Dear President Trump, It’s always this way, isn’t it? The floodwaters inundate the low lands and sweep the shanties and shacks away while permanently infesting the more solid, yet still humble, brick dwellings of the not-quite-as-poor with black mold. Funny how those floodwaters never seem to make it all the way up the hills where … Continue reading Who gets what and why? And how broken is this system? Very.
Bias
I beg your pardon, but inequality is not a mere distraction
Dear President Trump, I have a hyper-local vignette and a bigger picture take for you for today. I’m not sure whether I’ve mentioned this before, but pre-you, Laura and I played Scrabble most weeknights. However, once you were installed as POTUS, it wasn’t until covid-19 slowed everything down and eliminated my commute time that it … Continue reading I beg your pardon, but inequality is not a mere distraction
Thank goodness for true leaders
Dear President Trump, So hey, I’m pretty sure being caught “back on your heels” is worse than being caught “flat footed” but neither one is good and both would be generous descriptions of your administration’s inept response to the covid-19 crisis. You see, both these idioms reference situations where someone is surprised by something or … Continue reading Thank goodness for true leaders
Imagine…. if there were no International Women’s Day
Dear President Trump, Well, where to start on this 110th anniversary of International Women’s Day (111th if we count its initial instantiation in 1909 in NYC as National Women’s Day)? There are so many relevant directions one could go, but I think I’ll start by telling you that Friday night when we went to the … Continue reading Imagine…. if there were no International Women’s Day
What’s with all this positive Warren media coverage now?
Dear President Trump, I think you’re just going to have to bear with me for a bit here since I’m still mostly focused on Elizabeth Warren and the fact that her campaign couldn’t get the traction it needed when it comes to votes cast. We are coming up on Washington State’s mail-in ballot deadline this … Continue reading What’s with all this positive Warren media coverage now?
History and privilege
Dear President Trump, Yesterday morning I read poet Lisel Mueller’s WP obituary first because it was at the top of the stack (Katherine Johnson had just died and so hers hadn’t yet made it to the main page) and about midway through there was an interesting quote in reference to her poem “Happy and Unhappy … Continue reading History and privilege
“Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful!”
Dear President Trump, Yesterday after the (vacation) morning dog walk we swung by the Green Lake Library so Laura could pick up a book she’d put on hold months ago (the one I found for her is going to come through the UW library system at some unknown point in the future). As per our … Continue reading “Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful!”
“The scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out”
Dear President Trump, After reading Barr’s four-page distillation of the Mueller report another line from another Roots song has been playing in my head on continual loop: “the scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out.” The song, “Tip the Scale,” is from an African American man’s perspective and he’s basically talking himself through his various … Continue reading “The scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out”
Indictments or no, there’ve been plenty of high crimes and misdemeanors
Dear President Trump, I’ve pulled back from the “no further indictments” ledge I was on yesterday having seen commentary from quite a number of more levelheaded people who are reminding everyone that there’ve already been indictments of and guilty pleas from many people in your inner circle regarding Russia and that it’s not always possible … Continue reading Indictments or no, there’ve been plenty of high crimes and misdemeanors
Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)
Dear President Trump, When someone gets hurt in your presence of do you involuntarily wince and feel a zing almost as though it was you who was injured? I honestly don’t know whether narcissistic sociopaths have that capacity, but I rather doubt it so maybe you don’t know what it’s like to feel your stomach … Continue reading Radical empathy and lack thereof (Part 2)