first one hundred days (12, 422)

Though adopted as an arbitrary yet studied milestone by every subsequent US presidential administration, the phrase coined by the FDR administration was not meant to mark the anniversary of his inauguration in 1933 but rather his immediate summoning of congress back in session for three months of legislation and the passage of laws to counter the devastating economic effects of the Great Depression through fifteen major bills regarding work-programmes and reforming financial regulations. Roosevelt also signed ninety-nine executive orders during that period, a number unsurpassed by any president until Trump’s first day of his second term, albeit no significant legislation has been enacted with the involvement of the legislature. Despite celebrating his first one hundred days, lauding successes with little evidence to back it up and quite overwhelming indications of the contrary and declaring himself “unstoppable,” the campaign-style rally held in Michigan was punctuated with retribution and repetition of old grievances and lies regarding the stolen 2020 election, and while ostensibly winning on certain fronts of the culture wars and immigration with ending affirmative action, suppressing opposing viewpoints and generally affecting regressive social policies and making the prospect of coming to America—both for migrants and guests—more fraught (a serviceable PR smoke screen that few buy outside of the staunchest loyalists and probably none privately), Trump’s return has been viewed as a grift and abject failure on all counts: a burgeoning constitutional crisis with ignoring and threatening judges and sidestepping the senate, a foreign policy that abrogates the post-war world order that the US helped built and benefited greatly from with attendant loss of trust from allies and partners, rubbishing the global trade system with punishing tariffs and no way to extricate ourselves as well as retreating from its responsibilities from environmental stewardship and duty-to-care. Even the single issue that the administration can point to as a qualified success, controlling the borders, is being tainted with accounts of expulsions without cause and exporting what are considered undesirables—again with no due process—to foreign concentration camps, acts which are becoming increasingly unpalatable to even strong advocates. Detractors and even polls that indicate Trump’s approval ratings are underwater on his handling of the economy—the markets are one thing he cannot cow into submission or have “bend the knee”—and foreign policy, overplaying his hand with Putin and Xi, are dismissed as lies and fake news. The knock-on effects of blanket and threats of reposing reciprocal tariffs are just starting to be felt by average consumers, outside of the agricultural and shipping sectors and will present a rude surprise.  After reports circulated that Jeff Bezos would be displaying tariff surcharges on Amazon items (see previously), then backing off after attracting Trump’s ire, it seems like the oligarch now has no choice but to go forward with the plan and commit to the bit. 

sidebar (12. 414)

Gathered for the pontiff’s funeral, Trump and Zelenskyy met for the first time in person since the February summit that fell apart on live television, coming after a rare rebuke by the US administration for Putin following deadly airstrikes and accusing Russia of not wanting a peaceful resolution after threats towards Ukraine of walking away from the US-brokered settlement (ostensibly fulfilling Russian objectives by ceding Crimea and other occupied territory) if no progress materialised. Starmer and Macron joined the conversation at various points and it was described by all parties as a productive meeting.

%dv (12. 409)

Via Super Punch, we learn that supermarkets in Canada are labelling food with a “T” symbol if it’s sourced from the United States and impacted by tariffs. I support this development even at the risk of discounting the role of the consumer in boycotting products exported from America, these extra duties may well seriously harm sales but to be fair it’s also the constant threat of annexation (Ⓣrump in the same breath extolling the economy boon that the surcharges borne by the shopping public will bring—and again we all have trade deficits with our grocery stores—and offering to eliminate them should one become the fifty-first state or relocate all manufacturing to the US) and moreover having RFK, Jr in charge of the Food and Drug Administration and safety regulations (which the administration regards as barriers to free trade) that make the prospect surpassingly unpalatable to the point of down right dangerous to health and wellbeing.

synchronoptica

one year ago: university protests (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Turkish Star Wars plus assorted links to revisit

eight years ago: security keys, the EPA’s graphic charter, a mismanaged Monopoly, war-drums plus Trump’s daughter at the G20

nine years ago: pop stars and the early internet plus a pioneer of information theory

twelve years ago: architecture of choice for supermarkets

pontifex maximus (12. 401)

After a reign of thirteen years and recently overcoming a serious bout of double-pneumonia, Pope Francis has passed away from a stroke at the age of 88. Having recovered and returning to a full schedule which included a busy Holy Week and a public Easter mass just the day prior, the first leader of the Catholic church from Latin America and first member of the Jesuit order elected to the office, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, taking the regnal name in tribute to Francis of Assisi, throughout his life and career—quickly rising in the ranks though hierarchy did not seem to matter much to him, archbishop of Buenos Aires and created a cardinal and thus papabile by John Paul II in 2001—his pontificate was characterised by personal humility and a focus on mercy, too progressive for some, particularly the conservative and regressive American church with his support of immigrants, environmental stewardship and strong condemnation of nationalist politics and whilst promising failed to deliver for many liberal congregants who welcomed Francis’ message of inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community, the divorced and recalcitrant and expanded roles of women in governance, failing short of doctrinal change. Francis, however, was transformative for the institution, leaving a legacy of like-minded appointees who may one day be able to affect the reforms that he began, eschewing clericalism and authority, saying the Church’s shepherds should “smell of sheep.” Francis willed he be interned in an unadorned grave outside the Vatican proper in the cemetery of Santa Maria Maggiore with a simple headstone bearing only Franciscus. During the sede vacante until the papal conclave, the Irish-American prelate Kevin Farrell, camerlengo, master of the household, will act as regent of the Holy See. The pope chose the motto Miserando atque eligendo, lowly but chosen, from the homilies of the Venerable Bede glossing on St Matthew’s writings on vocation and service.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), David Lynch’s pavilion for Milan Design Week, Footloose plus Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue

seven years ago: North Korean nuclear capabilities plus a visit to Neustädtles

eight years ago: more links to enjoy, revisiting Paradise Lost plus IKEA’s emergency relationship stations

nine years ago: the Queen’s birthday, dirty money plus the heckler’s veto

eleven years ago: in the flow

gleichschaltung (12. 393)

From the relatively contemporaneous neologism developing apace with electrification, the term which historians employ to describe the system that Adolf Hitler used to impose totalitarian coordination and control over all aspects of German society within the constitution bounds of the Weimar Republic—from the press, to the economy, to culture and education—and refers to the conversion of alternating to direct current, technically rectification or phasing—it is usually translated in the socio-political sense of Nazification as “synchronisation” or “bringing into line.” The Nazis adopted similar terminology, like Ausschaltung, the act of switching off, the deletion of anyone counter to this fusion of party and state. Enabled by a series of laws enacted following Hitler’s election as chancellor in the space of nineteen months that undergirded various orders and decrees: measures include the declaration martial law following the burning of the Reichstag that suspended civil liberties and the media outlet, a cover for voter intimidation and suppression of opposition parties ahead of the general election; the formally titled “Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich” suspending parliament and giving the executive the power to pass legislation without them—called the Enabling Act, Ermächtigungsgesetz; deploying chancellery-appointed governors in each constituent state to reconstitute local legislatures according to ballots cast in the above 5 Match 1933 elections; the Law for the Restoration of a Professional Civil Service which dismantled the bureaucracy. Later supplemented by the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda to promote Nazi values and prejudices through clubs and associations (infiltrating existing ones and establishing compulsory membership in new ones) and oversee news and entertainment, and industry and trade unions were also aligned. Those whose loyalty was deemed unimpeachable, regardless of station or influence, were rewarded with the Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) programme with vacation resorts, hobbyists groups, vocational opportunities and motor clubs, leading to the building of the Autobahn network and the Volkswagen—which also aided in the perception that they were bolstering the German economy through make-work initiatives.

turnabout is fair play (12. 385)

Though neither “kissing ass” to placate his malignant narcissism nor advancing retaliatory tariffs, a move by China that has only escalated the trade war, without a matching concession from the US (America has not doubled duty on exports from Europe and halved its schedule announced on Liberation Day but the blanket ten percent over and above any established scheme is still there as are last month’s tariffs on steel and aluminium and auto exports), the Europe Union (accused of being specifically established to cheat America) is underestimating its power and has an unprecedented chance to establish itself as a true counterweight and alternative to US hegemony.  Trump did back down over the bond market, although not before engaging in some insider trading, and those rates were based on deficits in terms of good exchanged only (we all have a trade imbalance with our preferred supermarket), not services like banking and tech that are the chief US exports, and Europe had the capability to hasten the retreat from the safe haven of American debt if it uncoupled itself from fintech and franchises with a variety of tools already in its quiver: taxing social media, building up its own alternatives and curtailing non-domestic credit payments, which while bank debit cards have been nearly universally accepted for some time, it was not until the last decade that Visa became widely honoured. The consumer plays a big part too, as Canada has shown, with boycotts being more potent than a symbolic tit-for-tat—and that sentiment is a prevailing factor in Europe’s strength: they play by the rules, at times to their detriment, and when there is already a widening credibility gap for the US, and still believe in science and incontrovertible facts (global warming, the climate catastrophe, that race and gender are social constructs, the dignity of the worker, social safety nets and the common weal), not only making the euro a more attractive reserve currency by pivoting away from US-based services but also by further denying the aspiring petrostate another market to encroach upon by holding the lead in clean energy. The Russian invasion of Ukraine was in part a proxy war to supply Europe with natural gas from two competing bidders and the EU is well-positioned to free itself from both.

