It can fairly be said that the most precarious jobs in the world are those of a golf ball collector at a driving range, a mascot at a Chuck E. Cheese, and a Trump Administration lawyer.
That was evident at the press conference yesterday as President Donald Trump blew apart the carefully constructed narrative presented earlier for the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Some of us had written that Trump had a winning legal argument by focusing on the operation as the seizure of two indicted individuals in reliance on past judicial rulings, including the decisions in the case of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and General Dan Caine stayed on script and reinforced this narrative. Both repeatedly noted that this was an operation intended to bring two individuals to justice and that law enforcement personnel were part of the extraction team to place them into legal custody. Rubio was, again, particularly effective in emphasizing that Maduro was not the head of state but a criminal dictator who took control after losing democratic elections.
However, while noting the purpose of the capture, President Trump proceeded to declare that the United States would engage in nation-building to achieve lasting regime change. He stated that they would be running Venezuela to ensure a friendly government and the repayment of seized U.S. property dating back to the government of Hugo Chávez.
This city is full of self-proclaimed Trump whisperers who rarely score above random selection in their predictions. However, there are certain pronounced elements in Trump’s approach to such matters. First, he is the most transparent president in my lifetime with prolonged (at times excruciatingly long) press conferences and a brutal frankness about his motivations. Second, he is unabashedly and undeniably transactional in most of his dealings. He is not ashamed to state what he wants the country to get out of the deal.
In Venezuela, he wants a stable partner, and he wants oil.
Chávez and Maduro had implemented moronic socialist policies that reduced one of the most prosperous nations to an economic basket case. They brought in Cuban security thugs to help keep the population under repressive conditions, as a third fled to the United States and other countries.
After an extraordinary operation to capture Maduro, Trump was faced with socialist Maduro allies on every level of the government. He is not willing to allow those same regressive elements to reassert themselves.
The problem is that, if the purpose was regime change, this attack was an act of war, which is why Rubio struggled to bring the presser back to the law enforcement purpose. I have long criticized the erosion of the war declaration powers of Congress, including my representation of members of Congress in opposition to Obama’s Libyan war effort.
The fact, however, is that we lost that case. Trump knows that. Courts have routinely dismissed challenges to undeclared military offensives against other nations. In fairness to Trump, most Democrats were as quiet as church mice when Obama and Hillary Clinton attacked Libya’s capital and military sites to achieve regime change without any authorization from Congress. They were also silent when Obama vaporized an American under this “kill list” policy without even a criminal charge. So please spare me the outrage now.
My strong preferences for congressional authorization and consultation are immaterial. The question I am asked as a legal analyst is whether this operation would be viewed as lawful. The answer remains yes.
The courts have previously upheld the authority of presidents to seize individuals abroad, including the purported heads of state. This case is actually stronger in many respects than the one involving Noriega. Maduro will now make the same failed arguments that Noriega raised. He should lose those challenges under existing precedent. If courts apply the same standards to Trump (which is often an uncertain proposition), Trump will win on the right to seize Maduro and bring him to justice.
But then, how about the other rationales rattled off at Mar-A-Lago? In my view, it will not matter. Here is why.
The immediate purpose and result of the operation was to capture Maduro and to bring him to face his indictment in New York. That is Noriega 2.0. The Administration put him into custody at the time of extraction with law enforcement personnel and handed him over to the Justice Department for prosecution.
The Trump Administration can then argue that it had to deal with the aftermath of that operation and would not simply leave the country without a leader or stable government. Trump emphasized that “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
I still do not like the import of those statements. Venezuelans must be in charge of their own country and our role, if any, must be to help them establish a democratic and stable government. Trump added that “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
The devil is in the details. Venezuelans must decide who has their best interests in mind, not the United States.
However, returning to the legal elements, I do not see how a court could free Maduro simply because it disapproves of nation-building. Presidents have engaged in such policies for years. The aftermath of the operation is distinct from its immediate purpose. Trump can argue that, absent countervailing action from Congress, he has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to lay the foundation for a constitutional and economic revival in Venezuela.
He will leave it to his lawyers to make that case. It is not the case that some of us preferred, but it is the case that he wants to be made. He is not someone who can be scripted. It is his script and he is still likely to prevail in holding Maduro and his wife for trial.
N.B.: This column appeared on Fox.com
The entire operation in Venzuela will ultimately prove pointless because Trump stupidly appointed corrupt, incompetent Pam Bondi to be in charge of the DOJ. “Thanks” to Bondi, Nicky Maduro will be tried in New York Federal Court, a Marxist Hellhole under the control of the Democrat-IslamoCommuNazis.
And the NY Deep State “randomly” assigned the Maduro case to Far Leftist Activist Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, who always rules for Marxists and against human decency. If Bondi were not such a corrupt, incompetent, worthless bimbo-twerp, the case would be tried in Florida, away from the NYS Democrat-Marxists and IslamoCommuNazis.
Look for Deep State Puppet Hellerstein to rule in favor of fellow corrupt Marxist Nicky Maduro. And look for Trump to whine about the “injustice” of New York’s corrupt legal “system”, while keeping Bondi on and never mentioning that his Administration created the legal faisco in New York Federal Court by filing in the Marxist Hellhole to begin with.
To commenters who choose to insult President Trump: Could you at least learn to spell the word “orangutan”? Or better yet, try engaging in civilized discourse.
Go have intercourse with an orangutan.
Any comparison between Trump and orangutans is an insult to orangutans.
Please keep this a secret, but the victims in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue, Madame L’Espanaye and her daughter Camille, were killed by an escaped orangutan, who was brought to justice after its owner, a sailor, came forward to reveal the orangutan’s violent escape and actions, as deduced by detective C. Auguste Dupin.
The situation in Iran is deteriorating by the day.
Both Trump and Netanyahu have warned Iran no to start shooting protestors – Iran has ignored that.
Regardless the protests are growing by the Day. Iran has astronomical inflation – the Rial is basically worthless.
Strikes have shut down Irans production that is providing the country with SOME hard currency.
As a result the government is not getting paid. More and more of the govenrment is shutting down.
Further the impact of this goes beyond Iran.
Russia has been hit with the inability to use Venezuella to launder sanctioned oil.
Now Iran is cut off from Iran as a source of weapons. Iran provided Russia with 40% of its munitions last year and an enormous number of Drones – this has stopped.
The events of the past week are radically undermining Russias ability to continue the Ukraine war.
Who knows exactly what will happen – but some analysts have suggested that Ukraine may back out of the peace deal – because Russias ability to continue the war has been seriously impacted. Russia has rising inflation, growing debt, its ability to replace soldiers is declining and political resistance is growing as more and more Russians who thought they would not have to fight are drafted.
Even if Iran manages to survive current protests – which looks increasingly unlikely, Their effectiveness as a suplier to Russia is diminishing.
Put Simply Russia may be losing he ability to continue to fight this war.
Conversely Ukraine isnot only well supplied but even producing drones for export
This was always going to be a war of attrition. The balance with respect to which nations is unable to continue first might haave just tipped.
Regardless it has been an awful no good very bad week for Russia.
While the US and Israel are both poised to intervene in Iran – so far the regime violence has been relatively minimal and it is likely that both the US and Israel will act with restraint – because they wish to preserve the impression this is entirely a home grown revolution.
Actions by the US or Israel MIGHT legitimize claims by Iran that this is the result of foreign influence.
I do not understand why what is going on in Iran is not being better reported.
Irainian protestors – mostly Women are calling for the return of a secular Iran.
And it looks like this protest might prove to be the death knell of the Islamic state.
The world is changing rapidly, and it is doing so in ways favorable to the US and hostile to Cuba, Russia and China.
Further it is entirely possible that this triggers uprisinngs in Cuba, Russia and China – regardless it significantly weakens all three countries.
Recently we learned that Maduro was being protected by a Cuban Special forces unit – they were completely wiped out with no use casualties.
The meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska back in August doesn’t appear to be part of your analysis. It’s likely US-Russia agreements with respect to geopolitics were made and all of this comports with that plan. In my mind the big question is whether the EU is capable of replacing the US as Ukraine’s sugar daddy. I’m sure the EU was part of the conversation, but of course were not present for it.
“The meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska back in August doesn’t appear to be part of your analysis.”
August was 6 months ago – I am reporting the radical changes in the past week.
” It’s likely US-Russia agreements with respect to geopolitics were made and all of this comports with that plan.”
You are free to beleive whatever you want.
Secret agreemnent do sometimes occur, but it is pretty much impossible to enforce a secret agreement – which is why meaningful agreements are made publicly.
If as you claim – Trump and Putin entered a binding agreement to settle the world – what prevents Trump from saying “F#$Kit ” today ?
Nothing.
” In my mind the big question is whether the EU is capable of replacing the US as Ukraine’s sugar daddy.”
Of course they are the only question is whether they are willing to do so.
I do not much care what the answer is – because Russia is THEIR problem – not the US’s anymore.
Regardless the issue I am addressing is the impact of this on peace negotiations.
A year ago Trump correctly told Zelenski – “you have no cards”
As most people have noted the 20 pt deal is pretty favorable to russia.
But today it is Russia that has lost a number of cards while Ukraine has gained a few.
“I’m sure the EU was part of the conversation, but of course were not present for it.”
I am not aware of any significant involvement of the EU in peace negotiations.
Personally I think theis is none of the US’s business and the EU and Ukrraine should work out a peace deal with Putin.
But the EU is impotent and feckless. So Trump is negotiating the peace deal.
