News May 20, 2018

News Stories

• Reluctant Stakeholder: Why China’s Highly Strategic Brand of Revisionism is More Challenging Than Washington Thinks

  SPEAKER: Evan Feigenbaum

  (MacroPolo) – At the end of 2016, as Donald Trump prepared to take office as President, I penned an essay for Foreign Affairs magazine on “China and the World.”

• Influential National Geographic Photographer Campaigns for Protection of Marine Life

  SPEAKER: Paul Nicklen

  (Live Kindly) – National Geographic photographer and co-founder of ocean conservation organization SeaLegacy, Paul Nicklen is campaigning for the protection of marine life against the driftnet fishing industry.

• What Hank Paulson likes about Trump’s trade policy on China

  SPEAKER: Henry M. Paulson, Jr.

  (Yahoo Finance) – Hank Paulson, former US Treasury Secretary during the 2008 financial crisis, finds some bright spots in how the Trump administration is dealing with the rising trade tensions with Beijing.

• Newt Gingrich: We’re in the middle of a cultural civil war

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Fox News) – On ‘Hannity,’ the former House speaker speaks out about ‘horrific language’ being used by the left and discusses how media cover the Russia investigation.

• How Zuckerberg’s Facebook is like Gutenberg’s printing press

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (The Washington Post) – When historian Niall Ferguson moved from Harvard to Stanford two years ago, he was struck by Silicon Valley’s indifference to history. 

• Allen West: DC Protest on Guns – Another Case of Ideological Child Abuse

  SPEAKER: Allen West

  (CNS News) – The issue of school safety can be solved, but for the left, that is not their aim. Their goal is to disarm Americans. And horribly so, they are willing to emotionally use and abuse our children to accomplish this.

• A brief history of the Doniverse

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (Boston Globe) – The general theory of relativity describes the force of graft-ity as it acts on Trump’s relatives. Bunkum mechanics, on the other hand, deals with phenomena on extremely small scales, such as the particles known as tweets.

• Anomali Names Ray Mabus, Former Secretary of the Navy, to its Board of Advisors

  SPEAKER: Ray Mabus

  (Digital Limo) – Anomali, the leading provider of threat management and collaboration solutions, announced that former Secretary of the U.S. Navy, Ray Mabus, will be joining the company as its newest advisory board member.

• The Method And The Madness Of Trump’s Tariff Scheme

  SPEAKER: Harry Broadman

  (Forbes) – When President Trump signed an Executive Order on March 11, 2018 that set forth a plan to impose prospectively import tariffs on steel of 25% and on aluminum of 10% for countries exporting those products to the U.S., most of us trade negotiation veterans were startled. Literally. You should be too.

• Jen Psaki: Trump agrees to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un

  SPEAKER: Jen Psaki

  (CNN) – Jen Psaki debates Trump Supporter Rob Astorino on Trump agreeing to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

• National Geographic Announces 2018 Adventurers of the Year

  SPEAKER: Paul Nicklen

  (WebWire) – Eight trailblazing adventurers recognized for contributions and achievements in adventure sports, nonprofit work and photography

• Who is Brad Parscale?

  SPEAKER: Brad Parscale

  (CNN) – Donald Trump’s ascent to the presidency brought with it a host of new household names. Corey Lewandowski, Hope Hicks, Kellyanne Conway, Steve Bannon — to name just a few.

• Sheila Bair Sees the Seeds of Another Financial Crisis

  SPEAKER: Sheila Bair

  (Barron’s) – Sheila Bair has demonstrated that she’s not afraid to be the lone person flagging potential problems. The former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is best known for her early warnings about the subprime mortgage market, and she’s still spotting problems in the financial system.

• These Wildlife Photographers are Merging Storytelling and Science

  SPEAKER: Paul Nicklen

  (National Geographic) – Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen are working to create and protect healthy oceans through powerful imagery.

• FDIC’s Hoenig Keeps Wall Street on Edge

  SPEAKER: Thomas Hoenig

  (The Wall Street Journal) – FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas Hoenig has emerged as one of the most influential detractors of big banks—the only top regulator in Washington who has directly called for their dismantling.

• The Fed’s Monetary Dissident

  SPEAKER: Thomas Hoenig

  (The Wall Street Journal) – ‘I really don’t think we should be guaranteeing Wall Street a margin by guaranteeing them a zero or a near zero interest rate.’ 

