A Global Runaway Train | Economic Crises for 30 Year Olds | Chinese BIllionaires Breaking Bad

“The minute you read something that you can’t understand, you can almost be sure that it was drawn up by a lawyer. ” – Will Rogers

“Politicians were mostly people who had too little morals and ethics to stay lawyers.” – George R.R. Martin

The Global Runaway Train: In his 2015 campaign announcement, Candidate Trump described people south of the US border as rapists and murderers. But he also said “and some, I assume, are good people.” Illegal border crossings had been decreasing for years anyway, and the president has been able to cut them back even further. But no will ever completely stop people who are fleeing for their lives from trying to make it out. Central America is so fraught with drug cartel and gang violence, coupled with ineffectual or crooked police, that some people decide their only option is to attempt the brutal, dangerous and expensive journey to America. The New York Times tracked one such young man’s 2,000 mile journey from El Salvador to the US. To do so, the Times relied on extensive interviews with him and his family, and reviewed contemporaneous photographs, text messages, receipts and GPS positions.

As hellish as the trip is to the US, the deadliest journey for migrants has actually been the central Mediterranean route to Europe. Traffickers would launch migrants from Libya’s coast in flimsy rubber boats that invariably got into trouble. But then boats belonging to humanitarian groups and others would pick them up and take them on to Italy. Between 2015 and 2017, about 95% of migrants leaving Libya actually made it to Europe. But in June, 2018, only about 45% completed the trip, the lowest number of any month in at least four years. A large proportion of migrants were intercepted and returned to North Africa. But deaths have spiked, 564 in June, which is more than 7% of those who attempted the crossing.

– In his first week in office President Trump promised to help Christian refugees more than previous administrations. However, the number of Christian refugees admitted into the US has dropped more than 50%. The administration had capped overall refugee admissions at a record low of 45,000 for fiscal year 2018, but with only three months to go, just 36% of that target has been admitted. (Guardian)

– Experts have warned that the number of foreign women and minors who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State has been significantly underestimated. A report from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization has shown that almost five thousand women and five thousand minors have affiliated with Isis. The experts also fear the roles the women and children are playing with the terrorist organization, stating their suspicions of not only campaigning and recruiting, but also as infiltrates and perpetrators of attacks. (Guardian)

– Civilians of Yemen’s port city, Hodeidah, have migrated away due to conditions “not fit for humans.” Over thirty-five thousand families have been displaced following a military offensive which started in June. With a shortage of food, water, and oil, the United Nations has attempted to intervene to alleviate the situation to no avail. (Guardian)

– Triple-digit temperatures have ravaged parts of Japan, hospitalizing tens of thousands, and testing the endurance of residents and tourists alike. Though women have traditionally carried parasols to avoid the summer sun, booths have been set up lending them out for free, and men have been advised to use them to avoid heat-related injuries. (NYT)

– Astronomers have identified a large pool of frozen water a mile under the surface of Mars’ South Pole. Though scientists cannot drill that deep into the icy pole with current technologies, researchers are optimistic that they will be able to find water in other areas as well. (Guardian)

– London is trying its hardest to avoid takeover by Chinese companies. A blueprint unveiled on Tuesday shows plans to align more tightly with the United States, Canada, Australia, and major European countries to strengthen domestic influence and weaken the power of China’s major developments and financial institutions and fluctuations. (NYT)

– Airline companies aren’t as resistant as the city of London. The three biggest US airlines yielded to China’s demands that Taiwan be listed as a Chinese territory/province. (BBC)

Chinese BIllionaires Breaking Bad: China has always competed with the United States, but who would have guessed they would even find their own version of Elon Musk? At just thirty-five years old, multi-billionaire Ruopeng Liu has invented jet-powered surfboards and his antics come under almost as much fire as Elon Musk’s. The most recent accusations that plague his resume are those of intellectual theft. While studying at Duke University, Liu posted multiple articles on the ongoing studies on metamaterials by his acclaimed professor Dr. David Smith. After his graduation, investigations found that Liu had been working to commercialize Dr. Smith’s research in China, stating that the Chinese should profit from the research. When NBC journalists visited the tech company’s office, they found a working model of a prototype designed by Dr. Smith sitting proudly in the lobby.

