The Obama Administration Exit Memos Worth Your Time

As the transition from the Obama to Trump administration looms, key agencies and cabinet posts are releasing exit memos detailing the key accomplishments and challenges during the last eight years. Two of particular relevance to the DAWNS audience are Samantha Power’s staunch defense of American engagement at the United Nations and  USAID administrator Gayle Smith’s call for a sustained bi-partisan consensus on foreign aid. Both are worth your time.  (Gayle Smith:  https://www.usaid.gov/exitmemo  Samantha Power: https://usun.state.gov/remarks/7643)

Notable appointment: Raj Shah, a former administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, will be the Rockefeller Foundation’s next president, the U.S.-based philanthropic organization announced. (Devex http://bit.ly/2hVuzZJ)

Notable Tossing of Hat in Ring… Tom Periello, who currently serves as President Obama’s special envoy to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, announced that he will run for Governor of Virginia. A few weeks ago, he spoke with Mark about his unusual career path that brought him from a small town in Virginia to human rights work in Sierra Leone to running for Congress. (Global Dispatches http://bit.ly/2hq2zZ2)

Instagram Account of the Day…The son of the autocrat of Equatorial Guinea is awaiting trial in France, having been accused of looting public funds. His instagram account is something to behold. Those bikes! http://bit.ly/2iNgNaU