Friday, May 31, 2019

Notations On Our World (Special M-End Middle East Edition): #RandomThoughts From the Ground in the Middle East

Israel in the midst of a political upheaval yet again as new elections will be held.  This is as President Trump's Envoys have been making the rounds of Arab Capitals gearing up for the conference in Bahrain.    It appears that the Qatar blockade may be ending as Iran continues to be under pressure on all fronts.  

As we await the conference, our view is that the Trump "Deal of the Century" will probably be dead on arrival as Palestinians have already rejected it and the Palestinian Chief Negotiator, Saab Erakat deemed it, "The Deal of the Next Century".    Our team chose this from Palestine as we hope to see a day that is full of joy throughout the Middle East--We will retain hope:



Notations On Our World (Special Month-End Edition): On #MotherEarth

Our team decided to dedicate this month-end notation to Mother Earth and in particular one young Swedish Young Lady who began a movement to transform the conversation about our Earth.  We are with the President Macron as we note that there is no "Earth 2.0" at least in the near future:  








We look forward to the on-going dialogue.


Thursday, May 30, 2019

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On India As Modi 2.0 Begins....

 The Indian Prime Minister was sworn in for a second term earlier today in New Delhi with 57 Ministers.      We hereby present some alternatives views of Modi, his rule and what is ahead for India as it begins Modi 2.0:






Modi Wins Another Term for the Anti-Muslim, Right-Wing Hindu Nationalists
Vijay Prashad analyzes the Indian election result, which has returned right-wing Narendra Modi to power. Money, mass media abdication of its watchdog function, and institutional collapse enabled Modi triumph
  

Modi’s miracle

The BJP’s remarkable victory is down to the prime minister, not the party

Monday, May 27, 2019

###Memorial Day 2019###




Friday, May 24, 2019

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): In Honor of Memorial Day Here in the United States

We here at the Daily Outsider will go dark over the Memorial Day Week-End as we honor all and their families who paid the ultimate sacrifice as we hereby note this courtesy of the American Legion as members of our team will join the local American Legion Chapter here in our hometown of Laguna Niguel.

Happy Memorial Day.


Memorial Day coast to coast, American Legion-style
American Legion Family members from across the nation will lead Memorial Day observances in their communities, towns and cities.

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Monday, May 20, 2019

Justin Amash, The Only Republican Of His Kind

Trump Threatens Iran on Twitter: A Closer Look

As A New Week Dawns....

Please Enjoy:


DAILY STOIC WEEKLY RECAP (WEEK OF MAY 12)

What good is the weekend if we don’t use it for some quiet reflection and recharging? That’s why we’ve designed this new feature: the Daily Stoic Weekly Recap. In one convenient post, you’ll get the best of what we sent out during the week, as well as links to some other helpful stuff to think about and meditate on over the next few days. Make some time, pull out a journal, or sit down with friends and family—and pursue the good life!


THIS WEEK’S DAILY STOIC EMAIL MEDITATIONS:


NEW POSTS THIS WEEK:


THIS WEEK’S MOST POPULAR INSTAGRAM POST:


Friday, May 17, 2019

Notations On Our World (Friday Edition): On #Nakba In Palestine

Israel just celebrated 71 years of independence.    Palestinians, though, commemorated the Nakba (or catatrophe) and we hereby present this view from Palestine courtesy of the team at MECA (Middle East Children's Alliance)


Every year on May 15, Palestinians around the world commemorate the Nakba or “catastrophe”—the massive ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Zionist militias in order to create the state of Israel in 1948. This year marks seventy-one years since the original Nakba, but this ethnic cleansing continues. 

In Gaza, 304 people have been killed in by Israeli snipers and recent air raids, including children, medics, and journalists, since the Great March for Return began a year ago. More than 20,000 people have been wounded, many with life-altering injuries, as Israeli soldiers target the legs of young men. This is the punishment Israel inflicts on Palestinians for standing up for their rights.

For 14 months tens of thousands in Gaza have been protesting the twelve-year siege and demanding their right to return to their land and their homes. Meanwhile, Trump has given Netanyahu the okay to annex the Syrian Golan Heights, Palestinians in Jerusalem are threatened with demolition and eviction, and settler violence and arrests of children and adults are part of daily life. Deadly military raids and land theft continue in the West Bank.

