It was a rather challenging week-end as the work of #Outsiders continued. The latest series of "Notations" curated for release was one of the more challenging ones curated that underscores a sense of profound concern about the political paralysis out there. I was especially shocked at the representations by Congressman Dave Brat of Virginia on how how was so insistent on speaking for the American People as I also consulted the "10 Principles" that he had published on his Website. I hope to have some thoughts on it soon. I couldn't help but wonder what he's actually for. I heard what he's against--and his colleagues that he claims are a majority in the House. It is not born out by the facts as noted in this report which I released to my personal Twitter Feed within the past hour.
Beyond the shores of America, I was frankly shocked at reports out of Iran about the debate on the Nuclear Deal. Ali Akbar Salehi, the Head of the Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and one of Rouhani's Vice Presidents, was actually threatened in Parliament to be killed--a fact verified by two Majlis Deputies. One of the them, Ali Motahari, wrote quite a commentary on Instagram on Sunday as the Official Iranian News Agency decried the loss of decorum. The parallels with what the conservatives in the United States have been pursuing has been quite interesting to say the least.
Ali Motahari reminds me of Helen Sussman, the late South African MP and oppostion leader who campagined for years against the evil of apartheid and the freedom for all South Africans. I wanted to honor her with this I ran across:
I also was assessing the case of Jason Rezayian of the Washington Post. I have been periodically adding my voice to the Twitter hastag campaign #FreeJason to help keep his case alive. The team reviewed reports that a verdict had come down. When I reviewed the comments by the Spokemsan for Iran's Judiciary, he said he was "aware" of the verdict--but did not know what it was. I will be continuing to assess this to see what the latest is as he has now been held longer than the US Hostages were held in 1979.
As I was working on supporting #outsiders for this week, I was around town and dropped in at the local Haagans to do a bit of weekly shopping. I noticed that the shelves were beginning to "thin out" as Haagan has decided to shut down all Orange County stores as part of its' reorganization effort after the fanfare under which it hit Orange County. Others are "vying" to take its' place including Aldo which is aggressively working to staff in the northern part of the County. I had heard rumors that Gelson's may pick up a few of the stores. But, this rumor was denied by the Staffers at Haagan's as they noted that the stores will be shut down Thanksgiving Day.
It will be another challenging week as I took comfort in this Thought: