2/15/2025

My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,

            What are you up to today in FL? Will you be spending time with grandkids? If so, you might have to avoid the beach because it’s got tar balls. Those things are nasty. Not only do they ruin carpets when kids track them in the house, they harm wildlife. Did you know they are caused by offshore petroleum production, drilling & discharges during marine transportation? If you want a cleaner environment, you might back off on promoting oil production.

            What’s your latest thinking about solar? Has ERM convinced you that we all should have solar roofs? That’s what the junta is telling people in Burma. Unfortunately, the idea “has sparked widespread mockery, with people joking that the father cuts electricity, the son sells solar panels, & the junta No.2 advertises.” If you do change your mind about solar, best to make ERM divest himself of Solar City & his other solar assets to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.

            In other matters, what exactly did you have in mind when you wrote the executive order about gender ideology? Did you intend to prevent governmental documents from including the word, “woman?” Arwa Mahdawi opines in the Guardian that “no one knows what the hell is going on or how they might get punished for violating these vague new laws, people self-censor & aggressively police themselves.” You don’t want that, do you?

            What are your plans for helping the farmers of America? Author, Brian Reisinger suggests that they feel abandoned. He proposes we need a new system that ensures technological advances stop leaving family farms behind, & encourages a food system that better values fresh food from family farms.

I hope Sec of Ag, Brooke Rollins, is not so busy eliminating DEI from her department that she neglects to negotiate the new farm bill that hopefully will balance our need to protect the farming way of life treasured by so many of us, with the desire for cheap, plentiful food. Tricky business!

For some inspiration, I encourage you to read Maria Popova’s blog post on living in the moment. She writes, “what makes a self, is nothing more than the thread of selective memory & internal narrative stringing together the most meaningful beads of experience into the rosary of meaning that is your personhood.”

May we both have a meaningful moment today.

BYBS,