It is important the USA continue to grow on what is already proven best.

Solar and wind are proven to be vital to American energy. Personal capacity is already available. Solar arrays in apartment windows can recharge batteries. It is all safe, clean energy.

She should be telling the world the importance of Iranian women, not prisoned for it.

Iran must show compassion for it's own people. She is harmless and needs medical attention and soon.

Please.

6 October 2023

When the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (click here) announced the winner of the peace prize, Narges Mohammadi, she recited a slogan associated with the women’s rights movement in Iran.

“Women, life, freedom,” Berit Reiss-Andersen said on Friday.

6 May 2026

Jailed Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner (click here) Narges Mohammadi could die in prison unless she is urgently given proper health care after suffering two suspected heart attacks in recent weeks.

The technology is so magnificently simple.

(Click here)

Five hundred meters below the Pacific, off the coast of Los Angeles, a hollow concrete sphere the size of a small house will soon sit anchored to the seabed. When the grid needs power, a valve opens, seawater rushes in, and a turbine spins. When surplus electricity needs somewhere to go, the water is pumped back out. No lithium. No rare earth metals. Just concrete, pressure, and physics. This is StEnSea (Stored Energy in the Sea), a project from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology, now heading for its first full-scale ocean test off Long Beach, California, by the end of 2026.

Trump is a danger to consumers and benevolent energy sources.

(Click here)

The Rhode Island Block Island Offshore Wind Farm is probably the most studied environmental project (click here).

Why would any president order wind farms to be delayed if not dismantled? Corruption. There is no other answer. The economic delay of the offshore energy is litigable. The federal authorities engaged in racketering and need to be sued for it's interference.

Today, Trump's administration is offering grants for ONSHORING energy. 

Why?

The American people have already spent money on such energy infrastructure as offshore wind farms. Why spend more? The courts are already saying interference by Trump is illegal. So, now he will simply spend more money to fund an industry already served. 

These are more minor attempts at energy efficiency. There is no reason to substitute these projects for projects like offshore wind farms that provide energy to power some of the most inefficient uses of power. Every little bit helps, but, these are not substitutes for real power generation.

May 7, 2026

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) (click here) Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation today announced $52 million for 20 projects across 15 states to enhance the competitiveness of American industry and support the onshoring of American manufacturing. Selected projects will accelerate the development of secure, affordable energy technologies in trade-exposed industries to reduce reliance on imports while driving economic growth and supporting job creation for American families and businesses across the country....

Michigan Medicine is the state's premier health network. It isn't going anywhere, however, Blue Cross and Blue Shield might be.

By Jack Springgate
May 7, 2026

 
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (click here) is telling members who go to Michigan Medicine to start looking for other providers.

The insurance company's contract with the healthcare system ends on June 30, and negotiations for a new one have been unsuccessful so far.

University of Michigan Hospital patients like Larry Prout Jr., who's had more than a hundred lifesaving operations there, say his family is facing major out-of-network medical costs or giving up their 20-year relationship with University of Michigan doctors if Blue Cross Blue Shield and Michigan Medicine can't agree to a new contract by the deadline.

"I don't know what we would do. Stay at Michigan Medicine, and that's all we would have to do, and just figure it out," said Larry Prout Jr.'s mother, Kathryn Prout....

The profits the insurance companies are making is obscene. Blue Cross and Blue Shield can complain all they want, but, they are offering very minimal payments to the health care providers. This year alone the copays have increased at least five times higher than last year. Blue Cross, Blue Shield has moved Schedule one medications under the Affordable Care Act to schedule three or four. These are well established medications that are no longer protected by patent rights. This is nothing short of profiteering at the expense of it's subscribers. No doubt if BCBS were going to pay more to Michigan Medicine the subscribers would be the first to feel it. 

It is time to seek out better coverage, not abandon the doctors and nurses that take on the toughest cases in the state.

May 6, 2026
By Bruce Japsen

Health insurer Oscar Health (click here) swung to a $679 million first quarter profit – the highest in company history – as its health plan membership jumped more than 50% and medical costs eased.

Oscar, which grew to 3.2 million health plan members as one of the nation’s largest providers of individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act, on Wednesday reported net income of $679 million, or $2.07 per diluted share. That compares to $275.3 million, or 92 cents in the first quarter of 2025.

Founded in 2012, Oscar had yet to turn a profit for a full year until 2024, but Mark Bertolini -- the former chief executive officer of Aetna who was tapped as Oscar’s top executive in March of 2023 and his team – have delivered on their promises as they remain bullish on the individual health insurance market even as rivals are retreating. This year’s first quarter profit was several times what the company made last year and the year before.

Oscar’s revenue rose 53% to $4.6 billion from $3 billion in the year-ago quarter thanks to the 56% increase in health plan enrollment from 2 million last year after Oscar expanded sales of its health insurance products into new markets for this year.

The USA should reassess it's need in the region.

A large swath of the Straits of Hormuz belongs to Iran. There is no way at this juncture the USA military can believe it is in the least appreciated by Iran. Quite the contrary it is a threat. As a threat there is no way any country can expect Iran to stand down from it's state of readiness to survive any other attack sent it's way. With that reality comes the need to reassess and realize the peril the USA is creating for the global economy. Iran needs to be left alone to develop it's sovereign waters and allow passage of friendly ships. Not every ship is going to be considered friendly or desirable. 

The USA should escort any ships in the region considered in danger while standing down from any blockade or interruption in Iran's movement within it's own sovereign waters. As a reference point, Oman believes it has an agreement with Iran for peaceful intent for it's shared waterway. I think Oman's ability to broker a peace with Iran should be reinstated.

Any military activity by Iran is below the threshold of aggression into war. That reality is one that has sustained for some time and must be respected. It may very well be that is the only level of attack Iran is capable of with it's depleted infrastructure. Waiting for something greater to act on is hideous no matter how this is viewed. The USA needs to be underway to remove itself as a threat and allow Iran the authority it needs to establish conditions for passage through it's sovereign waters.

May 7, 2026
By Adam Schreck, David McHugh and Russ Bynum

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military (click here) said it intercepted Iranian attacks on three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and “targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces.”

The exchange occurred Thursday as U.S. Navy destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said in a social media post. U.S. forces intercepted “unprovoked Iranian attacks” and responded with self-defense strikes, it said.

The U.S. military said no ships were hit. It said it doesn’t seek escalation but “remains positioned and ready to protect American forces.”

Iranian state media said the country’s armed forces exchanged fire with “the enemy” on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. It is the largest Iranian island in the Persian Gulf, home to about 150,000 people. It also houses a water desalination plant.

Iranian state media also reported loud noises and defensive fire in western Tehran. In southern Iran, explosions were heard near Bandar Abbas, semiofficial Iranian news agencies said. The reports from the Fars and Tasnim agencies did not identify the source of the blasts.

I congratulate the Crowned Prince.

This is a clear understanding Saudi Arabia wants peace with Iran. It is a wonderful realization and hope for peace for the region.

Saudi Arabia is the understood leader of OPEC. With the UAE leaving OPEC the organization had to reflect on it's future and the future of petroleum at all. The production from Saudi Arabia fell by 7.76 barrels of oil a day because of Trump's war. The remaining OPEC countries have increased production to attempt to stem the increasing global impact. Saudi Arabia had unearthed an oil pipeline that lie dormant for sometime in order to begin an alternate route than shipping. Other countries have begun land routes to move their oil. 

Moody's Analytics warns oil at $125 could trigger a global recession (click here)

Moody’s Analytics' Gaurav Ganguly expects the conflict to ease soon, with Asia-Pacific growth around 4% this year. He cautions that a prolonged Middle East conflict would drive oil prices higher, and warns Brent crude at a sustained $125 could trigger a global recession.

Iran's sovereign waters are it's to manage. I don't blame them for not only seeking control but an attempt to bring fiscal solvency to it's country.

I realize the reputation Iran has in the world, but, in reality it never has really been let up of the mat. Iran, since the revolution, has had the Free World putting pressure on it's governing regime to bring about change. As a result the country, perhaps no different than North Korea, believes it's sovereign state relies on weapons of mass destruction as well as terrorism. 

Iran currently has no plans to recover any military nuclear program. There is no proof one exists currently or will in the future. The attacks by Trump's orders have caused widespread damage to Iran's infrastructure as well as civilian death. It is very difficult to believe the current leadership of Iran has not reflected on that loss to realize the future may be nothing but danger if nuclear war technology was resumed. 

(Click here)

...A refusal by Saudi Arabia to allow the US to use its bases and airspace to provide a military escort for oil tankers passing through the strait of Hormuz lay behind Donald Trump’s decision to shelve the plan days after it had been launched.

Riyadh told the White House it would not allow its Prince Sultan airbase to be used to mount the operation billed as Project Freedom, which the US presented as the successor to the bombing campaign called Operation Epic Fury.

Saudi Arabia refused to drop its objections despite a personal call between the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Trump, NBC reported....

Trump and Netanyahu think they are achieving goals.

They are not. They are making the world less viable for capitalism and many may think that is a good thing. When the very militaries they are exploiting for their hegemony are supported by capitalism their venture is headed to doom.

Trump has managed to either crash over Iran, either through friendly or hostile fire every form of USA military technology. The opposition, including Russia and China no longer have to send spies to steal secrets, Trump just has to get pissed off enough to drop bombs. 

Iran successfully mastered the American drone to sell it to Russia. Ukraine is paying the price. Now, Iran has radar and F35 technology. It won’t be long before the Iranian F35 will be in the skies. The Iranians don’t need nukes, they have USA war capabilities.

Trump is an enormous existential threat.