7/12/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Congratulations – you got 11 mentions on the WP webpage today, in stark contrast with the single mention in the NYT. Go figure.

            It looks like you got a big kick out of the cool photos coming from the James Webb telescope! Don’t you love the way they folded it up so they could launch it? Some very creative people figured out the origami involved. Hearing you talk about it sparked my pedagogical imagination & now I am thinking of how I can create a 5th grade lesson around the telescope. I’ll keep you posted.

            I appreciate the intention behind the gun safety event at the WH yesterday, but I have to agree with the Parkland Dad who said, “The word CELEBRATION has no space in a society that saw 19 kids massacred just a month ago.” It’s too bad that he had to be removed from the event. Please give him a call to hear him out. You might also follow the advice of Igor Volsky, director of Guns Down America, & develop a senior administrator position to drive this issue much like Gina McCarthy’s job as head of the Domestic Climate Policy. 

            I hope your meeting with Mexico’s PM AMLO is virtual. Avoiding travel when possible is a good idea – saves CV exposure & limits carbon emissions. Handshakes are over-rated, don’t you think?

            It’s discouraging to see that Russia is welcoming Burma junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. Two misguided men encouraging each other to push their weight around is not good for the world. Please do what you can to use peaceful means to interfere with their activities.

            BYBS,