U.S. poised to strike military targets in Venezuela

[Winehole23]

if steering the spoils of war into a private executive kitty for the president to spend at will from is consistent with our republican form of government, I would like to hear how

[Winehole23]

more mundanely, it is yet another example of blatantly illegal taxation and spending along with the tariffs

Charles I, etc..

[Winehole23]

“No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law"
Article I, Section 9.

etc., etc..

[Winehole23]

“No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law"
Article I, Section 9.

I guess you could say if it's coming from energy companies straight to the president, the Treasury isn't involved and so isn't covered by the US Cons ution

Just guessing, the possibility of a US President using US armed forces to stream money into his own pocket might not have been anticipated by the framers, so

[Winehole23]

Unless Trump TACOs there's no path that doesn't lead to escalation in Venezuela, for supply the US oil patch doesn't need right now, except for the $$$ flowing directly to Trump, if he gets his way.

Because Venezuela is not going to do everything Trump wants.

[ChumpDumper]

First of all, this wasn't a regime change; Maduro was an illegitimate dictator who failed to recognize the 2024 election results.

So keep the illegitimate regime in place as long as they are obedient.

Got it.

[DMX7]

I don't know. You're the one needing more facts before you can figure out if these idiotic Trump moves are good or bad.

You still waiting for facts about the Maduro kidnapping or have you figured it out yet?

Perhaps you're a Maduro fan because you don't know who he is or what he's done.

[Winehole23]

Perhaps you're a Maduro fan because you don't know who he is or what he's done.

I don't get the sense that any poster in this thread is a Maduro fan

Blake, please correct me if I'm wrong

[ChumpDumper]

Perhaps you're a Maduro fan because you don't know who he is or what he's done.

He formed the government which has been left in place to rule Venezuela.

[Winehole23]

I guess you could say if it's coming from energy companies straight to the president, the Treasury isn't involved and so isn't covered by the US Cons ution

Just guessing, the possibility of a US President using US armed forces to stream money into his own pocket might not have been anticipated by the framers, so

except

Article II, Sec. 4 and

18 USC Ch. 11: BRIBERY, GRAFT, AND CONFLICTS OF INTERESTFrom le 18—CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDUREPART I—CRIMES

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?...edition=prelim

[Blake]

Perhaps you're a Maduro fan because you don't know who he is or what he's done.

You're a Trump fan even though you know exactly what he's done. It's sad and pathetic that there are too many Americans just like you.

[Winehole23]

https://neverwasmag.com/2019/04/coun...f-america-map/
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/long...ted-elon-musk/

[velik_m]

DOJ admits that Maduro drug cartel Trump cited to justify Venezuela strike doesn’t actually exist

The Department of Justice has admitted that a drug cartel cited by President Donald Trump as a justification for his military strike on Venezuela and capture of President Nicolas Maduro doesn’t actually exist.

The Daily Mail reported that Trump had previously said that Maduro was the head of a Venezuelan drug organization called Cartel de los Soles.

That claim was initially made in a Trump DOJ grand jury indictment against Maduro in 2020.

The 2020 indictment refers to the cartel 32 times and says Maduro is the leader of the organization.

The State Department and the Treasury Department under Trump last year designated Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization.

But Latin America experts have countered that “Cartel de los Soles” is actually a slang phrase coined in the 1990s by the Venezuelan media to describe government officials who accept narco money as bribes.

A revised DOJ do ent issued after Maduro’s capture now claims Maduro only supported the drug-money patronage system, along with his predecessor and mentor, President Hugo Chávez.

...

https://www.silive.com/politics/2026...lly-exist.html

[Winehole23]

Steven Miller is Thrasymachus-posting

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/c...-thrasymachus/

[Winehole23]

comparison can also be made to the Melian Dialogue

For ourselves, we shall not trouble you with specious pretences—either of how we have a right to our empire because we overthrew the Mede, or are now attacking you because of wrong that you have done us—and make a long speech which would not be believed; and in return we hope that you, instead of thinking to influence us by saying that you did not join the Lacedaemonians, although their colonists, or that you have done us no wrong, will aim at what is feasible, holding in view the real sentiments of us both; since you know as well as we do that right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/impe...ucydides8.html

[Winehole23]

"The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must" sounds tough as , but hubris hastened the humiliation of Athens by Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian War, like the Melians said.

As we think, at any rate, it is expedient—we speak as we are obliged, since you enjoin us to let right alone and talk only of interest—that you should not destroy what is our common protection, the privilege of being allowed in danger to invoke what is fair and right, and even to profit by arguments not strictly valid if they can be got to pass current. And you are as much interested in this as any, as your fall would be a signal for the heaviest vengeance and an example for the world to meditate upon... You may be sure that we are as well aware as you of the difficulty of contending against your power and fortune, unless the terms be equal. But we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good as yours, since we are just men fighting against unjust, and that what we want in power will be made up by the alliance of the Lacedaemonians, who are bound, if only for very shame, to come to the aid of their kindred. Our confidence, therefore, after all is not so utterly irrational.

[Winehole23]

Polymarket is disputing that the US mission to capture Nicolás Maduro cons uted an "invasion", refusing to pay out bets on a contract with $10.5M in wagers (Financial Times)

https://www.ft.com/content/985ae542-...e-b30f6a3ab666

[Winehole23]

I was unaware of the Erdogan/Maduro friendship, I'm still looking for a non-ONEST network cite for this quote

If a global carve up is imminent, the possibilities of inadvertently igniting WWIII could be considerable

The Western world is gradually losing, one by one, all the arguments it has used for years to threaten other countries. We are now in the very center of a ruthless struggle for division, where those not at the table are placed on the menu.

https://www.turkishminute.com/2026/0...duro-in-exile/

[Yonivore]

Sure you do, Trump threatened Delcy Rodriguez directly, said worse would happen to her than Maduro if she got out of line

The military assisted law enforcement operation has occurred in the context of a US naval blockade of Venezuela and ongoing small craft bombings, it's not a toothless threat

I don't see the issue. Delcy Rodriguez better watch her P's and Q's or she'll be next.

I don't know that you share this position but, many on the Left are asking, "Why didn't Trump just install Machado, instead of allowing the Vice President to ascend to the office?" It's a fair question and, not being an insider, I have not direct knowledge but, if I were Trump; I'd rather have Venezuelans -- beginning with an elevated Delcy Rodriguez -- drive the train to restoration of a legitimate government with a free and fair elections. I predict this is one of the conditions that allows Rodriguez to sleep at night. Trump installing Machado and forcing the removal of the remnants of the Maduro regime would have probably required "boot-on-the-ground" to enforce. Holding Rodriguez to account through threats, sanctions, and continued geopolitical pressure and organically driving the country to a free and fair election - down the road - would be the more prudent avenue.

Downplaying Trump's description of Machado as a minor player would tend to drive the Venezuelan people who voted for her, in overwhelming numbers, to vote for her again, when given the chance.

We'll see.

None of the probable escalations will endear this decision to the American people

You mean the vocal minority of the Left that can't figure out if they support the oppressed or not, support the No Kings or not.

Bullpucky

Not only did we decapitate a foreign government, we did it in favor of a hardline leftist regime, no date suggested for national elections

Bullpucky, Venezuela was a failed state with an illegitimate dictator who was giving the riches of Venezuela away for military hardware and money from our adversaries.

I get the pretext, even grant that there's a similarly ludicrous precedent in Panama in 1989. It's not hard to understand, I just think this was a bad decision whatever the pretext.

You can think it was a bad decision, if you like - only time will tell. I think it was the right thing to do. We're all en led to our opinions.

[Yonivore]

Looks like the Donroe Doctrine in practice. Not sure why calling it a "Technate" is accurate. Also, it'll eventually extend to the Southern tip of South America.

[Winehole23]

I don't see the issue. Delcy Rodriguez better watch her P's and Q's or she'll be next.

Yeah, that's not a recipe for stability, more like the opposite

I don't know that you share this position but, many on the Left are asking, "Why didn't Trump just install Machado, instead of allowing the Vice President to ascend to the office?" It's a fair question and, not being an insider, I have not direct knowledge but, if I were Trump; I'd rather have Venezuelans -- beginning with an elevated Delcy Rodriguez -- drive the train to restoration of a legitimate government with a free and fair elections. I predict this is one of the conditions that allows Rodriguez to sleep at night. Trump installing Machado and forcing the removal of the remnants of the Maduro regime would have probably required "boot-on-the-ground" to enforce. Holding Rodriguez to account through threats, sanctions, and continued geopolitical pressure and organically driving the country to a free and fair election - down the road - would be the more prudent avenue.

Downplaying Trump's description of Machado as a minor player would tend to drive the Venezuelan people who voted for her, in overwhelming numbers, to vote for her again, when given the chance.

I bet Trump is bad at 3D chess too

You mean the vocal minority of the Left that can't figure out if they support the oppressed or not, support the No Kings or not.

Those against outnumber those for in recent polls, it isn't just progressives and radicals who disagree, independents don't like intervention in Venezuela either

One in three Americans approves of the US military strike on Venezuela that toppled the country's president and 72 per cent worry the US will become too involved in the South American country, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded on Jan 5. The two-day poll showed 65 per cent of Republicans back the military operation ordered by Republican President Donald Trump, compared to 11 per cent of Democrats and 23 per cent of independents.

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/u...sos-poll-finds

You can think it was a bad decision, if you like - only time will tell. I think it was the right thing to do. We're all en led to our opinions.

You seem to think it's enough merely to have a justification for action; it isn't. Results count too.

It's hard to see the benefit to the USA or the wisdom of propping up yet another foreign satrapy over the long term

[Blake]

I don't see the issue. Delcy Rodriguez better watch her P's and Q's or she'll be next.

I don't know that you share this position but, many on the Left are asking, "Why didn't Trump just install Machado, instead of allowing the Vice President to ascend to the office?" It's a fair question and, not being an insider, I have not direct knowledge but, if I were Trump; I'd rather have Venezuelans -- beginning with an elevated Delcy Rodriguez -- drive the train to restoration of a legitimate government with a free and fair elections. I predict this is one of the conditions that allows Rodriguez to sleep at night. Trump installing Machado and forcing the removal of the remnants of the Maduro regime would have probably required "boot-on-the-ground" to enforce. Holding Rodriguez to account through threats, sanctions, and continued geopolitical pressure and organically driving the country to a free and fair election - down the road - would be the more prudent avenue.

Downplaying Trump's description of Machado as a minor player would tend to drive the Venezuelan people who voted for her, in overwhelming numbers, to vote for her again, when given the chance.

We'll see.


You mean the vocal minority of the Left that can't figure out if they support the oppressed or not, support the No Kings or not.


Bullpucky, Venezuela was a failed state with an illegitimate dictator who was giving the riches of Venezuela away for military hardware and money from our adversaries.


You can think it was a bad decision, if you like - only time will tell. I think it was the right thing to do. We're all en led to our opinions.

Someone ask Brave Sir Yoni why he thinks it was the right thing to do.

[Winehole23]

oil tanker taken near Iceland

wonder what the Russian take on all this is

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarador...r-reports-say/

[Winehole23]

Looks like the Donroe Doctrine in practice. Not sure why calling it a "Technate" is accurate. Also, it'll eventually extend to the Southern tip of South America.

You sound confident

"Technate" is accurate according to Technocracy Inc.. Had you ever heard of El0n Musk's eccentric grandfather, Joshua Haldeman?

https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/long...ted-elon-musk/

[ChumpDumper]

Looks like the Donroe Doctrine in practice. Not sure why calling it a "Technate" is accurate. Also, it'll eventually extend to the Southern tip of South America.

Why?

You never talked about or promoted this before you were told to do so; just like you didn't say anything about being in favor of invading Iraq before you were told to do so.

You are devoid of independent thought.