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The Wall Street Journal looks back at president Trump's first year in office from the inauguration speech to the passage of the new tax law. Race and immigration issues form the background of much of the domestic politics as Democrats prepare to shutdown government by December 2017 over a comment by the president. This happens during a meeting between the two parties on the Dreamer legislation to allow children of people illegally in the U.S. to stay in the country, when the president makes a derogatory remark about immigrants from Haiti and says he prefers immigrants from Norway. Efforts to repeal the Obama healthcare legislation fail during the first year. Democrats win a Senate seat in Alabama. A special counsel, Mr. Mueller, is appointed to investigate the Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. The tax law is skewed towards more tax cuts for the wealthy than the middle class, with the increase in the deficit not justifying the cut as infrastructure and other needs in health and education require funding. In international affairs Trump recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and takes a strong stand on Iran and North Korea.    ...

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Scholz and Grassler of DW.com describe the life and legacy of an exceptional president of Germany and his remarkable life- one who did not shy away from speaking his mind on many issues and was popular with Germans especially in western Germany. He showed emotions and was passionate about freedom and democracy as shown in his final address on the way forward for Germany after the upheavals in the European Union and the refugee crisis. He was influenced by fighting for rights after decades behind the Berlin Wall in a divided Germany. By the time he left office he had also matured and evolved, as shown in the final address that charted a way forward for Germany within a renewed Europe in the face of difficulties.

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Iraq is being dragged into Iran War with Iran backed Popular Mobilization Forces as part of the current Iraqi government. Today there are Sectarian divisions Shia and Sunni jostling for influence and power in the state of Iraq, a state created artificially in 1921 by Britain to protect its regional interests. After the Ottoman Empire 1524-1918 was broken up, after the WW1 in 1918, the British in subsequent negotiations got the League of Nations Mandate for Mesopotamia- historically the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It was made up of three provinces of the Ottoman Empire Basra, Baghdad and Mosul. Basra had a large Shia population, Baghdad and Mosul had a large Sunni population.  To this date no census has taken place except in 1987 and 2024 and never one that shows which portion of the population is Shia or Sunni, so no one really knows. Britain installed Faisal 1 as the King of this artificially created kingdom in 1924. The British operated in this way controlling the Shah of Iran at the time, and the Iraqi king, Egyptian king. Britain and France tried to install a Caliph in Istanbul who would rule Turkey and protect British and French interests but failed because of a Turkish military officer Ataturk who declared a independent Turkish state based in Ankara in the 1920's and defeated British sponsored armies and forces from Greece.   ...

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The U.S. Justice Department indictment of 5 Chinese military officers for hacking into computers of U.S. companies to get trade secrets. The hacking involved Westinghouse, U.S. Steel, and other companies.

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Most states do not have cleaning standards and there are reports of planes cleaned in less than 10 minutes. Even in business offices the cleaning can vary greatly. This poses a real danger to reopening the economy, saving jobs and recovery.

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The entire campaign could be settled here in North Carolina as Harris with 20 offices in the state, and tens of thousands of more volunteers, the energy of popular two term Roy Cooper Democratic governor of the state, work to get the support of voters in the Raleigh Durham area as well as rural voters in the western parts of the state.

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Angela Merkel announces her decision to run for reelection as chancellor on Nov. 20, 2016, saying she will "fight for our values and our way of life." About 55% of Germans support Merkel. After 11 years in office Merkel if reelected would exceed the record in office set by Helmut Kohl from 1982 to 1998. Germany does not have term limits for the position of chancellor. The changed political situation in the U.S. and Britain has made the role of Germany much larger in international affairs.

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Peter Baker of the New York Times takes a detailed look at Obama and the Presidency in October 2010. He has a long informal interview with President Obama, and uses his knowledge of prior Presidents, to provide a revealing look at Obama's first term in office upto this point. It provides an exceptionally insightful look at the man and his administration, in all its facets, facets that have create both hope and disillusionment. Obama comes across as the cerebral person even in his musings about popular disappointment with the administration, and does not seem connected with the gut-wrenching issues of jobs, foreclosures, the economy, and the economic future as a President needs to be. After all the inspirational rhetoric, Obama, says Baker, did not stay connected to the people who put him in office in the first place. And revealingly Baker shows that even today Obama talks only to a few insiders, compared to Clinton's wider circle, to understand what is happening in the country.

