From Los Angeles —

The White House Mess: Presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on ABC News yesterday that President Trump wouldn’t have to respond to a potential subpoena by the Special Counsel’s office to testify about the Russia connection.
“We don’t have to,” Giuliani said in a 22-minute interview. “He’s the president of the United States. We can assert the same privileges other presidents have.” Invoking his 5th Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination would make Trump look guilty, but he seems to get away with everything.
On the other hand, Trump might just go ahead and talk, and talk himself into an indictment. “I’m facing a situation with the president and all the other lawyers are, in which every lawyer in America thinks he would be a fool to testify, I’ve got a client who wants to testify,” Giuliani said.
Despite expressing some willingness to testify, Trump has otherwise done his utmost to derail the Russia investigation short of firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He did fire FBI Director James Comey, the first man in charge of the investigation and has bragged that he did the country a favor. A NY Times editorial says, “That shocking act remains the best distillation of the mind-set of this president: He considers himself answerable to no one, and he has a peculiar notion that law enforcement should serve his political and personal interests.”
Kilauea: In addition to smoke and red hot lava, the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is releasing highly dangerous, and potentially deadly sulfur dioxide gas.
The gas is “an immediate threat to life for all who become exposed,” the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency said in a statement.
At least 30 homes have burned as lava creeps through a populated area in the volcano’s latest eruption.
Local real estate broker and Special Volcano Correspondent Patti Kam tells us, “From our home we have been able to see the red and orange and pink glow from the caldera for years.” The lava has been burning through an area called Leilani Estates. Kam tells us, “It’s a beautifully lush area and very inexpensive to buy here because the Lava Risk Zone is 1. When people ask, ‘What are the odds this will get covered’?  My response is usually ‘Could be hundreds of years. Could be tomorrow’. In this case it was 30 days for one of my clients and a couple days for another couple.”
King Tut: For years, Egyptologists have been trying to figure out whether there are hidden rooms and passages in King Tut’s tomb. It’s been a little like the search for Al Capone’s treasure.
Radar scans have now provided what’s described as conclusive evidence that there’s nothing more to discover inside King Tutankhamen’s burial chamber, ending the quest for what was hoped to be new troves of Tut’s treasure.
Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said an Italian team used ground-penetrating radar. Francesco Porcelli of the Polytechnic University of Turin said, “Our work shows in a conclusive manner that there are no hidden chambers, no corridors adjacent to Tutankhamen’s tomb.”
Sounded Good at the Time: A New York company called Bluesmart has been offering “smart” luggage equipped with a GPS locating system the owner can use with a cellphone to find a misplaced bag. The bags also have a charger for digital devices, a scale to weigh the bag, and an auto-lock. The bags are pretty smart looking too.
Then the airlines realized that the bags are powered with lithium batteries, a fire danger at altitude, and several air carriers banned them. Bluesmart has announced that it’s going out of business. You won’t be able to find a new Bluesmart bag even with GPS.
And That’s the Way It Is: The editorial staff has been travelling, eating, and drinking too much. We have to get on an airplane today so for now, we’re done. Don’t complain. You pay only $10 a year.  Vol. 7, No. 123

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