Everything posted by Brisketexan
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Oh, and definitely quoting for emphasis. When oil was in the $90-100 class, the flow of cash into Venezula was fucking firehose-level, turned up to 11. ANYONE could hand out prosperity in those conditions. It reminded me a LOT of Bill Clements and the shit he said in the race for his second term. It was all about how much more prosperous Texas was during his first term (79-83) than during Mark White's term (83-87). Well no shit, Sherlock. Clements took office right as oil prices fucking DOUBLED (thanks, Iranian revolution). A lobotomized monitor lizard could have been governor then and Texas would have still been swimming in money, and said lizard could stand at the podium and say "See, I'm the best governor ever!" Whereas under Mark White, we had a crash, where oil prices dropped nearly 50%. Again, Jesus Christ and Milton Friedman and Gordon Gecko could have been joint governors, and a state budget built on oil prices being twice what they ended up being would have been shitty. So, Chavez built a system and program that he could preach as a great socialist success.....when oil prices were insane. When they leveled out, it inevitably fell apart. He coulda used some Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat thinking and husbanded the cash that was pouring in, but where is the glory (and family/elites enrichment) in that? It's okay, though. I'm sure that the incoming TrumpCo. regime will be wise stewards of Venezuela's resources, will use them to benefit the Venezuelan people, and will not just funnel them off to a small crowd of insiders and family members.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
When my folks lived in Argentina, my mother traveled with several of those mini tabasco sauce bottles in her purse at all times. They really did enjoy the food down there, but definitely lamented that the south americans just don't do "spice." Shit, too much black pepper in a dish, and the locals were sweating.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
As I mentioned above, populist authoritarianism is populist authoritarianism. The difference between “left” or “right” is insignificant. Our country is cheering on what we just took out.
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
This. There are two reasons for the regime not to pay attention to politics: 1) They are stupid. 2) Politics doesn’t matter, because the support of the people/voters is simply irrelevant. The regime has power, and will never be giving it up. In this case, it’s option 2, although option 1 is also true. Imagine how a right wing authoritarian regime intent on having power for all time would act, and it’s how this regime acts. Believe what you are seeing.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Agreed 100%, including as to the southern dishes that are indeed excellent. It’s amazing how mid some of that food is. You never have to worry about that happening. You can keep it all to yourself.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Authoritarian government feeding the population populist bullshit aimed at pacifying them/shoring up support against largely ginned-up external “threats,” ensuring that they stand clear of the elites enriching themselves….is the same old shit. The difference between left and right authoritarianism for 98% of the people is ZERO, other than the color of political pin they wear to show loyalty to the regime. And I’ve never eaten road kill, but my dad proudly told the tale of the time his work crew on the King Ranch ate grilled road-kill jackrabbit. They were tired of canned Vienna sausages. So, I mean…I’d try it.
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What the fuck is wrong with you, Austin?
Shades of the same type of stories - from the same outlets/Youtube accounts - about “EUROPE OVERRUN! NO-GO ZONES EVERYWHERE!”…stories I read as I walked around many of the cities they warned about.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Oh, I believe you. Because here’s another important, indisputable take: Venezuelan gals are very often hot and crazy.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Also, a very important, possibly controversial take: arepas and Venezuelan food in general is pretty mid. Arepas are usually kinda dry, and everything needs more spice/seasoning.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Shoulda sung YMCA and some Kid Rock shit, and he’d not only still be in power, but would be in on some Trump crypto scam as well.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
The drugs: I love how it’s all about fentanyl fentanyl fentanyl, each boat strike saved 100,000 American lives! And then it became WAIT! It’s cocaine! Each boat strike saved 25,000 American lives! When, ummm….cocaine alone seems to have about 10k total overdose deaths per year. What we’ve really prevented is some finance bros and club goers having bitchin’ weekend. The plan/investment: what our regime doesn’t get in Venezuela is the same thing it doesn’t get about here, the US. What they don’t get is that traditional capital (and O&G is classic traditional capital) looks for some measure of stability and predictability before committing. It’s the reason you don’t see massive investments in new coal plants here and the like, and you don’t see car manufacturers ditching all hybrids and EV tech. They know that this regime’s psychotic vision is not one that will last. Well, they ain’t gonna pour trillions into Venezuela until they see organic - not forced - changes in Venezuela. If Venezuelan society eventually reaches a point where it desires and is friendly enough to foreign oil activity and investment, they’ll go in with real dollars. Until then, well…they see Afghanistan. It was a country of relative peace and stability, women had rights and education….until the US military pulled out and the Taliban largely picked up where they left off. Unless and until the people and the leadership class change what they actually want, success depends on the US military being there to enforce it at gunpoint, and these guys know the American people don’t have the will for that long term. Last point: I’d almost forgotten, my family had an opportunity to live in Caracas in the early 80s. Dad was offered a really good gig with a well known oilfield services company there. Mom vetoed it. We’d have lived in a “compound” and needed security, and she didn’t want that life, no matter how good the money was. My life sure would have been different if we had. Instead, stayed in stable suburban Houston. Finally, watching idiots like magic soccerspray post pieces about how shitty Maduro etc were is entirely beside the point. Notice how nobody here has piped up to defend him in the regime? “They’re bad” is not a sufficient basis for the level of geopolitical action we are taking. And you need to have a good plan - with a good, competent team to manage it - to reach the end goal. Oh, and one last thing after that: step up. Commit to your position on Greenland, Mexico, etc. You good with us just bulldozing in, conquering and taking what we want? I’m asking you now, so answer now.