synchronoptica

one year ago: photographing the pyramids (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: a curious optical illusion 

eight years ago: more airport security theatre, Middle East diplomacy from the Trump administration plus more gun-violence in America

nine years ago: renderings of emoji across different platforms, the paper airplanes of Peter Max plus making Iceland a safe haven for freedom of expression

eleven years ago: the Saar protectorate plus the photography of Alfred Eisenstadt

people were getting yippy (12. 380)

Though the markets reacted with a rally that restored some of the trillions in wealth evaporated in the chaos of the past few days, nothing is fixed by this pause for bespoke tariffs—the universal tax of ten percent is being levied on exports from essentially every country on Earth and for Chinese goods, at the time of writing, facing a 125% duty. This is America’s Brexit moment: the multi-front trade war may have been polarised between Washington and Beijing but this negotiation period of three months is highly unlikely to net any real progress—especially through the lens of the UK’s departure from the EU and the drawn out complexity of leaving and reintegrating with continental partners as a bloc that is still fraught with challenges and damaged trade relations. China’s refusal to withdraw its retaliatory measures and to go toe-to-toe with Trump will only escalate matters. And while stocks may have pivoted in response to this less worse news, the credibility is squandered not only by this abrupt turn-about, that the US flinched, but moreover there’s no guarantee that negotiators could keep their end of a bargain and it unclear what if any concessions would be offered in return for relocating manufacturing or loosening regulations on environmental and safety standards. For a brief time it seemed that Trump would not be cowed by the markets—and from his telling, it was always part of genius plan—it seems that he was not wholly untethered to economic forces and nearly as one can surmise, the threat to the bond exchange (investors, foreign and domestic, generally retreating to buying and holding US debt as a safe haven in times of broader turmoil) with the usual flock not materialising this time was sufficient to spook his advisors and convince him to change course. With little investor appetite for government securities, the US would need to offer higher interest to finance their debts, whose rates determine all others and could very quickly make borrowing for anyone very difficult and lead to a panic. China and Trump are both willing to gamble with the economic future, though the former is positioned to gain in the long-term by standing fast in this trial if it is able to shift its focus from exports toward consumption whereas for the latter, the market is very much saturated. Unfortunately countries uncoupled from doing business together are generally disengaged from working together on tackling bigger problems, like foreign policy and the environment, as well.

maga maoism (12. 376)

Though government officials, members of the armed services and civil servants are not yet subject to an explicit loyalty oath, pledging fealty to Trump, we learn—via Boing Boing—that there’s been an unsubtle change in dress-code on the Hill and in the Cabinet in the form a garish oversized golden lapel pin, replacing the usual flags and other charges, of a bust of the president. As China is adopting America’s own tactics when it comes too punishing tariffs that disrupt the global economic order (after relenting for most other nations, which is a positive sign but the vacillation runs counter to any of the stated aims of attracting foreign factories when such longterm commitments betray a capacious time horizon with the real objective seemingly to create a fire-sale on commodities by crashing the market), the US has reached back to the days of Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution for a show of allegiance and blind faith as regressive policies, urging unwarranted patience for a big gamble that is certain to fail spectacularly. The latest escalation was in part prompted by JD Vance referring to the Chinese workforce as peasants, which is not only insulting but a deflection of the US’s own feudalism and indenturedness, beholden to Trump’s ruinous ego and incompetence.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the opposite of Schadenfreude (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: Trump and the Saudis plus the toads are spawning

eight years ago: Russia and LiveJournal

nine years ago: swanky office attire plus Jedi stew

ten years ago: a trip to the US, from whale oil to petroleum plus a monopoly on sainthood

orange monday (12. 373)

