Weekly Perspective

As we went to Press, the North Korean Leader was on his way via Train to Vietnam to meet with US President Donald Trump.  Expectations are being lowered ahead of the Summit as it begins later on this week.   This is as the continued challenges President Trump is faced with related to the multitude of investigations continues to be making the headlines here in the United States.   It will be epitomized by the upcoming testimony of his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, before Congress later on this week.   The President was on Twitter over the weekend busy with his assertions about Democratic Collusion supported by his Son. Beyond the shores of the United States, there are some major developments.   Venezuela continues to be beset by protests.   Africa's biggest country, Nigeria, is facing elections.     There were protests in Algeria as the ailing President decided to stand for a 5th Term.    Egypt continues to be beset with a lingering insurgency as President Sisi continues to assert

Our home state continues to be at the forefront of opposition to Donald Trump-epitomized by the lawsuit filed earlier this week regarding the National Emergency.  Our team chose this recent "snapshot" courtesy of CalMatters to underscore the sense of debate throughout California: Recent Articles What happens when the next big wildfire hits? By Judy Lin As political pressure mounts with every disaster, California is scrambling to prepare for the coming fire season, from firefighting to utilities to the law. What could be worse than the next big fire? The next big fire caused by PG&E By Judy Lin Customers will likely pay more and victims will get less should PG&E be liable for another major wildfire while the company is in bankruptcy. Should California buy disaster insurance? By Judy Lin Hoping to save California taxpayers some money after spending nearly $1 billion to fight wildfires last year, Napa Democratic Sen. Bill Dodd, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Tre

Brexit (the pending UK exit from the European Union) has been a profound challenge for the UK.   As we went to press, we saw how Brexit will undermine the influence of Britain Worldwide in a variety of ways.     Our team chose this courtesy of John Oliver as he showcased the profound challenge faced by the UK. We have urged in our daily curation on our Twitter Channel, @ordinaryfaces, for UK leaders to reconsider the decision.    We urge them yet again to go back to the people .

As we went to press with this edition of "Notations" 16 US States with a total of 125 Million Americans sued the Trump Administration to rescind the border Wall .   Trevor Noah reflected upon the National Emergency last night--as Senator Bernie Sanders joined the Presidential Race and underscored to John Dickerson this morning on CBS News This Morning that "We Would Win".    This is as @AOC (otherwise known as Congressman Alexandria Ocassio-Cortez) received another "smackdown" from one of the pro-Trump media network, the Washington Examiner earlier today --after there were other attempts including criticizing an apparent hiring of her boyfriend.  .  This is also as former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe began his formal book tour with an appearance on NBC's Today show and received some tough questions-- and among his revelations was how the US Congress Gang of 8 ( the most senior leadership in Congress) were briefed as the investigation began. Challe

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. - John Quincy Adams (sixth President of the United States) We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. - Thomas Jefferson (third President of the United States) [Declaration of Independence, and inscribed in the Jefferson Memorial] Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds. - Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd President of the United States) Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble. - George Washington (first President of the United States) The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. - John F. Kennedy (35th President of the United States) With self-discipline most anything is p

The 40th Anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran was celebrated in Iran.    This is as The Warsaw Conference conveyed by the United States to counter Iranian Influence also took place-- that was a failure as underscored by the team at Vox with their perceptive analysis .    Furthermore, the Munich Security Conference also occurred that featured the Vice President of the United States urging European Powers to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Agreemen t--as the Europeans led by Angela Merkel pushed back.    We were struck by the image above of what was designed which reminded our team of the depictions in North Korea as Iran's Supreme Guide (referred to as Supreme Leader in the West and "rahbar-E-Engelab--the highest authority in Iran), issued his edict on the Second Phase of the Revolution.

India and Iran suffered tragedies over the weekend as soldiers from both countries were attacked by elements based out of Pakistan.     India paid tribute to the fallen : Throughout India, the fallen have been honored with full State Honors.  They are known as "Jawans"-one of them from the State of Tamil Nadu was creamted with Full State Honors as His Wife and 2 year Old Son looked on : We join in saluting them all.

It is Valentine's Day as we went to press.   In honor of the Parkland Fallen, we join the team at A March For Our Lives as we go dark in all our properties through Feburary 17 as we pay tribute to all the Fallen and the survivors who have done more to change the conversation about Gun Violence.     We leave you all with this on the power of the possible by the team at Ecosia --what we have standardized for our search efforts: 

As we went to press, we were seeing reports of markets rising on the news of a Deal that we noted in our special edition  of  Notations--over 255 points.    This is as President Trump and Former Congressman Beto O'Rouke held competing rallies in Texas as the President formally launched his re-election effort --and Social Media was "abuzz" about Crowd Sizes.   The outlines of a deal have emerged whereby it appears that Congress is determined to avert another shutdown by allowing for border security funding without a wall and some inroads on Immigration reform .   As we went to press, the President's response was not yet known with some reporting that President Trump may take Executive Action to insure that his base remains with him. This is also as another interesting development just occurred on the Politics front:  Mark Kelly, the former Shuttle Commander, Gun Control Crusader and husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is running for the US Senate Seat.   

Our team has been assessing the state of negotiations in Washington.  Over the weekend, negotiations stalled and President Trump expressed profound pessimism--as his Acting Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney did not discount another shutdown.   However, Senators Richard Shelby and Patrick Leahy have called for another meeting to revive stalled negotations as the President is in El Paso at a rally which heralds the formal launch of his 2020 re-election effort with this news flash courtesy of the Washington Examiner:  Congress pushes for elusive spending deal by Monday night The two top Senate appropriators said they are aiming to complete a broad spending and border security deal Monday night after reviving stalled negotiations. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., and the panel’s top Democrat, Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the group of four bipartisan negotiators from the House and Senate will convene at 8 p.m. for the third time today for “serious” negotiations. Re

It will be quite a week ahead as we will be witness to negotiations over US Government Funding, Iran's Revolution is 40 years old,  Conference in Warsaw will be held on the Middle East, #Brexit negotiations continue and the crisis in Venezuela continues. 

It was quite a week as underscored by @SethMeyers & @TrevorNoah:

States are a starting point in putting in place mechanisms that define and enforce rights to development for all people including health rights, especially for women. These should be protected more affirmatively in order for standards of living to be improved. This should be accessible by all not because they are economically or politically powerful but because all people deserve it. This analysis will show examples of Roma, Cultural Institutions, Pygmies, Yazidi, Rohingya, Women, Conflicts, Hunger, Environment and Markets. These are a few of those that show that what it takes for states can work with non state actors to pool efforts toward quality development of all people. States are an example of the agency and currency derived from structured organization. Whereas organization is a catalysis for development, this does not mean states are the only organized entities, therefore they alone are not the sole drivers of development. Agency is an inherent and motive aspect drawn upon to

As we went to press, negotiations over the wall continued.   Our team created a grid of the discourse to get a sense of it all.   There have also been other responses including this from Professor Richard Wolffe: The Spanish Language Response was given by our Home State Attorney General, Xavier Becerra: AG Xavier Becerra gave the Dems' Spanish response to the State of the Union. California got its State of the Union licks in on Tuesday,  as Attorney General Xavier Becerra delivered the Democrats’ nationally televised  Spanish retort  to President Donald Trump’s speech.  Becerra,  son of immigrants from Mexico ,  spoke from his Sacramento high school alma mater, C.K. McClatchy High School, which also produced California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Our team will continue to assess the aftermath as we await the result of on-going negotiations as the Washington Post provided this analysis earlier in the week: