EOD: January 13, 2016

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Coming up: January 14, 2016

Hollywood, California: Oscar noms
North Charleston, South Carolina: GOP debate
Geneva, Switzerland: The World Health Organization declares Liberia clear of Ebola

End of Day wrap:

Geopolitical news: Iran released ten (10) U.S. sailors aboard two U.S. Navy patrol boats after both sides acknowledged the Americans had strayed into territorial waters by mistake due to a broken navigational system. Oops.

Turkey arrests three (3) Russian nationals in connection to the Istanbul bombings that killed ten (10) tourists.

The Carillon cafe in Paris reopens for the first time since the terror attacks on November 13, 2015 that killed 130 people.

Media news: Al Jazeera America is done and dusted as of March 31, 2016. CNN reporting that approx. 700 staffers will lose their jobs. Lackluster viewership, plummeting oil prices, and internal strife are being blamed for the shuttering of the Qatar-backed network which began in 2013.

Election news: NYT discovers that GOP candidate Ted Cruz did not report a loan from Goldman Sachs for his first U.S. Senate campaign. Side note: Mrs. Cruz, an executive for Goldman Sachs, is currently on unpaid leave.

Fresh fodder for Thursday’s GOP debate – the first of 2016 – in North Charleston, South Carolina. Hosted by Fox Business News, there will be yet again, two rounds:

Undercard edition will include U.S. Senator Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. Paul is boycotting the forum as he wants to be part of the second debate featuring Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, Dr. Ben Carson, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Entertainment news: still fresh from the Golden Globe Awards and the death of David Bowie, the Oscar nominations will be announced by John Krasinski and Guillermo del Toro on Thursday, January 14th. Aaaaaand, Bill Cosby won’t have to participate in a recorded deposition pertaining to a Massachusetts lawsuit as he’s facing criminal charges in Pennsylvania but his wife, Camille will face the cameras on February 22nd.

Side-eye news: two Waffle House employees in Forrest City, Arkansas were fired for washing their hair in a pot of hot water. No one would’ve believed it except the customer who complained about finding hair in his food documented the incident via cell phone.

GIF o’ the day – Golden Globes edition

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Leo DiCaprio recoils and makes a face after Lady Gaga brushes against him while walking to the stage to collect the Golden Globe for Best Actress.

“Oh lord — that’s trending, huh?” DiCaprio said when Entertainment Tonight’s Cameron Mathison told the Golden Globe winner that his reaction was all but breaking the Internet. “I just didn’t know what was passing me — that’s all!”

Mmmmhmmmm.

DOH!

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Homer_Simpson_Loves_Donuts

I often grumble about Chef Dominique Ansel and his much ballyhooed Cronut, a croissant-doughnut hybrid that sells in his Spring Street bakery in Manhattan for $5 USD each as people stand in line for hours just for the privilege of the proprietary pastry; however, all is forgiven because Williamsburg’s Manila Social Club created a version of fried dough that is more OTT than the Cronut. Introducing the Golden Cristal Ube Donut made from purple yams, bathed in icing created with Cristal champagne, and covered with 24k gold flakes. Price: $100 USD each although if you order a dozen, they’ll drop the price to just $1K for 12.

gold

Afghanistan: 2016

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When I visited Afghanistan in 2014, NATO and US troops were scaling down operations while presidential elections, fraught with allegations of fraud, went into round two. Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah both claimed victory but eventually agreed to form a unity government led by Ghani and Abdullah as Chief Executive Officer in October 2014.

For the most part, NATO and the US took their toys and went home resulting in a predictable recipe for political instability including tribalism, power vacuums with a side order of warlords and a not-so-insignificant resurgence of Taliban-controlled regions.

U.S. President Barack Obama, having long stated his determination to end a war that began in 2001, reversed course in October 2015 and said that the American force of 9,800 troops would remain in Afghanistan through most of 2016, before dropping to 5,500.

The latest dispatch by Eric Schmitt and David E. Sanger of the NYT should give pause as to what to expect in 2016 as Al-Qaeda re-emerges throughout the region while the Taliban continues to control or strongly influence approximately half the nation, according to Bill Roggio, editor of The Long War Journal, an online publication that tracks Taliban control.

With the renewed violence against U.S. troops and potential “safe haven” for terrorist activities, I wonder if Afghanistan will return as a hot topic in the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections.