him an invaluable asset to Johnson.” http://wapo.st/2zNz94k

HAPPENING TODAY -- The Clinton School and Clinton Foundation are hosting a conversation in Little Rock with Bill and Hillary Clinton, moderated by James Carville at 3:30 p.m. Livestream http://bit.ly/2Aasphn

-- SPOTTED at the Capital Hotel Bar and Grill in Little Rock last night for the 25th Clinton campaign: DeeDee Myers, Gene Sperling, Mary Streett, Stephanie Streett, John Podesta, Tamera Luzzatto, Jim Kennedy, JoDee Winterhof, Jill Alper, David Beaubaire, Kris Balderston, Adrienne Elrod, James Carville, Amanda Crumley, Patrick Mellody, James Greelish, Catherine Cornelius

BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Jeff Watters, director of government Relations at the Ocean Conservancy (hat tip: Samantha Bisogno)

BIRTHDAYS: NYT’s Sheryl Stolberg ... Megyn Kelly is 47 … Politico cartoonist Matt Wuerker ... USA Today’s Heidi Przybyla ... Margaret Capehart ... ABC News’ Gregory Simmons ... Brian Forest, who is joining NAM on Monday as director of strategic messaging and most recently served as McConnell’s chief speechwriter ... Carrie Matthews of Hamilton Place Strategies ... Dan Sadlosky, policy adviser to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise ... Politico’s Theo Meyer and Patricia Kolby ... Tom Namako, deputy news director at BuzzFeed and a WSJ and N.Y. Post alum ... Andrea Stone, director of career services at CUNY’s Graduate School of Journalism ... Cassi Gritzmacher, head of executive comms at Away ... Robert Dougherty, Rep. Julia Brownley’s senior LA and the pride of Syracuse, NY (h/t Samantha Greene) ...

... Cornyn comms. director Drew Brandewie is 33 ... Teddie Norton, director of government affairs operations at the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (h/t Mike Reilly) ... Abby Tinsley ... Trisha Farr … Brian Knapp ... Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) is 46 ... Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) is 5-0 ... former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) is 6-0 ... Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.) is 53 ... Nick Ragone ... Nima Faz ... Arshad Hasan … Waldo Tibbetts … Nicole Ianucci ... Gregory Kallenberg ... David Frank ... Noelia Rodriguez ... Hanna Skandera ... Richard Maopolski ... Gregg Holman … Erica DeVos … Jon Kaplan … Meg Gage … Ace Smith (h/ts Teresa Vilmain)

THE SHOWS by @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:

--“Fox News Sunday”: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Panel: Jason Chaffetz, Jessica Tarlov, Jason Riley and Juan Williams … “Power Player of the Week” with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)

--CBS’s “Face the Nation”: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) … Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) ... OMB Director Mick Mulvaney. Panel: David French, Jennifer Jacobs, Ruth Marcus and Ed O’Keefe

--NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich) … OMB Director Mick Mulvaney. Panel: Bob Costa, Rich Lowry, Joy Reid and Amy Walter

--CNN’s “State of the Union”: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) … OMB Director Mick Mulvaney … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Panel: Amanda Carpenter, Neera Tanden, Michael Caputo and Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.)

--ABC’s “This Week”: Marc Short ... Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) ... Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) ... Rep. Mary Bono (R-Calif.) ... Carly Fiorina ... Ronan Farrow. Panel: Matthew Dowd, Cecilia Vega, Lanhee Chen, Stephanie Cutter and Megan Murphy

--CNN’s “Inside Politics” with John King: Karoun Demirjian, Michael Shear, Eliana Johnson and Rachael Bade (substitute anchor: CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson)

--CNN’s “Reliable Sources”: Panel: Birmingham News’ Anna Claire Vollers, Washingtonian Magazine’s Elaina Plott, Michelle Ciulla Lipkin and Marc Fisher … Bill Carter … Angelo Carusone … Jacquelyn Martin … Anthony Atamanuik

--Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”: Eric Trump … Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) … Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) … Bud Cummins. Panel: Ed Rollins and Mary Kissel

--Fox News’ “MediaBuzz”: Emily Jashinsky … Francesca Chambers … Michael Tomasky … Susan Ferrechio … Lynn Sherr … Leslie Marshall … Amy Holmes … Mara Liasson

--CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”: Niall Ferguson, The Economist’s Anne McElvoy and author and former Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski … Ray Dalio … Salman Rushdie

--Univision’s “Al Punto”: Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) … undocumented immigrants and former sanctuary church refugees Jeanette Vizguerra, Jaime Flores and Amanda Morales … Isabel Allende … Univision Investiga director Gerardo Reyes and Univision News investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez … musician Alejandro Sanz

--C-SPAN: “The Communicators”: Adam Alter … “Newsmakers”: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, questioned by the Houston Chronicle’s Kevin Diaz and Politico’s Josh Gerstein … “Q&A”: Musician and author Daryl Davis

--PBS’ “To the Contrary”: Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio)

--Washington Times’ “Mack on Politics” weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher or listen at http://bit.ly/2mCW4tB). Syndicated columnist and American Commitment president Phil Kerpen.

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Follow us on Twitter Anna Palmer @apalmerdc



Jake Sherman @JakeSherman