The news thread

[Trollheart]

Of particular concern to Trollheart...

https://x.com/nabeelqu/status/1861479746929897572

Why should that concern me? I don't live in the UK. Yet.

[jimmy jazz]

Of particular concern to Trollheart...

https://x.com/nabeelqu/status/1861479746929897572

Without seeing examples of some of the tweets and posts people have been arrested for then it's difficult to comment.

I've seen people claim online that people have been arrested and imprisoned for posting opinions during the riots and then when the tweets appear they're calling for people to burn buildings down with people inside them and the like.

One example:

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/northampton-childminder-and-conservative-councillors-wife-speaks-out-after-going-viral-with-hateful-tweet-seen-by-15-million-4732955

[QuantumSync]

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves a Venezuelan flag during a rally in Caracas on August 28, 2024.
Juan Barreto/AFP
https://www.npr.org/2024/11/28/g-s1-36149/venezuelas-opposition-leader-says-maduro-is-weaker-than-ever

November 29, 20245:00 AM ET
By
Mary Louise Kelly, Alejandra Marquez Janse, Christopher Intagliata

María Corina Machado leads the political opposition in Venezuela, and for months, she has done so while in hiding.

Her country has been in a sort of limbo since national elections in July. The result is disputed: The opposition says its candidate, Edmundo González, won by a landslide and it can provide proof, but President Nicolás Maduro has ignored that. Maduro has claimed victory without sharing evidence and cracked down on anyone who disputes it.

Maduro's government issued an arrest warrant for González, whom the U.S. and other countries recognize as the winner, accusing him of sabotaging the election and conspiring against the government. González fled into exile in Spain. Maduro's government also threatened Machado, but she says she is determined to stay in Venezuela.

"I can't complain because I have many of my colleagues that are right now in prison or under asylum or had to leave their country," Machado said of her current isolation.

For months, Machado has organized protests, reached out to international allies, and conducted media interviews while in hiding, hoping to keep the momentum alive. All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly spoke with Machado about her decision to stay in the country and what comes next.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado and opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González join hands during a protest against the result of the presidential election on July 30 in Caracas.
Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images


Interview highlights

Mary Louise Kelly: You're speaking to us from hiding. Why stay in Venezuela under these conditions?

María Corina Machado: Because I trust the Venezuelan people, and I have no doubt that the result of our fight will be the liberation of Venezuela. Maduro is totally isolated, weaker than ever. And our people want and need to know that I'm here with them.


Kelly: Your colleague in the opposition, Edmundo González, has left for Spain because there is a warrant for his arrest. If you were outside Venezuela, you could speak freely. You could sit down with me in person. Would your voice not be louder?

Machado: I don't think so. I think at this point Edmundo is doing a great job. He is the president-elect, and he's doing a good job of engaging directly with the international sector. I believe Venezuelans need to know that I'm here with them and that we will move ahead in the democratic transition to Venezuela. This has no way back.

Kelly: Let me turn you to a development this month: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to your opposition leader, Edmundo González, as Venezuela's president-elect. It's the first time he has done that. Do those words make any difference?


Machado: Oh, yes, they do. Certainly, I think they send a very strong message to the rest of the world and to the regime as well. Maduro tells those that will support him that the world will turn the page with Venezuela and that he will be able to stay by violence. And this sends a message that this is not going to happen.

Kelly: When you talk about President Nicolás Maduro being in decline, I understand that your movement has produced voting tallies to prove that he lost the election, and yet, you're in hiding. He's still in power. He's figured out how to get oil around sanctions. Is he in decline? Is he actually in a weaker position?

Machado: I have no doubt. I believe that every day that goes by, Maduro loses supporters in Venezuela and internationally. Maduro has been accused and denounced of committing crimes against humanity by the fact-finding mission of the United Nations. And every day that goes by, I believe the pressure from abroad and within [grows].

Protesters demonstrate on July 29 in Caracas, Venezuela, against the official election results declaring President Nicolás Maduro won reelection.
Cristian Hernandez/AP

Kelly: I'm remembering the last time [President-elect] Donald Trump was in the White House. His administration put pressure on Venezuela. He used economic sanctions to do that. Those sanctions wreaked such havoc on your country's economy that millions of Venezuelans migrated out. What are you hoping for this time from a second Trump administration?

Machado: Well, the fact is that the destruction of our economy happened even before the sanctions were put in place. People leave the country, and we have a growing migration not because of the economic situation; believe me, it's because of the lack of a future. And everybody here knows that that future is directly linked to democracy and regime change. So, if we want to stop migration, if we want to stop those flows from reaching the United States, we have to go to the cause of the problem. And the cause of the problem right now is Maduro and his brutal regime.

Kelly: Let's look ahead to January and to presidential politics here in the U.S. President Trump will return to office. I gather you know his pick for Secretary of State, Sen. Marco Rubio. Have you talked to him since the U.S. elections?

