Venezuela Coup Attempt

Xavier

Orochi's Acolyte
20 Year Member
You guys think this will end up being a big deal or nah?

The WH better hope nothing can be found tying it to it. Not really so much because of geo-political repercussions but more about how much of a joke and badly coordinated it was.

Trump vetoed a bill yesterday limiting what he can do in Iran. If it passes both houses again it doesn't need his signature right?
 

lithy

Most Prominent Member of Chat
20 Year Member
You guys think this will end up being a big deal or nah?

The WH better hope nothing can be found tying it to it. Not really so much because of geo-political repercussions but more about how much of a joke and badly coordinated it was.

Trump vetoed a bill yesterday limiting what he can do in Iran. If it passes both houses again it doesn't need his signature right?

It needs to repass with 2/3 majority in both houses to override the veto.
 

Lagduf

2>X
20 Year Member
Why are PMCs legal?

Did anyone play MGS4?

The whole story sounds like some one watched season 2 of Jack Ryan and thought they could pull off the shit that went down in that, lol.
 

Xavier

Orochi's Acolyte
20 Year Member
Why are PMCs legal?

Portable media centers?

Mercs? I dunno, I hate them. An English group of them accidentally ran over a buddy of mine, instantly sheared off his leg he bled out in a few minutes. As far as I know nothing happened to them, they got swept out and the company that owns them are shielded from lawsuits from the kids family for negligence.

I guess they are around because they make people money. If they do something bad or get killed or kidnapped who cares? They're just some hired guns. Pretty sure they don't count in most causality of war statistics. Maybe in some under a contractor section.

Doubt they'll be going away anytime soon, it appears they've all buddied up to the president. Especially Eric Prince Jr. and Ditzy Devos.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...pitch-mercenaries-for-venezuela-idUSKCN1S608F
 
Last edited:

lithy

Most Prominent Member of Chat
20 Year Member
Why are PMCs legal?

Did anyone play MGS4?

The whole story sounds like some one watched season 2 of Jack Ryan and thought they could pull off the shit that went down in that, lol.

If the Florida Man running the supposed operation doesn't end up in jail, then I would say there is a case that we had a hand in it. However, the whole thing reads pretty like a pathetic abortive attempt from the start, so I'm doubtful and reporting is that our intelligence agencies tried to tell them to knock it off.

I mean, I'm thankful for the Hessians, but I think you have to have a pretty healthy skepticism for hired guns, I assume most of them just liked killing people and they figure these sorts of jobs are the best option once active duty is over.
 

Lagduf

2>X
20 Year Member
If the Florida Man running the supposed operation doesn't end up in jail, then I would say there is a case that we had a hand in it. However, the whole thing reads pretty like a pathetic abortive attempt from the start, so I'm doubtful and reporting is that our intelligence agencies tried to tell them to knock it off.

I mean, I'm thankful for the Hessians, but I think you have to have a pretty healthy skepticism for hired guns, I assume most of them just liked killing people and they figure these sorts of jobs are the best option once active duty is over.

I suppose there will always be soldiers of fortune, but when you have fuckers calling their outfit stuff like "Executive Outcomes" I really start to wonder. That's a great euphemism, lol.

We provide "executive outcomes" to our clients. LOL fuck off.
 

SpamYouToDeath

I asked for a, Custom Rank and, Learned My Lesson.
15 Year Member
This is like the ultimate Florida Man story. Florida Man hires 2 mall ninjas; tries to invade Venezuela by dinghy.
 

wyo

King of Spammers
10 Year Member
Imagine if "Prestige Worldwide" from Step Brothers got hired to overthrow the Venezuelan government.
 

lithy

Most Prominent Member of Chat
20 Year Member
BBC's blocked yo

I thought state owned media would be ok.

Official News of the Crown said:
Venezuela bans private gun ownership
1 June 2012

Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition.

Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.

Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.

The ban is the latest attempt by the government to improve security and cut crime ahead of elections in October

Venezuela saw more than 18,000 murders last year and the capital, Caracas, is thought to be one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America.

'Must do more'
The government has been running a gun amnesty in the run-up to the introduction of the new law to try to encourage people to give up their illegal arms without fear of consequences.

One member of the public in Caracas told the BBC: "They're killing people every day. This law is important but they need to do more, they're not doing enough now."

Hugo Chavez's government says the ultimate aim is to disarm all civilians, but his opponents say the police and government may not have the capacity or the will to enforce the new law.

Criminal violence is set to be a major issue in presidential elections later in the year.

Campaign group The Venezuela Violence Observatory said last year that violence has risen steadily since Mr Chavez took office in 1999.

Several Latin American countries have murder rates far higher than the global average of 6.9 murders per 100,000 people.

According to a recent United Nations report , South America, Central America and the Caribbean have the highest rates of murder by firearms in the world.

