| | | | | President Donald Trump gets ready to cut red tape Thursday between stacks of paper representing regulations in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images | | | Poll of the Day: A majority of Americans now have a favorable opinion of Melania Trump
Stars Hit D.C. Red Carpet for "The Post" Premiere: Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep and Jeff Bezos were on hand
This Is Alarming: What a UN official who just got back from North Korea said about his fears of "an accidental move toward conflict" | | | | Kate Bennett is off. Her section will return Thursday. | | What Washington Is Talking About:
Repubs are expected to unveil the final version of their tax bill today around 5:30 p.m. A vote could come as soon as Monday, and Repubs is working to ensure it has enough votes to pass the legislation. It could be tight.
What America Is Talking About:
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is out. The film is expected to make between $424 million and $440 million in its opening weekend, according to Deadline.
What London Is Talking About:
Mark your calendars. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding date is set for May 19, per Kensington Palace.
Poll of the Day:
A majority of Americans now have a favorable opinion of Melania Trump. The first lady has a 54% approval rating, according to a Gallup Poll released today. That's up from 37% in Gallup's January poll and 44% in a September CNN survey. Meanwhile, her husband has a 41% approval rating. The key to her rising approval is her falling "no opinion" numbers, while her unfavorables have also dropped. The poll seems to suggest the more Americans know about the first lady, the more they like her. | | Credit: Gallup
Net Neutrality Repealed:
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to repeal Obama-era net neutrality protections that barred internet service providers from speeding up or slowing down traffic to specific sites. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was handed a note about a security threat during the vote, and the room was briefly evacuated "on the advice of the Federal Protection Service," he said. During Thursday's hearing, Pai drank out of a comically large Reese's coffee mug. | | Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Nick Frisch, a resident fellow at Yale Law School's Information Society Project, told CNN, "this will be another instance of the U.S. ceding leadership in a global area."
"It is going to set a bad example for other countries, coming from the country that invented the internet," he said.
Demonstrators outside the hearing protested against the repeal. Props to the guy holding up a remixed Gadsden flag that turned the snake into an Ethernet cord. Clever. | | Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Baauer Isn't Happy "Harlem Shake" Was Used in Video with FCC Chair:
The only thing more deeply lame than reheating an old, stale meme is reheating an old, stale meme and having the person responsible for it call you a loser. The Daily Caller published a bad IJR-knockoff video in which Pai danced to Baauer's Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit, "Harlem Shake," ahead of Thursday's vote. Dancing to "Harlem Shake" is literally from 2013; a Harambe joke would have been fresher. Baauer tweeted that he's going to do "whatever I can do to stop this loser." | | Credit: @baauer/Twitter
Trump Talked With Putin:
Per a brief readout from the White House, President Trump spoke Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to thank him for "acknowledging America's strong economic performance in his annual press conference." At the press conference, Putin also said reports about Russian interference in the 2016 US election were fabricated, a statement at odds with US intelligence agencies; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the United Nations; Jon Huntsman Jr., US ambassador to Russia; and basically everyone in Washington except Trump. The two leaders also talked about "working together to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea."
This Is Alarming:
A UN official who just returned from a trip to Pyongyang, North Korea, told CNN he believes there is a "high risk of some kind of miscalculation." Jeffrey Feltman, UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, said he's "really worried about an accidental move toward conflict." 😨
Stars Hit the Red Carpet at "The Post" Premiere:
The Washington Post, so hot right now. Steven Spielberg's "The Post," starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, premiered Thursday night at the Newseum. Hanks, below with wife Rita Wilson and Post Editor Marty Baron, called the film "a very good, patriotic movie about what is the state of America" and "not about one individual thing," or "the trifecta."
"This is about women's place and equality in the workplace, vis-a-vis 1971 vs. 2017, it is definitely about the legacy of the Vietnam War and what 40 years of policy did to the United States of America and it's also about the journalistic integrity" of people that he said "view it as not just their job but their responsibility to go out and get the truth." | | Credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
Also spotted at the premiere: Streep and Post owner, Amazon CEO and Forbes' third-richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos ... | | Credit: Leigh Vogel/Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
as well as Forbes' second-richest man in the world, Warren Buffett, and his wife, Susie, and CNN's own Wolf Blitzer. | | Credit: Mandel Ngan/Leigh Vogel/Getty Images
Other Than The Washington Post, What's Your Favorite Newspaper?:
That's the question I asked stars Thursday on the red carpet. I only qualified that question by excluding the Post because that is too easy an answer when you're at a premiere for a movie about the Post (but a bunch of people said WaPo anyway).
Sen. Patrick Leahy: The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal in print, Vermont papers online.
Bob Odenkirk: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and he reads The Guardian about once a week.
Amy Pascal: The New York Times, where her husband was once a reporter.
David Cross: The Guardian. He has a Washington Post digital subscription, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times' Column One.
Bruce Greenwood: The New York Times, The Guardian.
Alison Brie: The Washington Post (she didn't name any others, but I get it, WaPo is great, so I let it go.) | | Credit: From top left to bottom right, Leigh Vogel/Mandel Ngan/Leigh Vogel/Mandel Ngan/Mandel Ngan/Mandel Ngan/Getty Images
What WaPo Brought to the Red Carpet:
The Post's Michelle Jaconi brought copies of the paper's front pages the day director Spielberg and stars Hanks and Streep were born. Amazing. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
See You Next Year:
I'm heading out West to spend Christmas with family in Arizona, and today's my last issue of COVER/LINE for 2017. What a year it's been. Thank you so much for reading, for sending in your political street art sightings, and for sharing C/L with your friends. I've had a blast, and I hope it's been smart and fun, and an email you actually look forward to reading. We're on holiday schedule right now, so Kate will be back next Thursday.
As always, keep your eyes out for street art over the holidays. I'm @hunterschwarz on Instagram and Twitter, and you can reach me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with stuff you see, or any other tips you want to send along. Hope your holidays are happy, your Christmas is merry, and your New Year's is magical. See you in 2018. Bring on the midterms :) | | | | | | |
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