12/21/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            Happy Yule! At 1:21 AM we passed a special spot in our orbit, going from the half where the days get shorter, to the other, better half, when every day has more sunlight than the last. Of course, you have been through this 82 times, so, you know, better than I, how these rhythms work. It’s too bad most Americans fail to appreciate the significance of this inflection point. Even more disappointing to me is that they don’t “get” why it’s colder at this time of year, even though we’re closer to the sun in our orbit. Oh well!

            Today’s Hexagram (4) is about the folly of youth & the need to learn from experience.

          SoW, what have you learned about the death penalty? According to the WP, in 1994 you bragged about how you wrote the law that added 50 death penalties to the federal statute. Is it true that you have evolved since then?

 Many of us hope you commute all federal death penalties to make it clear that even those who commit heinous crimes have that of God in them. If you’re uncomfortable sparing the lives of Dylann Roof, Robert Bowers, & Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, you could consider the cases of each of the 40 men sentenced to death & commute the sentences of guys like Rejon Taylor, who has been transformed by his work as an artist & is an inspiration for the redemption in creativity. He says, “art allows me to dance in the midst of this distress.” Please give him the peace of mind knowing that he won’t die at the hands of the state.

            Maybe you are waiting to commute the sentences until you visit the Pope, so you can see his smiling face when you do so. That might be fun.

            The CSM gives you credit for transforming the federal judiciary. That must feel good. They noted that you “perfected the judicial confirmation machine” … “appointing perhaps the most diverse slate of federal judges in history” with “233 federal judges, more than any single-term president since Jimmy Carter.”

            I was saddened to learn today that a Kareni refugee & 3 of her kids were killed by her husband in Utah in a murder suicide. It’s upsetting to see someone who has survived so much trauma be taken down by her spouse.

            Please do more to cultivate forgiveness rather than vengefulness so we can spend our time healing the planet.

            BYBS,