John
Plus theie largest city has run out of water,
“The balance with respect to which nations is unable to continue first might haave just tipped.”
John, we have a similar perspective because we recognize the effects of “globalism.” Russia continues the war in Ukraine because from its allies, it obtains equipment, soldiers, and other things from various parts of the world. The strike on Venezuela, following the strike on Iran, is closing their supply chain. If sufficiently closed, it will have to end its war. Ukraine’s trade and benefits are open to vast amounts of supplies. What I don’t understand is Europe, which indirectly supports Russia. I understand there is a certain refined oil needed for battlefield weapons that Russia needs. That comes from Europe.
Correct. The casualties were no use.
The FSB is not employing the best.
Trump Pardoned The Last Latin Leader Charged With Drug Trafficking
Two Latin American strongmen were charged in Manhattan with corrupting their governments, using state power to import hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.
One, the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, was abruptly pardoned by President Trump last month.
The other, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, was captured on Saturday in a military raid that Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterized as a law enforcement operation. Mr. Maduro was brought to the United States to face fresh allegations of narco-terrorism.
The divergent fates of the two men accused of similar crimes by the same prosecutor’s office underscores the way President Trump and his aides are using the federal justice system to conduct a highly personalized geopolitics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/world/americas/trump-maduro-juan-orlando-hernandez.html
Trump Pardoned The Last Latin Leader Charged With Drug Trafficking
Hezbollah, Their American Drug Cartel, and the Obama Administration Who Protected Them
https://www.politico.eu/article/obama-hezbollah-the-secret-backstory-of-how-let-off-the-hook/
““In its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration stopped a law enforcement operation targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah.”
And Obama and Biden spent EIGHT YEARS protecting a Hezbollah drug cartel running inside America that the FBI and DEA were preparing to take down. Can you top that with what you think you have on Trump?
ATS Maduro nor his regime are recognized as legitimate.
Not by the US under Trump
Not by the US under Biden
Not by much of the world.
% others were arested along with Maduro, Trump’s threat to VZ’s VP is very real – large numbers of the govenrment of VZ were indicted by federal grand juries in the SDNY. Much of this occured under Biden.
The BIden admin offered a 25M reward for Maduro – the DNC added another 25M to that reward.
You can rant all you want about Trump’s rhetoric or oil or nationbuilding or endless wars.
And the rest of us will judge those rants based on what actually happens not what you say.
But the idiotic claims by democrats and those ont he left that this action is somehow illegitimate is complete nonsense.
There is video of Democrats such as Schumer in 2020 critcising Trump for NOT acting to arrest Maduro.
And more video in 2024 again during the election claiming Trump was weak or in leaugue would Maduro because he did not arrest him in his first term.
Sorry this hypocracy will not fly.
You can not attack Trump for years for NOT capturing Maduro and now claim that what you spent years demanding is somehow now wrong, illegal or criminal.
All you do is burn your own credibility.
The columnists try to see pattern and policy in what in reality is Trump’s whims. Rubio and others have to do constant damage control about what Trump “meant”. https://rainymorningchronicle.com
The pattern to Trump’s actions is crystal clear – Agenda 47 Trump’s platform.
Trump has done very little that is not consistent with that.
Agenda 47 is repackaged Project 2025.
I missed where he wanted a large ballroom or his name on the Kennedy Center.
That list wasn’t his list. His pattern of actions is self-enrichment.
The irrational nonsense of the posts here is beyond beleif.
First Who believes that the US is sending Troops to Occupy Venezuela ?
That is just NOT HAPPENING.
Despite the wing nuts here – I think the majority of americans (and the world) is happy to see Maduro gone.
But there i no groundswell of support for US troops on the Ground in Venezuella.
Again NOT HAPPENING
So why all this discussion about the US occupying and running Venezuella.
So lets address reality,
What comes next is negotiation with those still in power.
We get all kinds of idiotic specualation from people on this board.
Even without putting troops on the ground those currently in power can not remain in power if the US does not want that.
Everyone with a brain knows that.
That means they are negotiating to stay out of prison – either in the US or VZ and for some hope of retaining SOME power.
Is it all too hard for posters here to grasp what those things mean ?
Yes “anything could happen” but with small variations what is likely is fairly narrow.
The Radical Democrat Marxist wrote: “In the course of that military operation the U.S. War Machine preemptively slaughtered Venezuelan citizens inside of their own country. Just because it could.”
Don’t cha love these Goebbelesque nutjobs?! Of course! We murder zillions everyday for the fun of it, don’t cha know?
Chamberlain believed Hitler. Our Leftist Radicals share the same mentality. Why England slept.
Radical Leftists have no concept how the real world does business. Convinced our enemies are simply misunderstood darlings, they find they must condemn Trump no matter what he does. Saving black lives in our inner cities as an example suffices. Our King surely meant to usurp the authorities who had been in charge of not running their war zones, leaving thousands of black boys and girls bloodied, lame, dying and dead on our paved battlefields, merely for his massive ego needs.
His efforts to bring democracy to a little nation run by South American Drug Lords/Mafioso culls the kind of outrage he serves to provoke. They will never learn to shut up, if they would like a kinder, softer dictator.
But they are out re-posting garbage for radical leftist communist sites today. They never learn. Trump is a winner.
While I completely agree with the take-down of the Maduro criminal dictatorship–I WISH Trump would STAY on message and stop winging foreign policy with his careless language. I agree with 90% of Trump’s domestic and foreign policies–his rhetoric needs to be more focused.
Far too many people (in my humble opinion) care far too much about what Trump says than what he does. I’ve never understood the rationale of that viewpoint: hanging on any politician’s every word, begging them to speak vs. their actions.
Cant wait to see if computers and related documents were taken too. The implications to Cuba & like commie actors could be bad indeed !.
Trumps blockade was being called by two Chinese supertankers that were going to run it …. I think Trump faced two choices; first stop the Chinese ships which would be a bigger international incident or end the reason they were coming, remove Maduro …. however, as we see Maduro’s government remains in control as Trump has now threatened them to play ball or else.
I am sure Trump would be happy to confisxate a couple of Chinese supertankers.
confisxate?
Every time Netanyahu shows up at the White House the Declining Empire does something else to drain the treasury and steal more of my tax money. I notice more and more of trumps sycophants are abandoning him. Professor Turley is trying hard to remain the steadfast foot soldier but it’s getting harder to stay the course. Trump was always a conman, remains a conman and will always be a conman. Even Steve bannon is waking up.
Every time Netanyahu shows up at the White House the Declining Empire does something else to drain the treasury and steal more of my tax money.
Why looky here! We got us one of the Biden New Hitler Youth Movement’s Neo-Nazis Birthing Boyz – the voters behind anti-Semitic Obama, Biden… and of course the House’s Anti-Semitic Socialist Sisterhood. If you thought Ilhan Omar and Rashid Tlaib were full on fans of Genocide For Jew Boys… you haven’t seen anything until you see these New Hitler Youth Movement Democrats poke their heads out of the slime to show you their love and adoration of Iran’s terrorist hajjis, Hezbollah and Hamas.
Well… this is exactly what Obama and Biden paid Iran’s Mad Mullahs hundreds of billions of dollars in unmarked bills to buy here in America!
Completely agree. Turley has abandoned all his principles. He opposed Libya in 2011 because congress didnt approve and now he’s ok with a war decided solely by the executive branch. He supported deportation of green cold holders solely based on free speech. He never had any principles.
Libya was not harboring a person who had a criminal action for crimes against the U.S. pending in U.S. court, clown.
A Constantly Changing Story
In this column Turley contents himself with the basic legal argument. And that’s fine to cover the capture of Maduro.
But, as Turley notes, ‘Trump went off-script’. Trump kept yacking about oil like that was all that mattered. Making it clear to every cynic that the U.S. intends to sieze Venezuela’s oil.
This oil plunder perception reinforces every critic of Iraq. Like Trump is determined to relive Iraq.
However the U.S. doesn’t control any section of Venezuela yet. Nor its oil industry. And Maduro’s government still holds power. So how are we going to control Venezuela without a total invasion?
Everything with Trump is a constantly changing story full of contradictions. Only a sap would think it’s still about drugs.
Trump just pardoned the former president of Honduras who was convicted of drug trafficking in the same court Maduro will face. If Trump cares about drugs, that pardon sent a very confusing message.
Trump is confused if he honestly thinks the American people want another Iraq closer to home. Hopefully the Senate pumps the brakes on this.
Next up: Greenland. Stay tuned.
No, you have it all wrong.
Don’t you see the Venezuelans are quivering in their boots that trump will cause them more harm? So without U.S. troops, Exxon Mobile will send in their workers to start work on the oil fields. The Venezuelans will line up for whatever jobs they can get (cooks, maids, truck drivers, etc), and of course the Venezuelans will leave their guns at home and just wait patiently for their jobs, and food. It’s all going to be a huuuuuuge success, trump said so, therefor it is.
A Constantly Evolving Democrat Story About President’s Taking Oil
This oil plunder perception reinforces every critic of Iraq. Like Trump is determined to relive Iraq.
In the theme of constantly changing stories full of contradictions, we’re told Nothing To See Here, Please Believe Us, Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes™ when Obama, his Foreign Policy Expert Biden, and Secretary Of State Clinton arranged for one of Iran’s worst hajji terrorist groups to kill Libia’s leader, Khaddafi. To quote Clinton’s gleeful cackle “We came. We saw. He died”. No handwringing of “OMG… we’ve decided to relive Iraq!!!!”
