Letters to Jim, May: January 6, Midterms, Putin and Ukraine

Good riddance to April, in which the only showers I got were the ones our dogs left on our floors. If taxes didn’t kill you and you are reading this, you are probably questioning the purpose of life. If you are seeking answers in this month’s fan mail, you will be disappointed. However, if you have a few minutes to kill, look at what my fans asked me and what I have to say in reply.

Dear Jim,

It seems like the month began with Will Smith slapping Chris Rock and ended with Mike Tyson punching out a passenger on an airplane. In your opinion, who was more deserving of being smacked?

Bewildered

Dear Bewildered,

This is an easy one to answer. The clown who provoked Mike was more deserving of the beating Tyson gave him. Keep in mind, Tyson was high at the time and feeling pretty good, so you have to believe there was a good deal of annoying done by the passenger to get beat like he did. Also, Mike had already posed for a photo with the dude who clearly is intoxicated. Once a drunk gets to being annoying, there is not much you can do to get him to stop. It’s probably impossible when on a plane.

If you are going to poke a dog, prepare to get bit. If you are going to annoy a former heavyweight champion with anger issues, prepare to get pummeled. Mike did everyone on that plane a favor. Can you imagine what that flight would have been like with that drunk getting on everybody’s nerves if Mike were not there.

Whatever airline Mike was on should reward him with a lifetime of round-trip tickets.

Dear Jim,

Does it bother you that a guy like Elon Musk can decide on a whim to buy Twitter after being upset by them? It seems with him in charge of it, we can expect to see more inflammatory right-wing rhetoric and that concerns me deeply.

Troubled by Twitter

Dear Troubled,

It does not concern me that Elon Musk made the board of Twitter an offer that could not be refused. Money talks in finance and nothing else matters.

Another reason I am not bothered is because I do not have a Twitter account. Twerking and twittering are two T things I do not do. However, I am pretty sure if I was on twitter, this decision would not bother me. You see, I find that when it comes to social media, I can choose to follow who I want and ignore all others. I doubt I’d check in to read what someone like Trump has to say and then get into a back and forth with others over it.

One really nice thing about someone like Trump was he helped me to whittle down the list of people I follow when he was president.

As for Musk, if paying over $40 billion to buy something makes him feel good inside, I can only feel sorry for the man because there are so many things he could be doing to help people on the planet now.

Dear Jim,

Recently, the behavior of Bill Murray on a film set caused the movie to stop production because he made too many women feel uncomfortable. Bill seems like he is beloved by countless people. Why is it you suppose we keep hearing so many complaints from people about stars who are in Murray’s age category? Who is to blame for all of this?

 Fed Up With Bad Behavior

Dear Fed Up,

If I were an agent for female actresses who were hired to work on a film with Bill Murray, I would sit them down and have them watch the film, Stripes. After watching it, I would let each one know to be prepared for Mr. Murray to act that same way on a film set.

Bill is 73 and a big star. I doubt he has any plans to change who he is now because a generation of people are so easily offended, especially when some slept with the film’s producer to get a job.

I think Bill will give up acting before he decides to change who he is. I am pretty sure there is a long list of people, male and female, who would never want to work with him again. At the same time, there is also a long list of people in Hollywood who would kill to work with Murray.

Hollywood might want to rethink some of the crap they release on the public that warps their minds before trying to run out people like Murray.

Dear Jim,

I am worried. It seems with each passing week; Biden’s poll numbers drop to new lows. In your opinion, what is the best thing he can do to bring those numbers back up? 

Beginning to Worry

Dear BTW,

Once the midterms are over and the GOP takes over at least one of the houses, we will see firsthand the Republican party’s agenda. That alone should be all Biden needs to rise in the polls. Keep in mind, these are approval rating polls and not national or state by state polls showing how he performs against specific opponents. Biden’s numbers will increase once the focus is on 2024.

