Stephan: You really should watch this. It is the wellbeing response to the Trump State of the Union. This is where we should be heading. This is what we should be doing.
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Stephan: This is the kind of person Donald Trump has around him, and chose to bring into government. That's all I'm going to say, you read it and reach your own conclusions.
I. The Wisdom of Friends
the clinic permitted paul manafort one 10-minute call each day. And each day, he would use it to ring his wife from Arizona, his voice often soaked in tears. “Apparently he sobs daily,” his daughter Andrea, then 29, texted a friend. During the spring of 2015, Manafort’s life had tipped into a deep trough. A few months earlier, he had intimated to his other daughter, Jessica, that suicide was a possibility. He would “be gone forever,” she texted Andrea.
His work, the source of the status he cherished, had taken a devastating turn. For nearly a decade, he had counted primarily on a single client, albeit an exceedingly lucrative one. He’d been the chief political strategist to the man who became the president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, with whom he’d developed a highly personal relationship. Manafort would swim naked with his boss outside his banya, play tennis with him at his palace (“Of course, I let him win,” Manafort made it known), and generally serve as an arbiter of power in a vast country. One of his deputies, Rick Gates, once boasted to a group of Washington […]
Stephan: There have been 11 school shootings in the first month of this year -- as well as many other gun murders -- and instead of addressing the core issues the Trump administration is going to cynically use those events to further its long term strategy of creating a militarized police state to control the population. Here is the evidence.
Alabama sheriff and his new military gear
There have been 11 school shootings this year alone. And Trump’s answer to keep children safe at schools is to supply law enforcement with military gear.
In a meeting at the White House with mayors last week, Trump began:
“WE’RE ALSO GETTING YOU A LOT OF OUR EXCESS MILITARY EQUIPMENT, YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT THAT,” TRUMP BEGAN. “THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS — BUT IN PARTICULAR, THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION — THEY DIDN’T LIKE TO DO THAT, AND SOMEDAY THEY’LL EXPLAIN WHY. BUT WE HAD A LOT OF EXCESS MILITARY EQUIPMENT, WE’RE SENDING IT TO YOUR POLICE AS THEY NEED IT, AND IT’S MADE A TREMENDOUS DIFFERENCE.”
In August, Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday announced a roll back of the Obama-era restrictions on the transfer of surplus military equipment to police departments across the country.
Under the Law Enforcement Support Office, or the 1033 program, the Pentagon has supplied local police departments from 2006-2014 with “billions of dollars worth of grenade launchers, high-calibur firearms, camouflage gear, and armored personnel carriers used on battlefields of Iraq […]
Stephan: If I were a Puerto Rican I would be a passionate activist for independence. Puerto Rico could do so much better as an independent Caribbean nation; they could hardly do worse than their current situation as an American colony. At one level this is the story of the grotesque incompetence of the Trump administration; a complementary story to what has gone on in Houston. At another even more important level Houston and Puerto Rico are telling us that we, as a nation, are woefully unprepared for what is coming with climate change. At either level it is a story of pain, and suffering, and death. Months after Irma and Maria almost a third of Puerto is still without power, and thousands still lack reliable safe water and food. The fact that the media is not covering this is yet another wakeup call.
Puerto Rico January 2018
Credit: AP/Carlos Giusti
Four months after Hurricane Maria left Puerto Rico devastated, federal assistance is coming to a close and will “officially shut off” on Wednesday. Parts of the island, however, are still left in desperation and have said federal aid distribution should continue.
Since the storm struck late last September, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has distributed over 30 million gallons of potable water and nearly 60 million meals to the island’s residents, NPR reported:
To date, FEMA has approved more than $500 million in Maria-related public assistance, though it’s unclear how much of that is slated for local government and nonprofit groups versus direct aid for individuals. The agency has also disbursed an additional $3.2 million in unemployment aid to people whose jobs were affected by the storm.
“The reality is that we just need to look around. Supermarkets are open, and things are going back to normal,” Alejandro De La Campa, FEMA’s director in Puerto Rico […]
Stephan: The United States elected Donald Trump president, and the United Kingdom chose BREXIT. I think history will record that both decisions were based on fear, hate, anger, and resentment and disastrously damaged both nations.
David Davis and Theresa May
Credit: Shutterstock
The government’s new analysis of the impact of Brexit says the UK would be worse off outside the European Union under every scenario modelled, BuzzFeed News can reveal.
The assessment, which is titled “EU Exit Analysis – Cross Whitehall Briefing” and dated January 2018, looked at three of the most plausible Brexit scenarios based on existing EU arrangements.
Under a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU, UK growth would be 5% lower over the next 15 years compared to current forecasts, according to the analysis.
The “no deal” scenario, which would see the UK revert to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, would reduce growth by 8% over that period. The softest Brexit option of continued single-market access through membership of the European Economic Area would, in the longer term, still lower growth by 2%.
These calculations do not take into account any short-term hits to the economy from Brexit, such as the cost of adjusting the economy to new customs arrangements.
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
