Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Rubio says US won’t govern Venezuela but will press for changes through oil blockade WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not govern Venezuela day-to-day other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, a turnaround after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the U.S. would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro. https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-maduro-trump-military-operation-85041a1ec03bafe839b785a95169d694? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 FACT FOCUS: Trump repeats false claims as he discusses US raid to extract Venezuela’s president President Donald Trump on Saturday held an extended news conference to explain the U.S. raid on Venezuela to extract President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, at times veering off topic and repeating false claims around his initiatives. https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-fact-focus-32631eb5cf2e3679d816a59f8464cdc7? “We Are Going to Run the Country”: Trump Boasts of Regime Change in Venezuela President Donald Trump claimed early Saturday that the U.S. had spirited Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of the country and taken him into custody, marking a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration’s regime change efforts. https://theintercept.com/2026/01/03/venzuela-war-nicolas-maduro-airstrikes-caracas-trump/? American Labor Needed Unity. Then Came Trump’s Immigration Crackdown. Federal agents slammed California labor leader David Huerta, 58, into the Los Angeles sidewalk. They had already sprayed him with tear gas. Huerta could barely open his eyes as federal law enforcement officers dragged his body away, the crowd screaming in protest. He spent three days in federal custody before being released on charges of obstructing an ICE raid on an apparel store. https://theintercept.com/2026/01/01/ice-immigrants-trump-labor-unions/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Maduro arrives in US after stunning capture in operation that Trump says will let US ‘run’ Venezuela Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that President Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval. Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, demanded that the United States free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump’s plan to seize and revitalize Venezuela’s oil industry faces major hurdles Capture of Maduro and US claim that it will run Venezuela raise new legal questions How the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro After capture and removal, Venezuela’s Maduro is being held at notorious Brooklyn jail FACT FOCUS: Trump repeats false claims as he discusses US raid to extract Venezuela’s president Photos show people reacting to the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro WATCH: Trump says Cuba 'not doing very well' and Rubio hints it could be next after Maduro out of Venezuela Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Marjorie Taylor Greene made waves. Her constituents don’t agree on whether it was worth it Marjorie Taylor Greene is leaving Capitol Hill after five years as one of the most well-known members of Congress. In her northwest Georgia House district, there is little consensus on whether the roller-coaster of headlines was worth it. Greene's hard-core supporters stand by her despite her break with President Donald Trump. They see her as a fighter who spoke for them. Others in Greene's district say her high-profile battles, conspiracy theories and bareknuckle politics did nothing to help the people she represented. Greene steps down on Monday, resigning in the middle of her third term. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ President Trump orders divestment in $2.9 million chips deal to protect US security interests Appeals panel says California’s ban on open carry in more populated counties is unconstitutional Minnesota must provide documents to US government in child care fraud probe by Jan. 9 Wisconsin judge convicted of obstructing arrest of immigrant resigns as GOP threatens impeachment Japan says Trump has invited its leader to the US. It comes as ties with China are strained Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 What to know about the protests now shaking Iran as tensions remain high over its nuclear program Widening protests in Iran sparked by the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy are putting new pressure on its theocracy. Tehran is still reeling from a 12-day war launched by Israel in June that saw the United States bomb nuclear sites in Iran. Economic pressure, intensified in September by the return of United Nations sanctions on the country over its atomic program, has put Iran’s rial currency into a free fall. A new threat by U.S. President Donald Trump warning Iran that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the U.S. “will come to their rescue” has taken on new meaning after American troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Yemen’s separatists announce a constitution for an independent south British and French warplanes strike suspected IS weapons facility in Syria Bedouin man killed during police raid on village in southern Israel, local official says Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 ?? Venezuela's softer tone Captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is led into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Saturday. Photos: HZ/Backgrid Interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez struck a softer tone last night in a statement inviting the U.S. to "collaborate with us on an agenda of cooperation" after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, who will appear in a Manhattan federal courtroom at noon. Why it matters: Her comments come hours after President Trump issued a warning to Rodríguez, who served as Venezuela's vice president before the raid, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes. Trump told The Atlantic (gift link) yesterday: "If she doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro." Later on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida, Trump told reporters that she "is cooperating" with the U.S. He added that "we're dealing with the people who just got sworn in" before saying "we're in charge" of Venezuela. ? Zoom in: Rodríguez previously condemned the operation that captured Maduro as an "atrocity that violates international law." But addressing Trump last night, she said: "We prioritize moving towards balanced and respectful international relations between the United States and Venezuela." ⚡ What we're watching: Trump said on Air Force One that Cuba "looks like it's ready to fall. I don't know if they're going to hold out. ... They get all of their income from Venezuela." He also implied Colombia's president could be next, saying the country is "run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States." ? Asked about Greenland, Trump said: "We'll worry about Greenland in about two months — let's talk about Greenland in 20 days ... We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it." Go deeper: "After Maduro, who's next? Trump spurs speculation about his plans for Greenland, Cuba and Colombia." Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 ?️ Trump's big oil bet Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration. Chart: Axios Visuals President Trump's vision of American oil companies rebuilding Venezuela's broken petro-sector creates his biggest test yet of the U.S. industry's tolerance for risk, Axios Future of Energy co-author Ben Geman writes. Why it matters: U.S. firms' appetite for investing in Venezuela's dilapidated infrastructure is far from certain, multiple analysts caution, despite the Trump administration's confidence. Chevron is the only big U.S. player now operating there. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 ? Ian Bremmer: U.S. ending "own global order" Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Ian Bremmer — president and founder of Eurasia Group, a political-risk research and consulting firm — says the top geopolitical risk for 2026 is the "U.S. Political Revolution," with President Trump "so committed to and so capable of changing the political system." Eurasia Group's annual "Top Risks" report — out today, 48 hours after Trump shook the world by snatching Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro — isolates the "biggest threats to the trajectories of nations, industries and institutions," to help leaders and investors prepare for the year. "The United States is itself unwinding its own global order," says Bremmer, also president and founder of GZERO Media. "The world's most powerful country is in the throes of a political revolution. In our lifetimes, we have never witnessed an American president so committed to and so capable of changing the political system and, accordingly, the United States' role in the world." Other risks: The report says Europe's center is faltering ... water is being weaponized as a resource for countries and businesses ... and U.S. attacks on clean energy endanger the nation's AI lead, giving China a potential advantage in post-carbon energy production. That's all happening amid the AI boom, which "represents the greatest opportunity and danger humanity has ever created, and with next to no governance, alignment, or coordination," write Bremmer and Cliff Kupchan, Eurasia Group's chair. The rest of the Top 10: 2. Overpowered (electric stack) ... 3. Donroe Doctrine ... 4. Europe under siege ... 5. Russia's second front (hybrid war between Russia and NATO) ... 6. State capitalism with American characteristics ("the most economically interventionist administration since the New Deal"). 7. China's deflation trap ... 8. AI eats its users ... 9. Zombie USMCA (U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement) ... and 10. The water weapon (a tool for non-state actors exploiting state weakness. What was a humanitarian crisis is becoming a national security threat). The bottom line: "2026 is a tipping point year," the report begins. Get "Top Risks 2026." Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Maduro is set to make his first appearance in a US courtroom Deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is set to make his first appearance Monday in an American courtroom on the narco-terrorism charges the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bringing him to New York. Read more. What to know: A brief, but required, legal proceeding will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the U.S. As a criminal defendant in the U.S. legal system, Maduro will have the same rights as any other person accused of a crime — including the right to a trial by a jury of regular New Yorkers. Maduro’s lawyers are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state. Venezuela’s new interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has demanded that the U.S. return Maduro, who long denied any involvement in drug trafficking — although late Sunday she also struck a more conciliatory tone in a social media post, inviting collaboration with Trump and “respectful relations” with the U.S. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Who is Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela's new leader after Maduro's capture? How cocaine and corruption led to the indictment of Maduro A timeline of the US military’s buildup and strikes against Venezuela leading to Maduro’s capture From bus driver to president: Maduro never escaped his predecessor’s shadow Photos of Venezuela the day after US forces captured Maduro Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 US intervention in Venezuela could test Trump’s ability to hold GOP together in an election year President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela will pose a fresh test of his ability to hold together a restive Republican coalition during a challenging election year that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability. Read more. What to know: While most Republicans lined up behind the president in the immediate aftermath, there were signs of unease across the spectrum within the party. In particular, Trump’s comments about the U.S. positioning itself to “run” Venezuela raised concerns that he is abandoning the “America First” philosophy. Trump’s comments this weekend about revitalizing the oil industry in Venezuela are in line with some of the earliest critiques he made of the handling of the Iraq War. During a 2013 speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump said the U.S. should “take” oil from Iraq and “pay ourselves back.” “This is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that doesn’t serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations, the banks and the oil executives,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a former Trump ally who is resigning on Monday, in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ After Maduro, who’s next? Trump spurs speculation about his plans for Greenland, Cuba and Colombia After ousting Maduro in Venezuela, Trump commits himself to another foreign policy project How the Monroe Doctrine factors into Trump’s decisions on Venezuela Ouster of Maduro government sparks celebrations among Venezuelans in South Florida Trump says that Ukraine didn’t target Putin residence in a drone strike as Kremlin claims Trump made lots of tariff threats in 2025. Here are some that never materialized Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Trump, 79, Cornered on Why He Fell for Putin’s BS The president said he was “very angry” about a claimed strike on the Russian president’s mansion that he now admits didn’t even happen. President Donald Trump has admitted falling for Vladimir Putin’s BS, as he squirmed under a grilling from a reporter. Libbey Dean, a White House correspondent for NewsNation, challenged the president, 79, on board Air Force One as he returned to Washington, D.C., after a two-week stay at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Dean’s Sunday evening grilling comes after Trump publicly defended the Russian president over his claim that Ukraine had launched long-range drones at one of his palatial homes—an attack which Trump now concedes didn’t happen. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was forced to deny his forces were behind the alleged strike on Putin’s luxurious dacha on Lake Valdai, in the northwestern Novgorod region, after the Kremlin leader phoned up POTUS to complain about it. However, he had a change of tone on board AF1. “I don’t believe that strike happened,” he told reporters. “There is something that happened fairly nearby, but it had nothing to do with this.” Trump, last Monday, had come out and said he was “very angry” with Ukraine for conducting the strike, following his call with Putin. Dean asked why she believed his on-again, off-again ally. “Because nobody knew at that moment, I mean that was the first I heard about it,” he declared, suggesting that he immediately took the Russian president’s claims at face value. “He said that his house was attacked. We don’t believe that happened, now that we’ve been able to check. That was the first we ever heard about it.” The ‘strike,’ which Putin said his defense systems were able to repel, came as peace talks had appeared to progress. European officials blasted the Kremlin chief for trying to undermine the effort. By the middle of last week, Trump appeared to realize he was duped by Putin. On Truth Social, he reposted a New York Post editorial which called the claims into question and blasted Putin for choosing “lies, hatred, and death” at a crucial juncture in talks. Putin is dragging his heels over an agreement, wanting a laundry list of demands solidified before he agrees to anything. Ukraine sees the demands, such as vast territorial concessions, as unreasonable. Despite the impasse, Trump has said that an end to the war is “closer than ever before.” On Air Force One on Sunday, he was once again asked to put a timeframe on a deal. “I don’t do deadlines,” he replied, despite having repeatedly claimed on the campaign trail in 2024 that he could end the conflict on day one of his presidency. In response to the deadline question, he rambled about Cambodia and Thailand, whose conflict he says he helped end. “I give myself one quarter of a point for that, so now I’m eight and one quarter points,” he declared, referring to the number of wars he claims to have ended. “I think we’ll have a deal at some point, hopefully in the not too distant [future],” he eventually agreed. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-cornered-on-why-he-fell-for-putins-bs/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Trump Torpedoes Rubio’s Venezuela Message With Chaotic New Declaration The secretary of state spent Sunday backpedaling on Trump’s claim the U.S is going to “run” the country. Donald Trump has thrown a wrench into Marco Rubio’s course correction on Venezuela by insisting the U.S. is “in charge” of the country just hours after his secretary of state walked back that claim. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night, Trump once again implied that the U.S. will be running the South American country after the administration captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro, and charged him in New York with drug trafficking and “narco-terrorism” offenses. “Don’t ask me who’s in charge, because I’ll give you an answer, and it’ll be very controversial,” Trump said, before immediately adding: “We’re in charge.” Trump had already floated the idea during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday, saying the U.S. would “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” Rubio, the president’s top diplomat, then sought to distance the administration from the suggestion that the U.S. intends to exercise outright control over Venezuela rather than its newly appointed acting leader, Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro. In a series of Sunday media appearances, Rubio offered vague assurances that the U.S. is not attempting to govern Venezuela directly, but instead plans to oversee policy and monitor how the country manages its lucrative oil industry during the upheaval. “It’s running policy,” Rubio said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We want Venezuela to move in a certain direction because not only do we think it’s good for the people of Venezuela, it’s in our national interest.” In a separate appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Rubio said that “none of the money from the oil gets to the people” in Venezuela, adding that the U.S. will continue to assess quarantined oil tankers targeted by sanctions as part of its blockade. “That remains in place, and that’s a tremendous amount of leverage that will continue until we see changes that not only further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,” Rubio said. “That’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that.” A White House official told The New York Times that Rubio’s comments do not contradict Trump’s remarks, arguing the secretary of state was merely clarifying what the president meant by “run.” Author Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast’s Inside Trump’s Head podcast that sources said the president had taken even his own aides and Cabinet by surprise with his comments about the U.S. running Venezuela. “Everyone—all of the people, even the people on the stage—were stupefied by this announcement that we were taking over Venezuela, that we were going to run an entirely dysfunctional country of 30 million people, and that it was going to be done by these people standing behind Trump on the stage,” Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles. Speaking aboard Air Force One, Trump said the U.S. will “bring back” Venezuela, with control over oil revenue playing a central role. “It’s a dead country right now,” Trump said. “It’s a country that, frankly, we would have been if I had lost the election, we would have been a dead country. We would have been Venezuela on steroids.” Trump added that he hopes Venezuela’s oil companies will now invest heavily in rebuilding the country’s infrastructure. Maduro is scheduled to appear in a New York courtroom on Monday, where he faces drug trafficking and weapons charges. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the State Department for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-torpedoes-marco-rubios-venezuela-message-with-chaotic-new-declaration/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Frenzied Trump, 79, Posts Almost 100 Times in an Hour in Late-Night Rampage The president was more focused on re-litigating past elections than sharing plans for Venezuela’s future. President Donald Trump still hasn’t announced a plan for a post-Maduro Venezuela, but he wasn’t losing any sleep Sunday hashing out the details of who will run the oil-rich South American country now that the U.S. has captured its president. Instead, he was up past 1:30 a.m. obsessing over election conspiracy theories, attacking Somali immigrants in Minnesota, and threatening his next military target. The president posted on Truth Social 89 times between 12:45 a.m. and 1:40 a.m. Washington time, including sharing posts from well-known foreign influencers posing as America First. He shared an overwrought screed from an account called Tosca Austen, which has about 133,000 followers, accusing Minnesota of building an “enclave” for Somalis. The account claims to be based in the U.S. but appears to be using a VPN to hide its location, according to the platform’s location data. The fanfic-style post claims that Minnesota state Rep. Jason Lewis was already “blowing the whistle on massive Somali daycare fraud” a decade ago, but that “neither side” took him seriously. “Democrats had a dream, and it was grinding away: Build an enclave in Minnesota, and they will come,” the post said, describing how the left supposedly lured Somalis to the state with entitlements in exchange for their votes. “And so it happened, the dream for forever blue power that started under Bill Clinton, was massaged under Obama, blossomed to fruition in the runaway Autopen era,” the post said. “Minnesota was a free-for-all. Lax oversight, unvetted, and unbelievably brazen Somali crime rings ran wild. @GovTimWalz knew but feared a pirate backlash so he turned a blind eye. He took to the imagination room to create a new Minnesota state flag—some say it resembles the Somali flag, but that was OK—Somali migrants future was Dems security.” The tale ends with Trump’s DOJ heroically freezing the “grift funds” and turning Walz’s “dream” into a “political nightmare,” before throwing out a #AmericaFirst. And that’s just one of Trump’s 89 posts. Others argued that Barack Obama was not really president, claimed that votes for Trump in 2020 were switched to votes for Joe Biden, and said the U.S. “needs” to invade Greenland for national security purposes. He also shared a post saying Elon Musk was “reportedly going all-in funding Republicans to help President Trump take back full control in the November midterms,” as if Republicans didn’t already control the White House and both chambers of Congress, plus a super-majority of conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Trump has alarmed critics and supporters alike with his sleep habits, as several members of his inner circle have admitted the 79-year-old president doesn’t sleep at night. Instead, he has dozed off repeatedly during high-stakes meetings, including struggling to keep his eyes open while the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine briefed the media on the deadly