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French nuclear weapons numbers and new strategy integrated with Germany- Macron explains this from a Navy base in Crozon, France, March 2, 2026. With wars in Ukraine and in Iran Macron says he will expand the French nuclear weapons from 290 warheads, and starts a consultative strategy approach to work with Germany to extend France's nuclear weapons to cover other states like Germany and coordinate with Germany on military exercises for European defense. This also includes Britain.

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The "floaters and anchors concept" for football of Coach Luis Enrique at Paris St Germain that makes rotating movements possible with centre backs playing up front and those playing forward pulling back. This fluidity makes this team one of the best in football. It now plays Bayern in the semifinals of Champions League 2026. Nuno Mendes is agood example of this rotation. BBC Sports explains with detailed pictures how this style of play is done by Luis Enrique.

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Several military bases used in World War II in Greenland and now in disuse are being activated by Northern Command's Gen. Guillot April 6 2026. The US is only required to "consult with and inform" the Danes under a 1951 Agreement updated in 2004. On April 6 DJT stated that NATO was a paper tiger and that the Europeans had not offered to help the US in the Iran War because of their position on Greenland.

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A Story of the American West in 2026- at the BLM Bureau of Public Lands Quartzsite site in Arizona offering camping for $160 for 7 winter months. A story that reflects on an alternative lifestyle for people who were laid off during the pandemic in the restaurant or other business, or people recovering from illness looking for less than fulltime work, as well as others with RV's on recreational trips. No economic exchange most of it on barter basis.

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Arizona remains a state where the Republican and Democratic parties are very close. As Senator Krysten Sinema a Democrat, supported the Republican filibuster that required 60 votes for major legislation and thwarted some of president Biden's legislation to help workers and families in the US. Having alienated some Democrats she is now running for the Senate as an Independent. Her likely opponent from the Republican party is Kari Lake. Arizona is split three ways evenly for Republicans, Independents and Democrats. The question for Sinema says a Republican strategist is whether there are enough independents and soft Republicans who will vote for Sinema. Rep. Ruben Gallego is running for Democrats, Kari Lake for Republicans. Another question is whether Kari Lake's association with Mr. Trump could hurt Republicans in Arizona. Synema faces a difficult three way race as Democrats see her flagging support on key initiatives of the president as a serious problem.

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Since the last Women's World Cup Soccer the Netherlands and other European teams have caught up with the US. The gap no longer exists as shown in the Netherlands US women's soccer game in which the Dutch dominated the first half and led 1-0. The game ended 1-1 but the myths surrounding the US women's soccer team had fallen. The Dutch coach said his team was in better fitness shape than the Americans.

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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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A lot has been written about inflation in car pricing. This is true also of airlines and hotels this summer. Dawn Gilbertson in the WSJ says the 2023 travel rush continues, hotels and airlines have pricing power, and inflation is squeezing budgets. The solution is to have Plan B destinations, shorter trips, and plan airline reservations in advance looking at different alternatives based on airline and alternative destination choices. Average daily hotel rates have jumped to $180 this year in the US, up 10% since 2022 and 15% since 2019.

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The US added 517,000 jobs in January 2023. Forecasters had estimated only about 200,000. Much of the coverage focused on tech layoffs. Amazon for instance laid off 18,000 workers and it has a workforce of 1.5 million people. By comparison the US labor workforce is 168.5 million people. And there were 11 million vacant jobs by the end of December 2022, according to the US Labor Department. Some of the tech workers laid off were hired in other business. The labor market is also much larger than tech.

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Just as Democrats and Mr Biden learned from the experience of earlier lockdowns in the US and opened up the US economy in 2021 and 2022, China is now taking its own steps to move away from its earlier policies that affected the economy with frequent lockdowns and tight restrictions. There are some risks but in the long run this could get China to a better place after the people's fatigue with lockdowns that is similar to what happened in the US getting the US to where it is today.

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A ban on foreigners buying homes in Canada by the Trudeau government is intended to put a lid on house price increases. Immigration is increasing to Canada as Canada needs more people. About 3.5 million new homes have to be built in Canada to achieve house affordability for all. The government has proposed 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023 and 500,000 in 2025. Immigration from India and China and other Asian countries is the main source of permanent residents. The new infusion is needed as Canada's economy grows.

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Awesome pictures of the lunar eclipse in the night sky on Wednesday, May 26, 2021. It combined a supermoon, lunar eclipse, and a blood moon. Blood moon refers to the reddish hue as light filters through the earth's atmosphere. In native American cultures this is referred to as the flower moon. Lunar eclipses happen when the Earth passes between sun and moon, blocking the sunlight that normally illumines the moon's grayish white cratered surface. The next one is on May 16, 2022.

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A boost in supply in 2024 after the pandemic squeezed supply chains is likely to increase the US growth rate by summer to 4.9%. This is not expected to increase inflation which is down to 2.8% by November 2023, because of higher productivity and higher labor participation rate. The labor participation rate has reached a high of 83.5% not reached since 2001. The Fed sees this as a temporary jump in the growth rate that does not induce inflation so that no Fed action is necessary.

