Weekly Perspective

As we went to press with this month-end edition of Notations from the Grid, The Congress has begun deliberations on the Border Wall as there is a definite possibility of President Trump declaring a National Emergency . Although the US Government is now fully operational, challenges remain. The heads of the Intelligence Community were before Congress and contradicted assertions by President Trump-- It prompted a Tweet by President Trump .   A s we also went to Press, Britain, France and Germany created a payment mechanism to by-Pass Swift to continue trade with Iran in spite of US Objections .     We are also assessing the latest out of India as Elections loom there.   Unemployment is a major challenge for India right now. Returning home here in the United States, We have also been assessing the on-going situation in Venezuela as we also are witness to 2020 Candidates including Kamala Harris from our home State of California have begun their qu...

As the Debate in the British Parliament continues over Brexit, our team pulled the following together as we assess how the political leaders in the UK will work through this profound challenge:  UK Brexit Vote Reflects a Deep Crisis in Capitalism (Pt 1/2) Had the British been presented with the option, people might choose a socialist Britain over a capitalist EU, but they are not given that choice, say Prof. Leo Panitch of York University and Jon Lansman of the British Labour Party’s National Executive Committee Brexit Vote: Will the EU Throw UK PM Theresa May a Lifeline? In-spite of the deep splits among the Tories, Prof. John Weeks says that a Brexit agreement will be made when the EU bails out Theresa May in the lead-up to the EU parliamentary elections Could a “No-Deal Brexit” Lead to Violence on Irish border? After Brexit, Northern Ireland will return to the UK and leave the EU, while the Irish Republic will remain a member. People living on the border fear serious disruptions...

Roger Stone is appearing in Court in Washington as we went to press--this is one take of the events of the prior 72 hours--This is as the Federal Government is officially open now although the threat of a Shutdown looms.    It must also be noted that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the shutdown has cost the US Economy some 11 Billion Dollars --a figure rejected by the President's Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow.

A new week is before us as the US Government has opened up for three weeks after stories of agony and hardship that our team tracked via #ShutDownStories.   The President has kept his option of declaring a National Emergency Open as Conservative Stalwarts like Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham told the President that he lied and he caved.     As We went to press, the House GOP Leader was on Meet The Press trying to spin the stance by President Trump as Pete Souza reflected on it as well:    Our team will continue to assess progress on the negotiations as we also saw Roger Stone being indicted   One of the Democratic Candidates, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand spoke on her candidacy along with the former Special Envoy for ISIS Brett McGurk which we view as a critical commentary of the current state of affairs in the United States right now.

We join in honoring the life and legacy of Dr King on this #MLK2019 WeekEnd 

Trevor Noah launches World War D!!   This as President Trump's nominee to head the EPA denies climate change:

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been defeated in the House of Commons.     As we went to press, we were awaiting deliberations on a motion of no-confidence by the Labor Leader, Jeremy Corbyn.     SkyNews has been providing live coverage and we feature this today-we anticipate The UK Prime Minister to survive the no-confidence vote but profound challenges loom.  As we went to Press, the Chief EU Negotiator Spoke and live coverage feed will be available throughout the day. This is also as  the US Shutdown continues : 

We present this on a post-Brexit future courtesy of the Financial Times: What could Britain's future look like post-Brexit? Eight former foreign secretaries – including Boris Johnson, Jack Straw and William Hague – share their thoughts https://t.co/ZOrXTu2cmA pic.twitter.com/nbJWfINAro — Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) January 11, 2019

As we went to press, the US Government shutdown continued.   It impacted Air Travel,  the Federal Courts, Meat inspections and other vital US Government Services as 800,000 Federal Workers went on without pay.   This is as reporting by the New York Times and the Washington Post noted how President Trump was an agent of Russia.      Trevor Noah shared some thoughts on it: However, one thing that has been so telling has been the absence of the US Senate Majority Leader in the Shutdown as noted below: History's longest government shutdown is unusual for another reason: Senator Mitch McConnell's absence from negotiations to end it. https://t.co/3Y3HsS4pRd pic.twitter.com/FHFv2NM0ur  — Brookings (@BrookingsInst) January 15, 2019 There is also another drama before us:  The hearing to confirm William Barr for Attorney General.   Mr. Barr noted that he would make sure the Special Counsel will be allowed to finish his work underscoring...

