11/21/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            How was your birthday? Did you hear the well wishes from Stephen Colbert (SC) & his audience?

            You are once again absent from the news. No mentions in the G, the WP or the NYT. It’s time to do something flashy, like declaring the 620,000 acres in the Coachella Valley a national monument. That would get some headlines!

            I found a couple of pieces of things your admin hopes to do before Jan 20. CNN says you are “trying to throw a Hail Mary to save the Colorado River” & the WP says that your “DOJ seeks forced sale of Chrome, other big changes at Google in monopoly case.” They call it an “aggressive” move of your antitrust enforcers.

            We both know that bureaucracy moves at a glacial pace so the chances of achieving those things is minimal. Nonetheless, we keep on keeping on.

            The complexity of government is what may save democracy in the next four years. Laws & regulation often don’t align, because our interests don’t cohere. It’s a tangled web & efforts to eliminate inefficiencies will just introduce new ones. I’m curious to see what will happen.

            Something you can do in the waning hours of your tenure is to make sure that the junta releases  U Pinnya Zawta, a U.S. citizen, who has been in custody for more than a week since he arrived in Burma. He’s the abbot of Metta Parami Monastery in Buffalo. As a devout Buddhist he is committed to peace & endeavors to live out the edicts in the Karaniya Metta Sutta, including, "Let him not deceive another nor despise anyone anywhere. In anger or ill will let him not wish another ill.”

            Let’s both try to embody that edict.

            Thanks for shining a light on the Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act which requires gathering longitudinal patient data of CHD patients as they age, promoting awareness campaigns & convening experts to identify research opportunities will bring hope to the families whose babies are born with heart defects.    

BYBS,