Venezuela Operation Underway

[lctiger843]

In a vacuum it's great that Maduro is gone and there's some hope for a better government. Unfortunately that doesn't mean we have good intentions ourselves. I don't like, "Oh we got rid of this guy for you, so now we get your oil." It seems as though that's been the message; we should be better than that.

The law enforcement, "narcoterrorism" angle is ridiculous. Let's go drone strike some meth labs in rural America while we're at it.

There own people weren't even getting the oil. The oil was funding cartels. At least now it is going to their already crumbling infrastructure. Read my other post where i asked, why do YOU care where the oil goes whenever you havent cared the past 20 years? This regime is responsible for the displacement of over 8 million people. Poverty is at over 80% and they are sitting on the largest oil reserves in the world and also has one of the largest gold deposits. Allowing the experts (chevron/ exxon and the likes) to go BACK into the country would benefit everyone in the region, both directly and indirectly.

 

[FLaw47]

There own people weren't even getting the oil. The oil was funding cartels. At least now it is going to their already crumbling infrastructure. Read my other post where i asked, why do YOU care where the oil goes whenever you havent cared the past 20 years? This regime is responsible for the displacement of over 8 million people. Poverty is at over 80% and they are sitting on the largest oil reserves in the world and also has one of the largest gold deposits. Allowing the experts (chevron/ exxon and the likes) to go BACK into the country would benefit everyone in the region, both directly and indirectly.

Why should the United States have any say in what happens with their oil?

 

[PawPride]

I didn’t realize you were so familiar with Venezuelan–U.S. immigration policy. From my perspective, what changed from 2021 onward felt significant. I believe many of the new programs effectively opened the door for almost anyone to sponsor a Venezuelan national, often without meaningful vetting. I personally know of situations where people were paid to sponsor individuals they didn’t even know — with little more than a promise of where that person would stay.

My mother-in-law was initially pushed toward TPS, but instead of relying on that program, we pursued another visa pathway, and she ultimately received a green card. I don’t believe every single applicant for visas, asylum, or refugee status should automatically be approved — the U.S. should set standards, just like any other country. TPS was a program where they could kick the can down the road. I have personally witnessed people being on that program for years with no clear resolution in sight. Even after order of deportations. They will just appeal it and continue living their lives in the US.

As for USAID, based on what I’ve seen traveling through multiple continents, I’ve witnessed events and gatherings that seemed unnecessarily lavish, funded by taxpayer dollars. I’ve even seen signs reading “USAID — compliments of the U.S. taxpayers.” In my view, that kind of spending doesn’t always feel justified.

I'm not an expert on US - Venezuelan relations, but I have done some cursory readings over the last few months as tensions began to rise. I'm a staunch anti-interventionist, and think that the problems we're experiencing today with mass migration into the US and chaos in the southern hemisphere is 100% due to the US gov't and US corporations spending decades throughout the 20th century meddling in regime changes. I will never support bypassing Congress to engage in acts of war, and that's exactly what we did. You'd think that with all the evidence from the last 100 years of regime meddling we'd realize this NEVER works out in our favor, but here we are again doing the same thing we've done for a century.

I respect your opinion and the fact that this undoubtedly hits closer to home for you than it does to me given your Venezuelan family members, and experience with this whole process. My opinions are based solely on being a staunch anti-interventionist, and the fact that over the last year I've become disgusted with what seems to be an increasing corrupt attitude by Trump, and this just seems like another instance where I feel he's probably personally benefiting somehow from all this chaos. As a Trump voter, I've been incredibly disappointed so far this year with some of the decisions he's made and the staff he's hired around him.

 

[dpic73]

This is hilarious coming from you. I gave up long ago going back n forth with you freaks. The TDS has taken over your lives. It doesn’t allow you to think logically when it comes to Trump.

So you got tired of owning us with you intellectual brilliance and one day decided, "I know what will get 'em. I'll call them smart peoples limps and purple hairs and then they'll know they've been pwned!"

yEaH bUoY!

 

[tboonpickens]

 

[JohnHughsPartner]

So you got tired of owning us with you intellectual brilliance and one day decided, "I know what will get 'em. I'll call them smart peoples limps and purple hairs and then they'll know they've been pwned!"

yEaH bUoY!

Jesus C

 

[TheValley91]

So...you don't see what is happening?

