Nov 12, 2022·edited Nov 12, 2022Liked by Niccolo Soldo
Spirits here can be bartered. I had mine distilled by a family member, 10 liters. (It was 20, but we agreed to split in exchange for me just having to drop my grapes off after harvest.)
I'm putting it into 750ml wine bottles, they have infinite shelf life. Better than crypto! And more practical than physical gold.
Added bonus: it's palinka. It's something even women love. So the potential market is wide.
Nov 12, 2022·edited Nov 13, 2022Liked by Niccolo Soldo
I want to define the spirit of Substack: honest inquiry, learn and debate outside of the Overton window and not particularly heated, maybe even polite, old fashioned.
Let me know when the next Renaissance begins...probably when Gen Z are in adult diapers and Nouveau Haiti (the nation formerly known as the USA) is ruled by a Soetorid president again (Malia Obama's son or daughter) and China, Korea and Singapore manage the Tangier-style foreign concessions along the West Coast (Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles).
Well the Italian Renaissance was unruly and bloody, with all the city-states attacking each other. Nothing quite incentivises the pursuit of excellence than the struggle for survival. Da Vinci worked for the Duke of Milan as a military engineer etc.
I think anyone looking for an escape route out of the USA at this point may be the smartest person in the room. It is no longer the cleanest dirty shirt. It’s becoming more like Ukraine, not vice versa. It’s why the stupid war there seems to fit well with this administration. One corrupt corporatist oligarchy full of man children hinged at the waist with another one...tis the season .... fa la la la la ... and so it goes
We began planning our escape in May 2021. Hubby can get Italian, i.e. EU, citizenship through his grandfather. We sold everything and bought a 110 ft ocean going sailing yacht; we spent 10 months refitting and fine tuning, getting crew; she is on her way to Panama from the west coast where we will meet her and head to the Med in April. We are the fortunate ones and don't we know it. EU is more sane; we will be happy with LESS insanity. Don't know where we will end up, but if we can find some peace that is enough for us. The world has issues; we are hoping for the best.
Where is the best place to escape to? Just as a thought-experiment, where would make the best location for a possible Substackistan...a discrete bolt-hole for the escapees from the failing states of the post-democratic West?
Sounds amazing. Best of luck. You might consider a substack newsletter when you get there. There would be a lot of people interested in finding out about the experience of expatriation.
That tells you what he really thinks of the New Zealanders!
Theil sees the writing on the wall. Ballot harvesting is the new black. The USA is not going to be saved. The remaking of America along the lines of Brazil, South Africa and Lebanon is under way. Onshoring just means some parts will be able to pay off the bond-holders while others sink into state-failure.
Niccolo, interested to hear more about the Diaspora returnees. What brings them back? How well do they integrate into the 'old country'? What impact, if any, are they having?
Nov 12, 2022·edited Nov 12, 2022Liked by Niccolo Soldo
Can anyone in this esteemed Substack make the good faith case that JD Vance and/or Marco Rubio are genuine in their newfound populism? I assume most are skeptical, but I want to hear the counterpoints.
I think Vance is. He comes from a pretty low-income background and was a striver, but the reaction to the 2016 election made him realize that the elite in this country truly hate him and his background. So he said F them.
And according to a writer I trust, his initial hires are good.
Vance's presence is a safety-valve for populist sentiment, that's all. Vance himself is a lawyer and his children are (or will be) eligible for affirmative action. It remains to be seen how effective or enthusiastic he will work for those being replaced or for those ineligible for affirmative action. My guess is that he is being cultivated by the regime as a useful card to be played, should they ever need a politician to front a campaign as a 'populist'.
The fact that 'the elite in this country hate him' is utterly irrelevant. Politics is not about feelings. Vance may have made a few good hires, but the real test is how he reacts to the electoral fraud across the USA in the midterms. If Vance does not publicly acknowledge the normalisation of electoral fraud then you can be 100% certain that he is fake. Ditto affirmative action.
I brought up the elite's attitudes to explain why Vance has changed his tune since summer 2016. Some people have insisted it shows he's a phony and a flip-flopper, but witnessing important people having insane breakdowns (or at least pretending to) after Trump won had a profound effect on many people, myself included.
I agree about the elections issue being important.
Frankly, I think that we all pay way too much attention to celebrities in the first place. Most politicians are simply famous people larping as champions of this or that cause. They front the regime in one role or another. Their intentions, beliefs or sincerity are irrelevant.
The important thing is the degree to which the people are engaged, mobilised and active on their own behalf. The quantum of cohesion, mutual loyalty and pro-social energy is 1,000 times more important than the political character or ideological disposition of any government. The best representatives will do no good if the people are not engaged and actively pressuring them. Given a choice between a gov't I agreed with and an angry population determined to reassert the priority of its rights and wellbeing over all else, I'd prefer the latter anytime.
Things will not turn around until people stop talking about who they want to represent them and start asking why the electoral system is unable to offer meaningful choices or why a country with so much wealth has such an economically insecure population. Instead of looking to a representative 'messiah' figure to rescue them, people should wise up and look to themselves, their neighbours and anyone else rather than the elite.