There were no outstanding arrest warrants as there were for Maduro. There was no string of stolen elections as there were to allow Maduro to remain in power as a communist dictator. There were no hundreds of billions of unpaid legal awards to reimburse six different nations for the oil that Maduro had stolen from petroleum companies based in those countries.
Nor was Libya’s leader working with the ChiComs and Russians as Maduro was, to inject lethal drugs into America that are killing over 100,000 Americans each year.
And the reason: Obama, Clinton, and Biden were intent on plundering Libya’s oil. Or alternately making good on their promises to Putin they would allow Russia have a military presence in the Middle East for the first time ever – along with that Big Red Russian Reset Button they had just given him.
It possibly could be because they wanted to give Clinton a hot take of a publicity stunt to prepare her to run to replace Obama after his eight years as president had run it’s course.
And possibly, the ever clever foreign policy triad of Obama, Biden, and Clinton thought that by doing that they could then allow the Russians entering Libya to be played like Biden puppets, putting Putin’s “mercenaries” together with Iran’s terrorists to inflict what they saw as a more favorable balance in the Middle East against Israel.
They had the intellect of children to believe the three of them could play Putin as their puppet, rather than Putin easily playing all three of them instead. After all – he had already bought Clinton with a cool $30 MILLION slipped into her pockets while she was negotiating with him on America’s behalf.
And when, after taking Khaddafi out and allowing Russia in, did Obama ever control any part of Libya after he engineered the brutal assassination of it’s mildly pro-American leader?
He never did – what he did do is launch a new terrorist group, ISIS, on it’s terror campaign as they swept out of the new terrorist friendly Libya to fan across the Middle East. It took Trump becoming president and bombing them back into the stone age they originated from to put an end to their years of terror.
Trump just pardoned the former president of Honduras who was convicted of drug trafficking
With the ever evolving Democrat story, we should look at who actively facilitated ongoing drug dealing in the USA – not just way down in Honduras.
Obama and Biden allowed Hezbollah to set up and run a hajji terrorist drug cartel – right here in the USA, while they and their sponsor Iran were killing Americans over in the Middle East.
The object of that Hezbollah drug cartel in America? To make millions of dollars that Hezbollah could then use to kill Americans all around the world – not just sell them drugs. Why else?
Hezbollah, its American Drug Cartel, and the Obama Administration
https://www.politico.eu/article/obama-hezbollah-the-secret-backstory-of-how-let-off-the-hook/
And this…
Obama protected Hezbollah’s American drug cartel to save Iran nukes deal
https://nypost.com/2017/12/18/obama-protected-hezbollah-drug-ring-to-save-iran-nukes-deal/
If you’re a Democrat hoping to pretend you care about drugs, you don’t focus on a pardon of someone in jail who was well stripped of the ability to facilitate drugs – while pretending you aren’t aware as a loyal Obama and Biden propaganda that they were allowing Hezbollah to run a drug cartel right here in America.
Meanwhile:
Biden pardoned his pedophile drug dealing felon son
Biden pardoned his pedophile drug dealing felon daughter – who both provided drugs to her brother and worked as his pimp to find underage girls to service her brother.
Biden pardoned HUNDREDS of American drug dealers – many of them violent felons as well.
Biden and Obama both pardoned terrorists who had murdered Americans.
Stay tuned for more promises that Trump will soon have Marines seizing control of Venezuela – just like we were promised six months ago that Trump destroying Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities was going to be the first step to Trump sending in the Marines to seize Iran’s oil.
“This oil plunder perception . . .”
I think what you mean is:
The reality of returning property, stolen by Venezuelan tyrants, to its rightful owners: Western oil companies.
Rubio explained today that what they mean by “running Venezuela” is using the leverage they have from the oil quarantine to get the Venezuelan government to adopt the policies the US wants. That’s a far cry from taking over its government.
DannyBoy: Surely you jest.
I believe that Marco was doing damage control for the boss. We will be calling the big shots in Venezuela, and taking their oil.
To Anon Troll; molovinskyonallentown.blogspot. has always represented my independent conservatism. Michael Molovinsky
Venezuela has 18.7% of the world’s oil and a population of 30 million.
Saudi Arabia has 16.15% of the world’s oil and a population of 35 million.
The United States has 2.13% of the world’s oil and a population of 340 million.
What in the —- have the leaders of Venezuela been doing for the past 100 years?
All of the World’s Oil Reserves by Country, in One Visualization
Oil remains one of the most strategically important resources in the global economy. It powers transportation systems, underpins industrial activity, and continues to shape geopolitics and trade flows. While renewable energy is growing, oil still plays a dominant role in meeting global energy needs.
By: Bruno Venditti Graphics/Design: Sam Parker December 30, 2025
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-of-the-worlds-oil-reserves-by-country-in-one-visualization/
also
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/visualizing-all-worlds-oil-reserves-country
Related:
Charted: Global Grid Investment by Country (2020–2027F)
Modern electricity grids sit at the center of the energy transition. As renewable generation expands and electricity demand rises, countries must invest heavily to modernize aging infrastructure, improve reliability, and handle more variable power sources.
This chart shows how grid investment is evolving across major countries and regions from 2020 through 2027, highlighting where capital is flowing and which markets are scaling up the fastest.
By Bruno Venditti Graphics/Design: Joyce Ma ~ December 26, 2025
[Link] visualcapitalist.com/charted-global-grid-investment-by-country-2020-2027f/
OT:
Thinking about Minnesota daycare fraud, people supposedly left their children in daycare and that was paid by State and federal money? If the parent went to work at minimum wage and daycare work is minimum wage paying the parent to care for their children is a break even? Is that the rationale? We’re paying parents to care for their children?
As to Venezuela, the Venezuelans are most likely looking forward to returning home. Every country south of the US border is either a narco-state government or cartel-state government. It’s tyranny. It’s bled into the US. Those are actual forms of government.
Happy new year
^^^ The oil confiscation? Of course, DJT never gives away anything of American resources. The oil paid for it, reimbursed the US arrest of Maduro. DJT must have fumed over the military equipment in Afghanistan.
Prof. Turley – though I agree with you,
The FACT is that as with most things in the world there are MULTIPLE reasons for doing something – as well as multiple reasons for NOT doing something.
Trump and you and many left wing nuts here note venezuelan oil as a motive for this.
absolutely – one of many.
There are inumerable potential benefits to this operation.
Oil is one of those.
This action also send a message to The Drug Cartels as well as the governments that are in league with them.
It sends a message to China and the world about US military capabilities that is a strong deterant to bad acts those nations might be considering.
And there are many risks
How important is the arrest of Maduro ?
It is absolutely critical.
Why ?
Because despite all the tother motivations it is highly unlikely that Trump would have done this otherwise.
Almost certaintly he would have WANTED to do it.
But Trump and americans WANT myriads of things – things we are capable of doing.
We do not do things simply because we want to or because we will benefit
You note that Maduro/Chavez took a prosperous Venezuellan nation and turned it into a $hithole.
Everyone – especially the Venezualans will benefit from ending that.
I would note that even if Venezuala was not sitting on massive oil reserves – that would still be true.
Socialist countries impoverish their own people AND contribute less to the world. A low standard of living is a direct measure of a countries contribution to the rest of the world.
John Say, whitewash much? Trump has no idea what he is doing more than half the time. He has to be told what his executive orders do, meaning someone else writes them for him. He’s not running the show.
It was never about the drug cartels. The majority of Venezuelan drugs went to Europe, not the US. It was always about the oil. OUR reserves are at or near maturity meaning they won’t be able to produce significant amounts profitably in the near future. Trump is attacking renewables and lowering our ability to produce energy more economically. China is doing the opposite and investing heavily in renewables and more independence from oil imports.
This won’t turn out to be what the Trump administration claims. This has always been the case with every Republican presidency. Adventures with regime change involving oil.
X –
I love your bot account. It is so disconnected from reality as to reach parody.
Please keep posting! It makes even the most boring JT article worth reading the comments.
Today already Trump is again saying that we need Greenland. At some point hopefully some Republicans will speak out. He obviously only tolerates “yes” men in the White House.
michael molovinsky says: He obviously only tolerates “yes” men in the White House.
Why Mikey… back in the early days of your blog and throughout the Obama presidency, you were the most tolerant “libertarian” Yes Man that Obama, Biden, and Clinton could have ever asked for (other than John McCain).
You praised Obama’s foreign policy “chops” (as you called it) even after Benghazi and allowing Putin to have Russian military forces in the Middle East for the first time ever!
Oooohhhh… and illegally paying Iran hundreds of billions of American taxpayer dollars while Iran was busily killing hundreds of Americans in the Middle East? In a deal that looked like a movie of an American president doing a massive drug deal with a Colombian drug cartel?
That was some great foreign policy you served as a proud Allentown Libertarian Yes Man for, Mikey.
You praised Clinton’s “pragmatic gun control” platform – which you Yes-Manned your half dozen readers with by claiming it “honors the Second Amendment”.
Eight years on your failed blog (great search function though!) – and before Trump, not a single mention of either a Democrat or a Republican “Yes Man” that your clever political mind had identified.
Mikey are you now or have you ever been a member of the Code Pink Republicans or Never-Trumper pedophiles?
And Mikey… a word to the children who hope to appear wise: There’s no such thing as real Libertarian who actually supports Hillary Clinton’s assault on the Second Amendment and claims it “honors” the Second Amendment.
