| | | | | |  | | By Anna Palmer, Jake Sherman, Eli Okun and Garrett Ross | Presented by |  | | | SNEAK PEEK … PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. and is expected to give an update on vaccines. He is expected to say the U.S. is on track to have 100 million doses of an approved vaccine distributed by year end -- the distribution plan, which is overseen by Operation Warp Speed, is going better than the U.S. anticipated, he will say. IT'S NO SECRET that the airline industry has been hit hard by Covid. But how about this: UNITED'S CEO and union leaders wrote a letter to the congressional leadership and Treasury Secretary STEVEN MNUCHIN saying that if Congress doesn't re-up federal support for the airlines, "up to 16,000 members of the United family are at risk of involuntary furloughs beginning October 1st." … READ THE LETTER HERE AS FLORIDA TIGHTENS! -- "Trump Administration to Announce $11.6 Billion in Aid for Puerto Rico," by WSJ's Andrew Restuccia: "The funds will assist Puerto Rico's education and energy sectors, [an administration] official said. … Mr. Trump has in the past expressed reluctance to send aid to Puerto Rico, raising concerns about corruption on the island and asserting that the money would be misused. … Both campaigns view Florida, with its growing Puerto Rican population, as a crucial state." WSJ TICK TOCK, TIKTOK -- "Trump administration to ban TikTok, WeChat from app stores starting Sunday," by Steven Overly: "The Trump administration and TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, are negotiating a possible reprieve for the video-sharing app that would involve, among other provisions, taking on American investors and moving its global headquarters to the U.S. A deal is expected as soon as Friday. "Existing users will still be able to access TikTok after Sunday, though new downloads and upgrades of the app will be prohibited, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox Business Friday. TikTok could be shut down fully if it does note strike a deal to stay alive with the administration before Nov. 12. The Commerce Department imposed additional restrictions on messaging app WeChat that also kick in Sunday." POLITICO Happy Friday afternoon. FIVETHIRTYEIGHT has launched its Senate forecast, which finds Dems slightly favored to retake the chamber -- 58% likelihood to 42% for the GOP. The model WHAT 30 ROCK IS READING … L.A. TIMES: "'Meet the Press' host Chuck Todd is first in viewers — and Twitter critics. Here's why," by Stephen Battaglio IMMIGRATION FILES -- "AP Exclusive: More migrant women say they didn't OK surgery," by Nomaan Merchant in Houston: "An Associated Press review of medical records for four women and interviews with lawyers revealed growing allegations that [Dr. Mahendra] Amin performed surgeries and other procedures on detained immigrants that they never sought or didn't fully understand. Although some procedures could be justified based on problems documented in the records, the women's lack of consent or knowledge raises severe legal and ethical issues, lawyers and medical experts said. … "The AP's review did not find evidence of mass hysterectomies as alleged in a widely shared complaint filed by a nurse at the detention center. … [A] lawyer who helped file the complaint said she never spoke to any women who had hysterectomies." NBC'S @mikememoli: "NEW: A source familiar tells @NBCNews that Joe Biden received a classified intelligence briefing on Wednesday in Wilmington. This is the first official confirmation that Biden has been given a full classified briefing, as occurs only when candidates officially become nominees." | | A message from Google: 50+ new features to help educators. As educators worldwide have reinvented their practices, Google products are also adapting to help them meet their evolving needs and challenges. At "The Anywhere School," a virtual back-to-school event, Google introduced over 50 new features across Meet, Classroom, G Suite and more. Watch on demand. | | | SWING-STATE DISPATCH -- "Florida Democrats have built a vote-by-mail lead. Now comes the hard part," by Matt Dixon in Tallahassee: "Democrats in Florida, a must-win state for President Donald Trump, have requested roughly 730,000 more election ballots ahead of the general election than Republicans, who have seen their traditional vote-by-mail dominance eroded by the president's efforts to brand it as a vehicle for widespread fraud. … "That's a departure from four years ago, when a million Republicans requested ballots compared to fewer than 882,000 Democrats. … Top of mind for … Democrats is one simple truth: A request for a mail ballot does not equate to a ballot cast." POLITICO THE ATLANTIC'S DEREK THOMPSON: "Does Joe Biden Have a Latino-Voter Problem?": "Even more concerning for Democrats is that young Latino men born in the United States seem to be inching toward Trump, intrigued perhaps by the president's business persona. No single group has posted a larger statistical bump for Trump than Latino men under the age of 50, according to Equis. "Unlike the