Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): Out & About With #RandomThoughts On Our World

It has been quite a week in Our World--Our team complied a snapshot of the discourse over the past number of days which we hereby present as our on-going assessments continues regarding the US Presidential Campaign, Corona, the Situation in the Middle East and continued on-going Environmental Challenges:

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Cornel West: Elites Underestimate the Power of the People

Scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West says Bernie Sanders will take on corporate power and implement a just foreign policy, and that former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a “neoliberal gangster.”

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US-Philippine Relations Worsen Despite Perceived Trump-Duterte Friendship

The Philippines ended the Visiting Forces Agreement, which allows the US military to operate within the Philippines and grants access to the South China Sea. Is President Duterte doing the right thing for the wrong reasons?

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Tariq Ali Speaks Out on Assange’s Case and US Wars

In this Feb. 4 speech at a public event for Julian Assange at the Royal National Hotel in London, author, writer, filmmaker, and public intellectual Tariq Ali speaks about Julian Assange’s extradition case.

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Danny Glover and Eddie Conway on the 50th Anniversary of MLK Assassination

TRNN Replay from 2018: Actor and activist Danny Glover and TRNN Executive Producer Eddie Conway talk about how Martin Luther King Jr. worked to build a movement of inclusiveness against militarism, exploitation and racism

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Neoliberalism, Nike, and the Need to Organize a Movement

What do resistance to Obama’s presidential library project in Southside Chicago, Nike’s $5 million donation to it, and the giant shoe company’s relationship with Kaepernick’s activism have in common?

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Nikhil Goyal: Sanders Will Expose Trump’s Lies and Betrayal of the Working Class

“Trump wants to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and Sanders wants to expand Social Security and guarantee Medicare for All. Trump wants to send your kids off to endless wars, Sanders wants to send them to college,” says author and activist Nikhil Goyal.

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Sanders Campaign Co-Chair: New Hampshire Win Shows Bernie Beats Trump

Rep. Ro Khanna says Bernie Sanders is building a multi-racial coalition that will win the nomination and beat Donald Trump.

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Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): Out & About in Our World...

As Iran gears towards parliamentary elections, we understand from reports that out of the 280 Members, 240 members have already been chosen based on the efforts by the Guardian Council.   Haaretz reported on the true realities of Iran:

The response from the Streets of Tehran was noted below:  The True Parliament is in the Street:

As we also went to press with the special edition of Notations, we also caught this courtesy of the team at Haaretz as it noted that it appears that Blue-White continues its' surge as Elections draw near in Israel: 

It has also been forty days since the shooting  down of the  Ukraine International Plane  by Iran's Islamic  Revolutionary Guard Corp.  University Students held remembrance ceremonies in Tehran and Regime Functionaries tried to break them up.   We hereby remember them as we leave all with this grid of remembrance released by our Editor:

Then, there is Afghanistan.    The incumbent President, Ashraf Ghani, was declared the President after 5 months--but the challenger Abdullah Abdullah declared himself the Winner and announced a Parrallel Government:

Afghan election challenger Abdullah declares himself president, announces parallel government  Read more on France24.com

Notations From the Grid (Special Tuesday Edition): #RandomThoughts on #Iran On the Eve of 41 Years of Islamic Government

Iran is in the midst of celebrating the 41st Anniversary of the Revolution--and also shortly thereafter having parliamentary elections.    The twelve people above--appointed by the Supreme Guide (Supreme Leader) have vetted candidates and have disqualified some 9,000 of them--including 90 sitting members of Parliament.   They are the members of the Guardian Council.   

Many have noted that this is not going to be an Election, but an appointment in effect.  The head of the Guardian Council, 95-year old Ayatollah Janati, has said that it is going to very competitive.   When our team saw that comment, we found it to be laughable--and State Media itself published a poll underscoring the digust by the people on the upcoming Elections.   The caption above, by the academic Sadegh Zibakalam of Tehran University, condemns the actions by the Guardian 

On the eve of the 41st Anniversary of the Revolution, the Iranian President hosted an event attended by Ambassadors as he touted Iran's Economic Achievements in spite of the sanctions and the reality of life exemplified by the homeless in the Capital, Tehran:

The true realities is otherwise exemplified by the collapse of the Rial, Iran's Official Exchange Rate and a severe recession.    It is also 40 day since the assassination of the Quds Force Commander, Qasem Sulemaini.   They are elevating his status as exemplified by this released to Social Media: 

His role in crushing internal dissent is starting to be evident--as his role in Syria and Iraq has been evident as well.

