Notations On Our World: Tunisia declares nationwide curfew after violent job protests

This is late breaking.....



Tunisia declares nationwide curfew after violent job protests: Tunisia declared a nationwide curfew on Friday after four days of protests and rioting over jobs and economic conditions, the worst unrest since an uprising five years ago that toppled autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. There were further demonstrations on Friday in several regions, including Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid. In Tunis, demonstrators blocked a major thoroughfare and burned tyres in the street. At least 19 people were arrested in the capital in connection with the unrest, a security official said.

The Friday Musical Interlude: The Great Diane Schuur Sings.....

On the eve of Friday here in #Outsiders, our team decided to again be a bit "eclectic" as we decided to feature as our Artist of the Week, the Great Diane Schur.    As we hope all enjoy the selections throughout the #outsider properties, we hope the "Opening One" on this late night is of interest as we will be "dark" for on-going analysis and review:

View of the Week (Special Edition): A Call to Action To Cheer Up!!!!

It has been a gloomy week in Our World.    Our team decided to feature this we just received throughout all our properties to underscore that there is lot that we have going for us and we here @ #Outsiders are committed to reflecting upon the positive as well as the challenging. 

Please enjoy as we join the ever eloquent Geoff Colvin's call to action asking all to Cheer Up!!!

Daily insights on leaders and leadership By Geoff Colvin

January 21, 2016

There are moments when bad news piles up like a snowdrift and it becomes impossible to dispute that the world is doomed. This is one of those moments. The earth is cooking: Last year was the hottest ever recorded, resulting in global weather weirdness such as devastating Mississippi River floods in December. Stock markets are plunging: The Dow has lost 1,700 points, almost 10%, in three weeks, reflecting deepening fears of multiple economic woes, such as… China is slowing:Its economy grew last year at its slowest pace in 25 years and, as my Fortunecolleague Scott Cendrowski points out, the official growth numbers are almost certainly exaggerated. Oil is falling: The rout continues, with prices now around $26, and while that may be an eventual economic benefit for many countries, it’s an immediate problem for the world economy. It’s one reason why… Global growth is disappointing: The World Bank recently cut its forecast of 2016 global growth, and most other forecasters are doing the same. And as if all that weren’t bad enough…Bernie Sanders is surging: He leads Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and maybe in Iowa, propelled in part by fantasyland economic proposals that would stop any growth the U.S. economy has left in it. Depressed yet? I detail this catalog of misery because part of a leader’s job is to offer hope, which seems almost impossible at the moment. Yet it can be done. We just need to lift our gaze from today’s news and look at the slightly bigger picture. Among the things you may notice, chosen at random and in no particular order: -The developed world—the U.S., the European Union, and Japan—stopped using more energy just before the last recession. Their economies have grown since then (if not terribly fast), but they haven’t used more energy. This is unprecedented in world history. -The world’s people are better off than they used to be. In the developed countries we’re focused on stagnant wages, missing the larger reality that billions of people have risen from incredibly miserable poverty in the past 20 years. There’s a long way to go, but this is astounding progress. -People are living longer. Yes, the trend brings problems. But on the whole I bet you’d agree that life is good and more of it is better. -We live in the most peaceful world there has ever been. I realize that sounds crazy, but it’s a fact that Harvard’s Steven Pinker has documented in his brilliant book The Better Angels of Our Nature, which Bill Gates has called “the most important book of the decade.” -Pretty soon we won’t have to drive. Maybe you can remember when it was fun, but now it’s just dangerous drudgery. Accidents are declining in the U.S. and will fall dramatically as autonomous vehicles take over. And by the way, the U.S. has now gone over five years without even one person dying in a passenger airline accident. -There are no statistics on this, but the world is certainly more full of creativity, energy, and promise than ever, with more people who are better educated receiving more opportunities to use their abilities. -And if you insist on something more immediate to cheer you up, consider that on Sunday afternoon we will get to see two of football’s all-time greatest quarterbacks,Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, face one another, almost certainly for the last time, in a high-stakes game. Even at moments like this, the good news is out there if we look for it. And I would even say it outweighs the bad. Cheer up!

Notations From the Grid (Special Edition) : The Iranian Embassy in Washington

For a special edition of "View of the Week" here in #Outsiders, we hope all enjoy these images of the Iranian Embassy in Washington.   Although it has been closed since 1980, it has still been preserved and the Architecture is similar to the Niavaran Palace in Tehran that was the principal residence of the late Shah of Iran.

It reflects the beauty of Iran in many ways--we hope all enjoy!!

Notations From Our World (Special Edition): #Davos2016 is in full Swing....

As we hope all enjoy the live feed, the mood seems to be pessimistic as we have seen the carnage around the World:

Notations On Our World (Special Edition): The Carnage In Markets

It has been quite a challenging morning on the markets as our team just checked the latest in US Markets.    The latest out of London notes that the FTSE has lost $ 50 Billion Dollars today and $ 140 Billion since the beginning of the year.    It appears that Bear Markets have arrived.  This is as Oil has dropped to $ 27 Dollar/Share.

The new normal has arrived--and all of us have to get used to it.    This snapshot was from BigCharts.com as of 7:30 AM PST: 

Notations On Our World: On the Latest On #Iran Elections

We have been monitoring continued reports out of Iran as we reported on the disqualification of one of the sitting Members of Parliament, Ali Motahari.      The latest reports we've seen is that only 30 of the 3,000 reformist candidates have been approved.   Even one of Khomeini's Grandsons has been disqualified.

We saw this headline on a leading Iranian Paper:

The pictures shows the head of the Guardian Council, Janati (whose son is a Minister in Rouhani's Cabinet) with President Rouhani.   The headline reads that Rouhani and Larijani (The Speaker) are to hold consultations with the Guardian Council in regards to the disqualifications.  

This cartoon we also saw on one of papers said it all:

The red depicts the so-called hardliners vs. the Purples--The Reformists.

It is bound to be interesting.