I’m sorry but those so-called “environmental regulations” are a hindrance to development of housing. They unnecessarily delay projects or block them altogether. They need to go. It needs to be a big reform of all regulations

Oh I agree. We never should’ve left the Iran deal. But I feel like that’s been repeated over & over and doesn’t actually solve the issue. It’s been since 2018 when we left the deal. It’s 2025 now. It was bad to leave it but a lot of shit has happened in between. Even Biden wasn’t able to get a new deal. Our foreign policy can’t be based on regrets from the past. If Iran doesn’t make a deal now (which I hope will be subject to Congressional approval) then we have no choice but to destroy their facilities if they are racing to the bomb.

As much as I hate Trump, this isn't necessarily anti-peace. Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon would be disastrous for peace & stability. Sometimes bombings can lead to the most peaceful outcome. Look at Yemen; because we relentlessly bombed the hell out of the Houthis, Iran is now leaving Yemen & abandoning the Houthis. That makes peace MORE likely in Yemen.

They could get a memorandum of understanding on removing all tariffs in the next few weeks (maybe even days if they move fast enough). The implementation might take months BUT if they come to an agreement, it’s possible that a bunch of tariffs will be removed immediately while the other ones will be slowly removed over a period of time. The recent Trump tariffs can be removed fast if they come to an agreement very soon

The right does have control of the IDF… like they are controlling the decision making. They appoint the IDF leaders.

I think it really depends on how hard you go at the cartels. GOVs in super cartel-dominated areas have to be willing to engage in a total war of attrition against the cartels. Escalate & escalate to the point where the GOV overpowers the cartels. I understand that civil liberties may have to be formally suspended unfortunately but how much civil liberties were El Salvadorans enjoying when MS-13 was running the country? You do have to engage in a bit of a war of attrition against these guys. It's unfortunate but there is no other option

The thing is there’s no real evidence of that. I’m not a fan of the war Bukele consolidated all power but it is objectively true that El Salvador is MUCH BETTER NOW than it was before him. There really was no other way to stop the gang violence. No amount of incrementalism would’ve solved it. So even if Bukele becomes dictator for life (which I hope he doesn’t), it’s still less bad than having MS-13 de facto govern the country. There’s a reason he’s so popular. We’ll see what happens in the future but so far El Salvador is better off now

Amid rife insecurity, people are despairing of their crooked politicians

On March 16th members of a legendary Peruvian cumbia band, Armonía 10, were heading from one packed concert venue to the next in Lima, Peru’s capital, when men on motorcycles attacked their bus. Bullets flew through the windshield, killing the band’s lead singer, Paul Flores. Waiting fans gasped in horror at the news. Police suspect the attack was related to an extortion attempt by a local gang.

Peruvians have watched their country descend to new depths of lawlessness in the past year. Street gangs run rampant in Lima and other cities along the Pacific coast. They extract “protection” fees from virtually anyone with a public-facing business, from cumbia bands to transport firms—and kill those who do not pay. At the same time, drug trafficking is rising in the Peruvian Amazon region and gangs are taking control of mines in the Andes.

Amid the outcry after Mr Flores’ killing, President Dina Boluarte declared a 30-day state of emergency in Lima. On March 25th she called a general election for one year hence, in an effort, she said, to end Peru’s instability.

Law and order have never been Peru’s forte. It has a stubbornly large informal economy. The police are riddled with corruption. Many livelihoods depend on cocaine and illicit gold. The crime wave washing over the country is a reminder that things can still get worse. In 2024 contract killings made up half of all homicides, which have doubled in five years. Reports of extortion have surged more than eight-fold, even though many victims choose not to refer threats to the police; those who do often discover that their extortionists find out within hours. “The gangs have better intelligence than the police,” says Katherine Gómez, who runs a market where most vendors suffer extortion.

Increased criminality is curbing legitimate business. “We’ve never seen this level of penetration of illegal mining before,” says Pablo de la Flor, who works for Peru’s largest gold mine, La Poderosa. Armed groups fighting for control of the mine have killed 18 of the company’s workers in the past three years. They have also destroyed 17 high-voltage transmission towers on which the firm relies for power.

Peru is not the only Latin American country to have recently tipped towards chaos. In Ecuador, just to Peru’s north, new drug-trafficking routes have paved the way to record crime rates. But no single factor explains Peru’s recent surge of crime. Pandemic-era disruptions pushed robbers into predatory lending and extortion. Peru’s backlogged justice system and overcrowded prisons have not helped. Nor has the proliferation of weapons trafficking.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of Peru’s insecurity crisis is the way that its elected officials have responded. Far from getting tough on crime, legislators have instead passed laws that throw up hurdles for prosecutors. It is no secret that these measures aim to shield politicians and their allies from corruption probes that can be aggressive. Lawmakers have publicly admitted as much. But the measures also help criminals evade justice. Will Freeman of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations calls the so-called counter-reforms “one of the most systematic, ruthless attempts to weaken institutions anywhere in the region recently”.

