Trump’s action does now leave the way open for Canada and Mexico to send a large fleet of taxis to Washington to arrest Trump and drive him to either Ottawa or Mexico City. If Melania can be found, she will doubtless also be arrested with the power of precedence supplied by the safe-keeping action on Maduro’s better half. If Trump is taken to Ottawa to stand trial for attempting to annex Canada as 51st state, Melania could be flown to Greenland or Mexico City either to stand trial there or to be transferred via red-eye flight to her home country of Slovenia or a different Ball-Can country of her choice or a so-called (by her hubby) shitty country of his choice (Ethiopia perhaps). After the removal of Donald via the longest undefended border ever imagined, the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and the Toronto Maple Leafs will be empowered to take charge of the USA until such time as all the places bearing the name Trump on them have those signs changed to Epstein. If approved by the Supreme Court in Ottawa, MacDonalds and Walmart will be nationalized so that Donald can stuff his face as usual while in captivity and while waiting for Ms. Maxwell to be transported to Ottawa to join him there for old time’s sake.
The actual precedent Trump just set is catastrophic. I just published analysis showing this wasn’t improvised chaos—it’s the November 2025 National Security Strategy being executed exactly as written. The NSS’s “Trump Corollary” explicitly authorizes military force to seize “strategically vital assets” and deny Chinese/Russian influence in our hemisphere. Venezuela was proof of concept for documented imperial doctrine.
The joke about Canada arresting Trump, well, Only great powers with military superiority can operate this playbook. That’s exactly what makes it so dangerous. When the U.S. can bomb a sovereign capital without congressional authorization, extract a head of state, and announce “we’re going to run the country” from a golf resort, we’ve validated every autocrat’s sphere of influence claims. Russia gets Ukraine, China gets Taiwan, U.S. gets the hemisphere. International law becomes whatever the strongest military says it is.
The real precedent isn’t legal, it’s behavioral. Constitutional constraints treated as optional. Congressional war powers ignored. Resource seizure announced as policy. And critically, methods normalized abroad bleed into domestic governance. If Trump can conduct extraterritorial regime change without oversight for Venezuela’s oil, what’s to stop similar exercises of unchecked executive power at home?
This isn’t funny. It’s the documented death of rules-based order, executed systematically, with Venezuelan crude as both motive and proof that might makes right now.
Exactly right. And meanwhile, WTF can sane citizens do to try to push back? Congress not in session for another week. Is this not a major crisis? SCOTUS will support Miller/Hegseth as they prop up the demented one who plays POTUS.
Whether Congress is in session or not, they can still hear us. It's up to us to make sure they do hear us. That's the primary point of the First Amendment's protections for our rights and freedoms of expression, communication, association and assembly.
I think Congress comes back into session (tomorrow 1/5/26). January 5 is also, IIRC, the end date of Marjorie Taylor Greene's term in the House. One down, a few more to go this month (I hope) and voila', Democratic majority. Crossing fingers.
What ordinary citizens can do is follow the Christopher Armitage playbook for soft succession - appeal to blue state governors and attorneys general to enforce state laws against federal level violators and contact donors to complain about red state legislators they have supported (in a nutshell).
Isn't this an act of war? How can the courts and Congress sit back and allow this man , who can not even complete a sentence, has a very limited vocabulary, has never read anything of merit, continue to wreck havoc?.
The hard truth: Institutional guardrails have already failed. Congress knew and did nothing. Courts gave immunity. The NSS documented the playbook and nobody stopped it.
What’s left:
Immediate: Pressure Congress on the privileged war powers resolution this week. Make it politically toxic to rubber-stamp hemisphere-wide regime change. Flood Senate offices.
Strategic: Build international coalitions that raise the cost. Latin American unity against intervention, European condemnation that threatens trade/alliances. Those 26 EU nations that signed the declaration need to escalate beyond symbolic condemnation. Begin to Declare U.S. diplomats will be treated as persona non grata, threaten embassy closures, impose real diplomatic costs. Otherwise the condemnation just becomes cover while the doctrine spreads.
Isolation works when enforced.
Long-term: The 2026 midterms will be too late.
Brutal reality: Once spheres-of-influence politics are normalized and documented as official strategy, only counter-power stops them. Either institutional (Congress with spine), international (coalitions that impose costs), or electoral (removing enablers).
Venezuela proved the doctrine works without pushback.
The window to stop the next one is closing fast. Activism, organizing, and making this politically unsustainable are the only tools left when constitutional constraints fail.
Precedent is a much-abused word. It has a legal meaning, i.e., a binding written decision. People use "precedent" when they mean merely "example." Nothing that Trump does is precedent. Nothing he does is binding. This is not the "documented death of rules-based order." As bad as this is, it's not worse than what the people who wrote and ratified our Constitution foresaw.
The only real precedent here is our Constitution, and it expressly provides for the people to remove the President every 4 years. More importantly right now, it expressly provides for the people to remove the entire House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate every two years. So Americans need to speak up and make our voices and our will heard.
Thank you for the reminder; we were warned. trump’s NSS’s focus on the Western Hemisphere and immigration means we will see more military aggression and ICE in 2026. The document’s disparagement of our allies and Europe is also being realized.
Thank you, Sir, for an incisive and far-seeing view. Reasoned analysis is important tight now. I may not be alone in being swept up in repugnance, revulsion, and shame to think very clearly. Perhaps the E.U. and the O.A.S. can put out arrest warrants on Trump and sanction the United States. As KAO observes, right below your comment, ¿ ¿what do sane people do?
The hard truth: Institutional guardrails have already failed. Congress knew and did nothing. Courts gave immunity. The NSS documented the playbook and nobody stopped it.
What’s left:
Immediate: Pressure Congress on the privileged war powers resolution this week. Make it politically toxic to rubber-stamp hemisphere-wide regime change. Flood Senate offices.
Strategic: Build international coalitions that raise the cost. Latin American unity against intervention, European condemnation that threatens trade/alliances. Those 26 EU nations that signed the declaration need to escalate beyond symbolic condemnation. Begin to Declare U.S. diplomats will be treated as persona non grata, threaten embassy closures, impose real diplomatic costs. Otherwise the condemnation just becomes cover while the doctrine spreads.
Isolation works when enforced.
Long-term: The 2026 midterms will be too late.
Brutal reality: Once spheres-of-influence politics are normalized and documented as official strategy, only counter-power stops them. Either institutional (Congress with spine), international (coalitions that impose costs), or electoral (removing enablers).
Venezuela proved the doctrine works without pushback.
The window to stop the next one is closing fast. Activism, organizing, and making this politically unsustainable are the only tools left when constitutional constraints fail.
Oh! I didn't realize that laws mattered any more! So glad to hear that. If the multi-billion drug trafficker from Honduras was pardoned, I expect that maduro&wife will be, too. Lots of hidden assets. A cut for the bottomless orange pedophilic sadist.
Very clever! Trump is a scorpion; he will sting himself in the end, dragging as many of us down as possible. One sick f*ck. The charges on possession of machine guns when the guy has been in the U.S. very rarely for a U.N. General Assembly meeting? That scheiße charge implies that Venezuela is part of the U.S. already. The worst of it all remains Vance likely being worse than Trump.
"They wouldn’t be trying so hard to distract us if it didn’t matter."
One sentence that sums up this entire prevaricating, dishonest, arrogant, incompetent, incoherent bump-and-grind act from Las Vegas. Add insult to injury -- to slight the wildly popular winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Maria Machado, claiming she doesn't have popular backing --- what nonsense! So on top of the lies about fentanyl, the lies about regime change, this clearly has nothing to do with democracy. It's about FEALTY and oil, not necessarily in that order to justify a thoroughly bizarre implementation of the Monroe Doctrine of the 1820s.
They are trying to dazzle us with stupid magic tricks. It is so important we not remain stunned by it all. Force your Congresscritter to take a stand for the Constitution, not the Trump-Hegseth-Rubio upside-down world of malevolent batshit.
I think Trump is being played by the Batistianos and the Saudis. He has a conflict with Putin, who was a major Maduro supporter, if not sponsor.
The major reason he wants Greenland is to placate Putin.
IMHO most of the national wealth of Venezuela is located on Brickell Ave., Miami Fl 33131. Most of the rich Venezuelan families have ties to Miami.
Maduro was indicted on corruption, drug trafficking and other charges in 2020, and the State Department had a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
In announcing the capture of Maduro, Trump said it was done in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement. The indictment was sworn out in the Southern District of New York.
Marco Rubio asserts that Nicolás Maduro was “arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”
L'l Marco is also the long time mouthpiece for Norman Braman, local car dealer, who used to be an NFL owner and who has been advocating action against Iran. AI. Braman's connection to Iran primarily involves his strong advocacy against the Iranian regime, particularly concerning its nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism, often aligning with pro-Israel efforts, where he's been a significant backer of politicians and organizations critical of Iran, linking him to the "Iran hawk" perspective in US politics, notes jewishjournal.org. He co-chaired community efforts against Iran's nuclear program and is seen as a major figure funding anti-Iran policies, contrasting with the regime's narrative, as seen in Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Mondoweiss.
1. Venezuelans in South Florida awoke Saturday to long-awaited, welcome news: Nicolás Maduro had been captured in the middle of the night by U.S. forces following military action in Caracas. The Venezuelan leader’s detention, announced by President Donald Trump, sparked hope — and uncertainty about what comes next for a nation long battered by repression, economic collapse and exile. Even before the sun rose, hundreds of people waving a sea of Venezuelan flags gathered outside El Arepazo, a well-known Venezuelan restaurant in Doral, the heart of the Venezuelan community in the U.S. Many cheered, danced, cried and embraced each other as they celebrated the capturing of Maduro, something they say will bring long needed change — and hopefully liberation — to their country.
3. The U.S. is aiming to access oil reserves and reshape energy markets, while many global powers condemn the intervention as a violation of sovereignty, raising regional tensions and concerns over Venezuela's future governance, though there's a general hope for a peaceful democratic transition and addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
4. "Oil prices edge lower after biggest annual loss since 2020." CNBC at 2 p.m.
Dan, per HCR: "Ben Lefebvre, Zack Colman, and James Bikales of Politico reported that oil companies are leery of Trump’s plan that they will invest billions of dollars in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry. Two sources told the journalists that while oil companies would like reimbursement for the equipment and infrastructure they left behind in Venezuela when its government nationalized the oil fields, they are unenthusiastic about Trump’s demand that they invest heavily in rebuilding Venezuela’s destroyed petroleum industry in order to recoup their losses.
"They say they have no idea how badly the infrastructure has decayed, and little interest in investing when it is not clear who will be running the country in the future. The administration has failed to reach out to oil executives with a long-term plan, experts told the journalists. One source said “it feels very much a shoot-ready-aim exercise.”"
So if US oil companies aren't interested, I gotta say: what's the point? I mean, to any rational person who isn't suffering from dementia?
I second Rebekha's gratitude. Great to come across you after a while. Thank you for clarify a significant element of the back-story here. Perhaps it is time for the E.U. and the O.A.S. to sanction the United States.
Dan, as always, thank you for your due diligence, bringing more clarity to the difficulties with which we are and have been subjected to for Decades now.
It's Come to This, I must admit that I had to look up the word "fealty". As the tenant's / vassal's sworn allegiance in feudalism -- what a perfect way to describe this stole-our-oil boolsheet. You are right on the money: cheap thrills by cheap shills.
Yeah, I don’t understand that one. I’m not surprised to learn that he might’ve had machine guns in his home or office or wherever but presumably that was legal in Venezuela and wouldn’t seem to be a violation of US law.
It may be performative. Those two charges either to be dropped to make us look 'decent'. Or for the jury to reject, thereby (maybe; this is a stretch) lowering inhibitions to convict on what may be TRUMPed up drug charges.
Thank you, Messrs I.C.T.T. and Solomon for taking time to research, to think through, and to write out enlightening -- and lightning -- answers to my hasty quip. I appreciate that. And, Ken, I am with you as an extra in 'Malice in Wonderland'.
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Mark, Thank you so much for this delightful episode of the theater of the absurd! A breath of fresh air at a time when keeping Spirits alive and Awakened! Love and Compassion to ALL!
Media cannot lose its focus on Epstein! That is too easy to do with the recent invasion. However, with the current doj reacting as they choose, do the files really matter? Also, what does it matter that doj has missed another deadline. So what?! It seems that nothing we have/had in place actually does matter! Thats is scary since those who could act refuse to!!
Question: if Maduro was running "narcoterrorism" wouldn't it have been helpful to have been able to bring in the people we've killed in small boats as witnesses?
Don't eliminate the possibility that 'they forgot to think about that.' Every day, the utter incompetence of these malevolent fuck-ups just takes my breath away.
WE are going to run Venezuela? The sick dotard cannot even run this country; this morning we caught him sleeping while standing up. Trust us, WE have not forgotten the Epstein files, Jack Smith’s damning testimony, the ballroom fiasco and the disgusting remarks about the Kennedy family as they mourn yet another tragic loss. I guess pigs do fly when MTG is the one making sense.
I thought he went to sleep during whatever that presser was for. I wonder what he shoots up in order to get on stage; he was 45 minutes late. I think he may be in truly bad shape.
Everything Trump does scares me. The scary thing is that JD Vance is Trump with a real brain.
That is a horror for the future.
I was upset when I read the the GOP money chest for the mid-terms is now in the billions due to all the billionaires padding it. Can we possibly overcome that?
How dare they lump us together! I was protesting in the 60's and 70's too! I still have the same values and attending the No Kings rallies and will do so again!
Also take extreme umbrage at MTG's statement that Boomers would cheer on the war. Even in her supposed turn-about, she is so deeply, dangerously and insultingly ignorant.
I’m a pre-boomer who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela in the 60s (66-68). I am aware of just how bad Maduro has been for Venezuela. I recall, though, just how proud Venezuelas are of Simon Bolivar, their liberator. So I don’t believe these people would be happy if we Americans took over the leadership of their country, even for a short time. Moreover, Trump’s motives are far from pure — he wants to rob Venezuela of its oil.
What about the Honduran guy who was convicted of sending tons of cocaine in and was to serve 45 years but was pardoned? We know this is all about oil. He doesn’t care about the Venezuelan people
So dumbstruck this morning — worse, K.O. — that, while I could acknowledge your description of The Thing as the aptest yet seen, I didn't even have it in me to say so.
Just commented on Joyce Vance's morning wrap-up that I'd seen your Black Hole label and want to frame it. But — pardon me — I didn't name its onlie begetter.
When this man came on the scene in 2016, I looked, and said to myself... "But there's no one at home..." All the while finding it hard to believe that feeling... But no, it's far worse than that, and when you say "He will never get enough", the truth is, he CAN never get enough.
The American Abyss...
What's troubling me now...
It's not just too many ordinary voters that got conned by this ultimate conman and can't help the fact that they can't count up to 2... Now, it's many of those who are supposed to lead what used to be referred to as "The Free World" (by those who made free with it) that can't count up to two either.
And if, as the French say "To govern is to foresee", that entails an ability to see a few steps ahead... to count up to 3 and beyond.
This blindness/deafness/inability to think, this strategic vacuum, has been getting worse and worse ever since 9/11, and the consequences are beyond horrific. Only some Islamists and the Chinese Communist Party are showing any real awareness of timescales beyond quarterly returns.
The consequences of ultra-individualism: ultra-conformism.
As with "Scientific Socialism" — only perhaps more so — our crass materialism has so dissolved, so atomized community, awareness of true belonging, that now we have to live with the residue, a formless, mindless porridge: The Masses. Sure, awareness is growing, there are healthy signs of an awakening, but too few where they're most needed, and the awakening has been so very slow...
Joyce Vance can never repeat enough: We're in this together.
I think others who follow this say it is more about the amount of money that can be paid to trump and regime cronies. Venezuela has poor oil infrastructure, even tho they sit on massive reserves. So it isn’t first and foremost about oil. It’s about the monetary leverage this gives to trump
I think it’s about taking charge of the Americas by extending the US sphere of influence from top to bottom. Watch out Canada! Putin wants to carve the world into the 3 “1984” spheres of populist oppression and endless warfare to fund the rich and kill the poor. Trump’s cabal wants to play toy soldiers and be real despots.
I do think that’s a distinct motivation, both Putin’s and trump’s. However, I think it is really important for us to resurface and use the floatation device that historians offer repeatedly but which doesn’t get lifted up beyond — the future is still very much OURS to write. There is no reason that the worst we imagine, and infer, are destiny. And I truly believe, and am devoting myself in particular this year to doing, investment in local civic life, county representation, municipal works, even the statehouse level governance is what will help us repair some (only some) of the immense damage inflicted in 2025 by these fascists. And I think offers our best hope — spelled out in so many creative, little, variations on a theme across the country. Good speed to all!!
But right now, we need to inundate the WH, Congress, the military who are following illegal orders, oil companies, and slimy supporters of the Felon with a constant barrage of public naming and shaming. Whatever it takes.
There were demonstrations across the country, in the SCalif rain and snowstorms elsewhere, with more planned tomorrow. Go google ANSWER then but in your zip code.
Evil knows no boundaries. I want, I take. Trump has lived this psychopathic mindset his entire life. With great power and OPM (other people’s money - i.e. ours), he’s now viewing all nearby lands and resources as his to take. The cost to Americans of this megalomania, if allowed to take further root, is staggering. The MAGA enterprise is full-on treasonous and criminal.
And yet another example of El Trompo's projection: HE is the one in need of being arrested, tried, convicted and prevented from his massive corruption that is destroying his country. So he goes after Maduro, his low-rent mirror image.
Ann As a 92 year old I am impressed that the current judge for the Maduro trial is 92. Hr is old enough to remember the basics of justice and legality. He seems a match for Trump’s bloviating and Pamsy Bondi’s kindergarten injustice.
Looking forward to the restoration of the Democratic Party and constitutional government. Can the restored government surrender Trump for prosecution under international law for various crimes that transcend the immunity granted him by the Supreme Court for domestic crimes?
Finally, if this be war, then is Hegseth - the manly military man who threw a real warrior under the bus - a war criminal … for executing those two who survived the U.S. military’s attack on a small boat?
Well, any mention of his latest deranged antics has to take into account his well-known sociopathy, cognitive decline, uncivil and illegal proclivities, and the perils of an Executive Branch permeated by brown-nose-encrusted sycophants and unfit enablers. So let's start from there...
I spent 4 hours on New Years Eve and 4 hours on New Years Day watching the Jack Smith dep. I am in awe of that man and his counsel for their professionalism and restraint at some of the questions - whines, really - from defense counsel. My eyes were rolling so hard I'm surprised they stayed in my head. I've only prosecuted in misdemeanor court, but I have NEVER heard a defense attorney complain that it wasn't fair that I was not taking into consideration his client's different jurisdictional requirements due to his client's committing crimes in multiple jurisdictions. I also never heard a judge admonish me for being so inconsiderate.
Trump’s action does now leave the way open for Canada and Mexico to send a large fleet of taxis to Washington to arrest Trump and drive him to either Ottawa or Mexico City. If Melania can be found, she will doubtless also be arrested with the power of precedence supplied by the safe-keeping action on Maduro’s better half. If Trump is taken to Ottawa to stand trial for attempting to annex Canada as 51st state, Melania could be flown to Greenland or Mexico City either to stand trial there or to be transferred via red-eye flight to her home country of Slovenia or a different Ball-Can country of her choice or a so-called (by her hubby) shitty country of his choice (Ethiopia perhaps). After the removal of Donald via the longest undefended border ever imagined, the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and the Toronto Maple Leafs will be empowered to take charge of the USA until such time as all the places bearing the name Trump on them have those signs changed to Epstein. If approved by the Supreme Court in Ottawa, MacDonalds and Walmart will be nationalized so that Donald can stuff his face as usual while in captivity and while waiting for Ms. Maxwell to be transported to Ottawa to join him there for old time’s sake.
The actual precedent Trump just set is catastrophic. I just published analysis showing this wasn’t improvised chaos—it’s the November 2025 National Security Strategy being executed exactly as written. The NSS’s “Trump Corollary” explicitly authorizes military force to seize “strategically vital assets” and deny Chinese/Russian influence in our hemisphere. Venezuela was proof of concept for documented imperial doctrine.
The joke about Canada arresting Trump, well, Only great powers with military superiority can operate this playbook. That’s exactly what makes it so dangerous. When the U.S. can bomb a sovereign capital without congressional authorization, extract a head of state, and announce “we’re going to run the country” from a golf resort, we’ve validated every autocrat’s sphere of influence claims. Russia gets Ukraine, China gets Taiwan, U.S. gets the hemisphere. International law becomes whatever the strongest military says it is.
The real precedent isn’t legal, it’s behavioral. Constitutional constraints treated as optional. Congressional war powers ignored. Resource seizure announced as policy. And critically, methods normalized abroad bleed into domestic governance. If Trump can conduct extraterritorial regime change without oversight for Venezuela’s oil, what’s to stop similar exercises of unchecked executive power at home?
This isn’t funny. It’s the documented death of rules-based order, executed systematically, with Venezuelan crude as both motive and proof that might makes right now.
—Johan
Exactly right. And meanwhile, WTF can sane citizens do to try to push back? Congress not in session for another week. Is this not a major crisis? SCOTUS will support Miller/Hegseth as they prop up the demented one who plays POTUS.
Whether Congress is in session or not, they can still hear us. It's up to us to make sure they do hear us. That's the primary point of the First Amendment's protections for our rights and freedoms of expression, communication, association and assembly.
I think Congress comes back into session (tomorrow 1/5/26). January 5 is also, IIRC, the end date of Marjorie Taylor Greene's term in the House. One down, a few more to go this month (I hope) and voila', Democratic majority. Crossing fingers.