Dismissing the idea floated a ninety-day pause on imposing blanket tariffs worldwide to allow targeted exporters time for negotiation as “fake news” and digging into his posture of havoc and disruption, threatening China with an additional fifty percent duty on top of those already levied in response to reciprocal imports coming in from the US, investor uncertainty is pushing world stock markets into bear territory—the term derived from traders who engaged in short-selling assets with a commodity to back it up, the “bear-skin jobbers” selling pelts (the stock) before the bear was caught and marks a period of fear and pessimism. Faced with a rate exceeding one hundred percent, China vowed further retaliation and ready for a war of attrition. The above talk of a period of temporary stoppage from a bogus tweet picked up by several outlets out of hope and desperation caused multi-trillion dollar swings before the reprieve proved false. Though Europe and the UK seem to be better placed to weather the shock, repercussions won’t necessarily be contained by the US economy with inflation, job-cuts and slowed growth all around. The spillover effects of a wider, protracted conflict of protectionism will have lasting implications and may signal a change in international trade and economic integration.

greed (12. 368)

The unapologetically bold and unyielding typeface by Neil Summerour for foundry Positype—perfect for this twentytwentyfive moment—is based on the typography of US banknotes, originally planned as a series of fonts illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins. Released on inauguration day, that singular vice seemed an all encompassing symbol for capturing the enshitifying gilded age we’ve been thrust into. Among the challenges the designer faced (aside from possible arrest from this administration for defacing legal tender) was crafting a lower case equivalent since dollar bills are all-caps, ANNUIT COEPTIS—God favours our undertaking!—no need to shout, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, and crafting a complete set of numerals outside of 0, 1, 2 and 5. The typeface has the complete set of Latin glyphs and diacritics for every language, including Vietnamese and others often left out of bespoke fonts not as a testament of universality but rather to be inclusive. More from Print Magazine at the link up top.

the wisdom of the crowds (12. 362)

A bit of social media sleuthing and reverse engineering suggests that the Trump administration contrived its nonsensical tariff formula by asking AI and set those custom rates per the confident suggestion of a chatbot, which are not reciprocal to import duties at all but rather their trade surplus divided by total exports. Economist and frequent financial contributor to The New Yorker and other publications James Surowiecki obtained similar solutions when prompting various AI models with the question “how to fix trade imbalance.” We suspected that infusing artificial intelligence into everything and the attendant slop produced eventually would drive us collectively over a cliff but wasn’t suspecting such a mark, like a kid rushing to get an overdue homework assignment completed, would be its agent, native and wilful ignorance, shortcuts and retribution conspiring to further fray the global supply chain whose brittleness was on display not too long ago during the pandemic and unleash havoc on world markets and international relations.

eighty-nine seconds til midnight (12. 361)

Via the New Shelton wet/dry, we are directed to this scrolly-telling essay (in the style of the artists from the sadly former Nib, from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (previously) blog entitled “Mars Attacks” about how Elon Musk’s and his colonial aspirations for the Red Planet, as a part of a general aversion towards rules, could transform into a flagrant violation of the Outer Space Treaty, which far from a relic of the Cold War has served to preserve humankind here on Earth by preventing weaponisation of the higher ground and includes liability rules for damage caused by spacecraft, the safe return of fallen astronauts, an international rocket registry and the prohibition of projecting national sovereignty or claiming domain. Surely it is the intent of Muskovite Martians to proclaim their independence from terrestrial entanglements, however that first Virginia Dare might be reliant on Earth-based resources and wealth, and even if the flag nation does nothing to stop this assertion, other signatories will, launching a new geopolitical conflict over extraterrestrial claims.

