PUTIN MEETS TRUMP IN ALASKA

As I compose this posting, Donald Trump, with Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, is meeting with Vladimir Putin, and his two equivalents, Sergey Levrov and Yuri Ushakov, at the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Results will enfold over the next few hours. Here is one video link.

The world seems cautiously optimistic, but not Time magazine, which today reported that Alaska Cannot End Putin's War in Ukraine and The Last Six Trump-Putin Meetings Failed.
Why is this summit happening in Alaska?

This Russo-Ukraine War:

Began in late February 2014 when Russia occupied and annexed Crimea.
Then in February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and and at first it looked like they would soon overwhelm the country.

With help from the USA and NATO, this did not happen.
The current situation is a stalemate, with Russia occupying around an additional 20% of Ukraine land, and with the U.S. and NATO poised to continue to help Ukraine.

From most reports, Russia has suffered around a million casualties (deaths and injuries), with Ukraine at half that number. In comparison, the Israeli-Palestinian is approaching 200,000 casualties, with many Palestinians being civilians.

Here, it's only August, and the PGA season is close to ending. The FedEx Cup playoffs consist of three tournaments, the St. Jude Championship held last week, the BMW Championship now in play and the Tour Championship next week. It's a bit complicated, but the following came from Google AI Overview:

1. FedEx St. Jude Championship: Won by Justine Rose.

The top 70 players in the FedExCup standings after the regular season qualify.
It's a 72-hole stroke play event with a cut, meaning the field is reduced after 36 holes.

2. BMW Championship:

The top 50 players from the FedExCup standings after the FedEx St. Jude Championship advance.
This is also a 72-hole stroke play event with a cut.

3. Tour Championship:

The top 30 players in the FedExCup standings after the BMW Championship qualify.
The main change to the 2025 FedEx Cup is the elimination of "Starting Strokes" at the Tour Championship. Instead of the player-ranked No. 1 starting with a lead, the final event of the playoffs is now a traditional 72-hole stroke-play tournament where all 30 players begin at even par, offering a clean, level playing field to win the season-long title.

The winner will get $10 million at the Tour Championship tournament. The remaining 29 players will share $30 million based on how well they do. #30 will only get $355,00, with #2 winning $5 million.

This has been going on since 2007:

2007: Tiger Woods
2008: Vijay Singh
2009: Tiger Woods
2010: Jim Furyk
2011: Bill Haas
2012: Brandt Snedeker
2013: Henrik Stenson
2014: Billy Horschel
2015: Jordan Spieth
2016: Rory McIlroy
2017: Justin Thomas
2018: Justin Rose
2019: Rory McIlroy
2020: Dustin Johnson
2021: Patrick Cantlay
2022: Rory McIlroy
2023: Viktor Hovland
2024: Scottie Scheffler

I end this week with Awesome Nature, worth your viewing.

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 a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP on THE ECONOMY and OTHER MATTERS

President Donald Trump said this weekend: Is not joking about a third term . Which is better for the U.S. than he unilaterally just becoming a dictator. Will absolutely deliver on his massive reciprocal tariff plan on April 2 . He dubs it Liberation Day. Reasserted that the U.S. would 100% annex Greenland . Will ban refugees....except for White South Africans . Guess from where comes Elon Musk? If so, how many refugees has so far expressed interest? 67,000 . Will approve Canadian firm, The Metals Company, to mine the deep seabed , circumventing international law, drawing denouncement from 40 countries. Lethargic help to Myanmar recovering from the damage caused by a 7.7 earthquake. USAID cuts reduces our ability to provide assistance worldwide. Very angry and pissed off at Vladimir Putin for continuing the Ukraine-Russia War, a first for Trump, who has been giving the Ukraine house away. From the New York Time...

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