yes it is
There's nothing wrong with banning third world immigration and being against freeloaders. It's not like I'm advocating for genocide or something.
Nobody is "for" free loaders
Rubio is a weasly piece of . No way he beats Vance in any way.
You're a weird dumb dude
Current events sound insane when straightforwardly described
Trump invaded Venezuela, kidnapped its president, stole a bunch of its oil, sold it, and stashed the money in banks in Qatar
Rand Paul: "To say it's not a war in Venezuela -- we still have hundreds of ships with a 100% blockade of the coast. That is an act of war. It's an ongoing war. To continue to take their oil -- ongoing war."
Trump s don't care about the Cons ution.
obviously not, except for a few weirdos
in a word, imperialism
(from the 2026 National Defense Strategy)
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https://media.defense.gov/2026/Jan/2...E-STRATEGY.PDFWord Counts:
Homeland: 27
China: 23
Iran: 13
Border: 11
Israel: 10Monroe Doctrine: 5
Greenland: 5
illegal aliens/migration: 5
Ukraine: 4
Taiwan: 0
definition is a b!tch, most of Venezuela's oil is not economically recoverable at current prices
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oi...coverable.html
The foundation of Venezuela’s reserve claim lies in the Orinoco Oil Belt, a vast region containing extra-heavy crude and bitumen-like hydrocarbons. The oil is unquestionably real and enormous in scale. U.S. Geological Survey estimates suggest more than one trillion barrels of oil in place.
But oil in place is not the same thing as oil that can be economically produced, transported, refined, and sold. It bears little resemblance to the light, free-flowing crude produced in places like Saudi Arabia or West Texas. In practical terms, it is far closer to Canada’s oil sands.
Orinoco crude must first be mined or thermally produced, then upgraded into a synthetic crude before it can reach global markets. That makes production capital-intensive, technologically complex, and highly sensitive to oil prices.
For decades, most of this oil was classified not as reserves, but as resources—hydrocarbons known to exist but not considered economically recoverable.
In the early 2000s, Venezuela’s proven oil reserves were far more modest by global standards. Around 2005, official estimates placed the country’s reserves at roughly 77 to 80 billion barrels, consisting primarily of conventional crude. That figure put Venezuela well behind Saudi Arabia and several other major producers. For context, today an 80-billion-barrel reserve base would rank eighth in the world.Under OPEC guidelines and U.S. SEC reporting rules, a barrel of oil only qualifies as a proven reserve if it can be economically recovered at prevailing oil prices using existing technology. That definition is more economic than geological—and it is central to what happened next.
At the time, oil prices averaged around $25 per barrel. At those levels, the cost of extracting and upgrading Orinoco crude exceeded the value of the finished product. The oil was physically present, but economically stranded.
That changed as oil prices surged. By 2008, crude prices were approaching $140 per barrel. As oil prices rose, projects that had once been marginal suddenly appeared economic—at least on paper.
With higher prices and improving extraction technology, Venezuela’s national oil company, PDVSA, was able to reclassify large portions of the Orinoco from “resources” into “proven reserves” under prevailing reserve definitions. This process was formalized through a government initiative known as the Magna Reserva Project, launched under Hugo Chávez to certify oil “in place” across the Orinoco Belt.
Between 2005 and 2011, Venezuela’s reported reserves nearly quadrupled—from under 80 billion barrels to nearly 300 billion—without a corresponding surge in discoveries or production. The transformation was largely statistical, not physical.
But independent estimates highlight the gap between headline reserve numbers and economic reality.Rystad Energy, for example, estimates Venezuela’s economically recoverable oil at roughly 29 billion barrels — about one-tenth of the official total. That estimate reflects realistic assumptions about production costs, infrastructure requirements, and oil prices.
are we not in charge there already?RUBIO SAYS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS PREPARED TO USE MILITARY FORCE IF NEEDED TO FORCE VENEZUELA’S ACTING LEADER DELCY RODRÍGUEZ TO COOPERATE WITH THE U.S., INCLUDING OPENING THE OIL SECTOR TO AMERICAN COMPANIES, AS WASHINGTON STEPS UP NAVAL DEPLOYMENTS AND OIL SHIPMENT
the oil companies don't want that ty oil.
