Daily Kickoff
Ideas Forum Highlights — Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on what parts of the Iran deal are working: “I think on the nuclear side we got it right. Iran’s nuclear program is dramatically scaled back, as the agreement required. We have to remember that the agreement that we have is on one issue, which is the nuclear weapons — peaceful uses of nuclear energy issue. The fact that we’ve gone through three IAEA reports successfully clearly gives us some degree of comfort… We are at the beginning of a long process, which of course means that not only Iran but the international community, the agency, the United States, the government — we need to sustain our attention to this for a very long time… But obviously we hope that it will be one contributor to what is probably a decadal kind of march towards a stronger relationship.” [TheHill]
Asked by Jeffrey Goldberg whether the way Trump has talked about Muslims hurts national security interests, CIA Director John Brennan said: “Making comments that are incendiary and that are viewed as attacking a religion or a people or a community only further drive those individuals to grasp onto those extremist views. They interpret a lot of the comments that are made as the West and the United States are against them … It’s the extremist comments on both sides of this have just fed those sources of extremism.”
Brennan on Russia on whether Russia is trying to hack the presidential election: “The U.S. government right now is very much aware and working on the issue of who might be trying to get into and intrude in the electoral systems… What we do at CIA is to look at a country’s capabilities, look at their intent, look at things that they have done in the past, and determine whether something that certainly looks like a duck, smells like a duck and flies like a duck, whether it’s a duck or not.” [TheAtlantic]
REMEMBERING SHIMON: Obama
Alon Pinkas, who served as an advisor to Peres and Israeli Consul General in NY: “On Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, 1992, I stepped into his office at the Foreign Ministry. At the time, I was Peres’ policy adviser. “Bill Clinton won the election in the US,” I said. “An hour ago he secured the required 270 electoral votes.”Peres looked at me, puzzled. “I’m sure you’re here to explain to me how and why this Clinton guy won, right?” Yes, I replied. “Listen carefully,” he impatiently blurted. “I met them all. I met Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush. I don’t need you to tell me how he won, but what he intends to do in the Middle East.”
— “At 10:45 a.m. on 9/11 — minutes after the North Tower of the World Trade Center had collapsed — New York’s cellphone service was almost nonexistent. Yet, as I walked up Third Avenue, my phone rang. Peres was on the line. “You OK?” he asked. “You know where Don Rumsfeld is? Talk to me.” “Shimon,” I answered, “I’m the consul general in New York. Rumsfeld runs the Pentagon. How the hell do I know where he is?” Fine, Peres said. “These sh-ts hit New York! New York! Do you get that? I’m coming over.” A week later, he did. Would you have gone to any other country that underwent something like this, I asked. No, he said.” [NYPost]
BIDDING FAREWELL: Bret Stephens: “Israel’s Last Founding Father” [WSJ] • David Suissa: “Shimon Peres — Naïve and indispensable” [JewishJournal]
HAPPENING TODAY: At 2:50PM, President Barack Obama departs Joint Base Andrews en route to Tel Aviv to attend the Peres funeral on Friday in Jerusalem. The President will leave Israel following the official state ceremony. Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry are joining as part of the U.S. delegation.
“Obama and Shimon Peres: Fast Friends Who Found Peace Out of Reach” by Peter Baker:“They were an international odd couple with seemingly little in common, a 40-something African-American born in Hawaii and an octogenarian Zionist born in a shtetl in Poland. But somehow Barack Obama and Shimon Peres hit it off.” [NYTimes]
“Bill Clinton’s unfinished business in Israel” by Michael Crowley: “The future of the peace process is sure to be on Clinton’s mind when he attends his late friend’s funeral in Israel on Friday. Peres was seen as perhaps his country’s most determined advocate for a deal with Palestinians in which Israel would surrender long-occupied territory in exchange for an end to terrorist attacks. But while sources said Clinton, should he return to the White House, might feel compelled to try his hand at the peace process again, it’s far from clear whether that would make political sense for Hillary Clinton—or whether it would be more likely to succeed in a Middle East much changed since he left office 15 years ago.” [Politico]
NY Governor Andrew Cuomo to attend funeral: “New York is home to more than 1.7 million Jews – the largest Jewish community outside of Israel in the world – and the community is mourning the loss of a larger-than-life figure,” Cuomo said. “I will be traveling to Israel for President Peres’ funeral to pay my respects on behalf of all New Yorkers.” [TimesUnion]
Allison Kaplan Sommer explains why Hillary and Trump chose not to fly to Israel:“Travelling to Israel would likely score her some points among Jewish voters in the swing state of Florida. But still, even in Florida, the downside of heading to the Middle East in the heat of her campaign outweighed the advantages significantly… And considering some of Trump’s bedrock of support on the alt-right, who aren’t very friendly to Jews – showing up at an Israeli funeral wearing a yarmulke might be a little awkward. Let’s not forget that this is a candidate who has never been to Israel and who skipped his own grandson’s brit in order to campaign in Wisconsin during the Republican primaries.” [Haaretz]
“Gary Johnson Struggles To Name A Foreign Leader He Admires” by Mollie Reilly: “During an MSNBC town hall, moderator Chris Matthews asked the former New Mexico governor: “Name one foreign leader that you respect and look up to. Anybody.” Johnson appeared stumped by the question, but running mate Bill Weld jumped in with an answer of his own. “Mine was Shimon Peres,” said Weld. Peres, the former president of Israel, died Tuesday. “I’m talking about living,” replied Matthews. “I guess I’m having an Aleppo moment,” Johnson said.” [HuffPost]
“In debate, Trump’s lack of nuclear knowledge on display” by Josh Rogin: “Trump’s lack of basic understanding about nuclear weapons policy is concerning enough. But even more troubling is Trump’s lack of progress over the past few months on national security issues overall. He simply refuses to make the effort to prepare himself for the job of commander in chief.” [WashPost]
“As One of Their Own Runs for President, Casino Executives Are Divided” by Alexandra Berzon: “At a rally earlier in the year in Las Vegas, Mr. Trump pointed out casino owner Steve Wynn in the crowd and said they were frequently in touch. Mr. Wynn spoke out recently in a conference call against U.S. monetary policy but did not endorse Mr. Trump.” [WSJ]
HEARD YESTERDAY – Bernie Sanders, campaigning in NH with Hillary Clinton: “If anybody tells you that this election is not important, you ask them why the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson and other billionaires, why they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to elect their candidates.”
“For $25K, Miami donors can have dinner with Ivanka Trump” by Patricia Mazzei: “Trump’s oldest daughter will headline a $25,000-a-head dinner fundraiser on Oct. 5, according to an invitation obtained by the Miami Herald. For $10,000, donors can get a photo with Ivanka Trump, and for $2,500, they can attend a reception. In addition to listing Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus and top Trump fundraisers Lew Eisenberg, Brian Ballard, Steven Mnuchin and Mel Sembler.”[MiamiHerald] • Why Ivanka Is Trump’s Top Surrogate [TheAtlantic]
“Jewish Vote Seen As Key In Pa., Florida Battlegrounds” by Stewart Ain: “If the debate did anything, it probably broke for the moment the belief that he [Trump] had the energy and the momentum,” said Aaron David Miller. “The fact that Israel was not mentioned or discussed was not surprising,” he said. “There are so many more critical issues, and within 24 hours of the debate both met with Netanyahu. Both were photographed with the prime minister, and given the number of other issues it would have been hard for one candidate to attack the other on the Israel issue.” [JewishWeek]
“Trump jokes: ‘Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative'” by Jeremy Diamond: “Trump, touting the support he’s received from evangelicals (in Iowa), called on his supporters at a rally here to identify themselves as “Christian conservatives.” And then, he added: “Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative, I want to see this, right. That’s — oh, there’s a couple, but that’s alright. I think we’ll keep them, right? Should we keep them in the room, yes? I think so.” Trump’s comment raised some eyebrows given that his rhetoric on the campaign trail is frequently nationalistic.”[CNN]
“Trump-Hitler comparison seen in New York Times book review” by Dylan Byers: “The review, which was published Wednesday, details (in bullet point format) the various factors that brought Hitler to power, from his own character traits to his use of mass media to the naïveté of his supporters. It does not mention Trump by name… The review comes as The New York Times takes an increasingly critical stance toward Trump.” [CNNMoney] • Read the review [NYTimes]
“Trump Mouthpiece Breitbart News Publishes Anti-Semitic Attack on Prominent Columnist” by Yair Rosenberg: “Breitbart published an anti-Semitic screed against Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum. Titled “WaPo’s Anne Applebaum Embarks On Kremlin-Style Disinformation Offensive vs. the Anti-Globalist Right,” the piece is a meandering, conspiratorial critique of Applebaum’s political stances. And as meandering conspiratorial pieces tend to do, it ultimately introduces its target’s Jewishness for no reason at all.” [Tablet]
“Jerry Springer: My Guests Are Authentic, Not Liars Like Trump” by Andrew Kaczynski: “The people on our show aren’t making up lies. They’re upset. They’re angry. That’s totally different than Trump,” Springer said. “He’s not coming on the show because he’s angry. He’s coming on the show because he wants to be the leader. He’s got this ego, this narcissism. He just wants to be the leader of the world… This is not a guy who’s trying to fix his life. He obviously doesn’t particularly care about other people.” [BuzzFeed]