You don’t have to thank me for actually going to and reviewing your postings at your failed blog through use of that great search function it has! Although, by doing that I probably tripled your readership!
You are not paying attention obviously
“‘John Say, whitewash much? ”
Not at all. What did I say that was incorrect ?
“Trump has no idea what he is doing more than half the time.”
And yet he is successful.
“He has to be told what his executive orders do, meaning someone else writes them for him.”
Of course someone else – armies of lawyers write the EO’s why does that suprise you – I doubt even Washington did not have lawyers assisting with EO’s. What kind of argument is that ?
Pretty much all of Trump’s EOs reflect one or another element of his platform – Agenda 47.
All the EO’s are is a constitutionally and legally crafted restatement of his platform.
Have you ever negotiated a contract ? You and the other party – sometimes with lawyers sometime without, come to an agreement in principle, then lawyers write the text of the contract to impliment that agreement.
That is normal.
“He’s not running the show.”
And yet EVERYTHING that is being done is exactly what he promised during the election.
Who is it you think is running the show – his ghost ?
“It was never about the drug cartels. The majority of Venezuelan drugs went to Europe, not the US. ”
First get your facts straight – Venzeuala is the source for 25% of Global Coacaine. It is the souce for 33% of US Cocaine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_drug_trade_in_Venezuela
Was this about Drugs ? Of Course not – it was about the involvment of the Govenrment and specifically Maduro in international drug trafficking and international terrorism.
How can we tell ? Because the US has not issued warrants for the arrest of Scheinbaum, or the leaders of other countries sourcing Drugs.
Trump captured Maduro not because his country was involved in these things – but Because HE was essentially the president AND Cartel leader for Venezuelan drug operations.
I would note that not only Was Maduro and his wife taken – but 5 others were taken on US warrents for Drug Traficking and terrorism.
Absolutely Mexico is a bigger Drug Problem for the US. Further there is ample evidence that the Mexican govenrment is extremely tolerant of the Drug Cartels – there is with certainty significant bribery as well as death threats.
But the Cartels are still independent of the government – Mexico’s govenrment is corrupted by Cartels, it is turning a blind eye to them.
It is not Running them.
Trump has asked – Begged Scheinbaum to give the US permission to take out Mexican Cartels.
He has also threatened to do so without permission.
He has NOT Threatened to arrest Scheinbaum.
I would note that Mexico is an extremely large Oil producer too – while there reserves are smaller there production is far higher than Venezuela.
US military operations against Mexico would be far easier than Venezuela
This was obviously NOT about either Drugs or Oil – though without any doubt those are bonus factors.
I would note that Maduro SAID he was at war with the US.
Well he got what he asked for.
“It was always about the oil.”
Nope.
To be clear – Oil is actually as good a reason as any other.
The US has inarguably
gone to war over oil before.
Oil is absolutely a national security issue.
The issue is NOT is Oil a legitimate justification , it is WAS oil the determinative factor rather than a side benefit.
Drugs are ALSO not the driving factor – though still a factor.
The illigetimacy, criminality, and direct involvlment in terrorism were the determinative factors.
There are DOZENS of other Bonus factors – including drugs and oil.
” OUR reserves are at or near maturity meaning they won’t be able to produce significant amounts profitably in the near future. ”
Nope – US production ROSE 10% in 2025. US reservers are larger today than in 2010.
Further the Tar Sands in Utah – which are about as significant as those in Canada and CAN be accessed with current technology,
and the Oil Shale in the Dakotas which are as large as the ENTIRE global proven oil reserves today but not economically viable YET.
Your claim has been Debunked REPEATEDLY. First in the late 20th century – Fracking became economically viable and US resrerves shot up by a factor of 3. Next with each year the recovery rate for Fracked wells increases – just last year new materials have increased Fracking results by over 100% – these are currently ONLY being used on a small fraction of new wells – but they are apllicable to ALL Fracked wells.
That is just current Technology. We have not touched the Utah Tar sands – they are not part of the US proven resevers even though they are as large as Alberta’s tar sands. We are unlikely to tap them for decades – because like Canada’s tar sands they are much more expensive to produce than Fracked oil. Canada produces from Tar Sands because they do not have Other sources of oil. They engage in an expensive process because there is no cheap process available to them.
Eventually the US will be able to economically tap the Dakotas oil Shale That too will likely be more expensive than Tar Sands.
But that does not matter – when other sources of oil run out – the MASSIVE US oil shale will be viable.
And like Fracking – it will be very expensive to start and eventually it will prove to be cheap.
Today the US does NOT engage in very large amounts of resource extraction – not because we do not have the resources,
But because it is very expensiv to extract Resources int he US – labor costs are high, and we have some of the most expensive regulatory regimes.
But that does not mean we do not have substantial natural resources – only that we CHOSE not to extract them.
Coal can be easily converted to natural gas – we do not do so – because we have massive reserves of natural gas.
With greater difficulty Coal can be converted to Gasoline – the Germans did so in WWII
The US has massive coal reserves – but we are mining less and less coal all the time. Because we do not need to.
Should the time ever come that it is worthwhile for the US to do so we will tap the Utah tar sands the dakotas oil shale and turn our massive coal reserves into oil.
Your “mature” argument is garbage that was debunked 50 years ago.
US oil production is larger than it has ever been and proven reserves are greater than they have ever been
and the reserves that merely require technology or prices to make them viable are many orders of magnitude larger.
The US does not NEED any foreign oil. The US EXPORTS more oil than it imports.
That has had a RADICAL impact on US national security and foreign policy.
BUT increasing production in OTHER countries will have an even greater impact.
Oil is in EVERY nations national security interests.
Abundant and cheap oil REDUCES the national security threat and disempowers the use of Oil as a tool global threat.
Virtually no nation on earth would give a $hit about most of the mideast and north Africa but for oil.
We would all be perfectly happy to allow Arab nations to pi$$ all over each other – as we did prior to the discovery of oil in the mideast.
Venzeulla’s oil returning to production disempowers Russia, Disempowers Iran, and disempowers the mideast.
That is good for the world.
It has a small but good impact on the US – it actually has a very large positive impact in Europe.
I have said over and over – that the Ukraine war is in Europes national security interest – NOT the US.
Energy is one of the major reasons for that.
There are two massive global economies that are not self sufficient in energy that need highly competive and abundant global oil – that is Europe and China – NOT the US today.
We have legitimately acted on the basis of oil in the past.
We do NOT do so today.
That does NOT mean we are not very happy to see much higher oil production.
It just means oil is a significantly reduced national security issue for the US.
“Trump is attacking renewables”
No he is just eliminating stupid subsides.
I have zero problems with Renewables. Put up solar panels on your roof. or whatever else you wish.
But I am radically opposed to Government subsidizing ANYTHING – including Energy.
“lowering our ability to produce energy more economically.”
Eliminating subsidies drives efforts to cut production costs.
Oil and “renewables” – BTW ALL energy is renewable – Except for Geothermal and Nuclear all other energy comes from the Sun,
The only question is When was that energy caputured and stored for use.
“China is doing the opposite and investing heavily in renewables and more independence from oil imports.”
China is doing many things – it is also the worlds largest producer and consumer of coal.
China produces more renewable energy proxducts – solar pannels and wind turbines – but it EXPORTS those – it uses very little domestically.
China is one of the worlds least consumers of renewable energy.
“This won’t turn out to be what the Trump administration claims.”
Almost certainly not – things never work as expected.
That does NOT mean all doom and gloom predictions come true – Few do.
Venezuella can go completely to h311 and if it does – Trump will be blamed.
One of the key questions is how quickly does Venezualla return to legitimate govenrment chosen by the venezuellan people.
It has been a decade since Venezuella had an honest election.
Afghanistan and Iraq and much of the Mideast have absolutely no reason – beyond oil to expect they can self govern prosperously.
Venezuala has been a robust and proserous country in the past – it can easily be in the future.
There is no certainty that happens. But there is a good possibility.
” This has always been the case with every Republican presidency. Adventures with regime change involving oil”
And democrats.
I oppose nation building. I do not support much of what Trump is saying at the moment.
But that does not mean I am frothing mad about it.
I have zero problems with removing Maduro as an illegitimate leader who was actively using Government power to threaten US national securtity. I would have prefered to left the blckade and intradictions work and let him seek asylum.
But that is not what we did.
Now I would prefer that The US require that the current government hold elections Quickly – they were not legitimately put into power.
Venezuella MUST have legitimate govenrment.
If they chooe socialism again – we must live with that.
But if they continue to threaten our national security we can and will take them out – socialist or not.
We Will choose to leave the current regime in place – until there are elections – we do not want anarchy.
There must be sufficient time for those expatriats that wish to return to Venezuella to do so before elections
1/3 of Venezuallan people were forced out of Venezeualla during the maduro regime.
Likely atleast half want to return.
THEN there can be free and fair elections.
I expect that is what Trump will do.
No one wants the US military in Venezualla.
There are currently no indications that we are going to occupy Venezuela as we did Iraq or Afghanistan.
John Say says: Canada produces from Tar Sands because they do not have Other sources of oil. They engage in an expensive process because there is no cheap process available to them.
Now don’t be going all Democrat bat-shit crazy, John Say. That isn’t even close to true.
While Trudeau – the son that Obama never had – has been doing his level Green best to cripple the Canadian oil and gas industry as best he could since assuming power, while has severely damaged oil leasing for drilling, exploration, etc, conventional wells and extraction still able to profitably run manage to account for 30% of Canadian oil production.