U.S. strikes on Venezuela, which led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The latest posting spree comes as the administration has failed to articulate a coherent vision for Venezuela after the president’s shock invasion over the weekend. Trump has said the U.S. will “run” Venezuela, but neither he nor his Cabinet have been able to explain what that means. On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio dodged the question when Kristen Welker of NBC’s Meet the Press asked him point-blank who is “in charge” and whether the secretary was running Venezuela. “People keep fixating on that,” he replied. “Here’s the bottom line on it: We expect to see changes in Venezuela. Changes of all kinds, long-term, short-term. We’d love to see all kinds of changes. But the most immediate changes are the ones that are in the national interest to the United States. That’s why we’re involved here.” The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/frenzied-donald-trump-79-posts-almost-100-times-in-an-hour-in-late-night-rampage/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 Trump Is Launching His Own Iraq—on Hypocrisy Instead of Lies Will blood be shed for oil? Gunboat diplomacy as practiced by Britain, Germany and Italy in 1902 led to a prolonged naval blockade of Venezuela to force payment of contested debts. Gunship diplomacy as practiced early Saturday morning by President Trump involved a two-hour raid by attack helicopters and special force operators who captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro. But where the gunboats of 124 years ago just steamed away when the immediate dispute was settled, the gunships that carried off Maduro and his wife to face narcotic trafficking charges left behind the potential for disaster in a country twice the size of Iraq and almost three times the size of Vietnam. The question now is how large Venezuela will come to figure in our history as measured by body bags. One is a devastating number if it contains a loved one. Not that Trump seemed at all worried that his gunship diplomacy might lead to war such as he tried so strenuously to avoid in his youth. He had famously secured a draft deferment with a bone spurs diagnosis by a podiatrist who rented office space from his father. In another of his many What the hell was he thinking? moments, Trump used Creedence Clearwater Revival’s anti-war anthem “Fortunate Son” as the soundtrack when he posted a clip of the raid video showing gunships in fiery action. His snippet included the lyrics, “Some folks are born silver spoon in hand. Lord, don’t they help themselves, Lord?” If Trump sees nothing wrong with that song choice, how can he be expected to fully appreciate the ramifications of his actions? He must just like the feel of the rousing music, independent of the song’s significance. He similarly seems to have just liked the feel of the live video he saw of the raid, wherever it might eventually lead. “Like I was watching a television show,” Trump enthused, as pumped up as President George W. Bush had been when he declared “Mission Accomplished” following the invasion of Iraq. He was so pumped up that he hinted at doing it again if other countries dared to defy America’s will. “Nothing can stop us,” he said. At least in Trump’s mission, there was less ultimately false jargon about freedom and democracy. He made it clear that his aim is the military equivalent of a hostile takeover in business, only with 150 aircraft and the remarkably skilled Delta commandos. “We are going to run the country,” Trump said in an echo of the long-ago gunboat days. He had indicated last month what that meant. He was and is fixated on getting the oil; all of it that he believes is our due under what he has christened the Don-roe Doctrine. “They took our oil rights,” he told the press on Dec. 17 . “We had a lot of oil there, as you know, they threw our companies out. And we want it back.” Now the U.S. would be running Venezuela, Trump said on Saturday, ”We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground, and that wealth is going to the people of Venezuela, and people from outside of Venezuela that used to be in Venezuela, and it goes also to the United States of America in the form of reimbursement for the damages caused us by that country.” The official justification for Maduro’s arrest was an indictment for conspiring with his wife to import cocaine. The total amount was not immediately clear, but it was almost certainly less than the 400 tons that a Manhattan jury convicted former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2024 of conspiring to distribute. Hernandez was sentenced to 45 years and the prosecutors recommended he should die in prison, but had served less than two years when Trump pardoned him on December 1. When a reporter asked him about this on Saturday, Trump had an it’s all about me moment and muttered some nonsense about Hernandez being treated unfairly in the courts during the Biden administration, as he insists he himself was. One person who had been telling Trump this was political delusionist Roger Stone. In a further indication that the present case was not really about “the wrath of American justice,” Trump suggested that Maduro could even now be in Turkey, enjoying his ill-gotten gains if he had simply agreed to relinquish his power. All that stuff about deadly rapist gangs and drugs that kill thousands of Americans would have just been forgotten. “You got to surrender,” Trump recalled warning Maduro some months ago. Maybe Maduro imagined that Trump had been placated when a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) contributed $500,000 to his 2017 inaugural committee. The subsidiary, Citgo, which has more than 4,000 gas stations in the U.S., briefly hired Trump fixture Corey Lewandowski’s lobbying firm to help it negotiate the MAGAverse. The Trump folks describe the Maduro operation as a law enforcement action, and the White House added to the raid reality show by releasing a video of the ousted Venezuelan president and his wife being led through the New York Drug Enforcement Administration office. A veteran agent told The Daily Beast such perp walks have always been prohibited inside that building. “Wow,” the agent told The Daily Beast, “That was never allowed.” A Hollywood version of the TV show would co-star Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was in her second year of hiding out from Maduro’s thugs in October, when she was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for keeping “the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.” She managed an action-packed escape from Venezuela in December with the help of a private foundation run by American special forces veterans. She rendezvoused with them in 10-foot seas with the hope that American aircraft would not confuse them with the drug boats that are being targeted. She made it to a Caribbean island and flew by private plane to Oslo, but just missed the ceremony. Her daughter accepted the prize for her. Talk about real-life action! In a plot twist, Machado subsequently dedicated the prize to Trump and said she was accepting it in his honor. She welcomed Saturday’s raid by posting, “Venezuelans, the HOUR OF FREEDOM has arrived!” And there could have been a real Hollywood ending if Trump had announced at the post-raid press conference that he was anointing Machado as Venezuela’s new leader. Machado herself seemed to be hoping for that finale. “Today we are ready to enforce our mandate and take power,” she posted. “Let us remain vigilant, active and organized until the Democratic Transition is realized. A transition that needs ALL of us.” But Trump has a serious case of Nobel envy. And Machado had received the peace prize he has repeatedly grumbled should have gone to him. He had proven himself to be truly shameless when he contrived to present himself a peace prize from the soccer organization FIFA at what he had renamed the