Yep. Tribal bonding too.
Early on in the first debacle (2016–2020), some commentator from one of the African countries (I think it was Nigeria) said it perfectly: trump is a troll. He is trolling the world. This is all about reveling in stupidity, to prove the point that the ones who are upset by it can’t make you stop. It’s just abuse for the sake of abuse, by people for whom that is what is left to want in life. What we can do about that whole make-up seems to me to be the core of the problem. In New Mexico, various small rodents will gather up whole bunches and clusters of cholla balls (little detachable thorn-balls that are how cholla carries its spines) and pack them in around the entries to their burrows. So that anything that tries to dig them out will decide to go try something else instead. (Until you have had these in your fingers, and transferred them from one hand to another several times, it’s hard to appreciate what a good strategy that is. Reflect for a while on trying to get one of these out of the tongue of a dog….) We need some kind of a rake. Eric > On Sep 8, 2026, at 5:24, Eric Charles <[email protected]> wrote: > > Counterpoint: All evidence is that it is working 100% perfectly. It is *not* > an exercise in branding, it is an exercise in distraction, and you are > distracted, The Atlantic is distracted, and CNN is distracted. It is an > effort to get us to be talking less about how bad it is on the ground in our > economy, how we are not-winning a war we never had to get into in the first > place, etc. > > Best, > Eric > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > On Mon, Sep 7, 2026 at 3:25 PM Jochen Fromm <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> It is a form of rebranding, isn't it? Marketing is the only thing Donald >> Trump used to be good at. But in this case it alienates and confuses >> everybody. >> >> The Atlantic writes "American students are now the best at geography because >> there is only one possible answer to every question" >> https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/08/everything-called-america-now/688443/ >> >> What is the name of the lake? Lake America. What is the name of the gulf? >> Gulf of America. What is the name of the state? New America. >> >> -J. >> >> >> -------- Original message -------- >> From: Roger Frye <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> >> Date: 9/7/26 8:47 PM (GMT+01:00) >> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> >> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Rename all the things >> >> Leave Jersey, York and Amsterdam, Hampshire, England, Brunswick, Orleans, >> Haven, Bedford, Rochelle, … alone! >> >> > On Sep 7, 2026, at 12:34 PM, Jochen Fromm <[email protected] >> > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> > >> > Do you find this urge to rename everything to America ("Gulf of America" >> > and "Lake America" and now "New America") embarassing? Will it help to >> > make America great again? I have doubts. >> > https://edition.cnn.com/2026/09/06/politics/trump-map-renames-new-mexico-as-new-america >> > >> > -J. >> > >> > .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - . .-. ... / .- .-. . / .-- .-. --- -. --. / >> > ... --- -- . / .- .-. . / ..- ... . ..-. ..- .-.. >> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fbit.ly%2fvirtualfriam&c=E,1,GSluXsWiG2WKhASoVHMFVmMbfxDAMbjkRItlshrWEuAu0dq2a57XmpEel13YDskOCdg9sznwqK1x-5OV-s7BTmxOqTprYvRTUekn306Q1z8NTvk09dFR&typo=1> >> > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fmailman%2flistinfo%2ffriam_redfish.com&c=E,1,uC1FAmukUH_LdhyrhsOI4r53RVlyfwAQk0jmTWdQ5WAyIa54F4bW7RewmbOhM3e8sgICrp6qdbVJ-kar5pNQ0UhZEdamvulwDqbIre7HrMWzhoZ0xcYDtDfSo0k,&typo=1> >> > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2ffriam-comic.blogspot.com%2f&c=E,1,ZWzaxigxUl64BmuTu-N5mMrYxe4WbR6QcyF01ArJMQBHL51zEfR_Noy47MW1DygRuTOnGeWnTeFJrPSOQdaDl1xzJ7kEjrMm9w61y8Mh3xI,&typo=1> >> > archives: 5/2017 thru present >> > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> > <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fredfish.com%2fpipermail%2ffriam_redfish.com%2f&c=E,1,CZcNjIZdKw95h9qzLmwuaGL0DuZ86G9LHNsqU3CKRyKnxRJsNBnxqlJtOXaWWFC5aXXn_C2-EtcwKDhpfo9A1FxVnUzSMOfuqOznauyo1LhmgA1mAtU,&typo=1> >> > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> >> >> .- .-.. .-.. / ..-. --- --- - 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