openpolitics.com

 

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so here we have this is a video from DW

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news which is a German uh public

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broadcaster and they’re going to give us

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a little bit of the background to the

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assassination of Shinzo Abe the former

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Japanese leader so let’s go ahead and

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listen to some of that and then I’ll

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give you more information on it Japan’s

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former prime minister Shinzo Abe has

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died after being shot at a campaign

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event police say a 41 year old man has

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been arrested in connection with the

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shooting ABI was the country’s longest

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serving Premiere and was well known for

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his strong economic and defense policies

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his killing has shocked yet Japan the

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nation where Firearms are strictly

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regulated and political violence so let

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me just comment on that real quick there

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were a bunch of uh people who lean right

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and who are very pro-gun rights who used

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the killing of Shinzo Abe to say look at

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that bro obviously uh gun control laws

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don’t work that is such a flipping and

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glib and stupid response because there’s

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only nine gun deaths per year in Japan

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nine we have 39 000.

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in the U.S

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so

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you gotta look at the macro statistics

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and the macro statistics paint a very

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very clear picture but they think

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because one person was killed with a gun

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they’re like oh well obviously gun

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control laws don’t work well I’ll ask

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those people would you rather have nine

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gun deaths a year or 39 000 gun deaths a

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year now by the way I’m not their laws

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are super strict like way more strict

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than what my preferences are but

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you have to call a spade a spade and say

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in terms of reducing gun violence oh it

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absolutely works I mean there’s a

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trade-off and you have no right at all

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to a firearm there but it works in terms

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of uh from a public safety perspective

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anyway I digress this is extremely rare

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[Music]

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handled to the ground

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what appears to be a weapon lying on the

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road nearby clearly a makeshift weapon I

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mean held together I think with literal

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duct tape

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people ran to the age of Japan’s former

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prime minister as he lay seriously

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wounded

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he was quickly transferred to helicopter

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and flown to hospital

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at this point his condition was

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described as critical but doctors were

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unable to save him

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confirming his death the hospital said

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the 67 year old had suffered two deep

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wounds including to his heart

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the area in the city of Nara where this

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veteran politician had been giving an

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election campaign speech is now a crime

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scene

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the assassination has shocked Japan a

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country where gun violence is rare

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this is a dustedly and barbaric Acts

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that took place in the midst of an

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election

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this is the basis of a democracy

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and it’s absolutely unforgivable I would

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like to use the harshest words to

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condemn this act

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Shinzo Abe was first elected Prime

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Minister of Japan in 2006 making him at

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52 the country’s youngest ever premier

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it proved short-lived a year later he

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quit following a string of party

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scandals he was also suffering from

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health problems

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but he wasn’t gone for long in 2012 he

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was back promising to revive Japan’s

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flagging economy following years of

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deflation

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he even put his own name on the plan

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urbanomics now by the way he was part of

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What’s called the liberal Democratic

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party in Japan but understand that the

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liberal Democratic party is actually the

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conservative party in Japan so I know

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it’s so weird all these different

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countries have these names for their

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political parties and it will be like

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contradictory to the actual ideology

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that they have and that gets frustrating

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and annoying but I just want everybody

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to understand that he was a conservative

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Abe was also hawkish on defense

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expanding Japan’s military role after

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years of pacifism yes let me explain

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that a little bit there’s there’s um

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pacifism in the Japanese Constitution

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which was the United States either

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helped write it or did write it after

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World War II they made Japan a pacifist

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Nation

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for obvious reasons I mean they Japan

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had allied with Nazi Germany they were

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an Empire uh they had a viciously

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barbaric Empire they you know massacred

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Koreans they massacred uh Chinese when

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they were an Empire and so they made

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pacifism in the Constitution and Shinzo

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Abe wanted to roll back the pacifism

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that was in there and uh you know build

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up the Japanese military

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approved a controversial policy and he

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failed to formally rewrite the country’s

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pacifist Constitution

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he did though bolster Japan’s security

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alliance with United States

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Abe was considered a strong leader on

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the world stage but in 2020 he again

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resigned citing poor health

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it’s more just so everybody understand

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it’s more

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corruption than you know oh I have

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health problems there were political

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scandals and he uses the health thing as

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an excuse

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politics though was always in his blood

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right up until the end

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for more we can now apprecame so that’s

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enough of that now let me give you some

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more information on them

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so um this is on the guy who killed him

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the man accused of assassinating former

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Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe had

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reportedly told investigators he

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targeted Abe because he suspected he had

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ties to a religious group that took a

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huge donation from his mother law

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enforcement sources cited by Kyoto news

