7/1/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

On this day I will be receiving signature authority as Department Chair of the School of Education. You know all about having signature authority. Every time you wield your pen, it takes a little piece of you. Signing requires the intellectual & psychic energy to decide, “do I want my name on this?” If you trust your staff, then most of the time it’s a no brainer, but it takes time to develop that trust, so I anticipate some slow going at the start. Please send good vibes my way.

            You are having a quiet spell as we go into the July 4 weekend with 0 mentions in the NYT. The WP & G included articles about the SCOTUS decision to support your order to end DJT’s “Remain in Mexico” order. You must be happy about that. In addition to that topic, they also reported on your meeting today to see what you can do to help the states ensure women’s reproductive rights. Thanks for your attention to that matter!

            The G had a disturbing article about a U of Chicago poll that found “more than one quarter of US residents feel so estranged from their government that they feel it might ‘soon be necessary to take up arms’ against it.” Chilling!

            The CSM had one article with your name in it about your upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia. While I question the wisdom of contact with ruthless killers, it was wonderful to see that the Saudi regime is trying to cleanse the country of antisemitism. That’ll take a while but it’s nice to see that they adopted the Charter of Makkah which says, “All people, regardless of their different ethnicities, races, and nationalities, are equal under God.”

            Perhaps you can encourage the junta in Burma to make a similar declaration. That would be a huge step in the right direction!

            BYBS,