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10 Dec, 7 tweets, 2 min read
The weirdest thing about a civil conflict is how life will go on normally in parallel with things like street battles and assassinations. Netflix will keep launching series and people will go to school and work and get haircuts and whatnot while the civil state disintegrates.
People will go to extreme lengths to keep their lives as normal as possible. You'll have an open gun battle in the center of town, while two miles away, parents throw a birthday party for their kid with friends over.
I see this right now with my business in Myanmar, where our suppliers are largely unimpacted by the violence. In my past life, one of the weirdest things I ever saw was during the invasion of Iraq.
We we were part of an armored column, lined up on the outskirts of Hillah, preparing to attack the city. It was like 7 AM. Artillery pieces were on one side of the road in a soccer field. As they readied to open fire, an Iraqi guy walks out of his house on the other side.
He's wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. He's heading to the office. He walks parallel to the column, *toward* Hillah, swinging his briefcase, like it's a normal day. I thought, "good for him."

Shortly after that, the 105s opened up and the tanks advanced.
Yes, this exactly. Life goes on amid the fighting and chaos. It's a mind-bender.
Folks have been sending me this by @indica. Read it. He explains this more eloquently than I did.
gen.medium.com/i-lived-throug…

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Brandon Friedman Profile picture
10 Dec
One reason "Americans" don't care about the dissolution of democracy has to do with how we consume media. We choose our own media. Algorithms tell us what to care about. 🧵
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
Millions inside the Fox News/conservative Facebook bubble are preparing for war because they're in an echo chamber whipping themselves into a fascist frenzy. They're speaking of plans to enlist "shock troops" while buying ammo and passing state-level voter suppression laws.
They're doing this in the open. They're posting family Christmas photos with their kids brandishing military-style weapons. They're doing it as a performative threat to their political opponents.

I doomscroll all day long on political Twitter, so I see what's coming.
Read 8 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
9 Dec
Pinterest predicts tea will be a big trend in 2022. No doubt. But when I posted a thread recently saying tea culture and marketing in the U.S. was feminized relative to the rest of the world, I got yelled at. This article, however, is a perfect example. 🧵
business.pinterest.com/pinterest-pred…
That the American tea industry goes along with these stereotypes makes little sense from a business standpoint. You're leaving half the potential market on the table. It makes even less sense when you consider the U.S. is the *only* country that does this.
Anyway, this has been a big motivator for @RakkasanTea. We didn't launch the company to create "tea for bros" or "tea for dudes." But we did want to grow the overall market by making tea products for everyone, *including* men, to bring the U.S. in line with the rest of the world.
Read 4 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
8 Dec
As bad as Zuckerberg, Musk and Bezos are, I sometimes wonder what it would be like if they had the personalities of someone like, say, Erik Prince. Like if their multi-billionaire obsessions weren't e-commerce, electric cars and space flight, but actual private armies.
For example, Ron DeSantis is attempting to allocate $3.5 million to create his own Florida State Guard. But what if Elon Musk said, "Ron, give me some say in the project and I'll give you a BILLION DOLLARS for your own State Guard."
So now you're combining the resources of billionaires with the interests and state legitimacy of an anti-democratic governor for an armed force.

Neither Zuckerberg, Musk, nor Bezos would do that, but there are plenty of other billionaires and things are weird now. So heads up.
Read 4 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
3 Dec
Florida governor Ron DeSantis is either openly preparing for a break from the federal government or he wants his followers to *believe* he is. Either way, it's extremely dangerous for the future of the United States.

🧵
2. Yesterday DeSantis called for the reactivation of the World War II-era Florida State Guard. State Guards aren't inherently bad or unusual. They supplement the National Guard in 23 states.

What's unusual is De Santis' timing and motivation.
cnn.com/2021/12/02/pol…
3. DeSantis has watched the U.S. military shut down potential rogue states over covid vaccine requirements.

As a current U.S. Navy Reserve officer, he knows his way around the military. That means DeSantis knows he'll never fully control the Florida National Guard.
Read 9 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
21 Nov
Some thoughts: I suspect a small, but not insignificant, part of Biden's falling numbers has to do with his administration's less-than-ideal handling of what the public administration world calls "street level bureaucracy." That is, agencies that deal directly with voters. 🧵
2. Unlike, say, Defense, State or the Treasury, the Postal Service, Small Business Administration, VA and CDC all interact with voters directly. And with exception of VA, USPS, SBA and the CDC have all flopped in the last year.
3. This is a departure from past Democratic administrations. Effective governance is the primary job of the White House and President, not passing legislation. Previous administrations took that charge seriously.
Read 6 tweets
Brandon Friedman Profile picture
19 Nov
Wasn't going to say much about this, but the tweet is getting QT ratioed as it spreads. Since this is my business, here goes: People are dunking on a tech bro saying tea is gendered. I'm seeing lots of women, immigrants and non-Americans express particular dismay. 🧵
2. Tea itself is not gendered, and tea culture, outside the U.S. is not gendered. For example, my introduction to tea came from guys draped in 7.62 rounds carrying AKs. But for whatever reason, in the U.S., tea is marketed primarily to women. Look at the colors and imagery. ImageImageImage
3. It's feminine, not masculine. I don't know if they're marketing to women because men (more specifically white men) don't drink tea as much, or if men don't drink tea as much BECAUSE they're not being marketed to. But you see this everywhere in the U.S.
Read 6 tweets

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