I'll wait for you to run to twitter to find someone who can verbalize your feelings.

 

[baltimorened]

Stick to just throwing out homophobic insults; the grown ups are talking.


Because thinking the US Gov't is doing ANYTHING out of benevolence is idiotic. Anything we do is out of our own interests, and this administration has shown time and time again that unless there's a direct benefit to the US, then it's not worth their time.

Surely we'll go "help out" Bolivia, Haiti, or Ecuador next since they're all facing economic issues and are seen as having widespread corruption in their ranks. The passport extension recognition in 2019 rings a little hollow considering 3 weeks ago the administration continued the partial restriction on all Venezuelan nationals into the US, in addition to continuing with the ejection of 600k Venezuelan nationals who were in the US under protected status.

USAID was not a money laundering scheme. Was there some fraud occurring? Yeah, absolutely. Was there good being done? Yeah, absolutely. The question is does the good outweigh the bad. This administration seems to think that no, it does not.

can't you have the good without the bad?

 

[Moogy]

Jesus C

So, then ... yes. The reality is, you couldn't hang, substantively ... so you broke and became this troll as an immature way to try to get back at the people who embarrassed you over and over again. When coupled with your insecurity surrounding your masculinity (or lack thereof), your trolling manifested itself with all these homophobic and misogynistic attacks.

 

[nytigerfan]

This post — times a thousand. It’s funny how no one cared about Venezuelan oil until now. Why do you think the Chinese and Russians were down there — to get an arepa recipe?

Every single Venezuelan I know (and I’m married to one) would gladly hand over their oil reserves to the U.S. if it meant the regime would finally be removed. The country has the largest oil reserves in the world, yet they don’t even have enough gas for their own people. My in-laws have to leave their car at the gas station until the fuel truck eventually shows up — and then there’s nothing again until the next delivery.

There are days without electricity. There’s no food on the shelves. Hospitals are a disaster. Medicine is scarce. Inflation is out of control. The government has been voted out multiple times and still refuses to leave. People have been kidnapped. My in-laws have been beaten because of how they voted.

Most people have no idea what Venezuelans go through every single day — but sure, let’s listen to white liberals here in the U.S. lecture everyone about how “bad” this situation supposedly is for everyone else.

You sold me. Venzuela First!

 

[nytigerfan]

This is hilarious coming from you. I gave up long ago going back n forth with you freaks. The TDS has taken over your lives. It doesn’t allow you to think logically when it comes to Trump.

Said while going back and forth with supposed "freaks".

 

[PawPride]

can't you have the good without the bad?

If you’re referring to my comment about USAID, yes absolutely. I supported continuing our USAID efforts because I think the soft influence that provides is incredibly beneficial. I definitely think more safeguards need to be in place to prevent fraud and waste from occurring, but I’ll always think abandoning USAID ruined our influence in regions and opened the door for China and others to move in.

I heard a funny line a while ago, which may or may not be true, attributed to a Kenyan politician along the lines of “every time China visits we get a hospital, every time the west visit we get a lecture.” Assuming the sentiment is true, it kind of shows how the west has started to lose influence across the globe while China’s influence is growing.

 

[baltimorened]

If you’re referring to my comment about USAID, yes absolutely. I supported continuing our USAID efforts because I think the soft influence that provides is incredibly beneficial. I definitely think more safeguards need to be in place to prevent fraud and waste from occurring, but I’ll always think abandoning USAID ruined our influence in regions and opened the door for China and others to move in.

I heard a funny line a while ago, which may or may not be true, attributed to a Kenyan politician along the lines of “every time China visits we get a hospital, every time the west visit we get a lecture.” Assuming the sentiment is true, it kind of shows how the west has started to lose influence across the globe while China’s influence is growing.

from a quote from Rubio after dissolution of USAID, the US is going to continue to provide AID only not through USAID or NGOs but directly to countries. Now, based on what we've seen in Minnesota, and my belief that the federal government is incapable of managing large programs, it remains to be seen if any of US money that goes directly from Dept of State to Kenya (since you used that country as an example) is used to benefit the actual needy or is somehow siphoned off by government officials remains to be seen.

Of course one could argue that previously the funds were "siphoned off" by officials at USAID (overhead) or NGOs overhead, salaries/benefits and still didn't get to those in actual need.

