There is not much military activity diirectly related to the War with Iran today, but: Iran insists that the U.S. agrees to all concessions before opening the Strait of Hormuz. No serious peace talks are occurring. The Houthis continue to cause problems with Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally rejected the U.S. proposal for the Gaza Strip. In other news: Todd Blanche was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as U.S. attorney general. Typhoon Dolphin made landfall over Okinawa at 101 MPH, causing damage, but, at this time, no known deaths.  Next, on to Zhejiang. While not threatening Hong Kong, this storm was deemed responsible for the record high temperature today of just about 98.5 F. As we are expecting to stop through Vancouver after our cruise ship docks in Montreal, I asked Google AI whether the latest British Columbia wild fire is also impacting this city: Yes, there are some active wildfires and smoke in British Columbia , including a small local fire in Metro V...

 But first: Dow hits new closing record as tech stocks drag Nasdaq This has been a great week for the DOW and the S&P 500, for they set record highs on Tuesday. The Dow rose 263.18 yesterday to 54,349.06. However both the S&P and Nasdaq dropped. Volume of 17.85 million share volume was slightly higher than the average of the past trading days. Regarding the Iran war, there seems to be a truce,  and therefore some relief, without any clear resolution.    Iran is close to reaching an agreement  with Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz .  The U.S. could approve this, or not.  There is that matter of fees. Oil prices, though, are edging down today, $79.24 for the Brent. There remain two blockades. U.S. over Iranian ports. Houthis on Saudi Arabia. The new Iranian Supreme Leader, the younger Khamenei, was wounded in the strike that killed his father, and has not since then appeared in public.  Did not go to the funeral. We just returned from our t...

Let me first dabble into those wars: Gaza Strip. Hamas has agreed to disarm . Israel maintains skepticism. Palestinians mistrust both Israel and Hamas. Iran War . Iran accused U.S. of escalating tensions. Commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is still down by 95%. Houthis blocking the passing of Saudi ships through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Both the old and new versions of this blog site have seen a jump in readership from March of this year, when we flew from Honolulu to Las Vegas for a few days, then on to Memphis to visit Elvis' Graceland, followed by a cruise down the Mississippi to New Orleans.  A short stop there, then on to New York City, followed by a Viking cruise from Manhattan to Toronto.  We then boarded a train towards Vancouver, catching another train to get us there. Original blog: As I compose this posting, first one on 29April2008, this daily blog has had just under 10.5 million viewers over 6669 days, or 1574/day. However, the first ten years avera...

Before launching into the Philippines, a few stories of the day. How much is this Iran War costing U.S. taxpayers? White House says around $30 billion. New data suggests a price up to $100 billion !  Todd Blanche faced the Senate Judiciary Committee today for his nomination as Attorney General. Nothing unusual transpired. There are now 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the committee.  That is because Lindsey Graham is no longer there.  Will his sister be placed on this committee? John Cornyn (R-Tex) is a member, but not today in the sphere of President Trump.  Yet he most likely will vote to pass on the nomination to the floor.  But what will he do when the final confirmation vote on the floor occurs? A tie vote would mean that Blanche would NOT be passed. However, the Senate has a mechanism for the party in power to bring a nominee to the floor through a discharge motion. Wait and see what happens, for the hearings continue for a second day tomorrow, and the ...