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had the suspect identified as 41 year

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old tetsuya yamagami had first planned

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to attack a leader of the unnamed

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religious group before settling on Abe

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instead yamagami is said to have told

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police The Killing had nothing to do

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with politics homemade guns and items

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thought to be explosives were found

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during a search of yamagami’s home on

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Friday just hours after he allegedly

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used a homemade firearm to gun Abe down

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in front of a crowd watching him deliver

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a campaign speech in the city of Nara

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sources cited by Kyoto news said

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yamagami admitted to traveling to

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another city a day earlier where Abe had

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had also given a campaign speech the

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police chief of the perfect prefecture

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which is the Japanese it’s a state

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basically where the shocking killing

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took place admitted on Sat today that

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there were problems with the safety

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measures taken and took full

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responsibility for the lapses that led

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to Abe’s death so look I haven’t seen

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anything particularly convincing on the

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motives of the guy who did this

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assassination this is the line that I’ve

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heard

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um

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seems kind of weak if you ask me I saw

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some speculation that effectively the

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guy who did The Killing was like

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part of Japan’s version of Q Anon if you

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will

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um I don’t know I don’t know none of

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this stuff seems particularly convincing

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or solid to me in terms of developing a

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motive

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um more on Shinzo Abe here this is in

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The Daily Beast Shinzo Abe was Trump

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before Trump except he pulled it off

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Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe

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died on Thursday in a scene reminiscent

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of the Yakuza films he loved so much

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that’s of course the Japanese Mafia

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gunned down in a crowd by a lone shooter

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who didn’t even try to escape the nation

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was shocked to learn that he had passed

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away when it was reported by state

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broadcaster NHK there were many hoping

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that he might still pull through and

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Nara passerbys began to place flowers on

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the site where he was shot some praying

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for his safe journey through the spirit

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world to his next Incarnation 15 years

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before the bloody incident Shinzo Abe

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was considered politically finished when

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he resigned from office during his first

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dentist prime minister he was exhausted

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disliked and unable to weather the

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tsunami of scandals that surrounded his

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cabinet but in 2012 he came back from

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the graveyard of failed Prime Ministers

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to rule for almost eight years when news

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spread that he had been shot twice and

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was in critical condition his supporters

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hoped that he might be able to pull off

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another miracle a physical resurrection

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that didn’t happen but the man who

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Donald Trump adviser Stephen Bannon

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famously praised As Trump before Trump

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leaves behind a legacy that may have

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forever changed pan he reduced it to a

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Perpetual one-party democracy that seems

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unlikely to change ABI certainly seems

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to have had a Playbook that was similar

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to Donald Trump’s he was a populist who

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tapped into racism and fears of change

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to stoke his base and consolidate power

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during his Exile from Power Abe and his

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cabinet members allied with anti-korean

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and other xenophobic groups Abe drummed

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up anti-korean sentiment to bolster his

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support and made sure his allies did the

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dog whistles while he kept his hands

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clean while Trump portrayed immigrants

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as the boogeyman threatening Japan I

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think that was supposed to say

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threatening America Abe latched on to

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deep-rooted anti-korean sentiment

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towards both the Korean residents of

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Japan who stayed after the war and

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citizens of South and North Korea former

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colonies of Japan he appointed ariko

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yamatani a woman closely associated with

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the flamingly anti-korean group zaitoku

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Kai to be the head of the National

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Public Safety commission that oversees

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National Police agency the National

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Police agency he also embraced uh Nippon

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kaiji a conservative Shinto cult and

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political Lobby you could aptly compare

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his alliance with them to Trump’s

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absorption of the Tea Party and other

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far-right elements of the Republican

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Party

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even while out of power the liberal

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Democratic party with Abe exerting

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influence developed plans for a new

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Imperial Constitution for Japan the

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removal of the post-war Constitution

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which was written with the help of the

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American occupation not by them as some

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claim now during his political Exile Abe

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even briefly became head of an extremist

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Think Tank Nihon sosei which is create

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Japan made up of ldp liberal Democratic

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party lawmakers and other conservative

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superstars in May 2012 the organization

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released a clip of him Gathering titled

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the swearing-in of the revised

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Constitution for Japan in which he and

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his cronies discussed the ldp’s

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substitute Constitution there were some

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astonishing moments a former Minister of

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Justice nagasi jinen appointed during

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Abe’s first term in office told the

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crowd the people’s sovereignty basic

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human rights and pacifism these three

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things date to the post-war regime

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imposed by MacArthur General MacArthur

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on Japan therefore we have to get rid of

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them by making the Constitution our own

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Abe loudly applauded this get rid of

