Much of my next two months will be focused on travel.  Tomorrow we leave on our around the world adventure.  Will include plane and ship.  Interspersed will be Tulips through the Netherlands, Mediterranean from Barcelona to Istanbul to Athens, and the Queen Mary II from Southampton to New York City. Today, I look ahead at what will follow, our half-way global journey in the Fall of this year.  Some of our friends might want join us, so following a couple of news item, some details to help you plan. So first, guess what?  In case you missed it,  Vladimir Putin won another six years as dictator of Russia , matching the record of Josef Stalin.  Got 87% of the votes, with a 74% turnout.  26% protested by not showing up?  Well, in  2020 the turnout for Biden vs Trump was 66% .  Hawaii is historically about the worst, under 60%.  Putin's buddy, The  Donald, on Saturday predicted that American democracy will end if he does not beat Joe Biden in November .  Huh?  Oh, Donald, American democ

Did you know yesterday was Super Tuesday II?  Not that it mattered, but both Joe Biden and Donald Trump officially are now their party's choice to run on November 5.  Of all the ironies, Hawaii, the state that never votes electorally for Donald Trump, almost pushed him over the line to officially make him the Republican primary victor.  However, Washington was that state. By the way,  Georgia Judge Scott McAfee  just announced that 6 of the 41-count indictment returned by the Fulton County grand jury in August must be quashed.  These were not all that critical, and a lot more is left for Trump and his cronies to worry about.  McAfee reiterated that he will announce his decision on Friday about the fate of Fani Willis.  The nation awaits the televised trial of Donald Trump.  Remember Trump's mug shot?  Done in Georgia. Oh, one more political matter.  GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado not only will not run for re-election, he will quit at the end of next week, leaving Speaker Mike Jo

Thursday has been Covid day since the pandemic, and has transitioned into medical/health/nutrition day. Today, back to Covid-19 because I just took the latest booster shot.  But first, a few news topics: Texas authorities have blamed power lines for igniting their largest wildfire .  Bad news for  Hawaiian Electric Company . President Joe Biden gives his  State of the Union  message tonight before a joint session of Congress tonight at 9PM ET. Great opportunity for his first major campaign speech, and he will cover all his victories and campaign issues. Senator Katie Britt, Republican from Alabama, will deliver the Republican response.  She is a MAGA-Trumper. Jill Biden has invited 20 guests, including the prime minister of Sweden (see following story). Some history: George Washington gave the first SoU in 1790. Thomas Jefferson discontinued this need in 1801. But Woodrow Wilson in 1913 re-established this practice, and the SoU has since then been presented yearly, but sometimes not or