11/23/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Have you met Geert Wilders (GW), the politician in Holland whose anti-Muslim party just won the majority of seats in Parliament? He could be the next PM & says he wants no mosques or Islamic schools. The NYT says, “it will be complicated for GW to move from the opposition into a stable coalition in a country where politics rests on the art of compromise.” Fingers crossed my distant Dutch relatives are not adversely affected by this turn of events.

            After my lecture to you on “inflection points” (f'' = 0), I keep encountering that phrase in the news. China expert Yun Sun used it when speculating whether the junta is on the precipice of failure. She’s not convinced they are. I will continue to hope that, when the violence ends there, a democracy will emerge. Since we know that change is inevitable, we at least know that the situation in Burma is temporary.

            I also ran across f'' = 0 when reading in the NYT about the wild turkey decline which according to National Wild Turkey Federation leader, Mark Hatfield, is alarming. Researchers trying to figure out why turkeys are disappearing are concluding its due to all kinds of things, “a death by 1,000 cuts.” We’ve got plenty of them at UCD. I counted 33 in front of my building recently.

            What will you be discussing at your Thanksgiving table today? Amber Phillips provides some facts in case you want to argue about politics, but I suspect that topic is not allowed at your dinner. We’ll probably talk about gardening, the NBA, Duke & cruising the Panama Canal.

I’m curious to see how we handle the blessing. I suspect you’ll say the Lord’s Prayer. Since we’ll have a Jew & a Buddhist at the table, I think we’ll skip that.

            We will hold the hostages in Gaza in the Light hoping that the plan for their transfer tomorrow works out. We will also send good vibes to all refugees around the world.

            BYBS,