Protests...

There was a planned post-Friday prayers protest against the Embassy today.  I drove past around 11:30 and the Jordanian security forces were positioning tanks in defensive positions around the perimeter, unloading a few buses full of police in riot gear, and generally looking pretty ferocious.  

Susan and I hunkered down at a friend's house, cooked pizzas and watched on al-Jazeera as a sizable crowd gathered at a mosque a few blocks from the Embassy, began marching, and then thought better of their plans and turned around and went back to the mosque.  

We then enjoyed Porkapalooza 2012 (the pizzas were covered in a layer of the prosciutto I brought back from Italy AND a layer of salami, for good measure), played with Willy and the kids and their new tortoise, Tank, and then went home and took naps.  It was a bright, sunny and pretty pleasant afternoon.

After watching events spread this week from Libya and Egypt across the globe, I am profoundly grateful for a host and home government dedicated to our safety and hopeful for a future where the legacy of men and women like Ambassador Chris Stevens replaces hatred, ignorance, and misunderstanding on both sides with respect, cooperation and a peaceful co-existence.