The same reason that DeBeers doesn’t flood the market with diamonds.

OPEC has always been about manufactured scarcity. It’s not a bad scheme, if you have a heavily concentrated, limited resource. The difference, of course, is that oil is actually useful. So might as well pump it while you can, store it where it’s easy to get and ration it out.

What is more, Saudi Arabia has 68 years of reserves at 2024’s production rate. The world will probably have stopped using hydrocarbons long before those run out. So any crude it does not pump today could be money lost forever.

1. Holy. FUCKING. SHIT! That is a lot of oil!

2. But the math doesn’t check out. The world uses about 37 billion barrels annually. Saudi Arabia has ~260 billion barrels in reserve. That’s more 7 years of global oil reserves. It would cover about 40 years of US oil use. And it would cover the modest Saudi annual useage for over 200 years. So no matter which way you slice it, the math is funky here.

3. Something else I just discovered. Saudi Arabia does not have the world’s largest oil reserves. That honor goes to…drumroll…yep, you guessed it. Venezuela.

It’s funny, I have very successful friends who used to say something similar. As one put it: “If you sell out at 20, you got no heart. If you haven’t sold out by 30, you got no head.”

That friend group are a great bunch of guys in their personal lives, family men and good providers, down to the last one. At the same time, they are 100% part of the problem. They are landlords and marketing execs. And every one of them has an exceptionally high EQ. (Except Jake. He’s my favorite and he fixes industrial baking equipment. Used to be a bartender. You know the type - staring daggers when you interrupt his conversation with a regular customer. Jake didn’t GAF about EQ.)

Anyway, it’s not that they are evil. They are just the “normal” amount of selfish. They have comfortable lives. They read their newsfeeds without ever thinking any deeper. They aren’t the Nazis - they are the people who empower Nazis by remaining laser-focused on their job and their family, ignoring politics unless their property tax is at stake.

I think it’s possible to be a good husband and an overall good person, but not a good citizen. Zombies, if you will.

Someone did. They missed by inches. I would imagine they beefed up security a bit since then…

And, in most cases, it’s a good thing that our head of state is well-protected. Otherwise, we’d have a new president every week and the executive branch would be a mess…oh…hmmm…

Edit: It’s because I chose “Link” as the type of post. If I had chosen “Discussion”, a URL wouldn’t have been required.

I always do this - I ask questions first and click around later. JFC, I don’t know if I’ve got ADHD or just come down with a case of boomeritis.

Thanks for this!

The field was marked required, with a red asterisk. I tried posting without a URL, and it did not accept the webform. Said I needed to fill in the required field.

I took a screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/gbF3jP3

(And if Imgur doesn’t meet Lemmy standards, I’m happy to use a different service.)

Totally agree with you, a handgun is no match for a tank. If the military wants to make war on citizens, they will lose.

However, there is more going on that meets the eye. Many members of the military would not want to shoot their own citizens. And armed citizens can still do more damage than unarmed citizens. In other words, the 2A forces an authoritarian administration to use violence in order to repress the citizens. It ups the stakes. And citizens can strike in ways that the military can’t. Guerilla warfare tactics. They don’t need to “win”, they just need to disrupt, to spread fear.

But, yeah, with the current surveillance state, along with the culpability of the media, it seems a dubious proposition that armed citizens can save themselves from the fascists. Regardless, I have suddenly become a HUGE proponent of guns. Especially when I see the Black Panthers providing security for demonstrators. Respect.

This is interesting.

This memo is only relevant if Trump plans on staying in office past 2028, or installing another MAGA sycophant.

I mean, Trump knows that if a Democrat takes office, the DOJ will first clean house and then go after him for this shit. Yet he telegraphs his intention to break the law. Why?

The Constitution allows for the possibility of a gangster Administration. Checks and balances. The hope was that the Supreme Court and Congress would keep the executive branch in check.

The Constitution also recognizes that no system is perfect, so it adds the right to bear arms. Not for sport. Not for defense. The Second Amendment exists specifically to fight tyranny. Just in case the elections get rigged and an extremist party takes control.

Such an unlikely scenario, amiright?

With respect, it’s also about who receives the money.

