The Devil's Excrement
Observations focused on the problems of an underdeveloped country, Venezuela, with some serendipity about the world (orchids, techs, science, investments, politics) at large. A famous Venezuelan, Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, referred to oil as the devil's excrement. For countries, easy wealth appears indeed to be the sure path to failure. Venezuela might be a clear example of that.
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The Devil's Excrement 
December 15, 2016 at 8:05 am
Police in socialist countries has never been violent, so this is just a funny, innocent, coincidence. An illusion stemming from prejudices derived from the brutal police of capitalist, racist, countries.
Probably the men sitting down are just waiting the soldier climb up on a building to catch a soccer ball for them, that’s the most likely explanation, for sure.
¡Viva Chavez, viva Morales, viva Castro, viva Che, viva Stalin!
January 29, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Latro, when your grapnel is sitting on the ground with its chain looped up and heaped around it, you aren’t using it to climb anything at the time. Duh.
Your pathetic attempt to rescue this hate propaganda post doesn’t impress me.
Gosh, there’s no wall pictured in this particular photo! So this GN must be a NAZI planning to use a grapnel as an ineffectual weapon instead of using actual weapons! Yeah, right.
January 29, 2010 at 6:57 am
Oh, is a grapnel. Yes, by all means, this blogger jumped to conclusions and showed bad journalism in this case.
Now, want to explain to me what particular wall was this GN trying to climb here?
January 29, 2010 at 1:09 am
But I did intend to “belittle” the original post as well as point out that it was factually wrong.
It was the hysterical, carelessly hateful way the post leapt to its false conclusion which was its chief fault, not the poster’s ignorance of what a grapnel is.
If I succeeded in embarrassing the poster as they deserve that’s all to the good: perhaps their next post will rely less on the hate that fills their heart and more on what knowledge there may be in their brain.
January 28, 2010 at 11:26 pm
My mistake…
The second comment is mine’s…and not “Richard Cheeseman”
January 28, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Instead of accusing and explanations left, right and center, why don’t you push your analysis a bit further? 1) This is the first time a riot-controlling agent is shown using a grapnel in Venezuela, 2) This utility/weapon would very rarely be of use knowing the nature of protests in the country, 3) It can certainly cause major damage as its body and chain are made of massive steel, 4) It’s clearly intimidating, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the main purpose to brandish it in a situation like this is precisely to scare off the protesters…
This might not be as dangerous/odd as the original post seemed to imply, but there are ways to point out the truth without intending to belittle…
January 28, 2010 at 10:20 pm
That’s actually not a weapon. It’s a grapnel. Riot police use grapnels for scaling barricades and other obstacles when policing demonstrations.
With its blunt hooks, puny shaft and inconveniently long chain, this grapnel would be extremely ineffective as a weapon in close combat.
You may now withdraw your hysterical lie and apologise.