Cuban American phenomenon, which is confined almost entirely to Florida, this appears to be a national phenomenon. In Arizona, for example, only half of Latino men under 50 say they will vote for Biden, far fewer than the nearly 70 percent of young Latina women. Among older Latinos in Arizona, there is practically no difference between male and female preferences." Atlantic BRIDGE MICHIGAN'S @jonathanoosting: "ALERT: Michigan Court of Claims Judge [Cynthia] Diane Stephens rules clerks should count absentee ballots that arrive up to 14 days late so long as they are postmarked by Nov. 2, one day before the general election. Applies only to this election, not future years." OUT WITH THE OLD -- "No TV ads, no presidential visits. Virginia's era as a swing state appears to be over," by WaPo's Laura Vozzella in Richmond: "Virginia isn't getting the swing-state treatment this time around. As in-person early voting got underway Friday, President Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden were dark on broadcast television. Super PACs were clogging somebody else's airwaves. "Even as Trump and Biden have resumed limited travel amid the coronavirus pandemic, neither has stumped in the Old Dominion. ... The last time presidential candidates stayed out of Virginia and off its airwaves was 2004. The state was reliably red then, having backed Republicans for the White House every year since 1968. Now Virginia seems to be getting the cold shoulder because it's considered solidly blue." WaPo -- CNN'S @MarshallCohen: "Massive line of voters in Fairfax, Virginia, on the FIRST DAY of in-person early voting. Some voters say they showed up because they lost faith in USPS to deliver ballots. Officials tell CNN they've never seen anything like this on Day One." | | | | CAN HEALTH APPS IMPACT THE ELECTION ? Amid persistent concerns about how the pandemic could impact voter turnout, many are overlooking one scenario – digital manipulation via health apps. Some security researchers warn that in the wrong hands, these apps could keep voters home on Election Day. How significant of a threat is this? Get insight into this and the politics, policies, and technologies driving significant change on voters' most personal issues: their health. SUBSCRIBE TO FUTURE PULSE NOW. | | | | | VALLEY TALK -- "YouTube's Plot to Silence Conspiracy Theories," by Wired's Clive Thompson: "It was as if YouTube had flipped a switch. In a way, it had. Scores of them, really—a small army of algorithmic tweaks, deployed beginning in 2019. [Flat-earther Mark] Sargent's was among the first accounts to feel the effects of a grand YouTube project to teach its recommendation AI how to recognize the conspiratorial mindset and demote it. "It was a complex feat of engineering, and it worked; the algorithm is less likely now to promote misinformation. But in a country where conspiracies are recommended everywhere—including by the president himself—even the best AI can't fix what's broken." Wired MUCK READ -- "Behind Trump's Turkish 'Bromance': Oligarchs, Crooks, and a Multi-Million-Dollar Lobbying Deal," by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project's Aubrey Belford and Courthouse News' Adam Klasfeld: "Reporters discovered that Turkey built much of its relationship via an international network of businessmen and oligarchs, most of whom are linked to former Soviet republics — and nearly all of whom are now either in jail or facing serious criminal charges. "The lobbying contracts with Ballard [Partners] were established with the help of both [Lev] Parnas and the shipping tycoon [Mübariz] Mansimov, as well as Farkhad Akhmedov, who is listed by the U.S. Treasury as a Russian oligarch closely tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin." THE NEW COLD WAR -- "China flies 18 warplanes near Taiwan during US envoy's visit," by AP's Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- "DeVos Vows to Withhold Desegregation Aid to Schools Over Transgender Athletes," by NYT's Luke Broadwater and Erica Green: "The move to withhold about $18 million intended to help schools desegregate could have national implications for both transgender athletes and students of color. "The department's Office for Civil Rights has warned officials at three Connecticut school districts that it will not release desegregation grants as planned on Oct. 1, unless the districts cut ties with the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference over its transgender policies. Negotiations among the parties continued Thursday evening." NYT KNOWING GIANCARLO GRANDA -- "The Falwells, the pool attendant and the double life that brought them all down," by WaPo's Michael Miller and Sarah Pulliam Bailey | | | | The Texas Tribune Festival. At-home edition: We're proud supporters of the 2020 Texas Tribune Festival . Where else could you hear from Hillary Clinton, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Ted Cruz and Willie Nelson at one event? Join attendees from across the country to hear from and talk with politicians, activists, advocates, lawmakers, and media