Like Obama said, never underestimate the audacity of hope. Seriously, though, they got a lot of buzz but now people like CBS's Maggie Brennan are getting all pissy and crestfallen now that someone gave them the memo that it was just one of Trump's ego trips.
How much does this huge presence in the Caribbean cost? What is the actual cost to intercept and strike boats, put American soldiers on the ground nearby and use the huge armaments of the Navy and the Air Force along with the intelligence services to capture Maduro. We need to know that, as it is ongoing.
Maduro already offered 100% of the oil to America. This isn't about oil this time.
The real reason behind this is Marco Rubio's insane idea that there's a Cold War-era blood feud in Cuba, and Venezuela is supporting the wrong tribe, and America should step in and topple Venezuela, which will lead to peace and capitalism in Cuba. It was his father's dying wish (I wish I were joking.)
Well put, Ken. When the country is angry and restless, politicians start thinking Audaciously, because people want CHANGE.
Namby-pamby thinking just won't do, Zorhan and Bernie have tapped into that: they come forward with IDEAS. Medicare for all, Universal healthcare, free Education, Maybe they can make it happen, maybe not, but if you don't have the idea, you will never realize the idea either, so...
Trump is audacious too, but in a different way, an illegal way, and maybe that's his only appeal.
On Immigration, sad to say, he tapped in the racism, misogyny, xenophobia, that had infected too many people. I said *had*, because a number of people are realizing what the audacity of his vision means in real terms, and they don't like it. When foreign people are demonstrably bad, the hatred so mushrooms that it blinds people, and they do follow blindly. But then, it is their neighbor that is taken, and they realize that it is sloppy and they could fall victim to the hysteria too.
On tariffs, he miscalculated too, and now, folks understand that the will be the ones paying: It is a tax, unauthorized by Congress, with which he can fill public coffers, illegally.
When you are audacious, you had better come up with success, because if you fail, the risk is much greater.
So militarily, it was a great success, yes. Mission accomplished. You lied to Congress, lied to your people, slipped in another country in the dead of night and pulled 2 people out of their bed.
Now, you can help Halliburton get more compensation out of Venezuela... Maybe you will get a big donation from Dick Cheney.
I assume it will make you even bolder, more audacious... until you tangle up the US into another endless war...
one of the great ironies will be if this goes sideways the unprecedented migrations it's going to cause - they thought immigration was a problem up to now lol
Marco Rubio doesn't want to say it out loud, but he knows. Trump is dreaming of keeping all that oil and enriching himself through the donations from American oil companies for pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for them....
When Halliburton, ConocoPhillips, Exxonmobil, Shell, Gulf were expropriated on January 1st, 1976, they were promised proper compensation.
They do not feel that they got proper compensation, and I don't know enough about their investments to have an informed opinion on that. They were 'managing the oil' there, and I'm pretty sure they were raking in money from oil that was not on American territory.
In comes a felon with long teeth talking about making them whole and resuming the pillaging of another country's natural resources.
On December 11th 2025, (a mere 22 days before the invasion), Halliburton and others lodged a significant complaint with the ICSID seeking compensation for what they claim is improper treatment and expropriation of their assets.
With the long arm of the American military, and American taxpayers dollars, the Felon decides to invade and capture Maduro and his wife and declares he will "run the country".
Rubio takes fright and lessens the demand to "no, just the oil".
But, little Marco, oil is the main asset of this country. Without it, they fail & flail:
THEIR PEOPLE WIL CONTINUE TO FLEE THE COUNTRY AS VENEZUELA'S RICHES ARE STOLEN AND THEIR POSITION GETS WORSE.
The people of Venezuela, the supporters of Maduro and even the opposition to Maduro are unlikely to let that pass when they realize that the whole idea was to steal their oil and make Halliburton and other American oil companies richer.
So, little Marco, how do we run "just the oil"?
How? Well, with a Congress that has abdicated all its responsibilities to We The People and just sat on its kiester and wasn't even told of this escapade, "boots on the ground" to "defend our interests" becomes again the only solution.
And that's how, under the guise of stopping narcotrafficking, our boys and girls are about to be drawn into the next endless war.
