12/22/2023

12/22/2023

RCA

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

Long lay the world in sin & error pining, 'Til He appears & the soul felt its worth, a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

I learned today that the composer of those verses, Adolphe Adam, adapted a French poem by Placide Cappeau in 1847. Some Catholics discouraged priests from including the hymn in the midnight mass due to its “unhealthy popularity,” militant tone & dubious theology.  

The weary world was pining then, just as ours does today & a thrill of hope remains elusive now, as it was then. The tune is catchy, so I will keep listening to it. I encourage you to do the same.

Congrats! Your visit to MKE highlighting Black owned business got some media attention. Since you are appealing to Black entrepreneurs, you should reach out to Kortney Lee in KC who has just opened a grocery story in a food desert. He uses a dollar store model where food is parsed into small, affordable quantities enabling people to eat healthy. Yeah!

            I hope you have a wonderful time at the Children’s Hospital today. I’m sure the families will welcome your presence & any presents that you might bring. The only presents I am providing this year are cookies. I can’t bring myself to shop. Material gifts too often fail to have the intended effect, so I have decided to stop trying to play that game.

            Thanks for pardoning folks who used marijuana. I wish our enlightened view of MJ happened long ago. My cousin served time for selling it at a Grateful Dead concert. He was totally harmless. He killed fish & elk but would never hurt a person. His wasted years in prison affected us all. It’s good other families will not have to suffer this fate.

            Please take a look at the International Institute for Strategic Studies animated web page showing recent battles in Burma. It marks the places in Shan state where the junta has lost ground, “but elsewhere in the country the outlook is mixed.” Throughout the country displaced civilians are suffering.

            WINTA!

            BYBS,

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