12/9/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Congrats on your $8 million haul at last night’s fund raiser at Michael Smith & James Costos’ house. Did you get a chance to speak with Shondra Rhimes? Like me she’s an alumna of Dartmouth, who went there when the vestiges of a male bastion were still in play, especially among the veteran faculty who didn’t know what to do with feisty feminists. We are a special breed & your lucky to have her on your side.

            I’m excited about the highspeed rail you were advertising in Las Vegas yesterday. I’m more inclined to take the rocket train from SF to LA, than the one from LA to LV, but it’s great that we are finally catching up to Japan & Europe in providing mass transit between major cities.

            Thanks for taking the time to meet with the bereaved & shocked faculty from UNLV who lost colleagues in the mass shooting there this week. It’s hard to imagine a crazed person running through a campus building with a gun. I may have to start locking my door when I’m in my office.

            Please consider the advice Emma Ashford provided in today’s G that you lay the groundwork for the endgame of the Ukraine war “by opening lines of communication with Moscow & beginning a frank and open conversation with Kyiv & other European allies” about next steps. I heard a guy on NPR this AM saying that Ukraine will run out of soldiers before Russia. Let’s not wait that long to end the conflict.

            Speaking of running out of combatants, that’s one of the many reasons the junta is in trouble. The civilians in Burma are in trouble, too. According to The New Humanitarian Myanmar’s current UN humanitarian response plan for 2023 is the most underfunded of any of the conflict-ridden locations. According to one aid worker,  “We’re trying to empty a pool with a spoon & the water keeps coming.” Please make sure they are getting the help they need.

            BYBS,