I am not shy when it comes to mentioning that out of my family (all Venezuelans), I am the only one that didn’t fall for the alt-right Trump pipeline. I mean, very briefly in 2008-2011, I was a libertarian/ancap before that was a mainstream and quit when I found that the AnCap meet ups I was seeing online looked like white supremacist gatherings. Then Bernie came along, and I agreed with him, and I had to investigate Venezuelan socialism to square it away with my internalized opposition. So I did read Capital. I also read the UN and Treasury website on Venezuelan sanctions and realized why Venezuela is having such a difficult time. My brother, who was a Bernie-bro in 2016 has fallen with the alt-right. I cannot overstate how Hillary Clinton, the DNC, and pied piper strategy to run against Donald Trump has devastated the minds of Americans.

He was a Bernie bro, when Bernie got ratfucked. My brother also fell on hard times, he turned increasingly pessimistic and exacerbated his mental illness. His mishandled OCD – his therapist was terrible– led him to stay home and listen to more extreme right-wing content, he was struggling to pay off his student loans (which Joe Biden never canceled/pardoned). And he is now a libertarian/AnCap, Peter Schiff type, a silverbug, an absolute MAGA cretin and evangelical christian weirdo (we are Catholic). And because he is still struggling to find a decent job, applying to CBP.

I found this out recently when my mom called to ask for information, “because your brother is applying to join a federal government agency” and I told them I wouldn’t not give them anything, they didn’t already know. Come to find out he has taken a fitness test and will join the CBP.

This shit sucks man.

    • LENINSGHOSTFACEKILLA [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      I work in a prison (education, don’t worry comrades) and the qualifications needed for being a guard are:

      1. A pulse
      2. As little empathy as possible
      3. Zero sense of timeliness

      Being an alcoholic helps get your foot in the door, but is not required.

      There are essentially zero other decent jobs in the area. Fast food, dollar general, mom and pop pharmacies. Its sad to see so many people that are otherwise decent human beings taking the job because they need to eat.

      • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        Good on you for helping those behind bars. And yeah I can back this up because I was in rehab and one of the workers left to get a job in corrections and he had a terrible record and was pretty dumb.

        • LENINSGHOSTFACEKILLA [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          2 days ago

          Most of the prisons around here are extremely understaffed, so while they aren’t exactly offering a million dollar salary, it is one of the easiest jobs you can get with basically no investment, experience, degree, etc. Government pay and benefits sounds like a sweet deal in bumfuck nowhere

  • CocteauChameleons [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    Yeah I hate my older brother he’s a piece of shit chud and I never talk to him. It really makes me sad because my other older brother who was punk and cool is dead and my younger bro who is schizophrenic hates me because of his psychosis rn. At least older sis is cool and agrees with me politically but since we’re step siblings and 10 years apart we’re not as close as we could be.

  • Red Wizard 🪄@lemmygrad.ml
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    2016 radicalized so many people in both directions. Burnie’s loss in the DNC primary had a profound effect on his supporters. Donald Trump had the rhetoric to capture a fair portion of the people who were disillusioned by Bernie losing the primary. I think it exposed people’s budding tendencies and gave them permission to go all in on them. I have no idea if someone has attempted to dig into this phenomonon at all, but it seems pretty clear to me that the rise in Burnie’s left-wing populism allowed Trump to piggy back on that momentem and convert a good portion of it into right-wing populism.

    • Dessa [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      I remember at the time being on Sanders Reddit servers and chuds would come by and actively recruit people. A lot of times, it would start with some sort of bigotry ⸻ transphobia, or antisemitism (back when that word actually meant something), or good ol’ fashioned misogyny. All that anti-establishment anger got redirected toward spiting the left.

    • Lussy [any, hy/hym]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      Thinking exactly this…

      You could find who his colleagues are, where they park, their office of operations…

      OP, if your brother doesn’t already know you’re not a chud, please pretend to be one and ingratiate yourself with him

          • Le_Wokisme [they/them, undecided]@hexbear.net
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            2 days ago

            idk depends how mad somebody gets about it. if OP has good opsec disseminating information to cadres it’s unlikely he’d be caught.

            keylogger on a home computer probably also something you could get away with, especially if the brother isn’t a computer genius, but that’s actually illegal, going on a tour and pacing out dimensions for a doom wad isn’t directly a crime.

              • Le_Wokisme [they/them, undecided]@hexbear.net
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                2 days ago

                i think it’s over-stating it to say there’s no difference between statutory and arbitrary criminalization. OP is under more threat from existing while Venezuelan than he is from a variety of low-stakes resistance activities he could hypothetically engage in.

              • purpleworm [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                This sounds smart to say, but pragmatically speaking it is dangerously false and you shouldn’t be spreading this sort of misinformation. We aren’t living in The Purge or jorje orwel, there’s still a strong likelihood that you as a citizen can do normal activism and not get arrested for it, even if the cops harass you and look for crimes you may have committed in unrelated situations to book you anyway.

  • anarchoilluminati [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    1 day ago

    A lot of people are telling you things you probably shouldn’t do because their posting that to you here would be evidence that would be found and would make everything worse for you.

    I’m sorry that’s happened to you and your brother though. It’s difficult to see immigrant families turn against their own so mindlessly and easily, and my brother and I fell out hard over some shit years ago which is still sad for me so I feel you.

  • Chana [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    Gross. I’m sorry you have to negotiate this, I am sure it is difficult to square any caring and familial and friendly feelings towards your brother with him joining the latine harassment squad.

  • Evilphd666 [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    Took the if you can’t beat them join them route eh? My condolenses. Hurts when it’s somone you love.

    It’s a war and there’s going to be casualties i.e. can’t save them all.

    Not all precious metal investors are chuds. China is hoarding gold and silver for a reason.