I'm watching a 5 hour documentary on YouTube about Huey Long. The fiery populist/socialist politician who became governor of Louisiana and then US Senator. He was assassinated.
When Long became governor of Louisiana, he brought in his own people to head every committee in the state legislature and bureaucracy in the state. He fired hundreds of the "Old Regulars" in government.
Huey Long also demanded an undated and signed letter of resignation from EVERY bureaucrat and politician he put in power. If his man got out of line, Huey would fill in the date on the signed resignation letter of the offending party and accept it.
"a small, state-connected minority controlling much of a nation’s wealth" is the new definition of "capitalism". Try to keep up. Like redefining "gender" as non-biological (varied and fluid), and "liberal" as intolerant of and committed to suppressing all but The Party approved views. Got it? Like declaring yourself the party of the working class because you have the support of the majority of the nations billionaires. There is a pattern. I'd say "black is white" and "hot is cold" as examples, but then I'd be called racist. [if you are wondering now how "hot" and "cold" have anything to do with race, you're getting it!]
And clearly the Trump assassination attempt was staged. Everybody knows (that always reliable source) that Trump supporters are crazed and willing to commit suicide to further their furor. And Trump, being the devil himself, goes along because he knows he can't be killed with ordinary bullets.
[SARCASM excess alert]
Here's good sport: I've been pointing out in various forums the observation that Harris, the now appointed candidate, received zero votes in 2024 primary elections or caucuses. If you voted as a democrat in the primary, you did not vote for Harris as her name wasn't on the ballot. The common response it to call me a right-wing racist and misogynistic idiot, enumerate the evils of Mr. Trump, vaguely extol the Virtues of Ms. Harris without actually enumerating any beyond skin tone and gender. Some actually assert that her name WAS on their ballot, next to Biden, and that makes it official (so far I've turned up no primary ballot with Harris listed since 2020). One expert even claimed this was in the constitution under duties of the VP (I suppose it might be in some constitution, other than the constitution of the United States of America). I have to admit that interpretation extending taking on the duties of the president when incapacitated to running for reelection isn't the most absurd interpretation of the constitution I've ever heard. I've found, in short, this is an excellent way to irritate the followers of the party (and clear the room at most social gatherings). It gets even richer when I inform them I was once one of them ;-).
All of which supports my theory that Orwell was a time traveler.
It is strangely ironic that I watched an MST short over the weekend, a 1950's industrial film about the life of an american oil worker in Venezuela. Of course, it was slanted toward recruitment and such, but it showed a relatively prosperous country that, at least in the cities, was firmly in the 20th century. It reminded me of those old pictures from Iran and Afghanistan in the same era where the people are in modern clothes and doing well.
By blocking moderate reforms in the 50's and 60's, assassinating, disappearing, etc moderate opposition politicians, and bolstering corporatist regimes, the CIA et al drove a lot of people into the waiting arms of the socialists/communists. Unintended consequences indeed.
Where would we be now if the assassinations in our own country did not happen? If the Kennedys and King, et al had been allowed to remain. I can't imagine we'd be any worse off.
Thank goodness that this will never happen here. Never. Refer to a protest as 'insurrection?' nope never. Try to remove an opposition candidate from the ballot? Of course not. Declare non-conforming thought or speech "misinformation"? nah. Hold a trial based on secret charges, without informing the accused of the actual charges, instructing the jury of the outcome ahead of time by directing them NOT consider if the prosecution established that a crime was committed, withholding evidence and witness lists from the defense and terminating witnesses testimony when it diverged from the prosecutions assertions? Not in this country, Bubba!
I have to stope now - I have exceeded my daily allotment of sarcasm and cynicism.
Well they ran out of other countries to do it to, after they destroyed our industrial base, it was just a matter of time before they got around to us. I guess we should be grateful it is out in the open now. It was so hard to see this happening in the '90's (Gore Vidal warned us for decades before he said 'eff this' and retired in Italy) when no one would believe the 'lunatic fringe'. One of my hobbies is mentally marking off Conspiracy Theories bandied about on Godlike Productions, David Icke and Alex Jones 20 + years ago that have become pretty much substantiated fact these days. The only saving grace is that now more people know. Perhaps that will help somehow.
