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Comments on leaving European Union allies adrift and giving Russia a free hand draws strong response from Republicans and president Biden because they are inconsistent with American support for European allies since the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe during the administration of Harry Truman in the 1950's to the present day- the timeline includes Berlin Crisis in 1950, Hungarian freedom struggle of 1956, Czech freedom struggle, the struggles in Eastern Europe under different administrations through Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan to Biden.

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Sharp drop in reading ability at American schools by 2026.

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Berkshire acquires Taylor Morrison (Housing) for $6.8 billion in 2026.

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Macron's unpopularity extends to a plan for new stained glass windows at Notre Dame. Strangely enough the unpopularity of Macron comes from an imperious perceived as arrogant attitude that was also the reason of the undoing of his predecessor Nicholas Sarkozy. Is there something about the concentration of power in the French presidential palace Elysee that leads to such behaviors.

This doesn't help France or Europe in 2025-2026 with France changing prime ministers every few months, just as Britain did in 2023-2034 this time with the Brexit ideas and attitudes of indifference even snubbing behaviors towards the European Union. 

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The $1 trillion infrastructure and defense dund created by removing a constitutional brake in March 2025 opens the road to investment in an  highly underfunded rail system in Germany which has parts of the system dating back to the 1900 period. First to be upgraded is the Hamburg to Berlin line which has the most passenger and freight traffic in Germany. One can see signs of this everywhere, landing at the Frankfurt main rail station one can see a building falling apart that dates back to the 1900 period, that is a sign of the way infrastructure was neglected in Germany till now.

The economic growth under Merkel was somewhat of a mirage as it was dependent on the automobile industry with little investment in renewable energy technologies, dependence on lower priced energy from Russia, huge neglect of infrastructure and childcare, and lack of future vision for Germany.

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The difficult task facing Wang Yi, former foreign minister of China, of maintaining relations with the European Union in the middle of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on which China has not supported the EU. Some changes have taken place in the EU in 2022 that affect EU relations with China. Italy and Czech Republic have new governments that are critical of China. The Ukraine war after one year is taking its toll on EU relations with China, as trade between Russia and China is expected to grow to $200 billion in 2023 from $140 billion in 2021.

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Its called the most one side win in Champion League's history, the win of PSG Paris over Inter Milan May 31, 2025.

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Plastic use has increased with the tripling in parcels delivered in the last 4 years, up to 64 billion parcels. As much as 93% of the growth in trash in major cities in China in 2018 comes from this one source- an astonishing 850,000 tons of plastic waste in 2018 from the e-commerce and delivery sector. Food deliveries and Alibaba online deliveries add to plastic waste. The government is cracking down with new rules from the Environment Ministry. By the end of 2020 non biodegradable plastic bags will largely be banned from cities, and single use straws banned in restaurants across China.  This ban will extend to all cities and towns by 2022 and to markets selling fresh produce by 2025. Restaurants will have to cut use of plastic by 30% by 2025. In 2018 China stopped taking imports of plastic waste. China is beginning to realize the costs of letting single use plastic grow. The last regulation was in 2008 banning the giving of free plastic bags at retail markets and banning production of super thin bags. It has taken the sudden jump in use in package delivery and in food delivery for the government to finally act. Experts say China uses too much plastic. India has taken strong action against single use plastic in 2019 under the leadership of prime minister Modi. ...

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Sinner plays tennis in 40 degrees C at Australian Open 2026.

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Suvendhu Adhikari, new Chief Minister of West Bengal, India in 2026.

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Arms deals for Gulf Kingdoms $8.6 billion approved May 1 2026.

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The American people impatient for change in 2024 and 2025.

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is the only Treasury Secretary who also served as the chairperson of the US central bank the Federal Reserve 2014-2018, and the only woman in these roles. Here she says she toured the country in 2022 a year after joining the Biden administration as head of the finance ministry. What she has seen are the early results of president Biden's  two trillion dollar bills, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Science and CHIPS Act 2021, which give manufacturing and new infrastructure building a critical role in a new revitalized America. All across this vast country aging infrastructure is being rebuilt and new infrastructure is changing the landscape. Yellen says the US economy is resilient and growing amidst a global economic slowdown and higher interest rates. The labor market is strong and household balance sheets are healthy, consumer spending robust, says Yellen. It provides the basis for American global economic leadership in the years ahead. ...

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In contrast to early in 2022 chip inventories are swelling at the beginning of 2023, as consumers are shifting their purchases away from electronics products and automobiles. Banks interest rates on auto loans reached a high of 8.5% by Jan 2023.

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The vast Permian Shale Basin is becoming more of a factory with disciplined large producers in 2024. More than one third of the production is from three producers Diamondback Energy, Exxon Mobil and Occidental compared to 30 mostly wildcatter companies in 2014. These companies are not likely to increase production in the way smaller companies did over the last decade when they increased production by over 10%. 

Over the period from now 2024 to 2030 production increases will be limited by geologic limits, older shale fields. Most onshore basins outside of Permian in the US are actually declining in production and production there is at about 4 million barrels a day.

Total production is about 13 million barrels of oil a day under president Biden and will only reach 13.5 million barrels a day by 2030. Employment 200,000 at the peak in 2014 is now a little over 100,000.

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Iran ballistic missile strike on British Chagos Islands intercepted March 21 2026.

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Amazon place in AI strengthened in 2026 after $200 billion in spending.