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basic human rights democracy and wage

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Warfare also restore the emperor to

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power

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in other words make Japan great again

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it’s no wonder that years later Steve

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Bannon would say that Abe was Trump

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before Trump Abe for many

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excuse me Abe for many years the most

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powerful man in Japan’s ruling political

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party the liberal Democratic party in

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fact he was campaigning for their

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candidates in the coming Upper House

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elections when he was shot on Thursday

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the ldp was founded in 1955 by Abe’s

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grandfather a former war criminal who

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also served as prime minister they were

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funded with money from Yakuza associate

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and CIA operative yoshio Kodama but

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starting with his Fall From Grace the

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ldp’s popularity sank in 2009 it seemed

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like Japan might really change and for

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the better for only the second time

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since 1955 the perpetually corrupt and

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archley conservative liberal Democratic

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party was kicked out of power and the

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liberal egalitarian feminist leaning

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Democratic party of Japan took hold of

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The reigns of power it was a revolution

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but it didn’t last long the dpj had

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risen to power partly with expectations

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that they would be cleaner and less

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criminal than the ldp but then one

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scandal after another implicating the

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party’s top management and unsavory ties

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with the Yakuza through dirt on their

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squeaky clean image the lower house

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elections of 2012 were a political

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meltdown almost all the opposition

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parties including the dpj were decimated

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and we know who returned from the

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political graveyard ready to rule Japan

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with a rusty iron fist Shinzo Abe was

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quick to take revenge upon his critics

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once back in power labeling the liberal

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newspaper Asahi shimbun an enemy of the

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people later he would tell Donald Trump

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you should handle the New York Times the

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way I handled acai

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wow he bullied the left-wing media and

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whined and dimed the right-wing media

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dragging Japan’s press freedom from 11th

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in the world to as low as 72nd Place in

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in world rankings in 2014 he created a

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cabinet Personnel Bureau which exercised

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ruthless control of bureaucratic

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appointments assuring that any

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government worker who didn’t toe the

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line or released information

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contradicting the government was either

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shunned fired or sidelined so very

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authoritarian on press freedoms is what

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you’re learning here

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it worked very effectively and some

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high-ranking officials even took it upon

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themselves to cover up Abe related

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scandals without direct orders to do so

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television anchors and pundits that were

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too critical of Abe vanished from the

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airwaves the world’s largest newspaper

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the yomiyuri shimbun smeared the biggest

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critic in the education Ministry for

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frequenty frequenting sexy bars in

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kabukicho so smearing his political

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opponents

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he had no qualms about using the media

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for defamation campaigns and the media

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and eager for spoon-fed Scoops was happy

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to comply eventually in 2020 the weight

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of political scandals and an

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investigation into election law

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violations by Abe forced him to resign

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under the guise of medical issues a few

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months later he threw his political

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secretary onto the bus and was more or

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less exonerated he kept a low profile

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for months but couldn’t resist the

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Limelight Shinzo Abe failed to change

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even one word of Japan’s constitution in

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the end but did pass several laws that

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are still eating away at it including

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article 9 Japan’s Declaration of

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pacifism his greatest achievement having

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so thoroughly discredited opposition

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parties in critical media that Japan

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isn’t even reminiscent of a two-party

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democracy it’s a one-party democracy

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where the media has its tails between

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its legs and is likely to stay that way

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for decades

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so

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um

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that gives you

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um a look into who Shinzo Abe is what

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his ideology is and um the background

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around that

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and then also look it super conservative

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guy

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um

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wanted to be more militaristic make

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Japan less pacifist uh hardliner on

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immigration

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anti-korean anti-chinese authoritarian

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when it comes to the Press now that’s

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not none of this is to say that homeboys

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should have been assassinated of course

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not uh but you should understand the

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background and who Abe is and again as

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far as the motive of the guy who did The

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Killing

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I still don’t have any answer that I

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find uh convincing I told you what’s

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been reported but you know I have a

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feeling that maybe over time we’ll learn

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more or maybe we’ll never learn more but

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that’s not I don’t think that’s the full

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the full reasoning so by the way we’ll

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end on this note

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um

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as a result of the assassination now

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Shinzo Abe’s right-wing party the

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liberal Democratic party as it’s called

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is even more popular

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they surged in the polls after the

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assassination so

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there you have it

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um you know giant political event and um

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of course other world leaders have come

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out and and uh

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offered condolences and Trump said

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something about

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um Abe being assassinated uh Trump had

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played golf with him a number of times

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random side point but

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anyway there you have it uh momentous

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event of a former Japanese leader being

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assassinated hey y’all do me a favor and

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