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2025 Political Thread
- Thread starter Evan
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Evan
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Which is the entire issue (not delving into a Constitutional argument here but being pragmatic). Maduro was a dictator and outright thug who caused countless deaths and immense suffering in Venezuela. His removal is a VERY good thing, however, removing Maduro is simply an incomplete process for restoring a legitimate democratic government in Venezuela. Vladimir Padrino López still remains. Delcy Rodríguez and her brother still remain. Disodado Cabello still remains. The Chavista apparatus remains fully in power.
Trump has a history of taking incomplete actions while touting the partial accomplishments he did achieve. Things will not materially change or improve in Venezuela unless the other power centers of the Maduro regime and the Chavista power structure are broken apart or eliminated.
I've been praying for Maduro's removal for a long-time. But, that always meant there had to be well-defined next steps for once that day came. I'm not seeing any evidence of those next steps being in place or occuring and Delcy Rodríguez has already made Rubio look like a fool. Before Rubio and Trump get out too far over the skis and threaten Cuba and Iran they best make sure Venezuela is an actual success. I have a lot of concern these actions are optics driven instead of being about substantive and permanent change.
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Evan
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Seems pretty obvious from Rubio's comments on the Sunday shows today that the admin clearly didn't have a follow-up plan for Venezuela after capturing Maduro. A full underwear pants gnomes situation.
1. Capture Maduro
2.??????
3. Profit
1. Capture Maduro
2.??????
3. Profit
Check yer draft status, folks. And forget Canada: the Draft-dodger in Chief closed that door in the 90s.
Meanwhile, in Iceland (yes, this really is the Icelandic Cricket Association account):
They later updated it to say that their members had requested a change in wording from "average" to "underwhelming."
They have a rep for quirkiness.
But if you check X you can also see some serious Danish concern about a graphic Stephen Miller's wife posted, saying "Soon" and showing the outline of Greenland covered with the US flag.
Greenland and Denmark are a part of NATO. We are threatening NATO a little more directly now.
And Mexico's Navy (remember their marines coming in and helping in the Katrina aftermath?) and Army casually tweeted a post each on X, not belligerent, not threatening, just a reminder that they exist and what their mission is (to protect Mexico).
Overall it looks like the world is less safe, now that the 600-ton canary has taken one step (of how many?).
Meanwhile, in Iceland (yes, this really is the Icelandic Cricket Association account):
They later updated it to say that their members had requested a change in wording from "average" to "underwhelming."
They have a rep for quirkiness.
But if you check X you can also see some serious Danish concern about a graphic Stephen Miller's wife posted, saying "Soon" and showing the outline of Greenland covered with the US flag.
Greenland and Denmark are a part of NATO. We are threatening NATO a little more directly now.
And Mexico's Navy (remember their marines coming in and helping in the Katrina aftermath?) and Army casually tweeted a post each on X, not belligerent, not threatening, just a reminder that they exist and what their mission is (to protect Mexico).
Overall it looks like the world is less safe, now that the 600-ton canary has taken one step (of how many?).
Sunday afternoon, X was a rich source of posts from European leaders and top officials, particularly Nordic ones, showing solidarity with Denmark.
One of the Canadian scientists I follow on Bluesky expressed a very reasonable concern for world order.
We can't wait for the fall elections, although realistically, I suppose we must -- and hope that the White House cadre now in control (and way out of their depth) doesn't totally vandalize the Free World between now and then, and hope that maybe some Congressional Republicans besides MTG wake up and smell the real odor in DC, which definitely ain't roses.
Speaking of hope...
citizensimpeachment.com
I am also in favor of a major boycott against any company that takes advantage of this extrajudicial kidnapping (and the murders and property destruction that accompanied it) to go in and steal the natural resources of the long-suffering Venezuela people.
Sure. Maduro and his wife suck. That's no excuse for what the White House cadre ordered -- and, sadly, what some Americans did.
My principle is the same as that which made the ACLU defend the KKK and Illinois Nazis.
Maduro and los Chavistas are even less defensible, but international law and order is as important to civilization as the Constitution and Bill of Rights are to Americans.
One of the Canadian scientists I follow on Bluesky expressed a very reasonable concern for world order.
We can't wait for the fall elections, although realistically, I suppose we must -- and hope that the White House cadre now in control (and way out of their depth) doesn't totally vandalize the Free World between now and then, and hope that maybe some Congressional Republicans besides MTG wake up and smell the real odor in DC, which definitely ain't roses.
Speaking of hope...
