Can anybody tell me why Dynamic Link isn't working *today* ?

Well it's another day and Dynamic Link is stopping me from getting my work done yet again.

New computer, new install of both AE and ME latest versions. I have already uninstalled and reinstalled, nuked all prefs, reset to default everything (including, at some point, WORKSPACES was causing Dynamic Link to break??? Insane.). ME can't connect to Dynamic Link servcer.

When I send to ME from AE, it again never connects. When I drag a project directly into the ME window, it can't connect. I left it attempting to connect overnight last night. 

2022 Mac Studio M1 Ultra on Ventura 13.2.1, all Creative Cloud is up to date.