It is Sunday, and you caught us in transition mode between “production” and “assembly.” Big progress on the “Traveling Music” book about exotic ventures in hot spots around the world. The manuscript has been moved successfully from one in basket to another. That was enough to prompt an afternoon of dining and horticulture and left us way behind on the review of the extraordinary events in progress.

The actual decision-making was after lunch, and thus may have erroneous components similar to the difference between 6 and 9 oz. versions of Malbeck. We put Splash on the manuscript project that will run through the next transition to Summer. The rest of us got the “Fall of the West!” beat. The consensus of our expert opinion is that the American political campaign provides the timing, tempo and excitement for the next 20-months.

We can already see some of the elements well in progress. The Ukraine mess is one of the pivots in that. Sustaining the carnage has drawn down the arsenals amassed in the Cold War. The world is building more, but production of artillery shells tanks and training will take time. Like 20-months for much of it. So, all that production available right around November, 2024.

So, part of the trick is to keep track of who is dancing. We like to see who is being advantaged by whatever sensational story is in the news. Without the partisan emotion it is quite entertaining. Part of why the election fervor is so frantic is what is at stake. Recent events provide backdrop and context. The arrest of a former Chief Executive for a misdemeanor crime years out of date was striking. It also provides a template for how things could work in the next change of power, should there be one. There is some muttering about that. Like, what sort of intensity does it bring to a campaign if losing the election actually means the start of a long legal defense.

We haven’t done our elections like this before, conversations about the last one notwithstanding. So we anticipate this twenty-months is going to have some moments of sudden motion. It may be giddy, what with the intensity. The showboat media story of the Bud Light advertising campaign is just the beginning. We can only imagine the sorts of things they have in store for us!

We pledge to try to keep track of it to the degree necessary to see where the larger currents are going. That is as far as the Socotra House Legal Section is willing to go as of press time. But there will be several of those over the next 20-months. This is going to be interesting. It may not be a tango, exactly, but we are certain to be doing some kind of dance!

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