As the Firesign Theater so preciently sang- We're Bringing the War Back Home! So much for the 'new normal'.
They did the same in 2019 - we actually sanctioned them for it, and then Biden came in and made Maduro pinky swear to run a fair election to get the sanctions lifted. (LOL, Biden strikes again!)
But overall, I think maybe Biden and the Democrats don't want us looking too closely at what happened in Venezuela, because the 'cheat the election' game has gone global -- they use the same tricks as Maduro.
Election fraud exists everywhere. In the States, as far as I know, it wasn't massive until 2020. Two things scare me: 1. That they thought they could get away with it and 2. They did.
Once again why a transparent election system is so important -- the losing side MUST feel like they lost fairly.
The 2020 general election was simply a refined version of the 2004 WA governor's race:
================
Washington is unusual for a U.S. state in that it only requires that an absentee ballot be postmarked by the day of the election to be valid, while most other states require the ballot to have arrived at the election office by that time. Due to this as well as the state's high number of absentee ballots—more than 60% of all King County voters voted absentee—the initial result of the election was not known until November 17, the last day under state law for election results to be certified by each county's election officials.
Yep! I remember in history class when I was a child... seeing the pictures of Russians standing in line for their allotment of bread for the month under the old Soviet Union system. These young people in America that think socialism and communism is a panacea and that everyone is going to be "equal" are completely ignoring the big picture. Socialism and Communism creates equality alright: All of us will be equally poor and destitute. While the monsters at the top own everything and live lavish lives. America has it's problems, there's no doubt. But I've had a damn good life here. It hasn't always been easy, but if I was willing to work, I could make as much money as I wanted to and could get ahead. Under these hellish socialist and communist systems there's almost no opportunity to pull yourself out of the hole because the hole is firmly put in place by the monsters at the top and they make it nearly impossible to do anything on your own. People are "wards of the state" for their entire lives. Innovation, imagination, joy, etc. are almost non-existent. These young people in America have been duped into thinking that "Gay", "Trans", and other "rights" are what they are fighting for. They don't have a clue. We already have those "rights" in America. These young people are being hoodwinked into accepting a system of NO rights or very limited "rights". And once all of our rights are gone, it takes decades to regain them (if ever).
All governments are socialist to some extent, even the pretend "freedom loving" government of the US. Some go well beyond socialism into Marxism and Communism. We are headed there directly. All governments practice centralized control because otherwise they would never be able to coral the citizens into a herd of lemmings.
In 2008-2009 I worked with a guy in his twenties from Venezuela after he moved to Orlando, FL. He hated his country because nobody wanted to work, everyone his age wanted to just sit around and live off the state, so nobody was working.
Kamala is less like trudope, and a lot more like Canada’s deputy prime minister Christian Freeland- another complete failure as politician and finance minister; her specialty is deflecting with word salads, gaslighting and blatant lying.
While Venezuela would be exactly where they are anyway, the embargoes enforced when oil was nationalised has had the desired effect too: break the economy to prove socialism doesn't work.
While nations who in the past had mixed economical models (such as here in Scandinavia) weren't subjected to embargoes while natural resources were national (which they'd been for five centuries in Sweden's case, and succesfully too) and therefore had very succesful economical growth for about a century, up until adopting Hayekian-based neo-liberal economics in the 1990s.
Can't discount the ethnicity of the nation(s) involved: that is the deciding factor over all others. Secondary to that is outside interference in domestic matters - consider Iran before France, Britain and the US started mucking it up when oil was nationalised there too, and Iran after the interference: islamic theocratic dictatorship.
It's almost as if western colonial capitalist powers actively sabotages any nation not wanting to adopt the USUK corporativist-capitalistic economic model, or any nation trying to make business-alliances outside the USUK power sphere (Nordstream being the most recent example).
But Venezueal would still have failed, for the same reason South American banana-republic always fails: high corruption and low mutual trust as an endemic cultural factor.
LOL! At Chavez firing the 20,000 workers who knew how to get the oil out of the ground. Talk about killing the Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs! The children's fables tell the truth of things.
Argentina demonstrates that change is possible. It is perhaps too early to label Milei a success, but it does show that eventually the people reach a point where they can't take any more, overcome barriers and openly demand change, and they did it without civil war. This is a hopeful sign.
