The Silent Killer. Porn Star x President = Primetime. International Buddies: Iran, China, and Russia.

“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” – Steve Jobs

“Time, why you punish me? / Like a wave bashing into the shore / You wash away my dreams / Time, why you walk away?”  –“Time” by Hootie and the Blowfish (our favorite Hootie song)

Porn Star meets President meets Primetime: On Sunday evening, CBS’s long-running and highly respected television news magazine 60 Minutes aired an interview with Stormy Daniels, whose actual name is Stephanie Clifford. Currently, Ms. Clifford is embroiled in a war of words with the White House, as she sues the president to get out of a non-disclosure agreement she signed in 2016, claiming it is not valid. There was little new information offered in the lengthy interview: Her affair with Trump was a one-time consensual encounter in 2006; she was not coerced in any way; she signed a non-disclosure agreement in 2016 for the sum of $130,000.

One bit of new information was how she reported that she was physically threatened in a parking lot in 2011 while on her way to a fitness class. While Clifford was with her infant child, she was warned to “forget the story.” The person threatening Clifford ominously declared “it would be a shame for something to happen to her mom.” Clifford claims she was so shaken by the episode that, for the safety of herself and her child, she never reported the incident.

Those who know Clifford are not surprised by the lawsuit, the interview, or the industry she finds herself in. In the adult film industry, she has found success both as an actress and as a director. Some believe she may be the undoing of President Trump, who, while denying the affair, has spared her from his weapon of choice: Twitter.

Additional read: “Forget policies, the Stormy Daniels affair shows how far US politics has sunk: As the porn star’s allegations show, discourse in Washington is shifting to something more tawdry and celebrity-oriented.” (The Guardian)

Presidents Across the World Agree to Keep the Bar Low: Several other presidents are making names for themselves. Brazil’s widely unpopular president Michel Temer is looking at a second term. His first has been marred by corruption and obstruction of justice charges (twice requiring Congress to protect him from trial) and economic disaster. He has few allies, few ideas about how to get Brazil back on track, and recently put the military in charge of security in Rio de Janeiro State.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will coast to victory in Egypt’s third presidential election since the 2011 revolution. Sisi has lead Egypt since his military coup toppled the country’s first democratically elected leader. Many Egyptians support Sisi’s hardline rule, and he also has the advantage of a lack of other credible candidates. Moussa Mustafa Moussa is his only rival, as six other potential candidates have either been jailed or dropped out due to harassment by state security personnel.

In Cameroon, President Paul Biya has been in power since 1982, before 60% of the population was even born. He is accused of being too hands off – he held his first cabinet meeting in over 2 years recently – and of being out of touch with the younger generations’ desires. He spends plenty of time abroad on private vacations and leaves most of the day-to-day running of the government to Prime Minister Philemon Yang. Cameroon has regions in crisis with militant separatists fighting for independence and the younger generation looking for jobs and a future.

– Russians have been doing more than hacking….A United States Army general claims Russians have been actively aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan. For former Soviet Army deserter Nek Mohammad, it’s like déjà vu. (BBC and NYT)

– Everyone in politics knows being in the Trump administration is an incredibly short spin cycle. But who knew it could be shorter than zero days? The husband-wife lawyer team of Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing are out before they even got in. Trump planned and had announced that the couple was joining his special counsel team before it was announced they wouldn’t be, citing conflicts. Turns out they have some clients caught up in the Mueller probe already. (NPR)

– The “March for Our Lives” protest in Washington, DC was organized by students after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last month. Hundreds of thousands turned out there and around the country, demanding tougher gun control measures. (NPR)

– The US is expanding its counter-terrorism efforts in Africa. Previously limited to ISIS targets, now two Al Qaeda militants have been eliminated. (NYT)

– If you’re on your way to Lithuania, it might be best to bone up on your bee knowledge. The language is rife with references to bees, owing to their importance to life in medieval times. (BBC)

Bolton Appointment Has Iran Bolting for Russia and China: Last week, President Trump appointed John Bolton as national security advisor. He is known in international circles as pro-Israel, and it is expected his counsel on Middle East affairs will reflect that. A senior member of Iran’s Parliament believes Iran should strengthen ties with Russia and China to counter the tougher stance expected from the US. Iran should also worry about the nuclear deal it brokered with world powers. The deal has been shunned by President Trump, and Mr. Bolton’s appointment seems only to bolster Trump’s opposition to the deal.

