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Sephyr posted:PSL didn't grow because of any of his effort; anu party Bolsonaro picked would have rocketed skyward in the new wave. The dudes who led that Patriota party saw this coming, that's why they rebranded from an "environmentalist party" to full on ultranationalist a few years ago and unsucessfully tried to get Bolso and had to settle for Cabo Daciolo
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Feb 22, 2019 04:00
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| # ? May 25, 2024 08:40 |
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The video is not the United States Marined as claimed by the way. This was shown weeks ago in the Venezuela thread and has been debunked thoroughly.
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Feb 22, 2019 04:17
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nerdz posted:Yeah I agree that he might have been just lucky enough to rise that fast, especially in a party that's literally 100% opportunists. Occam's razor here says that it was just dumb people. Which probably made Carlos Bolsonaro mad about such an exemplary case of meritocracy. Well, even a good lawyer would be hard-pressed to make a bull in a china shop like Bolsie skate, and this guy, as you say, is notable only by his mediocrity. The early leaks were basically his way of saying "look here, buying me off is worth it." Not -that- different from what bigger media are doing now. Sure, they'd rather have one of their clean, boring PSDB neolibs calling the shots, and the president (and his base) seem to be serious about creating a new media, which they don't really appreciate. But they also have an endless hardom for austerity reforms that shift public funds and property to banks and such, and they will gladly shut up about nearly any bondoggle the government pulls off if they just had half a brain to negotiate. Hell, watching them lick Michel Temer like he was made of sugar, always explaining how important it suddenly was not to rock the boat so the sainted reforms could pass, is what made me swear off working in journalism forever.
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Feb 22, 2019 04:26
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Dunno where else to ask but is there a place with info regarding the situation in Haiti? I have it found extremely hard to find good reporting about the unrest there and on the US mercenaries they recently arrested there.
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Feb 22, 2019 04:40
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Btw anyone have any firm info on Brazil's pension reforms? At least in the English language press, it has been extremely vague (literally no details). The type of "savings' they are talking about sounds like it is going to be something as significant as Chile's reforms (which were obviously brutal for the majority of the population).
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Feb 23, 2019 15:19
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Ardennes posted:Btw anyone have any firm info on Brazil's pension reforms? At least in the English language press, it has been extremely vague (literally no details). The type of "savings' they are talking about sounds like it is going to be something as significant as Chile's reforms (which were obviously brutal for the majority of the population). http://www.brasilwire.com/the-fight-begins-against-brazils-draconian-pension-reforms/
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Feb 23, 2019 15:28
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This was interesting: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-constitution-referendum-idUSKCN1QE22Yquote:Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable while instituting modest economic and social changes, according to the national electoral commission. quote:On July 14, 2018, a Communist Party task force drafted a new constitutional text, then given to a National Assembly commission headed by Party First Secretary Raúl Castro to assess, refine, and forward the new draft constitution to the National Assembly plenary. The reforms are seen as part of the attempt to modernize the Cuban government. The draft contains 87 new articles, increasing the total from 137 to 224. Among the reforms are:
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Feb 26, 2019 15:51
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quote:She said 86.85 percent of voters ratified the charter, 9 percent opposed ratification and 4.5 percent spoiled or left ballots blank. quote:There are no independent observers of Cuban elections Naturally. The changes do indeed seem interesting, though. Has anyone found any expert discussions of what they'll likely mean in practice?
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Feb 26, 2019 16:04
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Means they will become China welp
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Feb 26, 2019 17:18
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quote:Cubans have overwhelmingly ratified a new constitution that enshrines the one-party socialist system as irrevocable quote:The recognition of private property, and the creation of a freer market; 
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Feb 26, 2019 18:37
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Plutonis posted:Means they will become China welp
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Feb 26, 2019 19:42
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Wikipedia has China with higher nominal GDP per capita, but Cuba with higher PPP GDP per capita.
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Feb 26, 2019 19:55
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I find it so odd that people hold Cuba up in such high regard. Sure things could be much worse there, by it's hardly a bastion of human rights and development in the region.
