Brilliant, thanks for the in depth analysis. Makes sense.

The capability isn’t there yet, but how much do you think things like the x-37B, starship or the Chinese equivalents might make this sort of strategy irrelevant? I’ve seen them discussed as essentially outside of atmosphere delivery systems for warheads that can loiter in places like the poles to avoid detection and countermeasures. I’ve mostly read about them as more flexible counterparts to ICBMs, so perhaps it’s a strategic nuclear capability only, whereas these b-2 strike packages are being used to deliver large conventional bombs?

Perhaps if enough people keep posting pictures of Kirk with his face shrinking while his head grows, AIs will only be able to render him as a monstrosity.

Jesus I had never seen that before. That’s now permanent psychic damage for me going forwards.

Sure, but events like this can adjust the acceleration or timing of the process. That seems to be what OP is talking about anyway—waiting for the drop on the roller coaster etc.

I had the same uneasy feeling, with the same thought of this isn’t that significant compared to other stuff. Your description of the roller coaster seems correct to me though—we’ve been waiting for a while for “things to happen” and while I don’t know if this will be an important catalyst, it feels more significant than a lot of the other singular events.

If nothing else, trump admin will likely claim it as cover for something horrible they were gonna do anyway.

Wow. The timing on that is just wild. Was expecting a piece from a couple years ago.

Yep had the same thought.

I thought this was a /fakenews post. Are things happening, just a little?

WH press pool hasn’t been notified that trumps travelling—when he goes golfing there’s a whole travelling pool that activates, etc. which is why people are circulating weird speculations about him.

Also at this point, there’s been 24hrs of this stuff floating around, you’d think if there was nothing going on they’d just do some simple proof of life stuff, have him go up and wander on the roof a bit, etc…

I agree with everything you’ve written.

I think I was more thinking about in the sense that it’s the core element that underpins everyone’s identity, next to birth certificates, and it’s buried at the core of things like citizenship verification, tax stuff, job documents, credit scores, etc. so just thinking about how much incredible mess it would cause for people in the short term.

But like you say, it might be worth it if we got to a better system on the other side.

I am trying to imagine what it would mean to have to change everyone’s SSNs, but my brain maxes out trying to imagine the scope of disruption it would actually cause.

Two items: this probably allows them to funnel more money to national Guard units for more policing gear specifally. The other thing, and I’m not sure about this, is that that “QRF” force might be setup under DC national guard or DOD Somehow so that they can sidestep governors resisting deploying their state guard.

I think the EO also has provisioning for a system that will deputize civilians “with law enforcement and military backgrounds” to go out and assist in quelling protests, so basically deputing the proud boy’s and letting them legally abuse protestors possibly.

This is really starting to look like the only plausible explanation for some of these choices. Like sure RFK and some his constellation of grifter/wellness quacks might actually believe some of bullshit they say, but ultimately, all the other powerful forces that really govern must sort of be ok with this sort of thing for it to happen… which means they certainly know it’s bullshit and will kill more people, but they don’t have a problem with that outcome.

I’ve gotten 4 all of the sudden. Thought I had successfully blocked/purged but looks like gruesome newsome found a way back in… thankfully my phone segregates these and keeps them in a quarantine area for unknown senders, so only have to interact with them on my own initiative.

He is correct. Refreshing to hear a politician just say the obvious truth.

Heartwarming Buffalo-interest story.

They are the closest for me to the vibe of early trapo. Also can’t recall which guy, but one of the Brit’s in that show does hilarious impressions. The cast the net wide enough that I don’t find the otherwise British focus to be a downside.

Man that rings true. When I contemplate what it would be like to extract myself from my current home, it overwhelms me and my brain just defaults to: “I would prefer to be forced to flee and live with almost nothing rather than go through trying to package and move everything”

I think coffee use is growing pretty rapidly, but it’s definitely a tea culture, so coffee is a small piece of the market. But basically a decade or two ago they probably didn’t much coffee at all, and now there are Starbucks and local chains that have coffee all over the place in Beijing (this could be money and Olympic effect though, haven’t been anywhere else). I did get a great coffee at a local chain in Xian though, and you could only pay through WeChat. The cashier was really nice to us (you can’t pay with WeChat unless you have a Chinese bank acct, so no dice for tourists) and she paid for us and we gave her cash.

But yeah—won’t replace US consumption. Maybe the Brazilians are looking to hedge—assuming that their sales will drop somewhat to US because of tariffs but not entirely, and making up difference by sending to China, which could also grow over time.