2/4/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            I was sorry to see that your 1st wife’s brother passed away. It’s nice of you to travel up to Auburn for the funeral. I’m sure your niece will appreciate your presence.      

            What is up with this Chinese balloon? If it were a spy tool, don’t you think they’d have a more discreet device? What could the balloon see that a satellite can’t see? I saw Rep Mike Gallagher (WI-3) on PBS last night using this event as an opportunity to get on national TV wearing his US Marines vest to talk about how we should be spending more on defense. Yuk!

If you want a giggle, take a look at the piece in the WP about your “role as consumer in chief, eating Jeni’s ice cream, donning Ray-Ban sunglasses, test-driving electric vehicles & telling stories about (your) 1967 Corvette convertible.” It’s one of those POTUS history pieces that talks about how various guys have shined a light on businesses from time-to-time.

It included the observation that some companies don’t want to be associated certain POTUSs & that your haberdasher, Jos. A. Bank, didn’t advertise your visits to its shop. I was surprised to see that you went to the store instead of shopping on line. My dad used to buy his cloths from their mail-order catalog & I always enjoyed looking at the fabric swatches.

I haven’t heard you say anything about Burma lately. Please take a look at Alex Wagner’s NBC piece about the silent strike in Yangon to mark the 2nd anniversary of the coup. Her mom is Burmese. She concludes her recap of the situation there with “it is a dictatorship & a lesson for everyone who takes democracy for granted.”

According to the Economist, “on Feb 1st the junta formally extended the state of emergency that it imposed after the coup. Its opponents are meanwhile growing increasingly organised & emboldened. A country long known for violence & dysfunction has become a catastrophe.” Please do what you can to address this situation.

BYBS,