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[Teneb]

Since we're talking about reactionaries, here's something I forgot to post when it happened:

President Pocket Monster of Brazil states that democracy and freedom only exist when the military wants them to exist

Also said that there is a "gender" balance in his ministries because "each female minister is worth 10 male ones"

[smjjames]

At first, the second one sounds like extraordinary praise of women, but when taken into context of Bolsonaro...

[Teneb]

At first, the second one sounds like extraordinary praise of women, but when taken into context of Bolsonaro...

For those who may not be aware of his opinion of women, he outright said in bloody public that his daughter was born from "a moment of weakness" on his part.

[Reelya]

@reelya: Eh? I didn't say anything about socialism being involved, just dinging the overreliance on hydro. They have oil, they could be burning oil (yes, I know, global warming and all) for power in an emergency.

... but I didn't even reference you, i was talking about the BBC and similar.

My wording was "But, most stories won't mention the drought just "socialism" for being to blame. "

This references "most stories" not "smjjames"

[LordBaal]

Oh for fucks sakes! Finally I'm able to connect. Dunno if I'll have connection again or what. The battery our phones were charged on a car by  a good samaritan.

We have no water and cooking gas is running low, not as if we have much left to cook. The three of us are okay for now if any of you is wondering.

The failure was due poor management and the corruption that allowed our power system to be destroyed by the lack of maintenance. Apparently the Guri damn had 3 or 4 turbines damaged and several other equipments. Of course the Maduro mafia says is the extreme rigth wing and USA. We have been on the brink of this collapse for months if not years and they did nothing but keep stealing the money instead of invest it on maintenance, upgrades and new power plants.

On the other hand people are dying, newborns are dying on the hospitals. My wife and I have prayed every nigth for those little souls. Maduro does indeed allowed by both action and inaction a genocide of our people. In the J.M. de Los Rios children hospital in Caracas the mafia just took their last generator away and left dozens of children and newborns to die.

Guys, there's no much food left at home and what little we had has been eaten to avoid going bad or have already started to spoil. On the streets there is people charging 1 dollar per 10 minutes charge  (people with generators). And a bag of ice or a bottle of water is 10$ and I really dont have money beyond like 8$ worth of bolivares on my bank account which is inaccessible anyway just as my PayPal savings/escape money, all useless now.

Gasoline is low too due the pumps not being able to work without electricity and the queues for the stations with generators (3 in total here in my city) are kilometers long. Not that I have a car on my own but this has furthered the collapse.

If this keeps on going for as long as the worst cases states (a week or even more longer, there have been already 3 days), I have to be honest, I doubt we'll make it through, not in one piece. I mean maybe I'll have to scavenge from the trash but surely won't be the only one, and violence is already beginning to undertake the streets. I'll fight for my family to the bitter end if it comes to it.

If I don't post here ever again, well, just don't vote for socialism, promise me.

[Kagus]

Very sorry to hear about that, man... Really hope things work out.


I've heard the narrative that aid from places like the US are being stopped because of carrying support and weapons for revolutionary forces, but...  I have to wonder, is it worth it? Is letting people starve and die from poor medical care better than the potential of starting an armed insurgency? I really don't know. It's definitely a clusterfuck of a situation, and it's not getting less complicated.

[smjjames]

@LordBaal: If you're able to respond, does Guaido come off as left wing rather than right wing (for all the support that he has) to you? Just wondering as the way Reelya described him sounds a bit more neoconservative, if anything.

As for not voting socialism, while I completly get the position an experience you're coming from, your definition and my definition of 'socialism' are quite different. However, I'll agree to disagree wth you on it.

Very sorry to hear about that, man... Really hope things work out.


I've heard the narrative that aid from places like the US are being stopped because of carrying support and weapons for revolutionary forces, but...  I have to wonder, is it worth it? Is letting people starve and die from poor medical care better than the potential of starting an armed insurgency? I really don't know. It's definitely a clusterfuck of a situation, and it's not getting less complicated.

Is that the excuse Maduro is using to deny aid? Wouldn't be surprised if the US is* supplying rebel forces though. However, he's denying aid from everybody, not just the US.

The last attempt I heard of fell through before it even got to the material support phase, and sounded more like an excuse for the US to do intel gathering ops. So, who knows at this point.

[Magistrum]

Yeah, maduro is running off with some tall tales about how the USA wants to kill every good man out there, but he is blocking Brazilian emergency aid, which makes no sense. They were started before pocket got power even, by the sympathizing Worker's Party government, so I don't really get how much posing as a tough guy is supposed to help him.

[LordBaal]

 We just spend 5 days without electricity. Our food reserves are depleted and by the grace of the higher powers we are fine.

However yet another neighbor hanged himself. You might think is for the 5 days without power, but since we are already beaten and low, cut the power and you got people by the balls.

As for Guaido, he comes form Voluntad Popular, a center left progressive party (as described by themselves). Guys, there's officially NO rigth parties on Venezuela. People here seem to think that being against the revolution makes you a Republican redneck or something thanks to the massive propaganda and indoctrination.

[Doomblade187]

Huh. I didn't know it was possible to have the opposite political problem that we have up here with right wing parties.

Guaido is probably at most right a moderate democrat here.

May your neighbor rest in peace.

