This is a very complex issue. And people still think it’s about guns only. MachineGunSteve brought about some really really good points onto this thread. Teacher o no Teacher, y’all have a right to defend yourselves with the means available by technology.
It is funny when the enemies of personal freedom try to come up with pseudo-truths like: 'If we ban all guns criminals and insane people will only have knives to hurt people, and knives are less deadly than guns!'
If criminals don't get guns in the black market, they will make their own. This is a reality. This is a fact. I won’t ever stop saying it. Simply because its truth.
Then comes the other problem: Are knives, clubs and axes all they got left? Because i remember that Timothy McVeigh and the Unabomber did not use those. Then I need not remind Europeans of the attacks with acid, the truck sprees, and so on.
They will find the means to get their massacre. To ask for further gun regulation or prohibition won’t affect them more than they will affect the rest of the population. Fear mongering, propaganda, or feelings won’t change this.
Then comes the other problem: You cannot handle human life as a statistic and try to come up as some sort of humanitarian angel of virtue signal at the same time. A single victim of a deranged person is already an evil deed. Don’t get soviet on your thought process. Don’t do the politicians any favor. 5 knife victims is as bad as 25 shot victims. 1 Acid victim is as bad as 12 victims that survived a truck spree. Same goes the other way. As long as there are good guys with guns, you cannot put them in the same sack as the mass shooters or criminals. As long as there is a dude stopping another dude from doing horrible things, you cannot condemn them both to the same vexation.
Now with that out of the way, I consider an important action to reduce or eradicate the mass shooting problem is:
Stop making the shooter famous! Stop releasing their names! Demand the press to stop creating click-baity stories around these disturbed people! It feeds the next mass shooter! It teaches them that there is a way where they can take revenge on the institutions where they were hurt and kill themselves easily after they finish!
There are already some journalists that agree in this point (I forget who had the idea). And what’s funnier, Europeans do it already for the wrong reasons (often hiding nationality and ethnicity of the perpetrator, because ‘muh racism’)
The other thing that I want to say is… Most of the school systems are prison-like already. And very indoctrinating and often foster the ‘group-think’ doctrine.
I believe that besides terrible parenting, the modern patterns in education breed bullying and punish the victim more than the perpetrators of bullying. (Mind you, I consider that bullying is when kids gang up against a single victim, or a notably smaller group).
I think that is the perfect breeding ground for potential mass shooters or psychos.
Teachers that carry are potential saviors of their children in yet another way. It is strange, it is unprecedented. But until you guys fix the crappy parenting and the school system which is a very broad and ugly issue, this is a sufficient solution.
TL; DR:
Guns don’t kill people, people do.
Good guys with guns outnumber insane people with guns.
If you try to prohibit guns, criminals will either buy them in the black market or they will make their own and you will leave the good guys defenseless, which will allow criminals to be meaner and more efficient in their evil deeds.
Some crazy people will do whatever it takes to get their massacre and will use any tool available to them.
Facts don’t care about your feelings.
Propaganda is not a valid replacement for truth.
You cannot virtue signal while attempting to be ‘sovietly pragmatic’. Every single life matters. Personal freedom matters.
Stop making crazy people famous.
The School System and Crappy Parenting is breeding really dangerous people.
The School System is already prison-like in most countries. Specially primary and pre-school.
Teachers that carry are a small solution but there is a real issue with schools and parenting.
Hello guys! Its been hell down here, more than usual.
Let me share the key points of the Venezuelan crisis, so you guys know (roughly) what is going on. You better buckle up because this is a mess.
1. Everyone already knows that socialism was implemented in Venezuela and it failed miserably as it always does, while enriching the political elite.
I know it.
The soft-core (social-democrats and other political creatures) leftists that form the opposition coalition know it, and even the tyranny propaganda admits it. They just want to play the 'it wasn't real socialism' so they get another chance at killing us en masse and get a ride on the power and money the government brings to corrupt people.
The people kinda know it. (Venezuela has an average IQ of 80 and public education is in ruins).
You, of course, clear and critical thinkers, know it.
2. There is no such thing as 'right wingers' doing politics in Venezuela.
And I'm being very serious here: The fat cats in politics are all leftists.(Von Mises quote fits perfectly in our situation)
'The worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.
Juan Guaidó is part of Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) a progressive party that is leftist first, then centerish second.
The other big parties are Acción Democratica (Democratic Action) that is deeply leftists and before a certain reform used to be openly communist and revolutionary. Primero Justicia (Justice comes First) that is actually formed from Acción Democrática in the first place and Un Nuevo Tiempo (A new moment) that is slightly center-leaning, like Voluntad Popular.
The closest thing to the right wing is Vente Venezuela (Come with us, Venezuela) They are actually centrists that lean towards classical liberalism and try to reconcile it with more popular political concepts (Massive social welfare, for instance). So... basically they are dopey liberals.
3. Guaidó is a wild card used by the opposition, because the other leaders are literally 'burnt' (We say a politician is burnt when people throw them off the stage or brands them as collaborators in social media).
So in a nutshell, that man is a young engineer that comes from a very poor area and that was ignored by many (including myself) until he arrived at the National Assembly.
No one else could deal with the position without being publicly attacked, so they threw that dude in and he constantly holds meetings with the 'burnt' leaders. More about these meetings and their content later.
4. Venezuela is not about left or right per se. Is about the radical leftist elite in the government stepping on everyone's throats while being financed by the Russian and Chinese governments while the leftists opposition attempts to negotiate with the butchers so they can keep the game going while the population starves and dies at the hands of the usurping government
Time and time again, the leftists had pretended to sue for peace (with the help of the United Nations and the European Union and political members of the 'Sao Paulo Forum' on Latin America) when in fact they just help the socialist government buy more time.
(We have been going at this shit since 2 0 0 2)
Why are the Ruskies involved? They want our resources. And the tyranny owes A LOT of money to them. So they get special concessions in our mining areas. It is not an ideological interest, they just want to attain resources and power.
Why are the Chinese involved? Amazingly, its not about ideology alone. We owe AN EVEN BIGGER AMOUNT of money to them. Its so bad that the last loans they have provided to the tyranny were given under one very particular condition: 50 cents of every dollar they loan must be use to purchase their goods and services (Or so a few leaks claim, there is no actual way to know since the deals with the foreigners are kept in secrecy. Take this info about the conditions with a grain of salt).
5. The tyranny is conducting mass detention of young children and teenagers (as young as 12) and no one knows why. They even enter some schools to kidnap children or go into house to house sprees in poor areas of the nation. They started a few days after the legal process that Guaidó used to become Interim President on Jan 23rd.
Needless to say, they are just ramping up in the level of brutality and moral criminality in each day that passes.
6. We call the process that was official on Jan 23rd ‘President in charge’ since the nature of his bestowal is about dismounting the tyranny, ensuring law and order and then conducting elections to choose an actual president.
As Collette says. In our constitution, articles 233, 333 and 350 support this mechanism.
And Jesus H. Christ i swear this is just the tip of the Iceberg. I'd rather talk about this than write it down in Discord or something like that. I have only Spanish sources for clearly obvious reasons, but i can translate gladly if you want to. Did i leave anything relevant out? Anything unclear?
PS: I'm THIS " " close to asking for charity since i'm unemployed because of the tension that we are living now. Funny, because you might say Venezuelans REALLY need English lessons right now.
PS1: This is the concentration of the citizenry today: https://twitter.com/luisgonzaloprz/status/1091774670599323648
PS2: This is the red concentration today in support of Maduro: https://twitter.com/maibortpetit/status/1091804681511276545 I worked for the government when i was 18 and stupid. They forced me to attend the political rallies or they would suspend my paychecks. Party members would bring a list of employees and roll call the attendants at the beginning and the end of the rally.
The 'Let me be Frank' vid was creepy as hell. That man is clearly insane. Which is not surprising. Often you have to be completely nuts to be that good of an actor. Take Jim Carrey and his downward spiral of late.
This thread is dope. I agree with Blunt. I must apologize in advance if i bring trouble with this post.
We must try to examine problems carefully but without thinking that problems are uni-dimensional (not the best at it, personally, tbqh)
Human beings are either male, female or in very rare occasions a medical challenge that usually ends up leaning towards the previous two.
Some people can pretend to defend tolerance to attain political power and increase intolerance against their enemies.
Remilia you are not a bigot for expressing freely. Those who claim otherwise are out to get political power or are virtue signalling.
Even the people that disagree or don't care about the issue is surely paying for it anyways. Voluntary donations will always be better than taxation in a moral basis because taxation is theft.
The concept of equality is not compatible with Western Civilization or in fact, with human nature.
The actual thing:
I must say i am impressed at Poptop, Purp's and the rest of the folks' opinions . This is perhaps the first time i see a (mostly) well-balanced conversation in the internet about this issue (And its not an Echo Chamber) that has not degenerated into a massive strawman fest. I do hope i can participate as well and with the same level-headed temperance shown. And still, like a personal hero of mine has stated several times in several ways: You must risk being offensive to search for the truth.
I consider that Blunt's point is rock solid, and the concern is not only morally proper, but i consider that he is right. Still, the arguments about 'proper' accommodation are very valid. They demonstrate good will to approach a very complex problem.
But i must bring up an element that must never be forgotten: When examining phenomena, the scientific (rational and logic) process is highly discriminatory (funny word, huh) and ever-increasingly specific.
In other words: Oftentimes we forget we are studying the forest, and just look at one particular tree. I will get back at this in a while.
I would also like to include a gentle reminder, something i learned from better men:
The biological constraints of gender are very hard to ignore. It goes beyond of the 'men have a pp' 'women have a wa-wa' widely-known bit. Our biological traits also influence heavily most of the elements of life. Social interaction, hobbies, preferred line of work/academic study. skill sets, and so on. We see this in everyday life. Even complex elements such as political inclinations are influenced by our biological gender. But, you either are born a man, or a woman. The deviations from this norm, are rare, very complicated exceptions to the rule.
The reminder is not as much as to bring this fact up. But to remind everyone that there are people that hold political power, and wish to hold even more political power, and they do so by imposing the absurd argument that there is no such thing as gender. That same people make this conversation a very dangerous topic.
Going back to the 'watching the tree instead of the forest' thing:
Tolerance is a tenant of the modern western civilization. But not everyone is like Purp, or like Pops. Some people want to literally weaponize this conversation, and use a plausible amount of tolerance to do so.
Remilia's post sharing her opinion (that i agree with) holds proof of this in her last sentence: 'Does that make me a bigot'
It is normal to find people in a defensive position as soon as this problem is brought up. Yet, the honest and moral answer is: No, Remilia, you are not a bigot for adhering to modern western social norms. But some people that wish political power will consider you an enemy. And they will brand you, to isolate you.
In this conversation, there are no bigots (so far)
Now, the REAL reason i'm participating:
I would like to chip in with another side of the problem that is being forgotten: Most of the accommodation is being done following a political agenda, that somehow turned a fallacy (the famous slippery slope) into a horrendous apparent truth. So the intentions are not as good as the opinions being shared here. And what is worse. They are doing these things, using money that it does not belong to them (AKA Your money, taken from you via taxation).
So even if you disagree, like Hoch, or Remilia, Heigw, or Blunt... You are still contributing towards the illusion of equality against your will. I consider that, to be a very, very ugly problem. And actually, a larger problem than the gender issue.
<p>I write to you during a miracle. Both electricity and internet at the same time in my household after several days of irregular service. (I just found out that one of my neighbors is a Colonel in the socialist armed forces, that might be it).</p> <p>No water service for a week, tho. (They "ration" it).</p> <p>Venezuela depends on the Guri Hydroelectric complex for their electricity needs.</p> <p>There are loose reports that both a fire near one of the generators and the lack of maintenance in one of the turbines severely damaged the equipment and resources that fed the whole nation.</p> <p>The official report by the socialist's propaganda machine is that it was a 'cybernetic hacking sabotage' that was ordered by... wait for it.</p> <p>... Marco Rubio. Yep. They are <em>that</em> cynical. </p> <p>The most accurate report that comes from outside Venezuela claimed that there was a 96% of the population without power for more than +40 hours. Some parts have suffered way longer.</p> <p>Whats the big deal right? Electricity is so overrated. We should go back to our roots and be one with nature... right?</p> <p>Wrong. The Death Toll is as it follows: 79 dead due to the power outage. Among these are 15 children and babies. (As of March 9th) Dozens of babies in lethal risk because hospitals do not have the means to save them.</p> <p>The diplomatic niceties and the deliberate shyness of the 'softcore' leftists both inside and outside Venezuela (Lima Group, our own left-leaning opposition coalition, the European Union envoys, American democrats, the United Nations...) They all keep the tyranny alive with their double-speak and their apparent interest for a 'peaceful solution'.</p> <p>Like trying to solve a hostage crisis offering candy and hugs while the criminals execute hostages randomly, yet constantly.</p> <p>I have little good to say about the situation. I can barely check out the news. And i don't know how much time i got left (with electricity and internet, i mean).</p> <p>Oh, one of the members of the elite Tareck El Aissami has been charged with drug trafficking elements and it seems that some of his henchmen are already detained. Still, he evades capture by staying in Turkey, Russia and then coming back to Venezuela, flying in air lines that do not touch US drug-enforcement jurisdiction.</p>
There is a ton of misinformation and a lot of people acting like Venezuela is not real socialism. Or like the CIA is intervening. Or a bunch of parasites defending. Even certain conservatives or libertarians are spewing huge amounts of crap. Some people just want to show you one piece of the picture, because they cannot contend with reality, so they only believe what fits their ideologically indoctrinated beliefs.
Ron Paul, who i respect is saying so much nonsense...
I understand that of course libertarians are anti-intervention or more accurately anti-'take my taxpayer money and give it to a brown unknown dude in South America'. But what Papa Paul is saying about Venezuela is incredibly harmful to the point he is out of line. (He has actually stated that Guaidó is not the interim president, when he in fact is under our constitutional laws.)
Oh, and of course! The larger context is that governments like Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Guatemala NK, Russia, China, India, Nigeria, several Caribbean nations, Turkey, among others participated actively in defending a socialist tyranny in exchange of oil and natural resources and influence in Latin America.
A few years back, you had also the governments of Ecuador (with Rafael Correa) Argentina (With Kristina de Kitchner), Chile (Michelle Bachelet) Brazil (Lula Da Silva and Dilma Roussef) and several others.
Count in the terrorist organizations i mentioned earlier... (And i forgot about ETA)
Also count Jeremy Corbyn from the UK. Michael Moore, and a few american ignorant actors...
Most of them ideological allies (Cuba, Colombian guerrilla, Corbyn, Moore, A. Ocasio Cortez, Kimmie in NK...)
Or participants on the alliance between leftists and radical muslims. (Palestinians, Hezbollah, Hamas... Syrian enforcers working for one of our ministers, whose name is Tarek El Aissami...)
Others are just opportunists that care about nothing but profit or a mix of interests beyond financial gain (Russia, Nigeria, China, India).
I understand that this is a complex situation, but sharing only one side of the picture is spreading propaganda, not helping people understand the crisis, much less to talk about it and reach a solution.
We have an internet quality and reliability that matches several African failed states (Which prevents me from getting decent outsourced jobs, mind you, although people still reach out, which is something i will be forever grateful).
Sh*tty internet and telephone... That is like a passive censorship measure.
And how to forget the fact that there are socialist teams that focus solely on distributing false flags, fake news, rumors to generate anxiety, doubt and fear...
It takes a lot of time to be informed swimming in all the crap with a slow connection.
And there is always risk you get halted by the military or the police and the FIRST thing they do is check your phone for contacts and check your conversations and browser history. Then they judge whether to **** you up or not. (99% they just ask for money, but sometimes you win the lotto and you go to jail).
