The board of every chamber is required to include someone from the embassy…

But I see you need something more…how do we say? Fulfilling. Yes… Something more…yes…

I beseach you to search the interwebs for the Commerce Department Gold Key Service. Wherein a company pays to have government staff from the Commerce Department’s Foreign Commercial Service, to literally shill for anyone that ponies up the cash, and organize a matchmaking service to promote the company in several small meetings.

Not enough for a distinguished gentleperson as yourself? But of course, my friend. But of course. I see you demand more.

I present to you, the most, ah- exquisite match to what you want, the FCS Single Company Promotion. A festive event in which Federal employees host the event of the company’s choosing to “promote awareness” of the company. A conference? Sure. A fun luncheon presentation? Yes, of course. Or, perhaps a delightful cocktail party! Numerous of which I have personally attended.

Seriously though, this happens all the time.

This was already how all this stuff worked. The US government promotes US companies all the time. Always has.

Search for the “American Chamber of Commerce” in any county. Then look through their social media or board.

I love this. I hadn’t ever considered something like Tor and added friction as dividing the wheat from the chaff readers.

The problem with this period in time is that it’s awash in low effort shit. This is like placing your own book of philosophy in the library.

Not many. The thing about globalization and repealing the 20th century is that its a wobbly 3D Rube Goldberg domino landscape. 1-2 dickheads per continent is all it takes.

Literally a chapter in the Art of War.

Gotcha, sorry I thought you meant in a sort of a more large-scale coordinated way with the authoritarians.

The easiest way for China to take Taiwan back is to wait for something complicated to occupy the military and WH, even only at the very top leadership level. A protracted and undeniable scandal, another major shake-up while the boss is out of town, or the end result of all this internal military use for law enforcement that seems to want to end posse comitatus within I think 80-ish days at this point, are all options. Spin up the machine to catch it’s own tail and the response elsewhere will be too little and too late because of the more hierarchical nature of decison-making now. Steve Bannon’s own “flood the zone with shit” tactic, inspired by Tsun Tzu.

Chip fab won’t matter because nothing else logical has mattered so far. Why jump straight to a trade war with all your largest trading partners without even preparing for it? Foolishness and ego. Same same here as well.

You’re correct, however, keep in mind that authoritarians have fragile egos and are often focused locally, often on how to further subjugate their populations and garner favor. That usually means conflicts like insurgency or cross-border attacks like Russia into Ukraine (x2), Russia into Georgia, US into Mexico/Canada, India and Pakistan fighting over Cashmere, PRC and Taiwan, Serbia and Kosovo, Kenya/Somalia/Somalil and, Uganda and eastern DRC, etc. etc.

Boomer pissing contest fantasies of China and the US duking it out in the Pacific are foolish as neither wants to risk direct conflict with no tangible gains expected. It’s a guarantee of either outright loss or maaaaybe a Pyrrhic victory of you already control your media. No landing party flotilla will land in Los Angeles or Hong Kong. The US only stands to lose.

Not at all.

What we’ll get is not one big World War of Axis vs. Allies, but everyone at war with some kind of small regional pissing contest or insurgency.

Sure, most of the world will be in some form of conflict, but it won’t be a “World War” in the same sense of a 20-on-20 prolonged conflict with well-defined nation-states on each side. Not that this opinion survey can really capture that.

I usually blame the birds, but the talking car deserves some shade.

There’s tons of possible reasons for this:

Did you recently hit maybe age 35 or older?

Drinking more in the evening?

Working out less?

Stressed out in general?

Too much screen time before bed?

Thin curtains and not realizing the sun comes up earlier every day as summer approaches?

Birds?

Something you can hear outside that’s waking up, like a loud car that drives by at the same time, people talking, etc.?

Impending sense of doom overall?

Because it’s so much better when they’re charismatic assholes?

Rice and black eyed peas, cooked with some millet leaves for color. Fry slices of onion in about 1 T of oil and pour it over the top. Then sprinkle a mix of fine crushed red pepper, bullion, and salt over it.

Most of West Africa has this in one form or another on the regular.

Not surprised at all.

Who wants to out down some money in when countries just stop following the Geneva Convention because it’s “a regulatory burden”? Price is Right rules closest without going over.

Feta and watermelon

Cantelope and prosciutto

Anchovies in Ranch dressing (make it fresh, you animals)

Goldschlager and Cuervo Gold tequila as a shaken shot (tastes like snickerdoodles)

Pancakes topped with yogurt and honey or pistachio butter

Georgian pesto is walnuts and cilantro, 10/10

Peanut butter in a tomato stew sends it in an African direction, and it’s amazing

Deep fried olives filled with cheese

Salmon marinated in bourbon, touch of soy sauce, and brown sugar, baked.

Anchovies and capers on your pizza if you wear big boy pants

Red wine and coca cola if you’re 14

Candied pine cones and creme brulé is 1 million percent magic

Cheez-its and canned whipped cream tastes exactly like if you asked ChatGPT to describe what cheesecake tastes like.

Kiki Riki?

What’s funny is that’s ginger, onion, amd garlic away from West African peanut stew as a bread spread.

An app where all you end up recording is “Bro! Bro! Bro! Broseeeeph! Let’s gooooooo, Bro!”

It was such a good troll at first. I heard the episode of Art Bell when the first fax came in… Just enough detail to lead people on, not too much to be disproven immediately.

After a few posts online it all got just…wobbly, and that’s when he stopped posting. Which was a good call on his part. The fact that nothing from that timeline ever got close to happening left him years of doubt, but by now…

It’s been a topic of conferences, books, podcasts, and new laws for almost a decade. They have it all in plain sight. Lol, made it up.

Curtis Yarvin has his Butterfly Revolution, which Thiel is all in about. Therefore Musk as well. Of the five pillars of Yarvin’s guide to authoritarianism, the EO about forcing university accreditation to heel is the last one needed to hit them all. Well documented, and the Nerd Reich had a post recently about how Yarvin is mad at how incompetent Trump and Musk are because they’re literally not gasing people to death by now.

A guy named Balaji wrote a book called the Network State that outlines the government that should replace democraticly electing people. Also a podcast, also conferences with folks like the creator of Etherium backing it. He’s been pushing countries to recognize DAOs as legal entities. Wyoming is on board, and Palau and the Marshall Islands have also been receptive as nation level test cases. Network city-states are in the mix as well.

This is the stuff that makes Project 2025 look like quaint kids’ games. However, where they both agree is the idea of repealing the social gains of the 20th century. Civil rights, women’s rights, gone. The goal is techno-fascist fifedoms built around crypto and AI, like Thiel’s investment in Praxis, where broligarchs don’t just have money, they control the force and violence of the state, which is something that money can’t just buy.

Y’all, one of the far-reaching Broligarchy ideas they’re hoping emerges from the ashes of the United States is the DAO, decentralized autonomous organization.

Every action in the block chain. They facilitate, and are predicated on, the idea of treating every aspect of life as a social network. Everything you do is recorded. So daily life ends up incentived toward constant, persistent, corralled engagement. The Network State is the term.

The difference is that you can’t build a society on the mechanics of the tobacco industry. But you can on a human reaction industry.