US revokes visas of Brazilian judges after crack down on ex-president Bolsonaro
nypost.com
nypost.com
What's the end game here?
Liberal Democracy inevitably leads to corporate capture and then Fascism, as the US is demonstrating beautifully right now.
The ideal form of government is Titoism, with strong repression of regressive forces.
Different people just aren't going to agree on social norms and some groups are going to abuse certain things more than other groups. In the past between freedom of association and low levels of migration people could kind of work that out but when you force people to use public services for everything that's completely impossible.
You get one or the other at most. Both at the same time is an immediate non-starter for pretty much everyone.
But I tend to think that most communists are neutral or positive in their attitude toward AI research. For example, according to a credible China expert, Xi Jinping has directed China to pursue AI research very aggressively.
Once that monumental task is done (and this is where we might disagree, but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts - my position there is not very firm!) I feel like looking at AI again - while keeping environmental constraints in mind, might be worth a try. The end goal would be utopian star trek post-resource-constraint society, a classless, socialist society in the humanistic sense - where everyone's needs are met and conflicts around resource allocation are a thing of the past.
Re your last edit - ask three socialists and you will get five conflicting takes, I definitely disagree with Xi on most things, though I do think he's doing a good job in things like building the Chinese high speed rail network.
I don't think most readers here realize just how little control the AI labs have over their creations and how reliant they are on trial and error for implementing what control they do have. Of course, as soon as it becomes critical to keep an AI under control (namely, when its capabilities start to exceed human capabilities) is exactly when a lab will stop being able to rely on trial and error: specifically, the next time the lab makes an unsuccessful try, the AI will tend to arrange things so that the lab doesn't get any more tries.
Things like freedom of speech or political organizations which are not subservient to the state?
Of course unrestricted freedom of speech can devolve into whatever has been happening in the US for quite a while but still... don't see how "enlightened totalitarianism" is an answer to that.
This tends to allow corporations to do all the bad things that states can do, with no checks or balances.
Other countries have a far larger mistrust of corporations and use their voice in the state to attempt to moderate that.
authoritarian state that restricts basic individual freedoms = bad
Not sure sure how could you have inferred anything else from my comment.
> Other countries have a far larger mistrust of corporations
Grass is always greener and such. Corporations in Europe have massive amounts of political influence. They are just not as good at making money as American corporations so have less resources to spend on stuff like that.
Does it? Is this a major problem in say Sweden, or Switzerland, or New Zealand?
That sounds an awful lot like victim-blaming.
What's worse is that your blend of comments somehow omits the fact that fascism is not being openly pushed onto people. Instead, fascists frame their intentions as granting them the authority to impose populist policies within the framework of liberal democracies. The problem is that, as Nazi Germany proved, once these fascists are in power they pull a bait-and-switch onto their own supporters.
Contemporary fascists pay lit service to it and like to accuse opponents of not being democratic. Tho, to large extend, conservatives lead by Trump are also doing what was known they will do.
That is a crazy way to phrase that. I think it reveals a lot about what democracy really means at a fundamental level.
The only difference is that these guys are perhaps more brazen about it, as they’ve realised it makes no difference to their electability.
You assume that there is a long-term strategy: why do you think there is one?
What evidence do you have that Trump cares about anything more than the current day's headlines and whatever whims take his fancy in a particular moment?
I don't know to what extent that is true but I don't doubt it.
Apparently this (fueled by family members lobbying) has backfired in Brazil as members of Bolsonaro's base are disaponted by what is perceived as his anti national behaviour.
Bolsonaro was the one who revived brazilian nationalism against all odds. Lula and his communists likened it to Nazi Germany and made it their explicit goal to destroy said nationalism. Now that the USA is sanctioning them, they're appealing to nationalism? They shit all over the military then call upon them when their "sovereignty" is threatened? That's hilarious, comical.
I for one would very much rather see this country burn than see it governed by the unelected courts. Maybe then a nation that's actually worthy of nationalism will rise from its ashes.
while staying in US. Funny how a lot of "nationalists" run to the mothership when something goes wrong.
He's still the person who managed to revive brazilian nationalism against all odds and despite the hipocrisy. Surely that's not in dispute here?
Brazil is a dictatorship of the judiciary. Maybe it's not a "brutal" dictatorship but it is a dictatorship.
The unelected supreme court walked all over our elected congress just days ago. Only reason why they don't dissolve the brazilian congress is they need to maintain the illusion of democracy.
> where dissenting voices get "disappeared"
> the media is heavily censored and controlled by the state
Already reality in some form or other. It's just not happening quite so overtly as it would happen in a so called "brutal" dictatorship.
> the government kowtows to American supremacy and interests
Better than kowtowing to chinese supremacy and interests.
You cannot possibly think there's even the slightest possibility of Brazil failing to kowtow to someone, right? Right. So I'd rather it be someone I agree with, and it sure as hell isn't China and Russia.
Do you have anything to back that claim up beyond your usual 'I read the Brazilian constitution'?
Yes, you may have read the constitution and you might even be very smart, however what you don't comprehend is that law is not code, nor is it everyday English in spite of laws being written in English. Interpreting the law requires training, experience and context. There is a reason why law is a separate field of study and there are licensing requirements.