[smjjames]

I didn't think Guaido was a Republican redneck or anything, just wasn't sure where his politics were. Also, given (US) Republicans calling Democrats 'socialists' and calling Maduros regieme socialist (whether it deserves that label or not), one might get the impression that they were supporting a right winger in Guaido, hence my confusion.

[LordBaal]

By here I mean here in Venezuela, not the forum

The party he belongs to, and virtually all parties here are in fact suscribed to socialist international. No really rigth wing here. Kinda like your mirror in fact as Doom points out.

[scriver]

May I ask what you think should be done regarding the oil and the ownership of it, Baal?

[LordBaal]

I think privatization is not the way. We had a public company that was the example of the oil industry around the globe. If things change enough and we can recall the human talent we could have it again. But rigth now 20 years of abuse, corruption and idiocy have melted it to the ground.

Failling that it could be that the only way is to allow a partial overtake of the oil industry by private companies that could help rebuild but this would also means contracts so they get a piece  of the pie for God knows how many time. But I honestly this would not be necessary.

As for the oil revenue the transparency and public access of records is a must. Also the stipends and subsided gasoline should die. I mean, we shouldn't pay a premium like in countries with no oil, but rigth now is ridiculous that you can fill a tank and simply say you don't have any money and drive away. You could fill 315 cars with 1$ if you want, and not because that's the price, but because that's the exchange rate divided by the smallest bill on course accepted rigth now. I think we should pay just enough for a profit that would ideally ensure the continuous production and future investments, repairs and upgrades. At least until we caught up with the rest of the world with electric vehicles, which probably will take us 30~40 years.

The issues with our oil is that while is a lot, is also very heavy and either you have specially tailored refineries or mix it with lighter petroleum. Currently we need to mix it because the local refineries are destroyed and the one in the US that did it is our of the hands of Mauro thankfully.

On the other hand we gifted a lot of oil to Cuba, or better yet, to the Castro's. Not sell, gifted. That just ended as Gusto just ended that crap thankfully.

[Teneb]

So today there was a school shooting at a public school in the state of São Paulo. Two masked gunmen barged into the school during break time and opened fired. They killed 6 kids, two employees of the school, and the owner of a nearby shop before offing themselves.

What a damn tragedy.

And of course the usual procession of cretins decided to spout the usual bullshit you oft hear in the US when this happens. I'm translating the most egregious below. Originals are included beneath the translated quote. With one exception, I've cut out parts of the quotes to save on work since its the usual statement of how horrible this situation is.

My opinion: today we see these kids addicted to videogames. And violent videogames, that's all they do. I have grandchildren and I see my grandchildren many times diving into this. We don't like to say 'back in my day', but when I was a child or when I was a teenger, we just played ball, we flew kites, we played marbles. And we don't see these things anymore.

---

Minha opinião: hoje a gente vê essa garotada viciada em videogame. E videogames violentos, só isso que fazem. Eu tenho netos e vejo meus netos muitas vezes mergulhadora nisso aí. A gente nunca gosta de falar 'no meu tempo', mas quando eu era criança ou era adolescente, a gente jogava bola, a gente soltava pipa, jogava bola de gude. E isso a gente não vê mais essas coisas.

Another tragedy caused by a minor and that attest to the failure of the poorly-thought disarmament statute, which is still being enforced.

--

Mais uma tragédia protagonizada por menor de idade e que atesta o fracasso do malfadado estatuto do desarmamento, ainda em vigor.

I feel defeated as policeman and congressman in sight of the tragedy that occurred in the Prof. Raul Brasil school in Suzano. I lament, cry and make my prayers for the victims of these bastards, but not for the death of two bandits. Enough hipocrisy! While firearms are illigal, only the illigals will have guns! Failure and naughtiness* of the 'farce of the disarmament politics' that has armed criminals and impeded self-defense. Another sad tragedy that shows the necessity of reducing penal age**. Bandits have no age. Our schools should be places of protection to our children and sadly they are not safe! We urgently need to revise our public safety policy, BANDITS HAVE NO AGE, and this tragedy only reaffirms that we need to reduce penal age NOW!

If there had been the citizen with a registered gun inside the school, teacher, servant, retired police officer working there, he could've minimized the scope of the tragedy.


*It sounds weird in english, but it's the proper translation. The word has a more serious connotation in Portuguese.
**Couldn't think of a good way to translate. In short, people with less than 18 years currently are processed differently in the prison system.
---

Sinto-me derrotado como policial e como parlamentar diante da tragédia que ocorreu na escola Prof. Raul Brasil em Suzano. Lamento, choro e faço minhas orações pelas vítimas desses canalhas, menos pela morte do dois bandidos. Chega de hipocrisia! Enquanto as armas forem ilegais, apenas os ilegais terão armas! Fracasso e safadeza da 'farsa da política desarmamentista' que armou criminosos e impediu a legítima defesa. Mais uma triste tragédia que mostra a necessidade da redução da maioridade penal. Bandido não tem idade. Nossas escolas deviam ser lugar de proteção para nossas crianças e infelizmente não estão seguras! Precisamos urgentemente rever a nossa política de segurança pública, BANDIDO NÃO TEM IDADE, e essa tragédia apenas reafirma que precisamos reduzir a maioridade penal JÁ!

Se tivesse o cidadão com a arma regular dentro da escola, professor, servente, policial aposentado trabalhando lá, ele poderia ter minimizado o tamanho da tragédia.