First, yesterday President Joe Biden gave a talk about democracy in Arizona.  This was his most blistering attack yet of Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists.  Did you know that  Joe introduced John to Cindy , his wife? And speaking of Trump: His civil fraud trial trial in New York could begin as soon as this coming Monday.   Also, his pool of funds to pay legal bills for his cronies is running out.   Trump won't bother to even seek a transfer of his case from Georgia to a federal court. Finally, that House quagmire about the government shutdown tomorrow.  Looks like Keven McCarthy lost his battle to pass anything only with Republicans.  Democrats in the House say that if only 5 Republicans vote with them, all this nonsense can be avoided.  But if McCarthy makes that move, he will lose his speakership.  So be prepared for at a short shutdown.  Will this be terrible?  Nah.   The USA has had 21 of them over the past half a century .  Most of them end after a couple days.  The longest

Well, I survived  Barbenheimer , and was underwhelmed by   Barbie   and consumed by   Oppenheimer .  Sure,   B   got twice the box office revenues of   O , but that is because   B   is for children with grandparents, and   O   was R-rated, with actual nudity.  The two, combined, earned more than half a billion worldwide dollars in one weekend, and both were actually highly rated by reviewers. The bizarre attraction is that they are two films that are about as opposite as you can get, making it a once in a decade event.   About possible Oscars?  Let me start with  B : Margot Robbie was the star, and she in the past got two nominations, in 2018 for  I, Tonya  as Best Actress, and in 2020 as Best Supporting Actress for  Bombshell .  I don't think this kind of movie can be taken seriously, so she probably will miss the final cut of five actresses. Ryan Goslin, however, might slip into the top 5 for Best Supporting Actor.  He too has had two nominations, Best Actor in 2007 for  Half Nel

I said yesterday that I would provide more details about China's new covid crisis today.  Well, I couldn't find anything more, so will continue my search and lay out the situation on Thursday, my day for this virus. Instead, a little bit of everything to bring you up to date on even the most eclectic of topics, like the National Hockey League Stanley Cup Finals.  The only ice hockey games I watch are during some of the Winter Olympics. I begin with what the  New York Times  sends me every morning, a summary of what happened and will.  To begin, this is their expectation of a very hot summer: Hawaii looks to be great, so come over if you have a lot of money.  Also Blowout win:   The Miami Heat   beat the Boston Celtics   in Game 7. They will face the Denver Nuggets in the N.B.A. finals. Golden Knights advance, too:   Las Vegas is back in the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in the franchise’s six-year history after a   6-0 rout   in Dallas. The next Tiger?   The world is re

     From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):            DAY    USA    WORLD      Brazil      India      South Africa June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82 July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572 Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130 Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82 Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85 Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118 Dec     30       3880    14748       1224       299      465 Jan      14        4142    15512        1151         189      712 Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398 Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194 April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37 May     4        853     13667        3025      3786     59   June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95  July    7         251      8440        1595        817      411