As for Congress, I don't see what they can do even if they vote to rescind any war powers the president is assuming he has. I'd expect the reaction to echo Emil Bove's "Fuck You!". https://newrepublic.com/post/198590/trump-alarming-federal-judge-emil-bove
What ordinary citizens can do is follow the Christopher Armitage playbook for soft succession - appeal to blue state governors and attorneys general to enforce state laws against federal level violators and contact donors to complain about red state legislators they have supported (in a nutshell).
Isn't this an act of war? How can the courts and Congress sit back and allow this man , who can not even complete a sentence, has a very limited vocabulary, has never read anything of merit, continue to wreck havoc?.
Reading your comments is even a bigger awakening.
The hard truth: Institutional guardrails have already failed. Congress knew and did nothing. Courts gave immunity. The NSS documented the playbook and nobody stopped it.
What’s left:
Immediate: Pressure Congress on the privileged war powers resolution this week. Make it politically toxic to rubber-stamp hemisphere-wide regime change. Flood Senate offices.
Strategic: Build international coalitions that raise the cost. Latin American unity against intervention, European condemnation that threatens trade/alliances. Those 26 EU nations that signed the declaration need to escalate beyond symbolic condemnation. Begin to Declare U.S. diplomats will be treated as persona non grata, threaten embassy closures, impose real diplomatic costs. Otherwise the condemnation just becomes cover while the doctrine spreads.
Isolation works when enforced.
Long-term: The 2026 midterms will be too late.
Brutal reality: Once spheres-of-influence politics are normalized and documented as official strategy, only counter-power stops them. Either institutional (Congress with spine), international (coalitions that impose costs), or electoral (removing enablers).
Venezuela proved the doctrine works without pushback.
The window to stop the next one is closing fast. Activism, organizing, and making this politically unsustainable are the only tools left when constitutional constraints fail.
What are your thoughts on these counter measurements happening?
Precedent is a much-abused word. It has a legal meaning, i.e., a binding written decision. People use "precedent" when they mean merely "example." Nothing that Trump does is precedent. Nothing he does is binding. This is not the "documented death of rules-based order." As bad as this is, it's not worse than what the people who wrote and ratified our Constitution foresaw.
The only real precedent here is our Constitution, and it expressly provides for the people to remove the President every 4 years. More importantly right now, it expressly provides for the people to remove the entire House of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate every two years. So Americans need to speak up and make our voices and our will heard.
Exactly! Let’s make sure that is the message our Senators and members of Congress are getting from the people who oppose this action.
Thank you for the reminder; we were warned. trump’s NSS’s focus on the Western Hemisphere and immigration means we will see more military aggression and ICE in 2026. The document’s disparagement of our allies and Europe is also being realized.
Thank you, Sir, for an incisive and far-seeing view. Reasoned analysis is important tight now. I may not be alone in being swept up in repugnance, revulsion, and shame to think very clearly. Perhaps the E.U. and the O.A.S. can put out arrest warrants on Trump and sanction the United States. As KAO observes, right below your comment, ¿ ¿what do sane people do?
The hard truth: Institutional guardrails have already failed. Congress knew and did nothing. Courts gave immunity. The NSS documented the playbook and nobody stopped it.
What’s left:
Immediate: Pressure Congress on the privileged war powers resolution this week. Make it politically toxic to rubber-stamp hemisphere-wide regime change. Flood Senate offices.
Strategic: Build international coalitions that raise the cost. Latin American unity against intervention, European condemnation that threatens trade/alliances. Those 26 EU nations that signed the declaration need to escalate beyond symbolic condemnation. Begin to Declare U.S. diplomats will be treated as persona non grata, threaten embassy closures, impose real diplomatic costs. Otherwise the condemnation just becomes cover while the doctrine spreads.
Isolation works when enforced.
Long-term: The 2026 midterms will be too late.
Brutal reality: Once spheres-of-influence politics are normalized and documented as official strategy, only counter-power stops them. Either institutional (Congress with spine), international (coalitions that impose costs), or electoral (removing enablers).
Venezuela proved the doctrine works without pushback.
The window to stop the next one is closing fast. Activism, organizing, and making this politically unsustainable are the only tools left when constitutional constraints fail.
Agreed right down the line.
If only, if only, if only...
How can these charges hold up in court? And the wife must be released.
Oh! I didn't realize that laws mattered any more! So glad to hear that. If the multi-billion drug trafficker from Honduras was pardoned, I expect that maduro&wife will be, too. Lots of hidden assets. A cut for the bottomless orange pedophilic sadist.
Yep.
IF ONY, IF ONLY, IF ONLY
Very clever! Trump is a scorpion; he will sting himself in the end, dragging as many of us down as possible. One sick f*ck. The charges on possession of machine guns when the guy has been in the U.S. very rarely for a U.N. General Assembly meeting? That scheiße charge implies that Venezuela is part of the U.S. already. The worst of it all remains Vance likely being worse than Trump.
"They wouldn’t be trying so hard to distract us if it didn’t matter."
One sentence that sums up this entire prevaricating, dishonest, arrogant, incompetent, incoherent bump-and-grind act from Las Vegas. Add insult to injury -- to slight the wildly popular winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Maria Machado, claiming she doesn't have popular backing --- what nonsense! So on top of the lies about fentanyl, the lies about regime change, this clearly has nothing to do with democracy. It's about FEALTY and oil, not necessarily in that order to justify a thoroughly bizarre implementation of the Monroe Doctrine of the 1820s.
They are trying to dazzle us with stupid magic tricks. It is so important we not remain stunned by it all. Force your Congresscritter to take a stand for the Constitution, not the Trump-Hegseth-Rubio upside-down world of malevolent batshit.
I repeat what I said Yesterday:
I think Trump is being played by the Batistianos and the Saudis. He has a conflict with Putin, who was a major Maduro supporter, if not sponsor.
The major reason he wants Greenland is to placate Putin.
IMHO most of the national wealth of Venezuela is located on Brickell Ave., Miami Fl 33131. Most of the rich Venezuelan families have ties to Miami.
Maduro was indicted on corruption, drug trafficking and other charges in 2020, and the State Department had a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
In announcing the capture of Maduro, Trump said it was done in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement. The indictment was sworn out in the Southern District of New York.
Marco Rubio asserts that Nicolás Maduro was “arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.”
Here in Baghdad By the Sea we know that L'il Marco was the prime mover -- along with some of our Miami Batistianos who see Venezuela as a proxy/client of Cuba, and this may be a vehicle to retaliate. "Marco Rubio suggests Cuba may be next after Venezuela strike." https://floridapolitics.com/archives/771484-marco-rubio-suggests-cuba-may-be-next-after-venezuela-strike/
L'l Marco is also the long time mouthpiece for Norman Braman, local car dealer, who used to be an NFL owner and who has been advocating action against Iran. AI. Braman's connection to Iran primarily involves his strong advocacy against the Iranian regime, particularly concerning its nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism, often aligning with pro-Israel efforts, where he's been a significant backer of politicians and organizations critical of Iran, linking him to the "Iran hawk" perspective in US politics, notes jewishjournal.org. He co-chaired community efforts against Iran's nuclear program and is seen as a major figure funding anti-Iran policies, contrasting with the regime's narrative, as seen in Greater Miami Jewish Federation and Mondoweiss.
1. Venezuelans in South Florida awoke Saturday to long-awaited, welcome news: Nicolás Maduro had been captured in the middle of the night by U.S. forces following military action in Caracas. The Venezuelan leader’s detention, announced by President Donald Trump, sparked hope — and uncertainty about what comes next for a nation long battered by repression, economic collapse and exile. Even before the sun rose, hundreds of people waving a sea of Venezuelan flags gathered outside El Arepazo, a well-known Venezuelan restaurant in Doral, the heart of the Venezuelan community in the U.S. Many cheered, danced, cried and embraced each other as they celebrated the capturing of Maduro, something they say will bring long needed change — and hopefully liberation — to their country.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article314137788.html#storylink=cpy
2. ‘We’re going to run it’: Trump says military to stay in Venezuela for now. By Claire Heddles
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article314142792.html#storylink=cpy
3. The U.S. is aiming to access oil reserves and reshape energy markets, while many global powers condemn the intervention as a violation of sovereignty, raising regional tensions and concerns over Venezuela's future governance, though there's a general hope for a peaceful democratic transition and addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
4. "Oil prices edge lower after biggest annual loss since 2020." CNBC at 2 p.m.
Dan, per HCR: "Ben Lefebvre, Zack Colman, and James Bikales of Politico reported that oil companies are leery of Trump’s plan that they will invest billions of dollars in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry. Two sources told the journalists that while oil companies would like reimbursement for the equipment and infrastructure they left behind in Venezuela when its government nationalized the oil fields, they are unenthusiastic about Trump’s demand that they invest heavily in rebuilding Venezuela’s destroyed petroleum industry in order to recoup their losses.
"They say they have no idea how badly the infrastructure has decayed, and little interest in investing when it is not clear who will be running the country in the future. The administration has failed to reach out to oil executives with a long-term plan, experts told the journalists. One source said “it feels very much a shoot-ready-aim exercise.”"
So if US oil companies aren't interested, I gotta say: what's the point? I mean, to any rational person who isn't suffering from dementia?
Daniel,
I second Rebekha's gratitude. Great to come across you after a while. Thank you for clarify a significant element of the back-story here. Perhaps it is time for the E.U. and the O.A.S. to sanction the United States.
Ned.
Dan, as always, thank you for your due diligence, bringing more clarity to the difficulties with which we are and have been subjected to for Decades now.
It's Come to This, I must admit that I had to look up the word "fealty". As the tenant's / vassal's sworn allegiance in feudalism -- what a perfect way to describe this stole-our-oil boolsheet. You are right on the money: cheap thrills by cheap shills.
What about Edmundo Gonzalez? He is the actual elected leader.
Yeah, I don’t understand that one. I’m not surprised to learn that he might’ve had machine guns in his home or office or wherever but presumably that was legal in Venezuela and wouldn’t seem to be a violation of US law.
It may be performative. Those two charges either to be dropped to make us look 'decent'. Or for the jury to reject, thereby (maybe; this is a stretch) lowering inhibitions to convict on what may be TRUMPed up drug charges.
Thank you, Messrs I.C.T.T. and Solomon for taking time to research, to think through, and to write out enlightening -- and lightning -- answers to my hasty quip. I appreciate that. And, Ken, I am with you as an extra in 'Malice in Wonderland'.
God, don’t I wish!
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All excellent ideas! To add to Donnie J’s “pleasure” Justin Bieber could camp outside Donnie’s cell and sing a medley of his songs… on a loop.
Splendid!
Mark, Thank you so much for this delightful episode of the theater of the absurd! A breath of fresh air at a time when keeping Spirits alive and Awakened! Love and Compassion to ALL!
This scenario does make me smile! Wishful thinking….
Love this satire. Rich S
Meanwhile, WHERE ARE THE EPSTEIN FILES?
No kidding! Talk about delay and distract...
Exactly.
Media cannot lose its focus on Epstein! That is too easy to do with the recent invasion. However, with the current doj reacting as they choose, do the files really matter? Also, what does it matter that doj has missed another deadline. So what?! It seems that nothing we have/had in place actually does matter! Thats is scary since those who could act refuse to!!
We are being "distracted" from them, of course!
Question: if Maduro was running "narcoterrorism" wouldn't it have been helpful to have been able to bring in the people we've killed in small boats as witnesses?
Yes, they do seem to have gone out of their way to prevent any trials.
Don't eliminate the possibility that 'they forgot to think about that.' Every day, the utter incompetence of these malevolent fuck-ups just takes my breath away.
Along with their little packets of marijuana, right? And don't the charges on the indictment refer to cocaine, not fentanyl?
WE are going to run Venezuela? The sick dotard cannot even run this country; this morning we caught him sleeping while standing up. Trust us, WE have not forgotten the Epstein files, Jack Smith’s damning testimony, the ballroom fiasco and the disgusting remarks about the Kennedy family as they mourn yet another tragic loss. I guess pigs do fly when MTG is the one making sense.
I thought he went to sleep during whatever that presser was for. I wonder what he shoots up in order to get on stage; he was 45 minutes late. I think he may be in truly bad shape.
The sooner he's six feet under, the better.
Like J.D. Vance will be better? Or Mike Johnson?
Gotta start somewhere I guess.
Neither has a cult following. That's the difference.
fingers crossed
fingers toes eyes everything...........
and the horrendous ripping down of the East Wing, the paving over the Rose Garden and now plans for a 'triumphal arch' - it's revolting.
We’re all mad here.
Everything Trump does scares me. The scary thing is that JD Vance is Trump with a real brain.
That is a horror for the future.
I was upset when I read the the GOP money chest for the mid-terms is now in the billions due to all the billionaires padding it. Can we possibly overcome that?
JDvance is just an opportunist with Peter thiel money.
Voters can overcome cash if they are allowed to vote.
Sure hope to
Jack Smith transcript released on New Year's Eve.
Trump attacks Venezuela on a Saturday.
russ vought sure knows exactly how to time things when people are paying the least attention. Damn him.
it's really a shame the average citizen is so easily distractible
Not me! I am a boomer and against this invasion!
And I am a pre-boomer, and so am I.
How dare they lump us together! I was protesting in the 60's and 70's too! I still have the same values and attending the No Kings rallies and will do so again!
Same here from 60s and 70s & still going strong!!
Me too.
Also take extreme umbrage at MTG's statement that Boomers would cheer on the war. Even in her supposed turn-about, she is so deeply, dangerously and insultingly ignorant.
she's an idiot.
Me too, Lisa!
me too!
Me too Lisa!
How easily the media masses are distracted, I think you mean
What?! Pretty much everyone I know/interact with is paying rapt attention. How can we not?
You're talking about the Gammas, most of whom are MAGAts.
Thanks to Joyce Vance for educating us and keeping us focused on the serious issues.
I’m a pre-boomer who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela in the 60s (66-68). I am aware of just how bad Maduro has been for Venezuela. I recall, though, just how proud Venezuelas are of Simon Bolivar, their liberator. So I don’t believe these people would be happy if we Americans took over the leadership of their country, even for a short time. Moreover, Trump’s motives are far from pure — he wants to rob Venezuela of its oil.
He's another candidate for dangling by his feet from a gas station sign.
What about the Honduran guy who was convicted of sending tons of cocaine in and was to serve 45 years but was pardoned? We know this is all about oil. He doesn’t care about the Venezuelan people
He doesn't care about ANYBODY. He's a gigantic black hole and wants to swallow the entire world. He will never get enough.
Well said and true, kdsherpa!
So dumbstruck this morning — worse, K.O. — that, while I could acknowledge your description of The Thing as the aptest yet seen, I didn't even have it in me to say so.
Just commented on Joyce Vance's morning wrap-up that I'd seen your Black Hole label and want to frame it. But — pardon me — I didn't name its onlie begetter.
When this man came on the scene in 2016, I looked, and said to myself... "But there's no one at home..." All the while finding it hard to believe that feeling... But no, it's far worse than that, and when you say "He will never get enough", the truth is, he CAN never get enough.
The American Abyss...
What's troubling me now...
It's not just too many ordinary voters that got conned by this ultimate conman and can't help the fact that they can't count up to 2... Now, it's many of those who are supposed to lead what used to be referred to as "The Free World" (by those who made free with it) that can't count up to two either.
And if, as the French say "To govern is to foresee", that entails an ability to see a few steps ahead... to count up to 3 and beyond.
This blindness/deafness/inability to think, this strategic vacuum, has been getting worse and worse ever since 9/11, and the consequences are beyond horrific. Only some Islamists and the Chinese Communist Party are showing any real awareness of timescales beyond quarterly returns.
The consequences of ultra-individualism: ultra-conformism.
As with "Scientific Socialism" — only perhaps more so — our crass materialism has so dissolved, so atomized community, awareness of true belonging, that now we have to live with the residue, a formless, mindless porridge: The Masses. Sure, awareness is growing, there are healthy signs of an awakening, but too few where they're most needed, and the awakening has been so very slow...
Joyce Vance can never repeat enough: We're in this together.
It's all about the oil and that's very obvious! What a start to the New Year! It's a distraction from the Epstein files!
The only people he fools are what’s left of the maggots.
Yes, exactly!
