Fox 5 Announces Stage Three of Cherry Blossom Deployment. There are six, but as of yesterday the ‘florets have extended. Halfway to Stage Six and full blossom!).

Thursdays are filled with normal excitement but there is more today. The Cherry Blossoms hit Third Degree yesterday in defiance of the cool Canadian breeze over the city. There is a predictable discussion about consequences of the return of the chill to budding trees. You know, “Will it kill the buds? Shorten full bloom even if delayed?” So there is that aspect of controversy on a bright day with a little bite to it. The other activity is the two-meeting aspect of Thursday mornings. There is not just the daily meeting of the Writer’s Section to determine content generation, but the weekly for the Chairman’s staff to sum it all up succinctly in one slide. One. It is kind of fun to follow, but the idea that all of it is actually real is always a little startling.

That is some of the real impact from all the strange stuff going on out in the wider world, and how it is being shaped to develop the themes that will shape public discussion here at home.

By some accounts we are still- sort of- at “peace.” We have wrestled with the events reflected in the data streams we once knew as “news.” Over time, following the “crime of the week” human interest stories mixed up with the partisan commentary, we have come around to the idea that what we knew as warfare is different now. Like the vast cloud of data floating around about all of us. That incudes everything from the preferred click-bait on your phone to target-quality locational information on what pocket you have it in.

Like everything, the digital world is just part of a new landscape. But it is far beyond anything the Founders could have considered in framing a social system. To a degree, that means some of our Constitutional rights have been overwhelmed without discussion. It would require some serious discussion to analyze the nature of the changes in progress around us. Given the social tone at this moment of narrative development, that seems an unlikely course of events.

There is actually a second meeting on Thursdays, sometimes with a speaking part. All the media narrative streams have a purpose, which is to manipulate public opinion. That has always been true, of course, but this is different and more pervasive in nature. Like teenagers who hold access to universal knowledge in their phones.

Beyond our digital world? It is Mud Month in Ukraine. There were rumors the Russian Big Spring Offensive would start around the time of the one-year anniversary of the invasion. The ground is transitioning from frosty to muddy and won’t dry sufficiently for the movement of armored vehicles until our Cherry Blossoms are on display in a few weeks. That part of the media n is tied to the soil

To keep things interesting, there was a Russian missile offensive overnight. Eighty-one munitions were launched at Ukrainian cities. A major nuclear power plant is now reliant on diesel back-up. With the possibility that disruption could result in a Chernobyl-style mass disaster.

So, that is Thursday and current events. For Socotra House, that is more a question of what activity is likely to generate business opportunities. The transition of attention from war in Europe to something more local is of interest. There is growing concern about the consequences of having an open border. Lindsay Graham was calling for US military operations against Mexican Cartels operating trans-national operations from Matamoros Province to Southside Chicago. So, at present it is a trial balloon to see if domestic unrest, criminal conduct, smuggling Fentanyl and people are powerful election themes.

The recent chill is giving all the players in this a little time to light sparks and see if they can find something that will burn with appropriate enthusiasm. There was talk last week about adopting a more aggressive position on enforcing the Border. What that might mean in terms of deconfliction with State Law and National Guard Enforcement, DHS and the Pentagon has yet to be determined. There are legal issues aplenty. Living in a time of transition is interesting, isn’t it? A sudden interest in Border Security is going to mean a lot of new contract support opportunities, you know?

Thankfully, most of us are done with the day once the content generation meeting is complete. It is a little chilly to walk anywhere interesting unless Happy Hour is at the end of it, so we will periodically check to see what is going on in narrative development. All will intensify into the streams of information, true and less so, that will rule the next twenty months!

Like that World Health Organization treaty we apparently going to join without going to the Senate for approval. These are most interesting times.

– Vic

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com