icons about today's biggest news. Stream TribFest, happening just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, from wherever you are. Learn more and buy tickets today HERE. | | | | | RACIAL RECKONING -- "Treasury Probes Claims of Racial Discrimination at U.S. Mint," by WSJ's Khadeeja Safdar: "A group of Black employees at the Mint wrote a letter in June asking Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to intervene and address what they say is "rampant racism" at the bureau, according to the letter, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. "In the letter and meetings with Treasury officials, the Black employees said that there was a lack of diversity in the Mint's executive ranks, that Black workers were treated unfairly by the legal department — which they noted consisted of only white attorneys — and that Mint leaders often sought to find out who was making a complaint rather than investigating the contents. ... These included a white worker who received a settlement after being dismissed for allegedly displaying a noose in the Philadelphia facility, graffiti of the N-word in a Mint restroom and a white Mint executive using the term "zoo keeper" to refer to a Black colleague." WSJ … The letter -- ZACHARY WARMBRODT: "New racial justice target: Defund the police foundations": "Wall Street banks and other big corporations are under pressure to cut ties with nonprofit police foundations, which racial justice activists say are increasingly funding law enforcement practices that fuel violence against Black people. "Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chevron are among the businesses that watchdogs are targeting for making donations to the privately run foundations associated with local police departments. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase have touted multimillion-dollar gifts to the police groups. One foundation last year honored Morgan Stanley's CEO at its annual gala. … Some corporations are beginning to reconsider the support." POLITICO SIREN -- "The United States is backsliding into autocracy under Trump, scholars warn," by WaPo's Christopher Ingraham: "The project, called V-Dem, or Varieties of Democracy, is an effort to precisely quantify global democracy at the country level based on hundreds indicators assessed annually by thousands of individual experts. It's one of several ongoing projects by political scientists that have registered a weakening of democratic values in the United States in recent years. "V-Dem's findings are bracing: The United States is undergoing 'substantial autocratization' — defined as the loss of democratic traits — that has accelerated precipitously under President Trump. This is particularly alarming in light of what the group's historic data show: Only 1 in 5 democracies that start down this path are able to reverse the damage before succumbing to full-blown autocracy." ENDORSEMENT WATCH -- "Computing Pioneers Endorse Biden, Citing Trump Immigration Crackdown," by NYT's Cade Metz: "The [two dozen] scientists, including John Hennessy, the executive chairman of Google's parent company, Alphabet, are all winners of the Turing Award, which is often called the Nobel Prize of computing." NYT BOOK CLUB -- "An FBI sex crimes investigator helped trigger 2016's 'October Surprise,'" by Devin Bartlett, excerpted from his forthcoming book, "October Surprise: How the FBI Tried to Save Itself and Crashed an Election" $22.49 on Amazon, out Sept. 22 CYBER WATCH -- "Iranian Hackers Can Now Beat Encrypted Apps, Researchers Say," by NYT's Ronen Bergman and Farnaz Fassihi: "Iranian hackers, most likely employees or affiliates of the government, have been running a vast cyberespionage operation equipped with surveillance tools that can outsmart encrypted messaging systems — a capability Iran was not previously known to possess, according to two digital security reports released Friday." NYT TRANSITION -- Kelly Collins is now senior policy adviser to Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.). She previously was special assistant for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Rachel Baranowski, a senior program associate, Africa division at International Republican Institute and a Marco Rubio alum, and Tom Duffe, regional VP for Choice Hotels upscale development, got married Saturday. They'd originally planned a Memorial Day wedding in Paris, but instead wed at the Clifton in Charlottesville, Va., with friends and family. Pic … Another pic -- Vince Zito, VP of corporate comms at Truist Financial Corporation and an MBA candidate at Georgetown University, and Allison Tucker, territory sales representative for Maple Leaf Farms, got married Sunday in a small ceremony at the Wharf. The couple met in 2015 while working on Capitol Hill and plan to renew their vows in Florida in November 2021 with all of their friends and family. Pic ... Another pic | | | | A message from Google:   Google tools like Classroom and Meet are helping educators teach from wherever they are. 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