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mdioylsivi22RAND PAUL: If a country bombed our air defense missiles, captured & removed our president, & blockaded our country, would that be considered an act of war?
RUBIO: We just don't believe this operation comes anywhere close to the cons utional definition
PAUL: Of course it would be an act of war!
knock-on: the US blockading Cuba
if no deal is done, o Mariel Boatlift 2.0
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy8zv9gp0goCuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said that his government is in talks with the Trump administration to find solutions to the two countries' differences, as the Caribbean country continues to face the effects of a US oil blockade.
Díaz-Canel said no fuel had entered Cuba in three months.
Talks between the two nations were in their initial stages, said Díaz-Canel, who is leading the Cuban side of negotiations, in a national broadcast on Friday.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Cuba was in "deep trouble" as he threatened a "friendly takeover".
Cuba is experiencing several blackouts as the island struggles with fuel shortages, which have been made worse by pressure from the US.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has made clear his desire to change Cuba's leadership. He has also threatened tariffs on goods imported into the US from any country that gives Cuba oil.
The White House told the BBC on Friday that: "As the president stated, we are talking to Cuba, whose leaders should make a deal, which he believes 'would be very easily made'".
Havana relies heavily on imported fuel for its electricity and the US has seized a number of oil shipments bound for Cuba.
Venezuela was believed to have sent around 35,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba, providing about half the island's oil needs. But Washington's Venezuela raid - and capture of President Nicolás Maduro - in early January has disrupted the arrangement.
In his national broadcast, Díaz-Canel said that not having fuel enter Cuba for the past three months has led to the gradual decline of diesel and fuel oil reserves. Given this, the country's electrical grid has become increasingly "unstable", he said.
Sending Rubio to install the Castros to run the US protectorate in Cuba wasn't on my 2026 bingo card
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/w...9.a5SMOwYKG0cMThe Trump administration is seeking to oust the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, in its talks with Cuban political leaders. It plans to allow the Castro family to keep power if they agree to economic changes, creating a client state for the US.
btw, the US blockade that's forcing Cuba to the table has been barbaric and inhumane
no shipments of oil have landed in Cuba in weeks, and today Cuba's grid collapsed
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/ameri...pse-intl-latam
the US energy blockade of Cuba is catastrophic
Without oil, there’s no electricity to pump water much less treat it. How are 10 million people suddenly expected to forage for water — or wood to boil it? Or food — which can no longer be refrigerated? The humanitarian disaster is here and Donald Trump caused it. This is insane.
In Iran, US attacks have resulted in IRGC consolidating power and exercising de facto control of Hormuz
In Venezeula, hardliners are also consolidating power after US armed forces abducted Maduro, propelling Delcy Rodriguez to power
as.ft.com/r/d091e3ec-f...For a decade, Gustavo González López oversaw Venezuela’s torture dungeons and spy networks. His secret police became a cudgel for strongman Nicolás Maduro. Opponents were disappeared, protesters rounded up and González was sanctioned by the US, EU and UK.Now, the US-backed interim president Delcy Rodríguez has promoted the baby-faced 65-year-old to defence minister, as she seeks to shore up power.
The move, analysts say, encapsulates the changes to Venezuela’s government since the US whisked Maduro to a Brooklyn jail in January: the same brutal regime, with faces that are friendlier to Washington.“He signals the continuation of the repressive dictatorship we have been living through. It’s a step in the wrong direction . . . he’s been the chief torturer in charge of political oppression,” said Ricardo Hausmann, a Venezuelan former minister in the 1990s and now a professor at Harvard.
González was central to quashing protests that broke out in 2014, 2017 and 2019. Hundreds were locked up in prisons such as El Helicoide, an unfinished shopping centre repurposed into the country’s most notorious torture chamber. Another jail, nicknamed “the tomb”, was expanded in the basement of the intelligence agency Sebin’s headquarters in central Caracas.
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