Citizens' Impeachment's Courage Candidates - Citizens' Impeachment
Our Courage Candidates have what it takes to meet the moment. Trump must be removed, and it will take bold leadership — courage — to take that first step in the face of adversity. Our Courage Candidates are unafraid. They won't be intimidated, and they won't back down.
citizensimpeachment.com
I am also in favor of a major boycott against any company that takes advantage of this extrajudicial kidnapping (and the murders and property destruction that accompanied it) to go in and steal the natural resources of the long-suffering Venezuela people.
Sure. Maduro and his wife suck. That's no excuse for what the White House cadre ordered -- and, sadly, what some Americans did.
My principle is the same as that which made the ACLU defend the KKK and Illinois Nazis.
Maduro and los Chavistas are even less defensible, but international law and order is as important to civilization as the Constitution and Bill of Rights are to Americans.
While working up a blog post on something else, I stumbled across this video and it was exactly what I needed to see in these topsy-turvy times.
Like the singer, I feel like there is noise and distraction all around, nobody is paying any attention to this wonderful song inside me, and everything seems overwhelming.
She sang anyway, and at the end it turned out that everyone was with her.
Someone in this thread asked where the normalcy has gone. It is where it always has been; it is the song inside each of us. It doesn't feel right just now -- that is how it should be. These are very abnormal times.
Just sing. Everyone really appreciates it, despite everything that seems to be working against it.
Like the singer, I feel like there is noise and distraction all around, nobody is paying any attention to this wonderful song inside me, and everything seems overwhelming.
She sang anyway, and at the end it turned out that everyone was with her.
Someone in this thread asked where the normalcy has gone. It is where it always has been; it is the song inside each of us. It doesn't feel right just now -- that is how it should be. These are very abnormal times.
Just sing. Everyone really appreciates it, despite everything that seems to be working against it.
After all, those who can speak up are doing so, bless them.
DOD Secretary Hegseth says that Senator/Captain Kelly's accurate comment that US troops don't have to obey illegal orders was "seditious."
Makes me wonder what other plans DOD Secretary Hegseth and his boss have for their use of our military.
DOD Secretary Hegseth says that Senator/Captain Kelly's accurate comment that US troops don't have to obey illegal orders was "seditious."
Makes me wonder what other plans DOD Secretary Hegseth and his boss have for their use of our military.
Central Ohio Wx
Member
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/nx-s1-5670289/ice-minneapolis-shooting-immigration-crackdown
Saw the video - the title should be "White woman following instructions shot four times in the face by ICE agent for no apparent reason".
Saw the video - the title should be "White woman following instructions shot four times in the face by ICE agent for no apparent reason".
I ask anybody who voted for this lunatic, as a Canadian, what in the hell do you have to say now?
Very few people see the fundamental problem here: a division in US society that goes back to the early to mid-20th century, with progressivism putting itself against tradition that became conservatism and now is outright reactionary fanaticism.
The reactionaries walk in-step because they have watched progressives successfully walk in-step, trampling many of the things that millions of Americans hold dear.
Even with that, many (including some members on this forum) could not bring themselves to vote for Trump after he wrenched the GOP away from what looked to be its anointed nominee last year, Gov DeSantis.
But who could they vote for? The progressives absolutely shut down any viable alternatives, and they are doing so again today.
I think most of us Americans want to impeach this jerk and to see the last of Dagwood, Blondie, ICE Barbie, Caracas Marco, etc., but the power players -- who have huge pride and greed but no ideals whatsoever, which they think are only for suckers -- are keeping a tight rein on things.
Take that organization Citizens for Impeachment, for example. It turns out that many of their Courage Candidates are progressives.
And people who despise the current fascists at the helm are not going to vote against their beliefs -- for instance, on when life begins -- nor should they.
It's a free country.
And the power-player$ hate that because it makes their profit outlook iffy when the society does things democratically and therefore unpredictably, rather than according to their budgetary and investment planning.
So their candidates run and get in because they are set up to run against people with enough insider savvy and charisma to lose without exposing the game.
McCain greatly disappointed me, but he did not disappoint Obama's handlers.
Trump 1.0 could not have happened, IMO, if the only alternative had been anyone but a detestable/charismatic Clinton.
I think Biden couldn't have won in 2020 without the unusual circumstances of the COVID lockdown -- no conspiracy theories; it was just a weird time -- but Trump didn't really campaign hard. If he had, Oregon would have gone red (the only example I'm familiar with). The power-player$ did not want a lot of unpredictable "red" in 2020.
And Trump 2.0 would never have happened without Biden's apparent dementia and Harris's enforced inability (turns out she is quite articulate and eloquent sometimes, when they let her be, as I learned on X after the Venezuelan invasion/kidnapping of Maduro; she is a fool to allow herself to be used as a tool, though).
The power-player$ will not ever, if they can help it, let the American people decide what we want to vote on or have a valid choice among alternatives on those few -- and oversimplified to the point ofstupidity WHITE/BLACK -- issues that our "betters" set before us.
Look. Here's the game plan: Trump is going to retire next year, though it will look as though he got impeached and then Vance pardoned him for that and all the other stuff from pre-election 2024.
He will have succeeded in his main goal -- family: the only reason this 72-year-old can see for a 78-year-old with vascular insufficiency (a very painful and disabling condition) to put himself through such hell right now.
I realized how much family means to him when I saw how hard he took Ivana's death, despite the nasty and very public divorce.
All his kids get a seat at the table of this solid gold (for a few) New/Same Old World Order because of his current sacrifice. It would be rather heroic (and quite in line with the Donald Trump that I've read about for most of my life) -- if, outside, the rest of us weren't fighting and hating each other over the scraps the Orwellian pigs toss over that locked and very well guarded gate.
You know: "Fight! Fight! Fight!" -- America punching itself in the face.
And it will fuel the profitable political division, too, because it will have been done by Democrats.
It would set a bad precedent if Republicans as well as Democrats labeled these high crimes and demeanors "bad."
Vance & Co. might be out of office for a while but they would stay warm and well fueled by stoking the partisan fires.
Meanwhile We the People are to stay outside and brutally compete for scraps.
Only it's not working out for the power-player$.
Such "golden" dreams never work out for reasons of human frailty (and what I call kamma but many others here might call Divine Will) that aren't possible to go into now other than to say that they are the reason why major religions down through the ages have labeled them as defilements (Theravada Buddhism example) or sins (Christianity example) such things as greed, hate, and pride.
Such things never work out in the long run and usually are terribly destructive, too.
Right now, on a practical basis, the power-player$ are facing an incoming tide of young people.
Some Democratic candidates criticize their party. (I wish I could move to Maryland to vote for this guy.)
Can Republicans do the same? For instance, are any of the twenty GOP candidates for MTG's seat in the house echoing her very correct sense of MAGA's betrayal and condemnation of Trump?
And if not, why not?
And what about her? Is she leadership material for a post-MAGA conservative America?
If not, who is?
Finally, congrats to Canada on establishing an embassy in Greenland. Fingers crossed that the EU can come through this strong and united! It's the best security for us, too.
The reactionaries walk in-step because they have watched progressives successfully walk in-step, trampling many of the things that millions of Americans hold dear.
Even with that, many (including some members on this forum) could not bring themselves to vote for Trump after he wrenched the GOP away from what looked to be its anointed nominee last year, Gov DeSantis.
But who could they vote for? The progressives absolutely shut down any viable alternatives, and they are doing so again today.
I think most of us Americans want to impeach this jerk and to see the last of Dagwood, Blondie, ICE Barbie, Caracas Marco, etc., but the power players -- who have huge pride and greed but no ideals whatsoever, which they think are only for suckers -- are keeping a tight rein on things.
Take that organization Citizens for Impeachment, for example. It turns out that many of their Courage Candidates are progressives.
And people who despise the current fascists at the helm are not going to vote against their beliefs -- for instance, on when life begins -- nor should they.
It's a free country.
And the power-player$ hate that because it makes their profit outlook iffy when the society does things democratically and therefore unpredictably, rather than according to their budgetary and investment planning.
So their candidates run and get in because they are set up to run against people with enough insider savvy and charisma to lose without exposing the game.
McCain greatly disappointed me, but he did not disappoint Obama's handlers.
Trump 1.0 could not have happened, IMO, if the only alternative had been anyone but a detestable/charismatic Clinton.
I think Biden couldn't have won in 2020 without the unusual circumstances of the COVID lockdown -- no conspiracy theories; it was just a weird time -- but Trump didn't really campaign hard. If he had, Oregon would have gone red (the only example I'm familiar with). The power-player$ did not want a lot of unpredictable "red" in 2020.
And Trump 2.0 would never have happened without Biden's apparent dementia and Harris's enforced inability (turns out she is quite articulate and eloquent sometimes, when they let her be, as I learned on X after the Venezuelan invasion/kidnapping of Maduro; she is a fool to allow herself to be used as a tool, though).
The power-player$ will not ever, if they can help it, let the American people decide what we want to vote on or have a valid choice among alternatives on those few -- and oversimplified to the point of
Look. Here's the game plan: Trump is going to retire next year, though it will look as though he got impeached and then Vance pardoned him for that and all the other stuff from pre-election 2024.
