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Well, Speaker Nancy Pelosi did land on Taiwan.  This royally upsets the Chinese.  But, after Ukraine, the U.S. has to take a stand in Asia.  If you can recall back that far, Speaker Newt Gingrich visited in 1997.   China  called it a mistake and not much more.   Newt  himself today responded that China threats over Pelosi's Taiwan visit a "bluff."  Remember the Axis during WWII?  A weird trio looming might well be China, Russia and Iran. Justice was delivered by a drone strike in Kabul, although it took more than 20 years.  The victim was 71-year old al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri, #2 to Osama bin Laden, until he was earlier assassinated by Navy Seals in 2011.  Apparently, Zawahiri's family was seen escaping from the building.  He was an Egyptian physician who joined his first jihadist cell as a teenager.  They assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.  Next in line is perhaps  Saif al-Adel , but he is based in Iran, and has credibility problems. United Nations Se

My wife Pearl passed away today, 13 years ago.  Every year since then her sister Doris has provided some flowers on her birthday, which was last week.  So I planted the latest, and adjacent is Pearl's Blood Lily plants, now just on the verge of blooming.  I'll later provide a story about this flower. As Tuesday is nostalgia day, here is my posting of 20July2009.   Sorry, but it did not transfer well.  You can read the posting by clicking on that link . ********************************* IN CELEBRATION OF PEARL My best friend, and wife, of almost 47 years, Pearl, just passed away, and it was both the saddest day of my life, and, surprisingly enough, still, joyfully blissful. Yes, I’m biased, but she was as beautiful on her 70 th   birthday (last week) than when we first met.   She was recently sent a portfolio of photos taken at the May Hilo High School Quad reunion in Last Vegas, and, considering that she was in the oldest of four classes, it was amazing that she was the best lo