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Remember all those left-wing pundits who drooled over Venezuela?

Discussion in 'Political Opinions & Beliefs' started by Wehrwolfen, Aug 3, 2017.

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  1. Wehrwolfen

    Wehrwolfen Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    By James Kirchick
    ‎8‎/‎2/‎2017‎

    Pundits should have fixed terms,” left-wing author Naomi Klein recently told the BBC. Awarded “jobs for life,” most professional commentators — whether opining in newspaper columns like this one or blathering on television — suffer no consequence for making predictions that turn out “spectacularly wrong.” Klein’s (partly tongue-in-cheek) solution? Hold our pundits to account by making them reapply for their sinecures every four years, banishing those whose prognostications prove most wide of the mark.
    The socialist Klein’s embrace of market forces, however selective, is welcome. Might I offer the unfolding horror in Venezuela as the first litmus test of her proposal?
    On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in a referendum designed to rewrite the country’s constitution and confer on him dictatorial powers. The sham vote, boycotted by the opposition, was but the latest stage in the “Bolivarian Revolution” launched by Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. First elected in 1998 on a wave of popular goodwill, Chavez’s legacy is one of utter devastation.
    Thanks to Chavismo’s vast social welfare schemes (initially buoyed by high oil prices), cronyism and corruption, a country that once boasted massive budget surpluses is today the world’s most indebted. Contraction in per capita GDP is so severe that “Venezuela’s economic catastrophe dwarfs any in the history of the history of the U.S., Western Europe or the rest of Latin America” according to Ricardo Hausmann, former chief economist of the Inter-American Development Bank. Transparency International lists Venezuela as the only country in the Americas among the world’s 10 most corrupt.
    [**Snip**]
    This is a scandal. For in the form of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the world has a petri dish in which to judge the sort of policies endorsed by Jones, Klein, British Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, homegrown socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and countless other deluded utopians.
    There, the ghastly failures of their ideas are playing out for everyone to see; a real-time rebuke, as if another were needed, to socialism. That these people are considered authorities on anything other than purchasing Birkenstocks, much less running a country, is absurd.
    So yes, let’s put term limits on pundits. And let’s start with anyone who praised the Venezuelan model.

    Source: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-kirchick-venezuela-pundits-20170802-story.html

    ______
    Marxist Socialism could work if the “right people” were in charge. And if enough of your rights were taken away and the government had total control over everything. If Bernie had won he would have instituted Marxist Socialism without all the mistakes made by every other leader who tried it. And of course we’d be living in Utopia in no time. (Sarc)....
    We notice that Sean Penn, Oliver Stone, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte and Michael Moore are nowhere to be seen to support Maduro. Hmm.... Maybe Barack Obama and Maxine Waters could help with the further destruction of Venezuela.
     
    Wehrwolfen, Aug 3, 2017
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  2. waltky

    waltky Well-Known Member

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    New Venezuelan assembly ousts attorney general...
    [​IMG]
    Venezuela assembly ousts attorney general after guards swarm her office
    Aug. 5, 2017 ) -- Venezuela's newly elected National Constituent Assembly voted unanimously to remove Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz from office.
     
    waltky, Aug 7, 2017
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  3. SillyAmerican

    SillyAmerican Well-Known Member

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    Socialism sounds good in the abstract. Unfortunately, the real world hasn't been very kind to the socialists...
     
    SillyAmerican, Aug 7, 2017
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  4. Sam Bellamy

    Sam Bellamy Well-Known Member

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    Socialists are responsible for the death of millions. They are a disease to all they touch.
     
    Sam Bellamy, Aug 7, 2017
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  5. logical1

    logical1 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Socialism has taken that country from like the 4th highest economy to civil war, and dictatorship.
     
    logical1, Aug 7, 2017
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  6. Wehrwolfen

    Wehrwolfen Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Perhaps it's because of all the failures, death and enslavement associated with Socialist Marxism.
     