Machado: No, no. I spoke with him before and with his staff. He's a good friend of Latin America, and I think he's a freedom-loving person [who] stands beside the Venezuelan people.

Amid a crack down on dissent, pop star Danny Ocean backs Venezuelan opposition
Kelly: What's next for you?

Machado: I'll keep doing what I'm doing right now–reaching out to every single person around the world, letting them know how we're moving ahead to give hope, and also working and preparing for a peaceful transition.

Kelly: And you're prepared to fight this fight as long as it takes? Even from hiding?

Machado: Until the end. And we will win. We will prevail. I have no doubt.

[Buck_Mulligan]

Why should that concern me? I don't live in the UK. Yet.

In jest, but you know how Dublin has a tendency to mimic London...

[Buck_Mulligan]

Without seeing examples of some of the tweets and posts people have been arrested for then it's difficult to comment.

I've seen people claim online that people have been arrested and imprisoned for posting opinions during the riots and then when the tweets appear they're calling for people to burn buildings down with people inside them and the like.

One example:

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/northampton-childminder-and-conservative-councillors-wife-speaks-out-after-going-viral-with-hateful-tweet-seen-by-15-million-4732955

Point taken. Your example of incitement to violence, that. wouldn't survive "free speech" laws in the US either. Matter also depends on how you define "trolling".

[Trollheart]

Without seeing examples of some of the tweets and posts people have been arrested for then it's difficult to comment.

I've seen people claim online that people have been arrested and imprisoned for posting opinions during the riots and then when the tweets appear they're calling for people to burn buildings down with people inside them and the like.

One example:

https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/northampton-childminder-and-conservative-councillors-wife-speaks-out-after-going-viral-with-hateful-tweet-seen-by-15-million-4732955

Well that link completely froze. First they're on about the fucking ad blocker (clue's in the name, guys!) then they want me to subscribe to something which then immediately becomes unclickable and the page is unavailable to me, so I just shut down the tab.

I get, generally, what you mean about the hatred on social media, but even so, I can't see how this is relevant to Ireland? It's still - so far as I can see - about an English politician. You could equate the same thing more closely to American examples surely?

[jimmy jazz]

Well that link completely froze. First they're on about the fucking ad blocker (clue's in the name, guys!) then they want me to subscribe to something which then immediately becomes unclickable and the page is unavailable to me, so I just shut down the tab.

I get, generally, what you mean about the hatred on social media, but even so, I can't see how this is relevant to Ireland? It's still - so far as I can see - about an English politician. You could equate the same thing more closely to American examples surely?

Scroll up. He was saying it in jest mate

[Buck_Mulligan]

Well that link completely froze. First they're on about the fucking ad blocker (clue's in the name, guys!) then they want me to subscribe to something which then immediately becomes unclickable and the page is unavailable to me, so I just shut down the tab.

I get, generally, what you mean about the hatred on social media, but even so, I can't see how this is relevant to Ireland? It's still - so far as I can see - about an English politician. You could equate the same thing more closely to American examples surely?

Reason I posted is that currently in the US there is a perception that the EU and in particular the UK have in recent years been enacting laws that limit individual freedoms. I think use of the term "trolling" in the context in which it was used is probably a misnomer. I suspect that a significant % the detentions arise more from online harassment than what we understand as trolling. That said, in the US, you only hear of occasianal arrests for online behavior, though there are probably many that never make the news.

[Trollheart]

Scroll up. He was saying it in jest mate

I don't care if he was saying it in Swahili!   

[jimmy jazz]

I don't care if he was saying it in Swahili!   

You should do as you'll be hearing it everywhere in Ireland pretty soon.

I'm joking ffs don't ban me @Guybrush

[Saulaac]

 That was hilarious, the two of ye.

[Psy-Fi]

4-year-old hacks mom's Amazon Prime account and orders 51 boxes of SpongeBob SquarePants Popsicles

[DJChameleon]

https://nypost.com/2024/11/29/us-news/mayor-of-s-c-town-that-lost-all-its-cops-has-died-in-a-car-crash-while-pursued-by-a-deputy/

The mayor of a South Carolina town where the entire police force resigned in anger at local officials has died in a car crash — while being "pursued" and investigated by other law enforcement, according to reports.

McColl Mayor George Garner II, 49, was killed when his 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe plowed head-on into an 18-wheeler Tuesday afternoon — just five days after police Chief Bob Hale and his five officers stunned the small town by resigning.

When he crashed, the newly elected mayor "was being pursued" by a Marlboro County sheriff's deputy, the investigating coroner said.

[Trollheart]

https://nypost.com/2024/11/29/us-news/mayor-of-s-c-town-that-lost-all-its-cops-has-died-in-a-car-crash-while-pursued-by-a-deputy/

As Judge Judy says, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

[Psy-Fi]

World Beekeeping Awards axe honey prize due to fraud