Trump Kennedy Center. Of Machado, he now said, “I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” Trump told the press conference, “I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” Trump condescendingly added, “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.” Instead, Trump had begun dealing with Venezuela’s Maduro-appointed vice president, Delcy Rodríguez. She also happens to be her country’s Minister of Petroleum, and has proven adept at keeping at least some oil flowing despite the U.S. sanctions. Trump seemed ready to forgive her for condemning the raid and voicing continued loyalty to Maduro. “She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said. But Trump did indicate to The Atlantic that Rodríguez risks dire consequences if she does not keep to his agenda. “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump was quoted saying. Meanwhile, it’s drill, baby, drill! The first American combat death in Bush’s still unaccomplished mission was a 30-year-old Marine lieutenant who was shot in the stomach during a sweep of the Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq. The unfortunate son died under a sky blackened by burning petroleum. However it goes it will not end in the way of most drug cases when the defendant is arraigned, in Maduro’s case on Monday, in the same federal courthouse as was the now pardoned Hernandez. The last document in the Hernandez case file was a handwritten court clerk’s note reading, “The pardon has been docketed. The passport and identification documents shall be returned.” Hernandez, who facilitated the trafficking of $10 billion in cocaine, is now free to travel about, no doubt first class. The New York Times is reporting that at least 40 people died in the raid. There have been no American military fatalities. But, if that changes in the days ahead while Trump’s gunship diplomacy has him running Venezuela, it will not have been to stop drugs from poisoning our youth. It will also not be for democracy. Blood will have been shed for oil. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-is-launching-his-own-iraqon-hypocrisy-instead-of-lies/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 5 Author Members Posted January 5 ‘We Need It’: Trump Openly Thirsts Over Next Targets in Global Domination The president’s list of countries he’s considering invading continues to grow. Donald Trump got a taste of foreign invasion, and he liked it. The self-proclaimed peace president is now doubling down on his assertion that the United States’ invasion of Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolás Maduro marks the beginning of a broader military campaign. The 79-year-old shared a glimpse of his expanding wishlist of countries with reporters on Sunday morning—while continuing to gloat over the United States’ abrupt takeover of Venezuela the day before. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump cheerfully told The Atlantic from his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. He went on to describe the island—an autonomous territory within NATO ally Denmark—as “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.” “We need it for defense,” he added. Trump’s comments came as administration officials told the outlet Zeteo that the president remains “very interested” in sending U.S. troops into Mexico, another American ally, to target cartel members. Trump broached the possibility as recently as November, according to the report, asking when such an order could be given and how long it would take to deploy boots on the ground. On Saturday, Trump also floated the possibility of military action against Colombia—Venezuela’s western neighbor—while speaking from his Mar-a-Lago club, singling out President Gustavo Petro. “He has factories where he makes cocaine,” Trump said. “He does have to watch his a–.” Trump separately threatened Mexico, claiming the country is run by drug cartels and echoing similar accusations he has previously leveled against Maduro and the Venezuelan government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio escalated the rhetoric during a late-morning press conference Saturday, naming Cuba as another potential target and blaming the island nation for many of Venezuela’s problems. Rubio’s parents fled Cuba for the United States in 1956. “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned at least a little bit,” Rubio said. “When he tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it,” he added. Trump, who campaigned on a vow to end “endless wars” and bring American troops home, has faced fierce opposition over such threats following the abduction of Maduro and his extradition to New York. Denmark, meanwhile, has remained firmly opposed to any U.S. effort to seize control of Greenland, the world’s largest island, located northeast of Canada. Ambassador Jesper Moeller Soerensen reaffirmed that stance in a Saturday evening X post, stating that the country expects “full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark.” The Cuban government issued a statement Saturday night, warning that “all nations of the region must remain alert, as the threat hangs over all.” The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-openly-thirsts-over-next-targets-in-global-domination/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 6 Author Members Posted January 6 US cuts the number of vaccines recommended for every child, a move slammed by physicians WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of cutting the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — a move that leading medical groups said would undermine protections against a half-dozen diseases. https://apnews.com/article/childhood-vaccine-schedule-trump-rfk-hhs-9b8df9e2767c1261aaac4e2331e77fa3? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 6 Author Members Posted January 6 ?? War or not? Here's why it matters Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images Trump officials are framing this weekend's shock operation in Venezuela as law enforcement rather than warfare, Axios' Avery Lotz reports. ? Secretary of State Marco Rubio on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday: "We are at war against drug trafficking organizations, not a war against Venezuela." ? That means President Trump didn't need congressional approval to strike a Venezuelan military base and capture leader Nicolás Maduro, the administration argues. ? The White House directed Axios to Rubio's recent interview with The Washington Post, where he said he promised lawmakers to get congressional approval before conducting "military strikes for military purposes." "This was not that. This was a law enforcement operation." Brian Finucane of the nonprofit International Crisis Group told us: "There may have been some DEA agents tagging along for the ride. But that doesn't change the fundamental fact that it's a use of force under international law." ? What's next: Lawmakers will be briefed this evening. Go deeper. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 6 Author Members Posted January 6 ?? Captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty to charges of "narco-terrorism conspiracy" and other alleged crimes on his first day in U.S. federal court. Go deeper. ? The Trump administration dramatically overhauled the federal childhood vaccination schedule, cutting the number of recommended shots to 11 to align with "consensus among peer nations." Go deeper. ? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is targeting Sen. Mark Kelly's (D-Ariz.) retirement pay over a video in which Kelly urged military service members to disobey unlawful orders. Hegseth, posting on X: "In response to Senator Mark Kelly's seditious statements ... the Department of War is taking administrative action." Go deeper. ?? Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen says President Trump is serious about taking over Greenland, telling Danish public media: "I have made it very clear where the Kingdom of Denmark stands, and Greenland has repeatedly said that it does not want to be part of the United States." Go deeper. ?️ A new spending package marks the first big move by Congress to avoid another government shutdown, which could start Jan. 30. Go deeper. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 6 Author Members Posted January 6 Maduro Explodes in Defiance at Trump as He Appears in Court The ousted dictator’s court appearance marked the latest extraordinary step in the Trump administration’s takeover of Venezuela. Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has made his first court appearance after being captured by U.S. forces, defiantly telling a judge he is a “prisoner of war” and not guilty of the charges being pushed by the Trump administration. Days after Donald Trump gave the green light to seize Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from their presidential compound in Caracas, the ousted leader appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to federal charges of narco-terrorism, cocaine importation, and weapons possession. Maduro entered the court in shackles, where 92-year-old Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee, read out a shortened version of the 25-page indictment against him. Asked to confirm his name, Maduro responded in Spanish, giving his name and referring to himself as the “still President of Venezuela.” He then told the judge he had been “kidnapped” and was “a prisoner of war.” “I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela,” he said through a translator. “I’m innocent. I’m not guilty. I am a decent man,” he added. The appearance of Maduro and his wife mark the first step in what is expected to be a lengthy battle over the legality of his arrest. While the Trump administration has long viewed Maduro as an illegitimate leader who rigged elections, his lawyers are expected to argue he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state. The former union leader and vice president to Hugo Chávez has led Venezuela since 2013, but his authoritarian power was smashed on Saturday when he was captured as part of a U.S. military strike in the dead of the night. U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about the Venezuelan leader, including what he ate, his pets, and the kind of clothes he wore. But after repeatedly claiming its pressure campaign against Venezuela was primarily about stopping the spread of illegal drugs coming into America, Trump has since revealed his true motivations: regime change in order to seize the nation’s rich oil reserves. “The oil companies are ready to go,” he told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Maduro appeared with his wife in court on Monday wearing wearing a short-sleeve navy shirt over an orange prison uniform. Cilia Flores also declared herself “not guilty, completely innocent”, but showed signs of what her lawyer Mark Connelly described as “significant injuries” sustained “during her abduction.” He suggested she may have a fracture or severe bruising on her ribs and would need a physical evaluation. Throughout the short hearing, Maduro took copious notes, telling the judge that he wanted the ability to retain those notes as the case progresses. The latest indictment by the Justice Department add to a narcotics-trafficking complaint brought against the Venezuelan leader in 2020. The superseding indictment alleges that Maduro and other top Venezuelan public officials have spent the past two decades working closely with international drug trafficking organizations to ship illicit drugs into the U.S. while enriching themselves. Maduro will remain in jail in New York, with his next hearing on March 17. But dramatic scenes took place as the hearing came to a close when, according to CNN, a protester stood up and declared “you will pay for what you have done to Maduro,” prompting the ousted leader to defiantly reply: “I am a man of God” and “the President” of his country. Maduro’s stunning capture has thrust American foreign policy into uncharted territory and ignited intense international debate over Trump’s actions. The administration has been ramping up the pressure on Venezuela for months, assembling a massive military presence in the Caribbean, intercepting two Venezuelan oil tankers and killing dozens of people in legally dubious strikes on alleged drug boats. But one of the last straws for Trump was reportedly a video of Maduro dancing to an electronic remix of his own speech, “No War, Yes Peace,” while at the opening of the International School for Women’s Leadership in Maracay, northern Venezuela, in late December. According to the New York Times, Trump viewed Maduro’s dancing as “mocking” the U.S., which had days earlier carried out a strike on a dock in Venezuela that the president claimed was for drug trafficking. Hours after Saturday’s strike, Trump revealed the U.S would will seize Venezuela’s oil reserves and “run” Venezuela - a country of about 30 million people - for the foreseeable future. Trump has also threatened other nations with possible action, including Greenland, Cubu and Venezuela’s neighbor, Colombia. “Colombia is very sick too,” Trump said on Sunday night. “It’s run by a sick man [President Gustavo Petro] who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.” Asked whether that meant fresh U.S. military operations in Colombia, Trump replied: “That sounds good to me.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/maduro-explodes-in-defiance-at-trump-as-he-appears-in-court/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 6 Author Members Posted January 6 Hegseth Chickens Out of Trump’s Demand to Execute Senator The defense secretary revealed the punishment for Sen. Mark Kelly was a long way short of the president’s outlandish threats. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon will censure Senator Mark Kelly after he participated in a video urging members of the military to reject illegal orders. The move comes after the president in November accused a group of six Democratic lawmakers in the video of “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” In response to the video last year, Hegseth threatened to court-martial the combat veteran and demanded the Navy review Kelly’s actions for “potentially unlawful misconduct.” On Monday, the defense secretary announced the results of the review, which would not involve recalling Kelly back to service to face military court proceedings but would require “administrative action.” The Pentagon initiated retirement-grade determination proceedings to demote the Arizona lawmaker, according to Hegseth. The military carries out such proceedings to determine the appropriate retirement grade for an officer. It typically takes place before retirement. Hegseth said the process would take place within 45 days. Kelly retired as a Navy captain in 2011. A demotion could cut his retirement pay. The senator fired back in a statement where he noted his more than 25 years in the Navy, 39 combat missions and four missions to space. “Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way,” Kelly warned. “It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.” Hegseth also announced that he issued a “formal Letter of Censure” as part of the process, which would be included in Kelly’s military personnel file. The senator has been given 30 days to respond to the Defense Department. “I will fight this with everything I’ve got — not for myself, but to send a message back that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump don’t get to decide what Americans in this country get to say about their government,” Kelly said in his statement. The Democratic lawmaker has accused Trump of calling for his execution and perviously said he would not back down to threats by the president or Hegseth. In November, the six lawmakers, all military veterans and former intelligence officers, appeared in a video urging service members to specifically reject “illegal orders.” The video did not clarify exactly what constituted an illegal order. Despite the president’s series of Truth Social posts accusing the Democratic lawmakers of sedition, the White House insisted Trump,79, was not calling for their execution but that they should be held accountable. The clash sparked a series of attacks by Hegseth against Kelly on social media, as he issued a memo to the Navy secretary, calling for a review of the lawmaker’s conduct by mid-December. Before joining the Trump administration, Hegseth himself said the U.S. military would not follow illegal orders, a message similar to the one Kelly delivered in the video. The defense secretary and senator came face-to-face last month at a closed-door briefing on the Trump administration’s targeting of alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela, where they reportedly clashed. Kelly went on CNN after the briefing, where he said that Hegeth appeared to have prepared a speech for him at the briefing rather than wanting to answer his questions about the boat strikes. The senator said it showed how “unserious” Hegseth is. https://www.thedailybeast.com/hegseth-chickens-out-of-trumps-demand-to-execute-senator/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 6 Author Members Posted January 6 Trump Plots Wild Power Move for Stephen Miller When it comes to a post-Maduro Venezuela, the administration appears to be making it up as it goes along. An unlikely name is being floated to take charge of U.S. moves in Venezuela after the Trump administration snatched the country’s leader and brought him to New York to face drug charges. Hours after Saturday’s surprise attack, President Donald Trump told reporters the U.S. will seize Venezuela’s oil reserves and “run” the country for the foreseeable future, though he’s been vague on what exactly that means. With Trump mostly relying on a small group of business insiders to handle foreign affairs after he gutted foreign policy infrastructure, the White House is considering giving Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller a key role overseeing post-Maduro operations in Venezuela, The Washington Post reported. It’s not clear how any U.S. official can “run” a foreign country of 30 million people. But to the extent that the administration plans to try—Trump said he’s “not afraid to have boots on the ground” if necessary—the more obvious choice would be Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has spent much of his career as a Venezuela hawk and has emerged as the face of the takeover. Rubio, however, already has his hands full as the nation’s top diplomat, acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and acting archivist for the National Archives and Records Administration. That means the daily handling of Venezuela could fall to Miller, who is largely responsible for the president’s mass deportation drive, according to the Post. The newspaper’s sources didn’t elaborate on what exactly the job would entail or what would qualify Miller to do it. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. In a possible preview of Miller’s post-invasion credentials, the anti-immigration crusader posted a historically confused pro-empire rant on social media late Sunday. “Not long after World War II the West dissolved its empires and colonies and began sending colossal sums of taxpayer-funded aid to these former territories (despite have already made them far wealthier and more successful),” he wrote. “The West opened its borders, a kind of reverse colonization, providing welfare and thus remittances, while extending to these newcomers and their families not only the full franchise but preferential legal and financial treatment over the native citizenry. The neoliberal experiment, at its core, has been a long self-punishment of the places and peoples that built the modern world.” The West, of course did not “dissolve” its empires as an act of penance; former British colonies demanded independence after centuries of exploitation. Members of those former colonies were then recruited to fill labor shortages in critical sectors, such as health care, not given “preferential legal and financial treatment,” as he claimed. Rubio and Miller were the chief architects of the escalating pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro, including deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, and a CIA drone strike at a docking facility in Venezuela, CNN reported. The plan all along was to oust Maduro, even as the administration told members of Congress that regime change was not the goal, according to CNN. Officials don’t seem to have spent nearly as much time developing a strategy for what would happen next. Maduro’s allies in Caracas are still in power, with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez taking over as interim president. Trump, however, insisted on Sunday that the U.S. was in control and demanded “total access” from Rodríguez, who he said will “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” if she doesn’t “do what’s right.” “Don’t ask me who’s in charge, because I’ll give you an answer, and it’ll be very controversial,” he said. “We’re in charge.” Those statements flew in the face of Rubio’s efforts to downplay U.S. involvement in the country following Maduro’s ouster. On Sunday, Rubio dodged answering when Kristen Welker of NBC’s Meet the Press asked him point-blank if he was running Venezuela. “People keep fixating on that,” he replied. “Here’s the bottom line on it: We expect to see changes in Venezuela. Changes of all kinds, long-term, short-term. We’d love to see all kinds of changes. But the most immediate changes are the ones that are in the national interest to the United States. That’s why we’re involved here.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-plots-to-hand-stephen-miller-huge-new-power-over-venezuela/? Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 6 Author Members Posted January 6 Military Injustice View in browser One indicator of a polity’s health is whether a citizen can be punished merely for telling the truth about the law. The signs for American democracy are not good. This morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that he has begun the process to demote Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain and NASA astronaut, and reduce his pension pay. The operative facts here, naturally, are not Kelly’s past service but his current rank and service: a Democrat serving in the U.S. Senate and a political adversary of President Donald Trump. “Six weeks ago, Senator Mark Kelly—and five other members of Congress—released a reckless and seditious video that was clearly intended to undermine good order and military discipline,” Hegseth wrote on X this morning. He cited two articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice; Kelly, unlike the other five, holds retired military status, which makes him subject to sanctions from the Defense Department. What Hegseth did not cite was what Kelly and his colleagues actually said in the video, and for good reason. Doing so would expose the absurdity of the charge and the abuse of power involved in the attempt to demote him. “Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders,” Kelly said. No one in the Trump administration has disputed that this is true. A more agile or even-keeled administration would have smoothly dismissed the video as irrelevant: This is true, but of course we would never issue an illegal order. (As Kelly and his lawyers have noted, Hegseth has cited the same law about disobeying illegal orders in the past.) Instead, Trump and his aides threw a fit, dubbing the Democrats the “Seditious Six.” One possible reason for the frantic response became apparent quickly. Not only have U.S. forces been conducting likely unlawful strikes on boats in the Caribbean; late last year, several news sources