August 06, 2015

Farewell Jon Stewart, selling the Iran Deal, American trade, one year since Ferguson and that Malaysian plane

 
 

PNUT GALLERY

The Republican debate is taking place on the same day as Jon Stewart’s last show (appropriate). Both will be hilarious but here’s a drinking game if you decide to watch The Donald in full swing (you’ll need it).

IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ

Iran: The Deal That Won’t Sell Itself

President Obama has sold the Iran deal everywhere except where it matters most, Washington DC. Earlier this week Secretary of State John Kerry got the “backing” of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States who are terrified that the Iran deal might result in Iran being America’s new favorite dictatorship in the region. His (lack of) charm still hasn’t been able to win over Israel though. “Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran” (CNFI), a pro-Israel lobby group created by AIPAC, has spent over $11 million in TV ads to encourage congress to vote against the deal. Blocking the deal (and overriding Obama’s veto) hinges on a number of key Democratic Members of Congress. That partly explains why CNFI’s advisory board is comprised of six prominent democrats, including Joe Lieberman and Gary Ackerman. Obama upped the ante, saying that a vote against a deal would be a vote for war…  Time to block the deal: ~35 days
  Iran Deal in a Nutshell

America Starts Driving and Eating Again

The US posted a wider than expected June trade deficit (importing more than you export) as the strong dollar boosted demand for food and cars. The deficit increased 7.1 percent to $43.8B partially due to a fall in exports to Europe (which doesn’t really have any money to buy anything) but mostly due to an increase in the strength of the US dollar which has gained 15 percent against major trading currencies in the last year. Economists (who have mostly failed to predict every major economic event in the past hundred years) had forecast the deficit to come in lower. No worries though, the US economy still managed to grow 2.3 percent at an annual rate in the last quarter.  

NUTS AND BOLTS: SHOULD READ

Ferguson A Year Later

In August 2014 the town of Ferguson, Missouri was thrown into turmoil by the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer. This triggered protests across the US and a nationwide debate on police brutality against African-Americans, racial injustice and the militarization of the police. In March this year the US Justice Department ruled that the Ferguson Police Department had engaged in “a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct” against the local black community.  A year later and progress has been made…albeit slowly, with greater black political representation in the community but with significant obstacles still in place. As one resident put it: “it’s sad that it took all of that to happen for people to start paying attention“. A year on and America is still struggling with its ever present racial divide.

Informative Read: Ferguson Sees Change But Asks If It’s Real

France Figures Selling Weapons To Putin Is Bad Idea

France was left in an awkward position after building two helicopter gunships to sell to Russia and then deciding that they actually didn’t want to sell to them. The French Government had come under pressure from its allies to cancel the transaction due the sanctions imposed on Russia after the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine last year (nothing to do with Russia of course). The French Government agreed to reimburse the Russians ~$1-$1.5B for the inconvenience and decided to keep the ships. Given Putin’s hobby for invading his neighbors it’s probably a good idea that they cancelled it….

Plane Debris Confirmed To Be Part Of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370

It was finally confirmed Wednesday that the debris found washed ashore on the beaches of Reunion Island is in fact from flight MH370, the Malaysian Airlines flight that disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board. It is unlikely, however, that this will lead to any further details as to what exactly caused its disappearance. The findings (given how far it is and how long ago it crashed) will only add fuel to the conspiracy theory fire…  

#Pnut4Prez: Rand Paul Ally Indicted On Conspiracy Charges

The head of a super PAC supporting Rand Paul and a longtime ally of the presidential candidate, Jesse Benton, was indicted Wednesday on conspiracy charges and campaign finance violations. In 2011, Benton allegedly bribed an Iowa state senator with $70,000 in payments to support the elder Paul, Ron Paul, in his presidential bid rather than Michele Bachmann. Despite tomorrow’s GOP presidential debate, Rand is sticking by Benton. To complicate matters further, Benton is married to Rand’s niece… oofff.

Keeping Our Eye On…

 

LOOSE NUTS: FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

How Do You Combat Jaywalking? Wear Green Hats

Jaywalking (aka crossing the road for our international readers) is a major problem in China but cops in the Chinese city of Shenzhen have had enough. They are forcing jaywalkers to wear green “hats of shame” and help them to direct traffic as punishment. This is particularly sensitive given that the Chinese expression “to wear a green hat” means that a man’s wife or girlfriend has cheated on him. Perpetrators have been shamed online with police saying that they will be monitoring the results of this initiative closely…this is all rather ironic given that it was the humble traffic light’s 101st birthday yesterday.
 
Farewell Jon Stewart! We’ll miss you. For an amazing tribute to his time as host of the Daily Show (via NYTimes), click here.
Today’s Pnut is sponsored by HourlyNerd!
 
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Yes, I want to sound marginally more intelligent: