Longtime Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison Saturday for failing to stop the killing of protesters during the uprising that forced him from power last year. His last chief of staff, retired Air Force General Ahmed Shafiq is trying to hold off Muslim Brotherhoold leader and USC alum Dr. Mohamed Morsi in the mid-June run-off.
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … JERRY BROWN FOR PRESIDENT + 20, MAD MEN: “COMMISSIONS AND FEES,” and FOR OBAMA, MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS AFTER IRAN AND NATO TALKS.
** OBAMA THIS WEEKEND. President Barack Obama is in Illinois, Maryland, and Washington, DC.
On Saturday, Obama departed Chicago, where he spent the night at his own home, flying on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews.
At 11:45 AM Pacific, Obama lands at Joint Base Andrews, where he boards Marine One.
At 11:50 AM Pacific, Obama departs Joint Base Andrews on Marine One en route to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland.
On Sunday morning, Obama returns to the White House.
At 1:30 PM Pacific, Obama hosts a reception for the Ford’s Theatre at the White House.
Here’s what Obama’s week ahead looks like.
As usual, there is plenty of flexibility built into his public schedule for emerging events.
And as usual, it does not reflect his geopolitical crisis management.
And aside from an event in Nevada, where I’m sure he’ll talk about the economy, it doesn’t reflect the sudden hysteria in media circles about the economy, based on a jobs report at the end of the week, unexpectedly showing lower than expected job growth.
Obama expects to have a big fundraising week with stops in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. I’m told that Silicon Valley is in for several million more.
Mitt Romney’s campaign has been cagy about his take from Silicon Valley at one of the biggest mansions in the country.
2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, who recently announced that she is firing nearly 30,000 workers as Hewlett Packard’s CEO, played leading role in organizing Romney’s effort.
On Monday, Obama will travel to New York City where he will attend fundraisers before returning to Washington, DC at night.
On Tuesday, Obama will hold meetings at the White House.
On Wednesday, Obama will travel to San Francisco and Los Angeles to attend fundraisers. Obama will spend the night in Los Angeles.
On Thursday, Obama will travel to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas for an official event on the economy. Obama will return to Washington, DC in the evening.
On Friday, Obama will welcome President Benigno Aquino of the Philippines to the White House for a bilateral meeting. The Philippines is a long-standing key ally of the US, and with Obama’s geostrategic shift to the Asia-Pacific region, close coordination with the island republic is very important.
Also on Friday, Obama will welcome the Super Bowl XLVI Champion New York Giants to the White House to honor the team for its Super Bowl victory.
In his weekly video/radio address, President Obama from a Honeywell manufacturing facility in Minnesota about his proposal to make it easier for companies to hire returning service members for jobs that utilize their skills and grow the economy.
At the annual Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore on security policy in the Pacific Basin, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta laid out more on the new US doctrine which Obama first articulated during his trip to the Asia Pacific region late last year, and which Panetta himself addressed a few days ago during his commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Panetta said that the US Navy will shift most of its ships to the region in coming years, and that six of the fleet’s 10 aircraft carriers and their supporting strike groups will be based and on patrol in the Pacific.
He stressed that the US seeks cooperation with China and not confrontation. But having more USN firepower in the region will backstop Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines, all of which on the South China Sea but which are having serious problems with China, which attempts to claim nearly all of it.
Obama is monitoring several geopolitical crises involving the Arab Awakening, Iran and Israel, Iraq, AfPak, and North Korea.
Military Crisis Zone Times: The Arabian Gulf is ten hours ahead of Pacific time, and Afghanistan is eleven and a half hours ahead of Pacific time.
** FROM THE JERRY FILES. Governor Jerry Brown is in Northern California.
He has no scheduled public events.
In its pre-primary report, the California Secretary of State’s office has revealed the composition of the California electorate: 43.4% Democrat, 30.2% Republican, 21.3% independent.
As he prepares to move the first stage of the high-speed rail program through the state legislature, Brown and his administration are readying legislation to make sure that there are no delays in construction.
Brown and company are devising ways to limit and streamline environmental challenges to the bullet train.
Instead of being able to hold up the high-speed rail project on minor, often procedural grounds, as not infrequently happens, opponents would have to demonstrate major substantive harm to a species or to the physical environment.
The Madera County Farm Bureau is trying to use the California Environmental Quality Act — which was signed into law in 1970 by then Governor Ronald Reagan — to block the project on a procedural basis.
** FIAT LUX, WILLARD! … From my June 1st column.
** MAD MEN: CONTROVERSY AS JOAN LOWERS HERSELF TO RISE, PEGGY EXITS ANTICLIMACTICALLY (AND SCDP GETS ITS HALO CLIENT). … From my latest essay.
** THE NEW SPACE ERA TAKES BIG STEPS FORWARD. … From my May 30th essay.
** MAD MEN: A GREAT LEAPER FORWARD? JOAN, JAG, DON’S RETURN TO ADVERTISING (AND OTHER, ER, TREKS). … From my May 23rd review.
