Tuesday, June 27, 2017
From Leader to Laughingstock
From the Pew Research Center -
U.S. Image Suffers as Publics Around World Question Trump’s Leadership
America still wins praise for its people, culture and civil liberties
BY RICHARD WIKE, BRUCE STOKES, JACOB POUSHTER AND JANELL FETTEROLF
Although he has only been in office a few months, Donald Trump’s presidency has had a major impact on how the world sees the United States. Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the U.S. have declined steeply in many nations. According to a new Pew Research Center survey spanning 37 nations, a median of just 22% has confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs. This stands in contrast to the final years of Barack Obama’s presidency, when a median of 64% expressed confidence in Trump’s predecessor to direct America’s role in the world.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/06/26/u-s-image-suffers-as-publics-around-world-question-trumps-leadership/
U.S. Image Suffers as Publics Around World Question Trump’s Leadership
America still wins praise for its people, culture and civil liberties
BY RICHARD WIKE, BRUCE STOKES, JACOB POUSHTER AND JANELL FETTEROLF
Although he has only been in office a few months, Donald Trump’s presidency has had a major impact on how the world sees the United States. Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the U.S. have declined steeply in many nations. According to a new Pew Research Center survey spanning 37 nations, a median of just 22% has confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs. This stands in contrast to the final years of Barack Obama’s presidency, when a median of 64% expressed confidence in Trump’s predecessor to direct America’s role in the world.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2017/06/26/u-s-image-suffers-as-publics-around-world-question-trumps-leadership/
Monday, June 26, 2017
We Can Hope
An excerpt form the New York Magazine -
Just Wait
Watergate didn’t become Watergate overnight, either.
By Frank Rich
In the decades since, Watergate has become perhaps the most abused term in the American political lexicon. Washington has played host to legions of “-gates,” most unworthy of the name, and the original has blurred in memory, including for those of us who lived through it. Now, of course, invocations of Watergate are our daily bread, as America contemplates the future of a president who not only openly admires Nixon — he vowed to put a framed Nixon note on display in the Oval Office — but seems intent on emulating his most impeachable behavior. And among those of us who want Donald Trump gone from Washington yesterday, there’s a fair amount of fear that he, too, could hang on until the end of a four-year term that stank of corruption from the start. Even if his White House scandals turn out to exceed his predecessor’s — as the former director of national intelligence James Clapper posited in early June — impeachment is a political, not a legal, matter, and his political lock on the presidency would seem secure. Unlike Nixon, who had to contend with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Trump has the shield of a Republican Congress led by craven enablers terrified of crossing their Dear Leader’s fiercely loyal base. That distinction alone is enough to make anti-Trumpers abandon all hope.
I’m here to say don’t do so just yet. There’s a handy antidote to despair: a thorough wallow in Watergate, the actual story as it unfolded, not the expedited highlight reel that most Americans know from a textbook précis or cultural artifacts like the film version of All the President’s Men. If you look through a sharp Nixonian lens at Trump’s trajectory in office to date, short as it has been, you will discover more of an overlap than you might expect. You will learn that Democratic control of Congress in 1973 was not a crucial factor in Nixon’s downfall and that Republican control of Congress in 2017 may not be a life preserver for Trump. You will find reason to hope that the 45th president’s path through scandal may wind up at the same destination as the 37th’s — a premature exit from the White House in disgrace — on a comparable timeline.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/frank-rich-nixon-trump-and-how-a-presidency-ends.html
Just Wait
Watergate didn’t become Watergate overnight, either.
By Frank Rich
In the decades since, Watergate has become perhaps the most abused term in the American political lexicon. Washington has played host to legions of “-gates,” most unworthy of the name, and the original has blurred in memory, including for those of us who lived through it. Now, of course, invocations of Watergate are our daily bread, as America contemplates the future of a president who not only openly admires Nixon — he vowed to put a framed Nixon note on display in the Oval Office — but seems intent on emulating his most impeachable behavior. And among those of us who want Donald Trump gone from Washington yesterday, there’s a fair amount of fear that he, too, could hang on until the end of a four-year term that stank of corruption from the start. Even if his White House scandals turn out to exceed his predecessor’s — as the former director of national intelligence James Clapper posited in early June — impeachment is a political, not a legal, matter, and his political lock on the presidency would seem secure. Unlike Nixon, who had to contend with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, Trump has the shield of a Republican Congress led by craven enablers terrified of crossing their Dear Leader’s fiercely loyal base. That distinction alone is enough to make anti-Trumpers abandon all hope.
I’m here to say don’t do so just yet. There’s a handy antidote to despair: a thorough wallow in Watergate, the actual story as it unfolded, not the expedited highlight reel that most Americans know from a textbook précis or cultural artifacts like the film version of All the President’s Men. If you look through a sharp Nixonian lens at Trump’s trajectory in office to date, short as it has been, you will discover more of an overlap than you might expect. You will learn that Democratic control of Congress in 1973 was not a crucial factor in Nixon’s downfall and that Republican control of Congress in 2017 may not be a life preserver for Trump. You will find reason to hope that the 45th president’s path through scandal may wind up at the same destination as the 37th’s — a premature exit from the White House in disgrace — on a comparable timeline.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/06/frank-rich-nixon-trump-and-how-a-presidency-ends.html
It Took a Whole Page
From the Business Insider -
The New York Times used a full page to print 'Trump's lies' since taking office
Sonam Sheth
The New York Times used a full page in the opinion section of Sunday's paper to print what it described as nearly every lie President Donald Trump had publicly told since taking office just over five months ago.
http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-used-full-page-to-print-all-trump-lies-since-taking-office-2017-6
The New York Times used a full page to print 'Trump's lies' since taking office
Sonam Sheth
The New York Times used a full page in the opinion section of Sunday's paper to print what it described as nearly every lie President Donald Trump had publicly told since taking office just over five months ago.
http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-used-full-page-to-print-all-trump-lies-since-taking-office-2017-6
Sunday, June 25, 2017
How Failure Fits
From the NY Times -
On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus
A Smith College initiative called “Failing Well” is one of a crop of university
programs that aim to help high achievers cope with basic setbacks.
By JESSICA BENNETT
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Last year, during fall orientation at Smith College, and then again recently at final-exam time, students who wandered into the campus hub were faced with an unfamiliar situation: the worst failures of their peers projected onto a large screen.
“I failed my first college writing exam,” one student revealed.
“I came out to my mom, and she asked, ‘Is this until graduation?’” another said.
The faculty, too, contributed stories of screwing up.
“I failed out of college,” a popular English professor wrote. “Sophomore year. Flat-out, whole semester of F’s on the transcript, bombed out, washed out, flunked out.”
“I drafted a poem entitled ‘Chocolate Caramels,’ ” said a literature and American studies scholar, who noted that it “has been rejected by 21 journals … so far.”
This was not a hazing ritual, but part of a formalized program at the women’s college in which participants more accustomed to high test scores and perhaps a varsity letter consent to having their worst setbacks put on wide display.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/fashion/fear-of-failure.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&src=me&WT.nav=MostEmailed
On Campus, Failure Is on the Syllabus
A Smith College initiative called “Failing Well” is one of a crop of university
programs that aim to help high achievers cope with basic setbacks.
By JESSICA BENNETT
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Last year, during fall orientation at Smith College, and then again recently at final-exam time, students who wandered into the campus hub were faced with an unfamiliar situation: the worst failures of their peers projected onto a large screen.
“I failed my first college writing exam,” one student revealed.
“I came out to my mom, and she asked, ‘Is this until graduation?’” another said.
The faculty, too, contributed stories of screwing up.
“I failed out of college,” a popular English professor wrote. “Sophomore year. Flat-out, whole semester of F’s on the transcript, bombed out, washed out, flunked out.”
“I drafted a poem entitled ‘Chocolate Caramels,’ ” said a literature and American studies scholar, who noted that it “has been rejected by 21 journals … so far.”
This was not a hazing ritual, but part of a formalized program at the women’s college in which participants more accustomed to high test scores and perhaps a varsity letter consent to having their worst setbacks put on wide display.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/fashion/fear-of-failure.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&src=me&WT.nav=MostEmailed
Just Another Black Guy
From the Huffington Post -
Off-Duty Officer ‘Treated As Ordinary Black Guy,’ Shot By Another Cop
The 11-year department veteran’s lawyer says he considers the incident more severe than an accident.
By Doha Madani
A black off-duty officer was shot by a colleague in his St. Louis neighborhood Wednesday night, the Missouri city’s police department confirms.
~~~~~~~~~~
The victim was treated in hospital but has since been released, police confirmed. His lawyer, Rufus J. Tate Jr., told local news outlets that he considers the incident more severe than an accident. The police department has given no description of a threat, he said.
“This is the first time that we are aware, that a black professional, in law enforcement, himself being shot and treated as an ordinary black guy on the street,” Tate told Fox News. “This is a real problem.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-officer-shot-off-duty_us_594e76c8e4b05c37bb76a88f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
Off-Duty Officer ‘Treated As Ordinary Black Guy,’ Shot By Another Cop
The 11-year department veteran’s lawyer says he considers the incident more severe than an accident.
By Doha Madani
A black off-duty officer was shot by a colleague in his St. Louis neighborhood Wednesday night, the Missouri city’s police department confirms.
~~~~~~~~~~
The victim was treated in hospital but has since been released, police confirmed. His lawyer, Rufus J. Tate Jr., told local news outlets that he considers the incident more severe than an accident. The police department has given no description of a threat, he said.
“This is the first time that we are aware, that a black professional, in law enforcement, himself being shot and treated as an ordinary black guy on the street,” Tate told Fox News. “This is a real problem.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-officer-shot-off-duty_us_594e76c8e4b05c37bb76a88f?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
New York!
From the New York Daily News -
CARIBBEAT: A celebration of arts, music and more at 4-day International African Arts Festival coming to Brooklyn
By Jared McCallister
The International African Arts Festival is returning to Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park Saturday with a host of anticipated activities — and an entertainment lineup that will thrill cultural mavens and music fans.
Reggae performer Denroy Morgan of “I’ll Do Anything for You” fame, funky James Brown band veteran Fred Wesley and the New JBs, Latin music star Tito Puente Jr., and the Kulu Mele African Drum and Dance Ensemble are among the scheduled performers during the four-day event, which runs Saturday through July 4 in the park on Navy St. (between Park and Flushing Aves.) in Fort Greene.
In addition to the performances, there are attractions and activities for adults and children, such as the "Culture, Community and Struggle" symposium, daily children's programs, a talent search, an arts and craft zone, a chess tournament, a natural hair show, a fashion show, health fair, poetry and spoken word shows, martial arts exhibitions and African dance workshops.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/caribbeat-international-african-arts-festival-returning-saturday-article-1.3275353
CARIBBEAT: A celebration of arts, music and more at 4-day International African Arts Festival coming to Brooklyn
By Jared McCallister
The International African Arts Festival is returning to Brooklyn’s Commodore Barry Park Saturday with a host of anticipated activities — and an entertainment lineup that will thrill cultural mavens and music fans.
Reggae performer Denroy Morgan of “I’ll Do Anything for You” fame, funky James Brown band veteran Fred Wesley and the New JBs, Latin music star Tito Puente Jr., and the Kulu Mele African Drum and Dance Ensemble are among the scheduled performers during the four-day event, which runs Saturday through July 4 in the park on Navy St. (between Park and Flushing Aves.) in Fort Greene.