When you were writing about what we, we Americans, pay for, it's staggering. I truly hate that that thought or knowledge didn't factor into my life. This is exactly why Congress needs to approve these things. I knew that bit at least. That's why they say Congress controls the purse.
Dude! Fucking exactly! I hate that I'm just now realizing this! We need Civics to be brought back to classrooms! We are seeing now 2 generations that don't understand how the government works! Also very much done on purpose by our government.
Do you think people who took "civics class" understand how the government really works? And people who take "basic economics" understand how the economy works?
Or is that another part of what creates the misunderstanding?
the government is bought and paid for by the oligarchs and hedge funds. yes I agree civics should be taught, but we need to get away from the uniparty, everything is FUBAR. I almost hoped Elon's America party would help, but he's in it for himself too.
Box cutters and paragliders made from old bicycle parts have changed the course of history, , without one bit of assistance of high tech communication systems and gear, and yet very few dare express a cold admiration of the audacity of the operation, the skill of the execution, the ability to keep it all a secret to get maximum advatange from surprise. The biggest advantage of having all the shimy whizbang doodades is that nobody says it is savagery or calls the perpetrators "terrorists". Intread, it's cool stuff that clean cut white men do.
But as multiple people have pointed out, Maduro doesn't seem to have anything to do with fentanyl (nor his wife, for that matter). In the rest of the world, they see the raid primarily as an oil grab, because outside North America, fentanyl is generally not a big thing.
An amazing thing about this venture is that only Maduro and Mrs. Maduro were captured, while leaving the rest of the cabinet behind, such as the VP, Delcy Rodrigiez. That seems like absolute incompetence to me: here's a obvious candidate for an alternative Venezuelan government that is against U.S. interests, and the US military left her alone. In addition, it's like they didn't even try to run a puppet government like Machado. Here's a military where they spent 99% of the thinking on the war games, and 1% on what happens next.
Speaking as an OG subscriber and longtime reader of Kens, this is disgraceful shit. Trump specifically said this was about appropriating oil. SPECIFICALLY. He hasn't "taken care." There is no plausible argument that this is about drugs. I don't understand the point of even entertaining this BS.
What you are admiring is the fact that we are no longer hiding our role. The unconscionably gigantic US military could always do this sort of thing. We haven't because its so. obviously. fucking. illegal. and. morally. indefensible. So we've traditionally (with some exceptions) done this through partners.
You have lost your goddamn mind if your response is anything other than this is obviously illegal and morally reprehensible.
That is unequivocally NOT how he is framing it rhetorically. He explicitly said it was about oil! On camera! And it doesn't sell because of its about whatever BS his lackeys are mumbling about! It sells because both parties are fine with blatantly illegal, morally indefensible actions on foreign actors that thumb their nose at the US. Most of the "opposition" statements just lament that they weren't consulted!
you are correct that there is no plausible argument it's about drugs, drugs are the WMD of this kerfuffle, yet the regime continues to ride the drug narrative whenever it can and my eyes have to bleed reading all the dipshit comments from chuds who fell for it again about how this is just what the USA needed for it's drug problem
"the goal of the U.S. military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday was primarily to halt drug trafficking into the U.S" Marco Rubio
To the list of the people who were aware of the action as it happened, don't forget to add whoever at Mar-A-Lago who cared to walk past the tent of black sheets.
The Constitution is now officially a joke with presidents doing as they please following the Israeli MO of carefully setting things up in advance letting nobody know and then ShaZAM!
Now we the people are denied even a leak via Congress, let alone a say by Congress. What the president is saying in all of this is the nobody is to be trusted but the president and those over whom he holds absolute power - the armed forces and the CIA. He has the might and he will determine what is right. He and his son-in-law have been lining their pockets. What is left of tyranny that Trump doesn't enjoy?
Control of the CIA is also a joke, it now being the president's hit squad. Can anyone imagine a Congressional enquiry into the CIA these days as happened with the Church Commission long ago?
