Some people don't have minds of their own. All these references to this and that; references that are all ideological preachings by people who have the same attitudes to everything; propagandists.

I can respect the opinions of people who, having heard or seen STRAIGHT REPORTING on any issue, make a choice, and say what they think: express their opinions.

But, merely repeating what propagandists say - worse, referring to them as if that should be the end of the matter - is intellectually bankrupt and, frankly, pathetic.

We all know what Wikipedia will say about any subject going; same with the ABC, SBS, Murdoch, SkyNews, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald etc.

Just repeating what they say is pathetic. People who do this are easily led up the garden path, or along the Road To Serfdom (Friedrich Hayek).

It's unfortunate that many so-called journalists/reporters are now activists pushing one opinion or another. It is even more unfortunate that lazy people just regurgitate what they say instead of thinking for themselves.

"One of the joys of watching the current shenanigans going on in the US is to get a bird’s eye, real time look at how modern media works in a partially free state."
- They promote and continue the lies?

Case in Question:

How Authoritarian Governments Rig Elections to Stay in Power
http://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/world/europe/authoritarian-governments-vote-rigging-venezuela-maduro.html

"President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential vote on Monday despite glaring election irregularities, plunging the country into widespread protests.

The vote came after millions of Venezuelans had rallied behind the opposition candidate, Edmundo González, who stood in for the popular opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who was barred from running by Mr. Maduro’s government. Mr. Maduro was declared the winner by the country’s electoral authority, which did not release a full vote count, fueling suspicions about the credibility Mr. Maduro’s claim of victory.

Ms. Machado called the results “impossible,” and many pointed to government interference at polling stations.

This is not the first time Mr. Maduro’s administration has been accused of reporting false election results. Like other authoritarian leaders across the world, Mr. Maduro has employed myriad tactics to rig elections in an attempt to garner legitimacy by skewing the democratic process."

What they don't tell you is Maria Machado is a U.S foreign asset.
The National Endowment for Democracy is an arm of the CIA.

You can see she's a U.S asset right here:

http://www.ned.org/events/the-2024-ned-democracy-awards/

The article goes on the criticise El Salvador

"Experts at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, or IFES, an international nonprofit based in the United States, pointed to El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, as an example. Mr. Bukele’s government instituted changes that allowed the country’s legislative body to pass laws more favorable to his government. With a supermajority in the legislature, Mr. Bukele’s party replaced judges on the Supreme Court, which then reinterpreted the country’s Constitution and allowed him to run for re-election despite a ban on presidents serving consecutive terms."

'El Salvador: homicide rate 2014-2023 In 2023, there were approximately 2.4 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in El Salvador. Since 2015, when it stood at 103, the murder rate has been dropping annually in this Central American country.'

- Even their own articles tell the truth:

He Cracked Down on Gangs and Rights. Now He’s Set to Win a Landslide.

>>The biggest reason, analysts say, is that the 42-year-old leader has achieved a seemingly impossible feat: decimating the vicious gangs that had turned El Salvador into one of the world’s most violent places.

“Some people call it a dictatorship,” said Sebastián Morales Rivera, a fisherman living in a former gang stronghold. “But I would prefer to live under the dictatorship of a man with a sound mind than under the dictatorship of a bunch of psychopathic maniacs.”<<

- Your man Trump is hardly better than Biden.
He sanctioned the Venezuelans and had them eating cats and dogs.

Venezuela food shortages cause some to hunt dogs, cats, pigeons
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/05/18/venezuela-food-shortages-cause-some-hunt-dogs-cats-pigeons/84547888/

Trump will start a trade war, and he will lose.
He will try to entice foreign companies to America, but it will have limited success.
Foreign companies are not going to build factories in U.S. when there is a risk of having their assets seized.
Trump blew out the deficit before and achieved little, and now they're at 35tln in debt.
The next administration will probably put the nail into the coffin either way it turns out.

America is a drowning man who will drag others down with it.

Hi AC,

Things (including elections) are fine while the population (voters) are given no real choice. In our system of democracy the choice is between Tweedledee and Tweeledum. For all intention purposes they are identical, with minor differences on emphases, Tweedledee says; "Let the people eat porridge on Tuesdays!"...Tweedledum say; "No, let the people eat porridge on Thursdays!", otherwise everything else is the same. But when a third party like Mr Grumpy gets in on the act and says; "Let the bloody people eat porridge everyday!", that tends to upset the apple cart, and Mr Grumpy has to be eliminated, even if its only an assignation attempt by a telly-prompter! What do you think?

Dear Paul,

I don't know about you but I'm beginning to tire
hearing all the nastiness coming out of the US
presidential race. And it probably will get
even worse as November draws closer.

Look at how much has happened in recent months.
Goodness me.

The American people will make their choice. One we'll
all have to live with for better or worse.

Whether we approve of the way the US does things -
we're stuck with being dependent on the country for
so much. And with China and (Putin) eyeing and hovering
nearby - and the Middle-East conflict escalating,
we have to be careful what we wish for.

Hi Paul,
Well, in our democracy we're already joined at the hip with America with 5-eyes, we're already a vassal state to some degree so we don't really have the issues other countries do.

Did you see my rant over on the main forum yesterday?
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=23083&page=0#396346

Quote myself "You get around the planet with your carrot and stick diplomacy.
Your stick is the sanctions to inflict collective punishment on entire nations that resist you.
And your carrot is your fifth column scumbags like Maria Machado telling the whole nation how crap the leadership is when the country is under attack by you.

You do this the whole entire world over.
You've never brought peace anywhere only war and death."

This guy is the director of the National Endowment for Democracy.
http://x.com/DamonMacWilson
If you scroll down a little you'll see a reposted tweet from Michael McFaul former US Ambassador to Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McFaul
Here's the tweet:
http://x.com/McFaul/status/1818312718698590332
"If there’s a peaceful transition to democracy in Venezuela, all sanctions will be lifted, and the suffering of the Venezuelan people will end."
- Basically they're saying this:

'Dear Venezuelans - All you have to do is accept our puppet ruler and become a vassal state and your suffering will be over.
We have robbed your nation (Trump froze their assets and sanctioned them), we have starved you, we forced you to eat your own cats and dogs, we have brought your nation to it's knees anyway - why won't you just submit already?'

It's just western imperialism and conquest - no more, no less.