It found that over 70% of all homicides in South America are as a results of guns - in Western Europe, the figure was closer to 25%.
 

wyo

King of Spammers
10 Year Member
Such a conundrum
The BBC is a shell of its former self. State owned maybe, towing the given party line, most definitely. An absolute shitfest unfortunately

No media outlet is completely free of bias. The BBC still does a better job than most. Same goes for NPR and PBS in the States. The actual shitfests tend to be privately owned.
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
20 Year Member
No media outlet is completely free of bias. The BBC still does a better job than most. Same goes for NPR and PBS in the States. The actual shitfests tend to be privately owned.

Comparing BBC to itself pre Iraq War 2 era. They used to be highly insicive , critical and intelligent. You should have seen their web page around a year ago. It had become a very strange place to peruse, full of badly written, uninteresting "news" with clickbait titles. No lie. Really embarrassing.
I think the same about the Guardian, compared to how it was 20 years ago
 

Xavier

Orochi's Acolyte
20 Year Member
No media outlet is completely free of bias. The BBC still does a better job than most. Same goes for NPR and PBS in the States. The actual shitfests tend to be privately owned.

Actually they are the most liberal of all news media.
It's OK though because they typically don't hold your hand and tell you how you should feel about things.
They show their bias the responsible way, by the stories they cover and the way they present them.

Well even further left is democracy now. Actually they have bit of commentary here and there.
 
Last edited:

wyo

King of Spammers
10 Year Member
Comparing BBC to itself pre Iraq War 2 era. They used to be highly insicive , critical and intelligent. You should have seen their web page around a year ago. It had become a very strange place to peruse, full of badly written, uninteresting "news" with clickbait titles. No lie. Really embarrassing.
I think the same about the Guardian, compared to how it was 20 years ago

I get what you're saying. You would think since its publicly funded they wouldn't be thirsty for clicks.
 

Xavier

Orochi's Acolyte
20 Year Member
Overton window in full effect.

I had to Google it: ????

https://www.amazon.com/Overton-Window-Glenn-Beck-ebook/dp/B003LL2Z4Y



A plan to destroy America, a hundred years in the making, is about to be unleashed . . . can it be stopped?

There is a powerful technique called the Overton Window that can shape our lives, our laws, and our future. It works by manipulating public perception so that ideas previously thought of as radical begin to seem acceptable over time. Move the Window and you change the debate. Change the debate and you change the country.

For Noah Gardner, a twentysomething public relations executive, it’s safe to say that political theory is the furthest thing from his mind. Smart, single, handsome, and insulated from the world’s problems by the wealth and power of his father, Noah is far more concerned about the future of his social life than the future of his country.

But all of that changes when Noah meets Molly Ross, a woman who is consumed by the knowledge that the America we know is about to be lost forever. She and her group of patriots have vowed to remember the past and fight for the future—but Noah, convinced they’re just misguided conspiracy-theorists, isn’t interested in lending his considerable skills to their cause.

And then the world changes.

An unprecedented attack on U.S. soil shakes the country to the core and puts into motion a frightening plan, decades in the making, to transform America and demonize all those who stand in the way. Amidst the chaos, many don’t know the difference between conspiracy theory and conspiracy fact—or, more important, which side to fight for.

But for Noah, the choice is clear: Exposing the plan, and revealing the conspirators behind it, is the only way to save both the woman he loves and the individual freedoms he once took for granted.

After five back-to-back #1 New York Times bestsellers, national radio and Fox News television host Glenn Beck has delivered a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller that seamlessly weaves together American history, frightening facts about our present condition, and a heart-stopping plot. The Overton Window will educate, enlighten, and, most important, entertain—with twists and revelations no one will see coming

I assume most of them just liked killing people and they figure these sorts of jobs are the best option once active duty is over.

I've been around several hundred of them. Some are ex military or other agency workers but most are just undisciplined people who couldn't even try to make it as LEO or any of the service branches.
 
Last edited:

SML

NEANDERTHAL FUCKER,
20 Year Member
The novel is named after the concept.

But, yeah, I'm using it to describe how the range of acceptable opinion, or even the spectra we choose to define that range, are shaped.

I don't remember who it was, but back in.... Christ, I think it must have been 2008, because I think we were talking about McCain vs. Obama, and a McCain supporter cited a comedian who had said we had: "Two candidates, one right-centrist and one maniac." (Something like that. This definitely isn't a direct quote.)

I remember thinking at the time that the guy had misunderstood who was who. He may have been mistaken, or I may have been.

I'm self-conscious about this, but let me copy/paste the Chomsky quote from the Wikipedia page:

"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum—even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate."

If we're defining the political spectrum with Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump representing the end points for "Left" and "Right," then those terms don't have much meaning.

If criticism of Donald Trump, who has tried to implement a quasi-command economy, at least in his rhetoric, means you "hate conservatives," "Conservative" doesn't mean a fucking thing.
 
Last edited:
Top