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Today's POLITICO Playbook presented by UnitedHealth Group

By ANNA PALMER (anna@politico.com; @apalmerdc), JAKE SHERMAN (sherman@politico.com; @JakeSherman), DANIEL LIPPMAN (daniel@politico.com; @dlippman)

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Driving the Day
BLOOMBERG'S NICK WADHAMS: "Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, laid low in the middle of a week-long trip to Africa, was feeling better by the end of the day and plans to resume his public schedule in Kenya on Sunday, the State Department said.

"The Secretary of State canceled Saturday's planned events in Nairobi, Kenya, after falling ill. Tillerson, 65, had gone two days without sleep while working on North Korea and other issues, said Undersecretary of State Steve Goldstein." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa85ad898171f67ff85d6f5b366d8e1628c2ab45ac0200c481e9385783ff53d30b7316d71b4ac5b6d29

KEEP IT COMING! CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND dropped another $70,000 on ground game in Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. The election is on Tuesday.

-- THE PRESIDENT heads to Pennsylvania 18 tonight.

FROM MEGYN KELLY'S INTERVIEW WITH VLADIMIR PUTIN: "Putin even suggested that Jews or other ethnic groups had been involved in the meddling.

"'Maybe they're not even Russians,' he said. 'Maybe they're Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship. Even that needs to be checked. Maybe they have dual citizenship. Or maybe a green card. Maybe it was the Americans who paid them for this work. How do you know? I don't know.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8748e350cf18d9d8421475ddc7abb9574b218627d35e581b95d6781c8915f0acd4d8ca5fb83e4efc4

-- WAIT A SECOND: Aren't Jews with Russian citizenship, well, Russian?

Good Saturday morning. INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE -- ANNIE KARNI and MATT NUSSBAUM: "Search for Hicks replacement turns into West Wing food fight": "[T]he search to take over that job has become something an internal free-for-all, with aides campaigning for the job, Trump soliciting advice directly from Hicks about who should take over when she's gone, and chief of staff John Kelly trying to broaden the search to include some outside candidates.

"The top candidates emerging from inside the White House, multiple officials said, are director of strategic communications Mercedes Schlapp, a veteran of the George W. Bush administration who has become a Kelly ally in his battle against Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and Tony Sayegh, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Treasury Department." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8ec243f2f056df6042de69af9c864c37a81f650319c950e2a929ebc72d437193261edce77089628fe

-- KNOWING MERCEDES (AND MATT) SCHLAPP: "Trump's new power couple," by Matt Nussbaum: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8c485540e9890f14caa0d42f37434d952b8ebfdcb81ef17c6d067c08df7b3c2628ec4b7b9969dd376

BECAUSE ... OPTICS MATTER -- "White House scolds Cabinet officials after embarrassing ethics reports," by CNN's Cristina Alesci: "The White House held private meetings with four Cabinet-level officials last month to scold them for embarrassing stories about questionable ethical behavior at their respective agencies, sources familiar with the sessions tell CNN. Internal watchdogs have launched at least nine audits, reviews or investigations across several Cabinet agencies, and stories about first-class travel, expensive office furniture, and internal strife have become commonplace.

"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt all met with officials from the White House counsel's office and the Cabinet liaison. The meetings, held at chief of staff John Kelly's request, were intended to provide 'a clear message that optics matter,' the sources said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa83d36680f33d7e53def2554817816b6a36e90eac49c765a42cc0bd54822132aae647bdb4586b878d0

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS ... "De Blasio Embarks on a 5-Day Swing Through the South," by NYT's Jeffrey Mays: "During a five-day, taxpayer-funded swing through Baltimore, Austin, Tex., and Washington, D.C., Mr. de Blasio says he will meet with like-minded progressive mayors to promote issues such as tax reform and federal funding for public housing, and speak out against the Trump administration." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa85bbb6ad83ad10b268592cf7371901621f8fd1298988f904088ad53435b01d0553867584e8ac8d7d6

-- NOTE: None of these cities are really in the "south."