In addition to the performances, there are attractions and activities for adults and children, such as the "Culture, Community and Struggle" symposium, daily children's programs, a talent search, an arts and craft zone, a chess tournament, a natural hair show, a fashion show, health fair, poetry and spoken word shows, martial arts exhibitions and African dance workshops.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/caribbeat-international-african-arts-festival-returning-saturday-article-1.3275353
A Bank Investing in Renewable Energy
From Bank of America -
Bank of America issues $1 billion Green Bond
In November 2016, Bank of America issued its third and largest green bond for $1 billion in aggregate principal amount, furthering the company’s commitment to advancing renewable energy generation. The bond will help to fund renewable energy projects under the company’s $125 billion multi-year environmental business commitment to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy through lending, investing, capital raising, advisory services and developing financing solutions for clients around the world. This issuance follows our $600 million corporate green bond offering in 2015 and our first corporate green bond issuance for $500 million in 2013.
Bank of America issues $1 billion Green Bond
In November 2016, Bank of America issued its third and largest green bond for $1 billion in aggregate principal amount, furthering the company’s commitment to advancing renewable energy generation. The bond will help to fund renewable energy projects under the company’s $125 billion multi-year environmental business commitment to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy through lending, investing, capital raising, advisory services and developing financing solutions for clients around the world. This issuance follows our $600 million corporate green bond offering in 2015 and our first corporate green bond issuance for $500 million in 2013.
Here are some examples of projects financed by our third green bond.
First Reserve, Comanche Solar.
D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, North Star Solar.
Exelon Generation Company, Bluestem.
Starwood Energy Group Global, Electra Wind.
SunPower, Sunrise 2.
D.E. Shaw, Balko Wind.*
NextEra, Pioneer Plains.*
NextEra, Steele Flats.*
D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments, North Star Solar.
Exelon Generation Company, Bluestem.
Starwood Energy Group Global, Electra Wind.
SunPower, Sunrise 2.
D.E. Shaw, Balko Wind.*
NextEra, Pioneer Plains.*
NextEra, Steele Flats.*
*Projects refinanced from our first green bond.
http://about.bankofamerica.com/en-us/green-bond-overview.html#fbid=EQ2_Jqn8mWY
Being the First
From the Washington Post -
20 new and returning TV shows that you should check out this summer
By Hank Stuever
20 new and returning TV shows that you should check out this summer
By Hank Stuever
First in Human
(Discovery Channel at 9 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 10) Three-night docu-series, narrated by “Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons, takes viewers on an unprecedented trip inside the National Institutes of Health’s “Building 10” hospital complex, where chemotherapy was first used against cancer, lithium was tried for depression and — so long as federal funding continues — further research continues.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/20-new-and-returning-tv-shows-that-you-should-check-out-this-summer/2017/06/15/6f730dce-4ad1-11e7-bc1b-fddbd8359dee_story.html?utm_term=.bd3063003eaf&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
You Lose a Lot When You Lose Sleep
From the Huffington Post - (Bold is mine)
Sleep Deprivation Is Killing You (And Making You Fat In The Process)
By Dr. Terry Bradberry
The next time you tell yourself that you’ll sleep when you’re dead, realize that you’re making a decision that can make that day come much sooner. Pushing late into the night is a health and productivity killer.
According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly washed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sleep-deprivation-is-killing-you-and-making-you-fat_us_594c1d77e4b0f078efd97fe0
Sleep Deprivation Is Killing You (And Making You Fat In The Process)
By Dr. Terry Bradberry
The next time you tell yourself that you’ll sleep when you’re dead, realize that you’re making a decision that can make that day come much sooner. Pushing late into the night is a health and productivity killer.
According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, the short-term productivity gains from skipping sleep to work are quickly washed away by the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on your mood, ability to focus, and access to higher-level brain functions for days to come. The negative effects of sleep deprivation are so great that people who are drunk outperform those lacking sleep.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sleep-deprivation-is-killing-you-and-making-you-fat_us_594c1d77e4b0f078efd97fe0
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