Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy. (Politics General)

How Trump’s Hill allies could take one last shot to overturn the election  
We’re in big trouble

@Violet Rose in The Rain  
When the news came out, it hit me that I haven’t seen a single thing Page has been in. Not Juno, not The Umbrella Academy, especially not Beyond: Two Souls, not even X-Men 3: The Third One. It’s the one X-Men movie I have yet to watch.
 
I don’t even have any particular animus toward him. I just… have somehow managed to avoid him completely.

What can I say but bruh, Background Human?

@Zincy  
Bro, are you really turning into MovieBob?

@Violet Rose in The Rain  
Another reason why 1979 was, at least in a very few certain respects, a great year, imo.
 
Those exceptions aside, it was still a pretty shit year, though absolutely nowhere as bad as 2020, or the mid-to-late 2010s, in general.

@tehwatever  
Both integration and assimilation are good, when it comes to immigrantion.

@tehwatever  

 
@tehwatever  

 
 
You need to assume less about the people you’re responding to, bud.

@NeonThriller  
Are you really that incapable of doing something that someone (a mod, particularly) has asked you to do as a rule, multiple times?

@Violet Rose in The Rain  
Huh - hadn’t heard that one yet. Might take a bit of time to get used to.

@Background Human  

Actually, if the third X-Men movie is the only one you haven’t watched, then you must have seen X-Men: Days of Future Past at some point. And since he’s in that one, you have technically seen something he’s been in.
 
I’ll admit though, I honestly, completely forgot he was in X-Men 3. Probably because I haven’t seen that movie since I left the theater it was playing in.

To get an idea of what type of people Rudy and Powell’s witnesses are like, try to sit through this:  
https://twitter.com/marisakabas/status/1334315220815278080
 
Their other star/expert witnesses include a 20-somthing “tech security expert” that stores Trump memes and proof Tesla invented free energy on Pinterest under his real name, and the Watkins, ie. the father and dad dynamic duo that run 8chan and other childporn sites, assumed to be behind the QAnon identity. Oh, and the New Jersey failed political candidate and convicted sex offender.
 
They really do know how to pick ’em, huh?

Saying terrorists are bad and explaining the reasoning behind wanting to tone down certain rhetoric in said religion and accepting Macrons initiative seems reasonable in my head.
 
Thread: means saying all muslims are super evil and you are le evil nazi that need to be treated as scum.
 

@silbasa
 
#NoTheyArent, and the second BLM or leftists continue protesting under Biden the police will start cracking skulls. Biden’s already compromising on a lot of his policies, so don’t be surprised if he governs like a moderate republican…which is exactly what he is.
 
@Violet Rose in The Rain
 
JStark1809 is far more American than most of those protesting the COVID restrictions.
 
@NeonThriller
 
No, but Biden will be more likely to tolerate more authoritarian policing, given his 94 Crime Bill and his VP being a pro-police shithead.
 
@Violet Rose in The Rain  
@CaptainXtra
 
Isn’t he the loser behind that epic failure in gaming known as Firefall?
 
@Background Pony #AC9A
 
That’s an insult to Zincy, because our mate Zincy is pretty switched on, and isn’t a professional loser. Zincy meaningfully contributes to society.

@Ebalosus  
#Venezuela.

@Ebalosus  
What I meant by that was him having such a borderline-‘genocidal’ hatred for anyone who happens to support Trump.

@silbasa
 
>implying they would gain the power to do that.
 
If they were able to, I wouldn’t be marketing 3D-printed firearms to them.
 
@Background Pony #39BF
 
Does he though? From what I’ve seen, he sees them as full of shit.

@Ebalosus  
That’s smart since they would take your printer away from you and then shoot you with your own 3d printed gun. After all they want to control the means of production…

@Background Human  
You haven’t seen Inception either?

@silbasa  
Terrorist are bad. no argument against that. Certain rhetorics in the islamic community needs to be addressed. no argument from me.  
The rhetoric is NOT in the religion: it’s in the community, and 90% of the time, the problem can be solved by fixing a muslim’s mental and financial problems.
 
what I take issue with, is your argument that Islam ITSELF, needs to fundamentally change. that some fundamentals of the religion needs to change. THAT. I wholeheartedly disagree. I consider myself fundamentalist. But you don’t see me doing terrorism stuff. Why not? Can you explain that?
 
Do you understand what I’m saying? I can step-by-step break it down for you, so you understand.
 
We’re aiming for the same goal, namely: Less crazy killings in the name of islam in Europe. You suggest Islam needs to change, I suggest that muslims should learn islamic fundamentals.

Covid-19 is killing 9/11 worth of people everyday and Americans still don’t give a shit
 
At this point, this is the equivalent of refusing to leave a burning building

Love how reactionaries like silbasa blame socialism for people “starving” in Venezuela, when it’s the US that is blockading the country with sanctions that have killed anywhere from 40,000 - 100,000 people.
 
@silbasa  

 
More than 80% of industry in Venezuela is privately owned. For example: the media here likes to talk about how toilet paper is Scarce in Venezuela. This is true, but let’s take a look at the main distributor of toilet paper in the country: PepsiCo! They work to distribute many mass consumption products with Empress Polar Co. Don’t you think it’s strange that an American Capitalist company has so much business in a supposedly Socialist country?
 
Mexico also has a nationalized oil industry, but you don’t hear the news decrying the problems in Mexico as being a problem of Socialism! You really should learn more about these countries, and not just from white conservatives born in America who have never stepped foot in Venezuela.

@Background Pony #39BF
 
Your ability to selectively blow things out of proportion astounds me.
 
Plus, if you’re implying that all Trump supporters are anti-mask, suicidal idiots that’s on you. I didn’t even mention Trump. That was very much a case of “you said it not me”.

@tehwatever  
We use the term differently but we seem to be in agreement for the most part. “Fundamentalist” seem to mean different things to us. The reason I use the term is because thats how the media describes terrorists with a very litteral interpretation of Islam here. The “kill all infidels” kind of interpretation, not normal muslims just living their lives. I hope that makes it clearer!
 
 
Venezuela:
 

 
The government populist social welfare policies were bolstered by soaring oil prices,[16] temporarily increasing social spending,[17] and reducing economic inequality and poverty in the early years of the regime.[22] The 2013 Venezuelan presidential election was widely disputed leading to widespread protest, which triggered another nationwide crisis that continues to this day.[23]
 
Venezuela is a developing country and ranks 96th on the Human Development Index. It has the world’s largest known oil reserves and has been one of the world’s leading exporters of oil. Previously, the country was an underdeveloped exporter of agricultural commodities such as coffee and cocoa, but oil quickly came to dominate exports and government revenues. The excesses and poor policies of the incumbent government led to the collapse of Venezuela’s entire economy.[24][25] The country struggles with record hyperinflation,[26][27] shortages of basic goods,[28] unemployment,[29] poverty,[30] disease, high child mortality, malnutrition, severe crime and corruption. These factors have precipitated the Venezuelan migrant crisis where more than three million people have fled the country.[31] By 2017, Venezuela was declared to be in default regarding debt payments by credit rating agencies.[32][33] The crisis in Venezuela has contributed to a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation, including increased abuses such as torture, arbitrary imprisonment, extrajudicial killings and attacks on human rights advocates.
 
Source
 
Since 2 February 1999, Venezuela saw sweeping and radical shifts in social policy, moving away from the government officially embracing a free-market economy and neoliberal reform principles and towards income redistribution and social welfare programs.
 
Then-President Hugo Chávez dramatically shifted Venezuela’s traditional foreign policy alignment. Instead of continuing Venezuela’s past alignment with the United States and European strategic interests, Chávez promoted alternative development and integration policies targeted the Global South.
 
Chávez died in office on 5 March 2013 and was succeeded by his Vice President Nicolás Maduro, who gained a slim majority in the 14 April 2013 special election and has ruled by decree for the majority of the period between 19 November 2013 through 2018.
 
Source
 
On 14 April 2013 Nicolás Maduro was elected President of Venezuela, narrowly defeating opposition candidate Henrique Capriles with just 1.5% of the vote separating the two candidates. Capriles immediately demanded a recount, refusing to recognize the outcome as valid.[1] Maduro was later formally inaugurated as President on 19 April, after the election commission had promised a full audit of the election results.[2][3] On 24 October 2013, he announced the creation of a new agency, the Vice Ministry of Supreme Happiness, to coordinate all the social programmes.
 
Maduro denies that Venezuela has been facing a humanitarian crisis.[58] Maduro stuck to his predecessor Hugo Chávez’s policies in order to remain popular to those who find a connection between the two. Despite the increasingly difficult crises facing Venezuela, such as a faltering economy and high crime rate, Maduro continued the use of Chávez’s policies.[59]
 
After continuing Chávez’s policies, Maduro’s support among Venezuelans began to decrease, with Bloomberg explaining that he held on to power by placing opponents in jail and impeding upon Venezuela’s freedom of press.[60] According to Marsh, instead of making any policy changes, Maduro placed attention on his “hold on power by closing off the legal channels through which the opposition can act”.[61] Shannon K. O’Neil of the Council on Foreign Relations stated that “After Chavez’s death, Maduro has just continued and accelerated the authoritarian and totalitarian policies of Chavez”.[62]  
The rally against Maduro’s government in October 2016  
The rally in support of Maduro’s government in December 2016
 
Regarding Maduro’s ideology, Professor Ramón Piñango, a sociologist from the Venezuelan University of IESA, “Maduro has a very strong ideological orientation, close to the Communist ideology. Contrary to Diosdado, he is not very pragmatic”.[63] Maduro himself has stated that Venezuela must build a more socialist nation, highlighting that the country needs an economic overhaul, a political-military union and government involvement in the workplace.[64]
 
When elected in 2013, Maduro continued the majority of existing economic policies of his predecessor Hugo Chávez. When entering the presidency, Maduro’s Venezuela faced a high inflation rate and large shortages of goods[71][72][73] that was left over from the previous administration of President Chávez.[74][75][76][77]
 
Maduro blamed capitalism for speculation that is driving high rates of inflation and creating widespread shortages of staples, and often said he was fighting an “economic war”, calling newly enacted economic measures “economic offensives” against political opponents he and loyalists state are behind an international economic conspiracy.[78][79][80][81][82][83] However, Maduro has been criticized for only concentrating on public opinion instead of tending to the practical issues economists have warned the Venezuelan government about or creating any ideas to improve the economic situation in Venezuela such as the “economic war”.[84][85]
 
Venezuela was ranked as the top spot globally with the highest misery index score in 2013,[86] 2014,[87] and 2015[88][89] In 2014, Venezuela’s economy entered an economic depression[90] that has continued as of 2017.[61] Under Maduro’s rule, GDP has approximately halved.[91]
 
Source
 

@NeonThriller  

@silbasa  
Socialists don’t like to talk about Venezuela. What has happened there is a tragedy and the fact that most people don’t acknowledge it is awful. These people, and I am talking about genuine socialists here, would rather point to capitalist nordic countries and claim they are socialists.