READ THE WHOLE THING -- SAM DOLNICK in Glouster, Ohio, in the NYT: "The Man Who Knew Too Little: The most ignorant man in America knows that Donald Trump is president - but that's about it. Living a liberal fantasy is complicated": "At first, the experiment didn't have a name.

"Right after the election, Erik Hagerman decided he'd take a break from reading about the hoopla of politics. Donald Trump's victory shook him. Badly. And so Mr. Hagerman developed his own eccentric experiment, one that was part silent protest, part coping mechanism, part extreme self-care plan. He swore that he would avoid learning about anything that happened to America after Nov. 8, 2016." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa86e4ae2a296a1d1b7fd21e0fdac4f21811723314341ebeeb4f8e45a96e3b47894e11b79251bb5163d


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NORTH KOREA TICK TOCK - "Trump on Kim Talks: 'Tell Him Yes,'" by WSJ's Michael R. Gordon, Mike Bender and Felicia Schwartz: "Inside the Oval Office late Thursday, President Donald Trump interrupted a trio of South Korean officials as they analyzed an offer to meet from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and outlined possible diplomatic options. 'OK, OK,' Mr. Trump said, cutting short the discussion. 'Tell them I'll do it.'

"The South Korean officials looked at each other as if in disbelief, according to a White House official with knowledge of the meeting, as Mr. Trump continued. He would become the first sitting U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader, if Mr. Kim was sincere and understood the terms. 'Tell him yes,' the president said.

"That unusual moment touched off a rush by U.S. officials to assemble a diplomatic strategy with little precedent in U.S. history. White House aides, State Department officials, U.S. intelligence officers and others scrambled to start the work of arranging a summit between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim to take place as early as May and that must somehow address a range of military, economic and civil-liberties issues that have defied solutions for decades. ...

"[I]n a sign of some of the complications posed by Mr. Trump's approach, the White House on Friday appeared to attach new conditions to Mr. Trump's agreement to meet Mr. Kim. 'The president will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete actions take place by North Korea,' said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, adding Mr. Trump accepted the invitation 'based on the promises that they have made.'

"Later Friday, officials clarified that the White House wasn't outlining any change in position from Thursday's announcement of a meeting between the U.S. and North Korean leaders. 'The invitation has been extended and accepted, and that stands. We expect the North Koreans to adhere to the assurances they've made, and if any of that changes, yes, we'll have to rethink whether this would happen,' a White House official said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8ce71ddacb3b47488fa699ebadbc8ebb9874eda28c49ec5d38eca55700f932e51b8dad64577bb2873

NOW BACK TO REALITY -- "Planning Begins for Kim Jong-un Meeting Some Trump Aides Believe Will Never Happen," by NYT's Mark Landler: "With all the potential traps and internal misgivings, some officials said they believed the chances of a meeting between the two leaders actually happening were less than 50 percent. Mr. Trump's decision stunned allies and his own advisers, not least Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, who was caught unaware while traveling in Africa when the president accepted Mr. Kim's invitation.

"Mr. Tillerson's lack of involvement in the announcement underscored how marginalized the State Department has become in North Korea policy. The department's chief negotiator on the North, Joseph Yun, resigned from the Foreign Service last week. Other State Department officials insisted that Mr. Tillerson had not been singled out; Mr. Trump blindsided all of his advisers." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8c685b4a948bd4b61cce117410104784ceb88b4186e9d8dc73ff86f6a624912031ca82cd47c9a8c72

HOW IT PLAYED -- "In Trump's decision on North Korea, the world glimpses a president who is his own diplomat, negotiator and strategist," by WaPo's David Nakamura and Anne Gearan: "Over the past six weeks, the Trump administration's roster of Korea experts, already depleted, grew even thinner. The White House mysteriously dropped its choice for ambassador to Seoul. The State Department's top North Korea specialist resigned. And the senior Asia director at the National Security Council was out the past two weeks on paternity leave. But when a high-level South Korean delegation arrived at the White House on Thursday afternoon for two days of meetings over the North Korea threat, one person
swooped in to fill the vacuum: President Trump." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8f88a4321a3cee574e7932c839996ce31b8df40445ae272e095835e4fb289bed167ff295f9ce31de7