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About two thirds of American 4th graders lack Reading Proficiency in English as shown in this report in NAEP. Resources are needed in this work when $346 billon went into investments in new ventures with much capital wasted in 2021. And a negative return of -7% for venture firms in 3rd quarter 2022, as reported in WSJ. The entire capital allocation system is flawed and not doing what it is supposed to do, to invest in America and the potential of its people.

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There is a great loss of learning for children that may never be recovered following the pandemic. Data released recently show that for many years now two thirds of 4th graders are not able to read at the proficiency levels of the National Assessment of Education Progress, NAEP test. This is a period when America has not invested in its children, has not invested in its people. Much of $346 billion going to venture firms in 2021 was wasted. Returns of negative 7% in 3rd quarter 2022 for venture firms.

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Washington Post Editorial Board says good governance does not need advertising (about the $19 Newson PR ad campaign like the $220 million Kristi Noem ad campaign) and questions 61% increase in funding for schools since 2019 $27418 per pupil when scores for grades 4,8,12, are falling short on reading and math.

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Extremely difficult engineering challenges for fueling, refueling in space, the lander for moon's surface, lie ahead for a Moon base planned for 2028. This time the NASA program will go on uninterrupted by swings in public sentiment.

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The battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in the North have 83% white voters in a national election compared to 69% nationwide. It is with white voters that Mr. Biden is doing better and according to three sets of data, and this could make it possible for Mr. Biden to win these states again in 2024. In Georgia and Arizona nonwhite vote remains sturdy for Biden, while the states are moving leftward, and this could tilt these states towards Biden, says this report. Biden is losing some support among nonwhite voters but this is happening in states such as New York where Democrats would have a smaller margin in their win. These changes are observed by taking into account the 2020 national and midterms results and combining them with insights from NYT/Siena polls in recent months.

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Counting only people who voted in 2020 Biden is ahead 2 percentage points. 2024 Biden campaign is complicated by irregular and disengaged voters. Will disengaged mostly younger voters stay home or will they vote? What will happen with the churn- how many of the irregular voters from the last election will turn out and how many stay home. Many are Democrat leaning and as the election campaign progresses they may become more aware and vote but this is by no means certain. Many are younger voters or minority voters who are disengaged and do not follow what is happening. The economy not abortion or the border is important to these voters. President Biden has secured the vote of only 75% of these voters and has to find ways to reach them all. 

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US president DJT outspoken in "The Conversation," with Dasha Burns in The Politico magazine about dangers of "civilizational erasure" for the Europe that people knew in the past as its population changes with uncontrolled migration of the past two decades. DJT comments on a wide range of topics centering on the migration that has changed the life and politics of Europe by 2025 and what the future holds for Europe if it does not preserve it's own identity handed down for generations. Dasha Burns starts with Ukraine- the reports say DJT said this or that about Ukraine but look at the question she put to DJT- Which country is in the stronger negotiating position? Most people know the answer in the winter of 2025 is that Russia is in a much much stronger position in 2025 and a big part of this is it's size 40 million people in Ukraine to 120 million in Russia and oil revenues. Then Burns asks if it is Zelensky who is responsible for the stalled progress what's going on here, all the time giving DJT something that he might take up that would make a headline grabbing interview. She prompts DJT with the starter phrases and pausing for DJT to pick up on it- If Zelensky rejects this deal, do you think Ukraine has lost this war, and the consensus in Europe is to keep supporting Ukraine until they can win this war. And DJT does no more than what he has said many many times about the difficult situation Ukraine is in. Asked if the US may walk away from supporting Ukraine as Trump Jr. has said, and DJT says- "No it isn't correct. But it's not exactly wrong" because they have to play ball. And that is exactly what the European states UK, France, Germany, Italy, have done as they keep talking and modify the original plan devised by Russia and the US. What this says is that the European states are not trying to win this war and at the same time not willing to let this war be lost and the principle of invading another country be seen as acceptable. This is where there are limits to DJT's diplomacy as he attributes the problem to the hatred between the leaders of the two countries. DJT does not say Zelensky would lose the election if one were held in 2026 as he calls for elections.   ...

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With a redrawing of the tech map and where the jobs are tech jobs shift to mainstream manufacturing, health, banking and retail, says this report in the NYT. These companies invest steadily in tech jobs but did not go into manic hiring sprees in the way Amazon or Alphabet once did. Overall employment in tech occupations increased to 6.39 million in November 2022, a 12% increase over the prior year. Chase, Amex, Nike, Wal-Mart and General Motors offer more stability for tech workers. Overall US tech workers increased from about 3 million workers in 2000 to over double that in 2022. Unemployment is at 2% for tech workers compared to 3.7% for workers overall. The problems at Alphabet and Amazon and layoffs are making it easier for mainstream retail and banking companies to hire tech workers. Chase Bank alone has over 50,000 tech workers.