[OFF TOPIC] Politics Thread

[Monzanator 4,820]

19 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

There are a lot of people though, there's always going to be at least some who simply like rugby more, even when the very significant amount of money one could earn in American football is taken into the consideration.

 

Obvously yes, but let's don't overthink the room. Rugby is a niche sport in USA and nothing changes that. Call me when a rugby player gets on the cover of Sports Illustrated and then we can talk

[Olympian1010 8,263]

33 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

Obvously yes, but let's don't overthink the room. Rugby is a niche sport in USA and nothing changes that. Call me when a rugby player gets on the cover of Sports Illustrated and then we can talk

I’m going to quote this one day, and be very smug 

[thiago_simoes 1,441]

16 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Wait, what's that about a coup in Brazil? For a military coup to take place, someone not backed by the military would have to be the current leader...but isn't Bolsonaro - who you here say is backed by the military forces - the current leader? Or are you expecting for Lula to commit a coup first? 

 

Or, the more likely option, am I totally missing a recent development and has a coup already taken place (not counting Bolsonaro winning the elections of course)?

 

The coup happened when Dilma was removed from office. She faced accusations of using money from the federal bank to cover expenses for social security programs. The government was supposed to give money back to the bank soon afterwards, but for one year they could not return all of the money, so the federal bank sued the government and soon she also faced an impeachment process because this. Some people say this process occurred through what is prescribed by law, but literally the following day after she was impeached the law was changed so that the next president could do exactly the same thing she did without facing accusations of crime.

Last year, after extensive trials, she was declared innocent of any crime because what she did did not break the law. But it was too late: Temer was already out of office and Bolsonaro, who was elected democratically (in theory) was in office. However, many people see Bolsonaro as the direct result of this coup: the coup weakened the reputation of Dilma's party (PT) to the point no one from the party was seen as honest anymore. Lula, however, enjoys huge prestige, and he could realistically become the next president. Then, the Federal Court of Justice discussed an alteration in the constitutional law to jail Lula for an unfinished process of buying a plot of land for personal reasons (with his own money, and in the end he did not even buy the plot of land). Even though nothing was proved against him, he was jailed anyway so he could not run for president.
 
Then, Bolsonaro was elected, but the irony is that Bolsonaro was not part of the right wing party that promoted the impeachment process. Bolsonaro is part of a far right party which had very few followers before Dilma was impeached. 

[Olympian1010 8,263]

Mexico will grant Evo Morales political asylum

[mrv86 3,255]

2 hours ago, Olympian1010 said:

Mexico will grant Evo Morales political asylum

 

And I'm totally disgusted by it... wishing the military leaders had some pants and throw out the current shitty government in power in Mexico.

 

I'll call my country will be the next Venezuela in less than 6 years from now, if no one raise against Lopez and his henchpeople.

[LDOG 2,472]

From a legal point of view, what happened in Bolivia is a coup, can't be called anything else. Even if you think that Morales can't run for another term, his current term was supposed to end in january and he's been forcefully ousted before that term ended.

 

I think what lies in the background of this conflict is the big racial/class fracture of Bolivia, between the white bolivians and the amerindians. With varying degrees and local differences, the same class fracture is present in many countries of the continent.  As usual in latin america, "defending democracy" is just an excuse to act. Both sides would be happy to have a dictatorship in place as long as it represents their class interests.

[heywoodu 16,136]

8 hours ago, thiago_simoes said:

 

The coup happened when Dilma was removed from office. She faced accusations of using money from the federal bank to cover expenses for social security programs. The government was supposed to give money back to the bank soon afterwards, but for one year they could not return all of the money, so the federal bank sued the government and soon she also faced an impeachment process because this. Some people say this process occurred through what is prescribed by law, but literally the following day after she was impeached the law was changed so that the next president could do exactly the same thing she did without facing accusations of crime.

Last year, after extensive trials, she was declared innocent of any crime because what she did did not break the law. But it was too late: Temer was already out of office and Bolsonaro, who was elected democratically (in theory) was in office. However, many people see Bolsonaro as the direct result of this coup: the coup weakened the reputation of Dilma's party (PT) to the point no one from the party was seen as honest anymore. Lula, however, enjoys huge prestige, and he could realistically become the next president. Then, the Federal Court of Justice discussed an alteration in the constitutional law to jail Lula for an unfinished process of buying a plot of land for personal reasons (with his own money, and in the end he did not even buy the plot of land). Even though nothing was proved against him, he was jailed anyway so he could not run for president.
 
Then, Bolsonaro was elected, but the irony is that Bolsonaro was not part of the right wing party that promoted the impeachment process. Bolsonaro is part of a far right party which had very few followers before Dilma was impeached. 

 

Thanks. Yeah, the whole Dilma impeachement thing had all the smells of a coup, I remember that. In that case I just thought you were talking about a coup in recent weeks, making me think I had missed something huge. Haven't heard anything about an impeachement process starting against Bolsonaro yet, so I guess it'll be a matter of waiting and hoping people vote him out next time..

[heywoodu 16,136]

4 hours ago, mrv86 said:

 

And I'm totally disgusted by it... wishing the military leaders had some pants and throw out the current shitty government in power in Mexico.

 

I'll call my country will be the next Venezuela in less than 6 years from now, if no one raise against Lopez and his henchpeople.

Then again, when have military coups ever ended in an actually positive result for the country in which the coup took place?

Edited November 12, 2019 by heywoodu

[Olympian1010 8,263]

Dilma laid down an awesome quote before Rio 2016 that John Oliver used to describe the political state of Brazil at the time. She said something along the lines of “Imagine planning a party, putting in hard work, using your own home, and then not being inviting”

[thiago_simoes 1,441]

6 hours ago, mrv86 said:

 

And I'm totally disgusted by it... wishing the military leaders had some pants and throw out the current shitty government in power in Mexico.

 

I'll call my country will be the next Venezuela in less than 6 years from now, if no one raise against Lopez and his henchpeople.

I'm very disappointed by this (your comment, I mean).