By world production of crude oil, even under Liberal governments’ Green restrictions over the last 15 years, they are still the world’s fourth largest producer, third largest exporter behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. And they have the fourth largest proven oil reserves in the world behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
It is dangerous to assume that Canadian petroleum and gas – and their proven reserves – can only by produced by oil sands methodology, and not conventional well and fracking extraction. If allowed to run free by a Canadian government allowing the free production and exportation of Canadian oil, they could easily surpass Russia in volume and price for the oil and gas that they expert. The customers for our oil and gas are just as close to Canada as us – we don’t need Canadian competition driving the price of North American oil down.
We should thank Trump for turning what seemed a sure conservative victory in 2025 and the Trudeau Leninist Liberals kicked to the curb without even party status, to another Liberal government run by the international bankster Carney, who will double down on Green prohibitions and restrictions on oil and gas, rather than the Conservative who told Canadians that as Prime Minister he would turn the oil and gas industry free to run full tilt.
“While Trudeau – the son that Obama never had – has been doing his level Green best to cripple the Canadian oil and gas industry as best he could since assuming power,”
Dis I say differently ?
“while has severely damaged oil leasing for drilling, exploration, etc, conventional wells and extraction still able to profitably run manage to account for 30% of Canadian oil production.”
I have not reread my comment. I do not beleive I said ALL of Canadian oil comes from tar sands.
If I did – I apologize and you have corrected me.
“By world production of crude oil, even under Liberal governments’ Green restrictions over the last 15 years, they are still the world’s fourth largest producer, third largest exporter behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. And they have the fourth largest proven oil reserves in the world behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
Again no disagrement.
But I would qualify – “proven reserves” does NOT means all potential oil that has been found, it means all oil that can be economically recovered with current technology.
The Oil Sands in Utah are for some reason NOT part of US proven reserves despite the fact that they are not in any way different from those in Canada.
The US is unlikely to make use of them any time soon because converting Tar Sands to usable oil is expensive and environmentally messy. Regardless that oil exists and it massive.
AGAIN The Shale oil in the Dakotas has been known about for 60+ years. The supply DWARFS the entire global proven reserves.
They are NOT counted as proven reserves because TODAY we can not economically recover them.
That is not likely to change soon – just as it took a long time for Fracking to take off – because atleast initially recovery will be very expensive – as it was with Fracking. The US did not start fracking until oil went about $100bbl and stayed for a while.
But a decade after fracking started Frackers were able to operate profitably down to $19bbl.
Expect exactly the same with the Oil Shale – no one will touch it until the price of oil is high enough to make it worth recovering.
But within a decade the oil from oil shale will be dirt cheap.
That is not just an oil thinh it is true of EVERYthing we extract.
Shortages and price spikes make new ways of recovery possible and those rapidly become cheaper and cheaper and often prices drop below the past where extractors were just picking stuff off the ground.
“It is dangerous to assume that Canadian petroleum and gas – and their proven reserves – can only by produced by oil sands methodology,”
I did not say otherwise.
“and not conventional well and fracking extraction. If allowed to run free by a Canadian government allowing the free production and exportation of Canadian oil, they could easily surpass Russia in volume and price for the oil and gas that they expert.”
Again no disagreement.
Further I am not pi$$ing over canada.
I was more using Canada as an example of the fact that there is LOTS of oil that is hard to recover that will become available – in the US and elswhere once we decide it is worth doing.
We MIGHT and with all likelyhood WILL eventually shift to another form of energy than Oil.
But we will NOT do so because we have to. Because we ran out. We will do so because for some reason the new source is of greater value to us.
I have pi$$ed over someone else here shilling for Hydrogen. He is correct that hydrogen is a viable form of energy – we COULD switch to it. But we have not and are not likely to any time in the future because it does not offer enough value and it has disadvantages that we are not happy with. We do not need govenrment to solve those, all we need is to choose to switch to hyrdrogen and they will go away.
But e have not made that choice and are not likely to anytime soon.
That is not some giant global conspiracy.
It is just how the free markets work.
“We should thank Trump for turning what seemed a sure conservative victory in 2025”
Centuries ago in political time. Regardless, Sorry – Canada needs to solve its own political problems.
While Trumps actions impacted the election – If Canada actually had its political act together – Trump would not have mattered.
Maybe Canada needs a bit more left wing nut failure before it finally is truly fed up.
Regardless – without being mean – Fixing Canada is Your problem, not the US, and not Trump.
I would further note that the various province sovereignity movements are the consequence of the left winning the last canadian election.
I am reading the crystal ball from the outside – buy My GUESS is that Canada will stay together, and to avoid splitting more soveriegnity – such as control of provintial energy will be returned to the provinces.
But that is just my opinion.
I would also concur with numerous geopolitial observers that Canada is not really a country anymore, It is almost entirely a sort of US colony – almost its entire economy is dependent on the US.
Trump pi$$ed of canadians by making that obvious and in a tiff you went left again.
But that does not change reality.
Dis I say differently ?
You could have saved yourself all that time typing furiously to distract like a bat shit crazy Democrat John. Let me help you with that question you just asked with just one single quote you missed addressing with all those electrons you killed flailing about (I’ll add emphasis so you don’t miss it a second time):
Canada produces from Tar Sands because they do not have Other sources of oil.
That Other sources are commonly called conventional wells and fracking. The Bakken oil fields alone don’t end at the Canadian border… “The Bakken Formation’s production has primarily been in North Dakota, while Canadian production is in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.”
See how short and easy that could have been?
If you think my posts are too long – don’t read them.
I will write as much or little as a please.
I have repeatedly stated that if I make an error I will correct it – you pointed out an error – not a very significant one.
And I did exactly as I promised. and appologized for the error and corrected.
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa Mea Maxima Culpa.
Frankly I do not understand your attack – you felt the need to make a number of other points – almost all of which I agreed with.
Most were tangential to my argument – but just as I am free to responds as I please so are you.
So why do you have a bug up your ass ?
John Say cannot even correct the multitude of spelling errors. His factual errors make the spelling errors pale in comparison.
They are clearly paying the FSB propaganda agents in low-quality vodka.
John Say,
The FSB team worked overtime on that miles-long response.
Trump is only successful because very wealthy people paved the way for his success. Some have been planning the gutting of America since the Reagan administration, the first to tell Americans that their government was working against them and to not support the government anymore. The shadow government of oligarchs has been honing that message for a long time and managed to get a dozen billionaires into the top spots of American government, mainly focused on privatizing government functions into their for-profit business.
Trump replaced the Venezuelan syndicate leader with himself. I think that covers it.
John Say is holed up in a cramped cubicle just outside of Moscow.
It’s not even about getting oil for the US, it is about gaining control from a country that could upset Saudi Arabia. It’s to keep the oil from flowing out of Venezuela to keep it more profitable to Saudi Arabia.
John
The end game of the circle is to benefit Venezuela and benefit the United States. What’s missing here is why would a prosperous country as pre socialist Venezuela was allow itself to become consumed by a bunch of Socialists? The answer is always the same, it’s the proportion of haves versus have nots. Greed and corruption destroyed Venezuela last time, because with all that money generated they did nothing for a vast number of their people. It is always about reinvesting in your own country and apparently the Rico’s did not. Perhaps this time around, the people with the money will assure that a majority of the people benefit and are rewarded for the betterment of themselves and their country.
There is only a narrow window in which this left wing socialist crap actually appeals to people.
That is either societies with real poverty and a small segment of idle and profligate rich,
or with young adults who are afraid of failure drowning in entitlement and not yet aware of how well they can easily do on their own.
Outside of that -you can not muster the envy and jealousy necescary.
The idiotic thesis that “inequality matters” is nonsense.
Insecurity matters. Socialism is just theft – plain and simple. People do not steal when they believe they can get what they want on their own.
Nor do they steal because someone else has something they want.
I would note that from the average socialist left wing nuts perspective there is no difference between a millionaire, a billionair and a trillionaire. The sense of jealusy and entitlement is the same. The willingness to steal is the same.
Inequality is NOT the driver of socialism. That is nonsense. But the more secuere people are that they can do well – Not Muck Well, not
Millionaire well, just normal well the less likely any political impetus to socialism succeeds.
Next the way that investment and wealth work it is impossible to create a large incredibly wealthy class in a free market society without automatically benefiting everyone else far more.
Do the math – lest say Musk is worth a Trillion dollars – and 99.9999% of that is invested at the incredible rate of return of 10% – there are very few things with a rate of return tht high and all of those are very high risk.
Regardless that means that Musk has taken that $1T and he has used it to create business, jobs products, etc that are worth atleasts 1.1T to others. and in return he gets 10% of the value he creates.
You want more than a 10% return ? There are only 2 choices – you are essentially gmbling – playing the lottery. or you are engaged in rent seeking from govenrment. There are no 10% sure things out there.
Regardless socialism does not work. People can learn that from history or they can learn it the hard way from experience.
“Inequality is NOT the driver of socialism.”
See – as I pointed out, the factual errors make the spelling and grammatical ones seem small.
Musk isn’t “worth” $1T. Simply multiplying the share price by the current trade price doesn’t confer worth. It’s a fiction. Any attempt to get anywhere near that would obliterate the value. It’s not invested anywhere; what was invested was the original cash is a small fraction of that. If it was worth that much he could get a loan using the entire amount as a security, but clearly no bank or other lending institution will do that. Maybe they’ll float 1% or less as that’s all he could liquidate without cratering the price.
