| | | | | Former President Barack Obama greets attendees during a campaign rally Thursday in Cleveland for Ohio Democratic gubernatorial nominee Richard Cordray. Credit: Allison Farrand/Bloomberg via Getty Images | | | Manafort Agrees to Cooperate with Justice Department: Donald Trump's former campaign chairman will plead guilty to two counts
How Tech Became a New Front in the Culture Wars: From censorship accusations on Facebook to Trump's debunked tweet on Google
RBG Calls Kavanaugh Hearings a "Highly Partisan Show": "The Republicans move in lock step, so do the Democrats," the justice says | | | What Washington Is Talking About:
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she sent information about allegations of misconduct by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the FBI, and an FBI official said there was no criminal investigation because of it. And lawmakers agreed to a package of spending bills and a resolution to fund the government through December 7, avoiding a shutdown before the midterm elections.
What America Is Talking About:
Hurricane Florence made landfall this morning near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. More than 500,000 people in the Carolinas are without power, and about 1,100 flights scheduled for today and Saturday have been canceled.
Poll of the Day:
A plurality of Americans oppose Nike's Colin Kaepernick campaign, according to an SSRS Omnibus poll. The poll found 41% oppose the campaign and 37% support it. But when you ask those who are 44 and younger, they're more likely to support it. Among those 18 to 34, 44% support and 32% oppose it, and among those 35 to 44, 52% support and 37% oppose it. But older adults were less supportive of the move.
Manafort to Cooperate with Justice Department:
Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department, including in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Manafort will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy against the US and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice due to attempts to tamper with witnesses, according to a court filing today. The news comes on top of the eight counts of bank and tax fraud that Manafort was convicted of in August.
How Tech Became a New Front in the Culture Wars:
Allegations of tech or social media companies censoring or suppressing conservatives online have been debunked and disputed, and yet it's grown from a partisan media story to a top issue for some on the right. I wrote here about how we got to this point, from the 2016 Gizmodo story about how Facebook's trending section was edited to Trump tweeting out a fake video about Google that got retweeted by the House majority leader and Republican Party chair. It's become a culture wars battle about conservatives feeling locked out of an industry that shapes culture, and Big Tech has bent over backward to assure the right it's not picking sides. Silicon Valley has become a new Hollywood. | | Credit: Will Mullery/CNN
RBG Calls Kavanaugh Hearings a "Highly Partisan Show":
Speaking this week at George Washington University Law School, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg compared her 1993 confirmation, where she received a 96-3 vote "even though I had spent about 10 years of my life litigating cases under the auspices of the ACLU and I was on the ACLU board," with nominee Brett Kavanaugh's today. "The way it was was right. The way it is is wrong," she said, according to the National Review. Ginsburg called the Kavanaugh hearings a "highly partisan show" and said, "The Republicans move in lock step, so do the Democrats. I wish I could wave a magic wand and have it go back to the way it was."
Bezos: Trump Would Appear More Confident if He Didn't Attack Press:
Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is in the capital this week and made some comments that appeared to be aimed at Trump. He spoke at the Economic Club of Washington on Thursday night (wearing a fat knot in his tie) and said elected officials' attacks on the press are dangerous.
"There's no public figure who's ever liked their headlines. It's OK. It's part of the process," he said. "What the President should say is, 'This is right, I'm glad I'm being scrutinized.' That would be so secure and confident."
Bezos also said attacks on norms are dangerous. "We live in a society where it's not just the laws of the land that protect us. It's also social norms that protect us," he said. "And every time you attack that, you're eroding it a little bit around the edges." | | Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Facebook's Getting Into Fact-Checking Pics:
Facebook announced Thursday it's expanding its fact-checking operation to include photos and videos in addition to articles. In a press release, product manager Antonia Woodford wrote that the social media giant is able to identify possible false photo and video content through a machine learning model and Facebook user feedback, and send content to third-party fact-checking partners for review. Fake photos and videos typically fall into three categories -- either they're manipulated, out of context or have false claims made in text or audio, Woodford said | | Credit: Facebook
Willie Nelson's Putting on a Concert for Beto:
Willie Nelson is performing in support of Texas' Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke on September 29 at Austin's Auditorium Shores. Nelson's publicist said it will be "the first public concert Nelson has held for a political candidate," per Austin360. But will he bring O'Rourke on stage so they can jam together?
Drake Tells D.C. Show He's Seen the Headlines:
During his second of two nights performing at Capital One Arena, Drake told the crowd he's seen the headlines coming out of Washington, how divisive things are and told fans to "recognize what's going on around you," per our Marshall Cohen, who attended. While in town, Drake dined at RPM Italian two nights in a row, according to The Washington Post. | | Drake performs at Madison Square Garden in New York on August 25. Credit: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images/File
Street Art Sighting:
The subway ad in Brooklyn for TruTV's "Paid Off" was altered, with images of Trump and Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, women the President allegedly had affairs with and paid to keep quiet, added to the poster. | | Credit: Peter Carroll
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz, or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE.
P.S.:
Two thing: 1. Please watch this 2003 clip of Cher trying to secretly call into C-SPAN and getting caught. The host asks, "Is this Cher?" and without skipping a beat she says "Yeah" and I bust up laughing every time. Cher said she's a longtime C-SPAN viewer and talked about her experience with veterans during a trip to Walter Reed and her opposition to the Iraq War. 2. Dolly Parton and Sia did cover of Dolly's "Here I Am," and it's fantastic. Happy Friday!
Kate Bennett is off. | | | | | | |
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