The whole point of the exercise was developing a narrative for a political career. The details were perfect: absent father, feckless mother ruined by self-indulgence, trad grandma, redemption via military service, opportunity via elite higher education, marriage and kids and faith.
Vance offered his readers everything they could ever want: reinforcement of their unshakeable contempt for poor whites, reassurance that the system works brilliantly for those who just give it a try. This is parable for the Social Gospel of Red America in the 2020s. It is a log cabin fable for an electorate craving reassurance that something can be recovered from the wreckage of post-Cold War America if they only keep believing.
Forget the Kool Aid...this is Mountain Dew flavoured with snake oil.
1. My naïve take: truth will out. Eventually, reality always comes home to roost, even if it takes a long time.
2. There is some lag-time between when you begin ignoring a reality and when the consequences come back to bite you. The less tangible the reality, the longer the lag.
3. A sufficiently wealthy regime can simply absorb the consequences and keep ignoring reality if it wants. But eventually, hubris takes over and the regime tries to ignore realities that are too big to ignore. The lag time for these, however, is quite long.
4. Our regime just stepped over the point where it can absorb the consequences safely. The clock has begun ticking. The question is what it looks like, and who suffers, when the consequences begin to hit.
We'll be back to regularly scheduled programming this week when I return to Dalmatia.
I find the use and abuse of alcohol unimpressive but I still enjoy your writing immensely
Spirits here can be bartered. I had mine distilled by a family member, 10 liters. (It was 20, but we agreed to split in exchange for me just having to drop my grapes off after harvest.)
I'm putting it into 750ml wine bottles, they have infinite shelf life. Better than crypto! And more practical than physical gold.
Added bonus: it's palinka. It's something even women love. So the potential market is wide.
Does palinka taste like Guiness? (Asking for an Irish woman.)
Any question regarding Guinness is a trick question, there's no good answer.
I read that piece arguing against TurboAmerica. It was poorly done, but I still think US is on thin ice.
That's your analysis?
I should probably elaborate.
I want to define the spirit of Substack: honest inquiry, learn and debate outside of the Overton window and not particularly heated, maybe even polite, old fashioned.
I think the limit to a discussion's heat should be the asian "this is library!" meme guy.
As long as he's not upset, it's all good.
Just checked out the meme. The future of civilization rests with the Asians. The SJWs deserve to be enslaved/enserfed. There is no alternative.
Don't count the West out just yet, it's got a viral infection, but the body is becoming feverish to burn it out.
Let me know when the next Renaissance begins...probably when Gen Z are in adult diapers and Nouveau Haiti (the nation formerly known as the USA) is ruled by a Soetorid president again (Malia Obama's son or daughter) and China, Korea and Singapore manage the Tangier-style foreign concessions along the West Coast (Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles).
It began some time ago, it's just that the current system had a lot of momentum.
After USD empire death, it'll get rockin' and rollin' fo' sho'.
Well the Italian Renaissance was unruly and bloody, with all the city-states attacking each other. Nothing quite incentivises the pursuit of excellence than the struggle for survival. Da Vinci worked for the Duke of Milan as a military engineer etc.
My turn.
The free-thinkers of substack are the Wild Bunch of the internet. We will go out with our boots on thinking for ourselves.
Cheers!
I myself is just a Russian bot from 2016 that was never turned off by the Kremlin, so I have no thoughts of my own.
Update on being old fashioned: I tried custom domains on Substack.
The way it's implemented, with my registrar, it could only be "www.magyar.blog" instead of "magyar.blog".
Very 1999 cool.
If it's up to Substack, "www" is making a return. Or shall I write "www dot substack dot com"?
I don't recommend it, but I'll be keeping it anyway:
https://www.magyar.blog/p/magyarblog-custom-domains-on-substack
Anyone see the story about KFC offering a chicken tendies deal to commemorate Kristallknacht ; “Turbo America” came to mind when I saw that story
I think anyone looking for an escape route out of the USA at this point may be the smartest person in the room. It is no longer the cleanest dirty shirt. It’s becoming more like Ukraine, not vice versa. It’s why the stupid war there seems to fit well with this administration. One corrupt corporatist oligarchy full of man children hinged at the waist with another one...tis the season .... fa la la la la ... and so it goes
We began planning our escape in May 2021. Hubby can get Italian, i.e. EU, citizenship through his grandfather. We sold everything and bought a 110 ft ocean going sailing yacht; we spent 10 months refitting and fine tuning, getting crew; she is on her way to Panama from the west coast where we will meet her and head to the Med in April. We are the fortunate ones and don't we know it. EU is more sane; we will be happy with LESS insanity. Don't know where we will end up, but if we can find some peace that is enough for us. The world has issues; we are hoping for the best.
Where is the best place to escape to? Just as a thought-experiment, where would make the best location for a possible Substackistan...a discrete bolt-hole for the escapees from the failing states of the post-democratic West?
We are heading to Italy first; Sicily. But we will be scouring Europe for a place to go. On the list are Poland and Hungary. We are open.
Sounds amazing. Best of luck. You might consider a substack newsletter when you get there. There would be a lot of people interested in finding out about the experience of expatriation.
