Toma nota.../Take note...

Nadie creyó al nuevo Presidente de Angola, João Lourenço, cuando prometió reformas exhaustivas. ... Todos los funcionarios habían sido nombrados por su predecesor José Eduardo dos Santos, quien usó nepotismo y patrocinio para perpetuar su poder como heredero de la intervención militar cubana en Angola. Pero Lourenço, el hombre que alguna vez se consideró un títere del antiguo régimen, ha resultado ser tan bueno como su palabra. Entre otras importantes decisiones y reformas impulsadas desde que asumió el poder, Lourenço despidió a la hija del ex Presidente, Isabel dos Santos, del liderazgo de la empresa petrolera estatal Sonangol. ¿Estará abriendo camino hacia la democracia en Angola? En los próximos meses lo comprobaremos.

Cayó la mujer más rica de África

 Lisboa (Uypress/Daniel Toledo).– El despido de Isabel dos Santos de la petrolera angoleña Sonangol pone fin a la etapa más próspera y corrupta de la historia del país.
El recién elegido presidente de Angola, João Lourenço, se ha atrevido a hacer el movimiento que muchos esperaban y unos pocos temían: ha apartado de la presidencia de la petrolera estatal Sonangol a la todopoderosa Isabel dos Santos, hija del expresidente Eduardo dos Santos, en el poder durante 38 años, hasta el pasado 26 de septiembre.

The US Congress could save between 50 and 100 billion dollars by eliminating bad or inefficient government programs. But even an aggresive President like Donald Trump has not succeeded in his announced project to eliminate a range of non-defense programs that the government should not be running, that it runs poorly, or that may be harmful to individuals and society. Vested interest in the US Congress, mainly among Democrats, block most proposals that ultimately go down the drain under the threat to paralize government if the budget is not approved in time. One of them is the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), whose demise is argued in the following article.

The TSA is a waste of money that doesn't save lives and might actually cost them.

• The solution is clear: Airports should kick out the TSA, hire (well-paid and unionized) private screeners, and simply ask people to go through normal metal detectors with their shoes on.

Few post-9/11 security measures have proven as enduring as the creation of the Transportation Security Administration, which effectively nationalized airport security and dramatically increased screening procedures on flights. In a matter of months, flights went from something you could arrive 30 minutes to an hour beforehand and be fine to something you needed to budget two hours for, what with the shoe removal and the liquids and the possibility of a random pat-down.

The European Union has 28 member countries and the €urozone counts 19 of them. Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom are among the most important member countries not participating in the single currency, in addition to six other new European Union members who still have to prove that they have taken measures for an ireversible progress toward a functioning free-market and competitive economy and some other requirements to build a lasting macro-economic stability. Within this continental stage, the €uro could have become the currency to consolidate the European Union, turning into a real international reserve currency if the European countries had followed in good faith the progressive course towards a stable Confederation of Nations, but the rejection by 2 of the 28 Union members of the draft Constitution previously approved by the other 26, which could have opened the way toward continental stability, served as fertilizer to the seed of discord. As anyone might expect, a common currency is unsustainable buffeted by a multitude of countries stubbornly clinging to independent monetary and fiscal policies. 

As it is highlighted in the following article, Europe is trying that the puzzle does not disassemble, but if the monetary union collapsed, the project of a United Europe will be dismantled from its own base.

Why the euro was created

by Michael Maibach

There are three reasons the euro was created. First, the euro aimed to deepen the EU single market by eliminating currency exchanges across national borders and creating transnational cost competition. Second, the currency was meant to become an alternative reserve currency to the U.S. dollar. And third, it could set the stage for a unified European superstate. Ironically, the euro has rapidly become a central cause of EU disunity.

While the euro is a single currency, the eurozone has 19 separate parliaments, heads of state, and national banks. These national banks, plus the European Central Bank (ECB), make up the Eurosystem – akin to the U.S. Federal Reserve system. As you might imagine, one airplane and 19 pilots is a formula for an economic plane crash. 

When it comes to the environment, American Christians remain divided along political lines.  Christian doctrine teaches to respect  Creation as a whole, but most Christians do not seem to follow the rule.

Being religious does not make you greener

Jan. 26.– Are religious leaders convincing their followers to care more about the fate of the earth? Catholic, mainstream Protestant and Orthodox Christian shepherds are trying hard to interest believers in environmental questions. But a new study suggests that among Christians in America, concern about the environment is somewhere between static and declining.

David Konisky, an associate professor at the University of Indiana, wanted to find out if there has been a “greening of Christianity” over time. As he notes in his article in the Journal of Environmental Politics, there have been many snapshot studies of religious and ecological sentiment. But little effort has gone into examining long-term trends.