RTX makes the Tomahawk.

In 2016, the stock was at 59. Now it’s at almost 200. A return of 338%. That’s about the same rate of return as the S&P 500 in the same timeframe. The difference being, the worst performing stocks in the S&P are regularly swapped out.

So, yeah, these guys are pretty much a sure bet to make money.

When you’re a billionaire, pretty much everyone else is a poor people… and, as an added bonus, you get to use Tomahawk missiles to hunt them.

Never thought of it that way!

Can “Iran fries” be a thing?

Or maybe since fries is already taken, we can rename “chili” to “Irani stew”?

it’s impossible to criticize Luigi on this platform without getting heavily downvoted

He sucks. I much prefer Princess Peach and I’ll fight all of you.

It’s a legitimate CONFUSING anti-abuse tactic.

How is a normal person, who’s never used reddit in the past, supposed to even know how to get karma? Or how the lack of karma is impacting their UX?

The only way is to game the system, get into a sub that allows shitposts and exists for the sole reason of boosting karma. Which immediately teaches the new person to game the system. Counter-intuitive and counter-productive.

I think it’s definitely an effective way to keep new users from spamming.

It chases away new users (or, at the very least, keeps them from active participation). Because of this system, a new Reddit user is more likely to be a doom-scroller with zero participation. And that’s what Reddit wants. Reddit doesn’t need another shitposter. Reddit doesn’t lack for quality content, since it aggregates the bulk of its content from other sites via powerusers. So fuck it if new people participate, as long as they see the advertising sponsors, Reddit is happy.

In fairness, that one does get a giggle from me. Every time. Even this one. Especially this one.

Giggity. (Please forgive me.)

And perhaps even show up to the White House after the mission for a photo op and some McDonald’s. Thus crushing the dream of being an astronaut for many young persons in the US.

Child: “Mommy, I want to be an astronaut when I grow up.”

Mom: “Oh, that’s wonderful, honey, you’ll see the moon and even meet the president!”

Child: <bursts into tears> “BUT WHY?!”

Your head is really gonna hurt when you read about printer ink and printing presses.

CMYK ftw!

This is false.

The Pentagon hosts a Ramadan dinner (at the end of the holiday, to celebrate the conclusion of the fasting ritual).

The Pentagon has hosted Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremonies. (I’m not sure if they still do.)

The issue here isn’t the sponsoring of a religious activity. The function of the military is to send soldiers to their deaths. Those soldiers who need spiritual support should absolutely have access to it.

The issue is that the president and the defense secretary have incorporated evangelical Christianity into their cronyism. Religion is being used as a litmus test for loyalty.

Signed,

A pragmatic (ex-militant) atheist

The Pentagon has invited more than 3,500 employees to attend a Good Friday service at its in-house chapel. Except it’s only for Protestants, not Catholics.

About 25,000 employees work at the Pentagon on any given day. So, it’s pretty obvious that not everyone was invited. The article gives no information on how employees were chosen, which is concerning. It could be officers only?

“Just a friendly reminder: There will be a Protestant Service (No Catholic Mass) for Good Friday today at the Pentagon Chapel,” reads a Friday email sent by Air Force leadership, a copy of which was shared by an employee.

This states that the service will not include Catholic Mass. This seems pretty standard for a non-denominational observance of Good Friday. (Though, knowing Kegseth, it will probably be an evangelical service.)

The Pentagon Memorial Chapel is a 24-hour interfaith chapel that employees can use for prayer and reflection, and that is used for religious services.

The Pentagon Memorial Chapel only seats 80 people. SO WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE OTHER 3,420 PEOPLE GONNA SIT?!

All in all, some pretty shitty reporting on the part of Huff Post. Lots of unanswered questions here.

Your average American is not intelligent enough to decipher the clever wordsmithing of the average journalist.

In an age where sensationalistic headlines are the norm, an understated headline can seem to lend credibility to the absurd.

This is not a problem, though. I enjoy eating popcorn and watching the world burn.

First, who the fuck is an expert on teleporting to Waffle House?

Second, why the fuck are the experts “dubious” instead of incredulous or openly condescending? JFC, c’mon experts, do better!