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Feb 26, 2019 20:00
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punk rebel ecks posted:I find it so odd that people hold Cuba up in such high regard. Sure things could be much worse there, by it's hardly a bastion of human rights and development in the region. Cuba literally has the highest standard of living in the region and beats even the US on many population health markers.
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Feb 26, 2019 20:04
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tbh these changes make Cuba sound like they’re moving towards 20th century social democracy more than contemporary Chinese capitalism ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I mean I have problems with it but being white and European it’s not really my place to criticise, w/e Venomous fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Feb 27, 2019 |
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Feb 27, 2019 00:40
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punk rebel ecks posted:I find it so odd that people hold Cuba up in such high regard. Sure things could be much worse there, by it's hardly a bastion of human rights and development in the region. But it literally is a bastion of human development. It's a seemingly pretty lovely place to live if you've got money because it doesn't have the logistics network for rampant consumerism in place, but when it comes to education, health, safety, etc for the general population, you just can't beat it anywhere in the Americas.
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Feb 27, 2019 01:20
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Venomous posted:tbh these changes make Cuba sound like they’re moving towards 20th century social democracy more than contemporary Chinese capitalism ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ On paper, sure, but it’s hard not to suspect that the more “democratic” aspects are just window dressing.
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Feb 27, 2019 02:36
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I'm not an expert, but I've some experience and I've given it some thought, so of course I gotta have an opinion on the Internet -- If your passion is computers, high cuisine, drugs, posting or interacting with brands, it's probably not the best place to live, because Cuba doesn't have a lot of that, and in the case of drugs, it's especially risky. Their criminal justice system is harsh and the incarceration rate is one of the highest in the world (although the US has them beat by a comfortable margin). And yeah, it's a one-party system with heavy restrictions on journalism. Plus there are often shortages of non-luxury items too. However, unlike its neighbors it's safe and not in constant turmoil, and people value that. They're healthy, and the literacy rate is high. Obviously there's very little car traffic, so it's quiet and peaceful, there's no air pollution to speak of, and their CO2 emissions are low. And it's reasonable to question how well represented the citizens of nearby nominal democracies really are, or how free the press can be in places where journalists get murdered on the reg. The "democratic" label isn't an absolute, and sometimes it's not even the most important thing.
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Feb 27, 2019 15:38
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But at least the trains run on time! 
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Feb 27, 2019 15:39
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Cup Runneth Over posted:But at least the trains run on time! Hm, yes I guess I didn't go far enough in that first paragraph: You're right, Cuba is Nazi Germany.
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Feb 27, 2019 15:48
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Conspiratiorist posted:But it literally is a bastion of human development. Have you been to Cuba? It’s okay but calling it a bastion of human development is ehhhh. Like yeah it’s better than most of Latin America (and way better than Latin America for the poorest like ~10-30% of the population) but it’s uh, not exactly Finland or even Greece. Just because the US media paints it as some hellhole everyone wants to escape (it’s not) it’s also not some tropical socialist paradise. I mean I’m not like an expert on Cuba or anything but I have driven around quite a bit of the country and I’m pretty sure I’d rather have grown up in rural Costa Rica or Patagonia than rural Cuba. The only metric I can think of offhand where Cuba is obviously #1 in the America’s are it’s big city slums, as I’d much rather grow up poor in Havana than any other big city in the Western Hemisphere. At least it’s safe and you don’t have to hustle to cover your basic needs. Still, i think most would pick Malmö or even like, Saint denis, if they had to get reincarnated in some country’s poorest big city. Saladman fucked around with this message at 15:58 on Feb 27, 2019 |
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Feb 27, 2019 15:56
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RIP Syndrome posted:Hm, yes I guess I didn't go far enough in that first paragraph: You're right, Cuba is Nazi Germany. You might want to read up on your history, pal.
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Feb 27, 2019 16:16
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Cup Runneth Over posted:You might want to read up on your history, pal. This is the damndest argument, history can be read in multiple ways, just state your point clearly.
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Feb 27, 2019 16:21
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bagual posted:This is the damndest argument, history can be read in multiple ways, just state your point clearly. How you read it doesn't matter. But if you think "the trains run on time" is a reference to Germany, you definitely need to read more.
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Feb 27, 2019 16:22
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Cup Runneth Over posted:You might want to read up on your history, pal. Everyone I don't like is Hitler.
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Feb 27, 2019 16:25
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RIP Syndrome posted:Everyone I don't like is Hitler. Good to know. Seriously though, crack open a history book some time. There's a whole world out there.
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Feb 27, 2019 16:26
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Cup Runneth Over posted:How you read it doesn't matter. But if you think "the trains run on time" is a reference to Germany, you definitely need to read more. I do get it, and I think the other guy got it as well. Cuba=Germany and Fidel=Hitler, is that it?
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Feb 27, 2019 16:27
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Cup Runneth Over posted:Good to know. Seriously though, crack open a history book some time. There's a whole world out there. Love too not get jokes on the comedy forum e: Okay, since I think you're being serious now, I'll be fair to you and explain it: You made a remark trying to equate a post I made that IMO was pretty even-handed, to 20s-40s era European fascism. When a conversation takes this direction, it is sometimes referred to as "Godwin's Law" (it's a piece of old Internet lore). "Nazi Germany" is a (possibly too obtuse) reference to how this was happening, and my follow-on remark is a reference to a more recent Internet meme in the vein of Godwin's Law in the hopes that we could clear up the misunderstanding. I'm probably over my word quota for today, sorry everyone. Hope you have a nice day! RIP Syndrome fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Feb 27, 2019 |
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Feb 27, 2019 16:28
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RIP Syndrome posted:Love too not get jokes on the comedy forum I guess there's a reason you don't write for the front page.
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Feb 27, 2019 16:31
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i spent a significant part of my life reading up on latin american political history only to get told to go read history by some condescending gringo dipshit, yankee go home indeed
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Feb 27, 2019 16:45
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I mean, "read history" got a lot of people in Brazil to read thrash pseudo-historians put out and now you get idiots attacking the German embassy's social media pages saying nazism was left wing and Merkel is left wing and basically a nazi for saying nazism was far-right.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:00
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Saladman posted:Have you been to Cuba? I have. My cousin did her full med school there, eventually married a local, and my family stayed there a week for holidays + the wedding. I've been around. I know poverty, both urban and rural. I personally never lacked the basic needs, but I was born a generation removed from selling bananas to passing cars by a newly-paved road, and grew up in an environment of emphatic social and political activism, and did my military service. And what do I think of Cuba, from looking at its metrics, from personally visiting it, and from the stories of my cousin who did her practice there? It is really nice. And with more interconnectedness it'd be a pretty good representation of the low-consumption social paradigm we should be aiming for as part of climate change mitigation+adaptation.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:02
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bagual posted:I do get it, and I think the other guy got it as well. Cuba=Germany and Fidel=Hitler, is that it?
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Feb 27, 2019 17:08
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RIP Syndrome posted:You made a remark trying to equate a post I made that IMO was pretty even-handed, to 20s-40s era European fascism. When a conversation takes this direction, it is sometimes referred to as "Godwin's Law" (it's a piece of old Internet lore). "Nazi Germany" is a (possibly too obtuse) reference to how this was happening, and my follow-on remark is a reference to a more recent Internet meme in the vein of Godwin's Law in the hopes that we could clear up the misunderstanding. Godwin's Law is specifically about comparison to Nazism, not fascism in general. You suggested in your post that democracy wasn't as important to the citizens of Cuba as being "safe, healthy, and literate." This is pretty analogous to the idea from Mussolini's fascist regime that as long as Díaz runs the government well, it's not as important that it's democratic or doesn't murder journalists or suppress dissent. I understand that you immediately jumped from this to "everyone I don't like is Hitler," invoked Godwin's Law, and destroyed any chance of reasonable discussion. I was sandbagging you because it was annoying. Cuba isn't fascist or anything, but I think that "the democratic label isn't the most important thing" is a weird thing to say. It's kind of authoritarian-enabling. You've gone out of your way to point out Cuba's flaws, so I'm not accusing you of erasing them or claiming it's okay for them to do that stuff, but that phrase is what your post immediately brought to mind. Cuba is a functional state that mostly provides for the basic needs of its citizens, and it is communist (until it reintroduces private property, anyway), but I definitely don't think it's what we should look up to as a model for a modern socialist or communist state. As Snopes said when reviewing the claim that Mussolini made the trains run on time: No thanks, I'd rather walk.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:08
