United States
Debt Ceiling
- Yes, we are still talking about the debt ceiling as the two parties have held out on making any sort of deal until (likely) the very last minute so they can, once again, claim they tried their best to be ideologues when they present unpopular cuts/taxes to their bases. The deadline to have something done and in place and voted in is August 2nd.
- It looks like there will be somewhere in the range of 2T-4T of deficit reduction in whatever deal gets worked out, but the rhetoric has really heated up in the past few days as negotiations continue.
- It is widely seen that Boehner wants to compromise to get a deal done but there is an internal struggle within the Republican party between Boehner versus Cantor and the tea party candidates.
Yellowstone Oil Spill
- For reasons I can't figure out the media has been largely absent from reporting on the Exxon Mobil oil spill in the Yellowstone River on July 1st.
- Until recently floodwaters have hampered cleaning as well as testing of the water to determine the safety of the water and extent of the spill, but the estimates of the amount of oil spilled are relatively low.
Last Shuttle Launch
- The last NASA shuttle launch took place last Friday to supply the International Space Station (ISS). The mission is supposed to last about 12 days, after which the entire Shuttle fleet will be retired and American manned space flight will be put on hold for the time being.
Casey Anthony Outrage
- The public at large suddenly became legal experts after Casey Anthony was found not guilty and were outraged how the jury could find her not guilty. They were so outrageously outraged they even took to Facebook and Twitter to express how mad they were!
Betty Ford Died
- Of a massive drug overdose! Just kidding, but the former first lady did die. (Betty Ford Clinic joke in case it wasn't clear)
International
South Sudan
- After one of Africa's longest civil wars and over 2 million people dead, South Sudan became the world's newest nation as it seceded from Sudan after a peace deal which involved a secession referendum held in January of this year and received just under 99% of the vote by the Southern Sudanese.
Murdoch Scandal
- The British former newspaper-turned tabloid News of the World hit a huge scandal in the UK when it was revealed the it's reporters paid off police to receive information and hacked the phones and voicemails of British officials (including Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister), widows of servicemen killed in Iraq/Afghanistan, and a missing 13 year old girl.
- The public blew their lid over the entire story but mainly when it was revealed that while the 13 year old girl was still missing News of the World employees were hacking into her voicemail and deleting messages b/c her VM was full so more messages could be left. This (obviously) led the police and her family to believe she was still alive, which she wasn't. Yes, that is your skin crawling right now.
- Advertisers started fleeing the paper en masse, and Murdoch shut down the paper completely.
- News Corp. (Murdoch's main holding company) had been involved in a bid to take over British satellite broadcaster, BSkyB, and now has received enormous political and public pressure to abandon the bid.
- The Murdoch media empire also includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.
Syria
- US and French diplomats visited Hama, the center of the Syrian unrest, to speak with the opposition. Damascus issued a fiery statement condemning the visit and mobs subsequently attacked the US and French embassies in Damascus.
Libya
- Reports have circulated that Gadhafi has sent emissaries to New York, Turkey and Paris to begin talks as Gadhafi is reported to be ready to step down and leave the country.
- Battles have continued across the country but is largely in stalemate with the opposition still controlling the eastern half of Libya and various pockets in the west, but failing to make inroads in advancing towards Tripoli.
As reported by Jason Van Thiel.
No comments:
Post a Comment