*Rival Supreme Court Presidents | Mano a Mano | Battle Hymns

There will be no Daily Pnut tomorrow as we will be celebrating the July 4th holiday! This is probably our favorite hump day of the year!

“Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings throughout many centuries; but total liberty for wolves is death to the lambs, total liberty of the powerful, the gifted, is not compatible with the rights to a decent existence of the weak and the less gifted.” – Isaiah Berlin

“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” – Ibid.

A Populist Leader is Elected in Mexico: Mexico’s newly elected president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is described as a left-leaning, baseball-loving nationalist who vows to crack down on corruption, rein in Mexico’s war on drugs, and rule for the poor. The 64-year-old, best known as AMLO, swept into office with at least 53% of the vote. He pledged to rule for people of all social classes, all sexual orientations and all points of view, vowing: “We will listen to everyone. We will care for everyone. We will respect everyone. But we will give priority to the most humble and to the forgotten.”

The Movement for National Regeneration or Morena, the party AMLO founded just four years ago, had won at least five of nine gubernatorial races, including that of Mexico City’s first elected female mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum. Delfina Gómez, a close AMLO ally who is running for a seat in Mexico’s Senate, called him a thrifty, upstanding man who would lead “a government of austerity and honesty”. “He finds it shameful that someone might be flaunting their wealth whilst others are dying of hunger,” she said.

Mexico and America’s President Will Likely Go Mano a Mano Soon: President Trump applauded the president-elect, tweeting: “Congratulations to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on becoming the next President of Mexico. I look very much forward to working with him. There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico!” But there will likely be tension in the future between AMLO and President Trump. Last year AMLO published a book that criticized US influence in Mexico and featured parts of speeches he made on a tour of the US where he called for migrant rights. He has compared Trump’s and his inner circle’s comments about Mexicans to the way Nazis talked about Jews. He has called Trump “erratic and arrogant” and recently denounced Trump’s family separation policy as arrogant, racist and inhuman.

– A constitutional crisis is brewing, and it’s not in the United States. Poland’s parliament passed legislation earlier this year requiring mandatory retirement at age 65 for supreme court judges. That would result in the immediate dismissal of 27 of the 74 judges currently serving. Additionally, the new law would expand the court to 120 judges, giving the government the power to appoint almost two-thirds of supreme court judges from scratch. The retirements, due to take effect Tuesday, could be waylaid by resolutions the judges passed last week which state the dismissals contravened constitutional guarantees of judicial independence and explicit provisions in the constitution guaranteeing the term of office of the supreme court president. However, should the government attempt to appoint an “interim” court president, the situation would arise wherein there would be two rival supreme court presidents. (The Guardian)

– Donald Trump is Kallstadt, Germany’s most famous grandson. Both the president’s paternal grandparents were born in Kallstadt, a village of about 1,200 inhabitants, but there are no signposts pointing to the ancestral Trump home. And while half the village is related to him, the tourism office says it doesn’t use the name in any way in tourism marketing, explaining “the topic is just too controversial.” (NYT)

– There’s a right-wing mutiny going on in Bavaria. The state is rich, religious and on Germany’s southern border with Austria. It’s a conservative bastion of the nation most associated with Europe’s open-door immigration policy. And it’s the latest battleground for populists eager to bring down both Chancellor Angela Merkel and the idea of a liberal Europe itself. (NYT)

– After nine days, twelve boys and their soccer coach were found in a cave in Thailand. They ventured to a cave system for an outing but were trapped inside one of its dark tunnels after a long downpour. Rescue teams must first empty the caves before rescuing them, but they have been reported as safe. (CNN)

– Suspicions have surrounded British financier Arron Banks ever since he gloated of his “six-hour lunch” with a Russian ambassador leading up to the Brexit vote. However, newly leaked emails show that his relationship with Russian officials may be closer than once thought. Reports state that Banks has had at least one business partner take Russians up on investment offers leading up to the Brexit vote as he himself spent millions promoting the break-away from the European Union.

– The United Arab Emirates have paused their month-old offensive against Houthi rebels to seize the strategic Yemeni port city of Al Hudaydah. The battle for control of Al Hudaydah set off a major international diplomatic outcry over concern for the safety of the city’s 600,000 residents and the threat that the fighting could disrupt supply lines for urgent humanitarian assistance to eight million others in Yemen. A senior Emirati official said the pause in military action was aimed at giving UN negotiations a chance to succeed. (NYT)

– A new bill suggested by President Trump, currently known as the Fart Act – Fair and Reciprocal Tariff Act – looks to push the United States away from the World Trade Organization, and become independent in its trading operations. Though this has very serious implications on the future of American economics, most reporters and journalists took aim at its quirky name, posting memes, jokes, and even poems across social media platforms.

– President Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, finally broke his silence Saturday night. Cohen is under criminal investigation by the FBI, and swirling about him were questions about whether he would divulge anything he might know about the president’s activities. But what Cohen said to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos — “I put family and country first” — didn’t exactly put speculation to rest. (CNN)

The Internet is going crazy over Casper’s July 4th mattress sale! Thousands of 5-star reviews and countless awards aren’t just for show either, if you don’t believe them, try one for yourself! Casper mattresses are obsessively engineered and pamper the body for a nice, relaxing nap or full-out peaceful night of sleep. Plus, shipping is free and straight to your door. Try it risk-free for 100 nights and save up to $225 with Casper’s July Fourth Sale. Hurry though offers end on July 9th.

– A student won’t graduate from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business without at one point being told they must read Carol Dweck’s Mindset and her “research on fixed versus growth mindsets about intelligence. (It would be like trying to graduate West Point without learning about the Battle of Cannae, Austerlitz, or Kasserine Pass.) When children and adults believe that intelligence is fixed – you either have it or you don’t – they can be less resilient to challenges in school.” Recently her research has been getting even more press as she and another researcher found that “Instead of ‘finding your passion,’ try developing it, Stanford scholars say: The belief that interests arrive fully formed and must simply be “found” can lead people to limit their pursuit of new fields and give up when they encounter challenges, according to a new Stanford study.” (Stanford)

While this research may be new it’s really nothing new to Asian tiger moms who have pushed their kids to excel in math, music, science, engineering, etc… And this is the same advice that Ben Horowitz, a venture capitalist gave in a commencement speech in 2015: “Don’t follow your passion … And the first tricky thing about passions is they’re hard to prioritize. Which passion is it? Are you more passionate about math or engineering? Are you more passionate about history or literature? Are you more passionate about video games or K-pop? These are tough decisions. How do you even know? On the other hand, what are you good at? Are you better at math or writing? That’s a much easier thing to figure out.” (A16Z)

– Knowing that mindsets aren’t fixed and passion can be built might be reason for some parents to celebrate and play the Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother as opposed to the Battle Hymn of the Republic during 4th of July. But it’s not that simple, as some tiger cubs are now writing that they are “The Last of the Tiger Parents.” An Amherst and Harvard Law grad writes “I’ve spent decades struggling with the paradox of my upbringing. Were the same childhood experiences that long evoked my resentment also responsible for my academic and professional achievements? And if so, was the trade-off between happiness and success worth it?” It’s a fascinating and nuanced essay on Asian-American culture, parenting, immigration, and how Harvard and some other higher education institution’s have a bias against Asian-Americans. (NYT & Vox)

LAST MORSELS

“Your kids require you most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend your whole time trying to correct them.” – Bill Ayers

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