Billionaire Chinese internet founder Richard Liu tried for three years to keep his name out of the papers, but a judge in Australia has refused to grant his suppression request. Liu hosted a dinner party in Sydney in 2015. After the party ended, one of the male guests took a female guest back to his hotel and assaulted her. Liu wasn’t involved in any wrongdoing, but contended the release of his name could potentially harm his marriage and his business. It could even anger President Xi Jinping, who has cracked down on signs of conspicuous consumption and disapproves of rich Chinese business leaders publicly displaying their high-flying lifestyles.

Playtime’s Over: President Donald trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen released tapes revealing a conversation between the two on how to purchase the rights of a former Playmate, who Trump had allegedly had an affair with. The conversation took place just months before the 2016 Presidential election, and many believe that this may help build a wall of evidence for Trump’s impeachment. In true Trump fashion, Trump retaliated on Twitter, asking “what type of a lawyer would tape a client,” and denied all wrongdoing.

– Facebook lost $150 billion in market cap yesterday evening but without a doubt it’s employees will still be living high and mighty with their free lunches and playground like workspaces. But not everyone is happy with Facebook’s free food. In Silicon Valley restaurants and municipalities have asked Facebook to limit this benefit: “Tech firms are known for their lavish meals, but city says it damages local businesses.”(Quartz & Guardian)

– Whether you are getting a free meal from your employer or not, “When We Eat, or Don’t Eat, May Be Critical for Health: A growing body of research suggests that our bodies function optimally when we align our eating patterns with our circadian rhythms.” (NYT)

– More bad news for Facebook. China’s Great Wall isn’t just physical it’s also technological as “China Said to Quickly Withdraw Approval for New Facebook Venture: Facebook’s main platform has been blocked in China for almost a decade, and it has long sought to establish a foothold there.” (NYT)

– This isn’t Facebook fake news: “Sacha Baron Cohen Ridicule Prompts Georgia Lawmaker to Quit: A Georgia lawmaker ridiculed for dropping his trousers and using racial slurs on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America? show has said he will resign.”Here’s the video in case like us you were intrigued by just how bad is the video.Make America Absurd Again. (BBC & Showtime)

– “Being 30 Then and Now: In the mid-to-late-20th century, the American economy and culture were ripe for 30-year-old men, who — more than European and Japanese — typically landed well-paid careers, bought homes, and supported large families. But since then, getting ahead has become much harder.” (Axios)

– 34 years ago a Russian defector predicted precisely what is happening in America today. Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov is a former KGB agent who defected to Canada in 1970. In 1984 he described Russia’s long-term plan to defeat America through psychological warfare and “demoralization”. It’s a strategy that takes decades to achieve. He said: “It’s a slow process which we call either ideological subversion, active measures, or psychological warfare.” The state of a demoralized person is this: “…exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him.” What comes next is the destabilization of essential structural elements of a nation: economy, foreign relations, and defense systems. (Big Think)

– On July 22, 1968 a manifesto written by Andrei Sakharov, Russia’s most decorated physicist, was published. It’s essential idea was that those of us lucky enough to live in open societies should fight for the freedom of those born into closed ones. Sakharov wrote: “Freedom of thought is the only guarantee against an infection of mankind by mass myths, which, in the hands of treacherous hypocrites and demagogues, can be transformed into bloody dictatorships.” Sakharov was accused of “thought crimes” by Soviet authorities, stripped of his honors, imprisoned along with many of his associates, and eventually exiled to Gorky. (NYT)

– More history lessons: “Human progress isn’t a one-way process. We can forget how to build things. We can go backward as well as forward … And, of course, it isn’t just technological innovation that can go backward. Societies can forget the social and political innovations that allowed them to flourish.” (NYT)

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