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Protestors on the side of governor Walz and mayor Frey both Democrats opposing the efforts of federal law enforcement create a situation where a car driven by Renee Good moves into the area with parked officers and leads to alleged car ramming and shots fired. An impasse in Minneapolis, with federal law enforcement efforts of immigration laws to remove migrants with criminal records opposed by Walz and Frey.  Following a surge in immigration under Biden, similar to that in World War II surge of migrants, which was followed by Operation Wetback in 1954 under Eisenhower. Walz was vice presidential candidate under Harris for the presidential election won by DJT. Political infighting and a alleged misuse of state funds have complicated the efforts. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem says today that the federal law enforcement by DHS had worked in Tennessee in cutting crime and made the city of Nashville safer, that there a Democrat Mayor had cooperated with federal law officers.She says about 490 people with criminal records were released into the city of Minneapolis by the state and local authorites under Walz and Frey, and not turned over as requested by DHS and Noem, under US law. On January 24, 2026, a man with a handgun and magazine of ammunition was in protests and in a confrontation with law enforcement was shot by a 6 year veteran of the federal law enforcement force. ...

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The problems in Chase bank's Investment Office unit were first reported in the WSJ April 5, 2012. Large positions were taken by Mr Michael Iksil, a trader in the London office that ruffled credit markets. Iksil reports to Achilles Macris, head of the European operations of the Investment Office unit, and Macris reports to Ms. Drew. At the time CEO Dimon and other executives reviewed trading positions and made no changes in strategies. After April 13 earnings call losses increased to $200 million a day, and review teams assigned to look into this found errors in the way the hedges were conducted. In early May Chief Risk Officer John Hogan and Europe head Daniel Pinto monitored the situation. The hedges were designed to reduce risk in the eurozone financial crisis, but the complex transactions based on relationships between a number of derivative indexes for investment grade and junk grade corporate bonds in U.S. and Europe worked in ways that led to large losses, and were so complicated that they were poorly understood....

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Infosys built its business on outsourcing by U.S. business. President Trump's executive order to "Buy American, Hire American" is changing the way it does business. Infosys plans to hire 10,000 software engineers in the U.S. by 2019. 

A big change is also coming from new technologies in computing that require small teams to work side by side with customers. This is best done by having software engineers in U.S. offices and not engineers in offices thousands of miles away. A president of Infosys says this is the new face of computing at Infosys.

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Positive vaccine sentiment in Britain rises to a high of 94%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This shows that the UK vaccination drive is not only working but has amazing public support, more than anywhere else in the world.

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Rural towns with populations of about 1000 or 1000 to 5000 are in a acute crisis when it comes to labor supply to run school buses, clean offices, run the town offices, run sports programs for kids, mowing the cemetery lawn, taking seniors out for meals, driving Little Leaguers to Away games. Jon Kamp of the WSJ provides this report from Ashland, Maine, pop. 1200. Leland Tarr is 65 years old and doing all these things. Town manager Martin says Tarr can't retire as there is no one to do this, he can't find people or the money to to hire people. And Tarr says "fishing is calling." All across Texas in towns across the vast hinterland, and in the prairie states including Kansas this situation exists. People in the public workforce in these small towns in rural America tend to be older and replacing them is a persistent challenge. These towns have to offer competitive salaries as not many people want to move to Texas towns like Muleshoe population  5000  on the New Mexico border. ...

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Pakistan faces need for new IMF loans of $6-8 billion, says this report in NYT. A new government assumes office with difficult economic conditions.

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Straightforward, succint, and to the point, meet Lt Gen. Dan Caine former F-16 fighter pilot. Dan Caine is in DJT inner circle for his forthright answers. He does not go on and on and answers questions from the president direct and to the point. During the strikes on Iranian nuclear weapons facilities he and DJT had direct conversation in the White House on all aspects and details, increasing confidence in Caine. Caine was seen positively in the press briefings with his attention to detail, forthright non-political manner, and direct non-evasive answers. He has added to the public's confidence in ways that cannot even be described, a rare achievement for someone in the military not enjoyed by a military officer since Eisenhower.

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Some ideas on how to reopen the economy in Britain in phases starting with release of some activities in May, followed by mid-June, and early July. Medical precautions and new protocol for being out on the streets, in public transport and in offices would have to be observed.