Washington Post Exposes Own Bias On Venezuela

In Ishaan Tharoor’s recent update on Venezuela, the typical US government / media propaganda / disinformation campaign is in full swing.

For example, he talks about the “grim conditions created by a dysfunctional economy”, but fails to mention these grim conditions are largely caused by crippling and illegal US sanctions. The sanctions have been criticized by the UN high commissioner for human rights who said last year they would ‘significantly exacerbate the crisis for millions of ordinary Venezuelans’, but the Post doesn’t even mention them until paragraph 8 and even then not mentioning the UN criticism or the illegality of the sanctions. He also doesn’t mention the report published by the Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research last year that 40,000 people may have died in Venezuela since 2017 because of US sanctions.

The Post then goes on to quote Ecuadoran President Lenín Moreno who “insisted that Maduro’s “despotic regime” had to go”. Moreno is the guy who took a sharp turn to the right when he became President in 2017, after a meeting with Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort (currently serving seven years in jail), then revoked Julian Assange’s asylum, after allowing Assange’s private conversations with his lawyers be bugged and shared with the US (it’s alleged), and accepted a US-backed $10 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It’s the same Moreno who has been roundly criticised by his own people during the 2019 Ecuadorian protests, and who is currently sitting on an all-time low popularity, reaching only 7% of approval as of February 2020.

No half measures

One of the guys who created the CIA torture program says that waterboarding a prisoner, who has been held in jail for 13 years and never charged with a crime, over 80 times, only “verged” on breaking the law. Gee, I’d hate to see what ACTUALLY breaking the law looks like.

Imagine what kind of person you have to be to get paid $80 million to design a torture program.

DEAR CLIMATE CHANGE DENIALIST

I’m sure we’ve all seen some pretty dumb ass posts from Australians about our role in climate change over the last week. Just reading their arguments makes me think maybe climate change is a GOOD thing – not because their arguments hold any water, but because once we’re all dead, I won’t have to listen to their stupid shit any longer. These people are even dumber than anti-vaxxers.

But as an act of public service, I provide for you this rebuttal you can feel free to copy and paste, with or without attribution, as often as you like.

DEAR CLIMATE CHANGE DENIALIST:

First of all, stop pretending you have any respect for science. You don’t. Here’s how I know – people who respect science, listen to scientists. Not the fringe dwelling kind living under a bridge somewhere, but the consensus of scientists working in a field. Yes yes, we all understand that scientists on the fringes sometimes have good ideas – that is, in fact, how science works. But just because an idea is on the fringe doesn’t mean it’s correct. Before we accept it as being correct, it has to first be vetted by the majority of the scientists working in the field.

And the vast majority of climate scientists say your arguments about climate change are stupid. And you aren’t listening to them. So shut the fuck up and stop pretending that you give a shit about science. Fuck me sideways.

Second – we all know the human contribution to CO2 is small. And if you had paid ANY attention to the scientists, you would know that our small contribution is too much for the planet to handle. It’s like filling a bathtub to the brim with water… and then adding a small amount. The atmosphere is now, thanks to humans, overflowing with CO2. And that “small” amount has enormous consequences to life on this planet. It’s like if the overflowing bathtub was sitting on a live wire and you are standing on the floor beside it. But how did I get electrocuted? I ONLY ADDED A SMALL AMOUNT. How come you people are too stupid to STILL not know this? Fuck me sideways again.

