SkyFall: Easy come, easy go. European stocks jumped today even though China’s main index dropped another 7.6 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei was four percent lower. US stock futures are up 600 points this morning after the drama that began last Friday.

Yesterday the Down Jones dropped 1,000 points on the opening bell before recovering, then dropping again and closing almost 600 points down for the day. That’s 3.57 percent.

American investors are worried about what their own government and the Chinese government are going to do in the near future; whether the Chinese government will prop up its sinking stock market, and whether the US government is going to slack off on its economic stimulus. It’s as if they think they can’t make money without help from somebody’s government. Today China cut its interest rate by .25 percent.

How important this is and whether normal people should care is debatable. Paul Krugman writes in the NY Times, “What caused Friday’s stock plunge? What does it mean for the future? Nobody knows, and not much.”

DefCon1: North and South Korea backed away from their schoolyard fight after the South agreed to stop blasting propaganda across the border and the North agreed to accept responsibility for planting a landmine that badly wounded two soldiers from the South earlier this month. The South had been using giant arrays of loudspeakers to shout in North Korea’s ear.

Ferguson: The new municipal court judge has ordered a change in the way the court does business and plans to vacate as many as 10,000 arrest warrants issued for municipal violations in a city that has only 21,000 residents. Many of the Ferguson warrants are from traffic tickets and fines people couldn’t afford to pay. Judge Donald McMullan called for the withdrawal of all municipal warrants issued before Dec. 31, 2014. Mayor James Knowles III said, “The hope is we can go through and have people come, get right, get rid of the excess fines and fees, and have people deal with the original issue that brought them before the law.”

Fire Season: A complex of five wildfires in central Washington is now the largest in the state’s history. Fire officials say the burn area covers over 400 square miles and the fires could continue to burn for months.

Nation: British IndyCar driver Justin Wilson died yesterday of injuries suffered at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania when a part flew off a competing car and hit him in the head. Wilson crashed into a wall after he was hit. The 37-year-old Wilson had seven wins in a 12-year driving career.

The Obit Page: Frederick “Fritz” Payne, a World War II pilot who was believed to be America’s last surviving fighter ace, died Aug. 6^th in Rancho Mirage, Calif. at age 104. Payne, who went on to become a Marine brigadier general, shot down six Japanese warplanes during the battle of Guadalcanal, a turning point in the Pacific war.

The Cheat Sheet: Canadian authorities say two people have committed suicide after their use of the Ashley Madison adultery website was disclosed in a giant data hack. They didn’t disclose further details.

Meanwhile the latest Christian hypocrite to fall is Sam Rader, who with his wife Nia became YouTube stars with their videos about Nia’s pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. Sam Rader was in the cheater’s market from September to November 2013.

Rader said, “I have sought forgiveness from God, and he has forgiven me, so I have been completely cleansed of this sin.” Funny, he didn’t consult God when he was signing up with Ashley Madison.

-30-