BEHIND THE SCENES -- "North Korea's Kim Jong Un Was Jocular and at Ease at Boozy Banquet," by WSJ's Andrew Jeong in Seoul: "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was relaxed and joked with senior South Korean officials about his recent missile tests over a boozy dinner in Pyongyang this week, Seoul said, describing a self-assured Mr. Kim ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump. The office of South Korean President Moon Jae-in provided details of the Monday banquet, offering a first up-close look at one of the world's most closely scrutinized yet elusive leaders.

"'I know we've given President Moon Jae-in a tough time by launching missiles in the middle of the night, and forcing him to call up National Security Council meetings at odd hours,' Mr. Kim joked with South Korea's spy chief and national security adviser, according to Seoul's account. 'Today, we've decided to stop this. So he can feel free to sleep well.' ... At the dinner, which lasted more than four hours and included plenty of alcohol, Mr. Kim cracked jokes and appeared to be at ease." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8ac41746add41d008c2ad2af4598cd6b6afa90bc22a43f1b5f84d7de9b00644bef59c33e6f3a4ca07

COMING ATTRACTIONS -- "Trump getting a parade but tanks won't roll down Pennsylvania avenue," by CNN's Ryan Browne: "The Pentagon memo sent to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was issued on Thursday and outlined the initial guidance on how Trump's sought after parade, scheduled for November 11 -- Veterans Day -- will look.

"The memo says the parade will integrate with the annual DC Veterans Day parade and focus on the contributions of US veterans from the Revolutionary War to today 'with an emphasis on the price of freedom.' The parade will 'include wheeled vehicles only, no tanks,' the memo said, adding that 'consideration must be given to minimize damage to local infrastructure.'" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa82db09fba34ea31eecf1428b549f0dfd936719673d43326ee84360b7f96212c6a9601e97cb94a1901

BREAKING BREAD AT 1600 -- "Trump Dined with Fox News' Seb Gorka and Jesse Watters at the White House This Week," by the Daily Beast's Asawin Suebsaeng: "The president was joined for dinner in the White House residence by Fox News personalities, including host Jesse Watters and Gorka, a former White House official and aide to former chief strategist Steve Bannon.

"According to a White House official and two other sources familiar with the meeting, President Trump invited Gorka and Watters because 'he couldn't get enough of them on TV,' as one source put it, and wanted to confab with them about what he'd seen on Fox News, politics, gossip, and his administration. On Thursday night, Watters tweeted out an image of a menu-which includes a dessert of milk chocolate mousse-signed by Donald J. Trump, reading, 'To Jesse[,] You are great!' 'It was so lit,' another source added." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8cdbc06ff91267569686d9a8a1eac99d7a3b6bd30ca6aeaff9f6b29f358f0653c3a2ecd29c7112266 ... Jesse's pic http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa84774ebdf9a442dd8e519c84461ad0a67788f2cd8136e6f68f1da782e4c2c49595f718b24e02220a7

THE JUICE ...

-- SPOTTED at an engagement party yesterday for JOE SCARBOROUGH and MIKA BRZEZINSKI in the penthouse of the Washington Post's building on K Street: Fred Ryan, who hosted and toasted the couple, Genny Ryan, Mika and Joe's families including her mother and brother Mark, Joe's kids, Tammy Haddad, Ashley Parker and Mike Bender, Marty Baron, Mark Leibovich, Bob Woodward, Kasie Hunt, Anne Finucane and Mike Barnicle, Jesse Rodriguez, Jeremy Peters, Michael LaRosa, Vernon and Ann Jordan, Valerie Jarrett, Stephanie Cutter, Elisabeth Bumiller, Mark McKinnon, Sally Quinn, Katty Kay, UAE Ambassador Yousef al Otaiba, Louis Burgdorf ...

