Lest you believe the MAGA movement is unique, it’s happening in Venezuela, too.
Is there hope for Venezuela as Maduro clings to power?From the 08/15/24 Sun SentinelWill Freeman, Los Angeles Times
MADURO
The Latin American left has a decision to make about Venezuela: Oppose Nicolás Maduro’s totalitarian bid to remain in power indefinitely or enable it.
Efforts to constrain Maduro may not succeed.
According to an Associated Press review of about 80% of Venezuelan voting machines’ paper tallies provided by the opposition, Maduro lost the July 28 election to opposition coalition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
Rather than acknowledge it, however, Maduro simply announced that he had won and blamed an unsubstantiated cyberattack by Elon Musk for his inability to prove it.
Maduro’s blatant steal marks a dark new chapter in Venezuela. Until July 28, the country was authoritarian with a patina of democracy, holding periodic unfree, unfair elections.
Now that Maduro knows he lacks the popular support to win even on a tilted playing field, he is scrapping the facade and going full totalitarian, exceeding even his previous crackdowns.
Trump lost the popular vote by a vast 7 million-vote margin.
He also lost the electoral vote despite it being slanted to favor the smaller red states.
The right-wing Supreme Court he installed didn’t save him, and his own Vice President didn’t save him.
His attack on Congress didn’t save him, even when he waited 3 hours before calling it off, hoping that somehow the mob would succeed.
His attempts to cheat by installing fake electors didn’t save him.
He lost all 60+ lawsuits in the states he had lost electorally when he falsely claimed he had been cheated.
And when none of that worked, he simply declared he had won. He tried every dirty trick he could think of.
His followers are still being prosecuted for their role in his illegal coup attempt. Now, he wants to be President again, and when he loses again, he will claim he won.
Maduro’s government has arrested more than 2,000 people without trial since election day; deployed Russian Wagner group mercenaries, Cuban secret police and other forces; and promised to send critics to “reeducation camps.” At least 24 people have been killed since election day.
TRUMP
Venezuela’s descent into authoritarianism and a coinciding economic collapse in the 2010s pushed about 8 million Venezuelans into exile abroad, more than half a million of whom came to the United States.
The lurch toward full-fledged totalitarianism could prove even more destabilizing. Preelection polls suggested about 3.7 million additional people planned to migrate if Maduro remained entrenched.
Can anything hold Maduro back? Barring an improbable uprising within his security forces, further mass protests seem unlikely to rein him in. The United States could tighten its sanctions, but Maduro and his inner circle already know how to live under them, having forged ties with other pariah states.
Fortunately, Trump does not control America’s security forces.
That all could change should he become President.
Trump promised that, as President, he would deport 15-20 million undocumented immigrants.
He falsely claims they are causing increased crime in America. As usual, the facts say otherwise.
The research does not support the view that immigrants commit crime or are incarcerated at higher rates than native-born Americans.
In fact, immigrants might have less law enforcement contact compared to nonimmigrants.
Focusing on the facts is imperative, especially given that immigration has become a top issue for voters ahead of the election.Substantial research hasassessedthe relationship between immigration and crime.
Numerous studies show that immigration is not linked to higher levels of crime, but rather the opposite.
Studies have alsoexaminedthe impact of the concentration of immigrants in a community on crime patterns, finding that immigration is associated with lower crime ratesand an increase in structural factors — such as social connectionandeconomic opportunity— that are linked to neighborhood safety.
When looking specifically at the relationship between undocumented immigrants and crime, researchers come to similar conclusions.
Numerous studies show that undocumented immigration does not increase violent crime; research examining crime rates in so-called sanctuary cities also found no discernable difference when compared to similarly situated cities without sanctuary policies.
One study found that undocumented immigrants are33 percent less likelyto be incarcerated than people born in the United States. Indications of a negative relationship between immigration and crime also emerge when looking at conviction rates.
In recent years immigrants were 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born citizens.
Thus, disappear Trump’s excuses for destroying the lives of millions of hard-working, tax-paying people, as well as destroying the U.S. economy that relies on those people.
“It would,” Trump said, adding, he would “have no problem using the military, per se,” although he thinks the National Guard would suffice.
