Broseph, I got 10 kobo around here somewhere.

I’ll trade you that and a buttermint.

This is a level of shit that despotic African nations don’t sink to.

So long forensic studies of blunt force trauma!

Y’all, look, the post WWII order has been wobbly since 2012-2014. 9/11 and the Patriot Act changed things in a way that were not compatible with that world. We lasted barely a decade before the wheels fell off.

We can pretty much all agree that things are broken, and these people ran, and won, on a platform of tearing it all down. And so they are.

Things ARE getting ugly for a lot of people already. Hundreds of thousands globally in 2 weeks.

The only way out is through, and it’s a decade+ recovery.

I mean, there’s real data to support this. If you don’t believe it that’s like me not believing that hurricanes exist just because I haven’t been through one.

Because it’s so subjective, it can apply to anyone they want.

Did you once donate $7 via PayPal to a fundraiser during the month of June? You’re a traitor. Post a picture with a rainbow flag on FB? Traitor. Watch Ru Paul’s Drag Race on Amazon? Traitor. Be hired for a job that had previously been perfectly fine in the government? Traitor.

They have an army of Good Ol’ Boys ready to cause just enough terror to keep people in line, and the precedent is there that they may simply be pardoned. Fear is the only certain thing.

This is how art has worked for millennia.

I go to a human artist and say “please make me a painting of my family. Make my wife more beautiful, me more tall, and my kids not look like little shits.” And then you give money. That’s a prompt for a commissioned work.

No one ever praises the Duke of Milan for commissioning a painting of The Last Supper. They praise Leonardo Friggin’ di Vinci for making it.

I’ve spent a career in places with very little rule of law or effective governance.

The only thing that can give you a sliver of hope is to physically be close to a community that is tight-knit and competent homesteaders. This is African village rules. Force and money are all that matters. Life is cheap. Food is scarce and untrustworthy unless you farm it yourself. Cities are nightmares of abuse with pockets for the super-wealthy behind walls.

Real life examples like Lagos are hard to explain to Americans. Parable of the Sower gets close and is a book worth a read.

For real. Plus it’s Dem-sponsored, so until it gets an R cosponsor it’s likely not even going to make it to the floor.

Sept 17 and 19, 2024.

There’s a great Behind the Bastards episode about Curtis Yarvin that really fills this all out.

The Broligarchy is real and Vance is the gateway to the fallback. Elon is just a willing idiot to be the tip of their spear first.

HR 899

Oh, hey, guys let’s play a guessing game. Which developing African county has yet to approve Starlink for use while other countries are all about it.

Hmmmm…which one, which one…hmmm…

If you read the bill, heavily sponsored by the MPA, part of it is about forcing ISPs (and presumably US based VPNs) to block the DNS/URLs of “foreign criminal” sites.

It’s laying the groundwork for a Great American Firewall.

It’s just the easiest example to use. I have maybe dozens more examples that require more storytelling and setup.

Ever had someone try to sell you a car with visible drywall screws holding the bumper on, like you were the dick for pointing them out?

They care about the optics of halting obvious immediate lifesaving assistance because it makes them look like they’re making “responsible” decisions.

I spent a decade living around Africa, and this kind of thinking is common. DDT was what everyone put on the tomatoes because pests mean loss of food. Who wants that?

Lack of relations is only about living in short-term survival thinking 24/7. Long term effects mean nothing.

I don’t use the internet with less than a hazmat suit.

It’s hard not to get into the weeds of this because of how complex these contracts get.

Typically, a country asks the US for help with something like developing their agriculture sector, or e-governance, or dealing with a famine. USAID doesn’t do the work itself to limit government liability. So they put up a notice that says “we want proposals to do this job, in this place, and get these results. Don’t go over $XX”

Bids come in, and because these are programs in developing countries, it’s rare that the country had any organization capable of reliably taking on a $5 million contract with tons of legal and compliance obligations. So a lot of times US-based companies that specialize in this kind of work, staffed by people who don’t mind moving their family to Malawi or wherever of necessary. Many people, both contractors and USAID staff are killed, sometimes abducted and tortured, in the course of trying to deal with humanitarian crises in dangerous places.

Because local tallent IS a cruicial part of the way these programs work, the main contracter will hire local staff, and then because no one company can do everything, they also hire small local contractors to do singular tasks, like JUST community engagement about financial planning. So unless it’s a war zone (often even then), dozens, mayne even hundreds, of local jobs might come from one contract. This is a VERY reductive version of the process in general terms.

Meaning that during this aid “review” and dismantling, it’s likely that 100,000 people or more, mostly in poor counties, are suddenly out of work. It’s unlikely that Rubio will reinstate programs without a GOP Congressperson asking, or obvious “lives will be lost” support ends.

You’re right, I should take a Uboat.