President* Trump, One of the things I most appreciate about Laura is that she’s an excellent curator – for the entirety of our now quite long relationship, she’s played me music she thinks I’ll like (most of which I do like), pointed me to books, movies, and articles that she knows I’ll find interesting and … Continue reading Other countries’ histories are instructive too
Science
Trumpian death panels
President* Trump, We’re back in the red “unhealthy” zone as far as air quality this morning after being in the orange zone for what felt like a nanosecond last night. Right now the air quality forecast doesn’t include the orange zone so I can’t tell what it’s called. The yellow zone is “moderate” – just … Continue reading Trumpian death panels
Smoke, lies, and a couple of bright spots
President* Trump, I think Lifesaver and mint sales will spike in the Northwest this weekend as people try and mask the nasty metallic taste of the ash particulate we’re all inhaling all the time. It’s really eerie here – it’s 9:30 in the morning and lots of the street lights are still on, hardly anyone … Continue reading Smoke, lies, and a couple of bright spots
Hydroxychloroquine and schools ~ all of a piece
President* Trump, I am now convinced that the Twitter-person who linked you and Jr. hydroxychloroquine push to your desire to get people out working and spending again is correct. I was pretty well convinced last night, but after reading more about the debacle that is the coming school year and your all’s desperate, desperate desire … Continue reading Hydroxychloroquine and schools ~ all of a piece
They simply don’t care
President* Trump, Last night shortly after learning that the day’s number of new covid-19 cases had exceeded 50,000, Laura and I were talking about how very strange everything feels. Part of this involved doing something of a compare and contrast between the pandemic and 9/11 since these are clearly the biggest national crises either of … Continue reading They simply don’t care
This is not the best we can do
President* Trump, So my starting-out typo tonight is that I accidentally entered 3030 for the date, which occasioned a very quick string of very conflicting feelings and thoughts; a spike of angsty adrenaline signaling that I’m not very confident that humanity is going to be around in 3030, a brief “serves us right” thought, chased … Continue reading This is not the best we can do
“Fixing” curves and bringing history into focus
Dear President Trump, This morning I had nada for you. All I could muster was the date and the salutation – I was so blank I thought I’d probably end up just writing a haiku. Well, you’re in luck because that was the then but now I have not one thing to tell you about, … Continue reading “Fixing” curves and bringing history into focus
Testing, testing….
Dear President Trump, Personally, I think you all should have been testing everyone in the White House for covid-19, including you, Pence, and your families, every day since the beginning of February. Why the hell weren’t you? From a national security standpoint such precautions would have been totally reasonable. Maybe your magical thinking-speak really is … Continue reading Testing, testing….
An especially long, hard letter
Dear President Trump, I read the following three WP articles today in this order (and please note, I’m almost certain that earlier today the first one actually had the word “Government” in place of “Draft” in the headline). “Draft Report Predicts Covid-19 Cases Will Reach 200,000 A Day By June 1” “The Coronavirus Pandemic is … Continue reading An especially long, hard letter
Another necessary ingredient: restraint
Dear President Trump, Friday morning as I was making my way through my loving-kindness recitation and just as I got to the recently redone last line that goes like: “May your life unfold, open, and intersect non-violently and constructively”, it occurred to me to wonder whether “constructively” could logically be used when what needs to … Continue reading Another necessary ingredient: restraint
