We say Venezuela's government is illegitimate and Maduro isn't President, but he's doing a pretty good impression of one so far(much better than the pretender Guaido), including commanding their armed forces. One can be a general without fighting for a legitimate government as well, commanding a large regular military unit is the defining characteristic. As far as citizenship, just saying you're renouncing it doesn't do the trick today, there's a specific process you have to go through(and some do for tax reasons) I don't know if the law was changed since the civil war, but just declaring yourself a rebel and non-citizen doesn't legally make it so today. There's a case in the news today the Trump admin trying to deny a woman ever was a citizen(born to a foreign diplomat) because they know just because she joined ISIS doesn't nullify her citizenship.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-isis-bride-hoda-muthana-court-bid-to-come-home-donald-trump-says-not-citizen/

Three years ago I thought it might be a good idea to buy some gold, I hung out with google for a few hours, and realized that I wanted Krugerrands for bullion-value and identifiability. One more hour, and I found a site (apmex) that bought/sold within a few points of spot and had good terms. I recently sold that gold and saw about an 18% annual profit(I'm on the fence as to whether gold should be the measure of value, but for tax reasons, it's a profit) on that investment, because I was not scammed on the price, because I did my homework.

That one investment is all I know about the gold market, and I hear about all these great "investment opportunities" all the time, it seems absurd to me that people actually buy this stuff at these hyper inflated prices when the info on the market-value is so readily available.

I wonder if Beck has his Ad people brag about how gullible his audience is to potential advertisers.

the only benefit homosexuals could gain by officially calling the relationship a "marriage" is for tax/insurance purposes. They could be just as happy, (or some comedians would argue, unhappy) living together without a marriage license. But suppose for a second gay marriage is allowed - this would make it possible for two college roommates to claim they are homosexual and get "married" in order to get a better position in terms of taxes/insurance

1. Taxes and insurance are not the only benefits provided by marriage. In an emergency room, people who are not considered immediate family by the hospital are barred from seeing patients. Information concerning the patient is also withheld from anyone who is not immediate family. The insurance issue is also a big thing, and its not about greed, health care is terribly expensive. Why should the child of a gay man or woman not be allowed to be protected by his/her partner's insurance?
2. I have a male roomate, and I am female. Should we get married for tax reasons? Men and women living together who are not romantically involved is an increasing phenomenon, but do we really think any of these people get married for tax reasons??

So, if we really think a need for same-sex marriage is borne out of greed why not ban marriage all together? Quick, before my roomie and i deside we need a tax break.