"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!" (Sir Walter Scott, 1808) "Abu Dhabi has not officially taken a side on the Russia-Ukraine war, instead calling for peace and an end to the fighting. It has also refused to partake in Western sanctions against Russia, providing a safe haven for Russian oligarchs and expatriates fleeing both sanctions and mandatory conscription. Some 4,000 Russian businesses operate in the UAE, according to reports, and foreign direct investment between the two has steadily increased." "The UAE is also buffered by its mammoth business ties to the U.S. beyond just defense: Abu Dhabi is a rapidly growing hub for, and investor in, America’s largest AI and tech companies. Trump’s highly feted visit to the Gulf region in May saw a number of major deals signed with the UAE across sectors, while Abu Dhabi in March committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework in the U.S." CNBC

“Targeted content bypasses skepticism by flattering your preferences. It mirrors what you already think, then pushes it 3 degrees further. Not enough to alarm you. Just enough to shift you. It’s not arguing. It’s nudging. Not demanding. Just looping. And over time, those loops become thought patterns.” View quoted note →

*the world doesn’t care what you say. It responds to what you prove* View quoted note →

Do yourself a favour and follow Kepford on Stacker News. “I remember learning more about FDRs actions during the war and how he "nationalized" some many aspects. His youth groups seemed very similar to Hitler's (though noble to Americans?). He altered the economy with massive abuses of presidential power. But the people seem to have supported him as the Germans did of their leader. Fascism as an idea was pretty popular in the US prior to the war and honestly I think the US was probably a major influence on the rise of Fascism in Europe. I'm of the opinion that the US adopted many of the same approaches to public / private partnerships that were in place in Germany too. We just don't call it that nasty name. I used to wrestle with this and then I just realized that there isn't really clear and uniform agreement on what fascism even is. It’s kind of a useless term. Today it even seems to be losing its shock value as WW2 becomes a more distant memory. I think the weakest argument against it is the racial one. You can remove the racism and its still rotten. And we've seen many different systems use racism to justify terrible things.”

Stacker News

Trump Demands That Intel CEO Resign \ stacker news

I scoffed when they called Trump a fascist. I stand corrected. [26 comments]

“Inflation isn’t a number. It’s a story of theft.” View quoted note →

“Even the “failed” hashes aren’t failures from a thermodynamic perspective, they are the bulk of the computation, the substrate of probabilistic collapse into a valid block. They define the entropy field that gives the successful hash its meaning. Success is defined by failure, but it must be scarce and bounded at each timestep.” View quoted note →

👀 “The randomness is local; the structure is global. Bitcoin defines the cost of resolution, not the path to it. That’s exactly why entropy can be modeled: the space is known, the work is measurable, and the outcome is irreversible.” View quoted note →

"…extraordinary [investment] performance comes only from correct nonconcensus forecasts, but nonconsensus forecasts are hard to make, hard to make correctly and hard to act on." Second-Level Thinking

“Your money is not safe in a system that can change the rules overnight. Bitcoin is the way out. Learn it before you need it.” View quoted note →

“The American dollar is like an exclusive club where America sets the dress code and the price of entry. That’s a lot of power — but to maintain that power the club needs to stay desirable. It needs to offer the services people expect at a price they find reasonable, otherwise they’ll leave and a new club will become popular instead. As of 2022 roughly ~40-75% of all U.S. dollars were held outside the U.S. — so Americans might own the club, but most of its members are global. Stablecoins are a way of welcoming a new and lucrative demographic of people into the dollar club.”

A simple guide to stablecoins

The GENIUS act and what it means for the future of the dollar

“a big percentage of what you see in heavily politicized media is about narrative framing and talking points rather than genuine attempts to discuss or explore” View quoted note →

“…because there is no emerging signs of fiscal responsibility at the sovereign level, so it's reasonable to assume tax agencies are being directed to increase collections .. and bitcoiners aren't going to get any sort of pass there.” View quoted note →

Nostr has 12 regular users And Nostr has scammers

“We have noticed that in a world where everything is automated,” Klarna spokesperson Clare Nordstrom told Forbes, “people put a premium on the human experience.” Forbes

“Moving forward, the company said it will only issue common shares to buy Bitcoin if its enterprise value divided by the value of its Bitcoin holdings is above 2.5 times. The ratio currently hovers around 1.7, according to its website. These changes mean Strategy will likely rely on preferred stock sales for now to fund Bitcoin purchases. Saylor doubled down on the new parameters on a call with investors Friday, saying the company would, “on a go-forward basis, be more disciplined about how we issue our MicroStrategy ATM,” or at-the-market equity offerings.” Barron’s

“…it's delusional to fund a system hell-bent on destroying everything you care about…” 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 View quoted note →

“the future we are creating has been mostly sold to us during our early adolescence”

Stacker News

The “Used Future” Trap \ stacker news

"I’ve started changing the prompt. Instead of “What does 2040 look like?” I ask, “What does your birthday in 2040 feel like?” Suddenly, t...

👀 “the trend is that the state puts its finger on the scales of justice and tilts things so that it gets greater and greater power to make exceptions. In other words, justifications to steal. But it’s gradual. It doesn't wither away - it slowly grows. So, vigilance is required” View quoted note →

🔥 🔥 🔥 “The [State] must always be opposed to the free market. A state which isn't is a temporary affair. This because of how power works. Power is the ability to make exceptions. Its easy to make rules ; its usually slightly harder to break them ; its much harder to enforce them ; but the crown belongs to the one who can do all three, which means making exceptions. And that cannot be called a free market, or a free anything.” View quoted note →