US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said Washington was prepared to tolerate the Iranian sales, despite existing US sanctions. “The Iranian ships have been getting out already and we have let that happen to supply the rest of the world,” he told CNBC.

Iran was also increasingly allowing Indian and potentially Chinese ships to pass through the strait. “We think that there will be a natural opening that the Iranians are letting out and for now we are fine with that. We want the world to be well supplied,” Bessent added.

The US has also removed its sanctions on Russian oil to try to calm the markets, a move that may lead to more competition for Iranian oil with Chinese refiners.

Yeah, we’re cool with total capitulation, it’s what the US was planning all along! Everything according to plan, nothing to see here folks.

The larger point here is that we uncritically agree with US/Israeli propaganda without understanding the context. For example, it was the United States that toppled the first elected Prime Minister Mosaddegh from power in the 1953 coup, and the US then reinstalled the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi back in power. All done for BP oil profits, and to reverse the nationalisation of Irans oil industry. Somehow these nuances always get lost in the conversation.

The US will always prefer a pro-US monarchy to a democracy that guards itself from exploitation/imperalism. The U.S. assassination attempts, propaganda, military posturing, and economic/diplomatic sanctions force hard decisions on regimes that refuse to become a puppet state of the West. This is not to agree with every decision by the leadership in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, etc. but we are often responsible, in large part, for the difficulties these countries face.

Crazy how we can all agree that we’re ruled by a pedophilic jingoistic oligarchy, but when they tell us other countries/regimes/leaders are bad we nod in agreement.

This is what happens in a culture where every success/failure is attributed to the individual and the systems in which individuals live go completely ignored.

Didn’t know Plex could handle music libraries

If you only saw a bear in a circus you would think it’s nature was to ride a unicycle.

Humans have had to live in brutish/nasty conditions; including the present day, where many of us are drowning in debt, two paychecks away from homelessness while a few are trying to make more money than they could ever spend.

The boot of capitalism is on our necks, but I’m not sure my countrymen are worth fighting for. Americans may be too far gone. Maybe I should just leave.

Obligatory: everyone should read The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin. (The aforementioned quote is hers.) Science fiction anarcho-comminist community depicted as having tangible benefits/detriments.

Those people aren’t even aware of the contradictions. The news they watch doesn’t tell them.

Hunt me a herbivore, see what it feels like to eat as a tiger.

Absolutely. We spend the entire work day apart from each other. Between sleeping and going to work, the amount of time you actually spend with your partner is minuscule. So it feels necessary to “catch up” with them.

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Diamonds. Anyone who has tried to sell jewelry will tell you: gold retains value but the money you get for diamonds is abysmal. Which is why I urge everyone to buy synthetic diamonds. In many cases they look purer than natural diamonds, are free of conflict, and hold just as much sentimental value.

The people need to save this country. Yes that means you and me actually going outside. We need to stop expecting systemic change to come from politicians within a two-party system.

I’ll vote for a Bernie AOC ticket if it ever materializes but I won’t hold my breath. You people keep expecting politicians to save you when we need to be taking a note from the French. Grassroots organization: labor strikes, boycotts, civil disobedience. It’s the only thing these leeches understand.

• Step 1: Reinterpret the 14th Amendment so hundreds of thousands of immigrants lose their citizenship
• Step 2: Mass deportation

They’re not even hiding it anymore.