If you haven't seen the Beirut explosion yet, check it out. 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate that exploded and destroyed an entire area of a city (that death count is sure to rise in the coming days. It seems hard to believe that it didn't kill more). You can look here, at r/shockwaveporn for a whole bunch of angles (for those coming in the far future where the explosion is no longer front page news, search within that sub for "Beirut").  [1]

Anyhow, it seems that the explosion was from incompetence of their government (note that there are plenty of conspiracy theories out there, but I'm going to bet that this is mainly incompetence mixed with corruption).

But, the funny thing is seeing the NYTimes pretend like this is some third world corruption when we have similar things here. No dockside explosions, of course, but we have a lot going on.

Take, for example, these georgia kids who were suspended for highlighting the idiocy of their admin (probable MAGAts) for starting school in crowded conditions during a pandemic. [2] Now, this isn't as explosive as the Beirut issue, (and the results will not be as bad as quickly as Beirut) but it shows how people who try to speak out against the corrupt powers that be are actually silenced [3] and also just the general corruption that leads to way worse lives and outcomes for poor people (see this article on Iraq).

Remember how before Covid I was talking about the world wide protests. From Iraq to Chile there were people furious at corruption or policies that were equal to corruption. The kind of thing that was forcing austerity upon the poor while the rich (in all these countries) continued to live it up).

Now, with Covid, we have another variable that has managed to stretch all societies to their max, and especially the ones with these kinds of lies holding up their hierarchies. Note, that in places like S.Korea, where there is inequality, they still aren't as bad as the US. Also since their gov has shown some modicum of actually caring for the people and decent administration in defeating the virus [4], I'm guessing that they will not only survive but be given some level of trust by their people.

I'm not saying it's a hard rule, but it's something.

Also, I have to say is that the US also has had such moments of corruption coming to the surface, but many people seem completely oblivious to the sources and instead blame the powerless (immigrants, minorities etc) for the outcomes.

The reaction to the COVID fiasco here in the US is one such example. Will the masses unite and apportion blame as needed, or will they fall for the powerful people's "pay one half to fight the other half" ruse? Time will tell.

[1] Funny how the conspiracies are pointing to a nuke (on the 75th ann of the real nuke massacres). but many are just that, blame games that allow the masses to fight each other while the rich get richer (in all nations).

[2] I hope there are no such idiots on this blog, but for those who are firmly in the  "it's just the flu" since even when people don't die there are plenty of other complications for the survivors... yes, even kids.

[3] And I'm sure we'll get absolutely nothing from the "reeee cancel culture" types who, for the most part, seem to habitually miss out when actual power does the silencing. To that end, see how Fauci and his family are getting death threats... and this for him actually just trying to do his job. Again, the only cancel culture is usually white supremacy in nature and it rarely gets the attention it deserves.

[4] for all on the right (seriously, has the right always been in such full scream mode?) who try to claim "well they're having outbreaks too"... I don't know, can you read a graph? Their outbreaks are usually in the 100s, while ours is in the 10,000s. You do see a difference, don't you?

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