And we are back, glad I was able to go to Alaska when nothing was going on…Kidding of course, though given the events of the last few days I am tempted to go hide out in the Tongass for a few years... The US-China trade war, part of the overall intensifying US-China competition, ratcheted up further with tit for tat threats of increased tariffs. The stock markets were unhappy with the escalation and President Trump, just in time to goose stock market futures before the Monday open, said “China called last night our top trade people and said ‘Let’s get back to the table’”.