Third – as for Australia’s contribution to CO2 levels, yes, it’s relatively small, because we have a relatively small population. But we’re also one of the largest producers of CO2 per capita. We are only 0.3% of the world’s population, yet we’re produce 1.1% of the CO2. The argument “oh we’re so small so it doesn’t matter what we do” is simply psychopathic. It’s like saying “I only committed 1% of the murders last year out of the total number of murders, so what does it matter?” If you had been around in the 1930s, I’m sure you’d be saying “we’re such a small country, what can we do about Hitler?” Fuck me sideways. You people. Listen – some Australians think we, as a nation, have a responsibility to be ethical. We aren’t great inventors – Australia didn’t invent the iPhone or Facebook – but we are a highly educated people with a lot of advantages. We’re fairly rich per capita and we have a pretty good life compared to most people on the planet. We also are the one of the world’s largest producers of coal, you know, that stuff that produces a lot of CO2. We also have a large coastline and lots of sun, hot rocks and wind that could be used to generate LOTS of green energy. So maybe we should try to pull our weight. And if we aren’t out there leading the world, showing them how it’s done, standing up and being counted, being as proud of ourselves as innovators on the climate change front as we were when we nailed a secret fin to a fucking sailboat, then we are part of the problem. YOU are part of the problem. And FUCK YOU for being that. Psychopaths.

Fourth – don’t fucking talk to me about the economic affects of trying to do something about climate change, you stupid fucking cunt. Just what do you think the fucking economic impact of the decline of coal as an export is going to be? Or the economic impact of rising temperatures and rising sea levels? Our current bushfires are NOTHING compared to what’s coming down the pipe. What is the cost of complete ecological collapse going to be? Coastlines under water. Farming completely fucked. Tourism fucked. The air and water will be fucked. How the fuck do you think the economy is going to work when we’re all fighting over the vehicle Max passed two days ago that could haul that tanker? Oh wait, you probably think you’re going to be Humungus in this scenario. But in reality you’re already proving yourself to be Toadie, Humungus’ sycophantic suck-ass. You’re already sucking on the engorged, dripping cock of the Murdoch press, so you won’t need to learn any new skills.

Fifth – you ask what could Australia’s government have done to prevent all of this? For a start, they could have taken the Garnaut report seriously. Then they could have tried to act like world leaders, not a bunch of numbnuts, sticking their heads in the sand. They could have helped the country prepare for the increasing heat and drought that Garnaut successfully predicted – you know, investing in fire-fighting and water infrastructure, that kind of stuff, instead of spending all of their energy trying to stop five people and a blind dog from getting into the country on a boat. They could have been ringing the alarm bells, at home and around the world, fighting the good fight against psychopathic behaviour from people like Trump, Murdoch and the fossil fuel industry. But they didn’t. Moron after moron has sat in the PM’s chair and done nothing, absolutely nothing, to prepare this country for the coming storm. Instead they have sucked on Murdoch’s dick. It must be getting crowded in Murdoch’s pants.

You’re embarrassing yourself. And you’re embarrassing us as a nation, because people are watching to see what we do. And you are making us all look like the deformed love children of Pauline Hanson and David Icke.

So please – do us all a favour and shut the fuck up.

America Doesn’t Give A Fuck About Democracy

The current situation between Iraq and the US is quite revealing. In 2003, when the US illegally invaded Iraq, it initially pretended it was doing so to protect the world from Saddam Hussein’s WMD. When it became clear that he never had any WMD (as many Iraq analysts had already been saying before the invasion), the US pivoted to argue they were invading to remove Saddam and bring the gift of democracy to the Iraqi people.

Now we see the democratically-elected government of Iraq requesting the US remove all of its troops from their country – and the US is flatly refusing. We can infer from this that the US has no respect for democracy, or the government of Iraq or the Iraqi people or, by extension, any other government or people whose interests are in disagreement with those of the United States.

In essence, the US is forcing its military presence upon the Iraqi people – again. I’m pretty sure that’s tantamount to a declaration of war. But this time, there is no Saddam, no WMD mirage. The US’ interests are laid bare. They want a military presence in the world’s third oil-producing nations and they don’t give a flying fuck what the Iraq people think about it. And they don’t give a flying fuck about democracy, either. That’s always been a ruse.

Do you know what kind of person doesn’t care about the rights of others? Psychopaths.

When the government of a country doesn’t care about the rights of others, it is a psychopathic government.