ENJOY LIFE WHILE YOU CAN

Yesterday I underscored that something was wrong with America.

If you read it, sure we have declined here and there. However, the country, relative to the rest of the world, is actually doing quite well. My overriding apprehension, actually, had to do with the sanity and morality of the voters.
The Supreme Court's support for Donald Trump has another Biden casualty. In Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon totally dismissed the classified documents case against Trump.

At the Republican National Convention which began in Milwaukee today, Trump indicated that J.D. Vance was his veep running mate. I predicted this last week. Trump will give his big speech Thursday night after he is selected as the Republican candidate for the presidency. If he can stay alive, he is now a close lock to become our 47th President of the United States (PUS).

This assassination attempt totally scuttled Biden's strategy against Trump. Now Joe cannot say much about Trump's character and his danger to Democracy, for that would be further inspiring attempts by the crazies and loners around us.

What does one do over the next 113 days to minimize depression when it now appears that Donald Trump will crush Joe Biden on November 5, with world affairs going poorly, and global warming incessantly encroaching? Well, I can turn to sports to somewhat neutralize these negatives.

First, it is around mid-season for Major League Baseball, and I don't really care about who makes it to the World Series in October, which could extend into November. I only follow individuals on my three ESPN fantasy teams. The good news is that two of them are barely in first place in their leagues, and the third one is third.

I don't watch the actual MLB All-Star Game, which will occur at 8PM EDT on Tuesday at Globe Life Field in Texas, on Fox, but sometimes gaze at the Home Run Derby, which features eight sluggers on ESPN at 8PM EDT tonight. If The Game is tied after nine innings, there will be another home run derby, featuring three players on each team, with coaches doing the pitching. Most home runs win the game. This has never occurred.
About what happened this weekend?

Carlos Alcaraz (right) beat Novak Djokovic in the finals of Wimbledon. For those who don't know, this is about tennis, and this tournament is played on grass. About Americans.

Emma Navarro made the quarterfinals.
Tommy Paul lost to Alcaraz in the quarterfinals. He won the opening set.
Taylor Fritz also made the quarterfinals.
You have to go back to 2000, nearly a quarter-century ago, the last American male victor, Pete Sampras.
Serena Williams won in 2015 and 2016.

Spain beat England 2-1 in Euro Cup 2024. Spain was dominant throughout the tournament, scoring 15 goals. The last time England won this cup was almost 60 years ago, in 1966. This is soccer, know as football around the world.

Robert MacIntyre won $1.58 million and the Genesis Scottish Open, a big win for the country, as he is the first golfer from Scotland to prevail in this tournament since Colin Montgomery in 1999. That was a quarter-century ago. Coming in third was Romain Langasque of France, who had a one chance in 200 of winning. However, he did not make the French team of two for their olympics.
The Open, also golf, begins Thursday at Royal Troon, Scotland.
Also in Europe, the Paris Summer Olympics begin in ten days.

Wednesday, July 24, the USA soccer team playing France.
Rugby Sevens also starts that day, with more soccer and rugby on Thursday.

Why they do this makes no sense to me, but the actual Opening Ceremonies will take place on Friday, July 26, from 1:30PM-5:15PM EDT on NBC, and repeat at 7:30PM. For the first time, all of this will occur on water, the river Seine, using 94 boats. Peacock will stream every event. Closing ceremonies will be on Sunday, August 11, 1:30PM-5:15PM EDT.
10,500 athletes from 206 countries.

The 76th Emmy nominations will be announced on Wednesday, July 17 at 11:30 AM on ABC.

Also on ABC will be the 28th AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, on Saturday, July 20 at 8:30PM EDT. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, helped by their rivalry that began in college, have caused a stir, for TV games are now averaging 1.3 million viewers/game, tripling the numbers last year. Jersey sales have jumped 236% this year.

My lanai garden is doing well. Plumeria, green onion, basil, anthurium, African Blood Lily and calamansi.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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