Saturday, January 7, 2017

THE WEEK IN REVIEW: JANUARY 1-7, 2017

JANUARY 11 MARKS THE 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE FIRST KOLCHAK, THE NIGHT STALKER MOVIE DEBUTING.
JANUARY 12 ALLEGEDLY MARKS THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE INFAMOUS HAL 9000 COMPUTER COMING ONLINE WITHIN 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
(1992 IN THE MOVIE, 1997 IN THE ORIGINAL NOVEL).

AMONGST EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD THIS PAST WEEK…
*As Antonio Guterres begins his term as its Secretary General, the United Nations’ Security Council officially supported the Syrian cease fire between Russia and Turkey. Meanwhile Bolivia, Ethiopia, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Sweden are the Council’s newest members on the United Nations rotation.
*Kim Jong Un of North Korea claims his country is close to developing an intercontinental ballistic missile.






THE TERRORIST REPORT…
*ISIL has claimed responsibility for the Istanbul, Turkey New Year’s Eve nightclub attack.

PASSING PARADE…
*The innocent victims of the Campinas, Brazil shooting New Year’s Eve.
*The innocent victims of the Istanbul, Turkey New Year’s Eve nightclub attack.
*Actress Francine York (credits too numerous to mention) has taken her last bow on life's stage.
*TV writer/producer Sam Lovullo (The Jonathan Winters Show, Hee Haw) is no longer with us.
*Former President and Prime Minister of Portugal Mario Soares has passed away.

WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA…
POLITICALLY…
*On its first day back in session, the Republican controlled Congress officially elected Paul Ryan the House Speaker again. It came as no surprise afterward when Ryan announced Congress will seek to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act (aka “Obama Care”) and remove all federal funding from Planned Parenthood. Yet there are some who now believe Planned Parenthood might be able to save "Obama Care".
*President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert Lighthizer as America’s chief trade negotiator. Lighthizer previously served as a deputy trade negotiator during the Ronald Reagan administration.
*Trump also nominated Katie Walsh as Deputy White House Chief of Staff and Rajiv Shah as White House Research Director. Both currently hold similar positions with the Republican National Committee.
*Trump would also like to have Joe Hagin as White House Chief of Staff: Operations, Rick Dearborn and Jeff Sessions to head the White House Legislative Affairs office, former The Apprentice contestant Omarosa as Director of Communications for the Public Liaison Office, Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence, and Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.
*Despite the continuing investigation and the ever growing mountain of evidence, President-elect Donald Trump still swears there was no outside, let alone Russian, involvement with the 2016 Presidential election; referring to it as a "witch hunt". (There are 4 separate links within that item.)
MEANWHILE…
*The Republican controlled Congress passed a bill to prevent President Barack Obama from passing
any "last minute" legislation before leaving office January 20th.
*Before leaving office, Vice President Joe Biden has performed a time honored tradition.
*President Obama is scheduled to give his farewell address January 10 in Chicago, Illinois so as to not "interfere" with the impending inauguration.
*Elizabeth Warren has announced her campaign to continue being a Senator.
*The state of Texas soon hopes to have their own "bathroom bill", where people must use the bathroom of the gender they were born as, not the one they are now.
ELSEWHERE…

*The Ford Motor Company has announced it will remodel its Flat Rock, Michigan factory instead of opening a new facility in Mexico.
*In preparation for becoming Secretary of State (pending Congressional approval) Rex Tillerson has retired from Exxon/Mobil with a $180 million dollar retirement package.
*The United States defeated Canada to win the 2017 World Junior Ice Hockey Championship.



THE 2016 CHRISTMAS RETAIL SEASON...
*No winners (businesses that actually broke even, let alone made a profit) have yet to be discovered from the 2016 Christmas retail season.
*Macy's plans to close 68 stores, cutting 10,000 jobs in the process.
*While planning to close over 100 K-Marts and 40 Sears retail stores after a poor 2016 Christmas retail season, the Sears company also announced it is selling its famous Craftsman tools line to Stanley/Black & Decker.
*J C Penney and Kohl's are also reporting bad Christmas results too.
*The Limited will close ALL its physical stores on January 8 to concentrate solely upon online sales.


THE FREE CHOICE E-ZINE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR LOYAL READERS FOR GIVING US THE SINGLE BIGGEST MONTH OF READERSHIP IN OUR HISTORY, WITH 5,819 PAGE VIEWS AND THE WEEK IN REVIEW (NEWS) BEING OUR MOST POPULAR FEATURE DURING DECEMBER 2016!


For more news at any time, either scroll down to our ELSEWHERE feature at the bottom of your screen or visit any other reputable news source.

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