The country wasn’t prosperous. A few people selling the nation’s resources for a pittance were wealthy. One doesn’t get a revolution going when a country is prosperous. One gets a revolution when the 1% economically rape the 99%.
Those people were already impoverished before their government changed.
Doesn’t the FSB pay for night school?
One final thought before I shut down here.
(1) The country of CHILE pulled the same thing way back when with its nationalization of COPPER mining and the copper industry, to the detriment of several foreign investors and American interests (1970s?). While it never reaped the lucrative benefits that Chile had hoped for (several foreign investors opted out, boycotted, a/o sold their interests) I believe it remains nationalized. I don’t think lawsuits against Chile were very successful but I could be wrong.
(2) I do not know how much longer we need to develop cost-effective alternative technology to replace dependency on fossil fuels, but I assume we have enough supply on our own to last us til we get there. With a projected limited future need for its once-heavily marketable resource, Venezuela may be more willing to listen to us. But Russia and China may fill that gap, which to me is the bigger concern because of geographic proximity as well as Chinese control of several Panama ports.
THANK YOU to Professor Turley for creating this forum for exchange of thoughts and opinions.
I do not know the specifics of Chile – but what you described has happened many times.
Socialist countries pretty much ALWAYS “expropriate” what belongs to others.
I can not say that in EVERY case they get away with it. But in most they do not in the long run.
It is not so much the courts that force them to return what they have stolen,
it is that the nation does not get access to foreign investment and loans until it promises to do so.
People tend not to invest or to demand exhorbitant returns where there is a high risk of losing their investment.
Socialist countries often take back what was stolen from them. Whatever oil facilities were built in Venezuela by foreign oil companies, those companies didn’t do so with the idea of throwing money away – they did it because the cost of those facilities was a tiny fraction of the wealth they were taking and the pittance they passed back to Venezuela for allowing that theft to happen.
Next – do not get sucked in by malthusian stupidity.
There is not a single malthusian end of the world prediction that has EVER come true.
As Julian Simon correctly notes in “The Ultimate Resource II”
Which is an excellent resource for statistics on the ultimate stupidity of ALL malthusian claims.
There is no natural resource that is actually limited.
ALL natural resources are infinite if we are willing to pay the cost to get them.
One of the major successes of the free market is that it ALWAYS turns scarcity into abundance.
This is why it succeeds and socialism and big govenrment does not.
Almost all government programs work by subsidizing something that people can not afford.
But it is littlerally the fact that people want something that they can not afford that is why the free market will make that affordable.
The free market works by finding those things people want much more of than they can afford and figuring out how to provide them such that they can be afforded.
One of the problems most people have with free markets is that they assume costs are fixed – or that they are ever increasing.
And that therefore prices are fixed or ever increasing and that the value of something is fixed.
all of that appears to be true, but none of it is actually true.
Costs are fixed until someone finds are creative way to reduce them.
And someone will ALWAYS find a creative way to reduce the cost of something that people want more of than they can afford.
Because that is ALWAYS the way to profit.
What government does whenever people want something they can not afford is EXACTLY the wrong thing to make that affordable.
This is one of the more important reasons that socialism ALWAYS fails – because it undercuts the very forces that raise standard of living.
Socialism does NOT make thngs more affordable – it just hides how you are paying for them.
And if you pay more for something than you would have chosen if you KNEW you were paying the full price,
then you are getting less of what you would have had you chosen NOT to buy what you can not afford.
It is specificallyt he fact that you want something and can not afford it that drives the free markets.
So what does all this mean ?
It means that so long as govenrment stays out of it – and ultimately with more pain and more slowly even if government steps in,
We will NEVER run out of energy.
Further it is highly unlikely we will ever run out of oil.
If it ever comes to that – so long as we want oil, if there is none available – we will make it.
We already make synthetic oil for lubrication. Today it costs SOMEWHAT more than oil from a well.
The Germans made gasoline during WWII from coal – and the world has 3 times as much coal as it has oil and coal is cheaper than oil.
We will eventurlly cease to use oil for energy – but we will do so because something else works Better for us.
MAYBE Better means cheaper – but not always.
Wood is still a cheaper source of energy than coal, which is still cheaper than oil.
We use oil to heat our homes rather than coal – not because it is cheaper – it isn’t, but because we like it more.
Increasingly we are moving to gas and electric heat – electric heat is the least efficient way to heat.
But we like it better so we pay for it.
Correct, and kudos for citing Simon. He’s too often overlooked.
(2) Correct. Hydrogen is a Fuel that is waiting in the wings.
Large Oil and Gas Companies have little to no incentive to produce Hydrogen simply because Hydrogen is a decentralization threat to their Oligopoly (Industrial Monopoly as a whole). Wherefore the majors are not going to develop a Market for Hydrogen when left to their own interest.
(Why would Oil companies want to? When they can make profits with the existing infrastructure at a lower cost and higher profit margins).
Tesla’s Super Charging electrical stations were able to utilize an existing and larger distribution system – The Grid. Hydrogen has no Grid, albeit the Gas is distributed at minimal volumes (micro) when compared to Petroleum Product distribution or Electrical Distribution via BEV power points.
This presents a significant barrier to entry for Hydrogen adaptation. Toyota & Honda has known this for decades as R&D projects in California have proven. Unless a large scale adaptation to Hydrogen (propulsion) at the Consumer Scale (Gas-Station Retail Level) happens, there will be no ‘market’ for Hydrogen. (e.g.: because “The Money Is In The Retail ! “)
Getting Automobile Manufactures to migrate to Battery Electric Vehicles was achievable because the Infrastructure was established and co-opted by Companies (Tesla) to sell electricity easily as a consumer commodity. [Tesla, merely manufactures the ‘Shovel & Picks’ for Consumers to Mine the Grid.]
Getting Automobile Manufactures to migrate to Hydrogen requires similar circumstances. they would gladly manufacture Automobiles to Mine the Hydrogen Grid IF ONE EXISTED.
It’s the Petro Lobby Stupid
It has nothing to do with Green House Gases, Climate Change, Strategic Resources … It never has. Trump’s ears have garnered the whispers of the Petro Giants, the UAW, and Auto Industry Execs. They are only concerned with Profits and Wall Street Market Share Prices and MAINTAINING A MONOPOLY.
He doesn’t get it. In order to Make this Country Great Again, you need to have MOTIVATION. Al Gore in his blind way (of the Climate Change narrative), triggered/sparked what this Country needed, Motivation for Innovation, hence this opened the opportunity for EVs to break the ice (The iron grip of Oil Companies).
EV’s take a cut out of the Automotive-Petro Fuel Complex monopoly and new Transportation Technology (Fuel Cell – H₂) takes a cut out of the Automotive-Petro Fuel Complex monopoly. There is no incentive for the Petro Fuel industrial giants to make changes that:
1. Cost them money that would otherwise be profits (invest in H₂ gas conversion infrastructure),
2. Cut into their Monopoly, by opening up another competitive Market (H₂ + EVs).
“The Money Is In the Retail”
Consumers don’t care what kind of Fuel Pump Nozzle fills the tank of their Car (Petro Nozzle, Electrical Nozzle, or H₂ Nozzle). They just want it at an affordable price, availability, and fuel that gets them 300+ miles from Point-A to Point-B. IF they cared so much about the CO₂ Greenhouse Gases coming out of their Auto tailpipes they would stop driving and ride a bike or walk. SO the argument is Moot, the Consumer is going to Drive an Automobile one way or another.
The Petro Giants could invest in H₂ Technology (at the cost of Profits), and yes the consumer conversion would take time (15 years) as Petro was phased out, and by doing so they would still hold on to their Monopoly all along the way, as the volume of H₂ to displace Petro is so large that only Large Oil Companies could supply the demand. Petro companies strip Natural Gas/LNG into H₂, the resultant Carbon is Sequester and the Circular Economy complete (zero-emmisions). This is not rocket science, it’s already there. Big Oil knows it.
What is needed is the ‘Motivation for Innovation’ that produces that paradigm shift that generates cottage industries and jobs for the American Economy. So we have to wait for the Petro Industry to make the first move to H₂ (Build it and they (Consumers) will come).
So the reason EV and H₂ are being forced out is the Greed of the Automotive-Petro Fuel Complex monopoly. Clinging to the old Petro-Profit Business Model is just killing the American spirit and further our losses in the World Competitive Markets (Negative GDP) in the name of profits.
We will not be able to “Make America Great Again” until we change the minds of the Automotive-Petro Fuel Complex.
Trump can’t see that, as he’s been blindsided by the; Petro Giants, the UAW, and Auto Industry Execs.
[Now take this Blessing (Narrative) and recapitulate it as your own – Just Do It]
Anon
You omitted the part about Hydrogen being an extremely flammable material. It’s gaseous form was used in the Hindenberg Air Ship. You may remember that disaster, hydrogen generators are possible however the electron gun component used in them in the wrong hands is a deadly serious weapon. A compressed hydrogen tank in a car would be disastrous bleve if ruptured or leaking.
We should all go back to horse and buggy…consumes hay and water, it reproduces itself and when it wears out you can eat it!
Gasoline is just as deadly when used improperly or as a weapon. Hydrogen in Automotive transportation has been in development for 5+ decades. Many of these concerns have been addressed. No one can prevent the intentional misuse of a potential-energy product.
(that’s the Gun-Control argument).