... Matt Lewis and Erin DeLullo, John Rogers, Alex Korson, Steve Rattner, Michael Beschloss, Fred Hiatt, Ruth Marcus, John Dellavolpe, Phil Rucker, Carol Lee, Marc Adelman, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Susan Blumenthal, Kathleen Matthews, Margaret Carlson, EU Amb. David O'Sullivan, Kevin Chaffee, Rick Tyler, Ryan Lizza, Olivia Nuzzi, Jamie Weinstein and Michelle Fields and Eugene Robinson.

CLICKER - "The nation's cartoonists on the week in politics," edited by Matt Wuerker -- 15 keepers http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa84b666a784f3655d3d898bf750d876f47a4b71fe8e3a27f702da6533fcd268e2966a37c23603799e0

SIGN UP! -- THE SECOND-ANNUAL PLAYBOOK POOL ... Try to beat Anna, who knows nothing about college basketball, but will unveil her "strategy" early next week (note from Jake: this should not be hard). Playbookers from around the country are already in -- including lots of elected officials and other VIPs. So far two governors have signed up, as has a certain high-profile press secretary.

PRIZES include Apple Watches, AirPods, GoPros, Google Homek, Snapchat Spectacles and more. CHOOSE YOUR BRACKET Sunday, after Selection Sunday -- if you're in Austin, shoot us a note. LOOK FOR Playbook basketballs on the Hill next week. Get in the game http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d0cd84d1aa75923588de9349e381dac9e8184a6368c1065e45ff4ce2ad38f617f4153e790372d8ba36bd759ba4822aeb

PLAYBOOK EVENTS -- RSVP for Bill Gates http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa82ca6c34ee64211bfc03f0a2664188eed007356908b8d5e46f78f988bd22a19f490b8fe219b4bb231 ... SXSW event with Reps. Nanette Barragan (D-Calif.), Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Terri Sewell (D-Ala.). http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8cb5a9776bf9953c38176aa3957d5cfa71414af0a6b40509a63bce58ddc0d499dee6c2c2eb69091fc


Playbook Reads
THE RUSSIA REPORT -- "Trump Lawyers Seek Deal With Mueller to Speed End of Russia Probe," by WSJ's Rebecca Ballhaus and Peter Nicholas: "President Donald Trump's lawyers are seeking to negotiate a deal with special counsel Robert Mueller that uses an interview with the president as leverage to spur a conclusion to the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The president's legal team is considering telling Mr. Mueller that Mr. Trump would agree to a sit-down interview based on multiple considerations, including that the special counsel commit to a date for concluding at least the Trump-related portion of the investigation.

"One idea is to suggest a deadline of 60 days from the date of the interview, the person said. Another consideration for the legal team is reaching an agreement with Mr. Mueller on the scope of his questioning of the president, which they expect to focus largely on his decision to fire former national security adviser Mike Flynn and former FBI director James Comey, according to people familiar with the matter." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8d03b4bc118a926ab0ae1dfabf12526c54624af123fc0689afd457ab02eeba1c35711c5481ea3cb9a

-- "In a personal letter, Trump invited Putin to the 2013 Miss Universe pageant," by WaPo's Shane Harris, Ros Helderman and Karoun Demirjian: "Donald Trump was so eager to have Vladimir Putin attend the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow that he wrote a personal letter to the Russian president inviting him to the event, according to multiple people familiar with the document.

"At the bottom of the typed letter, Trump scrawled a postscript adding that he looked forward to seeing 'beautiful' women during his trip. Trump's letter to Putin, which was described by people with knowledge of its contents, shows how interested he was in attracting the personal attention of the Russian president. ... John Dowd, an attorney for President Trump, said he was not familiar with the letter. 'It's all nonsense,' he said." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8e8bd672cba7b9bc55ae5dbd33211a830e8fb192989e8a0f3cfc94bc400281b3e8b46f12c46db5696

