jpyaks3

A few pictures of the fireworks from across the river.

A few meteors from the Lyrid meteor shower.

Two from a recent trip to Singapore

In truly shocking news the OAS is full of ****. Well glad we good thing the United States supported a fascist far right coup in Bolivia. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/26/bolivia-dismissed-its-october-elections-fraudulent-our-research-found-no-reason-suspect-fraud/ When will people learn never to trust the United States information with regards to regimes that lean even slightly left especially in South America.

A few shots from around DC.

Looks like the new Bolivian government is definitely interested in Democracy and fair elections, who could have seen this coming. I for one am shocked that the normal coup cheerleaders in the media are silent as the army and police kill indigenous protesters with impunity (and immunity according to the new government) leaders and members of the opposition party are being arrested and prevented from doing the jobs they were elected to do, and the coup government is led by the far-right who have zero interest in free or fair elections.

Revolution? When the military forces out the democratically elected party (and the next 2 people in line) then it’s not a revolution it’s a coup. And you still seem to be confused Morales didn’t change the constitution the Supreme Court of Bolivia rules that the term limits were unconstitutional. There was also the offer for elections monitored by OAS and international observers but instead the opposition chose military intervention and a coup rather than the democratic process. Now they are shooting indigenous protesters in the streets. Also why were the earlier protests legitimate in your mind but these protestors should be met with extreme violence? Are you concerned about any of the rhetoric coming out of the self appointed President?

And the fascist coup is. Is killing indigenous protesters. Who could have seen this coming? But Morales definitely had to be removed in a coup because he followed the Supreme Courts ruling on term limits. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/15/what-dictatorship-looks-bolivian-security-forces-open-fire-indigenous-protesters

https://mobile.twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1194728799662956545 Looks like the Bolivian people (although current self declared President doesn’t count these people as real Bolivians) aren’t taking the coup lying down. It will be interesting if the media covers this or just ignores it to continue on with the coup is simply responding to the people’s wishes line they have been pushing which completely erases the majority of Bolivians.

First off, I was quoting exactly what the Supreme Court said. Now you for some reason don't believe they are a legitimate organization despite their constitutional role in the country and the fact that they are democratically elected. I am not sure why that is. I was not arguing that term limits were against the constitution. I was simply pointing out that the people who decide what is and isn't constitutional ruled that they weren't. That's all. I think you are attributing the Supreme Court of Bolivia's opinion on the constitutionality of term limits for mine. I never commented on whether term limits were constitutional outside of what the Supreme Court of Bolivia decided. Now voting irregularities are never a good thing, but the solution isn't to have the military overthrow the government, forcing out members of the leading party until they get to someone they like. That is the definition of a coup. Now what happens next is the big thing. If for like the first time ever the army steps in and holds free and fair elections like Morales was calling for with international monitors then this situation isn't a huge deal and you can resume democracy and it will probably be a net good that Morales is forced out but there are free and fair elections with all parties represented. Now if that doesn't come to pass (what has happened pretty much every other time the army has ever stepped in) then there is a massive problem because the opposition is already signaling they are going to be attacking the indigenous people and there are a lot of really ****ty folks floating around leadership roles in the opposition. So color me skeptical that this will all work out and the opposition and the army are really just standing up to a leader who overstepped democratic norms and bounds rather than a naked power grab and a way to subjugate indigenous groups and anyone who is to the left of center. Do you really believe that this situation results in free and fair elections and a resumption of the democratic process? I mean its a potentially violent situation and many people could lose their lives. On a more cynical note Bolivia has some of the largest amounts of lithium which are essential to a lot of smart technology, and they just nationalized the lithium industry so thats kind of a big deal

The courts were popularly elected. The people of Bolivia chose the court and the people who sit on the court. It wasn't like Morales hand picked the judges. Additionally, almost everyone agrees that Morales received more votes now there were irregularities which is an issue but Morales was willing to have another election with international monitors. The current opposition is burning indigenous flags, has openly fascist members in its ranks, is/was looting and burning MAS peoples homes, drug an indigenous mayor into the streets cut her hair and threw paint on her before throwing her out of government and has forced the entire succession line up until their person to resign. You seem to whte-wash all of this which is much much worse and more dangerous than the Bolviarian Supreme Court removing term limits because you disagree with the ideology of Morales. I was quoting the Bolvian Supreme court and their decision regarding term limits. It seems you have an issue with the Supreme Court of Bolivia because all I did was quote them and I trust them on the constitutionality of their decision rather you.