• A Chinese Puzzle: Why Economic “Reform” in Xi’s China Has More Meanings than Market Liberalization

  SPEAKER: Evan Feigenbaum

  (Macro Polo) – Imagine, for a moment, that you’re writing a short history of reform euphoria in China. Your essay would be, well, pretty short.

• World’s Top 30 Customer Service Professionals for 2018

  SPEAKER: Chip Bell

  (Global Gurus) – Chip R. Bell has helped many Fortune 100 companies dramatically enhance their bottom lines and marketplace reputation through innovative customer-centric strategies that address the needs of today’s picky, fickle, vocal and “all about me” customers. 

• Opinion: Our schools need more and stronger security

  SPEAKER: Boris Epshteyn

  (WJLA) – Elected officials throughout the country have sent prayers and thoughts. But now it is time to find solutions.

• More laws do not a moral people make

  SPEAKER: Everett Piper

  (The Washington Times) –  This past Valentine’s Day, Nikolas Cruz entered a classroom in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and proceeded to murder 17 people and wound 15 others.

• U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Gala

  SPEAKER: Tom Jones

  (Astronaut Scholarship Foundation) – Along with the idea to build a foundation, the Mercury 7 astronauts envisioned a place where the accomplishments of astronauts could be celebrated and showcased to the public.

• Congress Flirts With Disaster on Bank Leverage Ratios

  SPEAKER: Sheila Bair

  (The Wall Street Journal) – Legislators who want to weaken capital standards must have forgotten the lessons of the 2008 crisis.

• Ten Years After the Crisis, Banks Win Big in Trump’s Washington

  SPEAKER: Thomas Hoenig

  (Bloomberg) – In early February, with the Treasury secretary testifying about wild gyrations in the stock market and the Federal Reserve leveling unprecedented penalties against Wells Fargo & Co., it may have felt like 2008 again, with the financial system under siege. In reality, banks are booming, at least in Washington.

• Red Cross to honor local heroes

  SPEAKER: Nancy Frates

  (Beverly Wicked Local) – The Humanitarian award will be going to Nancy Frates of Beverly for her work to find a cure for ALS.

• Niall Ferguson’s “The Square and the Tower”

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (Hoover Institution) – Niall Ferguson, author of The Square and the Tower, argues that networks are not a new phenomenon and have been impacting human culture from the beginning of history.

• Four ways Trump’s first year has made us less safe

  SPEAKER: Jen Psaki

  (CNN) – The Trump team, like so many administrations before them, has been preparing to sell the accomplishments of its first year in office.

• Sean Spicer opens up about his time at the White House

  SPEAKER: Sean Spicer

  (Fox News) – Former press secretary reflects on ‘The Story’ about his time within the Trump administration.

• Trump Courts Economic Mayhem

  SPEAKER: Robert Zoellick

  (The Wall Street Journal) – This year we’ll find out how serious he is about protectionism. So far the signs aren’t good.

• Creative Community: What’s Your Builder Type?

  SPEAKER: Chris Kuenne

  (Princeton Info) – Chris Kuenne knows something about starting and growing a business.

• Trump’s war on immigration caseworkers needs to end

  SPEAKER: Steve Israel

  (The Hill) – Using every tool it can to restrain immigration, the Trump administration has now taken aim at a little-known but vital resource: immigration caseworkers in congressional offices.

• After the 19th: What Happened, What Didn’t, and What Now?

  SPEAKER: Evan Feigenbaum

  (Macro Polo) – Since the curtain fell on the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October 2017, Chinese politics have been dominated by the supposed devotion of all 86 million Party members to the thoughts of General Secretary Xi Jinping.

• Broken: Can the Senate Save Itself and the Country?

  SPEAKER: Ira Shapiro

  (Publishers Weekly) – Shapiro (The Last Great Senate), a former trade negotiator for the Clinton administration, examines headline-making political battles dating back to the 1970s in this engrossing overview of the Senate’s decline into what he characterizes as hyperpartisanship.

• Former FDIC Chair: Why We Shouldn’t Ban Bitcoin

  SPEAKER: Sheila Bair

  (Yahoo Finance) – The nearly 2000% run up in bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) price over the past year, followed by its recent precipitous drop, is stirring the usual calls to regulatory arms.