reported new details about the first attack, in which the initial strike had not killed all those aboard the boat, so a second strike was ordered. The Pentagon’s own Law of War Manual for service members states that “orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.” This revelation made the video from Kelly and company not just hypothetical but directly relevant. It also put Hegseth on the defensive, even among Republican members of Congress, and he quickly shifted blame to Admiral Mitch Bradley, who commanded the operation. In contrast to the language in the Law of War Manual, the UCMJ articles upon which Hegseth rests his decision to discipline Kelly are vague, involving “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” and “all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces.” As my colleague Tom Nichols has noted, these provisions might apply to Hegseth’s own admitted behavior while in uniform. Punishing Kelly is extremely pernicious political retaliation. It also ought to be embarrassing to Hegseth, though he seems as impervious to shame as his boss. The censure is appealable in the next 30 days, and Kelly vowed to fight it. (If it goes through, it could cost him roughly $1,000 a month in pay, per Politico.) “My rank and retirement are things that I earned through my service and sacrifice for this country. I got shot at. I missed holidays and birthdays. I commanded a space shuttle mission while my wife,” former Representative Gabby Giffords, “recovered from a gunshot wound to the head—all while proudly wearing the American flag on my shoulder,” he said in a statement on X. “If Pete Hegseth, the most unqualified Secretary of Defense in our country’s history, thinks he can intimidate me with a censure or threats to demote me or prosecute me, he still doesn’t get it.” Kelly is one of several critics of Trump to be targeted by the administration in the past year. The administration has repeatedly sought to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey; launched investigations into a major Democratic fundraising platform and prominent politicians including Senator Adam Schiff; and used administration policy to bully states that don’t fully cooperate with Trump—most recently vetoing a bipartisan bill on a Colorado water project, apparently as punishment for the state’s refusal to free a former local official who backed up Trump’s false claims of voter fraud. Despite Kelly’s defiance, his attempted demotion sends a message, even if it ultimately doesn’t come to pass. Kelly has the resources and political support to fight for his views, and he’ll get plenty of prominent backers. But if a notable figure like Kelly can be punished, how can any ordinary soldier or sailor who is currently serving hope to refuse an illegal order without facing serious personal consequences? Members of the armed forces, and retirees like Kelly, are particularly susceptible to Hegseth’s abuse of power, because they can be punished by the Defense Department internally. But the chilling effect does not end with those who are serving or have served, or with the particular question of illegal orders. The administration has told the other five Democrats that it is investigating them as well. The core belief underlying all of this is as plain as it is dangerous: Criticizing Donald Trump and defending the rule of law is sedition. Related: Senator Mark Kelly is in the wrong job. Trump and Hegseth’s hysterical reaction to an ad Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 7 Author Members Posted January 7 The war for minerals, oil and AI President Trump has offered a variety of reasons for his intense, pugilistic ambitions in Venezuela, Greenland and other hemispheric players. But one tie binds them all: They hold many of the critical minerals essential to AI and defense technology — and therefore future global dominance, Axios' Marc Caputo and Madison Mills write. Why it matters: Within a day of snatching Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump administration officials and financial analysts began discussing that nation's vast array of mineral riches. Along with tapping Venezuela's massive oil reserves, officials say, harvesting the country's rare-earth minerals could help stabilize its finances, and help the U.S. blunt China's global stranglehold on those precious resources the chip industry needs. "You have steel, you have minerals, all the critical minerals," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters aboard Air Force One with President Trump late Sunday. "They have a great mining history that's gone rusty." ?️ The big picture: Trump's power play also would benefit U.S. companies, which have begun reaching out to the administration about business opportunities in Venezuela. Financial analysts were touting the potential mining investments there yesterday. As for Greenland, Trump has mused about taking control of the Danish territory. Most of his advisers don't believe he'd follow through on the extreme idea of seizing land from an ally, which would provoke a crisis in NATO. But Trump continues to raise the issue. Photo: Splash News Both Venezuela and Greenland have key critical minerals needed for advanced electronics and batteries: They have deposits of gallium, germanium, indium, tantalum and silicon used in advanced AI chips. Greenland has another coveted mineral that Venezuela does not: palladium. Compared to Greenland, Venezuela has more significant quantities of coltan, a metal used in smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles. Venezuela and Greenland have thorium, a metal that can be converted into fissile uranium-233 and used as nuclear fuel. Both are rich in clean energy minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel that can help power massive AI data centers. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 7 Author Members Posted January 7 ?️ Trump floats oil subsidies Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images President Trump told NBC News yesterday that the U.S. may subsidize an effort by oil companies to rebuild Venezuela's energy infrastructure — saying the project could take less than 18 months, Axios' Ben Geman writes. "A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they'll get reimbursed by us or through revenue," he said. Why it matters: Venezuela's crude output has dwindled to well under 1 million barrels per day after years of underinvestment, mismanagement, and sanctions — a far cry from around 3.5 million per day in the late 1990s. Researchers with Columbia University's energy think tank estimate that reaching even 2.5 million barrels per day would take $80–90 billion of investment in oil infrastructure over six or seven years. Keep reading ... Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted January 7 Author Members Posted January 7 ? Trump sparks midterm vaccine war Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios The Trump administration made good on its vows to upend childhood vaccinations just days into the new year, ensuring public health will be a prominent midterm campaign issue, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes. Why it matters: The slimmed-down vaccine schedule, resembling Denmark's, suggests the administration is undaunted by public support for childhood vaccines — or by warnings about the return of preventable diseases. The U.S. now only recommends all kids receive 11 vaccines, with additional shots for high-risk children. Before Trump's second inauguration, the U.S. had recommended 17 vaccines. The CDC now says parents should consult with physicians before inoculating their children with previously recommended shots for six diseases, including rotavirus, COVID and flu. All vaccines previously recommended by the federal government will continue to be covered by insurers, officials said. Keep reading. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
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