As the 24th day of the US Government shutdown continues, one US Senator has been at the forefront of discussions on the US Public Affairs shows: Senator Linsday Graham of South Carolina.    Our team tracked down a perspective on Senator Graham from the Archives of the Daily Show featuring Jon Stewart--Please Enjoy:

Life Goes On Irrespectively : My interest in understanding budgeting processes in USA and the life of an ordinary woman or man on say, Market Street San Francisco CA got piqued following the Dec 2018+ shutdown that is clearly hurting everyone. The hurt manifests emotionally, psychologically, communally, socially and financially. I remembered a long time ago, of another lifetime, when a Minister of health of a country somewhere decreed that ARVs (medication to suppress HIV) should not be given to People Living With HIV after all, he argued, they brought the virus into their lives due to promiscuity. Bah! He was (Im) ministerial and (dis) honourable! We argued that politics should actually put ego aside and work side by side with her sister public health. It turned out that actually the minister was using this same excuse or platform to embezzle GAVI funds meant for facilitating efforts toward clinical trials and purchases of prevention prophylactics. There were tactics employed to hav...

We are launching #FlashBackFridays here in Perspectives--a periodic reflection upon our World.   Our team choose selections from @KalToons as the World awaits a potential summit between President Trump and Kim Jung Un, China and the US continue their Tarriff wars, Turkey continues its build up to war in Syria-- Interesting times indeed.....

As we went to press, we were continuing to assess the aftermath of President Trump's Oval Office Speech--this is as the shutdown continues--and we captured just two examples of the on-going impact over the past 24 hours above. As we were on the prowl today, our team picked up a tweet from the President in the aftermath of his Oval Office Speech which was not received well (with the exception of the News Personalities at Fox News): California pays more in taxes to DC than it receives in federal spending. 57% of its forests are owned and managed by the federal govt. 40% are owned by families, Native American tribes or companies. Just 3% are owned and managed by state and local agencies. https://t.co/d8nX1qzfqe — ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) January 9, 2019 This was prompted by Ian Bremmer in the aftermath of the President noting that he would be withholding FEMA money from California--We released this in support of the call by Speaker Pelosi within the past hour: We Agree @SpeakerPelosi...

President Trump spoke last night  as the US Government continues to be shut down and the Democratic Leaders responded .     There has been discussions on the President's Emergency Powers as the debate continues.    Stephen Colbert provided a brief preview of what was expected during the speech:     Our team will be assessing the President's Emergency Powers as we also understand there are currently 51 Active Presidential Emergency Declarations--one of the oldest being the declaration by President Jimmy Carter over the Iran Hostage Crisis.    The Emergency Powers of the President are ill-defined. As we went to press, We understand that there is another meeting scheduled for 3 PM EST at the White House.   As we note both speeches, our team chose this from President Reagan as the 30th anniversary of his farewell address approaches:

As the United States 🇺🇸 Govt Shutdown continues & as @realDonaldTrump dominates the news cycle with the upcoming national speech our team picked this as a distraction-please enjoy

2019 has begun in earnest as 2018 was book-ended to the history books.  It will be quite a year especially as we achieved a number of milestones and as we continue to be on the prowl. The issue of climate change was front and center--underscored by this very insightful and interesting interview that NBC's Chuck Todd had with Michael Bloomberg about what can be possible in light of what the Trump Administration Did when it withdrew from Paris: What we are also quite excited to be witness to is to see alternatives developing.   Such alternatives include companies like Arcadia Power.    Our Founder shared this he received on what Arcadia Power had in fact done throughout 2018--The impact on the White House caught our eye in a "bigly" way:  It’s been a long year of climate reports and wildfires. We could all use a little pick me up, and we’ve got just that. This year, prices for clean energy reached record lows. You helped directly contribute to ...

As we start the new year, here are 6 reasons for hope. pic.twitter.com/CisgEu1jyW — Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 1, 2019

On behalf of our entire team, Happy New Year!!! The last two weeks of December 2018 was quite a tumultuous one that saw the resignation of the Secretary of Defense over President Trump's decision to withdraw from Syria along with  the US Government shut down over the President's request for a Border wall.  This was also quite a couple of weeks as Saudi Arabia went thru a major Cabinet Reshuffle, Arab Countries reopened Embassies in Syria and Iran released a budget that has cut Education as it has increased spending on the Revolutionary Guards while also apparently underwriting Russian Military Expenses in Syria as we wanted to share this from the Institute of Policy Studies:   As the second year of the Trump presidency staggers to a close, the federal government is on the verge of shutting down. Trump’s campaign promise to get Mexico to foot the bill for a border wall failed, and now he’s trying to squeeze $5 billion from Congress to pay for it. Congress isn’t biting,...