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The US dollar has been the world’s reserve currency for decades. This has meant more favorable lending conditions for America. Now, it looks like China is making a play to displace the dollar. “ Zambia is set to accept the Chinese yuan for some copper exports starting next year, marking a significant move away from US dollar dependency.   “This innovative payment approach could lower transaction costs and minimize currency exchange risks for Zambia’s crucial copper trade with China.   “China’s push to internationalize the yuan is gaining momentum, as seen in recent yuan-based energy and mineral transactions worldwide.”   China is struggling with overproduction of goods that can’t be consumed internally. Until they get their economic house in order, they won’t displace dollar dominance. But Trump is actively eroding internation trust the US good faith and credit.   https://www.facebook.com/businessinsiderssa/posts/zambia-is-set-to-accept-the-chinese-yuan-for-some-copp...

  Going into the midterms, Democrats should be asking voters “are you better off today than two years ago?” Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress. They should answer for why things are getting worse and why we should believe things will improve. https://jabberwocking.com/49282-2/  

Buying diesel from Russia will not change the price of diesel. It is questionable that Russia can actually deliver the diesel fuel. It is facing domestic shortages itself. Like a typical Trump deal, this could well end in an appeal to American taxpayers to pay for something two or three times which was advertised as a gift for them. But let us imagine that Russian ships actually dock in American ports with diesel fuel. All that this would mean is that Russia broke some prior contracts with other partners in order to make Trump feel grateful. The overall supply of diesel on the world market would not change. The price of diesel will not change. ~Timothy Snyder

As for Trump and Hegseth, their whole schtick is making a fetish of cruelty. Hasan won't be their first public execution. They've murdered hundreds on the high seas, accusing them without evidence of smuggling drugs while in fact preparing the way for a putsch in Venezuela designed get their greedy hands on the oil and gold. Last September, their commanders ordered a despicable double-tap attack on survivors floating in the water and begging to be rescued. Hegseth was too big a coward to let us see the video. Members of Congress said it made them sick to their stomachs. They weren't soft on drugs or Venezuela’s tinhorn dictator. They just understood the difference between right and wrong. They knew the American people wouldn't keeping putting up with cruelty for cruelty’s sake. They know a civilized government doesn't murder the helpless or shoot people for show. Hegseth and Trump operate differently. They think that little of us. ~John H. Taylor  

In her book “March of Folly,” Barbara defined three criteria to distinguish merely mistaken policy from folly: "To qualify as folly for this inquiry, the policy adopted must meet three criteria: it must have been perceived as counter-productive in its own time, not merely by hindsight. … Secondly a feasible alternative course of action must have been available. … third … the policy in question should be that of a group, not an individual leader." The current US war against Iran meets all three criteria. Now we need to implement the first law of holes: when you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.

Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power. The sudden disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of opposition parties, the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Do not fall for it. ~Timothy Snyder