Notations On Our World: Quite a Day re: #Europe; @realDonaldTrump & Other Thoughts…

Finished this off supporting @DailyOutsider with this column as I wish all the mothers’ amongst us a Happy Mothers’ Day!!!

Our team was busy earlier today the early AM Twitter “roundup” as we worked away assessing what has been a challenging fortnight The UK Labor Party took quite a beating as it literally was relegated to a minor player in Scotland–although one bright spot was the Labor Candidate, Sadiq Khan, being elected London Mayor. He is the first Muslim Mayor and the son of a Pakistani Taxi Driver. This is as the Liberal Democrats have begun their comeback with interesting wins throughout Scotland. As we have been assessing our World, we just received a newsflash courtesy of the Guardian of London that the IMF has threatened to pull out of Greek bailout talks. The Greek bailout has not been in the “headlines” even though the challenges continue to be ever so as Greece also continues to be on the frontlines of the continued refugee challenge.

Beyond Europe, we have been keeping close eyes on the Americas. Some very interesting discourse had ensued ever since @realDonaldTrump was declared the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party from the conservative commentator Erick Erickson:

Republicans, Apologize to Bill Clinton By Erick Erickson | Friday, May 6, 2016 Republicans owe Bill Clinton an apology for impeaching him over lies and affairs while now embracing a pathological liar and womanizer. That apology will not be forthcoming. In fact, for years Republicans have accused the Democrats of gutter politics and shamelessness. Now the Republicans themselves have lost their sense of shame.
 Read More…

The backlash from the conservative establishment has been very interesting which includes the Editor of the Washington Examiner. The House Speaker and Chairman of the Republican National Convention noted that he was not ready to back Mr. Trump which elicited this response from Mr. Trump’s National Spokesperson:

A spokeswoman for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said Friday that House Speaker Paul Ryan shouldn’t be speaker if he can’t get behind his party’s presumptive nominee.

“If the speaker of the House doesn’t come around to supporting the Republican nominee, do you think Paul Ryan is still fit to be speaker?” CNN’s John Berman asked Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson.

“No, because this is about the party,” Pierson responded. “We were told to hold our noses and vote for the sake of the party.”

Read the full story here.

The Speaker has invited Mr. Trump for a meeting next week in Washington. It must be of note that a number of leading Republican luminaries have already noted that they will not be at the Convention and the two living Republican Former Presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have noted that they will refrain from commenting during the campaign as the speculation frenzy continues. President Obama spoke to this at the White House before he joined a conference call sponsored by Business Forward during National Small Business Week. He reflected upon how the Presidency of the United States was a serious job and that it is not entertainment–and challenged the media to examine Mr. Trump’s record as he commented on the April’s Jobs Report which missed the mark. The CBS’ Steve Chaggaris took issue with the Presidents’ characterization. We have also been watching with horror as the Canadian Province of Alberta has been dealing with a massive inferno.

Beyond the United States, we have been assessing the on-going developments in Brazil. The Speaker of the House who led the impeachment proceedings against the President of Brazil has been asked to step down because he himself is the subject of a corruption probe. This is as the Brazilian Senate has recommended that the President be put on trial. We will also be assessing the on going developments in Turkey and Iraq as the World was witness to a Turkish Prime Minister resigning and as Iraq continues to be in a state of political paralysis–as a Navy Seal died in a firefight serving alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga Fighters. It was also quite disturbing as a journalist escaped an assassination attempt as he has been on trial for espionage charges–with a possible sentence of life in prison. Our team will also be assessing the on-going situation in Afghanistan as our morning Media review reflected a story in this morning’s New York Times about the advisory from the US Embassy in Kabul to be wary of kidnappings. We also will be assessing the situation in the Philippines as people will be going to the polls with the possibility of electing what we view as an interesting man and in Malaysia as the current Prime Minister is trying to ensure a smooth re-election with a ramp-up of spending as he continues to be under an ethical cloud. As we went to press with this edition of “Notations”, we were assessing reports of a shooting in Montgomery Country in Maryland. Two individuals have unfortunately died and a person of interest has been identified.

It has been quite a challenging 24 hours in our World. As it is Mothers’ Day W-End here in the United States, we wanted to take this opportunity to wish all a Happy Mothers’ Day.

Related