But Trump is a fool if he thinks this will play well over time. It is precisely the kind of thing that many of those who voted for him wanted/want reined in - meddling in foreign countries and spending on them in the process. Can you imagine what this kidnapping cost, not to mention "running Venezuela"? It puts the total money supposedly saved by DOGE/Musk into insignificance. Is anyone foolish enough to believe DOGE was about saving money rather than dismantling government?
Finally, I am struck by the image of Trump and cronies viewing the action as it went down. Recall Obama and Hillary doing likewise as Gaddafi went down? All sit filled with pride in what amounts to a small theater for the powerful to enjoy the might they deploy. Recall how Hillary was at pains to say that hiding her face momentarily was in no way revulsion at what was being seen? What a man she was!
We are going lower and lower. The midterms must save the day by taking Congress out of the hands of Trump and putting in members that are eager to act against a tyrant that considers himself as did Louis XIV who said, "I am the state".
As with Israel for the US law means nothing, power is all, that of one individual in both cases, both war criminals who need to be put on trial far more than Maduro. Good candidates are up for election to Congress. The turnout of the American electorate should be the highest ever since it is now or never to put the madman in restraint.
It's one more nail in the coffin for what's left of the petrodollar, proving true so many talking points regularly coming out of Russia, China, and Iran.
A media handjob?
Like Obama said, never underestimate the audacity of hope. Seriously, though, they got a lot of buzz but now people like CBS's Maggie Brennan are getting all pissy and crestfallen now that someone gave them the memo that it was just one of Trump's ego trips.
Impress me by picking up Netanyahu and Gvir.
a friend wondered if Tren de Aragua might return the favor
Now that's a thought... Precedent, kinda: the US Army was in close with the Mafia during the Sicilian campaign in WWII.
How much does this huge presence in the Caribbean cost? What is the actual cost to intercept and strike boats, put American soldiers on the ground nearby and use the huge armaments of the Navy and the Air Force along with the intelligence services to capture Maduro. We need to know that, as it is ongoing.
Now, after all that wizardry and planning and pomp and circumstance, they got Maduro ... so what did they get exactly?
Oil
Maduro already offered 100% of the oil to America. This isn't about oil this time.
The real reason behind this is Marco Rubio's insane idea that there's a Cold War-era blood feud in Cuba, and Venezuela is supporting the wrong tribe, and America should step in and topple Venezuela, which will lead to peace and capitalism in Cuba. It was his father's dying wish (I wish I were joking.)
That's it. That's the reason.
Our country is run by literal lunatics.
Yes! You said it perfectly. I hate everything about my country, especially the shock and awe.
Well put, Ken. When the country is angry and restless, politicians start thinking Audaciously, because people want CHANGE.
Namby-pamby thinking just won't do, Zorhan and Bernie have tapped into that: they come forward with IDEAS. Medicare for all, Universal healthcare, free Education, Maybe they can make it happen, maybe not, but if you don't have the idea, you will never realize the idea either, so...
Trump is audacious too, but in a different way, an illegal way, and maybe that's his only appeal.
On Immigration, sad to say, he tapped in the racism, misogyny, xenophobia, that had infected too many people. I said *had*, because a number of people are realizing what the audacity of his vision means in real terms, and they don't like it. When foreign people are demonstrably bad, the hatred so mushrooms that it blinds people, and they do follow blindly. But then, it is their neighbor that is taken, and they realize that it is sloppy and they could fall victim to the hysteria too.
On tariffs, he miscalculated too, and now, folks understand that the will be the ones paying: It is a tax, unauthorized by Congress, with which he can fill public coffers, illegally.
When you are audacious, you had better come up with success, because if you fail, the risk is much greater.
So militarily, it was a great success, yes. Mission accomplished. You lied to Congress, lied to your people, slipped in another country in the dead of night and pulled 2 people out of their bed.
Now, you can help Halliburton get more compensation out of Venezuela... Maybe you will get a big donation from Dick Cheney.
I assume it will make you even bolder, more audacious... until you tangle up the US into another endless war...
one of the great ironies will be if this goes sideways the unprecedented migrations it's going to cause - they thought immigration was a problem up to now lol
I will go sideways: It has no there way to go:
I laugh when I hear our main news media wonder: Are we going to "run" the country, as Trump says, or "just the oil", as Rubio says?
