This is Monday, 1June2026. For the record today, the USA/Israel vs Iran War peace talk  seems be fraying .   Maybe the U.S. can't convince Israel to pull back from Lebanon.   Plus, we again bombed Iran and stopped missiles fired at American troops in Kuwait. The Strait of Hormuz is not totally closed, for 2 ships/day passed through this past week, a trickle compared to the average of 130 ships/day before the war began.  Gas prices are high and fertilizer shortages are occurring. Even worse, Iran might work with its proxies in Yeman to close the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb , totally cutting off oil shipments from Saudi Arabia.  Sure, there is the Suez, but that significantly adds shipping cost. Last month was an amazing one for this blog.  This original site began in April of 2008, and will be 18 years old at the end of the month.  I do this daily, though I had to skip a few while in China (they've long had a feud with Google, which produces this ...