I use stuff like freeware VPN services to access things like YouTube, Twitter...
But i still gotta tread carefully when using social networks.Just in case I avoid using a certain list of buzzwords or 'hot sentences' that have gotten other people arrested or become quickly viral. (Original insults, for instance).
Most of my browsing is just me constantly hitting refresh after getting 'ERROR_TIMEOUT" and hoping for the best. Using Tor Browser or similar is torture, because of how slow it is with my local connection.
I also avoid using my smartphone.
I think they aren't more aggressive and inquisitive (like China) hunting for online dissidents because:
1. They work in the same shitty low-quality slow telecommunications infrastructure.
2. Once you know you are CERTAINLY going to get it you just pipe down. They want people constantly sharing false flags and fake news and things that create anxiety and makes people lose hope. (I bring up the low IQ issue again, how do you expect someone to have enough judgement to separate the B.S from the truth).
3. Not enough manpower to do that.
Funny thing, by the way:
They did not censor CNN. Only removed it from cable packages. Weird isn't it?
The AK's were mostly 74s and 103s. The Sukhoi were in the shit the last time someone caught the gossip in the military. But i'm sure the ruskies that are in here are getting them fixed. But... Will they do any good?
Don't forget to mention the mobile AA vehicles, upgrades for our motor pool, the cuban paramilitary training and how their high command is embedded in the Venezuelan Armed Forces... the dealings with muslim extremists, the rumors of muslims killing venezuelans and Palestinians being trained in our territory. (Spanish journalist Antonio Salas wrote 'El Palestino' look it up.) the private security firm coming from Russia, the Turks taking a f*ck-ton of gold out of our reserves... The mining operations... And the comfortable alliance the socialists have with the Colombian ELN and FARC (Communist guerrilla groups).
(Mind the dates of the tweets, this shit is mostly old news)
https://twitter.com/ZODI_Aragua/status/1075072644800765953 < ZODI Propaganda ("""Integral""" Defense Zones) ZODIs is socialist slang for area of command so a certain group of the army to intimidate people and steal things. Anyway, Ruskies checking on the CAVIM weapons and ammo factories.
These new factories (there are older ones, arrived with the jets) will start up i think this year.
The Sukhoi were brought by Chavez years ago, planned to bring up more in 2015.
https://twitter.com/ReporteYa/status/1095313825035882496 Second bonus: Right Wing Death squads preparing a tactical nuclear strike against Maduro. Shortly afterwards they plan on leaving SUV's running around the streets and building a coal-powered steel mill.
(JK its just the peaceful protesters that are beginning to mass up this morning.)
And i do have to repeat myself to the lefties that seem that are unable to read anything but the lies fed up by their own media:
Stop. Spreading. Propaganda.
I am Venezuelan. i know what is going on in my own country, so as long as i don't back up your claims or correct them, you better step off. Specially if your sources are completely bogus. If you want sources, i can translate them from Spanish, but i will not go out of my way to tell you that the sky is blue and water is wet. And guess what. If i am not certain, i will let you know because i am no immoral asswipe that speaks without knowledge or cause.
Today is our national youth day. We have a massive protest to make. Most of the Venezuelans wish for an intervention, and wish for humanitarian aid (Its taking way too long).
Today you won't see no CIA trained ops with US weapons. Today you won't see right wing guerrillas... Because there are none.
Today you will see a bunch of snotty kids and feeble old people walking around the same old spots while the socialist National Guard, the army and the paramilitary forces in favor of Maduro's regime throw tear gas, and shoot them with rubber bullets or live ammunition. That's it. Today innocent people will die and even more people will be arrested. Precisely because no Elliott Adams is going to change the fact that those willing to raise in arms are dead, in jail, exiled or simply play it safe by supporting Maduro and the socialist revolution.
The more aggressive kids will throw stones, maybe a couple of fire-crackers. That's it.
I guess we all have an American inside, because that is what i wish for (But i am aware that its not going to happen).
But that guy is all we have left. No one else is able to step in to try and lift the tyranny. Those that can don't care. Those that care; can't.
