International At least 7 explosions and low-flying aircraft are heard in Venezuela’s Caracas - Maduro captured

[idrankyourbeer]

of all the hundreds of millions of people in america, i don't know who better to be in charge of this money than a serial fraudster who has managed to bankrupt virtually every business venture he has ever had, including three casinos.

how long until he bankrupts america? can't be that long seeing how their economy must be so fucked that he has to invade other foreign countries just to steal their resources. obviously they can't stay afloat on their own under this administration. they're too busy lining their own pockets while fucking the citizens i guess.

 

[Sinister]

I dont know if this giant hypocrisy has been mentioned yet. So here goes
MAGA is as pro 2A & "shall not infringe period" on all things firearms.

Some of Maduro's charges "are possession of and conspiracy to possess machine guns"

The same people literally foaming at the mouths to own automatic weapons and semi-auto FRT/Super Safety weapons are now pro their country going into another country they have no jurisdiction over & telling their President that they cant have machine guns in their own country.

The mental gymnastics it takes to support that while advocating for yourself to have the same exact thing.

The US literally attacked any Government that tried to arm themselves during the creation of the banana republics in Central America. Its something we often used as a catalyst. The second they buy arms from Russia we label it a Communist plot and send in black ops teams.

 

[Prutfis]

Control the oil and control the coke. The two most profitable commodities. Winning

There might be issues with the oil part

https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/05/business/venezuela-trump-oil-chevron

 

[HereticBD]

It won't really mean much if he is, because it requires two-thirds of the Senate (67 out of 100) to actually have him convicted and removed from office after being formally impeached by the House. That's the same clearance it takes to pass a straight-up Amendment to the US Constitution (albeit without a further 3/4ths of state legislatures to ratify). So, basically impossible in this hyperpartisan political landscape. The biggest consequence of losing the House in the midterms is that the GOP won't be able to pass any domestic legislation even through reconciliation bills with simple majorities, but they already got what they wanted there (tax cuts for the ruling class). It will do little to restrain his foreign policy ambitions.

Yeah, I don't even think they'll go for impeachment, if they happen to win back the House. It's an "acquitted" headline for Trump.

I don't know why people think losing the midterms is some big check on the government. A small handful of Presidents didn't lose the House in the midterms, and one of them was George Bush Jr for God's sake. It's pretty much routine that the incumbent loses some ground. Obama got absolutely annihilated in his first term, and it didn't stop him from being re-elected.

 

[sickc0d3r]

Yeah, I don't even think they'll go for impeachment, if they happen to win back the House. It's an "acquitted" headline for Trump.

I don't know why people think losing the midterms is some big check on the government. A small handful of Presidents didn't lose the House in the midterms, and one of them was George Bush Jr for God's sake. It's pretty much routine that the incumbent loses some ground. Obama got absolutely annihilated in his first term, and it didn't stop him from being re-elected.

Dems controlling the House and Senate could certainly make his life miserable.
Even just the House with oversight duties and the power of the purse would be a giant PITA for all the crazy shit Trump does. It’s easy to underestimate how much Mike Johnson being his lapdog is helping him right now. Ending sessions early, refusing to call votes, not challenging literally anything, even when Congress should clearly have a say.

 

[HereticBD]

Dems controlling the House and Senate could certainly make his life miserable.
Even just the House with oversight duties and the power of the purse would be a giant PITA for all the crazy shit Trump does. It’s easy to underestimate how much Mike Johnson being his lapdog is helping him right now. Ending sessions early, refusing to call votes, not challenging literally anything, even when Congress should clearly have a say.

Sure, but again, it's not some unprecedented result unique to Donald Trump. Y'all are calling him some "lame duck" President if it happens, as if it's a rare occurrence reserved for the worst of the worst. Damn near every President loses some ground in the midterms.

Why that is? Who knows? It is actually kind of interesting as a topic of how fickle/lazy people are. It really doesn't depend on the President's performance. The losing side just shows up in the midterms, and the other side is more apathetic, unless some big event is going on that motivates them to support the current guy. It's a weird phenomenon.

 

[Deorum]

Yeah, I don't even think they'll go for impeachment, if they happen to win back the House. It's an "acquitted" headline for Trump.

I don't know why people think losing the midterms is some big check on the government. A small handful of Presidents didn't lose the House in the midterms, and one of them was George Bush Jr for God's sake. It's pretty much routine that the incumbent loses some ground. Obama got absolutely annihilated in his first term, and it didn't stop him from being re-elected.

George W. and FDR are pretty much the only presidents who actually gained seats in the midterms. In FDR's case, Democrats literally controlled between 75-80% of both chambers and held it for a significant part of his presidency. Can you even imagine something like that today? It's completely unfathomable, just utterly incomprehensible. And holy shit did he do a lot. That's why.

 

[Phisher]

 

[Strychnine]

Mr. Global is a former oil and gas expert. He explains why the oil companies probably won't go back to Venezuela.

