First, can't help but start the week with another Lukovich cartoon: Also, too,  David Brooks of the  New York Times  this week had an op-ed about Donald Trump. The world is saved in tiny steps over time, and  Anthony Blinken did personally meet with President Xi Jinping . Then, of course, today is Juneteenth, celebrated as a public holiday by more than half of our states, but not Hawaii.  We have too many days off as it is, and June 19 is too close to June 11, King Kamehameha the First Day.  While there is no slavery today in the country, Blacks do earn far less than Whites.  From the  New York Times  this morning. And for Republicans who are worried about how hourly wages are increasing too rapidly, the reality is that, accounting for inflation, minimum wages are actually lower than in 1978.  For those who can't subtract, that was 45 years ago.  Also from  TNYT . I'm doing fine, too.  Returned from Las Vegas 9 days...

For those interested in the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, click on   THIS .  Huge waves, to get bigger, lots of fans, vertical rainbows and more. Yesterday caught The Bus into downtown Honolulu for a Chinese lunch. Of course, we should all respect and honor our elders, especially since I'm one of them. Was greeted by my Blue Bar Pigeon, went to the Chinese Cultural Plaza, bought some enhancements to our coming meal, then waited a while to enter Fook Lam.  Many others had the same idea. Ordered dim sums, including my favorite, Singapore Soup Dumplings, where I go through a process of adding things, like cognac, plus dried scallop soup, and dessert. We walked around, looked into a Feng Shui shop, saw a strange fish that was imported from Mars, and purchased some roast pork and almost a pound of o-toro, paying $73 for this piece of tuna. Today at 15 Craigside, we have a Chinese New Year lunch, and tomorrow, some dragons will visit. Happy Chinese New Year. -

From  Worldometer  (new deaths yesterday):          DAY    USA    WORLD     Brazil      India      South Africa June     9     1093     4732        1185        246       82 July    22     1205     7128        1293      1120      572 Aug    12     1504     6556        1242       835       130 Sept     9     1208     6222        1136      1168        82 Oct     21     1225     6849          571       703  ...