Hydrogen has a fraction of the energy density either by weight or by volume that gasoline has. It has expensive handling problems, usually involving very high pressure containment vessels and a completely unforgiving nature when it escapes. It’s combustion doesn’t solve the problem of nitrogen oxides, which occur because of the use of nitrogen-containing air, a significant pollutant.
I recall a national hydrogen filling system ended up being shut down after one of the stations, built to rigorous standards, disappeared and turned into dust and fragments.
Flamability is NOT the problem with Hydrogen – it is actually much safer than NG
Less than 10% of the passengers on the hindenberg were killed – most casualties were ground crew.
We have jet crashes that kill far more people.
Hydrogen is much lighter than air – if it leaks – it escapes, it is very hard to pool enough to explode.
You touched on the items below – I am just expanding on them.
The key problems with hydrogen is there is very little natural hydrogen – we MUST use energy to produce hydrogen.
So hydrogen is not really a fuel, it is really a means of storing and transporting energy. we still need electricity to produce it.
The normal model of a hydrogen infrastructure is nuclear plants near the ocean – what could go wrong.
The next problem – is that for moving vehicles it needs to be stored and at STP hydrogen has an incredibly low energy density.
That means it must be compressed.
If you are in an accident in a hydrogen vehicle and the tank ruptures it is exploding like a bomb – bot because hydrogen is flamable but because it is stored in very very high pressure to get reasonable energy densities.
The reality/gravity of the situation is that Europe is sticking to the majority of it’s ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) mandates.
Thus Hydrogen as a ‘green’ technology is be integrated into their Transportation systems and ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) is being phased out.
China, Germany, Japan and South Korea have established hydrogen propulsion manufacturing plants. Honda, Toyota and BMW all have road ready vehicles available today. Trucks will see the first Hydrogen Station networks in the EU and Asia (think Pilot and Loves Stations when hydrogen hits the U.S.).
The sad part is the U.S. will be left behind once again (for the sake of greed), and Europe and Asia will take the lead in Transportation.
Tragic for U.S. manufacturing and cottage industries (i.e.: American; Machine Shops, Engineering firms, etc…)
Hydrogen Aims to Go Big
As sales continue to ramp up for hybrid- and full-electric vehicles (albeit sporadically in the U.S.), another alternative power system also is slowly gaining traction: fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).
By: Thom Cannell ~ Aug 26, 2024
https://www.advancedmanufacturing.org/industries/hydrogen-aims-to-go-big/article_6bee7698-63e2-11ef-9567-2f2904cb1b36.html
https://hydrogen-central.com/
Its the same old Detroit Thinking that the status quo is acceptable and well keep on delivering what we always have. And as the industry grows we will monopolize the field and take in all the profits, the Public will take what we give them (That’s the mentality).
It is not so different than that of the Socialist (USSR), We will make one Car and everybody will have the choice of that one type of Car.
Innovation creates new wealth, Competition stimulates innovation, and Consumer Demand* drives it.
(* The Money is in the Retail)
The new/next Generation needs to get on the ball and Motivate-the-Innovation – They are the ones driving the Demand.
Hydrogen is their Future
AI Overview
While hydrogen offers zero-emission use, many experts argue it’s not a viable mainstream fuel due to high production costs, significant energy loss during creation (especially ‘green’ hydrogen), challenges with storage/transport (low density, flammability), reliance on fossil fuels for most production, and safety issues like invisible, fast flames. It’s seen more as an energy carrier or for specific heavy-duty uses (aviation, shipping, industrial processes) rather than a direct replacement for gasoline or a universal energy solution, with battery-electric often being more efficient for lighter transport.
“Correct. Hydrogen is a Fuel that is waiting in the wings.”
There are massive problems with Hydrogen. The only way you can get decent energy densities is to compress it beyond beleif.
We use Liquid Hyrdogen in rockets to get arround energy density -are you going to do that in your car.
While I am criticizing your hydrogen claims – even if I am wrong – that does not matter. You are correct that there are many alternatives to oil eash with its advntages and disadvantages, and while I personaly do not see leaving the fossil fuel economy any time soon – it will happen eventually. One or more of the myriads of alternatives to oil will prove appealing – and in a free market WE will decide which one tht is,
Not experts, not govenrment. Entrepeneurs would offer us choices in return for rewards and we will make choices based on OUR evaluations of the merits of those choices.
Next – There is no such thing as “Large Oil” – every company in the world exists solely to deliver a return to its investors – THAT is its actual producr. Making consumers happy – though incredibly important is just the vehicle to deliver profits to investors.
“Oil Companies” do not give a schiff what they produce. You say Hydrogen is waiting in the wings – They do not care.
The big “oil companies” has so much money they can bet entirely wrong and still move into the market late and blow everyone else away – It Hydrogen is the future even if they miss the start – they will still dominate it quickly.
It is FALSE to say that any company anywhere ever actively conspires to supress a new product that competes with their own.
If it is better – they will shift to producing that.
Of course they have an increntive to produce hydrogen if people want hydrogen – that incentive is called MONEY.
You have watched companies pick up and move to china or mexico, And then move back.
Big companies have ZERO problems tossing billions in assets – if they can proddddice something better and cheaper to sell more profitably.
The oil inductry would throw away everything and start over in a heart beat for a 1% increase in profits.
No there is no monopoloy and even if there was – it would be irrlevant.
If Hydrogen was 10% more profitable than oil – Musk would put more money into it that ANY oil company has and dominate the market.
Hydrogen MAY be the future – but as of today it does NOT have sufficient advantages that anyone is willing to bet large amounts of money on it. Despite your slaims – the money is absolutely out there.
Look at Musk and electric cars – as a mere run fo the mill millionaire Musk bet on a technology that was mostly nut jobs in their garages.
He saw something others did not, and went from a mere millionaire to the richest person in the world. He owns what is now the largest car company in the world. The Wealth of the Ford Family is TINY compared to Musk.
My point is that your argument about monopolies is NONSENSE.
Right now we have Musk, and Bezos and Allen and Branson and a small collection of other Billionaires competing to create private commerically viable rockets. Musk now owns space – something only government was doing decades ago.
NASA has done asolutely nothing but waste money over the past 2+ decades – Musk has created the most powerful rocket ever built and its reusable – and Bezos is right behind him.
My poijnt is that absolutely nothing except govenrment can stop free markets – certainly not clims of monopoly.
There is actually plenty of economic research done in an effort to provide a foundation in economics for antitrust law -= and what was actually discovered is that all the idiotic beleifs about monopolies are nonsense.
No monoploy ever exists without government behind it – monopolies are unsustainable.
Do you really think that Musk or Bezos or …. would have a problem obliterating big oil if they could find a better more profitable product ?
Oil companies are huge – because they sell a valuable product there is no worthwhile replacement for. If there ever is a replacement that is more valuable – they or someone else will bring it to market.
“Why would Oil companies want to? When they can make profits with the existing infrastructure at a lower cost and higher profit margins”
If that is true they you have answered the question – your new product is NOT better. if it was better – it would command a higher price or deliver the same value at a lower price.
You are absolutely correct that Big Oil will not replace their current offerings for something that is not superior. No one will.
“Tesla’s Super Charging electrical stations were able to utilize an existing and larger distribution system – The Grid. ”
Only sort of – our increasing apetite for electricity – whether electric cars or AI data centers or …. means we are growing the grid ALOT
Putting in a new grid for hydrogen is not more difficult.
We already have a national grid for NG and Oil – the distribution of NG and oil is MORE efficient than Eletricity – you can move Gas or oil via pipe accross country with almost no losses – the further you transport electricity the greater your losses are.
The fundimental problem for Hydrogen is NOT a grid – it is Storage. The next major problem for hydrogen is that there is very little natural hydrogen – you have to create hydrogen – and that requires energy.
Regardless my point is NOT that Hydrogen sucks. It is that when and if hydrogen or anything else truly becomes a better choice – free markets will just make that happen. The fact that oil and gas have not been replaced or even merely threatened means all the alternatives are not YET good enough.
“Getting Automobile Manufactures to migrate to Battery Electric Vehicles was achievable because the Infrastructure was established and co-opted by Companies (Tesla) to sell electricity easily as a consumer commodity. ”
False – Tesla is not using surplus energy to power its cars – the grid has to be expanded to do so – and Tesla is spending alot of money to do so.
“Getting Automobile Manufactures to migrate to Hydrogen requires similar circumstances. they would gladly manufacture Automobiles to Mine the Hydrogen Grid IF ONE EXISTED. ”
False – there does not exist today a means of efficiently storing hydrogen in a car that is not prohibative. Nor is there a means of creating hydrogen that does not require massive amounts of electricity.
There are a wide variety of ways to design cars and engines that run on Hydrogen or Natural gas that are similar to but superior to Gasoline engines. But the hydrogen must come from somewhere. First electricity must be used to produce it – where is the electricty coming from ?
Next the gas itself must be stored in the car under extremely high pressure. A rupruted hyrdogen tank is a bomb – and not because hydrogen is explosive but because ANY gas under that much pressure is a bomb if it ruptures. We can do NG powered cars and trucks – NG does not require nearly the pressure that Hydrogen does – and we are seeing it in Trucks – a Truck engine running on NG is almost identical to a normal IC engine but lasts 3 times as long. And while we do not have NG stations on every corner – we do have an NG distribution system “the grid”
and we have a massive surprlus of NG and the ability to cheaply produce massive amounts more.
But it takes longer to fill up an NG tank for 300M of travel than a gas or diesel – regardless we are seeing a slow adoption of NG for trucks.