10x10 (12. 360)

kapmifmif: a study morphological emic distribution classes through a constructed language—see previously   

murder on flight 502: the star-studded 1975 television disaster movie gets the Poseidon’s Underworld treatment 

blanket rate: bad assumptions and arithmetic informs Trump tariff regime, which is tanking markets globally

mira calligraphiae monumenta: paging through a sixteenth century illuminated model book on scribal excellence rebelling against the standardisation of the printing press—with embellishes reminiscent of the Voynich manuscript and Codex Seraphinianus 

clickens: judge chicken portraits on various personality traits and harness the wisdom of the masses—via Kottke   

salmon run: a beautifully crafted early home arcade game speaks to swimming upstream 

sala di consultazione: free access to the Vatican Library’s digital archives 

elbows up: Canada plans retaliation over US punitive duty deal plus GOP senators side with Democrats to rebuke the proposal to levy additional tariffs on its northern neighbour 

real id: US government is beginning to require an internal passport, which is not automatically issued   

mezameta: the role of katakana in loan words, gairaigo, scientific binomials and transcription and the problem with conveying the shifting meaning of woke

synchronoptica 

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), standard lunar time plus vulgar expressions of indifference

seven years ago: Iran’s faux Western fast foods, bi-lingual Braille plus a North American medicinal plant map

eight years ago: more links to enjoy

nine years ago: vintage Canadian tourist posters plus a Rosary ring

ten years ago: the Anthropocene plus the architecture of folklore

liberation day (12. 359)

With years of lead time and staking his presidency and the system of global trade on his counterintuitive instincts, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on trade partners across the world with a flat duty for most foreign goods and custom levels for countries labelled the worst offenders. Countries subject to a ten percent base rate for all or most items include the UK, Brazil, Singapore, El Salvador and Saudi Arabia. There are no additional reciprocations for Canada and Mexico but no relief either—Cuba, Belarus, North Korea and Russia, already subject to heavy sanctions also were exempted. For removing all duties on US exports, Israel was also excepted. A quarter tariff is imposed for all imported automobiles worldwide. Declaring a national economic emergency in response to trade deficits, the European Union, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, Cambodia and South Africa face some of the highest rates—with not only tariffs counted as barriers to trade but also regulations like quality and safety standards. Australian imposts were received as “not the act of a friend,” but met with bemusement as the tax-regime was broken down regional, including targeting the overseas territories of Heard and McDonald islands, uninhabited barren volcanic islands off on Antarctica. Poised to fall short of its aim of stimulating domestic manufacturing, these developments have rattled both markets and consumers with the global community reluctant to start a trade war and a race to the bottom that leads to price rises and slow growth.

9x9 (12.357)

gondor assault small group: a poem for the first of April  

unitedhealthcare: US attorney Pam Boni general will seek the death penalty in the slaying of company CEO  

yield my time: Senator Cory Booker’s speech on the chamber floor at eighteen hours and counting 

dataviz: an infographic challenge round to recreate the WEB Du Bois economic and demographic charts as presented during the 1900 Paris Exposition using modern tools—via Quantum of Sollazo  

nearby jobs: Chinese omni-app points flexible users to local gig opportunities and side-quests—shake it ’til you make it 

unabhängigkeitserklärung: from Der Zeit, Europe frees itself from American hegemony but starving their attention—via Kottke  

wyld stallyns: texting conversation demonstrates that we’re in the wrong timeline  

mora, negare, deponere: archaeologists uncover fresco foretelling the coming of Saint Luigi 

 i scorn the morn: ‘conjugated nouns’ by linguist Arnold M Zwicky

confessions of a young exile (12. 350)

Via friend of the blog sans pareil, Nag on the Lake, we are directed to the reissue of the classic guide to fleeing America by Mark Ivor Satin, neopacifist and radical centrist and expatriate himself, displaced from university in Texas in the late sixties for refusing to take a loyalty oath to the constitution and escaping to Toronto to avoid conscription in the Vietnam War and founding a post-immigration assistance programme for other US refugees, eventually publishing a manual with practical advice on immigration, an underground bestseller with over one hundred thousand copies distributed during the first printing in 1968. Back in circulation since 2017 during Trump’s first term, the guide is garnering greater readership as relations strain and students, educators and scientists (who cannot learn, teach or research in this environment) are pledging to move to Canadian institutions and there are many parallels with the original impetus of the author and current times, though Canada—and other US allies—was never before the target of conquest and punishment, and instead of draft-dodging as a response to vindictive and destructive US policy, it’s a brain-drain and boycotts (regardless of the outcome of capricious tariffs one could give up US-produced goods, streaming services, fast food, apps ecosystems—and make ones own—and branding point-of-sales systems, you’ll survive) or the account of enslaved individual who made it to Canada in 1853 on the Underground Railroad that prefaces and contrasts the original foreword. The stakes are high for the American Project, and there’s much more ponder at the from LitHub at the link above.

