What is the status of  the Iran vs USA/Israel War? The fragile talks are still on, but only barely. Iran is not happy, so there are no technical discussions today.   Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei challenged President Donald Trump and President Benjamin Netanyahu , and indicated that it is a religious duty to kill those who caused the death of his father. Israel indicated that it won't leave Lebanon until Hezbollah disarms. That European Heat Dome? Is moving to Eastern Europe. Says the New York Times . While tying a single heat wave to climate change requires extensive analysis, scientists have no doubt that heat waves around the world are becoming hotter, longer and more frequent, and Europe is warming faster than any other continent . What about temperatures in DC for our 250th birthday celebrations? Some models collected by Capital Weather see a high temperature of 106 degrees Fahrenheit in D.C. on Friday—which would tie the city’s all-time high temperature record ...

I have roots in Japan.  I was born in Hawaii and only speak English, but have been to Japan a lot.   I know the people there and have been everywhere in the country.   There is a kind of affluence that seems real. I feel safer in Japan than the USA. The whole country is clean. But this should not be for at least two reasons: The  Great Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and nuclear cataclysm  cost around $300 billion, and they await that coming  $1 trillion megaquake. The Nikkei 225 was around Y45,000 35 years ago, and remains about the same today. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed at $2,634 on 31December 1990 and is around 46,312 today. The  Japan Nikkei 225 hit a record high this week  with the Fed Reserve rate cut, closing at 45,303 Yen.  Never in history had the Nikkei hit Y45,000 until this month.  The yen, by the way, is 147.6 to the dollar, and that, too, explains the feeling of what one can afford when visiting Japan. Lik...