Before butter and alcohol, a couple of news items: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he won't block the Republican funding bill , incurring the wrath of other Democratic leaders.  Trump's spending bill subsequently passed today .  Major storm with potential for baseball-size hail and tornadoes are expected today for Missouri and Illinois, also the South to Wisconsin. Mark Carney was sworn in as  Canada's new prime minister .   He will call for a general election in the coming weeks, but this will not affect his leadership, as the governing Liberal Party will still remain in control. Canada's political system is like the UK.  A constitutional monarchy recognizing the Queen/King as the head of state, with the Prime Minister as head of government.   They have a Parliament.  Their Senate has 105 seats appointed by someone called the Governor General, who represents King Charles.  The House of Commons has 338 members elected b...

Nothing much is changing today, so far. The  Los Angeles County wildfire  continues, with the Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires still burning. Trump cabinet confirmation hearings  doing well, with no bumps in the road today. The hoped for first phase of  peace in the Gaza Strip  still seems ready to occur on Sunday, January 19. President Joe Biden made his farewell address,  and warned against the influence of the super-rich.  Surely sounds like the coming of a dictatorship featuring oligarchs, as in Russia. Kilauea Volcano inside Halemaumau Crater  still erupting .  It comes and goes, and is now again active. It took me two weeks, but I watched all 9 episodes of Squid Game Season 1 and 7 episodes of the second season.  Each chapter is about an hour long.  I normally would be discrete about sharing too much from these productions, but will make an exception for this series. Most of you don't know South Korean culture, nor their perf...

The  big news of the day is that a ceasefire has been reached in the Gaza Strip Israel-Hamas War , with hostages to be exchanged and mass aid to be initiated on January 19.  That will be phase one.  Further negotiations into phases two and three are in the agreement for an end to this war, including all hostages and remains and other matters.  Someone named Trump will not be happy with that specific date, but his administration will need to handle the next two phases.   All still remains fragile and the next two steps will be difficult, but this time, the peace announcement by Qatar, Egypt and the USA looks real, bringing an end to the 467 days war.  With the skirmish in Lebanon between  Israel and the Hezbollah  looking settled,  Iran  significantly weakened, things falling into place in  Syria  with the departure of  Bashar Al Assad, AND NO MAJOR CONFLICT EXPANSION IN THE MIDDLE LOOMING, the region for the first tim...