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Radokama Grandmaster Splat
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Freedom, Trust, Honesty, Responsibility

What are ya'll thinking about the fraud stories out of Minnesota?

Replying to Avatar ₿en Wehrman

If only there a were a way to measure the distances to each of them using the same measurement system...

In 2000, Saddam Hussein did something very few people paid attention to.

He announced Iraq would start selling oil in euros, not U.S. dollars.

Three years later, the United States invaded Iraq.

No weapons of mass destruction were ever found.

But something else happened quietly.

Iraqi oil went right back to being priced in dollars.

Most people call that a coincidence.

I call it a lesson.

In 2009, Muammar Gaddafi proposed something even more dangerous.

A gold-backed African currency — the gold dinar.

It would have allowed African nations to buy oil without using dollars.

In 2011, NATO intervened in Libya for “humanitarian reasons.”

Gaddafi was killed.

The gold dinar disappeared.

Libyan oil? Back to dollars.

Another coincidence.

I’m noticing a pattern.

Go back further.

In 1971, President Nixon took the U.S. dollar off the gold standard.

The dollar was no longer backed by gold — only a promise.

By all historical logic, the dollar should have collapsed.

It didn’t.

Why?

Because three years later, Henry Kissinger cut a deal with Saudi Arabia.

The deal was simple:

Sell oil only in U.S. dollars, and the U.S. military will protect the regime.

From that moment on, every country on earth needed dollars to buy energy.

That wasn’t free-market economics.

That was force-backed monetary policy.

Or, more honestly, a protection racket.

And it works — as long as the military can enforce it.

Watch what happens when countries challenge it.

Russia demands rubles for natural gas?

Sanctions. Escalation.

Syria discusses pipelines priced outside the dollar system?

Civil war intensifies. Pipeline never happens.

Iran tries to sell oil outside the dollar?

Decades of sanctions.

I’m not saying these are good governments or bad governments.

I’m saying watch what happens when anyone threatens the petrodollar system.

Once you see it, the pattern isn’t subtle.

SWIFT is not a neutral payment system.

It’s a weapon.

Get cut off from SWIFT, and you’re locked out of global trade.

Russia.

Iran.

Cuba.

Venezuela.

Different politics. Same outcome.

They don’t teach this in school because it’s uncomfortable.

We don’t send 18-year-olds to die for “freedom.”

We send them to protect reserve currency status.

Currency funds the military.

The military protects the currency.

That’s how empires work.

Britain learned this the hard way.

The British pound was the world’s reserve currency for nearly 200 years.

After World War II, Britain lost reserve status.

Within two decades, the British Empire collapsed.

Same cycle.

Dutch guilder.

British pound.

Now the U.S. dollar.

Ray Dalio has been warning about this for years.

Late-stage empire looks like this:

• Military overextension

• Rising debt

• Currency weakening

• Rivals building alternatives

China’s Belt and Road isn’t charity.

It’s about creating debt relationships denominated in yuan.

BRICS aren’t talking about alternatives because they’re friends.

They’re building an exit ramp from dollar dependence.

When the dollar loses reserve status — not if, when — the ability to print money without consequences disappears.

- Then the military contracts.

- Then the empire ends.

- You can call this cynical.

I call it financial history.

Every war in my lifetime had a currency angle — if you knew where to look.

“Freedom and democracy” is the marketing.

The actual policy documents talk about

“maintaining dollar liquidity in global energy markets.”

I’m not anti-military.

I’m anti-bullshit.

If we’re sending people to fight…

We should at least be honest about why.

It's a good thing that entire model is falling into the Orange Singularity.

Anyone watching the situation at Brown?

Okay, nostronauts! What does Bitcoin have in store for us today! This ride is better than six flags!

It's quite clear that decentralization will be a dominant theme for some time

The Ostrch massacre is so sad

Meanwhile, the kids on Nostr are cool as cucumbers.

The super dooper harvest moon

I started this journey with, of all people, Peter Schiff. He led me to Breedlove and Saylor. Listened to a bunch of Jordan Peterson. Read Crime and Punishment. And I still can't come up with a real reason why any leader of any country would want to seek the destruction of their own country. Is it evil, hunger for power, insanity, plain old hate? What?

Maui Jim's. Not made by Luxotica

Luxottica (now part of EssilorLuxottica since a 2018 merger) is the world's largest eyewear company and manufactures or owns a vast portfolio of glasses and sunglasses brands. It directly owns several iconic house brands and holds manufacturing and distribution licenses for numerous designer labels, effectively controlling their eyewear production.

### House Brands Owned by Luxottica

These are fully owned and designed by Luxottica:

- Ray-Ban

- Oakley

- Persol

- Oliver Peoples

- Vogue Eyewear

- Arnette

- Costa del Mar

- Alain Mikli

### Licensed Designer Brands Manufactured by Luxottica

Luxottica produces eyewear under license for these luxury and fashion houses (the brands themselves are not owned by Luxottica, but it controls the glasses production and distribution):

- Giorgio Armani

- Burberry

- Chanel

- Prada

- Versace

- Dolce & Gabbana

- Michael Kors

- Coach

- Miu Miu

- Tory Burch

- Ralph Lauren

- Polo Ralph Lauren

- DKNY

- Anne Klein

- Tiffany & Co.

This portfolio covers over 80% of major eyewear brands globally, with Luxottica handling design, manufacturing, and retail through chains like LensCrafters and Sunglass Hut. Note that the exact list can evolve with new licenses or acquisitions, but these are the core ones as of recent data.

Does the Fed print money?

No, we just push the button to increase liquidity. So...Yes, really?

Yep.

https://www.uscurrency.gov/media/videos/does-fed-print-money

You know you're doing good when your watching the weather more than the price of Bitcoin