I think others who follow this say it is more about the amount of money that can be paid to trump and regime cronies. Venezuela has poor oil infrastructure, even tho they sit on massive reserves. So it isn’t first and foremost about oil. It’s about the monetary leverage this gives to trump
Follow the money. Which oil CEOs paid Trump for access to land in Venezuela?
And the ability to pocket billions of dollars. trump doesn’t care about anything else except himself.
Its about power. Donnie the king of the americas.
And no one has mentioned their reserves of rare earth minerals.
I think it’s about taking charge of the Americas by extending the US sphere of influence from top to bottom. Watch out Canada! Putin wants to carve the world into the 3 “1984” spheres of populist oppression and endless warfare to fund the rich and kill the poor. Trump’s cabal wants to play toy soldiers and be real despots.
I do think that’s a distinct motivation, both Putin’s and trump’s. However, I think it is really important for us to resurface and use the floatation device that historians offer repeatedly but which doesn’t get lifted up beyond — the future is still very much OURS to write. There is no reason that the worst we imagine, and infer, are destiny. And I truly believe, and am devoting myself in particular this year to doing, investment in local civic life, county representation, municipal works, even the statehouse level governance is what will help us repair some (only some) of the immense damage inflicted in 2025 by these fascists. And I think offers our best hope — spelled out in so many creative, little, variations on a theme across the country. Good speed to all!!
Putin? This is specifically the published National Security Strategy - the US NSS.
This illegal and un-Constitutional military action is about 3 things:
* Payoff to the oil companies with a kickback to the Dump Gang.
* Sending the message to our neighbors that Dump will use his military to invade and
kidnap leaders he doesn't like.
* Distraction from Epstein and the Smith testimony.
We need massive demonstrations to hammer home that none of the above will be accepted by the electorate.
Maybe then our anemic "leaders" will take some action.
I think I saw something about another No Kings march on February 17!
Too little too late. That gives The Felon time to commit a dozen other atrocities.
I’m still gonna go! 👍💙🇺🇸
If there is one that day, I will attend.
But right now, we need to inundate the WH, Congress, the military who are following illegal orders, oil companies, and slimy supporters of the Felon with a constant barrage of public naming and shaming. Whatever it takes.
Thanks, TCinLA. I just saw this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI6nGL5zdJM
There were demonstrations across the country, in the SCalif rain and snowstorms elsewhere, with more planned tomorrow. Go google ANSWER then but in your zip code.
Jan 20 “Walk Out” day sponsored by the Women’s March.
Evil knows no boundaries. I want, I take. Trump has lived this psychopathic mindset his entire life. With great power and OPM (other people’s money - i.e. ours), he’s now viewing all nearby lands and resources as his to take. The cost to Americans of this megalomania, if allowed to take further root, is staggering. The MAGA enterprise is full-on treasonous and criminal.
Spot on
Pick one (per hour).
We blew up Caracas and kidnapped the Maduros because:
(1) Narco-trafficking
(2) An indictment arrest required the CIA, Delta Force and 150 aircraft
(3) Oil reserves
(4) We wanted to
(5) Demento needed another country to run into the ground
(6) His manhood is small
(7) Hegseth thought it was Yemen
#4 and nevertheless doesn't think at all. Nor does rubio.
Sad to see the us military become a terrorist organization.
Hegseth thought it was a 3am Waffle House...
(8) wet lab for the defense dept to practice and show off to the world how well oiled the military machine is for urban warfare
Lost irony: The corrupt alleging corruption.
And yet another example of El Trompo's projection: HE is the one in need of being arrested, tried, convicted and prevented from his massive corruption that is destroying his country. So he goes after Maduro, his low-rent mirror image.
And Epstein off of Page One … for a while.
At what point will the Rogue American President and his collaborators be arrested (for high crimes and a host of other charges)?
My question too.
2029
keep dreaming, bush 1 should have been indicted for Iran Contra.....
Given the legal vagueness of the Trump’s claims against Maduro, I would be ecstatic were there an indictment and then a jury voted Maduro not guilty.
That would be an incredible start for 2026. Trump would go bananas (if he’s not already there) and Pamsy Bondi might have to glance at a law book.
Or a grand jury could refuse to indict Maduro, a “no bill”.
Ann As a 92 year old I am impressed that the current judge for the Maduro trial is 92. Hr is old enough to remember the basics of justice and legality. He seems a match for Trump’s bloviating and Pamsy Bondi’s kindergarten injustice.
Age brings wisim, Keith. You are a very smart man. Blessings to you.
Much better.
Looking forward to the restoration of the Democratic Party and constitutional government. Can the restored government surrender Trump for prosecution under international law for various crimes that transcend the immunity granted him by the Supreme Court for domestic crimes?
Finally, if this be war, then is Hegseth - the manly military man who threw a real warrior under the bus - a war criminal … for executing those two who survived the U.S. military’s attack on a small boat?
I wish.
Well, any mention of his latest deranged antics has to take into account his well-known sociopathy, cognitive decline, uncivil and illegal proclivities, and the perils of an Executive Branch permeated by brown-nose-encrusted sycophants and unfit enablers. So let's start from there...
I spent 4 hours on New Years Eve and 4 hours on New Years Day watching the Jack Smith dep. I am in awe of that man and his counsel for their professionalism and restraint at some of the questions - whines, really - from defense counsel. My eyes were rolling so hard I'm surprised they stayed in my head. I've only prosecuted in misdemeanor court, but I have NEVER heard a defense attorney complain that it wasn't fair that I was not taking into consideration his client's different jurisdictional requirements due to his client's committing crimes in multiple jurisdictions. I also never heard a judge admonish me for being so inconsiderate.
So believe what you never heard!