BANNON'S EUROPE SWING -- "Steve Bannon Is Done Wrecking the American Establishment. Now He Wants to Destroy Europe's," by NYT's Jason Horowitz in Milan: "On Saturday, he is set to headline the annual conference of France's far-right National Front in the northern city of Lille, where he will be introduced by its leader, Marine Le Pen. People with knowledge of Mr. Bannon's itinerary suggested that he might meet later in the weekend with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, but Mr. Bannon declined to say whether or not he would, only saying that he admired Mr. Orban as a 'hero' and 'the most significant guy on the scene right now.' In Zurich, Mr. Bannon says, he had a 'fascinating'
meeting on Tuesday with leaders of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany party." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8623c0f83bb7a07d862de21f056a2589cbec4e038b788906ff73a8b5dd35ad091f02c7194cba4d668

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- "The E.P.A Chief Wanted a Climate Science Debate. Trump's Chief of Staff Stopped Him," by NYT's Lisa Friedman and Julie Hirschfeld Davis: "John F. Kelly, the White House chief of staff, has killed an effort by the head of the [EPA] to stage public debates challenging climate change science, according to three people familiar with the deliberations, thwarting a plan that had intrigued President Trump even as it set off alarm bells among his top advisers. ... Mr. Pruitt has spoken personally with Mr. Trump about the idea, and the president expressed enthusiasm for it, according to people familiar with the conversations. But the plan encountered widespread
resistance within the administration from Mr. Kelly and other top officials, who regarded it as ill-conceived and politically risky." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa85601e8e7e6a670b2beb27a63ea0790e7f9c80e816c92818e1cc38b0aedd91bc6e5a31178189b5801

-- "Oil industry falls out of love with Trump," by Ben Lefebvre and Eric Wolff in Houston: "The oil and gas industry's relationship with President Donald Trump is cooling off. The administration's 25 percent steel tariff, hostility toward NAFTA and fumbled efforts to lift restrictions on drilling are worrying executives, who have praised the president's war on regulations but loathe uncertainty and nationalistic trade policies.

"The tariff was a source of angst at a major energy industry conference this week in Houston. Executives fretted that higher steel prices could stifle projects needed to help the U.S. - the world's biggest oil and gas producer - feed the global thirst for energy as a rising force in the export markets." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa866dada4c306e0cb7aa0fec0faf6f35410b21140ab6e96ff2b6151e711c902da077d0b72ad9e73c7f


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GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Daniel Lippman:

-- "The Quiet Genius of Margalit Fox's Obituaries," by Rebecca Onion in Slate: "There's not very much pronouncement or analysis in a Fox obit. Paragraphs of cultural context are rare. This minimalist approach can be occasionally frustrating if you are, say, someone who writes about history for a living, but Fox's measured dollops of it generally leave me tantalized. Sometimes, the bones are more telling than all that flesh." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa89f65cb7a6aa9c8bac9985e6515e575e3a3879bc461ff8931b820b5aa8d7909870c00f9f532c4cf9d

-- "How a Government Bureaucrat Became the King of Internet Memes," by the Daily Beast's Taylor Lorenz: "A small federal agency tasked with running public awareness campaigns about securing dressers to the wall and correct ladder use has become known for something else: dank memes." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8c18ff8f340fd5a5547e51c2d012291c25c5747d67805b8fd07a8294a7c3b07c010e3629373afd1be

-- "Gray Hat," by Reeves Wiedeman in NY Mag: "Marcus Hutchins stopped one of the most dangerous cyberattacks ever. Then the FBI arrested him. Does a hacker hero always have to have a past?" http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa82b2a17175c1ffbc6edd2c7a7a0014b020fd04d7a200c230e9dc404d4d2355dca772043dc802b111a (h/t Longform.org)

-- "This Is Where Your Childhood Memories Went," by Ferris Jabr in Nautilus Magazine - per TheBrowser.com's description: "At six months of age, infants' memories last for at least a day; at nine months, for a month; by age two, they last for a year. So where do those memories go when we grow older? Freud thought that they were repressed. Recent research suggests that connections to the earliest memories are lost as the brain grows and becomes more complex in childhood." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8aeea41c87f6e9780a0cd3e9e815ed8089f6db79006d9ae5ca3a68841fc3177f43216a3eb72ffc8f2