 

[PawPride]

from a quote from Rubio after dissolution of USAID, the US is going to continue to provide AID only not through USAID or NGOs but directly to countries. Now, based on what we've seen in Minnesota, and my belief that the federal government is incapable of managing large programs, it remains to be seen if any of US money that goes directly from Dept of State to Kenya (since you used that country as an example) is used to benefit the actual needy or is somehow siphoned off by government officials remains to be seen.

Of course one could argue that previously the funds were "siphoned off" by officials at USAID (overhead) or NGOs overhead, salaries/benefits and still didn't get to those in actual need.

Yeah, listen I have no idea the extent of corruption/fraud/waste wrt the old USAID mechanisms for doling out funding. Neither has there been any concrete evidence of widespread fraud or corruption within USAID, either. A lot of the issues i noticed were one side calling approved funding as fraud/waste because they don’t support what the grants actually fund, and the other side does, and vice versa.

Iirc, we’ve cut/cancelled around 80% of current USAID contracts (some that were in the middle of multi-year grants), and I’m not aware of any of that funding being cut back on directly to those in need instead of through an intermediary. I guess it remains to be seen whether Rubio’s new plan is going to be as effective as the previous strategy, and I don’t think 3 years is enough time to get an accurate answer to that question. I say 3 years because as it stands, I don’t really anticipate the Rs holding office in 2028 and I can see the dems coming in and reversing as much as Trump’s changes as possible

 

[baltimorened]

Yeah, listen I have no idea the extent of corruption/fraud/waste wrt the old USAID mechanisms for doling out funding. Neither has there been any concrete evidence of widespread fraud or corruption within USAID, either. A lot of the issues i noticed were one side calling approved funding as fraud/waste because they don’t support what the grants actually fund, and the other side does, and vice versa.

Iirc, we’ve cut/cancelled around 80% of current USAID contracts (some that were in the middle of multi-year grants), and I’m not aware of any of that funding being cut back on directly to those in need instead of through an intermediary. I guess it remains to be seen whether Rubio’s new plan is going to be as effective as the previous strategy, and I don’t think 3 years is enough time to get an accurate answer to that question. I say 3 years because as it stands, I don’t really anticipate the Rs holding office in 2028 and I can see the dems coming in and reversing as much as Trump’s changes as possible

I might be able to "quibble" a little about your post, but I think we both agree that we need to keep providing AID in some fashion.

I don't mean to intimate fraud. There's just too many fingers in this pie. And each step takes their money off the top. There has to be a better way. Maybe funds directly from state to country will be better. But that's yet to be seen.

 

[lctiger843]

I might be able to "quibble" a little about your post, but I think we both agree that we need to keep providing AID in some fashion.

I don't mean to intimate fraud. There's just too many fingers in this pie. And each step takes their money off the top. There has to be a better way. Maybe funds directly from state to country will be better. But that's yet to be seen.

I disagree. Why keep providing aid to countries that offer nothing in return?

 

[m.knox]

Holy Smokes.

Leaping Lanny Davis comes out in SUPPORT of Trump in Venezuela.

Interesting read.

Advice to Democrats Regarding Maduro Arrest: Resist Reflexive Opposition​

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/a...rrest_resist_reflexive_opposition_153678.html

But still, to my fellow Democrats, on the Trump initiative in Venezuela and the arrest of Maduro, here is my bottom-line advice:

Just because we Democrats believe that President Trump is wrong most of the time on policies doesn’t mean we can’t support a decision when he is sometimes right.

 

[Unifex]

Sadly just when a pro America President leaves office, all they have done for America will be replaced by someone for everybody else! It will be a one step forward and two steps back deal!!

Hopefully every single thing he has done will be reversed. The evil stain of maga needs to be relegated to the dustbin of history with the Nazis.

 

[JohnHughsPartner]

So, then ... yes. The reality is, you couldn't hang, substantively ... so you broke and became this troll as an immature way to try to get back at the people who embarrassed you over and over again. When coupled with your insecurity surrounding your masculinity (or lack thereof), your trolling manifested itself with all these homophobic and misogynistic attacks.

Said while going back and forth with supposed "freaks".

@nytigerfan and @Moogy to the rescue @dpic73

 

[dpic73]

@nytigerfan and @Moogy to the rescue @dpic73

 

[JohnHughsPartner]

Wood Loomer

 

[tigres88]

Wood Loomer

You serious clark?



