Again, nothing much going on around the world today, but this unusual hot weather could turn to snow in New York and New England this weekend .  Cities like Chattanooga, Birmingham and St. Louis could challenge heat records today dating back more than 125 years.  Then on Saturday, there could be some snowflakes in the northeast.  Not much, and mostly only at elevation, but the first snowfall is always exciting for most. One bit of sad news is that the first American pope, Robert Francis Prevost, or Pope Leo XIV, a year and a half into service, found out that he has lung cancer.  No details yet.  Here is a video. Yesterday, I reported on the embarrassing situation of the USA being mediocre, if not poor, in excellence of airports and airlines.  Those, unfortunately, could very well be mere symptoms of our possible decline as as the world leader.. On the other hand, according to Google AI: Many prominent analysts argue that talk of American decline is a recurr...

Yes, America is doing well today, if you are wealthy and Republican.  President Donald Trump continues to reign supreme over the Republican Party.  His 887-page Big Beautiful Bill sailed through the House of Representatives.  The  minor hangup was not pulling back on the tax breaks to the rich nor easing up on the cuts to liberal interests.  The Freedom Caucus wanted much bigger reductions to medicaid and liberal interests and was worried about the national debt.  Trump will make a big deal of signing the measure tomorrow.   Read the details .  About the national debt, this bill will add $3.4 trillion to the already $29 trillion the country owes.  Interest on this debt will top a trillion dollars/year and will equal our Gross National Product.  From the  New York Times : Further, two-thirds of the federal budget goes to mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  The Freedom Caucus wanted to lower this...

 Two years ago, the  BBC said Japan was the future,  but it's now stuck in the past.  I agree. Among the detractions is ownership of real estate.  You buy a home, and after paying off your mortgage in, say, 40 years, it is worth almost nothing. Japan recently had the third-largest economy, is a peaceful and prosperous country with the longest life expectancy in the world, the lowest murder rate, little political conflict, a powerful passport, and the sublime Shinkansen, the world's best high-speed rail network.  Actually, about GDP and the economy, Germany has slipped past Japan into #3, with India in the next few months easing by Japan. When the author of this article, Rupert Wingield-Hayes, first arrived in Tokyo in 1993, a third of a century ago, he was effusive about the country being exquisitely clean and orderly.  Actually still is. But he noted that Hong Kong was an assault on senses and Taipei had horrible air pollution. He could have said...