Notations On Our World (Special Edition): On the #IranDeal

As we went to press, President Trump released a Tweet advising of his intentions regarding continued US Participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)--otherwise known as the #IranDeal or the #IranNuclearDeal.   There have been also pronoucements by the Iranian Leadership including an implicit message from President Rouhani of Iran stating that Iran will continue to abide by the terms as long as the Europeans remained.   This is also as UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was in Washington meeting with the Secretary of State, the Vice President and making the US Media Rounds--including an appearance on President Trump's Favorite show Fox & Friends.

France and Germany already came out in strong support of the nuclear deal:

France & Germany foreign ministers say their govts will uphold #Iran nuclear deal regardless of Trump’s May 12 decision

We are "absolutely determined to save" #IranDeal: @JY_LeDrian

more on @business

— Ladane Nasseri (@LadaneNasseri) May 7, 2018

The BiPartisan Policy Center's  Blaise Misztal just released this in anticipation of the Iran Deal as the World awaits President Trump's annoucement and the aftermath: 

On Iran, It's Not About the Art of the Deal

By Blaise Misztal President Donald Trump has sold himself as the consummate deal-maker. But while he has been clear-eyed about the Iran nuclear accord, he has perhaps been overly focused on its shortcomings. This risks not only losing sight of the deal's one advantage and its true costs, but also replicating his predecessor's mistake: reducing all Iran policy issues to the agreement. President Barack Obama's diplomatic perseverance made the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA, possible, but it also became a restraint. During negotiations, and even after the deal was struck, the Obama administration did not confront Iran on other serious issues — its bloody involvement in Syria or the 2016 capture of 10 American sailors in the Persian Gulf — for fear of upsetting the accord.  Read the Op-Ed in Roll Call

Notations On Our World (Special Community Edition): Out & About in Orange County

We begin this Special Community Edition as Election Season has arrived in Orange County.   Our team shared images on our Twitter Feed throughout the week as we wanted to share this from the Orange County Registrar of Voters:

900,000 Ballots Ready to be Mailed By Sunday evening we will have finalized the preparation of nearly 900,000 vote-by-mail packets for the June Primary election, which will be mailed on Monday, May 7th. Neal Kelley Registrar of Voters

Current Election NewsClick Heads Up OC Voters - 3-Page Ballot Likely for June 2018 Read more

30 Days of Data Set to Launch this WeekendWe are launching a brand new initiative called “30 Days of Data”. Each day, beginning on Sunday, May 6th, we will be revealing a new voter data page, which storyboards (through narratives and visualization) Orange County election trends. Poll Worker TrainingOur poll worker training begins today with online training. We will also be training volunteer poll workers in-person throughout Orange County – a total of 5,000 will be trained by June 4th. Interested in volunteering? It’s easy – visit ocvote.com/happy today!

Voter Information Guide Mailing CompleteEarlier this week we completed the mailing of 1.5 million Voter Information Guides to Orange County’s voters. Guides are unique and customized for individual voters and contain instructions, Election Day info, practice ballots and candidate statements. It is also critical to note Security Steps being taken by the Registrar of Voters to ensure Voter Security as noted by Supervisor Bartlett weekly dispatch 2018 OC Election Security Playbook Released   A paradigm shift occurred in election security in 2016, when widely reported attempts were made to disrupt elections in the United States. In addition, there has been a great deal of attention on issues related to ballot integrity, voter registration systems, and ensuring the eligibility of voters. As a result, Orange County has been aggressively pursuing security measures to protect the integrity of our elections. We believe a proactive “ring of security” is critical to safeguard the millions of ballots that are cast in Orange County during each election cycle. To that end, the Orange County Registrar of Voters (ROV) earlier this week released the 2018 Election Security Playbook, which details the steps the department has taken to limit risks and increase overall election protections. The ROV’s playbook is available online in their Election Library.   This is as this courtesy of the team at Voice of OC is critical to note as well as Orange County's Biggest City, Santa Ana has challenges as the homeless problem continues to be problematic: Santa Ana Budget Shortfall May Mean Cut in Services, Tax Hike The mayors, city managers and police chiefs of Anaheim, Buena Park and Fullerton met with U.S. District Judge David O. Carter Tuesday morning about creating a plan to combat homelessness that would be a “model” for the rest of the county. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT   Anaheim, Buena Park and Fullerton Team Up to Battle Homelessness

On this #WorldPressFreedom Day

Grateful for this "call to action" from the "majors" as this is noted on the level of Press Freedom in the World Today: