12/14/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            I just have a few minutes for two things today.

            First – thanks for signing the Respect for Marriage Acts into law yesterday. How wonderful that you could be joined by 5000 folks on a chilly day. It was nice of Cindy Lauper to show up & sing True Colors to celebrate that, now, all married couples will have the dignity, stability, and ongoing protection that marriage affords to families & children, no matter what state they go to. I continue to ponder the role of government in marriage, especially when it comes to the tax code. I will be getting back to you on that with some suggestions.

            Second, I encourage you to look at the article in Al Jazeera this morning that discusses how the Kachin area of Burma is getting destroyed by $$ grabbers who are raping the land. The article discusses how environmental activists are trying to protect the ecosystem, but the junta’s business entities and the Kachin Independence Organization continue to turn a profit from unregulated extractive operations involving jade, timber, amber and gold.

China is buying most of the material coming from this region. According to Ningrang Uma, a Kachin environmental activist, “The natural environment is our lifeblood, so if the government wants to protect the people, they should protect the environment. When we have no [effective] laws or policies, China can simply destroy our country.”

The All Burma Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance is doing its best to fight for the people & their land. Please be in touch with them to see what you can do to help.

BYBS,