She looks like an absolute goblin

 

[dpic73]

You serious clark?

View attachment 1119386

She looks like an absolute goblin

you got that right

 

[ANEW]

Grabbed this off the internet. Not vouching for the completeness of the list but what is listed seems accurate enough to me. But while congress flagellates itself talking about war and war powers, i don't see what trump did is any different that any of these other actions that did not require prior notification to congress or an official delaration of war.
⸻
Harry S. Truman
• Korea (1950) – Deployed U.S. forces and authorized airstrikes in Korea without formal Congressional declaration of war.
⸻
Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Lebanon (1958) – Ordered U.S. air and naval forces into Lebanon to stabilize a political crisis.
⸻
John F. Kennedy
• Cuba (1961–1962) – Bay of Pigs (though indirectly supported), and later the Cuban Missile Crisis military posture.
⸻
Lyndon B. Johnson
• Vietnam (1964) – Gulf of Tonkin airstrikes occurred before the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed.
⸻
Richard Nixon
• Cambodia & Laos (1969–1973) – Conducted secret and unauthorized bombing campaigns as part of Vietnam War.
⸻
Jimmy Carter
• Iran (1980) – Operation Eagle Claw failed attempt to free hostages
⸻
Ronald Reagan
• Libya (1986) – Bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for the Berlin discotheque bombing.
• Grenada (1983) – Invasion and airstrikes without prior congressional approval.
⸻
George H. W. Bush
• Panama (1989) – Invasion and airstrikes to oust Manuel Noriega.
• Iraq (1990–1991) – Airstrikes began before Congress passed a resolution approving Desert Storm.
⸻
Bill Clinton
• Bosnia (1995) – NATO airstrikes in Bosnia without Congressional approval.
• Iraq (1998) – Operation Desert Fox airstrikes against Saddam Hussein.
• Kosovo (1999) – 78-day NATO bombing campaign without Congressional approval.
⸻
George W. Bush
• Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia (2001–2009) – Authorized drone strikes relying on the 2001 AUMF but without specific country-by-country authorization.
⸻
Barack Obama
• Libya (2011) – Air campaign as part of NATO action to topple Gaddafi, without Congressional approval.
• Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen (2014–2016) – Airstrikes against ISIS and other terror groups under 2001 AUMF, no new authorization sought.
⸻
Donald Trump
• Syria (2017, 2018) – Airstrikes against Assad regime over chemical weapons, without Congressional approval.
• Iraq (2020) – Ordered airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
⸻
Joe Biden
• Syria (2021, 2022) – Airstrikes on Iranian-backed militia groups.
• Somalia & Yemen (ongoing) – Continued air campaigns under prior AUMFs.
⸻
Summary:
Every U.S. president from Truman to Biden has authorized military airstrikes or operations without direct and new Congressional approval at some point during their presidency.

 

[LafayetteBear]

As of right now, Venezuela’s militias, specifically the Bolivarian Militia and the urban paramilitary networks known as colectivos, have not backed down. Far from allowing America’s Secretary of War and a US-appointed “group” to run the country, they have become the primary agents of what is rapidly evolving into a chaotic and dangerous resistance.

Since the abduction of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Caracas has effectively become a ghost town. Citizens are skipping work, businesses are shuttered, and people are staying indoors because of the colectivos.

The leftist paramilitaries are now the most visible armed presence in the capital.

The colectivos have also reframed the conflict. What might once have been portrayed as a struggle to defend Maduro has now been recast as a “decolonial war” against US occupation.

Despite US assertions that Venezuela’s military was “incapacitated,” Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López appeared on national television alongside Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to declare that the armed forces and militias remain loyal to the Bolivarian Revolution.

According to the Robert Lansing Institute, if the United States limits itself to air power and special operations while leaving Venezuelans to manage the transition, insurgency is likely to emerge not as classic guerrilla warfare against US troops, but as urban unrest, terrorism, and targeted attacks on perceived collaborators.

Conversely, Lansing warns that a large and prolonged US troop presence would almost certainly catalyse a broader, more organised armed resistance.

Either path is bleak. Trump has initiated a process he cannot easily reverse, and there is no clean off-ramp for him or his war secretary.

The contradiction is clearest around oil. While US officials talk openly about rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, militias and loyalist military units are expected to target those facilities to prevent the foreign plunder.