The nation isn't stable.
The infrastructure would have to be rebuilt.
The infrastructure would have to be secured.
Yes, there's a lot of oil, but it's LOW GRADE. They'd net around 2 million barrels a day in about 10 years. They could just go buy Conoco/Phillips for that right now.

They're looking at around $130 Billion dollar investment all-in.

The juice isn't worth the squeeze, and the oil companies have investors to keep happy.

 

[sickc0d3r]

Sure, but again, it's not some unprecedented result unique to Donald Trump. Y'all are calling him some "lame duck" President if it happens, as if it's a rare occurrence reserved for the worst of the worst. Damn near every President loses some ground in the midterms.

Why that is? Who knows? It is actually kind of interesting as a topic of how fickle/lazy people are. It really doesn't depend on the President's performance. The losing side just shows up in the midterms, and the other side is more apathetic, unless some big event is going on that motivates them to support the current guy. It's a weird phenomenon.

You’re not wrong on that point, it’s definitely common in a president’s first term. And this is like a second first term for DJT.
I just think his agenda will be seriously impeded if he loses either, and especially both. Having only 1 term he doesn’t want that smoke.

 

[pinger]

Mr. Global is a former oil and gas expert. He explains why the oil companies probably won't go back to Venezuela.

The nation isn't stable.
The infrastructure would have to be rebuilt.
The infrastructure would have to be secured.
Yes, there's a lot of oil, but it's LOW GRADE. They'd net around 2 million barrels a day in about 10 years. They could just go buy Conoco/Phillips for that right now.

They're looking at around $130 Billion dollar investment all-in.

The juice isn't worth the squeeze, and the oil companies have investors to keep happy.

You could also imagine that any key part of the massive oil and gas infrastructure would then become a major target for terrorists, or nation state actors like Russia and China to sabotage. You simply can't secure that amount of pipeline and infrastructure, even from cyber threats let alone physical security.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Remember when they pretended this was about drugs....for an hour or two.

Now it's just straight pillaging another country's natural resources and keeping the money for himself.

I tend to agree with you here, I mean plenty of countries supply drugs to the US and they pick on the one with the highest oil reserves in the world? (I think anyway)

 

[armbarforhire]

Remember when they pretended this was about drugs....for an hour or two.

Now it's just straight pillaging another country's natural resources and keeping the money for himself.

Drugs...liberating Venezuela from the regime........oil.

 

[Sinister]

George W. and FDR are pretty much the only presidents who actually gained seats in the midterms. In FDR's case, Democrats literally controlled between 75-80% of both chambers and held it for a significant part of his presidency. Can you even imagine something like that today? It's completely unfathomable, just utterly incomprehensible. And holy shit did he do a lot. That's why.

FDR was pretty ingenious at who he picked. He picked essentially a bunch of people even more aggressive than Lena Khan, who even many conservatives liked. As you said, they DID stuff. Today's Democrats are far too preoccupied with being something than they are with doing something.

 

[Sinister]

You’re not wrong on that point, it’s definitely common in a president’s first term. And this is like a second first term for DJT.
I just think his agenda will be seriously impeded if he loses either, and especially both. Having only 1 term he doesn’t want that smoke.

It will be impeded, however he will become more aggressive and authoritarian. There's a reason the SCOTUS have him the immunity they did. Concentrating even more power to the executive is a core tenet of Federalism. And its something the technocrats like because the Yarvinists think the US should be a monarchy

 

[Deorum]

FDR was pretty ingenious at who he picked. He picked essentially a bunch of people even more aggressive than Lena Khan, who even many conservatives liked. As you said, they DID stuff. Today's Democrats are far too preoccupied with being something than they are with doing something.

Nobody will ever come close to achieving a legislative agenda on the size, scope, and scale of FDR. There is so much there that it's almost easy to occasionally forget things: The Banking Act (1933), Securities Exchange Act (1934), National Housing Act (1934), National Labor Relations Act (1935), Social Security Act (1935), Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) are all obvious big ones, as well as the Revenue Act of 1935 (amended in 1937 to close loopholes), a.k.a. "Soak The Rich" Act that brought on an era of progressive taxation and the great compression of wages for the next half century. It was the most economically egalitarian time period in, well, basically the history of the world nevermind the United States. The end of the road for the former was obviously the ERTA of 1981 and TRA of 1986 (i.e., Reaganomics) and wealth inequality has been skyrocketing ever since. On the otherhand, the wage-productivity gap issue dating to the mid-1970s is a lot more multifaceted and nuanced.

 

[Deorum]

Bruh.

 

[lsa]

Huge if true

Putin’s secret bargain to trade Ukraine for Venezuela​

Concerns mount that Russia will be given free rein to crush Kyiv as Trump pursues his ‘Donroe Doctrine’ in America’s backyard

Putin’s secret bargain to trade Ukraine for Venezuela

Concerns mount that Russia will be given free rein to crush Kyiv as Trump pursues his ‘Donroe Doctrine’ in America’s backyard

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[cincymma79]

 

[cincymma79]