Before Jackie Evancho, there was Charlotte Church, a Welsh singer who was born in 1986 and had a musical breakthrough at the age of 11 singing  Pie Jesu  over the telephone on a television show.  ( Watch her singing this song shortly thereafter .)  Two years later in 1999 she sang at  Rupert Murdoch 's third wedding, to Wendi Deng, when he was 68 and she 30.  I digress here, for the  following is kind of interesting. They were married for 14 years. His fourth was model Jerry hall when he was 85 and she 59.  Stayed together for six years. In 2023, at the age of 92, he got engaged to Ann Lesley Smith who was 56, but two weeks later called it off because of her infatuation to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.  Three weeks later, he fired Carlson. His fifth marriage occurred on June 2024, to retired Russian molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, whose daughter Dasha is the ex-wife of Roman Abramovich.  Who is he?  Worth  $14.5 billion, wit...

First, yesterday President Joe Biden gave a talk about democracy in Arizona.  This was his most blistering attack yet of Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists.  Did you know that  Joe introduced John to Cindy , his wife? And speaking of Trump: His civil fraud trial trial in New York could begin as soon as this coming Monday.   Also, his pool of funds to pay legal bills for his cronies is running out.   Trump won't bother to even seek a transfer of his case from Georgia to a federal court. Finally, that House quagmire about the government shutdown tomorrow.  Looks like Keven McCarthy lost his battle to pass anything only with Republicans.  Democrats in the House say that if only 5 Republicans vote with them, all this nonsense can be avoided.  But if McCarthy makes that move, he will lose his speakership.  So be prepared for at a short shutdown.  Will this be terrible?  Nah.   The USA has had 21 of them over the pas...

  Some good news.  According to an article in   Forbes ,   both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may offer years-long protection against COVID-19 , including variants.  Even mixing the two--one dose each--should be equivalently good.  There could be other vaccines with similar immunity power, but the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was not expected to be as durable. One more tidbit:   is Kim Jong-un on a diet or seriously ill?   At one time he was supposed to be 5'6" tall and more than 300 pounds.   When he took control nearly a decade ago at the age of 27, he was less than 200 pounds.  He proceeded to gain 14 pounds/year.  Not anymore.  He is said to be emaciated, putting his followers in despair.  Who will replace him?  Children too young.  He does have an older brother, and, of course, a sister, who is a lot more prominent, but said to be scared for her life. America's Got Talent is well-into its  ...