Criticize Donald Trump all you want, but the stock market keeps breaking all-time highs . Yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 875 points, or 1.73%, to 51,562.  Well, actually, the Dow dropped today.  But Monday? Why the stock market is doing so well is kind of a mystery. There are no sure signs of greater peace in Iran and Lebanon. Initial jobless claims unexpectedly rose 6.1%, first quarter productivity was revised sharply lower and corporate layoffs jumped 11% in May to 97,000. 40% coming from AI expansion.  But I did ask Google AI, did the stock market rise when Donald Trump was president from 2016 to 2020? True, the stock market experienced significant growth during the 2016 to 2020 timeframe of the Donald Trump administration . During his first full term from January 2017 to January 2021, the S&P 500 generated a total return of over (67%). [ 1 , 2 ] I further inquired about his current term. Since the 2024 presidential election, the U.S. stock marke...

What were you doing 24 years ago?   I can remember when I awoke, and how I stayed in bed with my wife, Pearl, for at least five hours.   Somehow, and this was rather unusual, she was watching TV, and woke me up around 2:50AM Hawaii time, saying something was happening. Apparently American Airlines 11 had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46AM EDT. I was groggy, but the scene was New York City, and I actually saw United 175 crash into the South Tower at 9:03 EDT. Soon thereafter, President George W. Bush who was in a classroom at Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Florida,, was approached byAndrew Card, his chief of staff, and you could see him whispering into the ear of Bush something, who exhibited symptoms of quiet shock, and did nothing unusual for a long length of time. At 9:37 EDT, American Airlines 77 crashed into the Pentagon. It was announced at 9:45 that all U.S. airspace is shutdown, which means that all airplanes had to immediate...

  From Stanford Medicine: For a long time, drinking in moderation was considered socially acceptable, and maybe even healthy.  You supposedly protected your heart with red wine, and even reduced diabetes. But what's the current truth about moderate drinking? The idea that moderate, occasional drinking is good for your health is outdated . Decades ago, large surveys of adults began showing an association between how much alcohol someone drank and their risk of death. People who said they drank heavily had an increased risk, but those who drank nothing at all also had an increased risk compared with those who drank one or two servings of alcohol per day . These findings were well promoted by the alcohol industry. Turns out that even at low levels, alcohol can have significant negative effects on your body. Recent research. A 2025 report from the American Association for Cancer concluded that  more than 5% of all cancers in the U.S. are attributable to alcohol use . A 2025 S...

But first, tidbits about Juneteenth ( today is a national holiday, and tomorrow will be the first day of summer ) and the Israel-Iran War. Time  magazine agrees with my  Tuesday posting  that, Juneteenth or not,  the struggle for civil rights still continues . President Donald Trump has said his decision to join Israel on strikes against Iran will wait for two weeks. He  says Iran needs some time to decide for itself if it really wants to be decimated .  Fat chance that they will agree to stop trying to become a nuclear power.  And, by the way, there are now nine of them:  US, Russia, China, France, UK, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. The Gerald Ford Task Force has not left Norfolk, Virginia yet, and will probably arrive in the Mediterranean in just about two weeks. Trump seems to be facing some MAGA backlash.  Important elements don't want to join a foreign war.  Yet, most probably would also like to see Iran drop their nuclear...