THE NEW DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY

Donald Trump met with President Joe Biden at the White House today.  Four years ago, Trump was the first president in a long time not to have invited the incoming president.,,,Biden.  Worse, Trump did not bother to show up for Joe's Inauguration, the first absentee outgoing president to do this since Andrew Johnson's skipped Ulysses Grant's 1869 swearing-in ceremony.  Apparently all went well today.

Senate Republicans voted on their new majority leader and picked John Thune of South Dakota. John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida also ran.  Mitch McConnell was the longest serving leader in Senate history.  Scott was the only MAGA endorsed candidate, so Thune might not be what Trump will desire.

One significant change to be instituted by the re-elected President Donald Trump will be to create at least one new department to allow for only true loyalists to serve in his bureaucracy.  This new one will be called the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by two billionaires, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.  The president has authority to do this, with limited oversight from Congress.  But both houses will be Republican-controlled, so Trump will essentially go ahead and do whatever he wants.

Note that dog above.  This is a Shiba Inu, a Japanese hunting dog.  Doge is the acronym for the Department Of Government Efficiency, and also an internet meme of a Shiba Inu.  Kabosu, a Shiba Inu dog, became famous through a blog site.  Read the story of how dog was intentionally misspelled to doge, and how it became associated with Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency.  Kabosu passed away in May of this year at the age of 18. 

While the 53-year old Musk is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $263.8 billion, 39-year old Ramaswamy is only barely a billionaire.  When Ramaswamy ran as a presidential candidate, he pledged to eliminate the FBI, Department of Education and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Well, back to our 31st day on the Norwegian Encore.  Some photos, beginning with an earlier lunch on Day 29.

Dinner of Samosa, followed by a steak.

Walked 3134 steps on Day 29.

Day 30 at sea.  Lunch

Dinner of shrimp, ziti, salad and pork scaloppini.

On to the Social Club for a 50's-60's hop.

Good walk day of 4853 steps.

Day 31 arrival and departure from La Coruna, Spain.  

Lunch.

Soon after lunch, departure at 4PM.  From our veranda, some photos. It was chilly.

Tomorrow, at-sea.

There are four ocean storms around the Philippines.  The two more serious ones attained hurricane strength today.   Typhoon Usagi already is already up to a Category 3 at 130 MPH.  The track will skirt the north side of the country, then head for Taiwan. 

Tropical Storm Man-Yi has been slowly heading towards the Philippines.  However, Typhoon Man-Yi will tomorrow reach Category 2 strength, making landfall over the Philippines on Saturday, passing north of Manila, then head for China.

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