9/4/2026
My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,
Cady & Mott have exhausted themselves tearing up stuff. I just confiscated a wine cork because the bits of it they might ingest could block their digestive systems. I already took up the foam floor mats they liked to gnaw on. AI suggests Kong toys, but I may take a risk on Kleenex, instead. They need to chew on something!
Speaking of things to chew on, I’m ruminating on the deaths of Gloria Steinem (GMS) & Dolly Parton (DRPD). I’m sure you are, too. As Anna Rahmanan's article in Newsweek says, “That they died just weeks apart is an odd coincidence, but also an oddly fitting one: two women who embodied very different versions of what it could mean to be a woman with agency, leaving the stage almost simultaneously.”
I’d love to see you acknowledge GMS’ passing in a gentlemanly way. You could say something like, “She had a huge influence & I send condolences to all who are saddened by her loss.” It’s honest & compassionate & would shock your naysayers.
While GMS may have been your nemesis, you have to admire her hutzpah. Not many women would brave the sexual harassment of being a Playboy bunny in order to get a story. Her narrative about women’s lib sparked my imagination when I was an academically inclined, argumentative 14-year-old & catalyzed my vision of myself as a powerful businesswoman. While that vision morphed over the years, her campaign for women’s rights continues to inspire me & my friends to resist the patriarchy. We are indebted to her & will repay her efforts by keeping her rebellion alive.
Speaking of rebellion, David Scott Mathieson writing in today’s Irrawaddy, suggests we need a new way of analyzing the situation in Burma. He says, “consuming an endless proliferation of conflict data dashboards, maps & graphs, one can feel trapped in a forever war of technical claims that are increasingly divorced from everyday violence or the lived experience of armed conflict.” He reminds us that “history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes,” so we need to study the errors of the past so we can continue to move toward a brighter future.
BYBS,
