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Showing posts with the label South Korea

WHO IS RUNNING THE COUNTRY?

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...

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

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...

BUSAN

The Diamond Princess arrived in Busan at 7:30AM, and it was raining, so I took this photo from inside my cabin. The rain later stopped. We docked next to the Regent 7 Seas Explorer,  the ship we were on a year ago from Dubai to Singapore .  I said: We boarded the Regent Seven Seas Explorer, and if there is a Heaven, this certainly is one possible scenario.  Check-in was flawless, and in consideration of all the visa and vaccination protocols, quick. Started with a champagne greeting With a welcome champagne, this was our skyline view of Dubai.  Note the Burj Khalifa, the tallest in the world.   But work has begun again for Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Tower, to be called  Kingdom Tower , and at 3281 feet, will be 564 feet taller. So, anyway, this is the same Regent 7 Seas Explorer next to us. First, a Japanese breakfast, to which I added an egg-over-easy and ham. Not long thereafter, lunch.  Again, wonderful, but filling. Dessert. I looked down to the do...