Out & About: Weekly Thoughts

It has been quite a month as I worked away in support of the Daily Outsider as the third quarter has begun.   I had the pleasure to once again join the City of Laguna Niguel's Run in the Park and produced a Visual Essay on it that I distributed to my YouTube Channel.    It was great to see the Community coming out in support of the YMCA and the City.   The City's Fireworks yet again was just beautiful to be witness to.

One beautiful scene I was also witness to was the March For Families in opposition to President Trump's Family Separation Policy.   Thousands showed up within a week's notice at Portola High School--we all then Marched from Portola High School to the James A Musick Facility in Irvine where we understand 4 of the Mothers were held--I produced a Visual Essay on it.     

Once area I've been focused on has been what's been going on in Iran as the Protests have gathered steam.  I captured a few of the on-going coverage over the past couple of weeks as the Government in Tehran is clearly nervous in light of President Trump's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA:  

"...Vahid Shagaghi:  You impose a Tax on somehow buying Pizza, but someone who receives billions in Profits
not a single rial (Iran's Currency) was paid in Taxes--A government that was not even allowed to pass its' System of Taxation..." 

Iran Government Spokesman:  All Ex-Pats, Please bring your gold & foreign currency back ...

Special Military Advisor to the Supreme Leader:  It appears that if there is no Government in Tehran,
The country will run smoother

I was not per se concerned about the implicit threat of a coup that has dissipated.   But what I found laughable was the Government Spokesman request--I wondered if he forgot about all who have stolen billions--In the meantime, the continued attacks on the internal voices of dissent including Hengameh Shahidi has continued.   This is as the head of the Judiciary in the Country had threatened everyone with  20 years minimum imprisonment along with the following flow of thoughts which I found to be extremely disconcerting:

Senior State Department official: "The U.S. expects all countries to cut oil imports from Iran to “zero” by Nov. 4 or risk sanctions." (Nov 4 is also the 39th anniversary of the 1979 hostage crisis.) https://t.co/geKQ9faHgJ

— Karim Sadjadpour (@ksadjadpour) June 26, 2018

This extensive graft just in relation to 1/40 mobile phone importers granted access to official rate currency. Think of importers of food, cars, consumer goods, electronics and you'll get an idea of depth of fraud & theft in Iranian economy. These are Iranians robbing Iranians. https://t.co/18ERWHICxj

— Mohammad Ali Shabani (@mashabani) June 26, 2018 

One company imported 20k iPhones at official $ rate, slapped on 2mn toman per handset & sold 15k of them. Hoarded remaining 5k iPhones. Iran's main enemy isn't Trump. It's corruption & opportunism of those among its own people who thrive on misery of fellow Iranians. https://t.co/dLI9JZAICP

— Mohammad Ali Shabani (@mashabani) June 26, 2018

It has been quite challenging to remain hopeful about the state of our World especially as I am seeing challenges with Tariffs.  Our team at the Daily Outsider will be on the prowl assessing it develops.

Truly challenging times--but have to remain hopeful!!