5/11/2021

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            How did your meeting with the Bucharest 9 go? I hadn’t heard of that group before. I understand that Romanian President Klaus Iohannis wants some help staving off the Russians. Please remember that War is Not the Answer & see what you can do to calm everyone’s nerves.

            I understand you are having a CV meeting with 6 governors today. I hope you all figure out some creative ways to calm the nerves of all of those folks out there who are hesitant to get vaccinated. It looks like Utah Gov. Spencer Cox could use the most help in getting shots in the arms of his citizens. As you know they are near the bottom of the list when it comes to percent of people vaccinated. This could be due to the fact that they have the youngest population in the country. On the flip side, ME’s position at the top of the list may be due to its having so many old folks in the state.

According to today’s NYT getting teens & tweens vaccinated presents some “persuasion challenges.” It seems that many fear shots more than they fear CV. If we choose to use fear as a motivator, we can capitalize on their fear of quarantine. Most teens would rather be with their friends than anything else in the world so we can impress upon them that a vaccination will enhance their social life. Perhaps schools could have pep rallies where the kids go up on stage & everyone cheers for them when they get their shot. That would be fun, don’t you think?

Please be in touch with the government of Thailand & tell them NOT to deport the 3 Burmese reporters that they have incarcerated for illegally crossing the border. We need to keep getting news from Myanmar so let’s do all we can to support freedom of the press.

BYBS,