-- "The world's most influential restaurant reinvents itself. Jonathan Gold tastes the changes" - LA Times: "The first act of a meal at Noma passes as a dream; rich sea snail bouillon sipped from its herb-smeared shell fading into a field of empty cockleshells in which two or three contain the sweet meat; a mussel constructed from the chewy lips of half a dozen mussels woven into a single shell; a sea star painted on a rough earthen plate with the most delicate cured trout roe and a splash of eggy cream." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa852f5f6b82632a2d53b1f855473172cce9c9dc4284911a77dfebe340666c345c72e4aad62d74d0475

-- "'I Should Have Made Him for a Dentist,'" by Janet Malcolm in N.Y. Review of Books, reviewing "Making It," by Norman Podhoretz, with an introduction by Terry Teachout: "Norman can't help being Norman. Podhoretz writes about his hero with a finely judged mixture of affection and mockery. He knows as well as his critics that Norman's ambitiousness verges on the insane." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa87d90dc64482e4a4301b4130024a9a9eea2fecb1a79e0d6deffa24e61b6b198edc6c8465c1b44d02d ... $12.20 on Amazon http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8ccb457f4c32b7ae1557465a5859a8f698f56b1c5f33a666c1605e37147710b06b02802e9bd369526 (h/t ALDaily.com)

-- "'He's JFK With Tattoos and a Bench Press,'" by Michael Kruse in Politico Magazine: "His campaign manager is a truck driver, his communications director is a single mother who lives in Mingo County with her parents and her 5-year-old son. And yet fresh internal polling [Richard] Ojeda shared with me shows he's not only projected to win the race, but he's beating his two likeliest GOP opponents among GOP voters." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa84c0973b46b0191cdbb1ab10fbce50a1031542e9dd8363357b298784286dbd257b40949f6b21d7467

-- "From Afrin to Ghouta," by G.M. Tamás in Verso: "It is precisely the few who manage to escape from various locations of hell, yesterday called Aleppo, now called Afrin and Ghouta, tomorrow who knows. It is not victorious armies or fearsome insurgents, but terrified refugees driven insane by pain and mourning and by the cruelty of armed men." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8029c24959b02d803f609455aa88870554c1d3aec31f2b0f78dd95aefcc91d155dc77fceaa2ebf60d

-- "Weak states: Causes and consequences of the Sicilian Mafia," by Daron Acemo\u011flu, Giuseppe De Feo, and Giacomo De Luca in Vox EU: "According to our estimates a significant Mafia presence is associated with an approximately ten percentage point decline in literacy in 1921 and a five percentage point increase in infant mortality." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa8c9bcebc02174c1d40b5df07591592c233d0545f16ac86dd0f8a6157c908a471ed8a5d7fa7dda40c7

-- "What do I mean by Skin in the Game? My Own Version," by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in Medium: "When selecting a surgeon for your next brain procedure, should you pick a surgeon who looks like a butcher or one who looks like a surgeon? The logic of skin in the game implies you need to select the one who (while credentialed) looks the least like what you would expect from a surgeon, or, rather, the Hollywood version of a surgeon." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa81a1c8b4ff6b68a25c90892974b1d256dc13f2f2e692eff99ccbc23f772d37dae5bb625096a3bbd45

-- "The Exhilarating Art of Landing Planes in Crazy Crosswinds," by Alex Davies in Wired: "When you crab, as you approach, you point the nose of the plane to the left or the right, angling into the wind. The plane is flying sideways, in a sense-the way a crab walks-but doing so keeps it on course. As you shed altitude and speed, you'll turn further into the wind, using a mix of experience and trial and error to find the right angle. When you're just 50 or 100 feet above the ground, about to lift the nose and put rubber to runway, you switch techniques, from the crab to the slip." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa87a5655881fc7c66e29525feb267e7f548c91139df995c1ca2004ff0e2e5d4107478244372f22693e

