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While I can't say I'm sad to see a dictator go away (or at least one of the most authoritarian leaders on Earth, guilty of massive human rights abuses), this certainly raises questions about the method used and the future of the country.

Indeed, I was absolutely stupefied waking up to the news of the rendition of the leader of a sovereign country to face "American justice in American courts" as they put it themselves. I struggled to think of a precedent, but someone mentioned Noriega today – but then he wasn't "officially" the president of Panama at the time.

You kinda have to wonder who's going to be next…

PluMGMK wrote: Sun Jan 04, 2026 2:29 pm You kinda have to wonder who's going to be next…

I don't know, man... Maybe you just need to look at what the wifes of cabinet members can feel entitled to post, regardless of diplomatic etiquette.

Fasho scum does fasho things, everybody shuts up because if they don't, they're next.

Amateurs, they forgot to rename the various toponyms to make them sound more American.

Didn't even rename Pituffik back to Thule

As for when the last boring year was... 2012? Or even 2015?

PluMGMK wrote: Sun Jan 04, 2026 10:03 pm Didn't even rename Pituffik back to Thule

It's OK, they can still rename Nuuk to Nuke and make an even bigger base there.

Meanwhile, I'm seeing that among the people who are demonstrating against the US intervention in Venezuela, a lot of them carry pro-Maduro signs, such as the "Free Nicolás Maduro" on this one:



Yeah, literally asking for freedom for a massive human rights abuser who was not even democratically elected and ruined his country's economy... Disagree all you want about the intervention itself, but how can you demand freedom for the dude? At least it's consistent with the "defense of Cuba" sign they're brandishing too.

If we ever thought we were finally safe from an ideology that is estimated to have caused the death of nearly 100 million people, here is a good reminder that there's a lot of people out there who would love for us to be run by a genocidal, dictatorial communist regime. No freedom for the enemies of freedom, eh?

You can demand for the autodetermination of the people of Venezuela. Maduro is a dictator and a communist (imma need a source for genocidal, though), but it's their shit, just as Trump is the US problem and as much as his place is in a hole in the ground with whistle holes in his skull, it's the US responsibility to use their very cherished 2nd amendment to dispose of him.

To put it another terms : If you have a major dispute with your wife and in order to help you I come at your place and smack her right across the face, regardless of the state of the dispute and its resolution, I committed assault.

Genocidal did not refer to Maduro, but to regimes such as the USSR that those protesters are indirectly endorsing through their support of the Cuban dictatorship, which was a close ally of the Soviets.

As for the rest, of course self-determination is what we should be aiming for. I think we all remember what happened to Iraq after the US removed Saddam Hussein, another totalitarian human rights abuser, from power. Nobody wants this chaos for Venezuela. But then again, it can probably be argued that there are sometimes legitimate reasons for a foreign power to intervene instead of waiting for self-determination to happen: are we not glad that Nazi-occupied countries were liberated by foreign armies? I do not know if this is the case here, but what I do know is that the question is not an easy one.

Both ideas are compatible, and honestly, I don't really understand why certain ideological sectors are so brainwashed that they fail to recognize both facts. Where I work, there are many Venezuelans who have described the hell that is living there, how relieved they are to have left the country and to have basic human rights (going to a supermarket and being able to buy something, walking down the street without being pointed at with a shotgun...), and, unfortunately, the sadness they feel at the uncertainty of not knowing if they will ever see their families again. The policies of Hugo Chávez and Maduro have ruined and destroyed what was once one of the richest countries in Latin America. I am ashamed of people who can say that Venezuela "has lost its sovereignty" with the intervention of the United States. When has Venezuela ever had sovereignty? When they rigged elections to stay in power? When they took absolutely everything away from the people? Celebrating Maduro's arrest is the most natural reaction a Venezuelan can feel, and none of us, from our countries, will ever understand that feeling, especially when, no matter how bad the European economies are, they will never reach the levels of extreme poverty in Venezuela.

On the other hand, will US intervention save Venezuela? That is another matter for debate. It is said that the US would be satisfied if Delcy Rodríguez, who is close to Maduro's regime, collaborated with them, in which case things would not change much. The outcome is completely unknown, but of course, I fully understand the perspective that the future may be slightly better than what they had before.

Pirez wrote: Mon Jan 05, 2026 10:46 am To put it another terms : If you have a major dispute with your wife and in order to help you I come at your place and smack her right across the face, regardless of the state of the dispute and its resolution, I committed assault.

But in this case, the dispute is over the wife being a heroine addict who neglects the baby. There are even worse things than a smack...

Doesn't change the fact that it is not up to me to do justice.

EDIT : Oh, did I say Greenland? Well yes, Trump admitted himself that he want to annex in within two months, but apparently Cuba is also in fash's line of sight

Pirez wrote: Mon Jan 05, 2026 1:40 pm EDIT : Oh, did I say Greenland? Well yes, Trump admitted himself that he want to annex in within two months, but apparently Cuba is also in fash's line of sight

While a military intervention may create more problems than it will solve, I won't weep for the Cuban regime when those bloodthirsty dictators are finally overthrown after having oppressed and murdered their own people for more than half a century.

When that happens, I wonder to which other murderous regime the French communist party will start sending money. North Korea is my best guess.

Pirez wrote: Sun Jan 04, 2026 4:48 pm

PluMGMK wrote: Sun Jan 04, 2026 2:29 pm You kinda have to wonder who's going to be next…

I don't know, man... Maybe you just need to look at what the wifes of cabinet members can feel entitled to post, regardless of diplomatic etiquette.

Fasho scum does fasho things, everybody shuts up because if they don't, they're next.

Yes amazing, can't wait for Greenland to be another beloved and well-cared for American territory that no US citizen will object sending funds to, like Guam and Puerto Rico.....

PluMGMK wrote: Sun Jan 04, 2026 10:03 pm As for when the last boring year was... 2012? Or even 2015?

Well hullo, here's an article that reminds me of this exact conversation: Grab your fidget spinners! Why gen Z are pining for 2016

Oh Christ, fidget spinners being the sore spot. Take me back to then...

The great meme reset, 2016 being the best year ever... I think those are rather convoluted ways of saying "I miss being a teenager"

Now seriously... At the end of the day, those were years when people had no responsibilities and were only thinking about what to do on the weekend to have a good time. It's exactly the same feeling that many people have about nostalgia for the 2000s or the first half of the 2010s: times without responsibilities and maximum dopamine, only to finally reach adulthood and find a job market and an economy that, with great difficulty, allows them to prosper. Two generations have now lived through constant periods of economic uncertainty, so I think it's normal to feel nostalgic for a simpler time when you didn't have to live through this hell

I wouldn't call 2016 the best year ever either mind. It's just compared to what followed it's substantially more bliss...

I'm among the elders (though not quite the elderest) of the forums at this point, 2016 was my second-to-last full year of being a mod if memory serves. So at this point I was transitioning from that carefree youth to starting to take more responsibility.

I don't judge them on 2016, to be honest. For many, 2016 was my 2012, and probably this 2026 will be 2016 for other people... In the end, it all boils down to the idea that the past (coincidentally coinciding with childhood/adolescence) was better, only that the harsh reality of these times is much tougher than in other eras. But hey, history has always had these cycles, who knows when we'll return to one where there's more prosperity...

That's true, though truth be told I'm an inherent pessimist by nature and the way things are going right now it feels like better days are a long time away.

But live in hope, being a perpetual doomer just paralyzes.

Here's another article worth sharing:
‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body
Seemingly all that hype about the quantities of microplastics found in various organs… may not be based on the best data