The MECA staff like to share with you this video and article about the Nakba and Return.
 


Poet and activist Remi Kanazi performs a beautiful poem about his grandmother who survived the Nakba.
We will return.
That is not a threat
not a wish
a hope
or a dream
but a promise.

 Watch 3-minute video



The return of Palestinian refugees is quite possible
...despite what Israel may claim."
By Ahmed Abu Artema
At this point, the only viable way forward that does not involve further violence and ethnic cleansing on either side is to re-arrange the current relationship between Palestinians and Israeli Jews on the basis of justice and equality as opposed to discrimination and dispossession.


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Monday, May 13, 2019

Kayhan Kalhor- Waiting for the Rain

Trump Fights with China, Rudy Seeks Ukraine’s Help in 2020: A Closer Look

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): On #Iran Watch

On Iran and The United States:  @Haaretz Comments 

As we went to press here with this edition of Notations and welcome all to our "re-branded properties" , The war of words between the United States and Iran continued.    There were reports that the United States advised Iran of a number to call if Iran wanted to Negotiate--this is as Iran continued to issue its' own threats--including giving a 60-Day Threat which was swiftly rejected by the European Union:



 Some of the more interesting depictions are hereby noted below:



This is what, in our view, should worry Iran's leaders as repression continues with no apparent end in sight as Iran will be facing a severe recession as noted by the Financial Times:  


We close out with this clip done by a local Southern California Artist--This caused a lot of Grief in Iran 's Official Circles as kids in class led by their Teachers danced to the tune of the music--as tensions continue to rise-Our team was dancing to the tune as well--Please enjoy:



Sunday, May 12, 2019

On Our Week-End @POTUS Watch w/Thoughts from @TrevorNoah & #MeetThePress

Please Enjoy these from our "Walkabout" over the weekend on our on-going @POTUS Watch: 




#HappyMothersDay2019


In honor of Mothers' Day here in the United States, Please enjoy the following courtesy of Jonathan Lockwood Huie & his Team--Happy Mothers' Day to All:





We leave our most profoundly positive impact 
on those around us by the nature of our lives 
and the example we set.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie



The heart of a mother is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.
- Honore de Balzac



You can't live a perfect day without doing something 
for someone who will never be able to repay you.
- John Wooden

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Newsflash : Mnuchin Says No to Dems, Barr Flirts with Jail Time & DeVos Doesn’t Get ...

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): Out & About In Our World w/the Finalists for America’s Next Top Battle

Source: The Financial Times of London 




   As we went to press, we had an update on the refusal by the US Department of the Treasury on the Trump Tax Return along with a move by the US House Judiciary Committee on holding the US Attorney General in Contempt of Congress--the letter by the Secretary of Treasury is hereby noted below:

Monday, May 6, 2019

Notations On Our World (Weekly Edition): The Price of Free



As a new week dawns in our properties, We are privileged to present this for your viewing pleasure...

Friday, May 3, 2019

Notations From the Grid (Special Friday Edition): On Quite a Week In Our World

 Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photo by Lisa Lerertion

As part of our commitment to bring perspectives to bear on our World, we hereby present discourse of the past 24 hours on the state of the 2020 Campaign courtesy Lisa Lerer of the New York Times , perspectives presented by the Bulwark on William Barr  and his apparent expansive view of the challenges along with what went in Venezuela, The NRA & Facebook (where we have a presence)  courtesy the Economist--as it  has again been quite an interesting week as we wish all a great weekend from our hometown, @LagunaNiguelCty:

Lisa LererHi. Welcome to On Politics, your guide to the day in national politics. I’m Lisa Lerer, your host.