-- "The Left-Handed Kid," by Jamie Fisher in the London Review of Books, reviewing "The Chinese Typewriter: A History," by Thomas S. Mullaney: "Nominally a book that covers the rough century between the invention of the telegraph in the 1840s and that of computing in the 1950s, 'The Chinese Typewriter' is secretly a history of translation and empire, written language and modernity, misguided struggle and brutal intellectual defeat. The Chinese typewriter was where empires met. A language incompatible with typewriter keys was incompatible with modernity, and bespoke an equally incompatible country." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa834536f6a758371fc1e2a02bd2e693089d207505888a5cf09f4a46b2357e15f163a838db3f1f66648 ... $22.93 on Amazon
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=1b39a4719ca84fa83912a48730df33442877410ebfc65382fbb37fd7fb5bec7cfd5401dfaad5a55f5df78c48942b817a

Playbookers
SPOTTED: Jim Comey, his wife and another couple having dinner last night at the Sea Glass restaurant at the Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

OUT AND ABOUT ... -- The National Archives Foundation, alongside presenting sponsor Ford Motor Company, hosted Friday's "We The Women" event at the National Archives. It is the fundraising launch for the "Rightfully Hers" initiative celebrating the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote. SPOTTED at the VIP Reception: Della Britton Baeza, David Ferriero, Ziad Ojakli, Janet Blanchard, former Gov. James Blanchard, A'Lelia Bundles, Christin Baker, Yisel Cabrera, Robyn Muncy, Lauren Valainis and Elizabeth Zappala.

-- AT SXSW: SPOTTED at last night's NYT Mag Music Issue party at Irene's in Austin where guests dined on Shake Shack and the band Young Fathers performed: Austin mayor Steve Adler, Dan Rather, Evan Smith, Peter Kafka, Jake Silverstein, Sam Dolnick, Kara Swisher, Pete Cashmore, Joe Pompeo, Michael Calderone, Mike Isaac, Nellie Bowles, Michael Barbaro, Lydia Polgreen, Wesley Morris, Jenna Wortham.

BIRTHDAYS: Jon Haber, president of Cascade Strategy (hat tips: Teresa Vilmain and Randy White) ... Perri Peltz ... Brad Dayspring, Politico VP of global comms ... Matt Jessee, policy advisor at Bryan Cave Strategies ... Bill Nichols ... Vernon Loeb, managing editor of the Houston Chronicle ... Jim Sciutto, CNN's chief national security correspondent ... John Murray, partner at Monument Policy Group ... Ron Elving, NPR's senior editor/correspondent on Washington desk ... Thomas McGill ... Nicole Adams, fearless director of POLITICO Live ... Carrie Filipetti ... Randy White ... Sarah Coppersmith, director of communications and brand strategy at Ovia Health (h/ts birthday boy Jon Haber) ...
Rick Rubin is 55 ... Wayne L. Firestone ... Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is 68 ... Alyse Nelson, president and CEO of Vital Voices (h/t Debbie Dingell) ... Jean Cornell ... Stuart Spencer ... Adam Weinstein ... David Lau of Accenture Strategy ... Adam Bodily ... Politico's Jane Norman, Tyler Fisher and Arek Sarkissian ...

... Alina Cho ... CNBC's David Faber is 54 ... Portman alum Colin Coletti ... Kevin McKeon, DCCC alum now SVP at Putnam Partners ... Wei Soo of Global Citizen ... Murong Yang ... Nicole Guillemard, founder and president of Eureka Strategies Group ... NYT's Danny Hakim ... James Thomas ... Julie Bindelglass ... Ed Hooper ... Ashley Summers ... Christie Roberts, DSCC research director and a Jon Tester alum ... Chris Corcoran ... Amy Dorcy ... Josh Johnson ... Mike Callahan, supervising producer for national security at CNN ... Joel Gravely ... Emily Schultze ... Alex Treadway ... Cary Hatch, CEO of MDB Communications ... Victor Pickard ... OFA alum Simeon Talley ... Henry Doggett ... Margaret
McEntire ... David Kass ... Britain's Prince Edward is 54 ... former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell is 71 (h/ts AP)

