Very Friendly: President Trump over the past several days has extended his friendship to some of the nastiest leaders in the Far East. Yesterday he said he would be “honored” to meet with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. In a telephone call Saturday he invited Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to come visit. Trump described the call as “very friendly,” although Duterte doesn’t have many friends in foreign governments. He once called President Obama the “son of a whore” and threatened to switch his country’s alliance from the US to China. He was not invited to the Obama White House.

Duterte has been waging a war against drugs and crime by encouraging the police killings of thousands of suspected criminals.

Spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump is making an effort to build a coalition against North Korea that includes the Philippines. “And, frankly,” he said, “the national interest of the United States, the safety of our people and the safety of people in the region are the number-one priorities of the President.”

Black Lives: A 15-year-old high school freshman riding in a car with other teenagers was shot dead Saturday night by suburban Dallas cops who appear to have adjusted their story to fit the circumstances.

Police had been called for a noise complaint and possible gunshots. The officers originally reported that the car carrying five teenagers away from a party was backing up aggressively toward them when one officer fired a rifle through the front passenger window, killing Jordan Edwards. Video now shows the car was moving forward, away from the cops.

Budget Busters: Keeping up with the traveling Trump clan, Congress has allotted an additional $120 million to protect the extended First Family.  This covers the adult children, including Donald, Jr. and Eric on their business trips, wife Melania and son Barron in New York, and the Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.

Half the money goes to the Secret Service and the other half is in reserve to reimburse local governments, including New York, which spends up to $145,000 a day to protect Trump Tower. Palm Beach County in Florida spends about $60,000 a day when the president is there.

Trump is the most expensive president to protect. It costs about $3 million every time he spends the weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

Don’t Know Much About History: In an interview with the Washington Examiner praising his hero, President Andrew Jackson, Trump said Jackson could have prevented the Civil War. “I mean, had Andrew Jackson been a little later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War,” he said. “He was a very tough person but he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw with regard to the Civil War, he said ‘There’s no reason for this.'”

If Jackson said that, it was from his grave. He died 16 years before the Civil War broke out.

Digging his hole a little deeper, Trump said, “People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?”

There are a few books on the topic over at the Library of Congress.

Wordsmiths: Hollywood writers and studios reached an agreement to avert a strike that was to have begun today. The writers wanted the pay for streaming series on Netflix and Amazon to be brought up to par with what they get for broadcast television. A strike in 2007 lasted 100 days. The writers say they made progress and will continue cranking out the words.

Small Screen: As the earth continues to shake under Fox News, the network yesterday fired one of the longtime executives promoted to clean up the mess left by the ousted Roger Ailes. Co-President Bill Shine was part of the management team that ended up faced with a battery of sexual harassment and racial discrimination lawsuits. Another woman sued Fox yesterday. — The unctuous Ryan Seacrest has been named to take a seat next to Kelly Ripa on the morning show “Live! With Regis and Kelly,” “Live! With Kelly,” “Live! With Kelly and Michael,” “Live With Kelly and Ryan.”

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