The way some leftists treat Iranians and Ukrainians will never stop making my blood boil

In an excerpt from their terrific new book, @yjtorbati and @bozorgmehr detail how the Islamic Republic systematically crushed Iran's burgeoning tech sector. After the 2015 nuclear deal, Ayatollah Khamenei feared opening the country's economy would be a Trojan horse for political subversion. The IRGC moved in to block a successful, independent private sector—and to co-opt the data and technology of these young entrepreneurs for state control. theatlantic.com/internationa…

Spurs turned “Crazy Hispanic Fan” shade into 4th-quarter hype video.. this video spoof is my new favorite, love the energy. @spurfectblog #PorVida

Interesting

One thing that the Postliberals who hide behind Catholicism seldom mention: The Vatican's nuncio to the US has explicitly denounced Postliberalism for its authoritarian political aims and its conflicts with Catholic social doctrine.

RT @shervin: Watching and absorbing the duality of hope and pain in Iran today with an optimistic but heavy heart. For generations, Irani…

I am not a jingoist by any stretch of the word. Moreover, my daughter is on the USS Lincoln as we speak. I have skin in this game. I have read (and heard) a lot of BS about whether or not we should be in Iran. Let me be clear... I've been a SME on Iran for 25÷ years. I speak Persian Farsi, Dari, Balochi, and Tajik. I've been to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and yes... Iran. There are few who know Iran as "intimately" as I do. The reasons for this war are nuanced and complicated, but one thing is clear as day... the Iranian people (by and large) are good people and they just want to have the same liberty and freedom we have. Their women and girls want to be able to go out into public without having to fear if they'll be arrested and beaten (or even killed) by the "Virtue Police". If you cannot see that, and you cannot support the liberation of a people that have been brutally oppressed for 47 years... then you have no humanity and you and I are not the same. Our past with Iran is not a good one (Operation Ajax or Iran Contra)... but a vast majority of the Iranians (and Americans) today have no idea why the relationship between our two countries soured in the first place. A vast majority of Iranians have only ever known abject tyranny and Islamic brutally... they love America. I will not debate this with anyone. Either get on team America and support the liberation of a brutalized people... or STFU and continue to wallow in your miserable hypocrisy and enjoy freedom you never had to earn or fight for. God Bless America. God Bless our Men and Women in Uniform. I said what I said. 🔥🇺🇸🇺🇸🔥

By far the most accurate post I’ve seen about how Iranians around the world feel, including myself. Please stop lecturing us and take a moment to read this. “A lot of people outside Iran are watching what's unfolding and are shocked by one thing in particular: that Iranians will feel relief, even joy, when a violent dictator falls. Whether you like it or not, that reaction is real. It comes from lived experience. After 45 years of being hunted, tortured, disappeared, executed, and massacred, the collapse of the machinery that did it doesn't feel "complicated." It feels like a breath. A moment of air. And no, celebrating the fall of a dictator doesn't mean Iranians are naïve about what's next. People inside Iran understand the aftermath better than anyone commenting from the safety of a democracy. They understand how dangerous transitions are. They understand the risk of chaos, revenge, and power vacuums. They knew from the beginning that you can't topple a regime like this with empty hands. They have paid for every peaceful route with blood. So here's what some need to hear: If you've been absent for 45 years, if you ignored the massacres, the executions, the prisons, the disappearances, the rapes and only found your voice from the safety of a free country because Iranian suffering finally fits your political framework... then you do not get to arrive now and speak with certainty. You don't get to lecture Iranians with theories as if your analysis is the truth. Because what's happening isn't a debate. It's survival. And Iranians don't need permission to feel relief when their oppressor falls, even while they brace for the frightening road ahead. Listen to Iranians. Amplify them. Centre the victims, and not your worldview. And stop regurgitating regime propaganda.”

Since a woman is going viral on Instagram for sharing favorable views on the Islamic regime after visiting Iran, let’s discuss. In the summer of last year, several (fringe) American activists travelled to an Iranian Potemkin Village. What is a Potemkin Village? It's a falsely constructed neighborhood, town, or several highly controlled areas, created by a totalitarian regime through which it conducts propaganda tours. The purpose is for influential people from the west to visit the Potemkin and report back that the dire conditions and suffering is western propaganda, and that people are very happy (these are often actors or well-vetted locals). Potemkin Villges were common during communist Russia, China, NK, Vietnam etc. For example, Bernie Sanders travelled to a Potemkin Villge in socialist Cuba and reported wonderful things, at a time when Cubans were going blind from malnutrition and starvation. The Nazis also constructed Potemkin Villages. The Terezin ghetto was a “model ghetto” used to tour influential westerners, showing that Jewish prisoners were fairly treated and that any negative reporting was exaggeration or anti-Nazi propaganda. These westerners would return from Potemkin Villages with glowing reports. One New York Times reporter, Walter Durantry, won a Pulitzer Prize for his positive reporting of Russian life under Stalin. He claimed that the Ukrainian Holodomor (the second deadliest famine in history after Mao’s famine) was exaggerated western propaganda, and socialism was in full bloom. The prize, to this day, has never been revoked. Do they know they're on Potemkin tours? No. They think the rest of the world are getting played and they are the “enlightened,” the unique holders of coveted truth. That’s the art of ideological subversion, convincing you that you’re the only person who has not been subverted. When we look back in history and ask, “how did all this happen? How was the world so easily deceived?” The answer is simple. It’s happening right now and we don’t see it. That’s how it happened to them and they didn’t see it.

State-organized “Media festival” offering coordinated propaganda tour for orientalist western/white campists who want to make “firsthand” career/ fame on the blood of ppl in iran & Palestine Some of the ppl from last year: Goerg Galloway, Max Blumenthal, Calla Walsh…

The Iranian newspaper Ham-Mihan has been seized by authorities and shut down. It had previously reported on large amounts of dead bodies at hospitals across Iran - BBC

It’s a special kind of hell to watch your compatriots being gunned down, being unable to reach your family, & dealing w/people who say it’s fake news. Experiencing atrocity denial firsthand is maddening. May this weigh heavily on your conscience for eternity.

The ridiculous notion that Iran’s protesters are mere sock puppets of 🇮🇱 & 🇺🇸 is yet another thing the tankie alt-left & fascist alt-right seem to agree on. Seeing everything through the lens of the US denies local agency, dismisses local voices & reproduces a colonialist gaze.

This is legit the vibe of the Spurs

Posting this gem so it never gets lost. The original I found was muted. Keywords: Little Brother Texas A&M ATM Texas Tech Kayce Smith Dave Portnoy Barstool Sports Sirius Radio Iconic Pantheon Rank Schools More Money It's Texas Oklahoma State Georgia Tech Michigan State

In the 60s–80s, we built 120k–160k homes a year in the form of duplexes, triplexes & townhomes, mostly by small builders. Since 2008? Fewer than 20k. We didn’t just lose small builders, we dismantled the ecosystem that financed them. To fix housing, we need to bring them back.

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22% of this debt was added by President Trump alone.

What possible interest would the US government have in keeping Epstein’s clients secret? Oh…