** A BUCKET OF WOE: JERRY BROWN’S UNSURPRISINGLY UNHAPPY BUDGET. … From my May 16th essay.
** MAD MEN: DANGER! SLIPPERY WHEN SOAPY (ESPECIALLY IN DARK SHADOWS). … From my May 15th review.
** NUCLEAR’S ONCE BRIGHT AND SHINY FUTURE BLINKS OUT. …From my May 12th essay.
** FROM GOVERNATOR TO MOONBEAM. … From my January 3rd, 2011 feature.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th, 2009 Huffington Post column.
This weekend, The Avengers, starring Jerry Brown friend Robert Downey, Jr. and some other folks, will become the third biggest movie of all-time at the domestic and global box offices, passing The Dark Knight for the former honor and the final Harry Potter film for the latter. Director James Cameron’s Avatar and Titanic are still first and second.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in major military operations in the region, and the Arab awakening underway, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer from the Russia Today channel. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the state-run channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil closed on Friday at $83.23 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This is up about $49 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity, and down about $31 per barrel from the price at the time of the Osama bin Laden raid.
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| Comments (24) |
Good Al Jazeera news video on General Mubarak’s sentence.
Good speech on the economy by President Obama.
The Avengers is a great movie.
He is guilty as sin but I’m glad they don’t execute him.
Jonas says:
June 2, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Good Al Jazeera news video on General Mubarak’s sentence.
Barack is on message again in the Weekend Address, like he should be.
The Avengers, whoa!!!
We want to cooperate with China but in case it doesn’t work out…
BB:At the annual Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore on security policy in the Pacific Basin, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta laid out more on the new US doctrine which Obama first articulated during his trip to the Asia Pacific region late last year, and which Panetta himself addressed a few days ago during his commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Panetta said that the US Navy will shift most of its ships to the region in coming years, and that six of the fleet’s 10 aircraft carriers and their supporting strike groups will be based and on patrol in the Pacific.
He stressed that the US seeks cooperation with China and not confrontation. But having more USN firepower in the region will backstop Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines, all of which on the South China Sea but which are having serious problems with China, which attempts to claim nearly all of it.
When is this one??
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … JERRY BROWN FOR PRESIDENT + 20,
You must be gratified by the Pacific orientation laid out by Panetta, as an old Navy guy.
I hope we get to it. We are still pretty stuck in the Mideast.
I feel a quiet weekend.
Good Lord, man , don’t jinx things!
We got way off course in the last decade.
>Requiem says:
June 2, 2012 at 3:04 pm (Edit)
You must be gratified by the Pacific orientation laid out by Panetta, as an old Navy guy.
I hope we get to it. We are still pretty stuck in the Mideast.
California primary day, Tuesday.
>Capitol Boy says:
June 2, 2012 at 1:40 pm (Edit)
When is this one??
** NEW COLUMNS COMING UP … JERRY BROWN FOR PRESIDENT + 20,
Right, just in case, 60% of the US Navy will be in the Pacific.
>Capitol Boy says:
June 2, 2012 at 1:38 pm (Edit)
We want to cooperate with China but in case it doesn’t work out…
BB:At the annual Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore on security policy in the Pacific Basin, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta laid out more on the new US doctrine which Obama first articulated during his trip to the Asia Pacific region late last year, and which Panetta himself addressed a few days ago during his commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.
Panetta said that the US Navy will shift most of its ships to the region in coming years, and that six of the fleet’s 10 aircraft carriers and their supporting strike groups will be based and on patrol in the Pacific.
Indeed.
>Capitol Boy says:
June 2, 2012 at 1:37 pm (Edit)
The Avengers, whoa!!!
They could have. But of course they wouldn’t, not with his last prime minister in the presidential run-off election.
>Capitol Boy says:
June 2, 2012 at 1:28 pm (Edit)
He is guilty as sin but I’m glad they don’t execute him.
Jonas says:
June 2, 2012 at 12:24 pm
Good Al Jazeera news video on General Mubarak’s sentence.
He has a few adjustments to make with the media hysteria.
>Capitol Boy says:
June 2, 2012 at 1:34 pm (Edit)
Barack is on message again in the Weekend Address, like he should be.
It is certainly a striking, and extraordinarily popular, movie
>Jonas says:
June 2, 2012 at 12:35 pm (Edit)
The Avengers is a great movie.
Great gallery of the flotilla for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/diamond-jubilee-pageant-in-pictures-the-queens-861223
Bond retrospectyive being held by the Cinemateque in Hollywood and Santa Monica starting Friday
http://www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/content/007-at-50-the-complete-james-bond-retrospective
Later this year the Motion Picture Academy in Beverly Hills promises also to do a salute to Bond’s 50th anniversary in films that will include a reunion. No details yet…
Very cool, thanks!
The Thames River flotilla dates back to the Renaissance, I believe.
>Dana says:
June 4, 2012 at 5:31 pm (Edit)
Great gallery of the flotilla for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/diamond-jubilee-pageant-in-pictures-the-queens-861223
Incidentally, NWN passed 122,000 comments a while back. I mention it because I just noticed that NWN will pass 123,000 comments shortly.
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