Where to turn? To China and Russia, of course. “We need to strengthen our view towards the East, especially China and Russia,” Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told a news agency.

In separate but related news, the US imposed sanctions against 9 Iranians and an Iranian company that tried to hack into universities and the US government at Tehran’s behest. Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Bahram Qasemi, said the move was “provocative, illegitimate, and without any justifiable reason and another sign of the hostility of the ruling circles towards the Iranian nation.”

They say business before pleasure. Why not enjoy both at the same time? Start your day with Morning Brew – a masterfully-curated daily email (100% free) bringing you all the business news that’s worth your time, from Silicon Valley to Wall Street. Witty and engaging, the perfect way to fire up those neurons while soaking up your cup of joe.

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– “I call Alzheimer’s the silent killer, the grim reaper. It’s also called the Long Goodbye, because it takes so many years for many of its victims to pass away. [Alzheimer’s] doesn’t discriminate between borders, genders or races, rich or poor, and seldom provides any advance warning to its intended victims. It simply creeps up on the unsuspecting — a person’s brain.” 5.7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s. And by 2050 this number could be as high as 14 million. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. (East Valley Tribune)

– Over the weekend, a Qantas Dreamliner completed a 17-hour non-stop flight from Perth, Australia to London. Extreme long-haul travel has prompted Qantas to consider new ways to tackle jet lag across multiple time zones. (The Guardian)

– As we’ve mentioned before, we have seen a lot of kids in strollers holding a smartphone and glued to YouTube. Please, parents – don’t do this. Even if it’s the YouTube kids app. “Children’s YouTube is still churning out blood, suicide and cannibalism: Children’s search terms on YouTube are still awash with bizarre and sometimes disturbing bootleg content.” (Wired)

– Last week Facebook had a tough week, and this weekend didn’t help as many people reported that “Facebook scraped call, text message data for years from Android phones.” But don’t cry for Mark & Facebook: “As Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal spiraled into chaos this week, a frantic hail of notes from Wall Street analysts reached investor inboxes with a clear and definitive directive: Buy.” Meanwhile, Facebook took to print advertising (how quaint and old school!) to deliver an apology this weekend. The ads said: “We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t, we don’t deserve it.”

– Big tech is in trouble and doing an excellent job of moving fast and breaking things. From Facebook’s privacy issues and swaying elections, to YouTube’s out of control videos and algorithms, to Uber’s autonomous vehicle (ahem, algorithms!) literally killing a person last week in Tempe, Arizona. “Police chief said Uber victim “came from the shadows”—don’t believe it: YouTube videos give a different impression of the site of a deadly Uber crash.” (Ars Technica)

– “The Last Conversation You’ll Ever Need to Have About Eating Right: Mark Bittman and doctor David L. Katz patiently answer pretty much every question we could think of about healthy food.” This article opens with a fantastic line: “It’s beyond strange that so many humans are clueless about how they should feed themselves. Every wild species on the planet knows how to do it; presumably ours did, too, before our oversized brains found new ways to complicate things. Now, we’re the only species that can be baffled about the “right” way to eat.” (NY Mag)

– Speaking of the importance of knowing the right foods to eat: “American adults continue to put on the pounds. New data shows that nearly 40 percent of them were obese in 2015 and 2016, a sharp increase from a decade earlier, federal health officials reported Friday.” (NYT)

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn

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