EARLY EXIT: “Fulop says it’s about Murphy, and only Murphy” by Matt Friedman: “In front of Jersey City Hall, the 39-year-old Fulop announced he will seek re-election in 2017 for a second term as mayor of New Jersey’s second-largest city, and that he will endorse his “good friend” Phil Murphy for governor that same year— a man who just weeks ago he called “desperate.” Fulop’s announcement came during the Bridgegate trial, where he could be called to testify about alleged pressure on him to endorse Gov. Chris Christie’s 2013 re-election in exchange for a favorable deal for a car import-related company he worked for that leased space for the Port Authority.” [PoliticoNJ]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: Schiff, Dym Start $1.9 Billion Asset Manager After Perella Exit[Bloomberg] • Uber plans to enter long-haul trucking business with Israeli company Otto[Reuters] • Och-Ziff to Pay $400 Million to Settle US Foreign Bribery Probe [WSJ] • Marc Lasry: More Pressure to Be Right in Today’s Bond Market [YahooFinance] • Stephen Kaplan, third NBA owner in a week, buys a stake in esports team [VentureBeat]STARTUP NATION: “Meerkat built a new app in secret, and almost 1 million people are using it” by Casey Newton: “It’s an app for video chatting with friends that the company is calling a “synchronous social network” — a place to be together even when you’re apart… Open the app and it would immediately begin to broadcast using the front-facing camera, while notifying your friends that you were “in the house.” Up to seven other friends could join you with a tap, appearing on your phone’s screen in video windows of their own. They called the app Houseparty — a name designed to suggest good times while courting a hip, young demographic.” [TheVerge]
“Apple is quietly developing ‘iPhone 8’ hardware in Israel” by Sam Shead: “Some hardware for the iPhone 8 is being created in Herzliya, Israel, according to a local Apple employee, who said employees in Israel work on all of Apple’s new products. Speaking with Business Insider outside Apple’s Herzliya office at Maskit Street 12, the Apple employee said employees in Israel were working on what’s coming “next” in Apple’s product line, giving a specific mention to the iPhone 8.” [BI; Fortune]
SPOTLIGHT: “Doppler Labs And The Quest To Build A Computer For Your Ears” by Harry McCracken: “More than Noah Kraft‘s film career, it was his lifelong love of music that led him to tech. The founder of several rock bands over the years, Kraft took time during his film-producing stint to work on a friend’s electronic-music tour, helping to pick clubs and promote shows. As the tour went from venue to venue—usually small rooms with subpar acoustics—he was struck that his friend’s music sounded different in every space. “What if we could curate how we hear the world?” he recalls asking himself. “What if we could give ourselves more control?” [FastCompany]
PROFILE: “The Beauty Upstart With a Radical New Way of Talking to You” by Marisa Meltzer: “Glossier (a play on the word dossier) doesn’t rely on celebrity ads or high-profile department store placements. Its founder, 31-year-old Emily Weiss, was a styling assistant at Vogue in 2010 when she launched the beauty blog Into the Gloss. As women flocked to the site to talk about their routines, Weiss began to realize that beauty companies had no idea what their customers were up to.” [WiredMag]
SPORTS BLINK: “The Man Who Brought the Nets to Brooklyn” by Neil deMause: “By the time Bruce Ratner sold the Nets and the Barclays Center to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov in early 2016, he had walked away with anywhere from a few hundred million to a couple of billion dollars worth of land, cash, and tax breaks, depending on whose accounting you chose to believe. He’d also spent $300 million on a sports franchise that he had seemingly no interest in, plus about $900 million more on an arena, and received something less than that in return. As deals went, it was pure Bruce Ratner: He may not have turned a huge profit, but he’d leveraged his political connections to put his stamp on his adopted borough — and Brooklyn would never be the same again.” [Vice]
DESSERT: “Keeping kosher, a California winemaker’s journey” by Kelly J. Hayes: “To receive the tiny, nearly imperceptible kosher symbol that appears on the back of each bottle, the wines must be made only by individuals who are certified as Shabbat-observant Jews. This means that [Jeff] Morgan himself cannot touch the wine, the juice, the machinery, even the buttons that control the machinery in the winemaking process. Morgan’s quest has taken him beyond the vineyards and wineries to a place of more inspired personal spirituality. “I watched the people who made the wines. Saw how they prayed. How in touch they were with the process and their religion,” he shares. While he was born Jewish, Morgan was never bar mitzvahed. That will change on Nov. 5, when a 63-year-old California winemaker comes of age.”[VailDaily]
BIRTHDAYS: Former staff writer at the Jewish Journal, Aron Chilewich… Marilyn Friebel… Director of Regional Affairs and Development at AIPAC, Brian Shankman… Film and television actress best known for her role in the ABC comedy “The Neighbors,” Clara Mamet turns 22…
Recent Daily Kickoff Newsletters