As we went to press,  preparations have been going on and the State Media has been busy as exemplified by the following:

We also found it unfortunate how this image captured by the Guardian of London on the extent of the publicity stunts by the Regime in trying to convey its' messages: 

As we also went to press, our team reviewed a letter written by one of the leading opposition figures and Nobel Prize Winner, Shirin Ebadi, who wrote a letter of apology to her daughter and the new generation on how her generation betrayed them.    

Iran also tried to, again, send a satellite into space--and it failed miserably: 

Notations From the Grid (Week-End Edition): #RandomThoughts On the Week That Was....

It has been quite a week in our World.   The team at the Financial Times had an interesting depiction of the State of Affairs as we saw reports of key witnesses being dismissed or reassigned in the aftermath of the President's Acquittal in the US Senate:

It was also a challenging week as the CoronaVirus continue to wreck havoc, Europe was in a State of Flux in the aftermath of Brexit and the continued challenges in Iran persisted: 

We close out with the following courtesy the team at the Visual Capitalist--For the original analysis of it, please click here: 

Notations From the Grid (Weekly Edition): On #Iran

#Iran pic.twitter.com/1iTzYKQEZ0

— Mike Pouraryan (@mikepouraryan) February 1, 2020

Our team decided to headline our weekly Notation on Iran with one from our Editor/Co-Founder on an ancient tradition in Iran that goes back over 6000 Years.   We wanted to focus on Iran especially as Iran has been one of the few countries that seems to have maintained an open link with China as the deadly Virus continued to spread--as China has continued to clamp down on dissent and fight a Public Relations Battle to maintain its' status as underscored by this from the Financial Times of London:

World Tale of two doctors reveals how China controls the narrative As coronavirus spreads, Beijing cracks down on any dissent from the party line FEBRUARY 4, 2020 by Don Weinland in Beijing

Iran has also been clamping down on dissent harshly.     The grid below reflects the signators of the declaration calling for the resignation of the Supreme Guide of the Revolution, Ayatollah Khamieni: 

They have been sentenced to a combined 72 Years in Prison.   The spouse of one of the dissidents, Fatameth Maleki, considered it a joke.    Her son was also imprisoned because he had joined the November Protests and was finally released after a hefty bail.   Our team will continue to assess their situation throughout the ensuing weeks and Months.

Iran is also facing an election--as Iran has also begun 10 days of Celebration called Fajr that celebrates the return of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Founder of the Islamic Republic, to Iran.   Despite a wide-spread boycott by leading Artists, The Annual Fajr Festival has also been going on as well.     In the meantime, some 90 serving deputies in the Majlis (Parliament) have been disqualified by the Guardian Council including Ali Motahari that hereby headlined a recent edition of the Official Government Magazine, Iran: 

He was disqualified on the centennial birthday of his Father, Morteza Motahari, who was one of the early stalwarts of the Revolution who was assassinated.    Our team found it interesting how he continued to call for participation in the elections even after how his appeal for reinstatement was rejected.

Leading Figures of Iran's Islamic Government led processions to pay their respects to the Founder of the Islamic Republic in the presence of Khomeini's Grandson: 

The Head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Raissi, visits Khomeini's Gravesite 

Red Crescent Organization Personnel at the Khomeini Gravesite 

Rouhani, in his Capacity as the head of Government, pays his respects with his Ministers 


We will be assessing on-going developments over the ensuing days and weeks.

Notations From the Grid (Mid-Week Edition): Out & About in our World

We hereby present the following #RandomThoughts on the week as the World gathered at Auschwitz;  the US Senate Majority Leader noted that he did not have the votes to prevent witnesses to be called as the Impeachment Trial continued;  as the aftermath of the Trump Peace Plan continued and the Factional Power Struggle continued in Iran in the aftermath of the Ukraine Plane Crash as Security Officials in Iran continued to threaten the Families: 

We Close out with this interesting take on the upcoming Parliamentary Elections in Iran  courtesy the State Department Spokesperson: