A BIPARTISAN PATH FORWARD FOR THE USA

As I begin this posting, I glance at the 2028 U.S. Presidential Election clock and see that we have 104 weeks, 2 days, 9 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds left.  So I added this widget to the top of the info column on the right.  Also, this is the 312th day of 2026, with 53 days left for the year.

Rather than only bask in this euphoria that came on November 3, or rant about how challenged we remain as a nation, let me suggest a path forward.  After all, the theme of this blog site is Simple Solutions for Planet Earth and Humanity.  The foundation of my thinking can be found in my books on this subject.

From a British newspaper, The Guardian:

Costs, chaos, corruption”: after almost two years spent relentlessly criticizing Donald Trump for failing to address those three, broad political concerns, Democrats won a monumental return to power in Tuesday’s midterm elections that will give them potent new leverage over the president.  Now the question becomes: what will they do with it?

While President Donald Trump signaled he was open to working with the new Democratic-controlled Congress, early signs don't look for much cooperation.

• Appointed Stephen Miller as his Chief of Staff.

Democratic leaders and immigration advocates have sharply condemned the pick. Figures like House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Dick Durbin characterized Miller as a dangerous extremist and architect of controversial mass-deportation and immigration policies, warning that the appointment signals total political warfare rather than any attempt at post-midterm governance or compromise. [1, 2, 3, 4]

• 
  Then came the public offer of his Press Secretary position to UFC boss Dana White.  Joke? Probably.
• Say you were Trump, what should you do?
• You are a lame duck and can't run in 2028.  Yes, there remains the coup option, but that is another matter.
• How best can you build a case for people to vote for a Republican president and Congress?
• The midterms indicated that tariffs, war with Iran and White House corruption turned the voting public off, so you would want to take steps to eliminate these concerns.
• Maybe still early to gauge what will happen.

No question that Democrats likewise don't have much interest in building a warm  working relationship with the White House.  

• Sure, at the top, they indicate that there is no room for vengeance and repudiation.  They focus on Affordability, but add on accountability.
• No way you can engender cooperation while publicly airing out plans for a broad blue wave of oversight and congressional investigations targeting, specifically, Trump and his family, Elon Musk and other major corporate figures, and the like.

Is there a better way to build a path forward for the USA?

• The Iran War is a good place to start.
• Only Iran wants to become a nuclear power.  Even Arab countries fear this prospect.  So everyone has a ready-made issue for cooperation.  Even Republicans and Democrats.
• Denying funds to Trump to continue the Iran War would weaken the U.S. position in negotiations.  This could further strengthen Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, and exacerbate conditions at that other choke point, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.  Petroleum prices could go up again.
• Find a way to work together to arrive at an optimal solution.  What could this be?  I don't know.
• 
  Bipartisan cooperation.

There is much more common ground among the general population than in Washington: 84% of Democrats and 92% of Republicans agree that Congress could find common ground if it shared the views of the people. Voters are clearly eager for bipartisan collaboration.

• Trump's immigration policies did end the in-migration problem from the south.  Fund ICE with strings attached.
• Trump did promise to fix Obamacare.  Give him credit for reinstating Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits, and reverse medicaid cuts.
• Trump can reaffirm the role of Congress in enacting tariffs.  The Supreme Court already reaffirmed this need.

• 
  The One Big Beautiful Bill made child care credit permanent.  Add provisions as necessary.
• We have two drug problems, with drug cartels and pharmaceuticals.  Don't combine the two in any way, but give and take in both to arrive at a sounder position for the country and people.
• Work together to raise the tax cap on Social Security.
• There are things about vaccinations that are good and bad.  There is a better way to do more good and less bad here.

• 
  Collaborate on artificial intelligence.  Something has to be done, even AI leaders think so, and we need to get countries like China to universally cooperate.  
• Forget about impeaching Donald Trump, again (he has already been impeached twice).  But there is something about ethics reform that even Republicans like.

Well, a good list to begin working in accord.  Personally, I made a rough count, and there will be around 115 new people in the 120th Congress, and, for the first time, at least that number of women Democrats.  I remember when I first went to work for the U.S. Senate in 1979.  

• 
  Soon after the mid-term election, the 96th Congress began meeting on 3January1979 for the final two years of Democrat Jimmy Carter's presidency.

• 
  There were problems with inflation, the Iranian Revolution and the 1979 energy crisis.  Not much different for conditions affecting the latest midterms, but more serious.  For example, cars in long lines needing gasoline.  The price of gasoline was $0.39/gallon in 1973 and was up to $0.88/gallon in 1979, or an increase of 126%.

• 
  Those 115 new people in Congress will first move into hotels, but will need to find more permanent residency.  Today was the beginning orientation day for them.
• I recall the difficulty I had when I left my job in laser fusion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  Took a couple of weeks, but found a condo in Fairfax county, where I had to catch a bus to the Metro station, then mass transit to the work.

• 
  Safety was a concern, and I rarely came home in daylight.  There were receptions, dinners and such where you were obligated to attend for whomever you worked.  However, according to this sentence from Google AI, it's more dangerous today.

Overall, while today's homicide and violent crime numbers remain well below the worst historical peaks of the early 1990s, 1979 generally saw fewer total homicides than typical modern years. [1, 2]

• Nothing about a path forward here.  Just want to commiserate with those incoming new members of Congress.

Got to close with one more political item.  Congressman-elect James Talarico starred on Saturday Night Live last night.  He arrives at the end of this clip, and works amicably with Donald Trump.

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A BLUE AMERICAN TSUNAMI

While it was not a big surprise for Democrats to flip both houses of Congress, what happened yesterday was still in many ways historic, and most importantly, will go a long way to preserve American Democracy.

First of all, I've never before in my life ever watched the results of any midterm election.  Yesterday I was glued to my TV set, from 11AM Hawaii time to 10PM (which was 3AM ET).  The attraction for me to watch so long was the building euphoria of a Blue American Tsunami.

From Newsweek:

While midterm elections typically favor the party out of power, the scale of this year’s result points to a broader rejection of the Republican administration.

Since 1946, the party controlling the White House has lost House seats in 18 of 20 midterms, with an average loss of about 26 seats. 

On the other hand:

The milestone potentially sets up a new political dynamic in Washington. A President has not had to deal with a Congress completely controlled by the opposition party since the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency. Congress now stands to be a true counterweight to the White House and its agenda. 

So looking ahead to a final conclusion to these 2026 midterm elections, realizing that a few seats could take a week or two or more to get final results, here is what the 120th Congress will look like when it convenes at noon on 3January2027. 

• The House will have Hakeem Jefferies as Speaker and most probably at least 245 seats (218 is sufficient be in the majority).  He thus will have a 52-vote majority.  You can wield a lot of power with this kind of freedom.
• I have seen at least one speculation that this total could reach 260 seats.  
• This means there should only be from 178 to 193 Republican House members.
• 
  The Senate final total will be delayed by Mississippi and Alaska.
• Mississippi.
• Democrat Scott Colom  462,857, a lead of 65 votes
• Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith 462,792.
• She is the incumbent, the first female senator from the state.
• Endorsed by Donald Trump.
• Independent Ty Pinkins 19,938.
• 96% of votes counted.  
• Around 20,000 left.
• Here and there in various counties.
• Provisional ballots cast by voters who didn't immediately meet voting requirements at the polls.  Individuals need to confirm identity at their circuit clerk's office by November 10.
• Mail-in ballots postmarked no later than November 3, and received by November 8.
• Certification will be completed by November 13.
• 
  Mississippi has the largest percentage of African Americans in the U.S. at 38%.
• There is no automatic recount provision in state law, but a challenger can seek a court order for recount.
• From what I've read and saw on television, my sense is that Democrat Colum will prevail.

• 
  More importantly, Forbes reports that Colom is getting 90% of the betting odds today.  Interestingly enough, both Kalshi and Polymarket gave Colom only a 14% chance of winning just before voting started yesterday.

• 
  Alaska.
• With 74% of the votes counted, Democrat Mary Peltola is leading Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan by only 626 votes.
• Polymarket and Kalshi still price Peltola as a heavy favorite at 87¢ and 88¢, because the ballots left to count are expected to lean her way.

• 
  Thus, the current 54 Democratic seats and 44 Republican seats in the 120th Congress, based on BETTING ODDS, should be:  56 Democrats and 44 Republicans, a 12-seat advantage for Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
• 12 divided by 100 equals 12%.
• House?  If  the expected 52 seat advantage is accurate = 11.8%.

The 2026 midterm election was historic.

• Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Atlanta mayor, will become the first Black female governor in the country.
• Gina Hinojosa will become the first Texas Latina governor.
• Deb Haaland of New Mexico will become the first Native American governor.

• 
  Ohio, Minnesota and Tennessee will get their first female governors:  Amy Acton, Amy Klobuchar and Marsha Blackburn.
• Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota will become thirst Native American women in the U.S. Senate.

• Byron Donalds will become Florida's first Black governor.  Same for David Crowley in Wisconsin and Aaron Flood in Nevada.

• 
  Chris Pappas of New Hampshire will become the first out gay man to serve the U.S. Senate.
• Abdul El-Sayad will become the Senate's first Muslim member.
• Xavier Becerra will become California's first Latino governor.

One final piece of good news, spurred by the results of the midterm elections.  European Brent crude oil today fell below $100/barrel for the first time since October 7.   Someday soon, hopefully, gasoline prices will drop below $4/gallon.  Why?  Many voters cited the Iran War as the cause of American woes, the result being the Blue American Tsunami.  Even JD Vance thought so.  He might be the first important Republican to begin distancing himself from the President.

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MY CONTINUED LIFE AT 15 CRAIGSIDE...And the World Keeps Turning

Well, Iran and U.S. Memorandum of Understanding representatives met on Sunday, and again today....but issued conflicting statements as to what was discussed.  And in case you were wondering, there are three spellings for the mountain resort where this is occurring:  Bürgenstock, Burgenstock and Buergenstock, the latter one being the English version.

I gave most of following numbers last week, but here is Time magazine's accounting of the U.S.-Iran War by the numbers, since 28February2026.

• Killed.
• Iran 3,636, but 2,100 were civilians.
• Lebanon, 4,000, but over a million displaced.
• USA, 13 service members, but 400 wounded.
• Israel, a few dozen defense forces, but 39 citizens.
• 
  Global economic impact:  $2.2 trillion. 
• Damage to Iran economy, $270 billion.

• 
  Cost of Operation Fury, $29 billion according to Defense Secretary Hegseth, but some in the media have speculated that the actual amount should be closer to $50 billion.
• U.S. fired more Patriot missiles in the first four days of the Iran war than we gave to Ukraine over the past four years.  Each Patriot missile costs between $4 million and $5 million.  Tomahawks up to $3.5 million each.

Andy Burnham of the Labour Party was positioned to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister of the UK.  Starmer will remain as PM until his successor is chosen.  Here is his resignation speech from #10 Downing.  He is now up to one year and 352 days as PM.  Burnham:

• Is 56 years old.
• Photo to the right is when he was Health Secretary in 2009.
• Served as Mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to 2026.

• 
  Photo today to the right.
• Is soft left, leaning towards socialism, and an opponent of nationalism.
• Wants Thames Water to be nationalized.
• Only real infraction I see is that he was fined for speeding 78 MPH on a motorway which was temporarily reduced to 40 MPH.
• I asked Google AI about his future relationship with Donald Trump:

Andy Burnham’s prospective relationship with Donald Trump is expected to be turbulent and difficult. As a working-class Mancunian who has previously criticized Trump’s political style as "poisonous", Burnham’s soft-left worldview clashes with Trump’s right-wing agenda. Trump has already demonstrated a frosty stance, having weighed in aggressively on Newsweek the UK’s internal political shifts before Burnham even finalized his leadership bid. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Lionel Messi scored both goals for Argentina today, the second one after the match ended, to become the highest goal scorer in World Cup History, in their victory against Austria.  Games today.

Group J: Argentina vs. Austria (Final: Argentina 2 - 0 Austria)

Group I: France vs. Iraq at Philadelphia Stadium

Group I: Norway vs. Senegal at New York/New Jersey Stadium

Group J: Jordan vs. Algeria at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium [1, 2, 3, 4]

So you can better appreciate my current life at 15 Cragside, where I do nothing much more than eat and otherwise enjoy life, I repeat this charming conversation I inserted yesterday between Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin, by A.A. Milne:

"Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering." [1, 2]

There was a time when I first moved into this retirement community in Honolulu that I continued some responsible activity.  But maybe a decade ago, I determined that life was too precious to spend mostly on others, so I began focusing on me, for I had only a few years left.  The happiest period of my life resulted, and Milne's wisdom has prevailed.

Mind you, I now and then still travel.  My close personal relationships have continued, and in a short while we will fly to Iceland, where I've never been before, after a few days board a cruise ship, hopefully to view a total eclipse of the sun, after a couple of stops in Greenland (my first time also), with arrival in Montreal, and stopping off in Vancouver to catch the Silver Whisper to Honolulu.  With that, my life of nothing in euphoria at 15 Craigside.

My apartment gets cleaned from 11AM every Friday.  Good time to go shopping and perhaps stop by somewhere for lunch.  Here was one outing to Lagoon Chinese Restaurant located near the Honolulu International Airport.

Ordered too much: ramen, two kinds of chicken dishes and dry scallop soup.  Brought my own bottle of cognac and scotch for the soup.

Best Chinese food I've had in a long time.  And not too expensive.

On another Friday, we first decided to go to Chao, a brand new restaurant in the Nuuanu Shopping Plaza, located close to where we live.  Sort of an upscale Thai restaurant where their specialty was beef stew. The Pho I most liked cost $28, and other options seemed expensive.  Alas, we found out that the stew was only served for dinner.  So we left.

Next try, Tiny Pyramid in the Na Lama Kukui Center on Nimitz Highway.  Their specialty is a four course meal that ends with a fabulous dessert.  But we remembered that this was one of those places that serves no alcohol, and you can bring your own.  We can do this because we have a designated driver.  We thought we'd later return with our own wine.

We drove around a bit and ended up at the Kapalama Shopping Plaza, which is mostly restaurants.

We walked into Kikuya, a Japanese restaurant, but I remembered that my dinner that night was to be Japanese.  

So went to Han Yang, which served Korean food.  Glanced inside, and no one was seated.  Never a good sight.  So went next door to Guieb Cafe.  Never heard of it, but the place was full.  We were told to wait outside, and we were just about to walk to another restaurant, when two customers who had finished eating left. So in we went.

Learned that we could bring in beer, and there just happened to be a liquor store a few doors away.  So spent $3.99 to buy a large capped bottle of Steel Reserve, 8.1% alcohol.

Looked on the wall behind me, and Guieb Cafe this past year won all those awards for The Best of Hawaii.

The price was also right.

Only ordered the steak, medium.

Absolutely fabulous.  Affirms all those awards.  When we left, people had formed a wait line outside.

This low-cost lunch was so good that I had to do some research:

Guieb Café is a family-owned and operated restaurant proudly serving the community since opening our first location in Honolulu in June 2020. Since then, we’ve expanded to Wahiawā in April 2021, ʻAiea in October 2022, and welcomed our fourth location in the “Ninth Island,” Las Vegas, in March 2025.

 

At Guieb Café, we serve comforting homestyle meals with a diverse menu ranging from prime rib and local-style mix plates to waffles and brunch favorites. We believe great food should never compromise on quality or affordability, and our mission is to provide delicious meals made with quality ingredients that are accessible to everyone in the community.

Founder is Ernesto Guieb, who, in addition to another Guieb in Waipahu, just expanded to Las Vegas.

Blue-fin tuna from Marukai.

Teri-chicken, asparagus and o-toro sashimi, watching the USA beat Paraguay in the World Cup.

Karaoke with Doug, with a special cake for Irene's birthday.

Last night was a Father's Day dinner.  Only OK.

Ended the evening with a special bottle of Vino Juan, from our favorite winemaker.  Read this.

Many of us here at 15 Craigside have knee problems.  Coming up on Thursday is Dr. Cass Nakasone, the #1 doctor in Hawaii for this replacement.  A totally local guy who got all his degrees from the University Hawaii, and currently also serves as Associated Clinical Professor for the UH Orthopedic Residency Program.  According to Google AI:

Dr. Cass Nakasone is a highly acclaimed, board-certified orthopedic surgeon in Honolulu, specializing in minimally invasive total knee replacement, partial knee replacement, and revision surgeries. He practices at the Straub Medical Center and Minimally Invasive Surgery of Hawaii. [1, 2, 3]

I have decided not have this operation, but if I change my mind, I have a special connection to get him to do it.  He just has too many patients these days.  He is even covered by Yelp.

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