Let this old clip of the Felon on October 27th 2019 inform your opinion:
https://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/user-clip-trump-we-shoulve-kept-the-oil-in-iraq/4825514
It was about Iraq. "We should have kept the oil".
Marco Rubio doesn't want to say it out loud, but he knows. Trump is dreaming of keeping all that oil and enriching himself through the donations from American oil companies for pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for them....
When Halliburton, ConocoPhillips, Exxonmobil, Shell, Gulf were expropriated on January 1st, 1976, they were promised proper compensation.
They do not feel that they got proper compensation, and I don't know enough about their investments to have an informed opinion on that. They were 'managing the oil' there, and I'm pretty sure they were raking in money from oil that was not on American territory.
In comes a felon with long teeth talking about making them whole and resuming the pillaging of another country's natural resources.
On December 11th 2025, (a mere 22 days before the invasion), Halliburton and others lodged a significant complaint with the ICSID seeking compensation for what they claim is improper treatment and expropriation of their assets.
With the long arm of the American military, and American taxpayers dollars, the Felon decides to invade and capture Maduro and his wife and declares he will "run the country".
Rubio takes fright and lessens the demand to "no, just the oil".
But, little Marco, oil is the main asset of this country. Without it, they fail & flail:
THEIR PEOPLE WIL CONTINUE TO FLEE THE COUNTRY AS VENEZUELA'S RICHES ARE STOLEN AND THEIR POSITION GETS WORSE.
The people of Venezuela, the supporters of Maduro and even the opposition to Maduro are unlikely to let that pass when they realize that the whole idea was to steal their oil and make Halliburton and other American oil companies richer.
So, little Marco, how do we run "just the oil"?
How? Well, with a Congress that has abdicated all its responsibilities to We The People and just sat on its kiester and wasn't even told of this escapade, "boots on the ground" to "defend our interests" becomes again the only solution.
And that's how, under the guise of stopping narcotrafficking, our boys and girls are about to be drawn into the next endless war.
Maybe investing in renewables would be cheaper?
Can Dick Cheney make a donation from the grave?
;-) probably not. whomever is in charge of his estate might choose to defend Halliburton one more time with a donation to the felon...
And I would not put it past him to ask Satan for a few days' pass from hell to support something bad. (Ha, ha)
When you were writing about what we, we Americans, pay for, it's staggering. I truly hate that that thought or knowledge didn't factor into my life. This is exactly why Congress needs to approve these things. I knew that bit at least. That's why they say Congress controls the purse.
The secrecy makes it really hard to know about! And that’s part of the point
Dude! Fucking exactly! I hate that I'm just now realizing this! We need Civics to be brought back to classrooms! We are seeing now 2 generations that don't understand how the government works! Also very much done on purpose by our government.
Do you think people who took "civics class" understand how the government really works? And people who take "basic economics" understand how the economy works?
Or is that another part of what creates the misunderstanding?
the government is bought and paid for by the oligarchs and hedge funds. yes I agree civics should be taught, but we need to get away from the uniparty, everything is FUBAR. I almost hoped Elon's America party would help, but he's in it for himself too.
Box cutters and paragliders made from old bicycle parts have changed the course of history, , without one bit of assistance of high tech communication systems and gear, and yet very few dare express a cold admiration of the audacity of the operation, the skill of the execution, the ability to keep it all a secret to get maximum advatange from surprise. The biggest advantage of having all the shimy whizbang doodades is that nobody says it is savagery or calls the perpetrators "terrorists". Intread, it's cool stuff that clean cut white men do.
fwiw like those, many say this one really appears to have also been an "inside job"
i can believe that.
But as multiple people have pointed out, Maduro doesn't seem to have anything to do with fentanyl (nor his wife, for that matter). In the rest of the world, they see the raid primarily as an oil grab, because outside North America, fentanyl is generally not a big thing.
An amazing thing about this venture is that only Maduro and Mrs. Maduro were captured, while leaving the rest of the cabinet behind, such as the VP, Delcy Rodrigiez. That seems like absolute incompetence to me: here's a obvious candidate for an alternative Venezuelan government that is against U.S. interests, and the US military left her alone. In addition, it's like they didn't even try to run a puppet government like Machado. Here's a military where they spent 99% of the thinking on the war games, and 1% on what happens next.
