This is May 20, with a dozen more postings left this month, and the number of readers for the month has already passed one million.  Today will break the daily record of 180,000.  These numbers only include the original version of this blog.  I can add readers from the new site, which is the same as the old, but looks different.  So, for those new visitors, welcome to SIMPLE SOLUTIONS FOR PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY.  The title of this blog came from two of my books, SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth and SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity. Cuba is back in the news today.  Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche today announced the indictment of former Cuban President Raul Castro and five others, an action that a Florida jury took last month on charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals.  Will the U.S. kidnap Castro like we did to Venezulela President Nicolas Madura? Incidentally, running Venezuala is former vice-president Delcy Rodriguez, who President Dona...

First of all, most of you never heard of Yasujiro Ozu, but I'll get into films later after a few alerts on world news. Six states will have primaries today, and President Donald Trump, who seemingly has regained influence, will probably continue his success at determining which Republicans will run in the November general elections.   His Texas support for Ken Paxton over John Cornyn in particular should be interesting.     He last week ended Senator Bill Cassidy congressional career in Louisiana, and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky might be in trouble.  These two Republicans defied Trump. Of course, will there even be elections on November 3? The U.S. was ready to again attack Iran, when, on pressure from Middle East allies, he cancelled the strikes yesterday, citing progress towards a deal.  Iran submitted a revised 14-point proposal to Pakistan mediators.  No details yet on what happens to the Strait of Hormuz, or the matter of enriched uraniu...

Taiwan was the top item on the agenda during President Donald Trump's summit with Chairman Xi Jinping.   While nothing was discussed of particular significance, all signs show that Trump has softened his support for the island China contend's is theirs .  I asked Google about Trump's current attitude on this subject: Donald Trump has not stated that he is willing to give up Taiwan. However, his highly transactional approach to foreign policy has sparked intense debate, as he has explicitly described pending U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan as a "negotiating chip" to leverage concessions from China . [ 1 , 2 ] Details of the situation include: Arms Sales as Leverage: Trump recently delayed approving a $14 billion U.S. arms sale package for Taiwan. In an interview following his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Trump stated: "I'm holding that in abeyance and it depends on China... It's a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly....