Dear President Trump, The WP ran an article this morning by Katie Shepherd about the abortion bans some states have imposed. It contains information about specific states that I wasn’t able to glean from my far less professional journalistic efforts and I want to set the record straight. First, yesterday evening the 5th Circuit Court … Continue reading Corrections, rages, walk-backs, and tulips
Truth
Degrees of freedom
Dear President Trump, It isn’t often that I choose a title for a letter to you before the letter is written, but this afternoon I decided today’s title needs to be Degrees of Freedom, which really, is kind of ironic since by choosing the title ahead of time, I boxed myself in to talking about … Continue reading Degrees of freedom
ALONE / ALL ONE
Dear President Trump, I probably didn’t need to consult the Google Oracle to confirm that the rainbow pictures cropping up in windows around Seattle (many of which are also hosting Teddy bears) are related to covid-19, but I just had to be sure. And yep, they are – apparently a nurse in NYC posted rainbow … Continue reading ALONE / ALL ONE
May we not capitulate to a stupid and dangerous patience
Dear President Trump, Kathleen Parker challenges her readers (WP editorial) to consider whether what one does in relation to the covid-19 crisis is helpful. I agree this is a worthy question, but she actually frames it through the lens of doing no harm, which is really a lower bar than whether something is helpful. And … Continue reading May we not capitulate to a stupid and dangerous patience
Letters and hot coals
Dear President Trump, The other day Laura read me a letter that was addressed to you that was credited to Tommy Lee of Motley Crue but that Sarah Silverman revealed was really written by Aldous J. Pennyfarthing (who seems to be a kindred spirit to Julius Goat in the adoption of pseudonyms and generation of … Continue reading Letters and hot coals
Who gets what and why? And how broken is this system? Very.
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.
Shiny bits of sea glass
Dear President Trump, I’ll start with a handful of positives from my morning walk since I seem to need to collect them like so many shiny bits of sea glass. First, there was the large, colorful “Happy Birthday!!!! Love You! We Love You!” chalk message outside the elderly woman’s home down the street. This is … Continue reading Shiny bits of sea glass
Could this nightmare actually be a gift to the future?
Dear President Trump, Because it’s likely that Seattle isn’t the only city doing this for kids, you and I may be the only people in the US who didn’t know about the call to put Teddy bears in your front windows so that kids walking by can count them up and have something to do … Continue reading Could this nightmare actually be a gift to the future?
POTUS and Putin share another playbook
Dear President Trump, This morning on my allowed walk for exercise, it occurred to me to wonder why we’ve not been hearing anything about covid-19 in Russia, as in zip, nada, radio silence. There are a lot of people in Russia, healthcare isn’t so hot in Russia, and, very importantly, Russia has the same winter … Continue reading POTUS and Putin share another playbook
This virus is a wake-up call that we can’t afford to sleep through
Dear President Trump, There’s a beautiful (very long) poem by Kristen Flyntz titled An Imagined Letter From Covid-19 to Humans that I got from a friend at church. I looked it up online and found that it appeared a little over a week ago and has been circulating on various social media sites. I’m including … Continue reading This virus is a wake-up call that we can’t afford to sleep through