Again, nothing much going on around the world today, but this unusual hot weather could turn to snow in New York and New England this weekend .  Cities like Chattanooga, Birmingham and St. Louis could challenge heat records today dating back more than 125 years.  Then on Saturday, there could be some snowflakes in the northeast.  Not much, and mostly only at elevation, but the first snowfall is always exciting for most. One bit of sad news is that the first American pope, Robert Francis Prevost, or Pope Leo XIV, a year and a half into service, found out that he has lung cancer.  No details yet.  Here is a video. Yesterday, I reported on the embarrassing situation of the USA being mediocre, if not poor, in excellence of airports and airlines.  Those, unfortunately, could very well be mere symptoms of our possible decline as as the world leader.. On the other hand, according to Google AI: Many prominent analysts argue that talk of American decline is a recurr...

 First, cost of the Iran War.   Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth estimates $37.5 billion . The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a report last month , just after the now-defunct ceasefire was signed, that estimated the war had cost somewhere between $34 billion and $42 billion .   Congressional Democrats estimate the "real" cost of the Iran war is far higher than Pentagon figures, with just impact on American consumers of over $100 billion. They argue the official military tally of $37.5 billion ignores key expenses, including munition replacements, long-term deployments, and severe economic impacts on U.S. consumers. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ] Now that a new shipping route has been mostly shut down, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, oil prices of course are continuing to rise .  This second front further will increase gasoline and food prices for you.  From Google AI: The average American household has paid over $500 extra (about ...