Donald Trump has been uncharacteristically quiet following his $5 million payment to E. Jean Carroll.  Well, you can watch him tonight at 8PM EDT ( 2PM Hawaii ) at a  CNN town hall  moderated by Kaitlan Collins to take questions from New Hampshire Republicans and undeclared voters. Too early to tell if this is the beginning of Trump's fall.  The next real poll will be crucial.  But is Biden in trouble anyway? At this point, 545 days until 5 November 2024, presidential election day, anything can happen.   Time  magazine  had a comprehensive article on this subject just yesterday.  Showcased was the newest  ABC-Washington Post survey  ( taken this past weekend--so before the Caroll win ): President Joe Biden's job approval hit a career low of 36%.  68% of Americans said that he is too old for another term. This is the lowest on record for a first-term president a year and a half from the next presidential election. Harry Truman  39% Gerald Ford  40% Jimmy Carter  37% Donald Trump

96-year old Queen Elizabeth II is dead, long live 73-year old King Charles III.  She reigned for 70 years. An   accession council   of over 700 citizens, including Prime Minister Lizz Truss, voted to proclaim him king.  Did you see Charles shaking hands and getting kissed by some lady?  No one was wearing a mask.  The actual coronation will not take place for months.  Queen Elizabeth II was so honored 16 months after King George VI went.   Longest reigning monarch today is now Hassanal Bolkiah of  Brunei .  He is 76-years old and is soon to reach 55 years in his leadership.  How many of you have been to Brunei?   It is located on the north coast of Borneo in Southeast Asia.  Has a population of just under half a million.  Gained independence from Britain in 1984.  Has vast oil and gas fields, and is next to Singapore in the Human Development Index.  Government has zero public debt. Whether at the national or international level, I long wondered who was the greatest diplomat to engender

Eleven years ago I posted on MEMORIAL DAY AND WARS .  In 2012, WHY MEMORIAL DAY ?  Five years ago the title was WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEMORIAL DAY AND VETERANS DAY ?  This is the day before, but I never let it go by.  Tonight, by the way, PBS has its annual Memorial Day Concert on the Mall, featuring  Colin Powell, Gladys Knight, the Four Tops and Steve Buscemi, of all the people.  I was working in the U.S. Senate when the first mall concert was held.  This was on 4 July 1980 for the initial  Capitol Fourth . Thinking about 42 years ago made me nostalgic.  I'm now into the 14th year of this blog.  This period is equivalent to going from kindergarten through high school and heading off to college.  But this second time was every day.  Back then there were weekends, holidays and summer vacation.  In fact, early in the 14th year, which would be June of 1958, I left Hawaii for the very first time.  I boarded a brand new PanAm 707 for Los Angeles. My brother picked me up at LA

 Ah, it's Saturday, and I found a draft of a posting I never sent weeks ago.  I had already begun clearing out my desktop.   To the left, Sacha Baron Cohen, who was just nominated for the Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, playing Abbie Hoffman from  The Trial of the Chicago Seven , which got 90/91 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes.  I thought after his performance, he showed political potential, like Arnold Schwazernegger.  However, he and his family moved recently moved to Australia.  Maybe there, someday, he'll do something like that. Another from an actor who did get into politics. And about politics, what is legal or not is all semantics: Changing  the subject, this past year some of you were impressed by those drones, for they will someday soon replace fireworks, which are technically illegal from an environment viewpoint, and expensive.  You wonder if this will become another useful technology, or one which which  careens out of control . Animal videos are popular: Know anything