He does not think that laws meant to prevent the use of the military against civilians inside the US without congressional approval would apply to his effort.
“These aren’t civilians,” Trump said of migrants. “These are people that aren’t legally in our country. This is an invasion of our country.”
Fear-mongering Trump invents his new definition of a “civilian.” The normal definition is: “a person not in the armed services or the police force.”
Because Trump does not even consider undocumented foreigners to be people, no wonder he claims they are not civilians.
He also repeated the conspiracy theory, for which there is no evidence, that “fighting age” males from China are somehow embedding themselves in the US.
He continues to invent idiocy to justify his craziness.
What about massive migrant camps?Trump tried to downplay the idea that there would be massive camps of detained migrants like those described to The New York Times by his immigration policy mastermind Stephen Miller, since, according to Trump, he would be deporting people so fast.
“We’re not leaving them in the country. We’re bringing them out,” he said. When asked under what authority he would make all of this happen, Trump suggested he would use federal money to pressure local police.
To where would these 15-20 million men, women and children be deported and how would he get them there? That hasn’t exactly been figured out. Presumably he would use the Nazi final solution of boxcars. Even Trump’s cruel advisors bear an uncanny resemblance to Hitler’s.
Finally, when Trump’s favorite lickspittle, flatterer, sycophant suckup softballed him with the easiest possible question, “Will you be a dictator,” Trump could simply have answered, “No.”
Instead, he answered, “Only for a day.” Would he do it. Would he violate the U.S. Constitution?
Although I might not remember what I had for dinner a week ago, I can remember some things from 85-90 years ago.
I remember kindergarten. We each had a blanket we stored in a cupboard. Every morning, at about 10:30, we would take out our blankets, unroll them, lay them on the floor, and nap. I loved naps then and still do.
A possible ASMR experience.
I also remember my first experience with ASMR in third grade. It may have been earlier, but I distinctly remember the experience itself. It was that pleasant.
I was sitting at my desk writing something. It may have been arithmetic.
I remember my teacher, a lady, coming up the aisle and squatting just behind me and to my right.
She touched my shoulder and said softly, “That’s good, Rodger.”
I especially remember my ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response), which I almost can feel now.
It’s a very enjoyable tingly feeling in the scalp that runs from my forehead, up the top of my head, and down my neck.
Over the years, I have periodically experienced ASMR, though less frequently recently.
It always arrives the same way.
I am sitting and doing some small-muscle activity that requires some focus, usually writing. A female comes up behind me, touches my right shoulder, and says something softly.
It has to be a female, and it has to be my right shoulder. Don’t ask.
And that’s it. That’s what the ASMR community calls a “trigger.”
Apparently, everyone has a different trigger. It can be a touch or a sound, and you have to be in a quiet, receptive moment.
For the past 80 years, I thought it was exclusive to me, so I never discussed it with anyone. Now, 80+ years later, I just discovered it’s a real thing, far more common than I could have guessed. You can look it up here.
There even are websites devoted to ASMR. Hereare several.
They primarily consist of people, usually women, doing mundane things like slowly painting or giving a soft massage, all while whispering. This is an example.
Sadly, I found them useless, almost embarrassing. I would call it “ASMR porn.” I assume others have different responses.
I don’t know why it exists. As infants, most of us were softly stroked and whispered to by our mothers, and this pleasant experience may be the origin of ASMR, though I cannot say why it manifests in that tingly feeling on the scalp.
Whenever I visited my wife in the hospital, she liked me to touch her hair very softly, just the whisps, not even touching her scalp. I don’t know whether she was experiencing ASMR, but her outward reaction was indicative.
Not only is ASMR more widely felt than I imagined, but it may also not be exclusive to humans. Grooming is common among mammals, though I don’t know whether they experience ASMR the way we do.
My friend has a dog that can sit patiently while being softly petted, and when I stop, she uses her front paws to move my hands back in place.
In short, if you have not experienced ASMR, you may not be able to imagine what I’m talking about, but if you have, you may have been like me, thinking you were the only one.
And now you know there is a name for this quite pleasant, fleeting experience.
#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 