What on Earth is going on in the world today? It's gone mad

[britbox]

So a week after MBS claimed that Khashoggi had left the Embassy, Saudi Arabia officially acknowledges that Khashoggi died in there. We live in a world now where people can blatantly lie to our faces then change their story without any embarrassment. Back during the Cold War this was something the Soviets did all the time and at least there was a consensus that the lie was happening. I'm not saying the West didn't lie, of course they did, but at least there was an attempt to finesse mendacity. There wasn't this.... disrespect we get now. Obviously Trump is the greatest exponent of this technique in the world today, but it's truly stunning to see it in action. It's numbing, and were I not so confident of my faculties and my grip on reality I would be left constantly off balance and dizzied by all of this. It is a truly scary time when objective reality can be so casually dismissed

Khashoggi's supposed death via fist fight has now been reclassified as death by a "choke hold"... Wonder where the body is?

Apparently, the Saudis are going to "punish" the perpetrators... scapegoats more like. Expect an increase in the death toll.

It'll be interesting what the Turks come out with. Erdogan is reporting to parliament this week.

 

[mrzz]

Guys, just a quick comment about the Brazilian elections... you mentioned good ol' Nekro on the "posters you miss" thread. Remember all those absurd internet conspiracies he firmly believed in? Well, our next government (the sucker will probably win) will consist of people like that. No, not by people who explore people who believe that shit, but actually by people who believe that shit (I have good, inside info on this actually). You have a guy who stands for creationism as the probable next education minister and a few other minister hopefuls (at least well voted politicians who are the core supporters of the Mega Retard) who believe in flat earth.

 

[britbox]

I don't really remember the Internet conspiracies so much, but Brazil sounds like it's one crazy mess right now. What kind of term do these guys get? 5 years? Maybe there will be a revolution before then.

 

[Horsa]

Guys, just a quick comment about the Brazilian elections... you mentioned good ol' Nekro on the "posters you miss" thread. Remember all those absurd internet conspiracies he firmly believed in? Well, our next government (the sucker will probably win) will consist of people like that. No, not by people who explore people who believe that shit, but actually by people who believe that shit (I have good, inside info on this actually). You have a guy who stands for creationism as the probable next education minister and a few other minister hopefuls (at least well voted politicians who are the core supporters of the Mega Retard) who believe in flat earth.

I miss Nekro like tooth-ache. I do remember all the ridiculous things he believed & tried to brainwash everyone else into believing. It's ridiculous that people believe that rubbish today & that the person who could be in charge of education still believes that "God created the heavens & the earth & everything within in 6 days". I find it very hard to believe that anyone in any society today doesn't know that the earth is an oblate spheroid. It's scary to think someone like that could be in charge of your country.

 

[mrzz]

I don't really remember the Internet conspiracies so much, but Brazil sounds like it's one crazy mess right now. What kind of term do these guys get? 5 years? Maybe there will be a revolution before then.

4 years term. My guess that he will leave in around two years. He is using blatantly illegal campaign techniques, which are black and white reasons to dismiss his candidacy, but with around 60% of the votes this simply won't happen. Once his popularity falls, he is toast, but until then the onslaught will be cruel. His last video where he promises to "eradicate" his main opposition party and a lot of social movements (some which are troubled, yes, but still) is as explicit as it gets. Even if the state does not get its hands dirty, local militias will (and this is the main problem).

A few days ago I saw a sign on the street calling for a "civic meeting" aimed at cleansing Brazil from communists, gays, lesbians, indigenous, blacks and people from our northeast region (which is the poorest region of the country). His supporters are claiming this is all fake news and "false flag", but I've been invited to similar (even if slightly less explicit) things, so I can tell you: it is real.

 

[Horsa]

4 years term. My guess that he will leave in around two years. He is using blatantly illegal campaign techniques, which are black and white reasons to dismiss his candidacy, but with around 60% of the votes this simply won't happen. Once his popularity falls, he is toast, but until then the onslaught will be cruel. His last video where he promises to "eradicate" his main opposition party and a lot of social movements (some which are troubled, yes, but still) is as explicit as it gets. Even if the state does not get its hands dirty, local militias will (and this is the main problem).

A few days ago I saw a sign on the street calling for a "civic meeting" aimed at cleansing Brazil from communists, gays, lesbians, indigenous, blacks and people from our northeast region (which is the poorest region of the country). His supporters are claiming this is all fake news and "false flag", but I've been invited to similar (even if slightly less explicit) things, so I can tell you: it is real.

Oh my goodness! That's dreadful. Are you, your friends & family o.k.?

 

[Chris Koziarz]

Looking at the election map I find it strange that not just S & SW states are seeing the strong support of the racist. That would be consistent with what mrzz asserted. But also the densely populated coastal region incl biggest cities Sao Paolo & Rio voted for the bastard. I guess the NE and Amazon boca that voted for Haddad are the poor regions. But how about the whole jungle are around Manaus? Wouldn't be the area where mostly indigenous people live? (I don't know about Acre though, could be Peruvian influence). Why would those people support the ideology that slap them in the face?
But in general I find the emerging Brazilian autocracy rooted among large urban populations. I wonder why it is the case and if mrzz can confirm my view. This is as opposed to the US t-man who won in mostly interior redneck states while people on the coast both E & W, did support a voice of reason (Clinton). And of course all minorities did support Clinton, but their votes were swamped out due to gerrymandering.

 

[mrzz]

Oh my goodness! That's dreadful. Are you, your friends & family o.k.?

Thanks for the concern, Horsa. Everything is ok for now. I am deeply concerned for my friends, though.

Why would those people support the ideology that slap them in the face?

There are more factors in the equation, my friend. First thing, the difference in population density in Brazil is huge. Northern region is by far the largest but stands for roughly 7% of the population, for example. Second, the religious factor got in the way. Catholic church is losing ground heavily to TV pastors -- who cure pneunomia, malaria and cancer with their bare hands, and those guys preach that the opposition is literally the devil (yes, it gets that low). Also, the whole fake news thing got so crazy that independent studies estimated that less than 10% of the news that circulate on internet are true. That is consistent with what I see (actually I think it is worst). Both sides propagate fake news at will, and people simply chose what they want to believe. The absurd outcome of this is that people deem as fake news the videos where the guy says things like he supports torture, that black people are not good enough to reproduce. The video is there, there is good quality, you can see the whole context, you can see that there is simply no fucking excuse. But the reply is: fake news and/or check the context.

There are more to it but I frankly cannot explain it, or even understand some parts. It is a fucking uphill battle and it is exasperating to see people you knew your entire life saying completely atrocious things, saying that "once we get the power we will start killing/eliminating such and such". Of course not all people that support the rotten bastard think like that, I would say such people would be around 1/5 of his supporters. The rest chose to believe that this all just empty rhetoric. It is a bet, problem is that is not their asses they are putting on the line (at first).

Sorry for the language...

 

[Chris Koziarz]

Thanks for the concern, Horsa. Everything is ok for now. I am deeply concerned for my friends, though.



There are more factors in the equation, my friend. First thing, the difference in population density in Brazil is huge. Northern region is by far the largest but stands for roughly 7% of the population, for example. Second, the religious factor got in the way. Catholic church is losing ground heavily to TV pastors -- who cure pneunomia, malaria and cancer with their bare hands, and those guys preach that the opposition is literally the devil (yes, it gets that low). Also, the whole fake news thing got so crazy that independent studies estimated that less than 10% of the news that circulate on internet are true. That is consistent with what I see (actually I think it is worst). Both sides propagate fake news at will, and people simply chose what they want to believe. The absurd outcome of this is that people deem as fake news the videos where the guy says things like he supports torture, that black people are not good enough to reproduce. The video is there, there is good quality, you can see the whole context, you can see that there is simply no fucking excuse. But the reply is: fake news and/or check the context.

There are more to it but I frankly cannot explain it, or even understand some parts. It is a fucking uphill battle and it is exasperating to see people you knew your entire life saying completely atrocious things, saying that "once we get the power we will start killing/eliminating such and such". Of course not all people that support the rotten bastard think like that, I would say such people would be around 1/5 of his supporters. The rest chose to believe that this all just empty rhetoric. It is a bet, problem is that is not their asses they are putting on the line (at first).

Sorry for the language...

Thanks mrzz and of course your choice of language is understandable.
Looking around I found this HBO video:

which also sheds some light on that madhouse. The parade of brainless ex/soldiers describes the atmosphere well. And then their leader: Cabo Correa (starting around 1:00), yelling "our flag won't be red", then the interview where he said... are you ready for this: good criminal is a dead criminal. But that's not correct! They translated it wrong!. He said (my hearing cannot be mistaken):
"bandido bom é bandido morto"
(my emphasis)
The civilised world understands the difference between "bandid" (original) and "criminal" (incorrect translation), even if Cabo does not, right? So why did HBO provide English-speaking world with a bogus translation? To brown-nose the nutter? Bandid is just a suspect, in a state of war Cabo claims Bazil is in, bandid is often the one we disagree with because he fights for opposing ideology. While criminal is a person lawfully convicted by court. Gee, I don't need to add, that the origin of Cabo's saying is the ever biggest racial slur: "good Indian is a dead Indian" invented by General Sheridan in 1860s. So, Brazil is regressing at least 150 years. Terrible stuff.
Given my current understanding that the high crime rate sparked such irrational sentiments, I would now compare Brazil situation not to US but to that of Philippines where Rodrigo Duterte is ruling with his orders to "shoot the drug traffickers whenever you see them before they hide around the corner". These are the verbatim orders Duterte gives to his police. Duterte is proud of tens 1000s of extrajudicial killings he achieved; some of them with his own hands. So, worse IMO. And the world implications will be as serious as with US, because Brazil is an economy of comparable size.