But NG does not scale as consumer friendly for cars. And Hyrdogen is even worse.
I would further note – you say we have no Hydorogen Grid – But there is no technical reason we can not transport hydrogen in the exiting NG grid – it may even be safer. Most NG appliance are easily addaptable to hydrogen – and again hydrogen is safer.
But you still have no natural supply of hyrdrogen – and for some uses – like cars you MUST store it and that is very difficult
But again – I am not looking to pi$$ over hydrogen – it might prove to be the future
What is also true is it is NOT ready NOW – and NOT because there is no grid or because oil companies are happy profiting on oil.
It is not ready NOW because it is NOT something people value more than NG or oil. That has NOTHING to do with oil companies and everything to do with consumers.
“It’s the Petro Lobby Stupid” no it is the fact that the product is not sufficiently valueable to consumers yet.
BTW – existing Internal combustion engines can run on NG or hydrogen as they are now – or with very little conversion.
They run better, last longer and polute less. UAW does not give a schiff whether a car runs on oill or NG or Electric – if it is made in uAW plants in the US. And contrat your claim – the Oil companies do not care either – they will be happy to supply the fuel of out choices.
Finally your claims rest on the argument that somehow Govenrment is necescary to this – WHY ?
We should not subsidize electric cars, the govenrment should not decide if we build NG cars or electric cars or hydrogen cars.
Geovernment did not initially decide that we should build IC cars rather than electric ones.
It did not decide that we should switch from wood and peat and dung for heat light and cooking to coal and later to oil and later to gas and electric.
Consumers did that.
We do not need govenrment to decide what the future will be.
Again I am not trying to pi$$ on your claims regarding Hydrogen – I think we are NOT likely to move to hydrogen – but i did not see the electric car growing this fast. There are STILL problems with an electric car that make it hard for me to understand how we have moved so fast.
But we have – I did not decide, some expert did not decide, govenrment did not decide – consumers decided.
And that is how it should be.
“He doesn’t get it. In order to Make this Country Great Again, you need to have MOTIVATION.”
Wrong and right – Wheher YOU like it or not the MOTIVATION is always there is a free market – it is called self interest or profit.
And it is the ONLY thing that has ever resulted in progress. It is why free markets work and socialism does not,
and it is entirely independent of govenrment
“Al Gore in his blind way”
Nope – Al Gore is just one of a long long list of failed malthusians who have NEVER gotten anything right.
Absoltuely he motivated alot of people – fear is an effective motivator – but it does not change reality or get us anywhere.
We would have address the “climate change” nonsense if it was profitable – and if it was real it would have been profitable.
Instead nut job leftists who used climate change as a proxy to try to force socialism on the world have instead severely damaged Europe and anyone else that embraced their nonsense.
I would note that the combination of hydrogen and nuclear power absolutely addresses “climate change” – and if Catastrofic Anthropogenic Global Warming were real we would value hydrogen and we would have switched to it already.
Those on the left do not seem to grasp that the free market is a giant system weighing our values and preferences – like Polls only far fr far more accurate. If we were truly concerned about the lefts nonsense – we would adjust our values and our purchases.
“Consumers don’t care what kind of Fuel Pump Nozzle fills the tank of their Car (Petro Nozzle, Electrical Nozzle, or H₂ Nozzle). They just want it at an affordable price, availability, and fuel that gets them 300+ miles from Point-A to Point-B.
Correct – though you need to add safely. We have not shifted to your preferences because they do not deliver what consumers want.
If they do in the future or if our wants change – what we purchase will change.
“The Petro Giants could invest in H₂ Technology (at the cost of Profits), and yes the consumer conversion would take time (15 years)”
Nope – the free market works far faster than people can immagine when people want it to.
One of the majro problems with all your arguments – whcih is why they do not work – is because they are not what people want.
therefore they will not happen without FORCE and therefor not happen FAST.
Again I am NOT pi$$ing on ny technology – beyond saying that if it was a better idea TODAY – then we would have it.
You rant about hydrogen – but NG has an infrstructure TODAY – cars trucks and busses can run on NG often with minimal adaptation
Yet with the exception of some trucks and busses we have not large scale moved to NG. ‘
But lets say that Hyrdrogen was CLEARLY even better. Everything that runs on gasoline or Diesel or NG can be converted to Hydrogen easily – we could do that almost overnight – conver the entire NG infrastructure to Hydrogen and be done in a year or two.
But we have not done that and we are not thinking about doing that – because hydrogen is not sufficiently better
In the future it might be.
Fracking was invented a long long time ago – it was not until the late 2th century that everything needed to make it profitable came together – and then in exploded.
Again with no top down planning.
Turley needs to add a “John Say” wing. It’s not that I actually read most of it; ignoring it is easy. It’s the amount of scrolling, like the scenery in a drive across Kansas. It’s just endless and boring.
The Misguided War of the Elements
Instead of Thinking “Either/Or,” We Should be Thinking “Yes, And…”
By: Gill Pratt ~ Oct 14, 2021
https://medium.com/toyotaresearch/the-misguided-war-of-the-elements-44bb4bd68f38
Scientists discover a source of massive hydrogen emissions in an unexpected place
A rare deep-sea hydrothermal system has been discovered in the western Pacific that produces massive hydrogen emissions.
By: Francisco Martín León ~ 21/08/2025
https://www.yourweather.co.uk/news/trending/scientists-discover-a-source-of-massive-hydrogen-emissions-in-an-unexpected-place.html
Billion-Year-Old Natural Hydrogen Deposit Could Power Earth With Green Energy for 170,000 Years Without Emissions or Extraction Costs
Scientists have unveiled a revolutionary discovery of vast natural hydrogen reserves within the Earth’s crust, offering a potential solution to power society sustainably for the next 170,000 years.
By: Rosemary Potter ~ 07/22/2025
200 Years of Clean Energy Beneath Our Feet: Study Confirms Massive Natural Hydrogen Reserves With Game-Changing Potential
Vast reserves of natural hydrogen, newly discovered beneath the Earth’s surface, could revolutionize the global energy landscape by providing a sustainable source of power for the next two centuries.
By: Rosemary Potter ~ 07/17/2025
The precious ‘white gold’ fuel buried in the Earth
By: Chloe Farand ~ 24 July 2025
bbc.com/future/article/20250723-the-worlds-race-to-drill-for-natural-white-hydrogen
… It’s right under your feet, everybody’s feet, that the problem for Oil companies – Hydrogen is a game killer for them.
Anonymous,
You might not be aware but this website only permits two links per comment. I edited your comment above so that it would post. If you in the future would like to post more than two hyperlinks, this can be accomplished by posting multiple comments, each having two or fewer links each.
In Other News: “Politicians Organize and Appoint ‘US District Court of Baker Island’, Chartering It to Indict Trump, Reverse His Policies, and to Free Criminals and Terrorists”
~+~
In a surprising move, political leaders seeking a more reliable partner in the courts, crafted a new US District Court situated at Baker Island, 1,900 miles southwest of Honolulu. A disused lighthouse will serve as its claimed venue. All hearings will take place via remote video conferencing allegedly from the lighthouse, though it has been discovered that the internet traffic is somehow sharing the same internet address of the domain democrats.org.
When asked how some in government could legitimately justify the establishment of a US district court on a remote, uninhabited island thousands of miles from any US State a court official responded, “Well, Baker Island was first claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act, and guano’s as good a foundation as any other bullsh–t used to justify politicians’ laws or actions.
Guano not “other bullsh-t”. Guano, bullsh-t mutually exclusive.
Re: “My strong preferences for congressional authorization and consultation are immaterial. The question I am asked as a legal analyst is whether this operation would be viewed as lawful. The answer remains yes.”
In the course of that military operation the U.S. War Machine preemptively slaughtered Venezuelan citizens inside of their own country. Just because it could.
I would like Professor Turley to attach a Just War rationalization to that.
Venezuelans who were drug cartels armed by Maduro and bringing boatloads of fentynyl into our country. Venezuelans are celebrating the arrest of a despot who ruled through oppression. Cry harder.
Just War theory is part of the Roman Catholic church’s moral teachings. It plays no part in any legal analysis.
The Radical Democrat Marxist wrote:In the course of that military operation the U.S. War Machine preemptively slaughtered Venezuelan citizens inside of their own country. Just because it could.
Cuban security for Maduro collapsed during U.S. operation: The network that protected him became his greatest vulnerability
“Reports are that most of the Cuban internal security operators that provided the protective bubble around Maduro were killed, other than the few who surrendered or were captured. The capture of Maduro exposes the vulnerability of the Cuban-Venezuelan security system. The U.S. operation reveals internal tensions and the erosion of Cuban control in Caracas.”
How’s that for Americans supposedly killing Venezuelans who were supposedly the ones oppressing and murdering other Venezuelans – rather than Russian trained Cuban secret police contractors that surrounded Maduro?
The Democrats badly failing Propaganda War Machine now wants to assure us that the Cuban internal security contractors that Castro put in Venezuela to both protect and control first Chavez, and then Maduro, were actually Vewnezuelans – not Cubans – helping Maduro both oppress and murder their fellow Venezuelans.
I would like to think any communist Democrat who cosplays as being Rational could justify the claim that these Cubans were actually “Venezuelan citizens”. Citizens who had made their living helping the communist dictator Maduro steal two elections – and murder thousands of their fellow Venezuelan citizens.
Your move…
Russia cut Cuba loose nearly 50 years ago.