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IIRC Cuba already allows small businesses in a limited form, they've taken a few baby steps towards allowing entrepreneurship/capitalism, so they're not fully socialist anymore, and the new constitution looks like further incremental steps in that direction.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:13
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Cicero posted:IIRC Cuba already allows small businesses in a limited form, they've taken a few baby steps towards allowing entrepreneurship/capitalism, so they're not fully socialist anymore, and the new constitution looks like further incremental steps in that direction. Yes, as someone said earlier, it seems like they're moving more towards social democracy than socialism now. Democracy possibly notwithstanding, but I guess we'll see! The prevailing opinion from people who've actually been there seems to be that Cuba is a perfectly fine place to live and beats America on several progressive markers, especially if luxury capitalist goods are not important to you. A lot of its problems are understandable for a small island nation being besieged by some of the largest economic superpowers in the world. Still: We should improve society somewhat.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:21
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IIRC Cuba also has a problem with colorism, just like the rest of Latin America (when it's not just straight out racism). It's just that Fidel said Cuba was free of racism a while ago so you better not be going around spewing lies!!! At least in Argentina I only have to deal with general apathy when I point out we are hella racist.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:42
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I wish I could find more biographies on Argentines.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:45
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Cup Runneth Over posted:Godwin's Law is specifically about comparison to Nazism, not fascism in general. You suggested in your post that democracy wasn't as important to the citizens of Cuba as being "safe, healthy, and literate." This is pretty analogous to the idea from Mussolini's fascist regime that as long as Díaz runs the government well, it's not as important that it's democratic or doesn't murder journalists or suppress dissent. I understand that you immediately jumped from this to "everyone I don't like is Hitler," invoked Godwin's Law, and destroyed any chance of reasonable discussion. I was sandbagging you because it was annoying. It was actually a reference to the fact that I regarded your comment as doing just that I think the trains on schedule comment is kind of old, I've seen it a lot (though usually it's not directed at me) and it's often used as a way to kill discussion. With hindsight, I think the misunderstanding is that you were not trying to do that, but it's not always easy to tell.quote:Cuba isn't fascist or anything, but I think that "the democratic label isn't the most important thing" is a weird thing to say. It's kind of authoritarian-enabling. You've gone out of your way to point out Cuba's flaws, so I'm not accusing you of erasing them or claiming it's okay for them to do that stuff, but that phrase is what your post immediately brought to mind. Cuba is a functional state that mostly provides for the basic needs of its citizens, and it is communist (until it reintroduces private property, anyway), but I definitely don't think it's what we should look up to as a model for a modern socialist or communist state. As Snopes said when reviewing the claim that Mussolini made the trains run on time: No thanks, I'd rather walk. I agree, and I think my original statement was unclear: People whose basic needs aren't met don't have the luxury of caring about nice words like democracy, or even being able to inform themselves and going to the urns to choose between brand A and brand B. It's natural to worry about things further down the Maslow pyramid first. Cf. correlation between income level and voting rate. Secondly, a lot of people don't have their basic needs met in nominal democracies. I used the qualifier "nominal" to mean that in practice they're not democratic enough, and that the words "democratic" and "undemocratic" often contain a large amount of spin. It wasn't a statement of support for dictatorship or even "benign" communism, but an observation that getting to the point where you can call something democratic is not enough, you have to reap the rewards of such a system too. I was uncertain whether to mention CO2 in the post because it sounds kind of superficial and selfish, but as another poster mentioned, I think it's interesting to think about what future societies would look like under a restricted CO2 regime (here's where you hear a lot of people go "aaaah, collapse!!!"), and Cuba has had relatively low emissions for a long time and their society hasn't collapsed. Thanks for getting this back on track, btw. I think we're on the same side? We're the good guys
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Feb 27, 2019 17:46
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Cuba, if nothing else, shows that if humanity could make its way without unfettered access to all the luxuries of the modern world, which would be necessary for the developed world to really reduce our emissions.
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Feb 27, 2019 17:51
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