10/07/2021
My Friend & POTUS, JRB,
You are off to my old stomping grounds today. I spent 10 formative years in Cook County, IL, back in the day when Richard J Daley (RJD) had his “machine” where precinct captains could turn out votes. My parents were convinced that RJD stole the 1960 election from Nixon. My mother is still convinced that voter fraud is a thing. This belief persists despite the fact that my dad was a precinct watcher for the GOP on the Southside of Chicago in 1972 & didn’t see anything suspicious. She still believes that people can “steal” elections in the USA. Confirmation bias at work.
Given the history of corrupt politics in IL are you sure that visiting the construction site of one of your big donors is a good idea? Bob Clark may be an upstanding person, but he builds big, ugly distribution centers on brownfields. In fact, the Republican Steel site where he now has a project was a Superfund site. I’m sure you are aware that there’s all kinds of regulation for how to remediate a site like that to clear up all of the contaminants. Likewise, when you put up a warehouse where trucks will be coming & going through the neighborhood, you are creating a health hazard for everyone living near it. Bottom line, Clayco needs political influence & he’s investing in the Dems to get it. Highlighting his company makes it look like you are in his back pocket. Best to think twice about that.
It’s too bad that you are so busy these days that you probably don’t have time to keep track of what FB whistleblower, Frances Haugen, is telling the Senate about the effects of their algorithms. She noted that “Promotion of violence online leads to real-world harms. That’s particularly true in Myanmar, where Facebook has admitted that it played a role in inciting violence during the military’s genocidal campaign against the Rohingya.”
I would love to see FB split up in some way. Concentration of power is never a good thing, & Mark Zuckerberg is in way over his head.
BYBS,
