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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • I’m not sure they really lost momentum. They are still exerting control of the straits by enacting a toll, something they had already begun doing. A two week ceasefire isn’t enough time for countries to replenish their oil reserves and secure alternative energy sources. What they probably need to do now is extract concessions that allow them to rebuild and become even more resilient against US intervention. If they get even half of the 10 demands they laid out as part of the ceasefire agreement they’ll be in a more advantageous position long term.

    The question I have right now is, will they resume firing on Israel now that it’s clear Israel has rejected the terms of the ceasefire? Everyone knows negotiating further with the US and Israel is pointless. Iran needs to show that if their demands aren’t met there will be consequences. If they don’t aid Hezbollah, that would be a sign they’ve lost momentum. It could mean that they aren’t confident enough to include their allies as part of the tit for tat strategy they’ve followed throughout the entire war.


  • This is just capitalism. As profits fall due to competition between capitalists they seek new ways to profit. Monopolization, intensified exploitation, enshittification are one way to deal with this problem. However, if those aren’t working capitalists will try to fuse themselves to the state. They use state violence to pursue profits through hyperexploitation and imperialism. That’s what we call fascism. It’s not distinct from capitalism, just an extension of it.

    AI companies are no different than any of the other companies that preceded it. They are so over leveraged it’s unlikely they can survive in the long run without the state. Thats why they are comfortable working with fascists. We could have computer scientists creating similar models that actually benefit humanity but it’s not going to happen under capitalism.


  • What do they have to lose though? The moment the US starts bombing again the missiles start to fly. It’s tit for tat. That’s been their strategy this whole time. I don’t think they expect the US to take negotiations seriously at all.

    I do however think Iran wants to appear reasonable to the rest of the world. Under the ceasefire, they still expect other countries to coordinate with them to get ships through. That was already happening prior to the ceasefire but now it’s clear that’s what they expect from everyone. They’re forcing the world to acknowledge Iranian sovereignty over the strait which is a pretty serious win if they can keep it.





  • Personally I think it’s worth a little space to have peace of mind. Also depending on where you live having a few week supply of food and drinking water in storage is generally recommended in case of a natural disaster.

    That said, if you’re in a western countries that produces most of its own food you’ll probably be fine. Those countries produce such an incredibly surplus that much of it gets diverted towards animal agriculture. If you can afford meat and dairy now you’ll probably be able to afford rice and beans if prices rise.





  • Honestly, I think it comes down to a form of genocide apologia. I think most reasonable people might ask, “If Biden was willing to lie in order to help Israel carry out a genocide, why wouldn’t he or any of his associates lie in order to protect the corporate profits even if it meant American people would be murdered en masse?” At that point, voting for a democrat feels like choosing to get stabbed in the back so that you don’t get shot in the face. Sure, one might be better than the other but I don’t think anyone wants to be making that choice.

    However, if you think your own life has a greater intrinsic value than the lives of people in Gaza you won’t see it the same way. Yeah maybe you would prefer if the Democrats didn’t help murder children abroad but that doesn’t mean they would do the same to you and your children.


  • Yeah, my only advice is stay close to your family, friends, and community if you can. It’s pretty clear to me that Democratic Party officials have no real interest in fighting fascism so it really doesn’t make sense to put any hope in them. Luckily you don’t really have to.

    Fascists by their own inflexible nature will eventually force people to fight back in meaningful ways. Any kind of bonds you create with other people can become the basis upon which organized resistance thrives, whatever that may look like. Even though it’s not really organizing, sometimes I think acts as simple as baking cookies for your neighbors does more to prepare for the fight against fascism than voting for a Democrat does. lol


  • I honestly think he could get away with it if real and verifiable pictures of him abusing children were to be leaked. Most of the news media is controlled by people sympathetic to Trump and he’d wield the power of the state to go after anyone who doesn’t fall in line. As long as it doesn’t threaten capital, right wing judges aren’t going to rein him in. His sycophantic base would be eager to believe in narratives of it all being AI even if those claims were easy to disprove.

    That said, the war he’s launched against Iran is beginning to have a major impact on the global economy. He only has so many tools to buffer the US from the consequences of that war. The sickening thing is, it’s much easier for Americans to have moral clarity on the horrors of imperial violence once it starts to negatively impact their standard of living.



  • Honestly, I don’t think this is really meant as a cover up. The war crimes he’s committing are far more atrocious than anything he could have possibly done with Epstein. It would be like trying to distract from an assault by becoming a serial killer.

    The reality is Iran and Cuba have been on the hit list of the American right wing for almost half a century. Trump is just such an arrogant narcissist that he thinks he’s uniquely capable of making those bloodthirsty dreams a reality. The idea that prior republican administrations didn’t go to war with Iran or Cuba because they knew the US wouldn’t win doesn’t event occur to him. The sycophants and yes men he’s surrounded himself with in his second term are also too cowardly to tell him.


  • I’m not sure why people like you feel so confident that some small segment of vocal lefties lost the democrats the election. They are such a small percentage of the actually voting population and strategic voting is just not how most people vote.

    The reality is many democratic voters were simply not motivated to vote for an administration that was more interested in supporting a genocide than dealing with the riding cost of living. You can argue that’s stupid or irrational but that won’t affect how voters actually vote. You might as well be yelling at a brick wall. It won’t change anything.

    The fact is that Biden, Kamala, and other high level members of the Democratic Party knew that supporting a genocide might cost them the election. They did it anyways. They cared more about Israel’s ability to bomb children than they cared about protecting the American people from a second Trump term. The blame lies entirely with them.