    Wehrwolfen, Aug 7, 2017
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  7. Sirius Black

    Sirius Black Well-Known Member

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    Sirius Black, Aug 7, 2017
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  8. Wehrwolfen

    Wehrwolfen Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Wehrwolfen, Aug 7, 2017
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  9. logical1

    logical1 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Venezuela is a fantastic example of why socialism is a failure and where it leads. Hundreds killed there lately.
     
    logical1, Aug 7, 2017
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  10. logical1

    logical1 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    logical1, Aug 7, 2017
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  11. logical1

    logical1 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Great point. There have been any number of the Hollywood ding bats telling us how great socialism and Venezuela is.
     
    logical1, Aug 7, 2017
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  12. Natty Bumpo

    Natty Bumpo Well-Known Member

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    It would be helpful if you provided links to your "left-wing pundits" so that we might know who they were and what they said.

    Extreme ideologies of any sort, demonstrably, are not conducive to effective governance.

    That is why all advanced nations on earth are democratic constructs that successfully balance regulated capitalism while addressing the need to address social welfare concerns.
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2017
    Natty Bumpo, Aug 7, 2017
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  13. Sirius Black

    Sirius Black Well-Known Member

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    Perhaps you could help me with my lack of information. Your source only lists one person, Naomi Klein, who is a radical, not a progressive, and isn't an American.. You list others, but I see no evidence that they drooled over Venezuela. Could you give me something specific? I seem to remember that President Obama and President Bush were at odds with Venezuela.
    I do not believe in Socialist Marxism, why would you believe that my political beliefs are dictated by someone from Hollywood..why that would be as unfair as me equating your beliefs to the Klan.
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2017
    Sirius Black, Aug 7, 2017
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  14. resisting arrest

    resisting arrest Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You and the OP are about as wise as Daffy Duck!

    The boys of capital, they ... chortle in their martinis about the death of socialism. The word has been banned from polite conversation. And they hope that no one will notice that every socialist experiment of any significance in the twentieth century-- without exception-- has either been crushed, overthrown, or invaded, or corrupted, perverted, subverted, or destabilized, or otherwise had life made impossible for it, by the United States. Not one socialist government or movement-- from the Russian Revolution to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, from Communist China to the FMLN in El Salvador-- not one was permitted to rise or fall solely on its own merits; not one was left secure enough to drop its guard against the all-powerful enemy abroad and freely and fully relax control at home.

    It’s as if the Wright brothers’ first experiments with flying machines all failed because the automobile interests sabotaged each test flight. And then the good and god-fearing folk of the world looked upon this, took notice of the consequences, nodded their collective heads wisely, and intoned solemnly: Man shall never fly. --- Killing Hope by William Blum

    https://leaksource.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/inside-the-company-cia-diary-philip-agee.pdf

    http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Einstein.htm

    https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Hope-C-I-Interventions-II--Updated/dp/1567512526/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470675295&sr=8-1&keywords=killing+hope
     
    resisting arrest, Aug 7, 2017
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  15. toddwv

    toddwv Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    toddwv, Aug 7, 2017
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  16. Tuatara

    Tuatara Well-Known Member

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    Did all these people ignore all the other posts on Venezuela? The American right wing is once again showing their ignorance.
     
    Tuatara, Aug 7, 2017
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  17. resisting arrest

    resisting arrest Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Last edited: Aug 7, 2017
    resisting arrest, Aug 7, 2017
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  18. Wehrwolfen

    Wehrwolfen Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    ______
    Four Outrageous Celebrity Supporters of Venezuelan Socialism
    https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/n...ous-celebrity-supporters-venezuelan-socialism
    Wealthy Hollywood-types ... Four Outrageous Celebrity Supporters of ... the famous actor Sean Penn didn’t hesitate to voice his support for Chávez and Maduro, ...
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~​
    Actor Jamie Foxx visits Venezuela President Maduro ...
    https://www.usnews.com/news/enterta...-jamie-foxx-visits-venezuela-president-maduro
    Actor Jamie Foxx visits Venezuela President Maduro ... Actor Jamie Foxx visits Venezuela President ... State media said Foxx was there to support the country ...
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~​
    Hollywood Inflames Crisis in Venezuela - Newsmax.com
    http://www.newsmax.com/Hirsen/chavez-gm-imf-maduro/2017/04/24/id/786005/
    Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro fans in Hollywood are quiet as news from ... liberal celebrities such as Sean Penn, Harry Belafonte, ... Danny Glover, Michael Moore, ...
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~​
    Penn, Jackson bid farewell to Chavez - NewsComAu
    http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...l/news-story/9b0a9c1bec1737b191e1329e8a9bd01b
    Sean Penn, Jesse Jackson among mourners at Chavez funeral. ... Penn was joined by Oliver Stone, Danny Glover and documentary ... and Harry Belafonte in the 1950s ...
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~​
    Hollywood liberals hail Chavez, in defiant tradition ...
    http://www.hindustantimes.com/holly...t-tradition/story-slfJBd9ePkGPHZ6ZH8nLuN.html
    Hollywood liberals hail Chavez, in defiant tradition ... Penn was joined by Oliver Stone, Danny Glover and documentary ... and Harry Belafonte in the 1950s ...

    Funny people around the world know that Hollywood supports and agrees with Chavez/Maduro Socialist Marxism, but you are uninformed and blind facts.
     
    Wehrwolfen, Aug 7, 2017
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  19. Wehrwolfen

    Wehrwolfen Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You are correct about our past history, however for the last eight and a half years under Obama everything was done to support Socialist Marxism in Cuba and Venezuela, not to mention training, funding and supporting Islamofascism.
     
    Wehrwolfen, Aug 7, 2017
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  20. resisting arrest

    resisting arrest Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    When did you hear from me that I support or like Obama???? F_ck him and all the other politicians in Washington!!!!
     
    resisting arrest, Aug 7, 2017
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  21. For Topical Use Only

    For Topical Use Only Well-Known Member

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    The people have spoken.

    Some others, though, they pretend to admire democracy, maybe even imagine giving up their lives for it, but when push comes to shove they conform and stand to attention at the slave-master's feet, democracy be damned.

    Some even go so far as to support right wing lynchings just to satisfy their master's bidding. They get nothing from the deal, so at least there's that small consolation.
     
    For Topical Use Only, Aug 7, 2017
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  22. Wehrwolfen

    Wehrwolfen Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Did I mention who you support? Please note I agreed with you, before emphasizing that for 8 1/2 yrs, Obama actually supported Socialist Marxism. If you felt I opposed you. I did not.
     
    Wehrwolfen, Aug 7, 2017
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  23. Tuatara

    Tuatara Well-Known Member

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    Wrong again, are you guys ever tired of batting zero. I have put these links up several times.
    http://www.politicalforum.com/index.php?threads/venezuela-heads-for-civil-war.511136/ Post 14
    The US government even under Obama was supplying millions to the media that opposes Maduro
    http://www.telesurtv.net/english/ne...elan-Right-Wing-Since-2009-20170517-0018.html
    Did the US remove the embargo or shut down Guantanamo during Obama? No, so stop spouting off about nothing.
     
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2017
    Tuatara, Aug 7, 2017
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  24. resisting arrest

    resisting arrest Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    How can you agree with me since I support socialism and you plainly do not??? I'm puzzled.
     
    resisting arrest, Aug 7, 2017
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  25. Wehrwolfen

    Wehrwolfen Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You mean that Obama colluded with foreign governments to hurt Venezuela? Hmm...., did he also enlist Russia, Russia, Russia to do this too?
     
    Wehrwolfen, Aug 7, 2017
    #25
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