 

[mrzz]

The civilised world understands the difference between "bandid" (original) and "criminal" (incorrect translation), even if Cabo does not, right?

I was not aware of the word "bandid" in English, but anyway "criminal" is a decent translation for "bandido", even if "criminal" is a bit more technical, so to say, while "bandido" is a term no one would ever use in court. I guess "bandit" (with a t) or "outlaw" would be good translations. (regardless, good catch, it is not easy to get a word like that in a foreign language).

The video is actually quite light... but anyway you made the correct connection with Duterte. However, Duterte aims specifically at drug dealers, while for Bolsonaro and his followers any "bandido" should be killed. Communists, for him, are "bandidos" too. People belonging to "suspicious" NGO's are "bandidos". You got the picture...

He wants to change the law so people can carry guns all the time to defend themselves, and at the same time he wants to change the law so once someone is stepping on your property you can shoot to kill. Now put it all together on a heavily dense, lowly educated large metropolitan area -- and we have more than a hundred million people in such conditions, and you have a giant bloodbath. Oh, and the people who defend this approach call themselves "good citizens". Sometimes I can't help but feel I am completely crazy and lost all connection to reality.

[EDIT] P.S. Another irony is that Bolsonaro is an old politician, been in old corrupt parties for the last 30 years, and is not overly respected within the military... in a nutshell he is not an outsider, from a political perspective. Simply every single aspect of his political image is empty.

 

[Chris Koziarz]

I was not aware of the word "bandid" in English

There is no such word. This is my typo. Thanks for heads up.

I guess "bandit" (with a t) or "outlaw" would be good translations

Correct guess of my intention.

good catch, it is not easy to get a word like that in a foreign language

I'm advantaged because I know French & Spanish. Portuguese sound like a cross between the two.

 

[Horsa]

Thanks for the concern, Horsa. Everything is ok for now. I am deeply concerned for my friends, though.



There are more factors in the equation, my friend. First thing, the difference in population density in Brazil is huge. Northern region is by far the largest but stands for roughly 7% of the population, for example. Second, the religious factor got in the way. Catholic church is losing ground heavily to TV pastors -- who cure pneunomia, malaria and cancer with their bare hands, and those guys preach that the opposition is literally the devil (yes, it gets that low). Also, the whole fake news thing got so crazy that independent studies estimated that less than 10% of the news that circulate on internet are true. That is consistent with what I see (actually I think it is worst). Both sides propagate fake news at will, and people simply chose what they want to believe. The absurd outcome of this is that people deem as fake news the videos where the guy says things like he supports torture, that black people are not good enough to reproduce. The video is there, there is good quality, you can see the whole context, you can see that there is simply no fucking excuse. But the reply is: fake news and/or check the context.

There are more to it but I frankly cannot explain it, or even understand some parts. It is a fucking uphill battle and it is exasperating to see people you knew your entire life saying completely atrocious things, saying that "once we get the power we will start killing/eliminating such and such". Of course not all people that support the rotten bastard think like that, I would say such people would be around 1/5 of his supporters. The rest chose to believe that this all just empty rhetoric. It is a bet, problem is that is not their asses they are putting on the line (at first).

Sorry for the language...

You're welcome, Mrzz. I'm glad everything is o.k. at the moment & hope your friends are going to be o.k.

Interrupting your conversation with Chris, I think it's absolutely disgusting that people think they can cure those diseases with their bare hands by faith alone when scientists haven't come up with a cure for cancer yet though they're developing anti-telomerase injections which stop the cancerous cells from growing too much & the reason why they're developing anti-telomerase injections is because telomerase lengthens telomeres which keeps genetic information in a cell because telomeres are the ends of the double-helix of D.N.A. & make cells grow including cancerous ones. Remember that we were saying that too little telomerase was bad for longevity too as telomeres could become too short & information could leak into other cells & people with telomeres which were too short were more liable to die of cardio-vascular disease & for longevity levels of the enzyme telomerase had to be right & telomeres had to be the right length (but obviously life-style choices also affected longevity). It went something like that anyway. It was fascinating.

I think it's disgusting that some people have adopted such disgusting attitudes.

I can only imagine how you must be feeling.