This dynamic is already visible in the Orinoco Belt, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of Venezuela’s oil production. The United States may control ports and terminals, but militias control pipelines and territory. Production is in freefall.

Dpic: As the story you linked makes clear, none of the available options for running Venezuela are good.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Neither of us have any information on what the overall strategy is and why those actions were taken. I trust in Trump.

Of course you trust in Trump. That's what cult followers do. He violated both U.S. and international law in bombing and invading Venezuela and abducting its head of state. Consider how unhappy you would be if a Democratic president bombed and invaded a country whose leader he disapproved of, and then abducted that leader and spirited him off to New York for a show trial.

Maduro lost his most recent popular election, was holding onto power through the military and his connections to foreign states and criminal actors. There seems to be little doubt about that. Venezuela was a sovereign nation in name only. In reality, it was a rogue state.

But decapitating Venezuela's ruling regime means that you have to do a full blown house cleaning and rebuild its governing institutions, or the remaining portions of that regime will simply fill the vacuum. These local militias ("colectivos") are already filling that vacuum. Dislodging them and preventing them from reforming will take boots on the ground in Venezuela, and likely for a protracted period. This is gonna cost a whole lot of money. Query whether Trump and his oil company friends will even be able to get the oil wells back up and pumping oil in any meaningful quantity. As the article that Dpic linked notes, the U.S. may control the ports and oil terminals, but the colectivos control the pipelines and the territory.

Unless Trump has a much more coherent and thought out plan for running Venezuela than he has thus far suggested, it looks like he approved the invasion of Venezuela without much, if any, prior thought about the likely consequences.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Are you asking me to compare ONE sober ex-addict who paid his back taxes in full and signed his name to a gun permit stating he wasn't doing drugs with a drug kingpin who imported 400 TONS of cocaine into this country?

Holy ****, you won the interwebz with that intellectual masterpiece.

That's Home O'Fluffigans for you.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Show me where i asked you to compare , you dumb phvck. Jesus man, get your sh^% together

Home O'Fluffigans: YOU asked him to compare, dummy. You did so by responding to his post about Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernandez (the drug running former president of Honduras), with Joe Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter. Your pathetic attempt at whataboutism made the comparison. You should just give up. You don't have the intellect necessary to engage in these discussions.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Guess it right over that purple hair of yours

I have to give you credit for your ability to post while on your knees with your mouth full. You're one hell of a multitasker, Home O'Fluffigans.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Grabbed this off the internet. Not vouching for the completeness of the list but what is listed seems accurate enough to me. But while congress flagellates itself talking about war and war powers, i don't see what trump did is any different that any of these other actions that did not require prior notification to congress or an official delaration of war.
⸻
Harry S. Truman
• Korea (1950) – Deployed U.S. forces and authorized airstrikes in Korea without formal Congressional declaration of war.
⸻
Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Lebanon (1958) – Ordered U.S. air and naval forces into Lebanon to stabilize a political crisis.
⸻
John F. Kennedy
• Cuba (1961–1962) – Bay of Pigs (though indirectly supported), and later the Cuban Missile Crisis military posture.
⸻
Lyndon B. Johnson
• Vietnam (1964) – Gulf of Tonkin airstrikes occurred before the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed.
⸻
Richard Nixon
• Cambodia & Laos (1969–1973) – Conducted secret and unauthorized bombing campaigns as part of Vietnam War.
⸻
Jimmy Carter
• Iran (1980) – Operation Eagle Claw failed attempt to free hostages
⸻
Ronald Reagan
• Libya (1986) – Bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for the Berlin discotheque bombing.
• Grenada (1983) – Invasion and airstrikes without prior congressional approval.
⸻
George H. W. Bush
• Panama (1989) – Invasion and airstrikes to oust Manuel Noriega.
• Iraq (1990–1991) – Airstrikes began before Congress passed a resolution approving Desert Storm.
⸻
Bill Clinton
• Bosnia (1995) – NATO airstrikes in Bosnia without Congressional approval.
• Iraq (1998) – Operation Desert Fox airstrikes against Saddam Hussein.
• Kosovo (1999) – 78-day NATO bombing campaign without Congressional approval.
⸻
George W. Bush
• Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia (2001–2009) – Authorized drone strikes relying on the 2001 AUMF but without specific country-by-country authorization.
⸻
Barack Obama
• Libya (2011) – Air campaign as part of NATO action to topple Gaddafi, without Congressional approval.
• Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen (2014–2016) – Airstrikes against ISIS and other terror groups under 2001 AUMF, no new authorization sought.
⸻
Donald Trump
• Syria (2017, 2018) – Airstrikes against Assad regime over chemical weapons, without Congressional approval.
• Iraq (2020) – Ordered airstrike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
⸻
Joe Biden
• Syria (2021, 2022) – Airstrikes on Iranian-backed militia groups.
• Somalia & Yemen (ongoing) – Continued air campaigns under prior AUMFs.
⸻
Summary:
Every U.S. president from Truman to Biden has authorized military airstrikes or operations without direct and new Congressional approval at some point during their presidency.