If you're still convinced of your legal smarts, try volunteering at a legal aid clinic based on your reading of the constitution and the Brazilian criminal code. It will very quickly teach you just how little you actually know in this area.
These "Brazilian nationalists" were marching to and saluting a Statue of Liberty replica that stands in front of a department store a few years back.
This isn't nationalism, just authoritarianism.
Sounds like you know more about it than me.
Can you explain?
I meant the guy had a concrete plan to topple democracy, assassinate other leaders and bring back dictatorship.
People like this should be thrown into prison for the rest of their lives.
You do realize the supreme court has been grabbing power since 2019 and by now is essentially running the country, right? A few days ago they once again walked all over our elected congress. Our institutions exist to give people the illusion of democracy. In fact, these unelected judges have usurped the powers of the legislative and executive branches of government. They are judge-kings.
I'm not saying Bolsonaro is any good. Just saying Brasil is cooked either way and I don't get how anybody can take sides. It's like chosing between catshit or dogshit.
I have to say, it is cute to read your faux outrage over this after Bolsonaro made sure the guy with the best chances to defeat him two elections back would be put into prison in a sham trial right before the election... not persecuting a figure as corrupt and power hungry as Bolsonaro would be 100% ethically wrong.
Not saying that Bolsonaro has any moral high ground to stand on, though. He is as corrupt as it gets. But if anything, I'd say that his problems really started when he was already elected and colluded with the Supreme Court to get Lula out of prison in exchange of killing the investigation against his sons.
If the vote was fair, then there may be an excuse of bad advice. He should've known better, but it's possible someone lied to him.
And a third option, he lied knowing well that the vote was fair. I such case this is an attempt to undermine the state and it should be dealt with harshly. It's o E thing if some journalist makes BS claims. It's another if obe if candidates does so.
I genuinely have no idea which of these is true. I know for a fact the claim "we lost because of fraud" has been popularised by Trump and him basically not getting even a slap on the wrist for it. So it gets used everywhere now.
To start with: voting machines. Surely we need not debate the problems with such technology in Hacker News of all places? I don't really need to elaborate on this matter, right?
Then there's the fact our elected congress tried to add an auditable paper trail to the machines not once but twice and in both instances was overruled by the unelected supreme court. More details here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36543423
> There should be an investigation into the rigging.
And who would investigate such a thing?
One of the supreme court judges, Alexandre de Moraes, was also the head of the so called Electoral Court at the time. Yes, the same guy who's judging Bolsonaro now. He was in charge of the voting machines. I have videos of him proudly proclaiming that the machines are UNQUESTIONABLE. One would think he'd have the balls to publish the source code and hardware schematics and offer a billion dollar bug bounty.
> I genuinely have no idea which of these is true
I'll tell you what I saw.
In the months leading up to the 2022 elections, I personally witnessed these judges interfere with the elections in unprecedented ways. I watched them call everything Bolsonaro and his party said "fake news" and issue countless censorship orders. I view it as something of a nationwide gaslighting campaign.
Suddenly, everything was "fake news". It was "fake news" to say Lula had been imprisoned for corruption, even though he had been. It was "fake news" to say he's friends with communist dictators, even though he is. It was "fake news" to say he's the preferred candidate of the country's organized crime gangs, even though he is. They even deemed it "fake news" to say he's a communist and a socialist himself, even though there's literal video evidence of it. I watched them censor a documentary about the assassination attempt on Boldonaro as "fake news" despite the fact the documentary had not even been released yet. A priori censorship, something not seen in these lands since the military dictatorship of the 20th century.
All this happened even though in Brazil censorship is unconstitutional, especially censorship of political speech. Censorship equals dictatorship, it's that simple. People who protested this have been sent to jail already. Brazilian journalists and even streamers have sought political asylum in the USA because of these events.
People keep talking about Bolsonaro's alleged coup that never actually materialized. They ignore the silent coup perpetrated by these unelected judges. They have been relentlessly grabbing power since at least 2019. Now they have essentially usurped the legislative and the executive branches of government. Yes, they legislate and they execute. They recently decided to make social media companies liable for user content, despite actual laws to the contrary. Just a few days ago they raised taxes on the brazilian population despite our elected congress blocking the taxation.
More details about the supreme court's abuses:
But Trump exerting pressure like this is another level.
"We're right and you're wrong!"
That's sure to lead to more nuance and critical thought.
In Brazil, nazism is illegal but socialism and communism are not. They should be.
Not really a revelation though. The ones with most of the power always leveraged any tool they had at their disposal to have their way and press everyone else into compliance. Sometimes it's carrot, sometimes it's stick. And they always applied rules selectively based not on what but on who. Just like the mafia, carving out special rules and dispensations for themselves.
Interference in other countries' affairs was the name of the game for at least a century. But for a long time now the US has no need to offer the carrot at all seeing how most times they can get anything they want with just the threat of the stick.
In this case not having a visa is probably a blessing in disguise. Better to know you're not wanted before you are detained at the border and "accidentally" extradited directly to a prison's gate.
Would recommend reading chapters 2 & 3 of this, on early 60s grappling with how to achieve arms control between antagonistic and equivalent powers, via constructing scenarios where it’s in mutual self-interest: https://archive.org/details/armscontroldisar013124mbp/page/n...
It’s been a while since Americans have had to burn brain power to solve problems like this, but it has happened before.