Bill, I agree. I read a book a few months ago about the USS Phoenix. It was a lucky cruiser that survived WWII with only one casualty. It was sold later to Argentina where it became the ARA General Belgrano. The British Navy sank the Belgrano in the Falklands War, but prior to that, the Belgrano sailed into port and threatened the dictator of Argentina when the military staged a coup. Peron backed down.
Again, no violence, but a change came to Argentina even back then.
SC, I am not so sure that there even is "world collectively" let alone one that has knowledge of freedom and liberty. I admire your optimism, but look at the world today. How much freedom and liberty do you see?
Exactly as much as the people keep, same as it ever was.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
COVID was a test run on how America has become the Land of the Lockdown, and Home of the Coward. I was embarrassed by the behavior of my fellow citizens. Ugh.
"inflation hurts the poor the most" Not according to regime economist and Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman! He actually said there's no proof for that, lol. Of course, it's true, but he'd never let that get in the way of his support for his paymasters.
Speaking of firing everyone who knows how to get oil out of the ground, the demographic wall in petroleum engineering is having a similar effect, they are retiring and dying. If you have smart kids in school looking for a promising career, petroleum engineering would be an excellent choice. The oil market will continue to be crucial for decades to come.
Outstanding piece! You're getting better and better at this...
Random report, here in Utah, saw a "Libre Venezuela!!!" sign marked on a car this Monday.
I'm watching a 5 hour documentary on YouTube about Huey Long. The fiery populist/socialist politician who became governor of Louisiana and then US Senator. He was assassinated.
When Long became governor of Louisiana, he brought in his own people to head every committee in the state legislature and bureaucracy in the state. He fired hundreds of the "Old Regulars" in government.
Huey Long also demanded an undated and signed letter of resignation from EVERY bureaucrat and politician he put in power. If his man got out of line, Huey would fill in the date on the signed resignation letter of the offending party and accept it.
This is how you run a government to your will.
"a small, state-connected minority controlling much of a nation’s wealth" is the new definition of "capitalism". Try to keep up. Like redefining "gender" as non-biological (varied and fluid), and "liberal" as intolerant of and committed to suppressing all but The Party approved views. Got it? Like declaring yourself the party of the working class because you have the support of the majority of the nations billionaires. There is a pattern. I'd say "black is white" and "hot is cold" as examples, but then I'd be called racist. [if you are wondering now how "hot" and "cold" have anything to do with race, you're getting it!]
And clearly the Trump assassination attempt was staged. Everybody knows (that always reliable source) that Trump supporters are crazed and willing to commit suicide to further their furor. And Trump, being the devil himself, goes along because he knows he can't be killed with ordinary bullets.
[SARCASM excess alert]
Here's good sport: I've been pointing out in various forums the observation that Harris, the now appointed candidate, received zero votes in 2024 primary elections or caucuses. If you voted as a democrat in the primary, you did not vote for Harris as her name wasn't on the ballot. The common response it to call me a right-wing racist and misogynistic idiot, enumerate the evils of Mr. Trump, vaguely extol the Virtues of Ms. Harris without actually enumerating any beyond skin tone and gender. Some actually assert that her name WAS on their ballot, next to Biden, and that makes it official (so far I've turned up no primary ballot with Harris listed since 2020). One expert even claimed this was in the constitution under duties of the VP (I suppose it might be in some constitution, other than the constitution of the United States of America). I have to admit that interpretation extending taking on the duties of the president when incapacitated to running for reelection isn't the most absurd interpretation of the constitution I've ever heard. I've found, in short, this is an excellent way to irritate the followers of the party (and clear the room at most social gatherings). It gets even richer when I inform them I was once one of them ;-).
All of which supports my theory that Orwell was a time traveler.
It is strangely ironic that I watched an MST short over the weekend, a 1950's industrial film about the life of an american oil worker in Venezuela. Of course, it was slanted toward recruitment and such, but it showed a relatively prosperous country that, at least in the cities, was firmly in the 20th century. It reminded me of those old pictures from Iran and Afghanistan in the same era where the people are in modern clothes and doing well.
By blocking moderate reforms in the 50's and 60's, assassinating, disappearing, etc moderate opposition politicians, and bolstering corporatist regimes, the CIA et al drove a lot of people into the waiting arms of the socialists/communists. Unintended consequences indeed.
A thought I just had...
Where would we be now if the assassinations in our own country did not happen? If the Kennedys and King, et al had been allowed to remain. I can't imagine we'd be any worse off.
Thank goodness that this will never happen here. Never. Refer to a protest as 'insurrection?' nope never. Try to remove an opposition candidate from the ballot? Of course not. Declare non-conforming thought or speech "misinformation"? nah. Hold a trial based on secret charges, without informing the accused of the actual charges, instructing the jury of the outcome ahead of time by directing them NOT consider if the prosecution established that a crime was committed, withholding evidence and witness lists from the defense and terminating witnesses testimony when it diverged from the prosecutions assertions? Not in this country, Bubba!
I have to stope now - I have exceeded my daily allotment of sarcasm and cynicism.
Well they ran out of other countries to do it to, after they destroyed our industrial base, it was just a matter of time before they got around to us. I guess we should be grateful it is out in the open now. It was so hard to see this happening in the '90's (Gore Vidal warned us for decades before he said 'eff this' and retired in Italy) when no one would believe the 'lunatic fringe'. One of my hobbies is mentally marking off Conspiracy Theories bandied about on Godlike Productions, David Icke and Alex Jones 20 + years ago that have become pretty much substantiated fact these days. The only saving grace is that now more people know. Perhaps that will help somehow.
As the Firesign Theater so preciently sang- We're Bringing the War Back Home! So much for the 'new normal'.
No worries, when they inevitably turn on us, we can start bombing!
USA! USA! USA!
Amazingly, the White House is criticizing Maduro for rigging the election!
They did the same in 2019 - we actually sanctioned them for it, and then Biden came in and made Maduro pinky swear to run a fair election to get the sanctions lifted. (LOL, Biden strikes again!)
But overall, I think maybe Biden and the Democrats don't want us looking too closely at what happened in Venezuela, because the 'cheat the election' game has gone global -- they use the same tricks as Maduro.
Election fraud exists everywhere. In the States, as far as I know, it wasn't massive until 2020. Two things scare me: 1. That they thought they could get away with it and 2. They did.
Once again why a transparent election system is so important -- the losing side MUST feel like they lost fairly.
The 2020 general election was simply a refined version of the 2004 WA governor's race:
================
Washington is unusual for a U.S. state in that it only requires that an absentee ballot be postmarked by the day of the election to be valid, while most other states require the ballot to have arrived at the election office by that time. Due to this as well as the state's high number of absentee ballots—more than 60% of all King County voters voted absentee—the initial result of the election was not known until November 17, the last day under state law for election results to be certified by each county's election officials.
Yep! I remember in history class when I was a child... seeing the pictures of Russians standing in line for their allotment of bread for the month under the old Soviet Union system. These young people in America that think socialism and communism is a panacea and that everyone is going to be "equal" are completely ignoring the big picture. Socialism and Communism creates equality alright: All of us will be equally poor and destitute. While the monsters at the top own everything and live lavish lives. America has it's problems, there's no doubt. But I've had a damn good life here. It hasn't always been easy, but if I was willing to work, I could make as much money as I wanted to and could get ahead. Under these hellish socialist and communist systems there's almost no opportunity to pull yourself out of the hole because the hole is firmly put in place by the monsters at the top and they make it nearly impossible to do anything on your own. People are "wards of the state" for their entire lives. Innovation, imagination, joy, etc. are almost non-existent. These young people in America have been duped into thinking that "Gay", "Trans", and other "rights" are what they are fighting for. They don't have a clue. We already have those "rights" in America. These young people are being hoodwinked into accepting a system of NO rights or very limited "rights". And once all of our rights are gone, it takes decades to regain them (if ever).
Exactly! Relevant article here - with a video of those old Russian stores.
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/how-freedom-enriches-us
All governments are socialist to some extent, even the pretend "freedom loving" government of the US. Some go well beyond socialism into Marxism and Communism. We are headed there directly. All governments practice centralized control because otherwise they would never be able to coral the citizens into a herd of lemmings.
