The Presidential Daily Brief - 10/03/2015

October 3, 2015 Follow Us: Presented by     Important     Russian jets are now aiding the Syrian government, which bombed this rebel-held area of Damascus yesterday. Source: Getty Storms Threaten U.S. Flooding as Ship Disappears Time to find high ground. The southern East Coast is expected to get “historic and potentially life-threatening” rain this weekend, the National Weather Service warns. Hurricane Joaquin ripped through the Bahamas yesterday before turning away from the U.S. coast. But the storm, helped by exceptionally warm ocean temperatures, provided moisture for a low-pressure system potentially dumping up to 15 inches of rain on the Carolinas and Virginia through Monday. As residents watch for flooding, authorities hope to locate the El Faro, an American cargo ship with 33 crew members that sailed into Joaquin’s path. Sources: Huffington Post, USA Today, CNN Share: Shades of Cold War Running Hot in Syria Is it the 1980s? First it was Obama and Putin trading barbs at the U.N. Then on Wednesday, Russian warplanes were deployed in Syria — sent outside the former Soviet Union for the first time since the end of the Cold War. On Friday, the U.S. president blasted Russia’s “recipe for disaster,” indiscriminately targeting any rebels — including ISIS, but also U.S.-backed fighters — battling Syrian President Bashar Assad. This has the Pentagon considering military options to protect its allies. So what started as ’80s-style posturing seems to be heading in an alarmingly heated direction. Sources: WSJ (sub), BBC, CNN, Reuters Share: The Smart Money Is Kicking Back Investors are excited about boring funds. They’re flooding so-called passive investments, or index funds, that track the market rather than actively pick stocks. In the first half of 2015, $118.1 billion went passive — 40 times the amount that trickled into active funds. These guys average better than the active investors over the years, but will that continue if the market stays wobbly? Some active funds do consistently well, but passive investments  are usually cheaper to service. Impatient investors who pull out? They’re safe, but perhaps sorry when the market rebounds. Sources: OZY Share: How to Avert German Industry's Downfall They need to get over themselves. Veteran German journalist Armin Mahler argues that his nation’s international brands, like Volkswagen and Deutsche Bank, have been driven by unrealistic expectations to overtake their competitors, leading to illegal and self-destructive practices like VW’s smog-testing fraud. Such arrogance won’t just cripple the perpetrators — it could take down Europe’s top economy. Unless the country’s industrial titans trade recklessness for due diligence, he says, Germans could find themselves resembling their own caricature of their hobbled EU cousin, Greece. Sources: Der Spiegel Share: Briefly U.S. airstrike reportedly hits Afghan hospital, killing three. (NYT) Oregon college gunman was student in class where he killed nine. (CNN) Teen who shot Australian police employee was ‘radicalized,’ police say. (The Guardian) Lawyers: NY prisoner had sex in DA’s office in exchange for helping authorities. (USA Today)  Sponsors Coke and McDonald’s demand ouster of FIFA chief Blatter. (BBC)       INTRIGUING     Cleveland Vid Kid Surfs Politics' Waves He’s a little Edward R. Murrow, if Murrow had made national news before graduating high school. Andrew Demeter is a 17-year-old viral video journalist whose work has been recognized by Fox News and C-SPAN for not shying away from tough questions, even if he’s addressing a former speaker of the house. Although lionized by conservatives, the Call of Duty fan defies labels by preaching peace and shunning meat. Demeter’s making a splash trying to keep leaders accountable, but he’d better ease off the conspiracy rants if he wants to be president when he grows up. Sources: OZY Share: Is Popular Cancer Software an Epic Fail? It is used in 90 percent of mammograms, costs the U.S. $400 million every year — and it doesn’t work. That’s the new scientific finding on computer-aided detection, software sold to help spot cancer in common breast X-rays. A huge study of 625,000 mammograms found the program’s flagging of suspicious spots didn’t improve radiologists’ tumor detection rates, and actually lowered them in some cases. This might prompt Medicare and Medicaid to stop paying for the digital accessory — one potential treatment for bloated American health-care costs. Sources: Pacific Standard Share: 'StarTalk' Host Wants Leaders to Push the Envelope He’s still waiting for a Sputnik moment. On Oct. 25, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson launches the second season of his show featuring high-profile guests gabbing about science and space. He says America is missing something: a scientific goal to capture its imagination. Obama may have talked about far-off Mars missions, but he hasn’t set a near-term goal, as Kennedy did with manned moon exploration. As for politicians who say, “I’m not a scientist,” Tyson says that’s fine, but “get one, and understand what science is and how it works.” Sources: Rolling Stone Share: A Tall Tale of Europe's True Cheese-Eaters Tulips, windmills and cannabis cafés maybe, but cheese? That’s what ought to be identified with the Dutch. They love dairy products, which seem to have made them the tallest people on Earth. The country produces 800,000 tons of cheese every year, and it’s the birthplace of Edam and the oft-mispronounced Gouda (“GOW-dah”). Experts may disagree on what gives these lowlanders their record height, but here’s a clue: Experience shows that if immigrants coming to Europe settle in Holland, they’ll end up taller than if they’d stayed back home. Sources: BBC Magazine Share: Ned Yost Defies the Odds to Boost Kansas City Analytics may be king, but not for the Royals. Their manager leads with his gut and ignores the number crunchers — an approach that’s earned him plenty of skeptics, while his record speaks for itself. He almost won last year’s World Series despite losing some of his best talent to other teams. One analyst muses that “weird things can happen” in the close games resulting from the Royals’ defense-centric strategy. But the loyalty of players who share Yost’s infectious confidence may be the factor that decides the playoffs — and confounds the algorithms. Sources: NYT Magazine Share: Your 8 must reads to get you ahead of the curve RISING STARS The Man Who Uses Ugly Fruit to Make Us Stop Wasting Food Read In Full TRUE STORY How Was Your Day … Kathak Dance Director? Read In Full IMMODEST PROPOSAL Slow Humans, Keep to the Right Read In Full 20M people love reading OZY every month. Be part of the revolution. Add us to your Address Book | Having trouble viewing this email? Read Online This email was sent to PhillipPhillip787@gmail.com This email was sent by: OZY Media 800 West El Camino Mountain View, CA 94040 Manage Subscriptions | Update Profile | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy