About Donald Trump and the Iran War, not exactly a deal, but an agreement to spend the next 60 days in ceasefire, while negotiators argue about possible long-term peace, nuclear matters, money, Strait of Hormuz and so forth. As I mentioned yesterday, there will be a signing of the memorandum of agreement on Friday in Geneva by Veep JD Vance and Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.   This event is being hosted by Pakistan, with key mediators like Qatar in attendance. Israel will not sign and is therefore not bound by the terms of the MoA.  Thus, the war in Lebanon will be a particularly sensitive matter through the upcoming talks. The Strait of Hormuz will not be completely open from Friday. It will take a month or so for mine clearing operations. Details on shipping insurance will need to be worked out. Will there be a toll?  Trump insists no, but Iran disagrees. The G7 nations leaders are in the France Alps, Evian-les-Bains .   Here is a vi...

But first, some news of the day. The  New York Times  this morning had some nice history of gerrymandering, which is what Democrats in California pulled off on election day this week with Proposition 50. Lawmakers realized in the 19th century that they could increase their party’s political power by redrawing legislative districts. The term of art is   gerrymandering , named after the map for the Massachusetts State Senate drawn under Gov. Elbridge Gerry. (One district looked like a salamander. Get it?) Typically, legislators gerrymander once a decade, after the census. Today, gerrymandering is a weapon of constant political warfare. State legislators, both red and blue, are furiously redrawing congressional maps in a quest to control the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 midterm elections. The skirmishing began in August, when Trump persuaded Texas lawmakers to redraw congressional districts, which will probably let them send five more Republicans to Congress....

 A week ago, my posting was:       NOSTALGIA TUESDAY:  My First  Huffington Post  Article I talked about the beginning of the  Huffington Post  and my first contribution on 29May2008 to, in those early days, still a fledging web newspaper:       Well, Barack, We have a Problem ...  The problem, I thought, was the horrendous size of our national defense budget, but the opportunity Barrack Obama had to combat peak oil and remediate global warming by transferring funds into these programs.  Better to save humanity by taking care of these problems instead of escalating the potential of war and a nuclear winter. But he first had to beat Hillary for the Democratic nomination, then, as it later turned out, Republican John McCain for the presidency. Three months later on 10August2008, with the presidential election still about three months away, I followed up with: Why Do We Spend So Much On National Security? Let me see now,...