SC - Excellent work, keep digging Mr Mulder.
In 2008-2009 I worked with a guy in his twenties from Venezuela after he moved to Orlando, FL. He hated his country because nobody wanted to work, everyone his age wanted to just sit around and live off the state, so nobody was working.
Kamala is less like trudope, and a lot more like Canada’s deputy prime minister Christian Freeland- another complete failure as politician and finance minister; her specialty is deflecting with word salads, gaslighting and blatant lying.
That's a better comparison. Obama was more like Trudeau.
While Venezuela would be exactly where they are anyway, the embargoes enforced when oil was nationalised has had the desired effect too: break the economy to prove socialism doesn't work.
While nations who in the past had mixed economical models (such as here in Scandinavia) weren't subjected to embargoes while natural resources were national (which they'd been for five centuries in Sweden's case, and succesfully too) and therefore had very succesful economical growth for about a century, up until adopting Hayekian-based neo-liberal economics in the 1990s.
Can't discount the ethnicity of the nation(s) involved: that is the deciding factor over all others. Secondary to that is outside interference in domestic matters - consider Iran before France, Britain and the US started mucking it up when oil was nationalised there too, and Iran after the interference: islamic theocratic dictatorship.
It's almost as if western colonial capitalist powers actively sabotages any nation not wanting to adopt the USUK corporativist-capitalistic economic model, or any nation trying to make business-alliances outside the USUK power sphere (Nordstream being the most recent example).
But Venezueal would still have failed, for the same reason South American banana-republic always fails: high corruption and low mutual trust as an endemic cultural factor.
LOL! At Chavez firing the 20,000 workers who knew how to get the oil out of the ground. Talk about killing the Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs! The children's fables tell the truth of things.
A few years ago, they begged for the professionals to come back and run things.
A collective "LOL" was heard throughout the land.
SC, As an aircraft mechanic, I've been fired and asked to come back a few times. My answer was the same "LOL."
You're an A/P, Timmy ?
Baltimoracle, A retired A & P. I even had an IA at one point back in the day.
Venezuela is a very sad story. So is Argentina. Decades ago there was a saying "Rich as an Argentine." Not any more. Socialism kills.
Argentina demonstrates that change is possible. It is perhaps too early to label Milei a success, but it does show that eventually the people reach a point where they can't take any more, overcome barriers and openly demand change, and they did it without civil war. This is a hopeful sign.
Bill, I agree. I read a book a few months ago about the USS Phoenix. It was a lucky cruiser that survived WWII with only one casualty. It was sold later to Argentina where it became the ARA General Belgrano. The British Navy sank the Belgrano in the Falklands War, but prior to that, the Belgrano sailed into port and threatened the dictator of Argentina when the military staged a coup. Peron backed down.
Again, no violence, but a change came to Argentina even back then.
So that's where the title of the surf-instro by The Milkshakes comes from! Not on yt, though.
Another awful thing about socialism is that it prevents creative grassroots artists like the great Billy Childish from spreading their wings.
Exactly. The people of the world collectively have the knowledge of freedom and liberty, which is a huge advantage from 500 years ago.
SC, I am not so sure that there even is "world collectively" let alone one that has knowledge of freedom and liberty. I admire your optimism, but look at the world today. How much freedom and liberty do you see?
Exactly as much as the people keep, same as it ever was.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
― Frederick Douglass
COVID was a test run on how America has become the Land of the Lockdown, and Home of the Coward. I was embarrassed by the behavior of my fellow citizens. Ugh.
... to paraphrase Prince Machiavelli
"inflation hurts the poor the most" Not according to regime economist and Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman! He actually said there's no proof for that, lol. Of course, it's true, but he'd never let that get in the way of his support for his paymasters.
Selling out long before covid made it cool.
Thanks. I try. I want to be a big meanie someday.
Speaking of firing everyone who knows how to get oil out of the ground, the demographic wall in petroleum engineering is having a similar effect, they are retiring and dying. If you have smart kids in school looking for a promising career, petroleum engineering would be an excellent choice. The oil market will continue to be crucial for decades to come.
Just goes to show how government attitudes can dissuade an entire industry from existence.