8/3/2025

My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,

                  Do you ever read the Guardian? It’s one of my go-to sources. According to Ad Fontes, it’s left leaning & provides a mix of fact reporting & analysis.  Being non-profit & British are pluses, too. I also like CSM & AP. For news of Burma, I read the Irrawaddy (IWDY), also non-profit.

                  SoW, today’s IWDY headline is “Security Beyond Borders: China’s Private Armies.” It includes info about how private security companies “provide Beijing with a mechanism to defend its investments without the reputational costs of overt military projection.”  XJ has made a “significant recalibration, from passive protection to selective participation in combat activity.” They use Kyaukphyu, with its Chinese-backed deep-sea port project, as an example. “These entities operate within a grey zone, never fully state, never fully private, but always politically useful… the world is witnessing the emergence of a new kind of Chinese presence which is not developmental, not diplomatic, but coercively commercial.”  I find this disconcerting. Please call XJ & ask him about it.

                  I also was disconcerted to read your tweet calling Democrats “bad people.” I remind you that Jesus preached forgiveness, loving one’s enemies & turning the other cheek. Please embrace that mentality & don’t get agitated when your nominees do not fly through the Senate. You’ve named some controversial Fox folks who will be leading large numbers of employees who need to trust their bosses. Best to let the process work rather than using force to get your way.

                  Back to the Guardian, please read Rebecca Solnit’s piece on violence against women. She points out that we should stop treating cases like JE’s as isolated incidents explaining, “The only thing exceptional about Epstein’s crimes was their scale & maybe the complexity of the .. systems he used to traffic, control, abuse & silence victims. The nature of the crimes was ordinary & common.” She’s calling for social change to address “a pandemic that stretches across continents & centuries.”

                  I encourage you to talk to your new US attorney for DC , Judge Janine, about her work prosecuting domestic abusers, sexual abusers, stalkers, & rapists. You might explore her thoughts on preventative measures, too.

                  BYBS,