His problem, I see, is Democrats have accomplished little to defeat the GOP’s state-by-state attacks on voting rights. Perhaps bigger than losing one or both houses this fall, Democrats need to push hard to get one of their own elected as secretary of state in as many purple states as possible. It will be the Secretaries of State who make the final call on the election results. This will go a long way to thwart GOP plans to rig the 2024 results through challenges.

I hate to say I told you so, but I regularly mentioned the biggest election issue in 2016 was who was going to get to select replacements to the Supreme Court. That may well prove why in the next presidential race.

For now, you just need be patient and not worry about poll numbers so much.

Dear Jim,

Do you believe we will ever overcome the increasing devastation from global warming? There doesn’t seem to be enough urgency despite all the scientific evidence warning us of worsening disasters. Are future generations in peril?

Planet Lover

Dear PL,

I do not know what all is being done to combat global warming. From where I sit in drought-stricken California, there seems to be little being done. My hope is more is being done in areas closer to the coast where seas are rising or in the east where there is an increase in the severity of storms they deal with.

It angers me when I see so much money being wasted on a new space race when that money and research could be put forth to solving the problems of global warming. It’s as if those with money assume we need to find another planet to move to which in itself ain’t happening anytime soon.

We have done nothing new to deal with drought out west. Other than cutting back on the amount of water we can use, there is nothing else being done. The first time I remember a drought hitting California was back in the 70’s. Like with the oil crisis, we did nothing to change our ways or prepare for the next drought. It seems to me, in half a century, this state could have created a system that collected runoff from rain as well as ways of storing that water.

If we can suck oil out of the middle of the earth and transport it via pipelines or barrels placed on ships, then why haven’t we found a way to do the same with rain runoff? We seem to value oil far more than water and yet the last time I checked; water is the source of life.

How many desalination plants have been built in the last 50 years? How many homes have been retrofitted with water collecting systems to catch and transport rain runoff from roofs? How many pipelines have been constructed to transfer excess water and snowmelt from the heavily soaked east?

These have been needs that could have employed millions of Americans, solved many problems caused by global warming, and at least given us hope of staying even with global warming’s effects. Instead, out west, we are left to cook while in other parts of the country people are left to drown.

Dear Jim,

After two months, what are your thoughts on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Have you been surprised no other nations have stepped up to help in their defense? How long before Russia wins this war?

Fed Up With Putin

Dear Fed Up With Putin,

The fact Russia has taken so long to invade the Donbas makes me question their ability to steamroll through this region that is filled with many pro Putin supporters. If it is a repeat of the attempt to take Kyiv, where supply lines dragged on and units were bogged down and suffered high casualties, then Putin will be forced to rely on bombs and missiles. This just means more random and senseless killing of innocent citizens while the rest of the world looks on in horror.

Consequently, this becomes a war Putin can never win. As a result, the West will have to decide whether to allow Putin to save face and negotiate a peaceful end that gives him some of Ukraine, but not all of it, or do we see his military as significantly weaker than we thought and use force to defeat Putin all together?

My guess is this thing drags out and becomes Putin’s albatross that prevents him from ever rising to the level of Lenin and Stalin in Russian history books.

Dear Jim,

Do you think we will ever learn the full truth about all who were involved with the events of January 6, 2021? Has the committee investigating it been a waste of taxpayers’ money or will it result in major figures being convicted of criminal acts?

Truth Seeker

Dear TS,

Yes, I think we will eventually know the full truth, or as much as possible, thanks to this committee. It will be a matter of one’s political beliefs whether their findings are true, but then that was pretty much the case going into this.

As for justice being served, that is a harder call to make. So much of it will depend on which party controls the White House, which in turn will control the justice department.

In other words, if you want justice in the form of the arrest, trial, and conviction of Trump and his people, you will do all you can to keep Democrats in the White House. However, if your idea of justice is to see all the work this committee has done destroyed, you will do all you can to return the White House to Republicans.

Like so many other things, justice is a matter of opinion.

And with that, another month is in the books. Enjoy all the best May has to offer and don’t be afraid to share your blessings with others in need. It doesn’t hurt to give, and you might find you even like it.