2/9/2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            As I read the headline in the NYT today, “Eight Words and a Verbal Slip Put Biden’s Age Back at the Center of 2024”, I am reminded of Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek where she talks about aging plants & animals in the wild “whose beauty beats & shines not in its imperfections but overwhelmingly in spite of them.”

She celebrates the damage that comes from living on this crazy planet. You are one of those amazing survivors who have weathered many storms & still manage to walk cheerfully on the Earth. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Pay no attention to the haters. Carpe Diem!

            Please send my regards to Ch. Olaf Scholz (OS) at your meeting today. Do you think he’s going to be able to weather the economic challenges Germany is having these days? According to the IMF it was the world’s worst performing major economy in 2023 & business leaders accuse his administration of being too “perfectionist” especially when it comes to his climate policies.

I suggest you both reconsider your investments in the conflicts in Gaza & Ukraine. OS’s choice to have his opinion published in the WSJ indicates that he is trying to appeal to our financial markets. Defense stocks in the US have soared recently so those folks are eager to sell as many weapons as possible. Please don’t get sucked into their logic. The hidden cost of war will come back to bite us. It can’t be measured in $$.

As you talk with OS about the world order, please tell him how disappointed I am that the Federal Public Prosecutor General of Germany decided not to initiate an investigation into genocide, war crimes, & crimes against humanity being perpetrated by the junta in Burma. As the architects of the worst war crimes ever, Germany has a duty to the world to prevent genocide whenever possible.

On a lighter note, have you seen the photos of OS & his dopplegänger, DE Sen Chris Coons. The resemblance is amazing!

BYBS,