News To Be Thankful About This Year!

PNUT GALLERY 

We know it’s been a rough year between the celebrity deaths and the general sense of malaise in the air. To be fair, we did warn you. To lift your spirits a bit before Thanksgiving Weekend, we’ve given you a list of things to be thankful for from this past year. Have a great weekend, don’t fight with your family and don’t imbibe too much. See you on Monday!

THANKFUL PNUTS

Colombia: Despite losing a referendum on a proposed peace treaty Colombia’s President and the FARC rebels continue to strive for peace. The war is the Western Hemisphere’s longest ongoing armed conflict and both sides are just exhausted. If things continue apace, it seems they might actually be able to get lasting peace soon. A well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize.

War On ISIS: The world’s worst collection of human beings is losing ground in their apocalyptical war. The year started with a victory against them in Ramada, Iraq, and now their two largest cities, Mosul and their capital Raqqa, might get wrested away from them. Don’t worry, if that doesn’t do the trick Donald Trump’s super-secret plan to defeat ISIS should.

US Economy: The election results certainly didn’t reflect it, but the US economy is chugging along quite nicely. Not only was third quarter growth up 2.9%, but real-incomes across the board are growing at the fastest pace since the 2008 recession and there are now 3.5 million fewer people living in poverty. Thanks Obama.

Cuba: While Congress hasn’t officially lifted the Cuban embargo yet, the long-standing policy of isolating the island started coming to an end. After years of trying to bring down one of Communism’s last strongholds with embargoes, it’s finally dawned on Washington that perhaps an army of tourists could be more effective.

United Nations: Refugees are getting a powerful new ally in the incoming UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. While some were upset that one of the highly-qualified women in the running didn’t end up getting the top job, others are excited about Mr. Guterres’ history as a powerful advocate for refugees during his tenure as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Nuclear War: Trump’s been ridiculed both for whether he has the appropriate temperament to manage the nuclear arsenal and for his bromance with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The fortunate thing is that one could off-set the other. After years of escalating tensions between Russia and the US—two nuclear-backed powers—that has brought back memories of the Cold War and the specter of nuclear war, the cordial relations between the two men could deescalate the threat, and with it an accidental war between the two countries.

Renewable Energy: For the first time ever, the majority of new energy capacity installed came from renewables as the world ramps up its effort to combat climate change. Technological improvements and a stronger international political will to combat climate change could offset a change in climate policy in the US.

Memes: Election season brought anger, angst, dismay, jubilation and a bunch of amazing memes featuring Barack Obama and Joe Biden. No matter what your political leaning, these memes are bound to make you crack up!  

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WEEKEND READS

Thanksgiving Weekend Reads

• In our next installment in our #blanchednuts series, we look at the rise of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in Greece. A real Greek tragedy if there ever was one.
• Some lessons on the alt-Right from a professor writing a book about them, or if you prefer to hear it from the horse’s mouth, here is a summary about the movement on Breitbart.
• A former hostage negotiator has some tips for how to survive Thanksgiving with your family.
• Ray Dalio of the massive hedge fund Bridgewater also reflects on what a Trump Presidency means for the markets. So does Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital.
• The Atlantic sits down with Henry Kissinger to learn a few things about diplomacy.
• The Hollywood Reporter interviews Steve Bannon, Trump’s future Chief of Strategy and the former head of Breitbart News.
• The Financial Time has lunch with former Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi (paywall).
• Some lessons on hard ball negotiating from the late Steve Jobs.
• Apparently the Kingdom of Bavaria kicked out Trump’s grandfather over a century ago, here is the letter he wrote so they could let him back in (they didn’t). WSJ paywall.
• Trump at the Times. Here is a curated twitter account of the encounter and here is their official report. They also look at Preibus’ role in the cabinet.