And keep in mind: Average national IQ = 80. Nothing remotely close to a second amendment. No gun culture. Welfare whores and favela-like thugs as far as the eye can see.
Most of the higher-ups are ideological crusaders that keep the rebels at bay. Most of the officers that speak against the regime are either out of the country, in jail or dead. And even some Cubans hold positions of power in the military chain.
Still, without foreign agents, the Venezuelan army is NOT to be trusted. They have a history of corruption that precedes the socialists. Hence why Hugo Chavez found himself having so much support and contacts when he first arrived into politics.
Many people believe that once they are cornered out of any diplomatic, military, or political maneuver the military will hand over a handful of socialist leaders and pretend they are collaborators of the transition.
There are already several socialists that are switching sides but remaining in the same ideological non-sense they had in the first place.
Dudes like Rafael Ramirez, or the psycho that used to be head in our justice department Luisa Ortega Diaz are pretending to oppose the regime and singing praises to socialism and the defunct leader Hugo Chavez.
Hello guys! Its been hell down here, more than usual.
Let me share the key points of the Venezuelan crisis, so you guys know (roughly) what is going on. You better buckle up because this is a mess.
1. Everyone already knows that socialism was implemented in Venezuela and it failed miserably as it always does, while enriching the political elite.
I know it.
The soft-core (social-democrats and other political creatures) leftists that form the opposition coalition know it, and even the tyranny propaganda admits it. They just want to play the 'it wasn't real socialism' so they get another chance at killing us en masse and get a ride on the power and money the government brings to corrupt people.
The people kinda know it. (Venezuela has an average IQ of 80 and public education is in ruins).
You, of course, clear and critical thinkers, know it.
2. There is no such thing as 'right wingers' doing politics in Venezuela.
And I'm being very serious here: The fat cats in politics are all leftists.(Von Mises quote fits perfectly in our situation)
'The worst thing that can happen to a socialist is to have his country ruled by socialists who are not his friends.
Juan Guaidó is part of Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) a progressive party that is leftist first, then centerish second.
The other big parties are Acción Democratica (Democratic Action) that is deeply leftists and before a certain reform used to be openly communist and revolutionary. Primero Justicia (Justice comes First) that is actually formed from Acción Democrática in the first place and Un Nuevo Tiempo (A new moment) that is slightly center-leaning, like Voluntad Popular.
The closest thing to the right wing is Vente Venezuela (Come with us, Venezuela) They are actually centrists that lean towards classical liberalism and try to reconcile it with more popular political concepts (Massive social welfare, for instance). So... basically they are dopey liberals.
3. Guaidó is a wild card used by the opposition, because the other leaders are literally 'burnt' (We say a politician is burnt when people throw them off the stage or brands them as collaborators in social media).
So in a nutshell, that man is a young engineer that comes from a very poor area and that was ignored by many (including myself) until he arrived at the National Assembly.
No one else could deal with the position without being publicly attacked, so they threw that dude in and he constantly holds meetings with the 'burnt' leaders. More about these meetings and their content later.
4. Venezuela is not about left or right per se. Is about the radical leftist elite in the government stepping on everyone's throats while being financed by the Russian and Chinese governments while the leftists opposition attempts to negotiate with the butchers so they can keep the game going while the population starves and dies at the hands of the usurping government
Time and time again, the leftists had pretended to sue for peace (with the help of the United Nations and the European Union and political members of the 'Sao Paulo Forum' on Latin America) when in fact they just help the socialist government buy more time.
(We have been going at this shit since 2 0 0 2)
Why are the Ruskies involved? They want our resources. And the tyranny owes A LOT of money to them. So they get special concessions in our mining areas. It is not an ideological interest, they just want to attain resources and power.
Why are the Chinese involved? Amazingly, its not about ideology alone. We owe AN EVEN BIGGER AMOUNT of money to them. Its so bad that the last loans they have provided to the tyranny were given under one very particular condition: 50 cents of every dollar they loan must be use to purchase their goods and services (Or so a few leaks claim, there is no actual way to know since the deals with the foreigners are kept in secrecy. Take this info about the conditions with a grain of salt).