Will Peru be the next Ecuador? Its homicide rate is still well below its northern neighbour’s. But if law and order do continue to deteriorate, the fallout could be bigger. Peru’s population and GDP are much larger. Emigration is already rising. Experts say it is not too late to control the crime wave, but it would require a political will that has so far been lacking. Despite recent problems, Peru’s justice system is still much stronger than Ecuador’s pre-meltdown, says Mr Freeman.

Many Peruvians long for an “iron-fisted” leader like El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele. In parts of Lima, “THE PERUVIAN BUKELE” is painted in large red letters on walls along main roads, pleading for a strongman. More than 40 political parties have registered for next year’s general election. The one that sounds most like Mr Bukele may well win.

“NH likes Bernie types” bro what? I don’t think there’s any evidence of that. Bernie himself only got 25% in the 2020 NH Dem Primary. They’ve had a GOP Governor a while & GOP Legislature. Their Senators are mainstream Dems rather than progressive. Pappas as House Rep is more moderate. A Bernie type would lose against Sununu

Incorporate them into the existing security forces. They can be a new unit but under the Command of the Damascus government. Existing ranks will be respected as long as they also respect the chain of command from Damascus.

"And we can now project that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has won the race for Governor of Georgia in a landslide."

Years later and it appears to be holding and gone down even more.

You got a better candidate who has an actual chance right now?

Unpopular take by why is Wenona considered such a veteran fighter? She has never beat a Veteran fighter and she lost to fighters such as Hollie Stevens, Madison Young, Adrianna Nicole, Sophia Fiore & Lea Lexis (twice). None of those fighters are veterans and she lost to all of them. Sometimes very humiliatingly. So I don't think she's really that good. She's basically average (maybe below average honestly). But she is flexible so there's that

He is. He is needed to help secure investment in Syria & to convince Trump to remove sanctions (Trump & MBS are good friends). MBS also hates Iran. He’s a friend. A evil friend but still a friend.

Yup haha. He’s always hated Iran but now with them trying to kill him, he hates them extra specially. So I hope when Al-Shaara meets with Trump, he brings up how they expelled Iran & are cracking down on Iranian terrorist proxy groups. Could help expedite sanctions relief.

Yup lol. Fun stuff happening

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/11/08/politics/doj-charges-three-iranian-plot-to-kill-donald-trump

This is great news BUT I don’t want anyone to get their hopes up. This doesn’t mean anything related to 2026 or 2028. It just means that Dems are currently more energized than Reps. Look at the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. We won that by 11%. Did that imply anything about how the following election (2024 election) would go? No it didn’t. So let’s not draw any conclusions regarding 2026 from this race. We still need to put the work in & this race doesn’t imply anything about 2026. Don’t want to be a Debbie downer but I want people to realize this before we all get our hopes up.

Hopefully this temporary ceasefire leads into a more stable & permanent (or close to permanent) ceasefire.

The cons of sanctioning the Saudis outweigh the pros. Not to mention, it's kinda rich for us to sanction the Saudis for the war in Yemen when we were the ones selling them the weapons for that war in the first place. No we should not sanction the Saudis. Their leader, for all his many faults, is moving the country towards cultural modernization. He is an ally against terrorism & even has drastically expanded women's rights (even if there is a lot of work left to do here). We should engage in collaboration, not confrontation with the Saudis.

Not necessarily. One country Trump REALLY hates is Iran. They tried to kill him last year. He wants to blow up their nuclear facilities. So if Shaara can play up the “hey we also hate Iran & we are killing their Hezbollah proxies” card, I think that can be a huge appeal to Trump.

Trump still has a grudge against Netanyahu for him being the first to recognize Biden’s victory in 2020 😂 out of all the MANY things to hate Netanyahu for, Trump chose that one. In Trump’s 1st term, yes Trump would follow every single Netanyahu order. In the 2nd term, I don’t think so. Trump is the one who pressured Israel to follow through with their almost-complete evacuation from Lebanon. Trump did the same with the initial Gaza ceasefire that sadly did not get renewed. It’s also important to remember that Trump is very buddy buddy with Erdogan and he’s coming to meet Trump in April at the White House so you know he will lobby for sanctions relief. Marco Rubio also supports engagement. So there are positive signs here. And I say this as someone who dislikes Trump.