Remember all those left-wing pundits who drooled over Venezuela?

[Zorro]

“Pundits should have fixed terms,” left-wing author Naomi Klein recently told the BBC. Awarded “jobs for life,” most professional commentators — whether opining in newspaper columns like this one or blathering on television — suffer no consequence for making predictions that turn out “spectacularly wrong.” Klein’s (partly tongue-in-cheek) solution? Hold our pundits to account by making them reapply for their sinecures every four years, banishing those whose prognostications prove most wide of the mark.

The socialist Klein’s embrace of market forces, however selective, is welcome. Might I offer the unfolding horror in Venezuela as the first litmus test of her proposal?

On Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in a referendum designed to rewrite the country’s constitution and confer on him dictatorial powers. The sham vote, boycotted by the opposition, was but the latest stage in the “Bolivarian Revolution” launched by Maduro’s predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. First elected in 1998 on a wave of popular goodwill, Chavez’s legacy is one of utter devastation.

Thanks to Chavismo’s vast social welfare schemes (initially buoyed by high oil prices), cronyism and corruption, a country that once boasted massive budget surpluses is today the world’s most indebted. Contraction in per capita GDP is so severe that “Venezuela’s economic catastrophe dwarfs any in the history of the U.S., Western Europe or the rest of Latin America” according to Ricardo Hausmann, former chief economist of the Inter-American Development Bank. Transparency International lists Venezuela as the only country in the Americas among the world’s 10 most corrupt.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-kirchick-venezuela-pundits-20170802-story.html

[nycbos]

1. They were right here.

You were called a neocon if you tried to point out the bull.

[Zorro]

2. The drooliest drooler is still around

[Marksman_91]

3. Oh, they still hang out around here

Far fewer in numbers now, but they still show up singing praises about how the Revolution was a left-wing paradise, and was simply sabotaged by the dark forces controlled by the US/CIA/Rothschilds/Illuminati/Lizard people. They simply cannot admit they were wrong about a regime they supported because it would shatter their fantasies.

[GatoGordo]

4. They are laying in wait...

... the minute that Chavismo implodes (and it will once Maduro can't pay the bills coming due in about 2 months) they will howl endlessly about Right Wing Imperialists and Old World Oligarchs and Vile Capitalists who starve children and push Granny in front of oncoming buses.

They have nothing to say about how babies are starving (literally) in Venezuela. But the minute that someone doesn't get their CLAP bag, it becomes proof positive that Bolivarian Socialism was misrepresented.

http://efectococuyo.com/principales/casos-de-desnutricion-grave-en-el-j-m-de-los-rios-aumentaron-267-en-un-ano

(Translation: Cases of severe malnutrition in the J. M. de los Rios increased 267% in one year)

Silenciosamente van incrementando los casos de desnutrición grave que reciben los galenos del hospital infantil J. M. de los Ríos. En tan solo un año, la doctora Ingrid Soto, pediatra y jefe de servicio de Nutrición, Crecimiento y Desarrollo del centro de salud, vio aumentar en 267% los casos de niños con la piel pegada a los huesos o hinchados por la falta de nutrientes .

“En 2015 se registraron 30 pacientes con desnutrición grave, mientras que en 2016 ese número llegó a 110 pacientes”, alertó la doctora Soto.

(Translation: Silently they increase the cases of serious malnutrition received by the galleys of the Children's Hospital J. M. de los Ríos. In just one year, Dr. Ingrid Soto, a pediatrician and head of the health center's nutrition, Growth and development service, saw a 267% increase in cases of children with skin attached to the bones or swollen by lack of nutrients.

"in 2015, 30 patients with severe malnutrition were recorded, while in 2016 that number reached 110 patients," Dr. Soto warned.)

[GatoGordo]

5. Worlds worst economist: Mark Weisbrot, Maduro's useful idiot

Sell Ecuador - Mark Weisbrot Is Telling Us How Good Economic Policy Is There

-snip-

"Even as late as November 2013 he was still saying that Bolivarian socialism over in Venezuela was going to be just fine:

Hyperinflation is also a very remote possibility. For the first two years of the economic recovery that began in June 2010, inflation was falling even as economic growth accelerated to 5.7% for 2012. In the first quarter of 2012, it reached a monthly low of just 2.9%. This shows that the Venezuelan economy – despite its problems – is very capable of providing healthy growth even while bringing down inflation."

-snip-

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2017/02/16/sell-ecuador-mark-weisbrot-is-telling-us-how-good-economic-policy-is-there/#458fe0e67342

[Bacchus4.0]

6. He just wrote Monday that the release to house arrest of Lopez was a positive sign

Lopez was rearrested on Tuesday

"But more recently, international mediation helped with the release on July 9th of opposition leader Leopoldo López, who was transferred from jail to house arrest. In their letter on Friday, members of Congress argued that this “is the most viable path toward a peaceful solution.”

and this gem:

"There are millions of Venezuelans, who are associated with the government or its political party or social movements, who have reason to fear persecution or repression from an opposition government — especially one that comes to power outside of the electoral process."

http://cepr.net/publications/op-eds-columns/more-severe-sanctions-against-venezuela-would-only-worsen-crisis-and-possibly-violence

[GatoGordo]

7. Yes, because the judges elected (Constitutionally) by the AN are being arrested...

... and the ones who haven't been arrested yet are seeking refuge in the Chilean embassy.

No need for a person who isn't a PSUV sycophant to worry about persecution under Maduro (and his puppeteer, Cuba) at all.


TSJ destituye y ordena detención del alcalde Gustavo Marcano
La sentencia estipula 15 meses de prisión más las sanciones accesorias de ley por "desacato" en contra del funcionario

(translation: TSJ dismisses and orders arrest of Mayor Gustavo Marcano
The sentence stipulates 15 months of imprisonment plus statutory penalties for "contempt" against the official)

Por EL NACIONAL WEB
25 DE JULIO DE 2017 06:34 PM | ACTUALIZADO EL 25 DE JULIO DE 2017 19:55 PM

El Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) realizó este martes la audiencia del alcalde del municipio Diego Bautista Urbaneja (Lechería), Gustavo Marcano. En ella ordenó la destitución de su cargo y la detención del mandatario local.

Juan José Mendoza, presidente de la Sala Constitucional, anunció a las 5:30 pm a medios de comunicación que luego de la deliberación del caso, que duró menos de una hora, dictaron la detención de Marcano. El alcalde deberá cumplir 15 meses de prisión más "las accesorias por la ley del referido desacato".

(translation: The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) held this Tuesday the audience of the mayor of the municipality Diego Bautista Urbaneja (Lecheria), Gustavo Marcano. He ordered the removal of his office and the arrest of the local representative.

Juan José Mendoza, president of the Constitutional Chamber, announced at 5:30 pm to the media that after the deliberation of the case, which lasted less than an hour, they dictated the arrest of Marcano. The mayor shall serve 15 months ' imprisonment more "the accessions by the law of the referred contempt".)

-snip-

http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/oposicion/tsj-destituye-ordena-detencion-del-alcalde-gustavo-marcano_195021

Bah... who needs stinking trials and due process?! Viva Chavismo!