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I for one welcome our new AI overlords
Can we all just hit it with infinite prompts telling it to kill itself? Because I’m pretty sure someone can write us up a loop program of that prompt pretty easily.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Light rail systems are fantastic and work incredibly well in many places. Yet whenever it was proposed here, with Cap Metro running it, I voted “no.” Because the person/entity in charge of a project matters a whole fucking lot. You’ll note that the concept of a free and democratic Venezuela really didn’t come up once in any direct fashion in the speech by….the guy in charge of this project. Taking their oil did. Dozens of times. “I’ve seen F-16s do amazing things dozens of times!” doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t expect one piloted by you or me to do anything but crash and burn. The pilot fucking matters. But nobody in this country seems to get that about TFG and literally ANYTHING, so fuck it, let’s just keep lighting shit on fire and hoping for the best.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
So, just want to nail down commitments from the folks who support this action. Do you support similar active military action to seize Greenland? Because it is going to happen. Show us your principles. You’re going to need to stick with them.
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
He’s never leaving office. None of what he has been doing matches the actions of a man who expects not to hold the office for life.
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Trump’s America
One thing that’s becoming pretty fucking clear. The chances of us having legitimate, functioning elections in 2026 are dropping below 50%, and the chance of us having ANY national-office elections in 2028 is approaching zero. Oh, and another rock-solid guarantee: the usual suspect who tell me I have TDS, that will never happen, nobody wants that, etc…when it happens, will be split 50/50 between being for it all along, and being dead silent. Because the greatest enemies this republic has are the collaborators within who are joyfully supporting its dismantling.
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
Was the “German/Japanese” path “cut the Dear Leader in on a 10% vig on all ‘reconstruction,’ concessions, etc…on top of a healthy tip of billions in crypto?” Because if it wasn’t, a fraud you’re going to be very disappointed in the coming years. On the bright side, it will be illegal for you to express any such disappointment.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
This is the entire story: “This incredible thing last night... We have to do it again [in other countries]. We can do it again, too. Nobody can stop us." That’s it. We are about to go on an orgy of violent conquest. It doesn’t stop with Venezuela. Not even close. We’re just going to take places, countries, etc, because we want to. The story of the US in this era is nothing more complicated than “Putin, but with lots more money and a much, much better military.” We are now officially everything Putin wants to be. Maduro is shit. But legitimate countries don’t do this shit. And then threaten their neighbor and ally Mexico - MEXICO, FFS - with the same thing. The only rock-solid guarantees here: 1) we’re going to do a lot more of this, with even LESS justification, 2) in the end, the Venezuelan people aren’t going to end up materially better off because this was NEVER about them, and 3) Trump will be massively personally enriched as a result.
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
Century. You meant “century.” We are well into a new dark age of human history, and the bleakest part of that is that we’ve only just begun.
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Elon Musk: Nazi traitor piece of shit [Confirmed]
What if we told you that one of the primary purposes of Elmo’s purchase of Twitter was to INCREASE the spread of CSAM, make it easier and safer to produce and create, and ensure that the small cadre of billionaires who literally run the planet got their “fair share” of profit from the sexual exploitation of minors?
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Things Not Going Well in Venezuela, 2.0
Chavez bad. Maduro bad. And we are a rogue state run by a psychopathic madman, and we are now fully into a new era of global conquest and capture by powerful against weak. Everything old is new again.
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Swiss Ski Resort Bar Fire
You sound like a woke idiot who hates freedom. Stifling regulations are anti-freedom and pro-commie.
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Trumps War on Everything
Yeah. It’s just a mystery why the Nobel committee hasn’t engraved his name on the next Peace Prize. He’ll probably kidnap a couple of them to force them to do it. It would probably work. He’s a fucking psychopath.
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Things not going well in Venezuela
Man….the stuff in the next round of Epstein documents must be TERRIBLE.
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2025: The Year of the Lie
They mistyped “2000s,” and mis-wrote “millennium.” We are well into a new “digital dark age,” and it will last for hundreds of years or until total civilization collapse, whichever comes first (and you know how I’m betting).