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....

First: Nothing much has changed about the stalemate in the Gulf of Hormuz . The little sister of Lindsey Graham, 62-year old Darline Graham Nordone, will serve out his term in the U.S. Senate.   She will not run in the Republican primary to replace him. The Manhattan federal court released more than $5.6 million that Donald Trump owes E. Jean Carroll. The U.S. Senate has 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats. John Cornyn (R-Tex), Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) will not return to the Senate next year, and mostly because Trump was directly responsible for their situation. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) chose not to run for re-election.  If he never returns to the U.S. Senate, this means that, if the above three Republicans want to leave with a major payback, Democrats would have one vote more than Republicans.   If McConnell does return, he has had a severely strained personal relationship with Trump, that he, too, could well vote like a Democrat.   This ...