7/7/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            You must have gotten a big smile out of the article in today’s WP about your age and how you once bristled at questions about it & now deliver the quips yourself. “Watch me.” I love it!

You are an inspiration. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I don’t know very many 80-year-olds who are still working full time & are at the top of their game. You are defying the odds & it gives me hope that I can, too.

            Speaking of being out of the ordinary, the KCS headline of the day was “Global temps hit (unofficial high) - & stayed there.” Details include extreme temps in various places - Bejing’s (106°), Phoenix’s (116°), Ontario’s (90°). Antartica is having an exceptionally mild winter. It’s bad. Please make some noise about the climate crisis so the kids know you care.

            Please also echo the remarks made by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Tuerk, about Burma. He says, “the country continues its deadly freefall into even deeper violence & heartbreak” & asks us to “fund the Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan & to provide direct and flexible funding for local organizations on the ground that are desperately trying to reach people in need.” Finally, he demands we “continue to provide support to (refugee) host communities, including & notably in Bangladesh.”

            Finally, you MUST rescind your decision to send those cluster bombs to Ukraine. I don’t care that they are being used by both sides. As you know those things leave behind “duds” which kids pick up long after the battles are over. I don’t think they are made in the US anymore. Why do we even own any? Our allies have signed treaties agreeing not to use them. Please repeat our mantra WINTA & just say, “no” to these requests.

            BYBS,