Subject: Axios AM: Mike's Top 10 ?— See North Korea's 'Frankenmissile' — How N.Y. Times is adapting to Trump — Skywalker's secret
From: "Mike Allen" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2017 10:18:10 -0400 (EDT)

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See North Korea's 'Frankenmissile' — How N.Y. Times is adapting=to Trump — Skywalker's secret

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Axios AM

By Mike Allen = ·Apr 15, 2017

Happy April 15. A quirk: Tax Day this year i= on Tuesday, April 18. Usually when April 15 falls on a weekend, filers ha=e a reprieve until Monday. But AP's Stephen Ohlemacher notes that because Monday is a holiday in D.C. (E=ancipation Day, the day in 1862 in which 3,100 slaves living in Washington=were freed), all states get an extra day.

1 big thing: War drums

An apparent North Korean KN-08 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICMB)=is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade today in Pyo=gyang / AP's Wong Maye-E

North Korean leader Kim Kim Jong-un looks like he w=nts a war — meaning that this weekend's provocative posturing=is much more worrisome than in the past.

Taunting Trump, Pyongyang today showed off a "Frankenmissile" — a new type of=ICBM that had not been seen before.

Get smart fast =s we begin this tense weekend of geopolitical risk:

Th= lead of BBC News is the st=rk "North Korea 'ready for nuclear attack'": "The comments came as North K=rea marked the 105th anniversary of the birth of its founding president, K=m Il-sung. ... 'We're prepared to respond to an all-out war with an all-ou= war,' said Choe Ryong-hae, believed to be the country's second most power=ul official."

The Guardian<=a>: "On a sunny Saturday morning in Pyongyang, military vehicles =nd tens of thousands of soldiers filled Kim Il-sung Square as a band playe= rousing military music."

WSJ's =onathan Cheng in Seoul: "The weaponry on show, which appeared=to include a newly-modified intercontinental ballistic missile and two typ=s of large launchers with never-before-seen missile canisters, is likely t= trigger fresh concerns about the speed with which Pyongyang's missile pro=ram has advanced."

"[A]n expert on North Korean weapons said the new hardware appeared to be far more advanced than expected="

China warns of "storm clouds" —N.Y. Times: "China warned ... that tensions on the Korean=Peninsula could spin out of control, as North Korea said it could test a n=clear weapon at any time and a United States naval group neared the penins=la — an American effort to sow doubt in Pyongyang over how Preside=t Trump might respond."

Pulling back the camera ... "World power whiplash: Trump reve=ses views on Russia, China," by AP's Josh Lederman: "Once soft on Russia a=d hard on China, ... Trump rapidly reversed course in the last weeks, conc=uding there's more business to be done with Beijing than with Moscow."
=p style="margin-left: 20px;">Why it matters: "Trump's e=olving views ... have brought the U.S. back into =lignment with former President Barack Obama's pattern of 'great power' pol=tics."

2. Tweet du jour

Breaking ... ''Mother of all bombs' killed 94 ISIS fighters, Afg=an official says."

Bonus Tweet du Jour ...<=strong> @MaggieN=T: "Despite BANNON criticism internally, two officials also d=scribe him as 'one of the only grownups' there."

Graphic du jour ... "The Shifting Alliances and Rival =actions Inside Trump's West Wing," with four sectors: Friends and Family .=. Wall Street ... Anti-Establishment ... Republican Establishment.

3. We feel better than we spend

A challenge to euphoria ... The Wall Street Journal's lead story is "Economy Stumbles Despite Optimism," =y Eric Morath:

"Uneven retail =pending stands in sharp contrast to soaring measures of consumer =onfidence. The University of Michigan's consumer-sentiment measure ... is =ear the highest level in more than a decade."

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Boeing proudly bolsters the U.S. economy as the nation’s No.1 ex=orter. 80% of the world’s purchasing power is outside the U.S., ma=ing exports vital to our economy.
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4. Trump revives Ex-Im bank — but turns knife

"Trump's Choice to Run U.S. Export-Import Bank Is Vocal Critic,"=by Bloomberg's Jennifer Epstein: "Trump, who as a candidate said =e didn't think the bank needed to exist, named former New Jersey Represent=tive Scott Garrett ... to be the bank's chairman and president. He tapped =ormer Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus for a seat on the bank's board=of directors."

"Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muil=nburg is said to have been particularly influential in changing the presid=nt's view of the agency. Boeing is by far the largest exporter beneficiary=of the bank, to the tune of several billion dollars annually, followed by =eneral Electric Co."

WSJ's Nick Timiraos: "Garrett voted in 2012 and =n 2015 against renewing the charter of the Ex-Im Bank, which guarantees lo=ns for companies that export U.S. products.

P.S. Miami=Herald, top of column 1, "GOP foreign policy experts welcome T=ump's reversals."

5. "Grave national security risks and privacy concerns"

N.Y. Times, top of front page, "White House W=n't Disclose List of Visitors," by Julie Davis in West Palm Beach: "Th= announcement came on a day when Mr. Trump spent his morning and early aft=rnoon out of sight of reporters at his golf club in West Palm Beach; White=House aides declined, as has become their standard practice, to say what t=e president was doing or who he was with during his four hours at the club="

"Obama also went golfing with regularity dur=ng his presidency, but the White House routinely acknowledged when he was =laying and gave the names of his golf partners."