Airstrikes are one thing. Invasions and abductions of foreign heads of state are quite another.

 

[dpic73]

Dpic: As the story you linked makes clear, none of the available options for running Venezuela are good.

And not only that, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld was on Stephanie Ruhle last night and said he talked to the same oil execs that Trump supposedly spoke to before and after the abduction and they all said he did not speak to them and furthermore, they have no desire to go back into Venezuela, they have not agreed to fund the oil infrastructure and there is an oil glut now so no need to drill, baby drill. Not to mention the oil companies have recently laid off thousands of workers. This is going to be a mess.

 

[dpic73]

Airstrikes are one thing. Invasions and abductions of foreign heads of state are quite another.

Even scarier, they're signaling a plot to takeover the entire Western Hemisphere and are dead set on taking Greenland, which would effectively end NATO. Our reputation is about to be permanently ruined. They can lie all they want but there is no longer a doubt that this is an authoritarian, imperialist regime.


MILLER: Nobody is gonna fight the US militarily over the future of Greenland.

 

[dpic73]

Of course you trust in Trump. That's what cult followers do. He violated both U.S. and international law in bombing and invading Venezuela and abducting its head of state. Consider how unhappy you would be if a Democratic president bombed and invaded a country whose leader he disapproved of, and then abducted that leader and spirited him off to New York for a show trial.

Maduro lost his most recent popular election, was holding onto power through the military and his connections to foreign states and criminal actors. There seems to be little doubt about that. Venezuela was a sovereign nation in name only. In reality, it was a rogue state.

But decapitating Venezuela's ruling regime means that you have to do a full blown house cleaning and rebuild its governing institutions, or the remaining portions of that regime will simply fill the vacuum. These local militias ("colectivos") are already filling that vacuum. Dislodging them and preventing them from reforming will take boots on the ground in Venezuela, and likely for a protracted period. This is gonna cost a whole lot of money. Query whether Trump and his oil company friends will even be able to get the oil wells back up and pumping oil in any meaningful quantity. As the article that Dpic linked notes, the U.S. may control the ports and oil terminals, but the colectivos control the pipelines and the territory.

Unless Trump has a much more coherent and thought out plan for running Venezuela than he has thus far suggested, it looks like he approved the invasion of Venezuela without much, if any, prior thought about the likely consequences.

The consequences have ratcheted up quickly. Hope there's a plan.

Fear grips Caracas as a new wave of repression is unleashed in Venezuela​

Venezuela’s government launched a far-reaching crackdown after Maduro’s ouster, detaining journalists and civilians and sending armed gangs to the streets.

“It feels like it did after the presidential elections in 2024,” said María, 55, who like others in this story spoke on the condition that they be identified by their first name, or on the condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals. “We won, but we also lost,” she said, referring to the country’s last elections, in which Maduro claimed victory despite tallies showing the opposition had prevailed."

"At least 14 journalists and media workers were detained Monday — including 11 working for international outlets, according to the National Press Workers Union. Most, the union said, were held for several hours and later released, but several reported that military counterintelligence officers searched their phones. Many of the detentions took place near the National Assembly as Rodríguez took the oath of office in a ceremony overseen by her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, who heads the legislature.

Authorities also moved against ordinary citizens — empowered by a “state of external commotion” decree that ordered Venezuela’s national, state and municipal police forces to immediately search for and arrest anyone “involved in promoting or supporting the armed attack by the United States of America.” The decree, which entered into force Saturday but was published in full Monday, also suspended the right to protest and authorized broad restrictions on movement and assembly."