When I joined the press horde covering Joe Biden’s first campaign visit to Iowa this week, I was struck by how often I heard the same refrain. Here’s how Greg Renaud, a retired teacher from Pleasant Hill, put it:
“I like Joe. We need someone in the first place who’s electable in 2020. Look, my own personal beliefs are probably a little to the left of where he is, but independents are going to be crucial in 2020.”
In my conversations with voters — even those who said they felt strong affection for Mr. Biden — it was pretty clear that practicality, not passion, was the driving force in their support for the former vice president. It was a sentiment that seemed to transcend age, gender and ideological orientation.
Now, I’m generally a cynic. But when it comes to presidential politics, I believe in love. No one enjoys suffering through a bad date — particularly when it’s a date that could keep going for four long years.
That means pragmatic support is generally not the stuff of winning presidential bids. (See: Romney, Mitt; Clinton, Hillary; Kerry, John.)
Of course, given how badly Democrats want President Trump out of office, that instinct to follow their hearts could certainly play out differently this cycle. But with 21 candidates running (oh hey, Senator Michael Bennet!), voters certainly have plenty of time to play the field. And those candidates have time to make their case about why they are best positioned to defeat Mr. Trump.
Mr. Biden is pushing his own electability hard, arguing in his early appearances that he can win back the working-class white voters who hurt Mrs. Clinton in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. He implied that a tweetstorm launched by Mr. Trump Wednesday, after a firefighters’ union endorsed Mr. Biden, was a sign that the White House is afraid of his candidacy.
On the stump, though, he doesn’t woo voters with sweeping promises or big plans for the future. I found his answer to climate protesters at an event in Des Moines on Wednesday quite telling.
“I got there before any of the other candidates did,” he told a group of demonstrators wearing penguin masks, saying he authored a bill to address climate change in the mid-1980s.
Lisa Lerer
Two days earlier, Beto O’Rourke had released a $5 trillion proposalto combat climate change. At least a dozen candidates say they are willing to consider a carbon tax. Senator Elizabeth Warren would enact a “total moratorium” on new federal fossil fuel leases. Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington is basing his entire campaign on the issue 

But when Mr. Biden delved into specifics, he brought up the 2009 stimulus bill, meandering through a number of ideas to expand renewable fuels, promote wind energy and put electric charging stations on highways.
Like the climate plans he mentioned, Mr. Biden’s economic plans are largely the kinds of proposals Democrats have pushed for years — ending some corporate tax cuts, protecting entitlement programs, and the “Buffet Rule,” a tax on the wealthy first proposed by the Obama administration eight years ago. On health care, he would protect and expand the current law by giving people the option to buy into Medicare — a position similar to the one Mrs. Clinton took in 2016.
As Mr. Biden made clear in his first campaign speech on Monday, this is a restoration, not a revolution.

We also saw this from the Team at the Bulwark in the aftermath of the Barr Testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee as he refused the testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday--and as the President has stated that he will not allow anyone to testify as he noted that he has been transparent all along:  

What Barr’s Rift With Mueller Reveals
By Andrew Egger

Mostly that Barr lacks credibility for how he has handled the aftermath of the Mueller investigation.
Bill Barr: One Man Judiciary
By Kim Wehle

Bill Barr decided to be Trump's defense lawyer, the AG, and the Supreme Court, all rolled into one.
Make Ratfucking Great Again (We kid...)
By Andrew Egger

Why is the new generation of tricksters and frauds so pathetic?
We Should Not Have Been Surprised About Bill Barr
By Charles Sykes

William Safire had his number 27 years ago.



Venezuela
How to get rid of Nicolás Maduro

An attempt to depose the dictator appears to have failed. Try again
Facebook’s future
Mark Zuckerberg wants to build WeChat for the West

It will revolve around turning the social network’s messaging services into something akin to a Chinese mega-app
German business
Why so many big German companies are in trouble

Bayer is the latest DAX firm burnt by a takeover of an American firm
A defining moment
Caster Semenya’s case sets a big precedent for women’s sport

Using a testosterone limit to determine who is female will probably fail to settle the matter
Wayne’s world
What’s going on at the NRA?

Political infighting is tearing America’s biggest gun lobby group apart
Up and at ’em
An activist group harnesses Australians’ political disillusionment

GetUp! is giving politicians who ignore climate change a run for their money
Art history
Was Leonardo the supreme genius, or just our kind of guy?
Contemporary reverence for da Vinci is more about our age than his oeuvre

Profound challenging times as we leave all w/this: 

Air Force's F-35A Makes Combat Debut in Iraq
Two Lightning II stealth jets were used to conduct an airstrike using a Joint Direct Attack Munition to strike a tunnel network and a weapons cache belonging to ISIS.
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