First a, few news items: Today is Labor Day, a national holiday in the USA and Canada on the first Monday of September.  Banks, Post Offices, stock markets and schools are closed.  You can still go out to eat and shop. The U.S. war with Iran has escalated. Exchanges of fire. Strait of Hormuz remains mostly closed. No peace talks have been scheduled. Oil prices remain high, as Brent Crude oil hit a recent peak of $98 earlier today. U.S. gasoline prices reached a record-high national average of $4.15/gallon for the Labor Day weekend.  The previous high was $3.82/gallong in 2012. The Russo-Ukraine War continues with battles and drone exchanges.   It has been 1,656 days since Russian invaded Ukrain on 24February2022.  4,482 days since Russia began occupying Crimeaw on February 20, 2014. While the Trump administration has made efforts to bring those countries together, they have failed. This war will continue if Russia and Ukraine can't agree of land concession...

Before my blog on earthquakes, two newsworthy items: The lull in the Iran War is over.  Iran lobbed missiles at American bases in the Middle East. Here is the backdrop: Way back in February, Netanyahu and Trump felt that, if they could surprise Iran with a serious series of bombardments, they could assassinate the Supreme Leader, plus many dozens of top government leaders, stimulating the people to rebel and overcome.  Israel and the USA could then swoop in, establish a new government, and totally demolish any nuclear ambitions. The USA/Israel did succeed in killing Ali Khamenei and 53 leaders.   Here is the complete list . However, Iran knew someday this would happen, and they organized a plan to take control of the Strait of Hormuz, and if necessary, also the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Here is the current situation. The people did not rebel, a new government formed and Iran has been able to maintain control over the two oil flow choke points. They also are not idiots....