Billionaire investor and Republican megadonor Peter Theil is attempting to become a citizen of Malta, per the NYT.
That tells you what he really thinks of the New Zealanders!
Theil sees the writing on the wall. Ballot harvesting is the new black. The USA is not going to be saved. The remaking of America along the lines of Brazil, South Africa and Lebanon is under way. Onshoring just means some parts will be able to pay off the bond-holders while others sink into state-failure.
Sounds great. Enjoy, Niccolo!
How much shit talking will go on in your circles when Croatia plays Canada in the World Cup?
Niccolo, interested to hear more about the Diaspora returnees. What brings them back? How well do they integrate into the 'old country'? What impact, if any, are they having?
I want to put something together on this and publish it here.
Can anyone in this esteemed Substack make the good faith case that JD Vance and/or Marco Rubio are genuine in their newfound populism? I assume most are skeptical, but I want to hear the counterpoints.
I think Vance is. He comes from a pretty low-income background and was a striver, but the reaction to the 2016 election made him realize that the elite in this country truly hate him and his background. So he said F them.
And according to a writer I trust, his initial hires are good.
https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelbd/status/1591220599783055360
Vance's presence is a safety-valve for populist sentiment, that's all. Vance himself is a lawyer and his children are (or will be) eligible for affirmative action. It remains to be seen how effective or enthusiastic he will work for those being replaced or for those ineligible for affirmative action. My guess is that he is being cultivated by the regime as a useful card to be played, should they ever need a politician to front a campaign as a 'populist'.
The fact that 'the elite in this country hate him' is utterly irrelevant. Politics is not about feelings. Vance may have made a few good hires, but the real test is how he reacts to the electoral fraud across the USA in the midterms. If Vance does not publicly acknowledge the normalisation of electoral fraud then you can be 100% certain that he is fake. Ditto affirmative action.
I brought up the elite's attitudes to explain why Vance has changed his tune since summer 2016. Some people have insisted it shows he's a phony and a flip-flopper, but witnessing important people having insane breakdowns (or at least pretending to) after Trump won had a profound effect on many people, myself included.
I agree about the elections issue being important.
Frankly, I think that we all pay way too much attention to celebrities in the first place. Most politicians are simply famous people larping as champions of this or that cause. They front the regime in one role or another. Their intentions, beliefs or sincerity are irrelevant.
The important thing is the degree to which the people are engaged, mobilised and active on their own behalf. The quantum of cohesion, mutual loyalty and pro-social energy is 1,000 times more important than the political character or ideological disposition of any government. The best representatives will do no good if the people are not engaged and actively pressuring them. Given a choice between a gov't I agreed with and an angry population determined to reassert the priority of its rights and wellbeing over all else, I'd prefer the latter anytime.
Things will not turn around until people stop talking about who they want to represent them and start asking why the electoral system is unable to offer meaningful choices or why a country with so much wealth has such an economically insecure population. Instead of looking to a representative 'messiah' figure to rescue them, people should wise up and look to themselves, their neighbours and anyone else rather than the elite.
Oh right the guy the elite hate so much. The one with that bestselling book they turned into a Netflix movie.
Nothing says 'maverick' or 'rebel' more clearly than a contract.
It is a pity none of the people who interview Vance ever ask him if he spent time in the brig. The question would never occur to them, I suppose.
Red I can’t get over that this guy wrote an entire book crying about how mean his Mom was for calling him “fat ass” and shitting all over poor whites.
The whole point of the exercise was developing a narrative for a political career. The details were perfect: absent father, feckless mother ruined by self-indulgence, trad grandma, redemption via military service, opportunity via elite higher education, marriage and kids and faith.
Vance offered his readers everything they could ever want: reinforcement of their unshakeable contempt for poor whites, reassurance that the system works brilliantly for those who just give it a try. This is parable for the Social Gospel of Red America in the 2020s. It is a log cabin fable for an electorate craving reassurance that something can be recovered from the wreckage of post-Cold War America if they only keep believing.
Forget the Kool Aid...this is Mountain Dew flavoured with snake oil.
extremely well said.
Enjoy he festivities, Niccolo! Profoundly jealous.
have extra pig for me
Damn, wish I were there. I could pretend to be Croatian!
You have to be at least 6'3"
What if I’m a woman?
My brother is 6’4...
watching the world cup in Croatia, Nikolai?
Hrvatska shuld progress along with belgium, unless Morocco gives them a nasty surprise
1. My naïve take: truth will out. Eventually, reality always comes home to roost, even if it takes a long time.
2. There is some lag-time between when you begin ignoring a reality and when the consequences come back to bite you. The less tangible the reality, the longer the lag.
3. A sufficiently wealthy regime can simply absorb the consequences and keep ignoring reality if it wants. But eventually, hubris takes over and the regime tries to ignore realities that are too big to ignore. The lag time for these, however, is quite long.
4. Our regime just stepped over the point where it can absorb the consequences safely. The clock has begun ticking. The question is what it looks like, and who suffers, when the consequences begin to hit.
How is the weather?