Are you ready for the GWH Bush's funeral today? I understand that he'll be wearing some sox with planes flying in formation. Have you decided what sox you'll be wearing at your funeral? According to the NYT, presidents start planning their funerals shortly after they arrive in office. What lucky staff member gets that job?
It's great that Frank's retiring from his job as Congressional Representative for NJ's 2nd District after helping out his "coasties" with $7.9 billion in operating expenses and $2.6 billion in facilities improvements along with some "fast response cutters" and some drones. Best of all his bill eliminates some duplicate regulations on commercial fishing boats about their discharge. Vessels will no longer have to be inspected by the EPA and Coast Guard. I assume Mr. LoBiondo had to attend to numerous details and visit with a whole slew of people to get that bill written in such a way that 94 Senators could vote for it. That's worth celebrating.
Did you learn something new at the G20? How was your steak dinner with the Chinese contingent? It's great that you agreed to hold off on increasing tariffs for the time being, and I hope that China will buy more soybeans. I was surprised to learn that a lot of the fentanyl sold on the streets of the US comes from China and hope that their promise to treat it as a controlled substance has the desired effect.
How's it going at the G20? Did you see how Vlad and MbS greeted each other? They looked like high school football players coming into math class. Thrilled to see each other with a bit of mischief on their minds on assuming all eyes are on them (which, in this case was true). I found it most disturbing.
What is your gut telling you about your trip to Buenos Aires for the G20? I was just reading in the Buenos Aires Times (English Edition) that folks are worried about security. Apparently this weekend a riot erupted when the bus of Boca Junior, a major soccer team, was attacked by the fans of the River Plate, their rival. The bus driver fainted and players got injured from broken glass.
Don't you wish you had more time? I sure do! Today I am running low on time because my sleep schedule is off and I can't get up as early as I'd like. So, I missed out on a chance to do a couple of critical garden tasks. Hopefully I will be able to accomplish a lot at work today, but it always seems that there's something I didn't get to at the end of the day. I guess that's life.
It's back to work. At least it's a beautiful day as we launch into the intense time when we close out the fall quarter. Folks on campus will be more stressed than usual due to the backlog caused by the campus closing. The stress will be offset by the relief of having life get back to normal.
How was golf yesterday? Did you get a hole in one? I understand that you have had a few, including one in 1993 on the 12th hole of Pebble Beach at the Bing Crosby Pro Am Tournament. That must have been exciting!!! My sister-in-law wants to play at Pebble Beach but I understand that it's very hard to do so.
You aren't firing Steve Mnuchin, are you? You may be unhappy with him for recommending Jerome Powell for the job of setting interest rates, and I know that the economy is starting to look iffy with a narrowing gap between short and long term bond yields, slumping home prices, low oil prices and declines in global growth. You can't blame that on Steve or Jay.
It's nice that you'll get to see your friends at the club. Is it true that club membership can lead to being appointed ambassador? Business Insider speculates that's the reason that Lana Marks has been nominated to serve as top diplomat in South Africa. It's great that she speaks Afrikaans and Xhosa, but are you sure that designing and selling handbags made from diamonds and exotic animal hides prepares one for diplomacy?
