The Presidential Daily Brief - 05/21/2016

[The Presidential Daily Brief] [The Presidential Daily Brief] IMPORTANT May 21, 2016 [EgyptAir Flight 804 crash victims' loved ones console each other yesterday during prayers at a Cairo mosque. Source: Getty] [Carrots and Sticks to Battle at G-7 Summit] Spare the rod, spoil the economy? That's not what American and Japanese leaders believe as they prepare to meet with the Group of Seven industrialized [economies] on Thursday and Friday. Advocates of stimulating growth - even to the point of printing currency - they're expected to engage in a "frank exchange of views" with their British and German counterparts, who believe austerity is the remedy for global economic sluggishness. The answer, it seems, is a "go your own way" strategy, which is likely to yield vastly different approaches - and results. Sources: [Reuters], [International Business Times], [Japan Times], [White House] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Doomed EgyptAir Cockpit Window Reportedly Opened] Something sudden and catastrophic happened. That's what data transmitted from Thursday's Paris-to-Cairo Flight MS804 indicates, according to an aviation website. Before the Airbus A320 made two sharp turns and [plummeted] from 37,000, a cockpit window opened and multiple systems, including flight controls, failed. Experts speculate that a technical failure or explosion - or even a suicidal pilot - could have precipitated those failures. Some remains of the 66 passengers and crew have been recovered, but the biggest parts of the plane, along with flight recorders, remain to be found in Mediterranean waters between Crete and Egypt. Sources: [NY Times], [BBC], [Al Jazeera] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Venezuela's Embattled Leader Has Few Friends Left] He's on a slippery slope. Once propped up by some of the world's largest petroleum reserves, [Venezuela] is facing the realities of cheap oil and a government-controlled economy, with President Nicolas Maduro clinging to power amid growing calls for his ouster. Rampant crime has sparked vigilante justice - including the immolation of a man who reportedly stole $5. Now Maduro's trying to laugh off being called "mad as a goat" by an old socialist peer, and he's mobilizing troops to fend off "foreign" threats as his government lurches toward disaster. Sources: [Business Insider], [AP], [Reuters], [TIME] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] [The Long and Messy History of Public Bathrooms] They're flush with victory. With the federal government challenging bills that restrict the transgender community's access to restrooms, it's easy to forget that having gender-segregated public [bathrooms] wasn't always "normal." For more than a century, women have had to fight for bathrooms they could use in public spaces - congresswomen didn't get their own WC until 2011 - and deep-seated cultural anxieties about restrooms have been codified into laws promoting gender and racial segregation. Now some architects are calling for multi-stall bathrooms that welcome all those in need of a pee. Sources: [Buzzfeed] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] Briefly Armed man at White House gate shot and wounded. [(Washington Post)] Oklahoma governor vetoes bill to make abortions a felony. [(NPR)] Airlines blame long U.S. security lines on Congress' fund diversion. [(AP)] Mexico approves American request to extradite drug lord 'El Chapo.' [(NBC)] Volcanic eruption in Costa Rica covers towns with smoke, ash. [(BBC)] INTRIGUING [Maryland Let a Bunch of Murderers Go ... and Nothing Happened] It's liberating. A 2012 state appeals court ruling on outdated jury instructions helped 142 felons go free, decades after they were put behind bars for committing murder and other violent crimes. The ex-convicts' adjustment to an unfamiliar world has been jarring. But "the Unger family" - named for the still-incarcerated man whose case set the other inmates free - formed a tight bond. None has violated parole or been sent back to [prison], raising questions that challenge our preconceptions about justice and the American way. Sources: [Huffington Post] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] [The Gaming Industry Grows Up] The rules have changed. Gone are the days of video-game makers headquartered in expensive offices with production centered on seven-year life cycles of popular consoles. Now Xboxes and PlayStations get upgraded mid-cycle, and independent, far-flung networks of [game developers] rule from virtual studios. Like so many other industries, gaming promotion and sales have been disrupted by the broadband era that allowed product to be distributed digitally. And while the new age is less stable, it has opened the door to wide-ranging innovation - that gamers can purchase from their sofas. Sources: [The Guardian] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Why Don't We Collect Data on Women?] Short answer: sexism. Human rights campaigners and researchers complain that traditional data collection is leaving a patchy picture of women's lives. Employment surveys, for example, often ignore  [housewives] who also have part-time jobs, and many official stats fail to break down results by gender. It's difficult to tackle problems like domestic violence and maternal mortality without proper measurements. So the U.N. is enlisting 10 countries to test a new framework for enumerating unpaid work, like cooking and cleaning, to begin filling the female data gap. Sources: [BBC Magazine] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] [Meet Hollywood's King of Tiny Budgets] Bye, big spender. While Hollywood doubles down - often spending $100 million on dubious projects - Eric Fleischman, 26, is slashing zeros with the zeal of a management consultant, writes OZY's Libby Coleman. This young producer, who offers first-time directors their big break while aiming to give "microbudget" films a good name, has premiered two flicks at Sundance, including sci-fi thriller Sleight, and sold several others. He's no Jerry Bruckheimer - yet - but after selling five features to major distributors, Fleischman may be worth the gamble. Sources: [OZY] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] [South Korea Imports Foreign Talent for Hockey Glory] They're skating around the problem. As it prepares to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, Seoul has beefed up its hockey team by softening its opposition to embracing foreign athletes. With five Canadians and one American on the ice - all of whom played on the fringes of professional hockey back home - the team is starting to slide away from its dismal history and toward international success. And besides having two North American coaches on the payroll, a sixth [Canadian] ringer is set to glide in soon. Sources: [The Globe and Mail] Share: [Facebook] [Twitter] [Facebook] [Twitter] Your 8 must reads to get you ahead of the curve PROVOCATEURS [Alexander Lukashenko: Europe's Last Dictator] [Read In Full] PROVOCATEURS [Yahya Jammeh: The Worst Dictator You've Never Heard Of] [Read In Full] GOOD SH*T [The People-Watching Paradise at Mao's Mausoleum] [Read In Full] 20M people love reading OZY every month. Be part of the revolution. [Facebook] [Twitter] [Instagram] [Vimeo] [Youtube] Add us to your Address Book | Having trouble viewing this email? 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