THE SHOWS, by @MattMackowiak, filing from Austin:

--CBS's "Face the Nation": CIA Director Mike Pompeo ... Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.). North Korea panel: Michael Morrell, Jung Pak and David Sanger ... political panel: Molly Ball, Michael Gerson, Susan Glasser and Shannon Pettypiece

--"Fox News Sunday": Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) ... CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Panel: Jason Riley, Catherine Lucey, Charlie Hurt and Juan Williams (substitute anchor: Fox News' John Roberts)

--NBC's "Meet the Press": Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) ... Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Panel: Matt Bai, Andrea Mitchell, Peggy Noonan and Eugene Robinson

--CNN's "State of the Union": Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) ... Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Panel: Bakari Sellers, Amanda Carpenter, Anthony Scaramucci and Neera Tanden (substitute anchor: CNN's Jim Acosta)

--ABC's "This Week": Raj Shah. Panel: Mary Bruce, Donna Brazile, Chris Christie and Jonathan Swan

--CNN's "Inside Politics" with John King: Panel: Julie Hirschfield Davis, Karoun Demirjian, Eliana Johnson and Nia-Malika Henderson

--CNN's "Reliable Sources": Panel: April Ryan, Salena Zito and Daily Beast editor in chief John Avlon ... Nicole Carroll and David Zurawik ... Michael Rothfeld ... NYT gender editor Jessica Bennett

--Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures": House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) ... Tom Donohue. Panel: Mary Kissel and James Freeman

--Fox News' "MediaBuzz": Ex-wife of former White House staff secretary Rob Porter Jennie Willoughby ... Gillian Turner ... Mollie Hemingway ... Adrienne Elrod ... Emily Jashinsky ... Jessica Tarlov

--CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS": Panel: Ian Bremmer, Stanley Roth and Sue Mi Terry ... Gen. Martin Dempsey (U.S. Army, Ret.)

--Univision's "Al Punto": Undocumented immigrant Carmela Apolonio Hernandez ... Mexican political analyst and journalist Denise Dresser ... Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro ... Univision News correspondent Pedro Rojas ... teachers Wendy Vazquez and Liliana Ruido and competitive shooter and instructor Gabby Franco ... actress Daniela Vega

--C-SPAN: "The Communicators": Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), questioned by The Washington Post's Tony Romm ... "Newsmakers": Club for Growth president David McIntosh, questioned by Politico's Steven Shepard and the Washington Examiner's Al Weaver ... "Q&A": Author and former U.S. Border Patrol agent Francisco Cantú ("The Line Becomes a River")

--MSNBC's "Kasie DC": Anthony Scaramucci ... Adam Rippon ... Ed Rendell ... Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) ... Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) ... Jon Meacham ... Michael Steele ... Evelyn Farkas ... Dave Wasserman ... Ashley Parker ... Kimberly Atkins

--"The McLaughlin Group": Moderator Tom Rogan with syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan, The Daily Beast's Eleanor Clift, syndicated columnist Clarence Page and guest panelist former NSA analyst and New York Observer columnist John Schindler

--Washington Times' "Mack on Politics" weekly politics podcast with Matt Mackowiak (download on iTunes, Google Play, or Stitcher or listen at http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d0cd84d1aa7592352716e36cd76cff59c426b589084ad058f1bbd9c4a55fd4dfae0151be54e73542de33ac5416096981 Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.).

****** A message from UnitedHealth Group: Reducing out-of-pocket costs for brand drugs. Effective January 1, 2019, our fully insured members in group health plans - seven million people - eligible for direct, out-of-pocket savings from the brand drug rebates we negotiate. While point of sale discounts can't lower the list prices of brand drugs set by manufacturers, this action from UnitedHealth Group will ensure that our fully insured group health plan members directly benefit from the rebates we negotiate, and pay lower out-of-pocket costs for brand drugs. It's a step toward more affordable prescription drugs. Learn more. ******

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