9/2/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            I got woken up at 4AM when my Spotify feed played some weird allegations about BHO, cocaine & gay sex. When I saw its origins, I realized it was not to be trusted, but I have to admit the guy talking about his BHO encounter in 1999 sounded credible. Tucker Carlson has resurrected this story in recent days & sketchy news outlets like the Daily Mail are reporting on it.

While hearing such things helps me understand the MAGA mentality, it also leaves me baffled on how to counteract it. Dang!  It’s unfortunate that the MAGA mentality has led Ron DeSantis to make the ill-advised decision to eschew meeting with you on your visit to Live Oak, FL today. Double Dang!!

I just saw an elderly lady talking to a reporter on First Coast News saying she’d seen lots of hurricanes & Idalia was the worst. “This one came through with an anger & took it out on us.” Now I know what the expression, “God forsaken” means. She needs to feel some love & I’m grateful that you can empathize with her sense of abandonment. I hope your visit brings some consolation to folks like her.

            On a different matter, as I checked up on Burma, I read an editorial in Mizzima that said, “Rakhine, for all its poverty, is potentially rich given its natural resources, position as a transit route for trade & fuel...(Its access to) the Indian Ocean (is a) doorway to China…. So, the generals have long had their eye on sucking up the benefit from this state & getting rid of “undesirables” who get in their way.” This text gave me the epiphany that the Rohingya are suffering the same fate as the 5 civilized tribes who were forced from their lands on the Trail of Tears in the 1800’s. Let’s learn from that mistake.

As you envision a new future for Burma, please make sure the Rohingya get their land back.

            BYBS,