5. The tyranny is conducting mass detention of young children and teenagers (as young as 12) and no one knows why. They even enter some schools to kidnap children or go into house to house sprees in poor areas of the nation. They started a few days after the legal process that Guaidó used to become Interim President on Jan 23rd.
Needless to say, they are just ramping up in the level of brutality and moral criminality in each day that passes.
6. We call the process that was official on Jan 23rd ‘President in charge’ since the nature of his bestowal is about dismounting the tyranny, ensuring law and order and then conducting elections to choose an actual president.
As Collette says. In our constitution, articles 233, 333 and 350 support this mechanism.
And Jesus H. Christ i swear this is just the tip of the Iceberg. I'd rather talk about this than write it down in Discord or something like that. I have only Spanish sources for clearly obvious reasons, but i can translate gladly if you want to. Did i leave anything relevant out? Anything unclear?
PS: I'm THIS " " close to asking for charity since i'm unemployed because of the tension that we are living now. Funny, because you might say Venezuelans REALLY need English lessons right now.
PS1: This is the concentration of the citizenry today: https://twitter.com/luisgonzaloprz/status/1091774670599323648
PS2: This is the red concentration today in support of Maduro: https://twitter.com/maibortpetit/status/1091804681511276545 I worked for the government when i was 18 and stupid. They forced me to attend the political rallies or they would suspend my paychecks. Party members would bring a list of employees and roll call the attendants at the beginning and the end of the rally.
There are muslims that are trying to clean up their faith from backwards and violent crap. Such as the Imam M. Tawhidi who condemns the fanatics.
True muslims should be listening to these men, so we can all live in peace. Until reform is made, Islam is a religion of hate, death and degeneration. No excuse, no accusation of racism or intolerance can erase the blood that has been spilled by a bunch of monsters that still believe they are in the IXth century. No attempt at virtue signalling and no mob can silence the screams of the women who suffer because of Islam.
If i lived in the first world i would care little for my democracy index if my personal and economic freedom indexes looked good and stayed like that...
Democracy is a double edged sword and the handle is covered in shit and tiny pieces of glass.
An apparent """majority""" of my countrymen voted for every single official that in turn enacted all sorts of socialist policies that drove us into a socialist tyranny step by step, for instance.
FDR caused the Great Depression and made it last way longer than it should have in the United States. Clinton, the Bush and Obama drove the American debt to astronomical numbers...
And i hate this last example because it is often misunderstood...But Hitler was elected into power by a nation of deluded fanatical """"majority"""".
I care more about my natural rights than the ability to play the farce of electing a leader that is going to profit from crashing the economy in controlled bursts and seizing my freedoms one by one and call it progress just because subsidies and 'muh welfare'. I do not want anybody taking my money and i don't want to take other's people money without consent.
POTUS """"discussion"""" aside, the world is actually doing very good.
MSM is doing all it can to try to portray the world as we are still on the brink of destruction. AND YET.
The ozone hole is closing up (against all dooming predictions) all the predictions that oceans were going to head up and melt everything and that polar bears were going to be extinct... were wrong.
Last couple of years a gazzilion people got connected to the power grid, and got clean water... Poverty indexes world-wide are going down.
The Yellow Vests are protesting against corporativism and big government... And hopefully it will spread to all the rest of the world, and hopefully people will start to fight against the welfare state.
Exceptions? Sure. South Africa and Venezuela (damned if i know, right?) and North Korea and the refugee crisis that was created by the EU...
We also have a bunch of jackasses trying to bring the XIXth century back (with famine, disease and war and everything) with their backwards ideologies, but generally speaking, we are doing Great.
People often take so much for granted. What we are experiencing right now, these 'modern times' are the exception, not the rule. And this is thanks to Western Civilization.
The 'Let me be Frank' vid was creepy as hell. That man is clearly insane. Which is not surprising. Often you have to be completely nuts to be that good of an actor. Take Jim Carrey and his downward spiral of late.