 

[Federberg]

I find it stunning that so quickly after these bomb threats, against targets who are among the most regular foils for Trump, that so many Republicans are already calling this a hoax. And in POTUS's campaign rally last night they didn't even take a pause from the "lock her up" chant. I think that any other major politician of the last few decades would have probably cancelled that rally, or completely changed the tone. This guy is completely amoral

 

[Chris Koziarz]

I find it stunning that so quickly after these bomb threats, against targets who are among the most regular foils for Trump, that so many Republicans are already calling this a hoax. And in POTUS's campaign rally last night they didn't even take a pause from the "lock her up" chant. I think that any other major politician of the last few decades would have probably cancelled that rally, or completely changed the tone. This guy is completely amoral

T-man has a morality of a spoiled child in a candy factory. I would be actually surprised if he offered any condolences or any compassion or any "moment of silent reflection" in this situation during his rally. Instead, he simply reacted predictably, especially with his "morality lesson":

"More broadly there is much we can do to bring our nation together. For example, those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective."

that focuses on himself because people call him and no one else "morally defective".
He finished, also very predictably, by congratulating himself:

"By the way, do you see how nice I'm behaving tonight? Have you ever seen this? We're all behaving very well!"

It looks like a crazy soap opera, or misplaced comedy show and LOL is the only mentally healthy response to such showcase of stupidity together with textbook deep narcissism, maybe even sociopathy. But when you realise this brainless monkey show is actually by POTUS himself, you just want to feel & cry for this country.

My quotes are from this very good analysis in my local paper where you can find more.

 

[Federberg]

T-man has a morality of a spoiled child in a candy factory. I would be actually surprised if he offered any condolences or any compassion or any "moment of silent reflection" in this situation during his rally. Instead, he simply reacted predictably, especially with his "morality lesson":

that focuses on himself because people call him and no one else "morally defective".
He finished, also very predictably, by congratulating himself:

It looks like a crazy soap opera, or misplaced comedy show and LOL is the only mentally healthy response to such showcase of stupidity together with textbook deep narcissism, maybe even sociopathy. But when you realise this brainless monkey show is actually by POTUS himself, you just want to feel & cry for this country.

My quotes are from this very good analysis in my local paper where you can find more.

At first I felt pity for American voters, but now that I've had a couple of years to think about it, I'm just pissed off with them. It's one thing to make a mistake, but to not reject him by now...?... they weren't fooled, they wanted this

 

[Chris Koziarz]

At first I felt pity for American voters, but now that I've had a couple of years to think about it, I'm just pissed off with them. It's one thing to make a mistake, but to not reject him by now...?... they weren't fooled, they wanted this

Sorry berg, but I am the one (who voted for Clinton) even though I live overseas (down under), so I have to disagree. By saying simplistically "they wanted this" you omit e.g. the fact that Clinton won the popular vote by ~3mln, so in fact majority of Americans did not want this. They installed the monkey as POTUS by means of their electoral system, including "electoral votes" and some gerrymandering that advantages REP candidates & devaluates minority votes. As we know from the published opinion pools, more than 90% minorities (up to 95% AA) voted for Clinton.

 

[Federberg]

Sorry berg, but I am the one (who voted for Clinton) even though I live overseas (down under), so I have to disagree. By saying simplistically "they wanted this" you omit e.g. the fact that Clinton won the popular vote by ~3mln, so in fact majority of Americans did not want this. They installed the monkey as POTUS by means of their electoral system, including "electoral votes" and some gerrymandering that advantages REP candidates & devaluates minority votes. As we know from the published opinion pools, more than 90% minorities (up to 95% AA) voted for Clinton.

I hear you. Perhaps I'll assuage your critique by adding that I still pity Americans for their electoral system which employs the electoral college which had a more tenable rationale pre Civil War. The point I'm making is that his base is rock solid. I can feel pity for that

 

[britbox]

Apparently Trump's approval ratings among African Americans have gone through the roof. Rasmussen are reporting a 36% approval rating.

 

[Federberg]

Apparently Trump's approval ratings among African Americans have gone through the roof. Rasmussen are reporting a 36% approval rating.

yes indeed. Good employment numbers will cure most ills. But as I said before, I'm extremely concerned about where we are in the economic cycle. And there's no fiscal buffer at all

 

[britbox]

yes indeed. Good employment numbers will cure most ills. But as I said before, I'm extremely concerned about where we are in the economic cycle. And there's no fiscal buffer at all

Nail on the head. It's the Economy stupid... as the saying goes.

You know my thoughts on the bigger picture for western economies already... kicking the can down the road and such before a huge crash but you know why people voted for Trump... and underneath all the bluster, bullshit and stupidity, he has leveraged American power.