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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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world lead
Op-ed for Op-ed: McCain to strike back in 'Pravda'
Responding to Russian President Vladimir Putin's controversial opinion piece in the New York Times, Sen. John McCain jokingly told CNN's Jake Tapper he'd like to write a commentary for Pravda, the historic Russian newspaper connected to the Communist Party.
Well, now it looks like McCain may get his wish.
pop lead
DJ's confession sparks rare discussion of sexual identity in hip-hop community
How is it that a man can be accused of soliciting a transgender prostitute, resign from his prominent job as a result, and still be praised by The New York Times for breaking barriers over it? When the discussion takes place in the world of hip-hop, where homophobia still flies.
DJ Mister Cee is a well-known figure from New York City's Hot 97, one of the most influential hip-hop stations in the country. On Wednesday, a video came out appearing to show him soliciting a transgender prostitute.
Rather than deny it, Mister Cee abruptly resigned, then returned for an on-air confession the next day.
"I am tired of trying to do something or be something that I'm not. I'm tired. I'm tired," he said on the air.
FULL POST
politics lead
Roundtable: Will Biden's Paleolithic politics hurt him in negotiations with GOP?
Call it politics of the paleolithic. Just 17 days out from a potential government shutdown, one might optimistically hope for some bipartisan spirit to flare in Washington, D.C.
But that wasn't the case Thursday night at the Naval Observatory, where Vice President Joe Biden threw harsh words at some members of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives who didn't support his signature legislative achievement, the recently renewed Violence Against Women Act.
"Surprisingly last year we ran into this neanderthal crowd, I'm serious, did you ever think we'd be fighting 17 years later to reauthorize this?" said Biden.
"The vice president was saying what was on his mind, as he does. I don't think Republicans will hold a grudge," said editor at the National Review and fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Ramesh Ponnuru.
FULL POST
money lead
Apple's decline: What would Steve Jobs do?
What should have been a big week for tech company Apple ended rather uneventfully. The company unveiled the new upgraded iPhone, and a cheaper version in a kaleidoscope of colors. But Apple's stock ended down this week, leaving Apple maniacs wondering: What would Steve Jobs do?
"Steve, every three or four years, just blew us away by producing a product we had no idea we needed like a tablet computer. And that's what Apple really has to do in the next 12 months or so. Because it's been three or four years since they've had a transformative product," said Walter Isaacson, whose bestseller biography "Steve Jobs" was released in paperback this week.
FULL POST
buried lead
New film puts J.D. Salinger where he loathed to be – in the public eye
Today, there are those who are famous for being famous, photographed almost out of habit. So it's easy to forget about the era when well known names could be legendarily private.
Author J.D. Salinger thought he got more than enough attention in his time. Salinger wrote "The Catcher in the Rye," and a few novellas and short-stories, then he virtually vanished until his death in 2010.
Now a new book and film are putting the late author back where he loathed to be: in the public eye.
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