He was on his best behavior

Yo, Angie....you know, for a fat girl you sure don't sweat much*

President Donald Trump has been on a whirlwind tour of the Mideast and Europe all week, wowing them with his unique flair for diplomacy.  He began in Saudi Arabia, smiled politely, didn't show them the bottom of his shoes, and even joined in a sword dance without cutting any of his hosts.  Good job Mr. President.

Then he flew on to Israel where he met with Benyamin Netanyahu, visited the Wailing Wall, the first sitting President to ever do that, and reassured them that he never mentioned "Israel" as the source of the information he gave the Russians.  "So, we're good, right?"  Sure, why not.

Next up, the Vatican, where he met with Pope Francis, completing his "Big 3 of Religion" trifecta.  It was reported to be a very pleasant meeting, with His Holiness and the Pope exchanging personal gifts.  *Umm, wait...maybe I got those...*

Seriously, it truly was a nice gesture by him to visit all three major religious centers in an effort to maybe help bring a little peace to the world.  Kudos President Trump.  Through all this he pretty much kept to the script his keepers prepared from him and avoided making any newsworthy gaffs.  Two thumbs up, sir.

Then he moved on to the NATO meeting in Brussels where he fell off his "good manners" wagon a time or two.  He lined up all his fellow NATO leaders and then scolded them publicly for going cheap on their defense spending.  He actually made a good point, but might have saved his 20 lashes for behind closed doors, just sayin'.  Or better yet, let one of his lackeys make his point for him, with a dash of tact added.  (I wrote several years ago that much of the generous social safety net many Europeans enjoy is due to them spending their money on popular social benefits instead of their own defense, passing that responsibility on to NATO.)  He left on a pleasant note, however, telling his hosts he thought Belgium was a beautiful city.  *How sweet*

So you're the Prime Minister of the newest NATO member, Montenegro?  Well, good for you.  Now outta my way, boy.

At this writing President Trump is at the G-7 meeting in Taormina, Sicily, and the Twitterverse is still calm.  He's supposedly going to bring up the need to review our current trans-Atlantic trade agreements.  Fair enough.  *Play nice, Mr. President*

All things considered, he seems to behave himself better overseas than he does in Washington.  Maybe we should up the limit on his Gubment American Express card and send him off again.  Can I get an Amen?

S

*  OK, I made that one up...he never said that.  To my knowledge.

Wow! Nice Bling. Sorry about your penis.

I just heard that a friend of mine recently went to Northpark Mall to pick up a few things.  He parked in the lot and went inside, forgetting that he had left two Dallas Cowboys tickets on the passenger seat in plain sight. He came back a half hour later to find the side window bashed in, broken glass was everywhere, and there on the seat....were FOUR Dallas Cowboys tickets.  :)

Today's big breaking news:  The Jonas Brothers are splitting up.  I wonder if I should wear shorts or jeans today?  Oh, look....a bunny. 

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While I don't have a horse in this race....I'm not Catholic....I must say I really like their new Pope, Francis.  Here he is, one of the most powerful men in the world, yet he eschews all the trappings of royalty available to him.  He passed on the opulent living quarters previous Pope's have enjoyed, the Wizard of Oz red shoes, the fancy gold bobbles, etc.  He just seems like a genuinely nice guy, the kind of pal you'd like to have over to share a few (blessed) beers and maybe watch some college football on a Saturday afternoon.

I'm rarely if ever impressed by Bling.  Back in my airshow days when a rich pilot would fly in his million dollar P-51 or similar and we'd get him safely parked and chocked, we'd greet him and say, "Wow!  Nice plane....sorry about your penis."

One of the most interesting men I've ever known was the uncle of a friend of mine.  (This was before Dos Equis Man.)  He lived in Houston in the same house he'd lived in for 25 years, drove a 5-year-old Olds 98, and wore comfortable, well-broken-in clothes.  He would invite us down to stay in his (very modest) beach house on Galveston Island and take us all out fishing.  Later we'd have a crab boil and sit around afterwards where he could talk intelligently about any topic we'd throw at him.  We tried to trip him up, but he bested us every time.  He was just an all-around brilliant, fun, pleasant, down-to-earth guy.

We knew he was financially comfortable....he and his brother had an oil pipeline related business....but it was only when he passed away that we found out exactly how well off he was.  Turns out his financial statement had more zeros to the left of the decimal point than any of us could even fathom.

I often think, when I win the lottery....that's it.  I often think of that.  But when I do, what would I buy? A few modest things maybe, some travel, but I don't really want much more than what I have now.  I just bought some new jeans, I have every color T-shirt LL Bean offers, and I just put new synthetic oil in my car.  

I am getting a new iPhone soon, but I'm going for the black one.  The gold one is just too Blingy.  :)

S

Hey buddy, can you spare a coupla thousand?

Is this real or just a remake of Revenge of the Nerds?  So far cyber-attacks have been just probing jabs looking to see if the perps actually have the capability to mess us up.  Will they soon go for the jugular?

A couple of days ago cyber-attackers shut down JP Morgan Chase's (I think it was JPMC) customer accounts for a few hours, meaning customers couldn't get to their money.  A few hours is no big deal, but what if that had been for several days or even several weeks?

I rarely have enough cash on me to buy a cuppa coffee at Fourbucks.  I pay my bills online and use my debt card for purchases around town.  If my bank's computers turned turtle for more than a few hours I'd probably be on the corner with a tin cup begging for lunch money.

I think I'll pull out a few hundred bucks at least and keep it under my mattress.  That should at least buy enough kibble to keep us going a while.

Speaking of banks, it looks like the movement to break up the biggest of them is gaining momentum.  Dallas FED President Richard Fischer is rallying support from all quarters to possibly put hard caps on their size.  JP Morgan Chase might soon be three:  JP, Morgan, and Chase.

"Too big to fail" banks will soon be small enough to fail and "Too big to jail" bankers will soon be know as "Inmate 95686532".  It looks like my work here is almost done.  :)

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It seems Catholics have 'em a new Pope.  I kept waiting for the call, but it never came.  I knew I was a long shot at best, considering I'm not Catholic.  That's OK though.  No hard feelings.  In fact, it seems like this guy might be a good one.  He eschewed the traditional Cardinal's mansion in Buenos Aires and instead lived in a small apartment on the outskirts, and rode his bike or took mass transit to work every day.  Even traveling to Rome for this conclave he made the 13 hour flight in a coach airline seat.  (That's coach, not Coach.)  I find that rather refreshing.  

I'd like to see some of our high-flying TV evangelists do some of that.  Ha!  That would definitely qualify as a miracle!

Counting down to the weekend....

S