All three wars are of course intertwined.  Many Republicans don't want more Ukraine support, exacerbating their civil war.  The conflicts in and around Israel could well bring order to Congress, which in the House will mean bipartisan cooperation. About that Middle East conflict : The numbers are in flux, with deaths rising past 1000 and hostages in the scores. Then again, there is little being said about two  Afghanistan earthquakes this weekend, killing more than 2000 . While there seems to be no immediate terroristic threat at this time to the continental USA, we are most definitely involved, and Congress will need to quickly add funding for Israel. The Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, with a task force of 5,000 personnel, has been deployed to this area.   Carrier cost $17.5 billion . The grave danger is expansion to other parts of the region.   However, this might not happen  because it is more and more appearing that the attack occurred because the Hama

Well, there are now wars on several fronts.  Of course Ukraine, and the Republican civil war in our House of Representatives.  Now,  Hamas terrorists are creating havoc in Israel  with their attack in Gaza.  Look for a decisive response and watch how the price of oil changes.   A glance at the right column on petroleum prices shows that the $100/barrel price precipitously dropped to $84/barrel from a week ago.  Interesting what this will be on Monday.  Interested in buying or selling your home?  Notice that mortgage rates are now at around 7.5%, and seem headed for 8%.   Read this to understand how mortgage rates differ from long-term interest rates . Way back towards the end of 1981 it was up to 18.39%.  This was during the Great Recession.  Then, a gradual drop over two decades, and the  30-year mortgage rate  was was down to 2.67% at the end of 2020.  The past 34 months saw this sudden escalation. We all place a bottle of mayonnaise or catsup in a refrigerator after opening.  But do

Jailed Iran women's rights activist, Narges Mohammadi, 51, was awarded the   2023 Nobel Peace Prize .  She has been arrested 13 times, convicted 5 times and sentenced to 31 years of jail, with 154 lashes.  In addition to her other crusades, she has campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty.  Iran is the nation with the highest known number of executions last year, at 576. Noticed the  high number of strikes this year ?  Bet you didn't know that there have been 312 in the USA this year, with at least 453,000 workers involved.  Mostly in transportation, entertainment and hospitality. You would think the United Auto Workers against the car companies would have the most on strike, but there are at this point, only 25,000 walking the picket lines.  There are 400,000 UAW members. 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are on strike. The Hollywood strike is partly settled, but not entirely. Also in Los Angeles, in case you were planning to visit, are staggered hotel strikes. Note, h