3/4/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            I hope you are getting some rest this weekend. You deserve a break! Please know that I appreciate you & your leadership, but today I’ve got a lot of questions, rather than affirmations.

            Lockstep? Is that your new mantra? It sure seemed like it when you & Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with the press yesterday. As a peacenik that word troubles me. It has a connotation of passivity. It evokes a picture of soldiers marching in a parade who only care about matching their pace to those around them, of automatons who don’t look around, who focus only on their steps. That image does not sit well with me. I prefer a musical metaphor & encourage you to portray our solidarity with Germany as being in “concert.”

            Law & order? Is that why you are supporting the GOPs bills to overrule the D.C. Council? If they want to lower penalties for carjackings, shouldn’t they be able to do so? Are you afraid of being carjacked? What ever happened to letting local folks govern themselves?

            $125 Million? Can you find that in the budget somewhere to help the Rohingya living in Bangladesh refugee camps? The UN needs $ so folks can eat. As I am sure you have heard, the situation in the Cox Bazaar Camp has been dismal for the past several years, but when food rations go from $12/month to $10/month, things will deteriorate further. Four in 10 Rohingya children now sheltering in Bangladesh suffer from stunted growth & more than half have anemia. Please help them.

            BYBS,