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Cake day: June 18th, 2023

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  • They don’t like the U.S. either, as they believe that they are an imperialist power that wants to take advantage of the Middle East. That is one reason that the United States deems Iran an enemy.

    In 1953, the CIA and MI6 effectively ended representative democracy in Iran when they backed a coup d’etat that deposed Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mosadegh. Mosadegh had tried to audit the books of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (which later became a division of BP).

    The 1953 coup resulted in the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, ruling autocratically and with heavy support from the United States. This status continued until 1979, when an Islamist revolution deposed the Shah and installed the Islamist government led by a clerical Supreme Leader that exists today.

    In 2013, the CIA released declassified documents that showed that the CIA planned and carried out the 1953 coup using all kinds of abhorrent tactics, including bribery of public officials, astroturfed paid protesters, and false flag operations.

    So hopefully that explains why the US is “the great Satan” to Iran, and why Iran keeps spouting “death to USA” rhetoric.




  • The credit card companies have always tried to prevent merchants from doing this by inserting language prohibiting either credit card surcharges or cash discounts into the contract agreements with the merchants. Obviously, credit card companies want to make it easy and convenient for consumers to use their credit cards.

    I can’t immediately find it, but at some point I think 10-15 years ago, some merchants sued the credit card companies over this, and they won a court ruling that said that the clauses forbidding cash discounts and surcharging are unenforceable. As a result, merchants are now free to do it, but there are various rules. And some state legislatures have started to get involved with regulating things.




  • For reference, Oklahoma has quite a history with alcohol prohibition. The state retained full prohibition until 1959, some 20 years after the 21st amendment and repeal of the Volstead Act.

    Liquor by the drink, aka bars, were not legalized until 1984. Before then you had to pay a membership fee to join a “private club” where you could then have a bartender pour you shots out of “your” personal bottle that was kept behind the bar.

    Oklahoma had 3.2 beer until 2018 when it was repealed by state referendum.