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It worked for Hugo Chavez
Edit; and probably JB

Edit edit; How does one of the richest countries in the world in terms of oil reserves end up with its people begging for bread

@d_blades said:

@Diver43 said:

Needs a slice of lemon.

Besser ohne Zitrone

@CalvinAndHobo said:
One of my strong takes is about swimming. Every swimming event should just be done in terms of getting from point A to point B. The different strokes are dumb. However you can swim the fastest if a shark is chasing you, should be how you swim in the Olympics.

For the running events, there's not a 100M running forward, then another 100M running backwards, and a third 100M for skipping. It's all just running. Why would anyone ever swim the butterfly stroke for any reason out in real life?

Dissenting opinion.
If one is ok at the crawl but a city-stomping monster in the butterfly, I think it’s important to have a way to recognize that.

Does Venezuela still use those voting machines that kept Hugo Chavez in power so long. Oh wait, those are the same voting machines we use.

@rsherman24 said:
I watched some surfing today (they were in Tahiti since Paris doesn’t have surfing waves). Interesting to watch, but seems a little bias on getting a good wave

From yesterday...

U.S. national debt has crossed $35T for the first time ever, latest data from the Treasury Department showed, with the tide of red ink swelling at a much faster pace than expected amid mounting costs to enact federal programs.

Recall that national debt hit $34T early this year and passed $33T just three months before that. "The borrowing just keeps marching along, reckless and unyielding," said Maya MacGuineas, president of independent think tank Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

MacGuineas said the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act was an "excellent start" to reducing the deficit. "We should extend FRA caps, we should find new revenues, and we should fix our dangerously close to insolvent Social Security and Medicare trust funds." To note, Social Security and Medicare are the biggest drivers of national debt.

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4129892-us-national-debt-new-record