9x9 (12. 340)

us agency for global media: Voice of America director files lawsuit over ordered closure—a federal judge issues a temporary stay   

pecksniffian paragraph: Trump as a Dickens’ stock character over his sermonising on transgender military service members   

entomological adultery: the 1912 Cameraman’s Revenge painstakingly animated by Władysław Starevicz 

deterministic bit generator: a financial institution’s experiment with quantum computing generates certifiably random numbers with applications in auditing and encryption—see also   

the memes have entered the chat: the internet responds to Signalgate (aka whiskeyleaks)

arts décoratifs: rediscovering Betty Joel, Britain’s forgotten maven of Art Deco design—part of a centenary celebration of the movement—see previously

the population of an old pear tree: an 1870 work by Belgian author Ernest van Bruyssel celebrating biodiversity and insect life 

import/export: ahead of the planned tariff action for 2 April “Day of Liberty” Trump announces twenty-five percent duties on foreign cars and components, triggering retaliation 

are you sure ms kerger—because he is red: NPR and PBS testify before congress with its federal funding at stake—see previously

synchronoptica

one year ago: anatomised police lineups (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit, a classic from U2 plus a Nordic Easter witch

seven years ago: the dynamic Cosmos, more links to enjoy plus Everything’s Coming Up Simpsons

eight years ago: backmasking and the Satanic panic, the show with the mouse plus the Bombay Sapphire distillery

nine years ago: Easter greetings, revisiting the Leipzig Panometer plus a canting dialect

ten years ago: Holy Blood, Holy Grail, even more links, poet Paul Verlaine plus affecting a holiday accent

politikkimut akuliunneq (12. 334)

Framed as a bald demonstration of power and meddling in its political affairs and right to self-determination, out going prime minister Múte B Egede has denounced a pair of upcoming visits by Trump’s national security advisor and the second lady as “foreign interference” and has called for the international community to step up its support, warning that appeasement and retreating whispers will only embolden America’s imperial ambitions. Others should take up this example and be bold enough to call the regime what it is. Fresh from recent elections that saw a shift in power to the Democratic Party, the incoming leader called the delegation disrespectful amidst deliberative coalition talks to form the next government and an unbidden charm offensive as talks of annexation persist. Though the itineraries are separate, the security advisor and energy secretary will join Asha Vance to attend the Avannaata Qimussersu, the territory’s premier dogsled race.

i love king charles—sounds like a great idea (12. 327)

In between issuing two new executive orders designed to further undermine recent judicial decisions against the assault on the administrative state to void rulings that the OPM could not order another agency to terminate employees and affirm loyalty oaths and that DOGE could not be refused access to “siloed” data, Trump, on his social media website, linked to an article from a UK tabloid suggesting that during his upcoming, second state visit, Charles will make a “secret offer” for the United States to join the Commonwealth as its fifty-seventh associate member, connected as former territories through historic and cultural ties, in order to dampen tension over pulling in Canada as the fifty-first state and escalating trade disputes and might be received as an alternative to the tenuous relationship to NATO and the EU. While floated and endorsed by the Queen, reportedly, during Trump’s first term, claims that it is being entertained at the highest levels challenge veracity. Charles III as the titular head of state with the wanna be king in fealty sounds preferable however symbolic and outside the realm of possibility and would possibly deflate tariffs by placating his ego. PfRC has reached out to the Commonwealth for comment.

gentlemen—you can’t fight in here—this is the war room (12. 324)

Though denied as rumour and fake news, the Pentagon had set up a briefing for Elon Musk it seems on the potential for conflict with China. This meeting, if it occurs as scheduled, follows the abrupt and unexpected closure of the Office of the Secretary of Defence’s Net Assessment group, an internal think-tank projecting decades into the military’s future and produced prognoses and reports of long-term threats based on their research, and the meeting in the Tank, a secure conference room, privileging the unelected bureaucrat to unprecedented information on American strategic capabilities and its intelligence on China’s perhaps is the armed forces’ five bullets to DOGE to keep them from culling vital positions and funding within the military needed for such a stand-off—already having pressured the Pentagon from buying jet fighters made by one of his space-launch competitors. Giving the CEO of a defence contractor access to this level of information and a role in influencing direction, plus wanting to infiltrate Chinese markets, is certainly a conflict of interest and presents grave consequences for forward posture.