Speaking as an OG subscriber and longtime reader of Kens, this is disgraceful shit. Trump specifically said this was about appropriating oil. SPECIFICALLY. He hasn't "taken care." There is no plausible argument that this is about drugs. I don't understand the point of even entertaining this BS.
What you are admiring is the fact that we are no longer hiding our role. The unconscionably gigantic US military could always do this sort of thing. We haven't because its so. obviously. fucking. illegal. and. morally. indefensible. So we've traditionally (with some exceptions) done this through partners.
You have lost your goddamn mind if your response is anything other than this is obviously illegal and morally reprehensible.
i'm saying that's how he's framing it rhetorically and why it sells.
That is unequivocally NOT how he is framing it rhetorically. He explicitly said it was about oil! On camera! And it doesn't sell because of its about whatever BS his lackeys are mumbling about! It sells because both parties are fine with blatantly illegal, morally indefensible actions on foreign actors that thumb their nose at the US. Most of the "opposition" statements just lament that they weren't consulted!
that's my thoughts exactly. congress' irrelevance is disgraceful
you are correct that there is no plausible argument it's about drugs, drugs are the WMD of this kerfuffle, yet the regime continues to ride the drug narrative whenever it can and my eyes have to bleed reading all the dipshit comments from chuds who fell for it again about how this is just what the USA needed for it's drug problem
"the goal of the U.S. military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday was primarily to halt drug trafficking into the U.S" Marco Rubio
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/secretary-state-marco-rubio-us-capture-maduro-war-venezuela-elections-rcna252111
To the list of the people who were aware of the action as it happened, don't forget to add whoever at Mar-A-Lago who cared to walk past the tent of black sheets.
The Constitution is now officially a joke with presidents doing as they please following the Israeli MO of carefully setting things up in advance letting nobody know and then ShaZAM!
Now we the people are denied even a leak via Congress, let alone a say by Congress. What the president is saying in all of this is the nobody is to be trusted but the president and those over whom he holds absolute power - the armed forces and the CIA. He has the might and he will determine what is right. He and his son-in-law have been lining their pockets. What is left of tyranny that Trump doesn't enjoy?
Control of the CIA is also a joke, it now being the president's hit squad. Can anyone imagine a Congressional enquiry into the CIA these days as happened with the Church Commission long ago?
But Trump is a fool if he thinks this will play well over time. It is precisely the kind of thing that many of those who voted for him wanted/want reined in - meddling in foreign countries and spending on them in the process. Can you imagine what this kidnapping cost, not to mention "running Venezuela"? It puts the total money supposedly saved by DOGE/Musk into insignificance. Is anyone foolish enough to believe DOGE was about saving money rather than dismantling government?
Finally, I am struck by the image of Trump and cronies viewing the action as it went down. Recall Obama and Hillary doing likewise as Gaddafi went down? All sit filled with pride in what amounts to a small theater for the powerful to enjoy the might they deploy. Recall how Hillary was at pains to say that hiding her face momentarily was in no way revulsion at what was being seen? What a man she was!
We are going lower and lower. The midterms must save the day by taking Congress out of the hands of Trump and putting in members that are eager to act against a tyrant that considers himself as did Louis XIV who said, "I am the state".
As with Israel for the US law means nothing, power is all, that of one individual in both cases, both war criminals who need to be put on trial far more than Maduro. Good candidates are up for election to Congress. The turnout of the American electorate should be the highest ever since it is now or never to put the madman in restraint.
Find it ironic that POTUS claims he gave oil industry executives a heads up and Marco says we cannot brief the gang of 8. hmmmmm
The judge today in Maduro case is 92 years old. Distinguished career but 92? However, not beholden to Trump et al.
It's one more nail in the coffin for what's left of the petrodollar, proving true so many talking points regularly coming out of Russia, China, and Iran.
Really, what actually has been accomplished? It’s still the same administration in Venezuela with the same policies but without Maduro.