But first, an assessment by the  New York Times  this morning of what just happened in Germany: Germany’s next chancellor is likely to be Friedrich Merz, a former corporate lawyer who has promised to crack down on migration, cut taxes and regulation and adopt a hawkish policy toward Russia. Merz leads a center-right alliance  (the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, or CDU)  that finished first in yesterday’s election, with 29 percent of the vote. A far-right party, Alternative for Germany ( the party that Elon Musk supported) , that promises even tougher immigration policies — but is friendly toward Russia — finished second, with 21 percent of the vote.   The center-left Social Democrats, who led the government for the past four years, tumbled to third place, with 16 percent of the vote. It was their worst showing in a national election since at least 1890. The percentage of the current population born in another country is now 20%, which was only 12.5%...

  First a few newsworthy items: Emmanuel Macron beat Marine Le Pen by 16 percentage points . Biden had 4.5% more votes than Trump in 2020.   Mind you, the electoral votes determine who becomes president. If Biden had 45,000 fewer total votes in the right proportion in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, Trump would today be president.  This is a percentage of only 0.05%. Similarly, if Trump in 2016 had 78,000 fewer votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Hillary Clinton would have won the presidency.  A percentage difference of only 0.06%. While you sometimes need to appreciate the context of what politicians and their aides say, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reported after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv that  Russia is failing . So on to my topic of the day, read this  Quora  entry to give you some hope about applying to and getting admitted into Stanford University: Ivy...

In one corner we have incumbent President of France Emmanuel Macron and in the other, Marine Le Pen, buddy of Vladimir Putin, and threat to destroy democracy and the European Union.  Is the free world in danger? Well, I don't think so.  While Pen is supposedly in a stronger position today than she was when she ran against Macron in 2017, the Ukraine War essentially destroyed her chances.  Not too many Putin fans in France.  Further,  Macron won the 2.5 hours presidential debate held on May 3, 63% to 34%.    Macron is still only 39 years old, and Pen is 48. Her father was founder of the National Front ( her supporting party ) and regularly tried to become president since 1974.  They are anti-Muslim and said to be creepily fascists.  However, she expelled her father from his party in 2015 for carrying extreme views. Marine is, in too many ways, a  female Donald Trump .  She and her father somehow avoid paying taxes, are anti-immi...