3/17/2024

March 17, 2024

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            I’m surrounded by pink. The sky to the west has a rosy hue. The crab apple tree outside my window flashes its fuchsia blooms. It’s a Barbie wonderland!

            Didn’t you just love that movie? Its exploration of gender hierarchies spoke to me.

            The persistence of those hierarchies is discouraging! I’m irked when I see hordes of men celebrating Ramadan in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. I’m troubled to see the image of your meeting with the Polish contingent in the East Room with 19 men & only one woman. When will we break out of this male dominated mold?

            Enough grousing.

It sounds like you had fun at the Gridiron dinner last night. Did you see the press attention you got? Everyone quoted your line, “The big news is, two candidates clinched their parties’ nomination for president. One candidate is too old, mentally unfit to be president & the other is ME.”

            Please reach out to Greta Thunberg & give her some encouragement. She was just dragged away from the steps of the Swedish parliament where she expressed her outrage that they aren’t doing enough to stop climate change.

            Speaking of which, please heed the message in the East Asia Forum which said, “Urgent international action is needed to target the junta's high-risk resource businesses & to engage with pro-democracy groups… As law & order has deteriorated, there has been a surge in illegal mining activities in the country’s remote areas. Local activist groups have accused the military junta of backing these unlawful mining operations. Mining for rare earth elements, which is flourishing in the northern Kachin mountain zone, has devastating & unpredictable consequences for the region’s ecosystem & inhabitants… According to satellite data, extensive areas of the central rainforest have been chopped down, with this deforestation linked to the junta.”

            Are you ready for some March Madness?

            BYBS,