slowwavesleep@pm.me

Among a great variety and number of podcasters, guests who make the rounds of podcasts and channels and shows of the independent content-scape: creators: people at home and at work commenting in the curated social media culture that is YouTube (which I appreciate the work that has been done in this area by YouTube to have created communitities of comment spaces around ideas and artistic performances, social comnentary, documentary shorts, true crime, life hacks, current-events, our world, space science, Timothée Chalamet—video content comment space that I spend some time in, not a lot, but the time I do spend reading and, sometimes, joining in, there are, more often than not, people getting along pretty well, and from all corners of the world. I don't often have a good sense where someone lives, whose comment I may have just read, and where another who just replied may live, but theres's a civility that I just wouldn't be there if there weren't).

But, among the personages I encounter, lately, it's pretty common to see people pause before reporting on the latest events, or before tackling a response to a question.

We are in a time of things falling apart in particular ways that are unique, yet are similar fundamentally to things in human experience that have come before.

In a few days Taiwan will run out of power. Factories, homes, businesses, government. In a few days, the country will run out of power. Chips for devices, computers—everything—will govin short supply. Sonething will be done. The United States is busy wrapping up the war they are winning (yes ... they). China is right there. Hasn't Taiwan figured for some time in the mind of the West?

The United States will not win the War on Iran. An estimate of an armed force of two or three million would be necessary to counter the million men of the Islamic Republic of Iran. A few days ago, several top leaders—and without security detail—attended some events in Tehran, well-attended by hundreds of thousands or millions of Shia.

——•••——

There are around 400,000 Marines. Trump is sending 2,500 Marines—a Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is a:

–Marine

Reinforced

Battalion–

capable of conducting

Marine Expeditionary

lOperations Ashore

with Attachments

(such as Intelligence, Logistics, and what is needed for the Battalion to be relatively self-sustaining for a limited period of time, and an Air Component (Helicopters, Fixed-Wing Strike Attillery)).

These Marines will have been deployed around the world Offshore as Carrier Battle Groups, waiting to respond at a moment's notice to any Emergencies that might occur.

It is unclear at the moment which MEU (rhymes with 'few,' as in 2,500 Marines, a single MEU—too few).

••• end of the first part •••