"Across Caracas, pro-government paramilitary groups known as “colectivos” — a hallmark of the informal security state built by former president Hugo Chávez and inherited by Maduro after his death — set up checkpoints, including along the Cota Mil highway that runs north of the city. Residents described being pulled over, questioned and forced to hand over their phones. Some said the armed men scrolled through their messages and social media, looking for anything that could be construed as support for the U.S. raid."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/06/venezulea-maduro-rodriguez-government-repression/

 

[JohnHughsPartner]

Home O'Fluffigans: YOU asked him to compare, dummy. You did so by responding to his post about Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernandez (the drug running former president of Honduras), with Joe Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter. Your pathetic attempt at whataboutism made the comparison. You should just give up. You don't have the intellect necessary to engage in these discussions.

Here’s what I’m going to need you to do , dumbphuck. Go grab a wet paper towel , wipe dpic’s release away from your eyes and go read thread again.

 

[dpic73]

Here’s what I’m going to need you to do , dumbphuck. Go grab a wet paper towel , wipe dpic’s release away from your eyes and go read thread again.

We know what you said turdley. You thought you were being cute by using a non-comparable whataboutism to pretend that both pardons were the same.

But for the record, Hunter had already paid his dues but Trump threatened to go after him anyway, simply for revenge and since Joe had already tragically lost two other children, he wasn't willing to take a chance with that vengeful orange beast and I can understand that. Hence, that pardon made sense but my question still stands. How does pardoning a narco-trafficking drug kingpin who smuggled 400 TONS of cocaine into this country beneft America?

Can you answer that without another witless whataboutism?

 

[JohnHughsPartner]

We know what you said turdley. You thought you were being cute by using a non-comparable whataboutism to pretend that both pardons were the same.

But for the record, Hunter had already paid his dues but Trump threatened to go after him anyway, simply for revenge and since Joe had already tragically lost two other children, he wasn't willing to take a chance with that vengeful orange beast and I can understand that. Hence, that pardon made sense but my question still stands. How does pardoning a narco-trafficking drug kingpin who smuggled 400 TONS of cocaine into this country beneft America?

Can you answer that without another witless whataboutism?

Bless it

 

[tigres88]

Here’s what I’m going to need you to do , dumbphuck. Go grab a wet paper towel , wipe dpic’s release away from your eyes and go read thread again.

Yall are so obsessed with gay stuff its so weird. I'll never get it

 

[tigres88]

This is a very strong message to drug cartels defacto taking over nations via illegal actions that their leaders will not be safe from the United States. Venezuela has been enacting asymmetric warfare on the US for years and we now have a potus that will fight back for the American people. We are losing hundreds of thousands a year to drug induced death. Venezuela has basically sent a small army here posing as immigrants seeking asylum and wreaking havoc inside our borders. No more. The buck stops with this President.

Trump literally just posted on his weird truth social site that the U.S. will directly be receiving millions of barrels of oil directly from Venezuela:

"I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America," the president said on his Truth Social platform. "This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!"

This was always and only about oil, no matter what you tell yourself.

Source: literally everywhere, but here

 

[LafayetteBear]

And not only that, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld was on Stephanie Ruhle last night and said he talked to the same oil execs that Trump supposedly spoke to before and after the abduction and they all said he did not speak to them and furthermore, they have no desire to go back into Venezuela, they have not agreed to fund the oil infrastructure and there is an oil glut now so no need to drill, baby drill. Not to mention the oil companies have recently laid off thousands of workers. This is going to be a mess.

Last time I checked, oil was selling at roughly %60 per barrel. I don't know if that was light, sweet crude oil (which apparently sells for the highest price) or not, but it is clear that the price of crude oil is relatively low right now. But oil prices have a history of yo-yoing, so planning something like the takeover and redevelopment of Venezuela's oil fields takes too long to be "market timed." In reading the various news stories about the invasion of Venezuela, I learned that Venezuelan crude oil is apparently not the highest grade of crude oil, and that it has a higher sulfur content and requires more refining than light, sweet crude oil. Regardless, these oil fields are a fundamental natural resource for Venezuela. I would surprised if the oil companies were completely unwilling to go back in there, even if they had their Venezuelan assets expropriated some years back. There is so much oil to be extracted there that, with appropriate assurances from the U.S. government about the security of their investments, one would think that these oil companies would be more than willing to go back in.

 

[LafayetteBear]

Bless it

^^^^ A witless whataboutism.