He will have succeeded in his main goal -- family: the only reason this 72-year-old can see for a 78-year-old with vascular insufficiency (a very painful and disabling condition) to put himself through such hell right now.
I realized how much family means to him when I saw how hard he took Ivana's death, despite the nasty and very public divorce.
All his kids get a seat at the table of this solid gold (for a few) New/Same Old World Order because of his current sacrifice. It would be rather heroic (and quite in line with the Donald Trump that I've read about for most of my life) -- if, outside, the rest of us weren't fighting and hating each other over the scraps the Orwellian pigs toss over that locked and very well guarded gate.
You know: "Fight! Fight! Fight!" -- America punching itself in the face.
And it will fuel the profitable political division, too, because it will have been done by Democrats.
It would set a bad precedent if Republicans as well as Democrats labeled these high crimes and demeanors "bad."
Vance & Co. might be out of office for a while but they would stay warm and well fueled by stoking the partisan fires.
Meanwhile We the People are to stay outside and brutally compete for scraps.
Only it's not working out for the power-player$.
Such "golden" dreams never work out for reasons of human frailty (and what I call kamma but many others here might call Divine Will) that aren't possible to go into now other than to say that they are the reason why major religions down through the ages have labeled them as defilements (Theravada Buddhism example) or sins (Christianity example) such things as greed, hate, and pride.Such things never work out in the long run and usually are terribly destructive, too.
Right now, on a practical basis, the power-player$ are facing an incoming tide of young people.
Some Democratic candidates criticize their party. (I wish I could move to Maryland to vote for this guy.)
Can Republicans do the same? For instance, are any of the twenty GOP candidates for MTG's seat in the house echoing her very correct sense of MAGA's betrayal and condemnation of Trump?
And if not, why not?
And what about her? Is she leadership material for a post-MAGA conservative America?
If not, who is?
Finally, congrats to Canada on establishing an embassy in Greenland. Fingers crossed that the EU can come through this strong and united! It's the best security for us, too.
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Central Ohio Wx
Member
You cannot look at that video and tell me with a clear conscience that the "injured" ICE agent (he was completely fine) acted in self-defense. You just can't. He stepped in the path of her vehicle to get the shot, and shot a third time through the left windshield as the car accelerated rightward, presumably due to her foot resting on the gas. What a disgusting excuse for a human being.
This angle here instantly shatters any idea that self-defense might have been invokable - not only is he on his feet, but he's shooting at someone who can't reach him.
Here's him as the car barreled toward a pole.
Completely fine. Everything the DHS, Leavitt, Vance, and Trump are telling you in relation to this is a complete and utter lie. Thankfully we have close-up images of the shooter,
Luckily, I think this was the final straw - just as what happened with the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 people reached a breaking point with the government, where protests and riots happened in every major city nationwide. There seem to be major protests this morning in Minneapolis and NYC, with border agents and police (as usual) using violent and antagonizing tactics to suppress the former.
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TH2002
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I asked my grandma, and she STILL thinks Trump is "the greatest president we've had since Lincoln". But I guess when your only news source is the de facto state run propaganda outlet known as Fox News, I guess I can see why people come to that conclusion.
Still, truly an achievement in ignorance.
Imagine, just imagine the response from conservatives/Republicans if Biden or Obama had said something like this.
TornadoFan
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He has no morals.
TH2002
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I'm still astounded that people think FoxNews is the only propaganda news outlet that's ever been on TV.
TH2002
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Not sure if this was what you were insinuating, but I never remotely claimed that Fox is the only propaganda outlet on television.
That's all you have to say in light of what has happened the past 3 days?
Central Ohio Wx
Member
I mean, here's just an excerpt from this article about the ICE shooting:
"Other groups, closely aligned with the Democratic Party, including Indivisible and 50501, supported anti-ICE protests around the nation. By late Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit that has led anti-Israel protests for years, joined the cacophony of anti-ICE denouncements, declaring, "This is state violence."
Everything I've bolded is non-neutral, and this is just two sentences from the entire article. Who cares who they align with (if anything, you're proving that Democrats are actually doing something about it)? How does anti-Israel sentiment even remotely tie in to ICE murdering a woman? How are organized protests a "cacophony"?
It's right-wing propaganda meant to rile people up, and that's indesputable. Fox isn't the only propaganda machine out there (ahem, Jerusalem Post), but it's certainly one of the most influential.
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FoxNews tends to be the one people want to talk about though.
All news is biased these days.
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