• The US security strategy falls short, but not for the reasons cited by Trump critics

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (South China Morning Post) – As 2017 draws to a close, the world has seldom been so binary. You love Donald Trump or you loathe him. You adore Brexit or abhor it.

• Carly Fiorina On D.C. Culture: “Hypocrisy Is A Bipartisan Affliction” | Kasie DC | MSNBC

  SPEAKER: Carly Fiorina

  (MSNBC) – Former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina once bore the brunt of Donald Trump’s jabs during the 2016 Republican primaries. As multiple accusations of sexual misconduct resurface against the President, Fiorina discusses how partisan politics come into play.

• Bitcoin volatility is undermining its promises: Sheila Bair

  SPEAKER: Sheila Bair

  (Fox Business) – Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair on the outlook for bitcoin.

• Heart-Wrenching Video Shows Starving Polar Bear on Iceless Land

  SPEAKER: Paul Nicklen

  (National Geographic) – Lack of sea ice is making it more difficult for polar bears to find food.

• A former congressman asked his old colleagues for book suggestions. Here’s their list.

  SPEAKER: Steve Israel

  (The Washington Post) – Which books offer our lawmakers insight, knowledge and, yes, escape? I asked my former Democratic and Republican congressional colleagues to name the titles they have most enjoyed reading this year

• Lahren shares her ‘final thoughts’ on politics, faith with Liberty students

  SPEAKER: Tomi Lahren

  (Liberty University) – Television personality and political commentator Tomi Lahren talked about the importance of standing up for your beliefs and, more importantly, your faith as she addressed the crowd at Liberty University’s Convocation Monday morning.

• Realism and the Kurds

  SPEAKER: Bernard-Henri Lévy

  (Tablet) – Bernard-Henri Lévy presents his extraordinary documentary Peshmerga at the United Nations, but civilization isn’t listening

• Teaching lechery and getting lechers

  SPEAKER: Everett Piper

  (The Washington Times) – Another day and yet more and more claims of sexual assault flood the news.

• The Peril of Trump’s Populist Foreign Policy

  SPEAKER: Robert Zoellick

  (The Wall Street Journal) – His style of deal-making prizes uncertainty and brinkmanship, without a plan for what comes next.

• The Big Bet at the Heart of Xi Jinping’s “New Deal”

  SPEAKER: Evan Feigenbaum

  (MacroPolo) – It’s often been said, including by my colleague Damien Ma in an excellent 2013 book, that China’s Communist Party has offered “prosperity without freedom” during the era of economic reform.

• 8 Inventions from Teenagers Who Want to Change the World

  SPEAKER: Shubham Banerjee

  (Interesting Engineering) – First up on our list of inventions is pretty ingenious. At 13 years old, Shubham Banerjee managed to create a working Braille printer after learning about the expense of braille printers.

• Newt Gingrich: Trump’s historic impact on the federal court system will help our nation prosper for decades to come

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Fox News) – As Congress and President Trump continue to work to pass the most significant tax cuts in more than 30 years, the president is also implementing another enormous conservative reform that will strengthen America for decades.

• Remembering Byrd’s Rule

  SPEAKER: Ira Shapiro

  (Washington Monthly) – Legendary Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd would be 100 years old today—and appalled by what his beloved Senate has become.

• It’s Time to Man Up

  SPEAKER: Carly Fiorina

  (Medium) – Don’t worry. We women will keep fighting, contributing, speaking up and speaking out. The question is will you boys finally man up?

• Pat Schroeder and Deborah James: The Full Transcript

  SPEAKER: Deborah James

  (Politico) – This week, a special part two of The Global Politico, our report on the everyday culture of sexual harassment — and sexism — that still plagues women who dare to represent America in the world.

• Sean Spicer: After Trump’s year 1, GOP poised to dominate again in 2018

  SPEAKER: Sean Spicer

  (The Hill) – A year ago this week, Republicans — led by Donald Trump and Mike Pence — dominated the 2016 election, up and down the ballot.

• The US needs this no-brainer win-win tax reform

  SPEAKER: Harry Broadman

  (Gulf News) – What if you were told there is a simple policy that can reduce US greenhouse gas emissions today and for generations to follow?