- THE FLAG
- Posts
- Venezuela’s Votes
Venezuela’s Votes
Plus, educators' reunion.
Good morning and Happy Tuesday! Here are the Flag’s Top Five stories that should be on your radar to start the day:
US: Kamala Harris vice president pick expected soon (Reuters)
World: US said to believe Iran attack on Israel imminent, Biden to hold situation room meeting (The Times of Israel)
Business: Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and Sam Altman again (The Verge)
Technology: AI chip startup Groq lands $640M to challenge Nvidia (TechCrunch)
Sports: The gymnast Simone Biles wins silver to close what might be her final Olympic Games (NPR)
And of course, some good news: Georgia Teacher Reunites with 'Superhero' Educator Who Changed His Life.
POWERED BY BEVERLY HILLS MD
Looking younger was once thought to be a luxury that only women who had access to plastic surgery and costly professional treatments could enjoy.
So while the rich and famous stayed ‘ageless’ — the rest of us just learned to accept our lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin as an inevitable part of life.
A Game-Changing Discovery is finally leveling the playing field, as more women learn to fight back against their body’s “aging switch.”
You read that right. According to experts, not only is it possible to slow down the appearance of aging — but most women can easily do it themselves.
That’s why the latest anti-aging trend isn’t plastic surgery or expensive creams, but a simple daily ritual that takes less than a minute to perform.
(In fact, if you’ve noticed one of your friends looking suspiciously more youthful and rejuvenated in recent months — there’s a good chance they’re already doing it at home.)
However, if you’re interested in looking significantly younger without the cost and hassle of seeing a professional, this science-backed “shortcut” is certainly worth trying at home.
TRENDING
Left: GOP Plans To Win This Election--in Court, if Not at Ballot Box David Daley, Salon
Left: The Case for Pragmatic Socialism, Ryan Cooper, The American Prospect
Left: Why 'We're Not Going Back' Is Such a Powerful Message, Molly Jong-Fast, MSNBC
Right: Kamala Harris & the Masque of Magical Thinking, Roger Kimball, American Greatness
Right: Harris Wants You To Forget All She Once Stood For, Cal Thomas, Washington Times
Right: The Dems' Illegal Immigration Obsession, Peter Van Buren, The American Conservative
VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s Votes
Today’s Top Story in One Sentence: Last Thursday, the United States government said in a statement that all available evidence indicated a win for opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia over the incumbent Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela's hotly disputed presidential election on July 28.
Reporting from the Left: Venezuela is wracked with protests and election uncertainty. Here’s what to know (CNN)
Reporting from the Right: Venezuelan Opposition Leader Beat Dictator Nicolás Maduro ‘By An Insurmountable Margin,’ U.S. Gov Says (Daily Wire)
LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT
Flawed Election
The Top Argument From The Left: Venezuela’s Election Was Deeply Flawed. Here’s How., Genevieve Glatsky, The New York Times: “It had already been clear for months that Venezuela’s presidential election on Sunday would not be free or fair, as the government jailed opposition leaders or disqualified them from running for office and prevented millions of Venezuelans abroad from voting. But as the day progressed it became all the more evident just how flawed the country’s democratic process had become and why the victory claim by the country’s autocratic leader, President Nicolás Maduro, has provoked such fury. Across the country citizens, local reporters and journalists for The New York Times observed instances of voter intimidation. In the early morning about 15 men in unmarked black jackets temporarily blocked access to one voting center in the capital, Caracas, a Times journalist observed. One volunteer vote monitor was punched. The crowd eventually started demanding the right to vote and the long line started moving inside, more than an hour and a half after voting was officially supposed to start. … About 17,000 Venezuelans saw their voting stations changed at the last minute according to Carlos Medina, who helps direct the Venezuelan Electoral Observatory, an independent group. … Some stations stayed open beyond the scheduled end of the vote, giving members of Mr. Maduro’s party a chance to round up voters who had yet to cast their ballots.”
Honorable Mention #1: The Maduro Government Is Probably Stealing the Election in Venezuela, James North, The Nation.
Honorable Mention #2: The Latin American left is smart not to pick a side over Venezuela’s contested election result, Jordana Timerman, The Guardian.
RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT
A Significant Threat to World Order
The Top Argument From The Right: Maduro’s Attempted Election Theft Threatens Venezuela, America, and the World, Jorge Jraissati, National Review: “On the negative front, if Maduro stays in power, he is likely to be isolated. In recent years, Maduro has attempted to normalize relations with the United States. But the aftermath of the election has made clear that integration into the international community is now an impossibility for his regime. As a result, if the regime survives, we can expect him to intensify his alignment with enemies of the United States like China, Russia, and Iran. Together, they would find in Venezuela a hub in the Americas to continue undermining the security and leadership of the United States. America’s enemies would continue building up an economic ecosystem in Venezuela independent of the U.S.-led financial and commercial markets. This would make U.S. sanctions ineffective… All of this cooperation with other rogue regimes would make Venezuela even more dangerous to its neighbors. … Only by thinking outside the box and defining a clear strategy for democracy promotion in Venezuela will America be able to support the Venezuelan people in their quest for freedom. The success of that quest, when it comes, will be a positive not only from a moral point of view but also from a national-security perspective.”
Honorable Mention #1: Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro doesn’t like losing Catherine Ellis, The Spectator.
Honorable Mention #2: Venezuela’s Stolen Election, The Editors, National Review.
FLAG THIS
Why is the Opposition Confident They Won?
With 80% of the vote counted, the National Electoral Council (CNE) officially declared Maduro the winner with 51.2% of the votes, while Gonzalez received 44.2% (CNN).
However, according to the opposition, they secured over 80% of the crucial vote tally sheets, known as "actas," which essentially serve as receipts revealing that President Maduro had lost. Thousands of volunteers gathered these tallies to verify the election results, contradicting the official outcome and sparking global condemnation of Maduro’s government.
The actas, essential for proving vote counts, were obtained and scanned by volunteers who used a custom app to report irregularities. This transparency allowed the opposition to present a strong case against the announced results, prompting international demands for the complete publication of vote tallies and further scrutiny of Maduro’s administration (AP).
WATERCOOLER
Constitutional Draft, Dream City, Gestational Pause
On August 6, 1787, in Philadelphia, delegates to the Constitutional Convention began debating the first complete draft of the proposed Constitution of the United States.
LifeHacker: Two Tricks to Keep Baked Goods From Burning
Today I learned some animals can pause their pregnancies.
POWERED BY BEVERLY HILLS MD
Looking younger was once thought to be a luxury that only women who had access to plastic surgery and costly professional treatments could enjoy.
So while the rich and famous stayed ‘ageless’ — the rest of us just learned to accept our lines, wrinkles, and sagging skin as an inevitable part of life.
A Game-Changing Discovery is finally leveling the playing field, as more women learn to fight back against their body’s “aging switch.”
You read that right. According to experts, not only is it possible to slow down the appearance of aging — but most women can easily do it themselves.
That’s why the latest anti-aging trend isn’t plastic surgery or expensive creams, but a simple daily ritual that takes less than a minute to perform.
(In fact, if you’ve noticed one of your friends looking suspiciously more youthful and rejuvenated in recent months — there’s a good chance they’re already doing it at home.)
However, if you’re interested in looking significantly younger without the cost and hassle of seeing a professional, this science-backed “shortcut” is certainly worth trying at home.
Reply