"The decision [to cut off public access to visitor logs, break=ng with the Obama administration's practice] — which White House o=ficials said was necessary for reasons of national security ... effective=y bars the public from knowing which activists, lobbyists, political donor= and others are gaining access to the president and his aides on a daily b=sis.

"As a reporter who writes abt ethics &=lobbyists, not having WhiteHouse logs is a very big deal. A major rollback="

6. Big ideas: Supply-side economics, but for liberals

Just posted by Neil Irwin of N.Y. Times' Upshot: "Certain social welfare policies [such as child-care subsidies=, according to an emerging body of research, may actually encourage more p=ople to work and enable them to do so more productively. ... It amounts to=a liberal version of 'supply-side economics,' an approach to economics oft=n associated with the conservatives of the Reagan era."

"The United States and other advanced nations are=struggling to emerge from a pattern of persistently low growth, an era whe= many prime-age people aren't in the labor force at all and productivity g=ins have been weak for years. Supplementing low-end wages through the tax =ode and ensuring that children have the food and education to become produ=tive adults just may help."

7. Apple's ambitions

Apple gets permit to test self-driving =ars in California ... San Jose Mercury News' Ethan Baron: "In the first official confirmation of Apple=s automotive ambitions, the secretive Cupertino company on Friday received=a permit to test self-driving vehicles on California roads."

<=trong>The backstory: "With major Silicon Valley tech firms and U.=. carmakers jumping into the frenzy to bring the technology to the market,=the possibility that Apple will join the fray has fascinated the valley. T=e company has long been rumored to be working on a mysterious 'Project Tit=n' connected to vehicles."

Sorry! "Apple is proba=ly not building its own car, however, and Project Titan may just be a code=word for the firm's work on vehicle technology."

P.S. =Uber, Lifting Financial=Veil, Says Sales Growth Outpaces Losses," by Bloomberg's Eric=Newcomer: "more than doubled gross bookings in 2016 to $20 billion ... Net=revenue was $6.5 billion, while adjusted net losses were $2.8 billion, exc=uding the China business, which it sold last summer."

8. The lessons of United

Shot ... Cover of tomorrow's WashPost Outlook section, =The 'empowered consumer' doesn't get much say: United shows that companies=are still boss," writes author Jacob Silverman: "Air travel=is the most concentrated version of an essentially authoritarian experienc= that can be found throughout today's economy.

"We live, work, shop, and travel under a system o= grossly asymmetric power relationships, in which consumers sign away most=of their rights just by purchasing a ticket and companies deputize themsel=es to enforce contracts with hired goons."

Chaser ... "Phone= and social media turn consumers into whistleblowers," by AP's Mae Anderson: "Employees nee= to be ready to react when a situation gets dramatic — and compani=s should emphasize that anything employees do could be recorded. ... On-si=e employees need to be given more power to respond to avoid escalating an =ncident, especially one that might be recorded."

How it's do=e ... "Delta can now offer=/a> up to $9,950 to passengers willing to give up seats."

9. Media trends: Adapting to Trump's America

"Hiring Anti-Trump Conservative [Bret Stephens] Is Part=Of New York Times' Effort To Expand Opinion," by HuffPost's Michael Calderone and Nick Baumann:

Times Editorial Page Editor James Bennet =aid there "are many shades of conservatism and many shades of liberalism,"=and the Times owes it to readers to "capture a wide range."

"On Friday afternoon, the Times annou=ced another Wall Street Journal writer and editor, [associate book review =ditor] Bari Weiss, would be joining the opinion section."

10. 1 fun thing: "Luke who's talking"

R2-D2 cameo in "The Last Jedi" trailer

"Stars Wars: The Last Jedi" won't arrive in our galaxy =ntil Dec. 15, but a trailer that dropped=yesterday (16 million views just of the official YouTube, with copies =ll over the web) provided more online excitement and debate than most actu=l moves.

Entertainment Weekly calls the clip "our first gli=pse into the galaxy after civil war was reignited in The Force Awakens="

Han Solo is gone. Luke Skywa=ker has been found. And although General Leia Organa's Resistance has knoc=ed back the First Order, those Imperial wannabes remain a volatile threat =nder the command of General Hux, and the enigmatic Supreme Leader Snoke.

Wired's Brian Raftery: "[P]erhap= what's most notable is that no one is having any fun. Rey (Daisy Ridley) =s trying to learn the Force from a cranky, Hoth-cold Luke Skywalker (Mark =amill), who tells her, "I only know one truth: It's time for the J=di to end.'"

Thanks for reading! To send y=ur thoughts, tips or gripes, just reply to this email — it'll go s=raight to my real in-box.

And as we head into Easter weekend=/strong>, Norah O'Donnell wishes "Happy 50th" to Bob and =at Schieffer.

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Boeing is leading the aerospace industry with an unparalleled team of hi=hly-skilled American workers, including 140,000 employed by Boeing and 1.5=million working in jobs in our supply chain.
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