While it was not a big surprise for Democrats to flip both houses of Congress, what happened yesterday was still in many ways historic, and most importantly, will go a long way to preserve American Democracy. First of all, I've never before in my life ever watched the results of any midterm election.  Yesterday I was glued to my TV set, from 11AM Hawaii time to 10PM ( which was 3AM ET ).  The attraction for me to watch so long was the building euphoria of a Blue American Tsunami. From Newsweek : While midterm elections typically favor the party out of power, the scale of this year’s result points to a broader rejection of the Republican administratio n. Since 1946, the party controlling the White House has lost House seats in 18 of 20 midterms, with an average loss of about 26 seats.  On the other hand: The milestone potentially sets up a new political dynamic in Washington. A President has not had to deal with a Congress completely controlled by the opposition party si...

  As the World Turns . Sure, there was a TV soap opera from 1956 to 2010 on CBS that had 54 seasons and 13,858 episodes. About a fictional town in Illinois on the tribulations of upper class families. Produced mostly female stars, like Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Amanda Seyfried. Was not the longest running, for that title belongs to Guiding Light . In London, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer ( on the right ) is expected to resign tomorrow. Andy Burnham ( on the left) will probably be the next PM.  Who is he?  Another day. Brexit has seriously hurt the economy,   Hate crimes have increased in England and Wales. But London remains very safe for visitors.   Just use common street sense, as you should anywhere you go. About homicide, London is 3 times safer than New York City, 5 times better than Los Angeles and 15 times lower than Philadelphia and Chicago. About that Memorandum of Understanding discussion between Iran and the USA: Has n...

While on the one hand, Veep JD Vance cancelled his trip to Geneva to sign that Memorandum of Understanding with Iran, it so turns out that there now seems to be some kind of ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah .  So what?  Well, chances are that Vance will now go to Europe as soon as this weekend, and, over the next 60 days or so, maybe re-negotiate a larger peace with Iran.  Israel, however, is still not on the list to sign.  I thought they were a key player in all of this. If the last time you were in Japan, say 2013, the dollar-yen exchange rate was 100.  In other words, instead of paying $500, today the cost would only be $313.  Unfortunately, hotel rates have zoomed up by 40% during this period, so you really haven't gained all that much in value.  Yet, Google AI says: For Americans, hotel rates in Japan are generally cheaper in USD today than they were 13 years ago . While the underlying Japanese Yen (JPY) prices have surged due to mas...