Before my hurricane comparison, a few international developments.  I begin with President Donald Trump, here with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.  From  Time : Like other political and business leaders around the world,   South Korean President Lee Jae-myung   looked to lavish the U.S. President with a gift, a thinly veiled attempt to get to his heart. While some, like   Japan’s Prime Minister who met Trump on Tuesday , have lavished him with   golf clubs , and others have flattered him with honorary   medals and trophies , Lee presented the man who earlier this year   proclaimed himself “king” on a fake TIME magazine cover   with a gold crown . That photo above is gift of gold crown to Trump to commemorate a golden age of the Korea-U.S. alliance.  Note Lee's special gold tie.  A replica of a 1000-year old Korean kingdom crown.  Symbolizes the divine connection between authority of the heavens and sovereignty on eart...

The next big day for the U.S. will be Friday, when we will see if our federal government stops functioning or not.   Speaker Mike Johnson has unveiled a funding bill to overcome the potential shutdown .  The Senate is more iffy, for Republicans cannot prevent Democrats from filibustering, which takes 60 votes to stop.  Actually, the USA has recently  closed 10 times , and not to worry, for essential services will continue. Are we entering into a recession?  The Dow Jones sunk 900 points today, with the Nasdaq plunging 4%.   Worst day since 2022. On the international level,  President Trump  is suffocating Ukraine's Zelensky more than ever.  Now that Trump got his blackmail minerals deal, he wants Ukraine to give all lands Russian has conquered to them, with more concessions to come.  He keeps upgrading his revenge quotient. No question that the current U.S. president, Donald Trump, wants to join the president-for-life club, which ra...

First, our Christmas-like European river cruise on Viking was fine.  The problem was me, for I had difficulty sleeping.   U.S. News and World Report  named Viking in their  2025 Best Cruise Line rankings  as #1 for the fourth consecutive year in: Best Luxury Line Best Line for Couples Best Line in the Mediterranean Some other rankings. For families #1 Disney #2 Royal Caribbean #3 Norwegian For money #1 Celebrity #2 Virgin #3 MSC A week ago today for us was near agony, as we left our Zurich hotel in the morning, caught a Swiss Air flight to San Francisco, and, after a long bureaucratic hassle (if our SFO-HNL flight had not been delayed, we would have missed that flight), we flew United Air, where the seats in business class were like budget tourist class.  From our hotel in Zurich, took us 27 hours to get to 15 Craigside.  While I gained 5 pounds on the trip, a couple of days ago I weighed myself and found that I was already back to normal.  M...