Whole bunch of peaceful democracy loving people here. Glad they could enact a coup to overthrow a popularly elected leader. https://twitter.com/redfishstream/status/1194211935660728320 this is just one video of many. The opposition is burning indigenous flags, has arrested or forced out every member of the MAS in the succession line and has shown zero regard for democracy. Do you have zero historical knowledge of South and Latin America? Honest question here.

My Spanish isn't strong enough to really dig into the OAS report, do you happen to have an English version? From what I gather a lot of the issues were with the electronic reporting/how they were transmitted, but I could be wrong there. I think calling Morales a wanna-be dictator is pretty ridiculous considering the only thing that he has done is ask the Supreme Court to decide on term limits (which I agree is kinda ****ty since the referendum would have kept them in place). He still won the popular vote (pretty much everyone agrees on this) and after the OAS report offered to have new elections with international monitoring. In response the right wing opposition has launched a coup and has arrested the leadership of the party. If anyone is acting like a wanna be dictator it is the people that are overthrowing the popularly elected government and imprisoning (or attempting to imprison) opposition leaders. It isn't very difficult to look at the history of Latin and South America and to see exactly what is going on here. In your opinion is the opposition acting in a way that would foster democracy/anti-authoritarianism? What do you think the path forward for Bolivia looks like under the army/opposition?

Once again the Supreme Court or Supreme Tribunal is popularly elected. He didn't appoint them like what happens in the United States. Additionally, a referendum isn't a binding be all-end all thing and the Supreme Court found that the term limits were not compatable with the Bolivarian consitution. The court found that: “All people that were limited by the law and the constitution are hereby able to run for office, because it is up to the Bolivian people to decide,” Macario Lahor Cortez, head of the Plurinational Constitutional Court, wrote in the ruling." All the opposition had to do was win an election which they couldn't do (and no one is disputing that they recieved far less votes). The OAS has not provided any proof for their claims of voter manipulation. Right now Evo Morales is by far the better actor in this situation since his oppositon has enacted a literal coup after they lost an election. You can have isssues with Morales and his politics but it is impossible to support the coup if you actually believe in democracy or the peoples will. If the Chilean military had overthrown Pinera after the much more widespread and persistant protests he has facec (or Moreno in Ecuador) I would still call it a coup and bad for democacry. Ideology doesn't matter when one side is burning ballot boxes, attacking members of the popularly elected party, and initiates a coup with show trials agains tthe opposition, that side is the ****ty side and we shouldn't cheerlead that. EDIT: This is the opposition, they clearly are worried about democratic processes.

Evo Morales recieved more votes than the opposition party which responded by burning ballot boxes (since they knew they lost) and pushing a coup to overthrow a democratically elected leader. Whenever the military/police overthrow a democratically elected leader that is a bad thing. The Supreme Court was elected by the people so if they are partisan it is because the Bolivarian people voted them in. The quick vote was halted but that happens in every election in Bolivia (from what I can understand) the official vote was still going on when the opposition decided to burn the ballot boxes. The OAS is not exactly a non-partisan organization and has supported coups in the past so it isn't exactly shocking they were pushing voting irregularity (although I haven't seen them come out with actual proof of any wrongdoing). Additionally the increase in late votes makes sense considering the rural/urban divide and the fact that rural votes would come in later and would be Evo's main support.If the opposition really had electoral concerns with irregularity or thought that they had actally won why would they burn the ballot boxes and the proof? I think its much more likely that they realized they would lose and their only path to power was through violence and a coup and wanted to muddy the waters and provide plausible deniability. Well he has continuously won elections (freely and fairly) and he clearly won this one was well (jno one is disuputing he recieved at least a plurality of votes) so I don't think people calling him undemocratic really have a leg to stand on when the opposition has burned the ballot boxes, prevented outside auditing, and when offered a new election attacked and burned MAS leadership and their homes and family, enacted a coup, arrested enough of Morales party leadership to ensure that one of their own was put in power. Look was Morales the perfect leader? Absolutely not, but the people decrying his undemocratic actions (which its quesitonable how undemocratic they are) are cheerleading a coup by a group that lost the election and have shown zero regard for democracy. So those calls ring pretty damn hollow when Morales "undemocratic actions" at this point are: He followed the direction of the Supreme Court of Boliva regarding term limits and he won an election..